It was early morning and it took an hour and a half to get from the county town to the provincial capital by bus. It was almost eight o'clock when we arrived at the provincial capital railway station.
After putting down his luggage in the waiting room at the train station, Yan Rushan turned around and said, "Comrade Zhong, you take care of the luggage while I go get the train tickets."
"Don't you need to go together?"
"No need, we're all acquaintances." Yan Rushan's face was indifferent, his eyes calm. Zhong Yuxiu nodded slightly, "Then go quickly and come back soon. I'll wait for you here."
After watching Yan Rushan leave, Zhong Yuxiu sat down in the waiting room with her luggage at her feet. Her eyes swept across the simple waiting room with white and blue walls, several wide wooden benches spread across the room, and a few wooden tables in the corners. Compared with later generations, it was really simple.
The furnishings were clear at a glance, and Zhong Yuxiu lost interest and withdrew her gaze; she opened the suitcase, which was filled with several sets of clothes. She did not take anything like bedding with her. She found an opportunity to pack half of the food into the storage ring and left the rest to Sun Ruhong and the others.
She didn't have much food, only about fifty pounds left; after putting half of it into the storage ring, there were only about twenty-five pounds left.
I didn't go out the whole winter, and knowing that I had been admitted to university, I never saved on food; anyway, I couldn't take it with me when I left, so I might as well eat as much as I wanted.
After waiting for more than half an hour, I saw Yan Rushan coming out. I hurriedly stood up to greet him, "Brother Yan, is everything going well?"
"I got it. The train leaves at 11:00 am. Let's go eat first." Yan Rushan took out a train ticket from his pocket and handed it over.
Zhong Yuxiu took it and took a look at it. She didn't expect it to be a sleeper ticket. Yan Rushan had such a wide network of contacts that he could even buy a sleeper ticket. She casually put the train ticket into her pocket.
"Then let's go. We haven't had breakfast yet and are already hungry. What will we do with all this luggage if we leave?"
"Deposit it." Yan Rushan carried their luggage out of the waiting room. There was a storage area next to the ticket counter. He just had to pay three cents and leave the luggage there.
Zhong Yuxiu glanced in the direction he was taking but did not follow him. She walked to the only way out of the train station and waited. When he came over, she left the train station with him. In those days, individual businesses were not yet allowed, so people could only eat in state-owned restaurants.
She was not familiar with the provincial capital, and she followed Yan Rushan through many twists and turns until she arrived at an alley. The alley was deep and if it weren't for the bright sunlight, it would have been even darker inside.
"What is this place?"
"I'll take you to dinner." Yan Rushan didn't even turn his head and continued walking forward.
"Privately run?" Zhong Yuxiu's eyes flickered. "Is it delicious?"
Yan Rushan paused slightly, turned around and saw the little girl's eyes were bright and energetic, and his heart softened, "You'll know when you get there."
Without asking any more questions, she followed him to the end of the alley. A small window was open, and she could faintly smell the aroma of food. Zhong Yuxiu rubbed her stomach. It was fine before she could smell it, but once she did, she felt even hungrier.
Yan Rushan caught a glimpse of her movements from the corner of his eye, a smile flashed across his eyes, and he raised his hand to knock on the door.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
"Who is it?"
"Aunt, my parents asked me to bring you some mountain products." Yan Rushan responded with ease.
"What did you bring?" The person inside did not open the door, but continued to ask.
Yan Rushan said: "Mountain mushrooms."
"Oh, it's wild mushrooms! That's great, I've been thinking about it lately." The courtyard door creaked open, and a short middle-aged woman stood at the door. "Nephew and niece, come in quickly. We're having lunch right now. Stay and eat with us."
"Okay, thank you, aunt."
During the conversation, the middle-aged woman closed the courtyard door and led the two to the main hall. When they arrived at the main hall, the atmosphere relaxed. The middle-aged woman smiled and asked skillfully, "Xiao Yan, it's been a long time since you came. Why did you think of coming to eat today?"
"I'm passing through the provincial capital and brought someone here for dinner." Yan Rushan glanced at Zhong Yuxiu. "This person's surname is Zhong, and I brought her here for dinner today. Serve us two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, and two bowls of rice. They all need large bowls."
The middle-aged woman nodded with a smile. "Okay, we have stewed pig's trotters today. I'll serve you one portion. Please go sit in the main hall and I'll serve you."
As the person left, Yan Rushan casually pointed to the stool on his left and said, "Sit down."
"Okay." Zhong Yuxiu sat down obediently.
Yan Rushan glanced at her again, thinking she looked so cute and well-behaved, and sat down opposite her.
After a few minutes, a middle-aged woman came in with food on a wooden tray. She placed the tray on the table, brought down the dishes one by one, and placed the rice in front of them.
"Eat slowly, call me if you're not satisfied."
Yan Rushan nodded, picked up a pair of chopsticks and handed them to Zhong Yuxiu, then asked her, "Do you have any eggs ready?"
"Yes, we have braised eggs and pancakes. How about one?"
"Yes, twenty braised eggs and five pancakes."
The middle-aged woman smiled and nodded repeatedly in agreement, then went out to pack for them.
There were three dishes on the table: a half-sized ceramic basin full of pig's trotters, a pot of chicken stewed with taro, and a plate of stir-fried vegetables. They were all delicious. The two of them fell silent and finished the food on the table with full concentration. When they put down their chopsticks, their stomachs were full.
"I haven't eaten something this good in a long time."
The food in the Youth League Home was edible, but it was far from what I had experienced this time.
"It's almost time, we should go." Yan Rushan put the money under the bowl, stood up and walked out, and Zhong Yuxiu followed behind with a satisfied look on her face.
As I stepped out of the main room, the hostess of the yard came quickly towards me holding a gray cloth bag.
Yan Rushan stretched out his hand and took it, "The money is on the table. Thank you for the meal." After that, he stretched out his long legs and walked out of the courtyard.
Zhong Yuxiu followed him with a smile on her face; the two of them rushed back to the train station and saw that it was 10:40, so they could get on the train.
"You carry the things, I'll go get the luggage." Yan Rushan stuffed the bag into her hands, quickly went to the storage area, and took the luggage over. "Let's go."
"Um."
There were huge crowds of people in front of the train station.
Yan Rushan found the carriage written on the ticket and protected Zhong Yuxiu and squeezed to the front of the carriage. Because it was a sleeper carriage, there were few people, and many of the people next to them were in the hard seat carriage next to them.
"Take out your ticket and let the staff check it." Yan Rushan switched the luggage from both hands to one hand and took out his train ticket from his pocket.
Zhong Yuxiu took out her train tickets, took Yan Rushan's and handed them to the ticket inspector.
After confirming that everything was correct, the ticket inspector let the two people in and said, "Find your seats after you go in and don't wander around."
"good."
The two of them climbed onto the carriage smoothly, found a bed, stuffed their luggage under the bed and were done.
Zhong Yuxiu breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the bed. "There are so many people here!"
"A lot of educated youth have returned to the city recently, and many are visiting their families." He sat down next to her, expressionless. "Now is considered good. During the Chinese New Year, there are really many people. In order to get on the train early, people push and shove each other."
"Won't there be a stampede?" She only knew that there were a lot of people during the Spring Festival travel rush, and she had only witnessed the Spring Festival travel rush in later generations; although there were a lot of people, tickets were not easy to get, and whether getting on a plane or a train, everything was orderly.
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