Chapter 3 Live happily
The educated youth went to the countryside to support construction. Some of them responded to the country's call with great enthusiasm, and some were forced to share the quota. But no matter what, the tickets bought for them by the Educated Youth Office were hard seats but they all had seat numbers.
Following the instructions on the ticket, they quickly found the corresponding seat. An Zhiqiu greeted the people inside with a bright smile, passed the luggage in his hand in, and jumped into the narrow window nimbly. Without waiting to stand firmly, he turned around and reached out to An Zhixia.
An Zhixia, who was ten years younger, extended her hand, pushed hard with her long legs, and was about to go up when she was pulled by her father.
Looking at his eldest daughter whose face was red from the cold and looked 50% like his deceased wife, Father An stammered and tried to touch her head with his rough hands, but was avoided.
An Zhiqiu and An Zhixia were his first children, and were once full of expectations and love. But later, their mother passed away, and the family became chaotic. They had to eat in the cafeteria for three meals a day, and the money they earned was spent by the end of the month. Their torn clothes had no one to sew them. In short, in order to solve the problem, he asked someone to find a woman for him, and he didn't care about what the other woman was like. They lived together for seven years, and his life became smoother, but he made the two siblings suffer.
"Dad, Dad is incompetent, you two brothers and sisters should take care of each other," he said dryly, and stuffed the handkerchief wrapped in his hand into hers, holding her hand tightly, with a belated flash of love and reluctance in his eyes: "I will bring you more food, money, and tickets in the future. Please take a leave and come back to make up for the New Year. As long as Dad is here, you will have a place to live."
If the original owner was here, she might have really been fooled by his kind appearance, but a young life has been forever stuck in the deep winter. She stuffed the things into her bag without any guilt and pulled the corners of her lips, "My brother and I have thought countless times, if I lost half of your blood, would I live a happier life than now?"
This was probably the pain that pierced Bing Lingzi's heart. Father An stood there in a daze, looking at the train going away. He suddenly realized that his two children might never come back.
As soon as he entered the carriage, An Zhixia glanced at the crowded crowd and started coughing violently, with such force that it seemed as if he was going to vomit out his lungs.
An Zhiqiu was so scared that he quickly took out a mottled enamel pot and borrowed water from someone. "Drink something quickly. You were fine this morning. How come you are seriously ill now?" He was very angry. "If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have let you wait with them for so long."
She gulped down the water, her face flushed, and she clung to her brother limply, saying in a neither loud nor soft voice: "Brother, stop nagging me. I'm dizzy. Find a seat and sit down quickly." Then she had another heart-wrenching coughing fit.
An Zhiqiu, who was half-hearted, quickly took out his ticket and looked for a seat. He looked at the woman in her forties hugging a half-grown child and the dirty man of about the same age next to her. He said with a bad face, "Auntie, uncle, these are my and my sister's seats. Please give up."
The woman frowned and whispered, "Your uncle and I have been standing for a whole day. We are so tired. Please be kind and let us sit down and rest for a while."
The man just smiled innocently and didn't even move.
An Zhixia, who was coughing so hard that tears came out of her eyes, kept shaking her head and couldn't speak, which made the people around her very anxious.
"Auntie, uncle, we are giving you our seats out of pleasure. Can't you see that this comrade is so sick that he can't stand steadily?"
"That's right. If everyone says a few nice words like you guys, they can get a seat. Why should we spend extra money to buy a seat ticket?"
"You are clearly taking advantage of your age and bullying us because we are young and thin-skinned!"
A group of young people who had seat tickets but were standing were very angry and started to speak out.
When they got on the bus, the seats were occupied, mostly pregnant women, women holding children, old men and old ladies. Seeing the tiredness and apology on their faces, they just drank a jar of "chicken soup for the soul" before getting on the bus, and they couldn't bring themselves to chase them away. They had no choice but to look at their companions in the same situation and busy themselves with putting their luggage aside.
An Zhiqiu said coldly: "If you two don't get up, I will ask the flight attendant how to deal with it."
People with stable jobs are not to be trifled with. The woman angrily pushed the child in her arms and cursed, "Why are you sleeping? Didn't you see that others are chasing you away? We are peasants, and we don't have the ability to buy seats like these young masters and young ladies."
"Comrade, how can you talk like that? Seat tickets are stipulated by the state. Does that mean those who buy seats have become capitalists? What about you? You claim to be a farmer, but you spend the least money to sit here and enjoy yourself. Aren't you taking advantage of the country?" An Zhiqiu only spoils his own sister and doesn't have that much patience for other people.
"What are you talking about? Take your things and leave," the man was put on the hat with his head backwards, and the flight attendant also came over after hearing the news. The man picked up his things and pulled the man away.
The other people who had no seats also stood up awkwardly in the face of the educated youths' cold faces.
The seats of the brother and sister happened to be connected by the window. After settling down, she leaned on her brother's shoulder and closed her eyes, coughing from time to time. Seeing that her sister was calmer, An Zhiqiu whispered to the person next to her.
"Auntie, can you hold the child and sit next to me for a while?" A gentle voice sounded in the awkward carriage.
"This, this won't do. We are just going home to visit our relatives for the New Year. You are making a big deal out of it..."
"It's okay, Auntie. We are all from Xiahua, so we discuss things together. That comrade was seriously ill before, and everyone was a little anxious."
"You are a pretty girl, sweet-talker, and kind-hearted. I will not be polite to you."
As they were talking, a few soft-hearted educated youth squeezed to the side, leaving half of the seat empty for the person standing.
The tense atmosphere in the carriage dissipated almost immediately, and it seemed that the An siblings had been a little unreasonable before.
An Zhixia, who was pretending to be asleep, sighed inwardly. She came from the era of information explosion in the 21st century. She had been in the entertainment industry for ten years and had seen too much intrigue and fickleness in human nature. Her conscience had long been fed to the dogs.
Even in the 1970s, she didn't want to make many changes. The only words her best friend often said echoed in her mind: she didn't seek achievement but only wanted to have no regrets.
"Ahem," the young man who had a good relationship with An Zhiqiu cleared his throat, "We all went to the countryside to support construction. It's fate that we're sitting together today. Why don't we introduce each other and talk about where we'll be assigned so that we can take care of each other in the future."
"Let me start..."
Everyone laughed and loudly said their names and destinations. Since they were in the same carriage, the assigned places would naturally not be far away from each other.
There are two people who are assigned to the same village branch as the An brothers and sisters. One is Yang Jiong, An Zhiqiu's classmate, and the other is Qi Yunlan, the girl who gave up her seat. They both seem to be like little suns and can easily liven up the atmosphere around them.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
