Wenwen and Yuxunting moved in the carriage at a snail's pace.
After asking the attendant, we learned that the conductor's carriage was in carriage number eight and their seats were in carriage number ten.
It took the two of them more than half an hour to pass through the two carriages. You can imagine how crowded it was. It was almost the same as the subway in first-tier cities during rush hour.
When he met the train conductor, Yu Xunting showed his military pass and explained his purpose.
The train conductor said there were still available hard sleeper seats.
When the conductor asked the two people how many sleeper tickets they wanted.
Wenwen hesitated for a moment and said, "Cousin, how many tickets do you think we should buy? If I buy four, I'm afraid Xiao Huimin won't accept them. If I buy three, I'm afraid Lanlan won't want to join us."
If Lanlan refused to go with her, it would be even worse to leave Fourth Brother or Yuxunting alone in the hard seat compartment.
"Buy four." Yu Xunting made the decision after a little consideration.
Yu Xunting and the train conductor talked about the situation of the Xiao brothers and sisters, especially Xiao Jiaolan's illness.
The train conductor gave Yu Xunting four consecutive hard sleeper tickets.
"Comrade Yu, please have Comrade Xiao come over with the letter of introduction to register. I'll be staying in the hard sleeper car number seven."
Yu Xunting nodded in agreement.
Yu Xunting asked Wenwen to wait in carriage No. 7 to avoid squeezing at both ends.
Wenwen thought it would be better for them to go together so that he wouldn't have to make one trip. It would be inconvenient to pick up all the luggage at once because there were too many people.
After finally putting all the luggage away, Wenwen sat on the bed and felt that the air was much fresher.
Xiao Huimin returned after registering with the letter of introduction: "Thank you so much! I will pay you back for the train tickets later."
After saying this, he bowed to several people. He had just asked the conductor about the price of a hard sleeper ticket.
At night, Xiao Jiaolan almost did not sleep the whole night, probably because she was in an unfamiliar environment.
Wenwen felt a little depressed because she didn’t sleep well at night.
"Does Lanlan usually sleep that little?" she asked Xiao Huimin.
"Yeah, I often don't sleep well."
Wenwen nodded. She remembered that such patients had symptoms of insomnia.
Seeing that she looked exhausted, Yu Xunting asked with concern, "Do you want to sleep a little longer? The train won't arrive in Changyang County until the evening."
"Have breakfast before going to bed. Comrade Xiao and Lanlan should also have something to eat together."
Xiao Huimin opened his mouth. He wanted to refuse, but he wanted his sister to eat better.
"Lanlan will eat with you. I brought some dry food, so I can just eat the dry food."
Wen Xiao stuffed two eggs and two steamed buns into his mouth and said, "Eat it. This is a special period and special treatment. Return it to us later. Are you afraid that you won't have another chance?"
In addition to catching up on sleep during the day, Wenwen took out the cards again. This time, she let three boys play, and she chatted with Lanlan on the side. Even though Lanlan didn't respond, she didn't get discouraged.
I also played cards with her and told her fairy tales, but they were all stories without pressure.
She knew how to get along with children and how to provide psychological counseling. Gradually, Lanlan, who had originally been very averse to strangers, began to respond to her.
When he looked at her, his gaze was no longer dull, but followed her.
It was already evening when we arrived in Changyang County. The bus back to Fuhe Town had already left, so we could only find a guesthouse to stay for the night.
After registering at the guesthouse, the cost for one night's stay was 80 cents per person, which was very expensive according to today's prices, and it was a large dormitory with more than a dozen people.
Yu Xunting asked and found out there was a phone in the guesthouse, so Wenwen and his sister hurried to make a call.
Wen Zhongxiang, who was far away in Beijing, stayed by the phone and didn't go home. It was the first time for his two children to go away from home, and he was worried when they didn't answer the phone.
Wenwen also told her father about the Xiao siblings, especially Xiao Jiaolan's illness, and asked her father to go to the hospital to consult if there were any medicines to treat the disease; if there were, he could buy them and send them to Lijiawan.
Sleeping on the same bunk bed was a bit difficult for Xiao Jiaolan. After a long time of coaxing, she refused to sleep with Wenwen, so she had no choice but to sleep in the men's room with Xiao Huimin.
No one mentioned the matter of asking Wen Zhongxiang to go to the hospital to inquire about medicine to Xiao Huimin. Since they didn't know whether there was any, they didn't mention it.
The group arrived at Fuhe Town in the afternoon, and Yu Xunting led them to find the ox cart back to the village.
It just so happened that two ox carts arrived in town today, otherwise one ox cart would not be able to accommodate so many people and luggage.
One of the ox carts was driven by the village captain, a retired soldier named Li Jianguo, a tall man with a square face and about 1.8 meters tall, less than 40 years old.
Yu Xunting walked towards Captain Li and said, "The captain is also in town today."
Yu Xunting handed him a pack of cigarettes: "We agreed on that last time."
Li Jianguo laughed heartily: "I've been wanting this for a long time, but it's only available in Beijing."
Wenwen and the others also came over, and Yu Xunting introduced them: "This is the captain of Lijiawan."
Yu Xunting pulled Wenwen over: "This is my fiancée Wenwen, but now she says I am her cousin."
Li Jianguo laughed out loud and said, "My cousin is also very good. We can become closer relatives."
Wenwen was embarrassed.
Wen Xiao and Xiao Huimin also made introductions.
Yu Xunting also specifically mentioned Xiao Jiaolan's illness to Li Jianguo.
Li Jianguo touched his chin and said, this is a bit difficult.
"There were only two rooms at the educated youth camp, one for men and one for women. There were no extra rooms."
"Let's go home." Li Jianguo said after seeing that the luggage was put away.
"Is there no one left?" Yu Xunting asked.
"No, I guess no educated youth will come this year. The weather is too cold and the New Year is coming soon." Li Jianguo said.
It is too cold in winter, so the locals stay at home.
Yu Xunting nodded and walked towards the old man on another ox cart: "Uncle Li, thank you for your hard work." Then he handed him a cigarette.
Old man Li took the cigarette with surprise, sniffed it carefully, and then put it between his ears. He was reluctant to smoke it because he wanted to go back and show off to the old guys in the village that this was a cigarette from Jingshi.
"It's not hard, it's not hard."
It was Wenwen’s first time riding in an ox cart. She felt it was quite novel at first, but gradually she became unbearable to the cold. She was from the south in her previous life and could not adapt to such cold weather.
It's winter now, and everything is bare, without even a single green leaf. I didn't see the beautiful scenery described in the novel.
After riding on an ox cart for two or three hours, we finally arrived at Lijia Village before dark. When we entered the village entrance, all we saw were low and dilapidated houses, many of which were still covered with thatched roofs. There were no brick and tile houses to be seen.
Wenwen looked at the village, which was even more dilapidated than she had imagined, and suddenly felt the hardship of her future life.
The ox cart stopped in front of a house with a yard. Several parts of the yard had collapsed, but it was still usable after being repaired.
"The villagers have already come to clean the house. The water tank is full, and there's some firewood. But it looks like it's going to snow soon, so you should start preparing firewood tomorrow, otherwise you won't have anything to heat your kang."
Li Jianguo helped them put their luggage under the eaves and prepared to leave.
Wenwen quickly opened the package containing the candies, took out two small bags of fruit candies and handed them to Yuxunting, winking at him.
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