Chapter 257 - 254: Setting Out, Part 2
A moment later, the owner brought the food to the table and said politely, "Brother Liu, and you, brother and sister, please take your time and enjoy."
Liu Da smiled. "His steamed sweet roasted pork belly is excellent. The fermented rice is sweet and glutinous, and the pork belly is rich but not greasy."
Li Xiangyang and Lin Lan also smiled and nodded. "It looks delicious just from the color."
After the three of them ate, the owner brought out a bottle of seasoned pickles for Liu Da. The trio then carried their luggage to the small alley by the station, where Gu Guoqing was already waiting.
"Boarding starts in two minutes. We need to get into the station," Gu Guoqing said as he led the three of them toward the iron gate.
After entering the station, Gu Guoqing took them to the platform for the train to Yangcheng City. Once they boarded car number twelve, he waved at them. "Uncle Liu, Brother Li, Sister Lin, have a safe trip!"
"Alright!" Liu Da said to him. "We’ll be back in eight or nine days. Keep an eye out and help us receive the shipment."
"Got it." Gu Guoqing smiled, turned, and left.
The three of them had three lower bunks. Li Xiangyang put away the luggage, and Liu Da warned the other two not to sleep too deeply at night, as there were pickpockets on the sleeper car.
Li Xiangyang nodded. "I’ll take a nap in a bit, and I’ll stay alert tonight."
Lin Lan recalled hearing a story about someone who traveled from the provincial capital to the Capital City on business before the big crackdown on crime. Along the way, he was visited by pickpockets five times. After the man reported it, the anti-pickpocketing transit police ended up catching over a dozen thieves in that car alone. They were from different gangs, and one of them was a child under ten.
Li Xiangyang and Liu Da chatted for a while, then the two of them went to use the restroom.
Lin Lan sat leaning against the window, watching the passengers outside rushing to crowd onto the train.
It was a bit cold on the train. Lin Lan pulled the blanket over her feet, leaned against the wall of the car, and closed her eyes, feigning sleep.
Passengers for the sleeper car also began to trickle in. A man in his forties wearing gold-rimmed glasses and carrying a briefcase climbed into a middle bunk. He was followed by a young man with a buzz cut, who climbed into the top bunk on Lin Lan’s side.
The train was about to depart when an elderly couple boarded with a chubby little boy of about three or four. Looking at their tickets for the middle bunk above Lin Lan and the top bunk on the opposite side, they said to the little boy, "Dongdong, be a good boy and sit here with the auntie for a moment while Grandpa and Grandma put our things on the luggage rack."
The child nodded and sat down by Lin Lan’s feet.
Li Xiangyang returned to their bunk, helped the elderly couple put their luggage on the rack, and sat down. He said to Lin Lan, "Are you thirsty? I’ll go get a kettle of hot water."
"Mhm!" Lin Lan handed him the military-style canteen from her basket. "Be careful."
Li Xiangyang nodded and headed toward the front of the car.
Lin Lan glanced at the pale, chubby little boy sitting by her feet, thinking, ’It’s really rare to see a child raised this plump these days.’
The elderly couple finished putting away their luggage and sat on Li Xiangyang’s bunk. The old woman asked Lin Lan with a smile, "Comrade, does the lower bunk opposite you belong to your husband?"
Lin Lan glanced at the three of them, guessing they wanted to switch bunks, and nodded. "It’s my husband’s bunk."
The elderly couple exchanged a look, feeling that Lin Lan was easy to talk to. They said politely, "Young lady, we bought our tickets late, and the lower bunks were all sold out. It’s a bit inconvenient to have a child in an upper bunk. Could we pay you a little extra to trade our middle bunk for your lower bunk?"
Lin Lan readily agreed, moving Li Xiangyang’s jacket to her own bunk. "You can take my husband’s bunk."
"Thank you, thank you!" the elderly couple said to the chubby boy. "Dongdong, quickly thank the auntie."
Li Xiangyang came back with the kettle of water. When he learned that Lin Lan had traded his bunk for a middle one, he just nodded and sat down beside her.
The old woman took out ten yuan from her small bag and handed it to Lin Lan. "Young lady, this is to make up the difference."
Lin Lan smiled. "That’s not necessary. We’re young and agile, it’s all the same to us where we sleep."
Seeing that the two of them genuinely wouldn’t take the money, the elderly couple had the chubby boy bow to them in thanks.
Lin Lan and Li Xiangyang talked for a while, then Li Xiangyang climbed into the middle bunk and went to sleep.
At six o’clock, Liu Da came over and woke up Li Xiangyang. The two went to the dining car and bought rice and a serving of egg drop soup. They brought it back to their bunks and ate dinner with pickles, fermented tofu, and mushroom sauce.
Liu Da patted Li Xiangyang’s shoulder and returned to his own bunk to sleep.
Just as she was drifting off, the chubby boy started whimpering and crying for his mom. The old woman gently patted his back and soothed him in a soft voice.
Lin Lan listened for a while with her eyes half-closed. After the old woman coaxed the little boy back to sleep, she also drifted off into a hazy slumber.
When Lin Lan woke up, the lights in the sleeper car were already off. Only the faint green glow of the exit indicator lights along the floor of the corridor and the light from the restroom were still on.
She sat up, put on her shoes, and was about to go to the restroom when Li Xiangyang, in the middle bunk, also sat up. "Little Lan, are you going to the restroom?"
"Mhm!" Lin Lan said softly. "You’re still awake?"
"I napped this afternoon, so I can’t fall asleep now." Li Xiangyang said as he climbed down from his bunk. "I’ll go with you."
Lin Lan slapped him playfully. "I’m not a three-year-old child."
When she got to the restroom, she checked the time. It was already two in the morning.
When Lin Lan came out of the restroom, she saw Li Xiangyang standing in the aisle, watching in her direction. A warm feeling spread through her heart. Returning to the bunk area, she said to him, "I’m wide awake now. You should get some sleep."
"I’ll sleep for two hours, then you wake me up." Li Xiangyang said as he climbed into the middle bunk. Soon, the sound of deep sleep could be heard.
「The next day at dusk」
The three of them arrived safely at Yangcheng Railway Station.
Li Xiangyang took his backpack down from the luggage rack, then helped the elderly couple get their luggage down and handed it to them.
Liu Da came over from the next compartment carrying his luggage. The three of them got off the train together. He told the other two that the wholesale market wasn’t far from the station and that if they walked quickly, they could get there in less than half an hour.
The three of them left the station. Lin Lan felt that Yangcheng City was warmer than East Market. In the early 1980s, Yangcheng City had no skyscrapers or neon lights, but it was much livelier than the provincial capital.
Many men on three-wheeled pedicabs were outside the station, shouting destinations in broken Mandarin, "West Lake Road, Huanghuagang..."
Liu Da told the two that the places they were shouting were night markets in Yangcheng City. He warned them not to talk to strangers here, as there were many human traffickers and pickpockets. After dark, there were even robberies in the more secluded corners.
’Every wholesale market is probably like this,’ Lin Lan thought. ’It’s the same at the provincial capital’s wholesale market. There’s even the ’dropped wallet’ scam, specifically designed to bait greedy people into picking it up.’
’The moment you pick up the wallet, someone comes up to you and says ’finders keepers, let’s split it.’ But the only real money is the bill on top and the one on the bottom; everything in between is joss paper. Someone I know was scammed like that.’
The two of them followed Liu Da for half an hour and arrived at the Huanghuagang Wholesale Market.
’Wholesale markets in every big city seem to be close to the train station,’ she mused. ’That’s because these days, bulk goods are almost all transported by train, which is why so many people try to raid freight cars and steal cargo.’
’She knew that for many years to come, Yangcheng City’s clothing would be the trendsetter for the entire country. Many shops would boast that they sold ’Guangzhou goods,’ claiming they had the most popular styles and the newest fabrics.’