Chronicle of the 70s

All the way, Li Xianglu was in a bad mood and did not wish to speak, staring out the window or quietly leaning on Qin Xi’s shoulder, lost in thought.

In front, a woman fussed with her make-up for a while and then took a nap. When she woke up, she looked outside to see the same yellowish-brown slopes and asked the driver unhappily, "Why are we still here? Why don’t you drive faster?"

The driver glanced at her but did not speak, just drove as usual.

Seeing this response, the woman got irate and turned to look at Qin Xi and Li Xianglu sitting behind her.

When she saw Qin Xi, her eyes lit up and she feigned a surprised tone, "Comrade, where are you going? I wasn’t feeling well when I got on and took a nap, so I didn’t have a chance to greet you."

She obviously ignored Li Xianglu, a living person right there, and only greeted Qin Xi.

Qin Xi gave her a bland look and, without saying anything, leaned back in his seat and pretended to sleep.

Surprised by his lack of response, the woman felt somewhat embarrassed. Being naturally thick-skinned, it didn’t affect her and she called out to Li Xianglu, "Hey hey, where are you going?"

Li Xianglu turned her head and saw the woman’s heavily made-up face looking like it was smeared with clay. She couldn’t help but smile wryly, leaning softly on Qin Xi’s shoulder as if she too was about to fall asleep.

The woman in front was dumbstruck. She could tell that these two were probably girlfriend and boyfriend, but she didn’t want to accept it, wondering why such a good man already had a girlfriend.

Seeing that no one paid attention to her, she stared irritably out of the window, urging the driver to go faster from time to time.

Halfway through the trip, the woman insisted on stopping to eat, so the driver had no choice but to stop in front of a State-owned canteen in a county town.