Chronicle of the 70s

By six o’clock in the evening, they arrived at Provincial City. The woman kept saying she hadn’t reached her destination, so Old Liu drove straight to the train station, and Qin Xi and Li Xianglu got off there, thanking him before they left.

At this moment, Old Liu didn’t have a good expression towards the people on the car, he directly opened the door and let everyone out. He had been patient throughout the journey, and besides, his family’s leader held a much higher position than Wang Family’s—still in office—and the descendants of the Wang Family had to be polite to him. A nanny’s child acting so arrogantly, he simply kicked them out and drove away.

Outside, Li Xianglu was looking at things, while Qin Xi found someone and bought two tickets for the seven-thirty train. There was still an hour and a half before departure, so they couldn’t go far, thus the two headed to the State-owned canteen at the train station. It was mealtime and quite crowded. Qin Xi asked Li Xianglu, who said he had a full lunch and wanted to have some noodle soup.

At the counter, Qin Xi was delighted to find they had Lanzhou noodles, so he ordered a large bowl and a small bowl, adding two cents for two small plates of pickled vegetables.

After a soupy meal, although sweating, they both felt comfortable. At the counter, Qin Xi bought ten hard-boiled eggs since there weren’t any tea eggs around yet.

By the time they finished eating and entered the waiting room, it was already seven o’clock, and according to the hand-written signs, it appeared there were no delays.

In a few minutes, they began checking tickets and both boarded smoothly. Because they had luggage, Qin Xi pulled some strings to secure two officer cabins, and luckily, there were no other passengers. Both stayed together, and Li Xianglu was extremely happy.

Qin Xi put all the luggage under the bed, then let Li Xianglu go freshen up first.

After Li Xianglu returned, it was Qin Xi’s turn. Although there were no other passengers, and each originally had a bunk (top and down), Li Xianglu thought someone might join midway. Since they had beds available, they didn’t occupy other bunks.

Sure enough, during the night, two young girls came aboard. They appeared to be in their early twenties and both were very cheerful and outgoing. They introduced themselves briefly: the round-faced, chubby one with a bob haircut called herself Tian Tian, true to her name, always laughing; the other, slender and somewhat aloof woman, was named Lin Dongxue.