My wife and I are both time travelers.

Chapter 67 A Midway Interlude
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Xu Guoqing acted quickly, and by the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, he had obtained the necessary letters of introduction.

No one knows where he got the connections, but he actually managed to get a letter of introduction from the machinery factory. The letter had his and Zhou Jiye's names on it, and it was valid for one month. He also got two work permits with their photos on them. The reason for going to Lingnan was, of course, a business trip on official business.

After obtaining the letter of introduction, Zhou Jiye and Xu Guoqing bought train tickets. Once they had the tickets, he went back and started making preparations.

To avoid worrying Fang Manxia, ​​Zhou Jiye simply said that he had to go back to his hometown to take care of some things. As for Lin Ying, she would stay in Shanghai and not go back this time, which would also make it easier for her to take care of Fang Manxia.

Fang Manxia didn't suspect where Zhou Jiye was going. She smiled and said she knew, and told him to be careful on the road. She also told him to bring back some local specialties from Shanghai as gifts for visiting relatives and friends.

After making some preparations, Zhou Jiye arrived at the train station the next day at noon dressed in an ordinary blue cotton coat, with a military green satchel slung over his shoulder and a faux leather bag with the words "Shanghai" printed on it. He looked no different from any other person on a business trip.

He met Xu Guoqing outside the train station. Upon seeing him, he noticed that Xu Guoqing's clothes and appearance were similar to his. The two looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.

After entering the waiting room, they waited for about an hour until it was time to board. They got up, took their luggage, had their tickets checked, and passed through the ticket gate before arriving at the platform.

Although Xu Guoqing managed to obtain a letter of introduction, he was unable to secure a sleeper berth.

Nowadays, you can't just buy a sleeper ticket with a letter of introduction. You have to be a cadre, and a cadre of a certain rank. Otherwise, you simply can't get this privilege.

Just like when they first came to Shanghai, they were traveling in ordinary hard seats. The distance from Shanghai to Lingnan was several hundred kilometers farther than the distance from the provincial capital to Shanghai back then. In other words, they would spend at least two days and two nights on the train, a long and difficult journey.

There were quite a few people on the train. We squeezed through the crowd, boarded, and found our seats. After putting our luggage away, the two of us sat down next to each other and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at the noisy and chaotic crowd in the carriage, Zhou Jiye was also glad that Lin Ying hadn't come along. Back then, there was no other way to come to Shanghai from the Northwest. This time, it was even farther from Shanghai to Lingnan Road. If Lin Ying had come, let alone her, even Zhou Jiye and Xu Guoqing would have had a hard time staying up for two days and two nights.

As the whistle sounded, the train started moving, and the rhythmic clanging of the wheels against the rails began to echo in the carriages.

At first, the carriage was bustling with activity, with passengers chatting and laughing, appearing quite relaxed.

However, as the monotonous journey grew longer and longer, with frequent stops for passengers to get on and off, people's feelings changed from initial ease to restlessness. The carriage became much quieter, and as night fell, most people could no longer bear the fatigue of the journey and began to slump over and fall fast asleep.

Zhou Jiye and Xu Guoqing were both experienced travelers, especially the latter. They hid their valuables on their person, either in the lining of their underwear, in the spaces cut out of the soles of their shoes, or even separately in their waistbands.

This is naturally for safety reasons. Zhou Jiye had experienced this firsthand on the train to Shanghai. Although he didn't lose any money, his perfectly good pair of pants were slashed, which made him extremely frustrated.

As for the luggage and bags I carried, they contained some unimportant items, such as some changes of clothes and daily necessities, as well as dry food for the journey.

In addition to these, Xu Guoqing also brought two special "weapons": a boning knife and a rolling pin as thick as a child's arm.

Isn't it normal for a chef to carry kitchen utensils? This boning knife, including the handle, is about a foot long and gleaming coldly. Xu Guoqing even specially made a sheath out of leather, similar to a gun holster, hanging under his left armpit, so it's completely invisible when he's wearing a coat.

As for the rolling pin, it was obviously something Xu Guoqing grabbed from the kitchen without thinking, and it was an old thing that had been used for a long time.

The rolling pin made of jujube wood is thick and heavy, and feels great in the hand. If you use this thing to smash your head down, even if your head doesn't burst, you'll be dizzy for a while. If you hit your arm, it might break.

Upon meeting outside the train station, Xu Guoqing secretly slipped a rolling pin to Zhou Jiye, instructing him to carry it for self-defense. He earnestly told Zhou Jiye that if he ever encountered such a person, he absolutely must not be soft-hearted; he must be ruthless when necessary, otherwise he would be the one to suffer.

Zhou Jiye understood immediately and tucked the rolling pin directly into his lower back. Although sitting like this was a bit uncomfortable, the sense of security it provided made him feel much more at ease.

The night passed peacefully, but as soon as dawn broke the next day, the carriage seemed to wake up all at once and began to make noise again.

Zhou Jiye and Xu Guoqing went to wash up separately. When they came back, they took out some dry food from their luggage and ate it with the hot water they had brought. They chatted quietly while eating. After they finished their food, they lit a cigarette and smoked it, glancing intentionally or unintentionally at the passengers moving around in the carriage from time to time.

"Be careful, something's up." Xu Guoqing, who was sitting on the outside, gently nudged Zhou Jiye with his arm, and Zhou Jiye immediately perked up.

"what's the situation?"

"See those people up ahead?" Xu Guoqing asked Zhou Jiye softly, gesturing with his eyes at the same time.

Following his suggestion, Zhou Jiye looked towards the connecting area between the carriages ahead and immediately saw five people walking towards them from the previous carriage.

The leader of the group of five looked ordinary and was not young; his clothes were unremarkable. A few steps behind him, four more people walked in pairs. These four were of different heights and builds, one tall and one short, one fat and one thin. The thin man at the back, in particular, had a pointed face and bulging eyes that kept darting around, constantly glancing at the seated passengers.

"thief?"

"Heh, calling him a thief is true, but if he fails to steal, he might just turn into a bandit." Xu Guoqing sneered. He had seen many people like this before, but he never expected to meet one on the train to Lingnan today.

"Should we pretend we don't know? Or should we just grab our weapons and fight if we run into them?" Zhou Jiye's heart was pounding. Although he had been robbed on the train before, it was by accident, and the thief had long since disappeared by the time he discovered it.

This is different now; this is the first time he's faced someone like this directly. Zhou Jiye is tall and strong, and he's used to fighting. He even has a rolling pin tucked into his waistband. He's not afraid when it comes to a real fight. His adrenaline surges and his body trembles slightly, not out of fear, but out of excitement.

Noticing Zhou Jiye's unusual behavior, Xu Guoqing reached out and gently patted his thigh.

"It's okay, just watch me later."

As he spoke, a smile appeared on Xu Guoqing's lips. He continued to sit in his seat as if nothing had happened. When the leader was about two or three meters away from Xu Guoqing, Xu Guoqing deliberately raised his head and looked directly at the middle-aged man with a meaningful gaze.

As veterans in this industry, these people have exceptionally keen senses. When Xu Guoqing looked at him without any attempt to hide it, the leader immediately noticed and his two sharp gazes swept back, meeting Xu Guoqing's eyes in mid-air.

The other person stared directly at Xu Guoqing without flinching, a meaningful expression in their eyes.

Xu Guoqing focused his gaze and met the other person's eyes for a moment, then quickly laughed silently.

Then, Xu Guoqing intentionally or unintentionally lifted his coat, revealing a bit of the boning knife handle hidden under his armpit, before quickly covering it again.

Upon seeing this, the other person's gaze sharpened, and they simultaneously questioned Xu Guoqing with their eyes. Xu Guoqing remained calm, raising his hand to make a gesture—a simple line of fingers forming a shape. When the other person saw Xu Guoqing make this gesture, they seemed somewhat surprised, but quickly regained their composure and returned a similar gesture with their left hand.

Xu Guoqing's gestures changed quickly again, then he pointed to Zhou Jiye beside him and nodded slightly. The man's expression immediately relaxed, the initial tension vanished, and a smile appeared on his face.

Then, the man nodded slightly to Xu Guoqing and Zhou Jiye, and without pausing, he and his four men quickly brushed past them and went straight to the next carriage. After they left, Zhou Jiye couldn't help but ask Xu Guoqing what had just happened.

"We're pretty lucky. The other party seems to have some background. If we had run into a hothead, it wouldn't have been so easy. We might have had to resort to force today," Xu Guoqing said calmly.

He whispered to Zhou Jiye that when he opened his coat to reveal his weapon, it was to remind him that he was no ordinary person. The gesture he made was a code word used in the martial arts world, indicating that they were all fellow travelers and that they should help each other out when they met.

Those who could understand it were proof that they were all江湖人 (jianghu people, people of the martial arts world), and would naturally act according to the rules. Just as Xu Guoqing had expected, the other party could understand it and responded with gestures. Since that was the case, they followed the rules and let the carriage pass without disturbing Xu Guoqing and Zhou Jiye any longer.

However, this is not a sure thing. Just as Xu Guoqing said, if the other party is a clueless newbie, his approach will not work. In fact, Xu Guoqing's actions may be seen as provocation, and a fight may break out.

"Brother Qing, I didn't know you knew this stuff. Did you used to be involved in the underworld?"

Xu Guoqing smiled and didn't respond to that, only saying casually that people should be careful when they're out and about and never let their guard down, before changing the subject to other things.

(End of this chapter)