The 1970s: Military Family Beauty

Jiang Furong slept all the way until the bus arrived at the terminal. The conductor shouted, "We've arrived at the station!" Then she opened her eyes drowsily and looked at the unfamiliar and strange environment around her. For a moment, she didn't know where she was.

Uncle Chen joked with her before getting off the bus: "Little girl, you can really sleep!"

"Oh oh oh." Jiang Furong woke up and quickly touched her face to see if she had drooled after falling asleep. She raised her hand to touch the mask and felt a little cold under her chin.

She looked at Wei Heng's shoulder guiltily. Fortunately, there was no mark. "Hehehe, I'm carsick."

Wei Heng did not expose her lame excuse. After all, she had been cooperative and kept quiet in the car just now.

After most people had gotten off the bus, he stood up and said, "Let's go. It's already ten o'clock."

He deliberately got off the bus at the end because he saw Jiang Furong had just woken up from her sleep and would easily catch a cold if he got off the bus right away.

The two of them walked out of the station and onto the street. Jiang Furong took off her mask to get some fresh air and immediately smelled the aroma of fried dough sticks. She was so greedy that her mouth was watering: "It smells so good, so good, so good!"

Wei Heng glanced at Jiang Furong and said, "Are you hungry? If you want to eat, go to the next intersection and cross the road, turn right. There's a restaurant just past the next intersection. Their pancakes are better than here, and they're two cents cheaper."

Wei Heng didn't know why. He felt that some of Jiang Furong's behaviors were suspicious, but when he saw her sleepy and greedy look, he thought of his innocent sister and was afraid that she would suffer.

"I'm not hungry, I just think it smells delicious!" Jiang Furong pinched the money in her pocket and immediately felt neither hungry nor thirsty.

It turns out that selling delicious food near the station is more expensive than elsewhere, which is an eternal business practice.

"I have to go, be careful on the road." Wei Heng had to go to another place to take a bus back to school and couldn't waste time.

Jiang Furong grabbed Wei Heng's arm and pleaded in a low voice: "Wait, can you buy a ticket for me? Look at all the people over there, and the line is so long."

Based on her experience of buying a ticket at the county bus station just now, if Wei Heng hadn't helped her, she might not be able to buy a ticket even after waiting in line for an hour.

It was really strange. She didn't know what the ticket sellers were busy with, but the line outside the window didn't move at all. She stared at it for a long time, but the line over there didn't move forward at all.

The noble man is right beside us, how can we let him run away?

Wei Heng thought for a moment and said, "I'll go with you to the train station. If you buy a ticket here and miss the train, it will be invalid."

Jiang Furong was of course very happy. She grabbed Wei Heng's arm and jumped up high on the spot: "Thank you, Captain Wei, you are such a good person!"

Wei Heng pulled his arm back: "Alright, be careful of the impact."

This is the street, and he is still wearing a military uniform. Image is very important.

Jiang Furong chuckled, withdrew her hand, put on her mask, and obediently followed Wei Heng to the train station.

When I arrived at the train station, I saw the crowds of passengers in the square. There were many people waiting to pick up people at the exit. Some had their names written on pieces of paper and would quickly hold them up when they saw a group of people leaving. Some were simply relying on their eyes to identify the people they were going to pick up.

Jiang Furong was completely bewildered. There was no security guard giving directions in the train station square, no pretty girl on duty at the information desk, and no train schedule available for inquiry. She had no idea where to ask if the train was delayed or when it would arrive.

She began to understand why Wei Heng had been asking her whether it was too late.

It is not enough to just be brave enough to ask for directions. You have to run from the waiting room to the exit and then to the ticket window. The distance is not far, but you have to squeeze through the crowd, which can be exhausting.

There is a high possibility that she will not be able to pick up her grandmother.

Wei Heng met Jiang Furong at the station and walked her to a row of bungalows on the edge of the train station square. They looked like they had nothing to do with the station. He took out his ID and knocked on the door. After a while, he came out with two free platform tickets. "I asked for you. That train arrives at 11:30. I'll take you in. Wait on the platform. Don't jump around. Be careful of the noise."

Jiang Furong was so happy that she admired Wei Heng so much. She followed him obediently and went straight through the ticket gate from the waiting room.

There were green lights all the way and I arrived directly at the platform.

The provincial capital is the provincial capital. Although it was still 1976, the train station already had four tracks and four platforms, and there was also an overpass over the tracks.

When would the train arrive? Which platform would it stop at? Jiang Furong was too lazy to think. She just craned her neck and looked around, like she was watching an old movie.

When your mind is at peace, you have the leisure to appreciate unimportant scenery.

Wei Heng looked at his watch: "There's still half an hour left. Do you know which car we're in? If not, wait at the exit."

Jiang Furong is now Wei Heng's fangirl and obeys his every word: "The letter says it's carriage number four."

Wei Heng really knew everything: "Carriage 4 is the hard-seat car, at the front. You see, regular express trains and through trains are on this platform, while passing trains and slow trains are on the innermost platform."

"Wow! Captain Wei, you know everything!" Jiang Furong lost no time in filming, fearing that he would say at any moment that he wanted to leave first and leave her here alone.

Wei Heng studied engineering, and the arrangement of these transportation routes was essential basic knowledge. Combined with his previous observations while riding in a car, he could easily determine the arrangement of parking spaces.

Normally he thought this was a necessary skill for him, but now that Jiang Furong praised him, he actually felt a sense of superiority.

"I have to go, please be careful." Wei Heng looked at his watch. If he didn't leave now, he would not be able to get back to school in time.

Jiang Furong had no choice but to wave goodbye to Wei Heng reluctantly, and watched his back disappear behind the crowd at the exit.

After a while, a train finally came slowly.

The locomotive crew blew the whistle hard, shouted loudly to move back and be careful, and waved the signal flag in their hands towards the train.

Jiang Furong's eyes widened as she nervously looked at the license plate and number on the train, muttering to herself, "This is the train! This is the train! Ah, it's carriage number four. Here we come."

She ran after carriage number four on the platform, and her aunt Jiang Xiaocui shouted happily from the open window: "Furong, Furong! We are here!"

After seeing each other, all the anxieties of the people in and out of the car disappeared in an instant.

Grandma Jiang got out of the car, hugged Jiang Furong, and started crying as she spoke: "My granddaughter has grown up, it's great! Good, good things."

Jiang Furong immediately felt her grandmother's sincere love for her.

Aunt Jiang Xiaocui was in her early thirties. She had watched Jiang Furong grow up since she was little. The two had a deep bond. She held Jiang Furong's hand, crying and laughing like good sisters: "Furong has really grown up. I thought... Oh, look at my memory. Furong has grown up and is more beautiful than when she was a child."

Jiang Furong also felt a sense of familiarity when she saw Jiang Xiaocui. She wiped her tears and regained her rationality: "Auntie, let's go directly to the bus station after leaving the station and buy a ticket for two o'clock, otherwise it will be too late."

Jiang Xiaocui wiped her face, bent down, divided the four bags into two piles, and carried them on a shoulder pole. "Let's go! Is the bus station far? Can we make it in time by running?"

Jiang Furong laughed: "No need to run, just walk there, it will be there in half an hour."

Those bags of luggage looked quite heavy, and the shoulder pole had even pressed down the cotton-padded jackets.

They followed the crowd out of the station. Jiang Furong smelled the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes and thought to herself that she was hungry, and her grandmother and aunt must be hungry too. "I brought some steamed buns, Grandma, would you like to have one first?"

Grandma Jiang waved her hands and said, "Look how panicked I am. I still have two eggs here, which I saved especially for you. Take them quickly and eat them when you are hungry."

"Okay," Jiang Furong said without hesitation. She found a place to stop by the roadside, peeled the eggs and ate them. "Grandma's eggs are still the most delicious."

If she doesn't eat something, she'll faint from hunger.

Jiang Xiaocui took the opportunity to put down her luggage and swung her arms: "Switch shoulders later."

A fellow villager who was pushing a wheelbarrow nearby said, "My sweet potatoes are really delicious. They taste like chestnuts when cooked. Auntie, buy some to take home for your children."

Jiang Furong looked at the small wheelbarrow and came up with an idea: "How much is your sweet potato?"

"Five cents a pound." The fellow villager named a price.

Jiang Xiaocui shook her head: "Where we are, freshly dug out of the ground is only two cents a pound. Yours is too expensive."

The fellow was not convinced: "Even if I fill up the whole bag, it still costs three cents per pound. I've never heard of it costing two cents."

Jiang Furong ignored their argument and estimated how many sweet potatoes were in the bag: "So how much did you get this time?"

When the fellow heard this, he stood up excitedly and said, "I took 50 kilograms with me when I left home, and now I only have about 30 kilograms left."

Jiang Xiaocui asked in confusion: "Can't we buy sweet potatoes at home? They are so expensive!"

Fearing he would lose business, the fellow villager quickly declared, "I have 30 kilograms in this bag, no more, no less. If you don't believe me, just carry it in your hands. So, sister, I'll give you another 10 cents off, so you can take it all for 80 cents."

Jiang Furong finished her eggs, clapped her hands, and pretended to hesitate: "We need to go to the long-distance bus station now. We already have a lot of stuff, and if we carry all this, we might not be able to walk."

How could the fellow villager bear to give up this rare business? "I'll take you to the station, okay? Big sister, put two bags of your luggage on my car and I'll push it over for you both."

Grandma Jiang didn't understand what was going on, so she told them to stop spending money and go home quickly.

The fellow villager moved quickly and had already taken two bags of luggage from Jiang Xiaocui's shoulder pole and placed them on the wheelbarrow. He tied them up twice with ropes and said excitedly, "Don't worry, Auntie. My sweet potatoes are delicious. I guarantee you'll want to come see me again after you finish eating them."

Jiang Furong took out a dollar from her pocket, looked at it, and put it back in her pocket: "I'll give you the money when we get to the bus station. I'm afraid you'll run away halfway."

The fellow villager hurriedly followed, pushing his cart. He repeatedly assured himself that he was a good person and would never frame anyone. He said that there was no one around the train station who didn't know him and didn't say good things about him. He kept saying this until he reached the provincial bus station: "What's the matter? I keep my word, right?"

Jiang Furong was very satisfied. As for the sweet potatoes, they had to buy them tomorrow if they didn't buy them today. If they bought them now, wouldn't there be one more person to help them push the luggage?

She took out a dollar and was about to hand it over when Jiang Xiaocui stopped her: "I have some change here. Don't break your dollar. Exchange it with me."