Starting a new chapter in life

"Big cities are great. Putting aside everything else, there are more opportunities. No matter what, we women need to have our own income. The harvest is better now, so when you get there, you should look around and find something that can earn you money. That way, you'll feel more secure," Aunt Chen advised Jingyan.

Turning to Ren Cuihua, he said, "Is this the back of your house? Just give me sixty yuan in rent every year at the beginning of October. Of course, you have to take good care of my house. If you need anything, you can come to me. I will try my best to help. We all leave our homes behind and it's not easy for us."

After Aunt Chen finished giving her instructions, Sister Gao took the two of them to the neighborhood office to settle the water and electricity bills. The electrician followed them to the door to read the meter and calculate the bill: "It's two yuan and ninety cents in total."

Jingyan paid the money, and Sister Gao left with the plumber. "Sister-in-law, there are two keys to this gate. I'll give you one. We're leaving early tomorrow. When you move in, remember I put the house key in a small hole under the steps by the door. You won't see it unless you look closely, okay?"

Ren Cuihua glanced at the small pit and nodded, "Okay, don't worry, I can find it."

Even after the Gao family had left and gone quite a distance, you could still hear the two children chattering about what they would raise and plant in their future home, their words filled with anticipation for the future.

The train journey would take all day, and regardless of whether the food was good or not, it was definitely not cheap. So the two of them ate and then went to the supply and marketing cooperative. They bought a pound of sponge cake, which is easy to break when squeezed, a box of biscuits, a pound of milk candy, and two bottles of canned fruit. After picking and choosing, Jingyan once again lamented that there was too little food that could be taken on a long trip these days.

Finally, Jingyan bought a pound of eggs. When she got home, she filled a basin with water and put it on the stove to boil the eggs. No matter what, the eggs were cooked. After they cooled, she put them together with the steamed egg custard she had bought to eat on the way.

Before five o'clock the next morning, He Zhijun got up, boiled water for washing his face, woke Jingyan up, turned around and turned off the stove. After washing up, the two folded the bedding on the bed, tied it with the sheets, took out a large net bag, put the bedding in it, and then put two basins stacked in the net bag with the bottoms facing out. He Zhijun tried to carry the net bag on his shoulder and found it easy.

Jingyan tied the nylon bag containing their changes of clothes together with a rope and slung it over her shoulder like a satchel. She also carried a military water bottle on her back and had her small wallet in the inside pocket of her clothes. Inside the wallet were a letter of introduction, train tickets, and a few yuan in change. The thousand yuan she had saved over the years had already been wired to Cui Hongru by He Zhijun. These days, you have to withdraw your savings from the place where you deposited it; you can't do it in a different place. It's not safe to carry it around with you, so she had to ask her family for help.

Jingyan put the last hundred yuan into the pocket of her underwear; now that she was wearing thick clothes, it would be safe. He Zhijun had about three hundred yuan on him, which he kept himself. Although Jingyan also wanted him to hide it in his underwear, she gave up after two unsuccessful attempts to persuade him. With their bags and belongings, the two locked the door, put away the key, and locked the front door with the door lock, leaving the home they had lived in for more than two years under the cover of night.

It was already 5:30 when they left home. The two of them were hungry and hadn't drunk any water. They went straight to the state-run restaurant. Although there weren't many choices for breakfast, it was hot. They ordered a plate of dumplings, two steamed buns, two bowls of porridge, and a dish of pickled vegetables. They also asked the waiter to fill their military water bottles with hot water. After they were full, they bought four large steamed buns to take home and eat in the car.

The two hurried and finally arrived at the station at 6:20. Fortunately, the station wasn't very big these days, and they had enough time to get to the ticket gate. After waiting a little while on the platform, the train arrived. They boarded, found their seats, put their two large bags of luggage on the luggage rack, and Jingyan finally sat down. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked out the window. By then, it was already bright outside. Touching the hard seat beneath her, Jingyan felt a sense of wonder once again.

This green train has a long history. In her previous life, when she passed away at the age of fifty, although there were more comfortable express trains, this kind of green train that stopped at every station was still in use. Therefore, she has a strong sense of familiarity with this scene now. Well, although the ride is not very comfortable, it still feels very familiar.

The journey of less than two hours passed relatively quickly. When they arrived at Harbin Station, the two of them squeezed off the train with the flow of people. Once on the platform, breathing in the fresh, cold air, Jingyan coughed twice from the choking sensation and looked at He Zhijun: "Which platform do we need to transfer to, or should we just wait here?"

"You stay here and watch the luggage. Give me the ticket, and I'll go ask the conductor." He Zhijun said, placing the luggage on the edge of the platform and having Jing Yan stand there to watch it while he took the ticket and went to ask someone.

He rushed back in a short while: "We need to change platforms. We don't have much time left, so we have to hurry." As he spoke, He Zhijun picked up his luggage, grabbed his food, and headed in another direction.

Jingyan quickly shouldered the bag and ran after him. The man had long strides, and his walking speed was comparable to Jingyan's jogging speed. When the two of them arrived at the correct platform, the train had already arrived. There was no time to find the carriage, so they rushed onto the train first. They stood at the door to catch their breath. After the train had been running for a while, the two of them finally had time to ask where the sleeper carriages were.

Dragging their bags, they slowly moved through the carriages, three carriages in total, taking half an hour, before finally entering the sleeper carriage. It was much easier to walk there. At the carriage door, the ticket inspector confirmed their tickets and gave them directions. By the time they finally put their luggage away and could rest for a while, they were too tired to move at all.

"Jingyan, sit down for a while. I'll go ask where I can get some hot water. Give me the water bottle." He Zhijun was in much better physical condition than her and recovered first. Jingyan took off the military water bottle that was slung over her shoulder and handed it to him: "There's still water here, but it probably won't be very hot."

He Zhijun unscrewed the lid, took a small sip, and said, "It's not that it's not hot anymore, it's completely cold. You sit and wait for me to come back."

Jing Yan nodded and didn't say anything more.

He Zhijun was walking towards the carriage door with his military water bottle when he encountered a train attendant: "Comrade, where can I get hot water? The kind you can drink."

The train attendant replied, "Which carriage are you in? Someone will bring you water in a little while. Go back and wait. The hot water at the carriage entrance is usually not boiled. You can wash up, but I don't recommend drinking it. Are you in a hurry?"

He Zhijun thanked her, told her his carriage number, and took his water bottle back. Once inside the sleeper carriage, Jing Yan had recovered: "Did you find hot water?"

"A flight attendant will come to refill our water in a little while. We can wait in the carriage." He then placed the water bottle on the dining table.

"Come, sit down for a while." Jingyan patted the edge of the lower bunk.

He Zhijun sat down as instructed: "Drink some hot water later. If you get sleepy, go to the upper bunk to sleep. I'm on the lower bunk. People come and go all the time, so the upper bunk is safer."

Jing Yan nodded: "Okay, I'm not sleepy right now, let's talk later. Are you hungry? It's almost noon, time for lunch." Just then, the train arrived at a platform and people started boarding. Two more men entered the carriage that had previously only contained the couple. They seemed to be strangers. Checking their tickets, they chose their berths, took off their shoes, and wow, the smell was truly pungent.

Jing Yan frowned. She had lost her appetite for lunch. The two men probably knew her feet smelled sweaty, but they couldn't just go to bed without taking off their shoes. Once they hid their feet under the covers, the smell gradually faded. Hmm, maybe they were just getting used to the smell? He Zhijun saw that the people opposite him had finished tidying up and asked, "Comrade, can we open the car window for a few minutes to let some fresh air in?"

The two men were a little embarrassed and nodded, "Ah, okay, I've covered myself with the blanket, you can open it now."

In the dead of winter, the train windows were a bit difficult to open. Eventually, the person in the lower bunk opposite helped to push the window open, and the cold air rushed in forcefully. Although it was very cold, it diluted the original sour smell, and Jingyan felt that she could breathe much more easily.

Less than five minutes after the window was opened, a train attendant came over to bring hot water. Feeling the obvious cold air, the attendant shouted, "Who opened the window in the middle of winter? Is it because the carriage is too warm? Close it, close it now!"

He Zhijun and the man in the lower bunk opposite him exchanged a glance, got up in unison, and rolled up the windows together. The smell in the ventilated carriage did indeed become much fresher.

The flight attendant went to their door, saw the two of them who weren't fully seated, glared at them, but didn't say anything more: "Who needs hot water? We'll bring it now, the next time is in three hours, so hurry up if you need hot water."

He Zhijun quickly grabbed the military water bottle hanging by the window, poured half of its cold water into the empty lunchbox, and handed it over: "I need to add some hot water, thank you for your help, comrade."

The flight attendant filled the military water bottle and handed it back to him: "The carriage is stuffy in the dead of winter, and the smell is indeed not good, but we can't open the windows. There are children here, and if they catch a cold, there are no doctors on the train. Let's all be understanding. We can't open the windows anymore. It's not easy to heat up a little bit of steam."

He Zhijun took the water bottle and apologized profusely: "It was my oversight that caused trouble for my comrade. I won't open the car window again. I'm sorry."

Seeing that he was quite remorseful, the flight attendant didn't pursue the matter further. She picked up her water bottle and walked to the back. He Zhijun took a sip of water from the bottle and handed it to Jing Yan: "The water is warm, not hot, just right to drink. Be careful and drink slowly."

Jingyan took the water bottle and drank a few sips, which made her dry throat feel much better. "Want something to eat? We have eggs and steamed egg custard in our bag. The steamed buns are probably cold. I don't know where we can heat them up."

“If you’re hungry, why don’t you eat something first? I’ll take the steamed buns to the dining car tonight and ask if they can heat them up. If not, we’ll talk about it later. You can’t eat cold food, it’s easy to get an upset stomach,” He Zhijun said.

Jingyan shook her head: "I'm not hungry yet. I'll go lie down on the top bunk. This train is swaying a lot; it feels quite sleepy."

"Okay~, come down when you're hungry."

Jing Yan climbed up, handed the shoes to He Zhijun, and then, with a hint of disgust, tore open the quilt from the sleeper berth and covered herself with it. She started covering herself with the quilt from her chest down, then covered her shoulders with her own cotton-padded coat so she wouldn't have to smell the greasy quilt. Ugh, disgusting. She really wanted to take apart the quilt she had brought with her and use it, but then she thought about how she would have to pack it back up the day after tomorrow, which would be too much trouble, so she decided against it.

She drifted off to sleep, and He Zhijun lay down for a while as well. When he got up halfway through, he looked up at the upper bunk and immediately understood her dislike when he saw how Jingyan covered herself with the blanket. He pulled out a net bag from under the bed, pulled out the blanket, and patted Jingyan: "Jingyan, wake up."

Jingyan opened her eyes and looked at him: "What's wrong?"

“If you’re not used to the sleeper quilt, switch to our own quilt. Give me yours and use this.” He Zhijun held the quilt in his right hand higher so she could see it.

Jingyan sat up, put her cotton-padded coat on the inside of the bed, pulled the quilt over and kicked it down the bed, then took the quilt from her and covered herself with it, saying, "Since you brought out the quilt, why don't you use our mattress? The quilts in the car smell."

He Zhijun shook his head: "I don't need it, you can cover it."

Jingyan was still a little dazed, so she didn't say much. She covered herself with her own blanket and felt much more comfortable. She turned over and fell asleep again soon after.

The man opposite He Zhijun asked, "Is this your wife? Are you newlyweds?"

He Zhijun shook his head: "It's not a newlywed wedding, we've been married for more than two years."

"Where are you going? To be able to buy sleeper tickets, you either need to be a government employee or have connections on the railway. Who are you?"

“We’re going back to our hometown, Jinshi. I’m just a soldier, and the army logistics helped us buy the tickets,” He Zhijun said, half-truthfully.

Upon hearing that he was a soldier, the man's attitude immediately became much more serious: "A soldier, no wonder you have such a tall and straight posture. Oh, you must pamper your wife a bit, military wives have it tough."

He Zhijun smiled but didn't say anything. Soon it quieted down. The sleeper compartment was much quieter; the two of them generally didn't leave their compartment except to wash up or use the toilet. The two people opposite them were also on a long-haul trip. It had been the four of them the whole way. They had taken the steamed buns to the dining car to heat them up and eat them on the first night.

Breakfast of eggs and steamed sponge cake was alright, but lunch and dinner were a bit of a problem. He Zhijun didn't want to skimp on himself, so he took Jingyan to the dining car to buy food. In Jingyan's limited memories of train travel, the boxed meals on trains were both unpalatable and expensive, but the food in the dining car at this time was actually quite good. Apart from being a bit pricey, there was nothing wrong with it.

Finally arriving in Jinshi, the two of them got off the train with large bags and squeezed out of the train station. Jingyan watched over the luggage in a corner of the ticket hall, while He Zhijun queued up to buy tickets back to Yangshi.