Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

I heard the broadcast.

Hou San stood up and said, "Brother Dong, we should go eat."

Li Xiangdong got up and followed Hou San toward the dining car. He jokingly asked with a smile, "Was the voice on the radio nicer, or was Kong Dani's voice nicer?"

Hou San turned to look at him and said with certainty, "Of course, Da Ni's voice is more pleasant."

"is it?"

"Yes, Dani's voice is sweet."

"I think it's just that you feel sweet inside."

"Hehe~"

The two chatted as they walked through the carriages to the dining car, which was located between the hard seats and sleeper berths.

The blackboard at the food serving window reads: Staple foods include steamed buns, rice, and noodles.

Spicy chicken 1.2 yuan, braised fish fillets 1 yuan, braised pork fillets 0.9 yuan, braised pork ribs 0.6 yuan.

A hard seat ticket costs only 2.9 yuan...

As soon as Li Xiangdong saw the price, he knew in his heart that this was not something for ordinary people to eat!

Indeed, many passengers couldn't even afford the 0.3 yuan boxed meal, and when they were hungry, they would eat the pickled vegetables and cornbread they brought with them.

If there's absolutely no cornbread or pickled vegetables, then just drink water to fill your stomach, since water is free anyway.

Drink as much as you want!

Li Xiangdong and Hou San handed over their meal tickets, and the two of them took their staff meals and randomly found a small, empty table to sit down.

The windows in the dining car are larger than those in the hard-seat carriages, making the entire carriage feel brighter.

Li Xiangdong ate his employee meal, which consisted of one meat dish and two vegetable dishes, while looking out the window and listening to the cheerful songs playing on the radio.

This ease and comfort gave him an indescribable sense of relaxation.

While Li Xiangdong was still eating slowly, Hou San had already finished and put the lunchbox back at the food counter. After sitting down, he said, "Brother Dong, can you eat faster? Don't eat like a little girl, okay?"

Li Xiangdong swallowed the rice in his mouth. "Eating is about chewing slowly and carefully. I'm not in a hurry, so why are you?"

Hou San scratched his head. "It's not that I'm in a hurry, it's that I'm afraid the train conductor will be in a hurry. The passengers have all finished eating by now. If there isn't enough water later, the train conductor will definitely give us trouble."

"Damn it, why didn't you say so sooner!"

Li Xiangdong slapped his forehead; he was so relaxed that he forgot all about his job.

He immediately picked up the lunchbox, ate it in a few bites, put the lunchbox down, and then pulled Hou San to run out of the dining car.

As Li Xiangdong opened the door, he nearly collided with a small cart coming from the opposite direction!

He stopped abruptly, and Hou San bumped into him from behind. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and braced himself against the carriage.

Li Xiangdong looked at the mountain of empty lunch boxes on the small cart in front of him and felt extremely fortunate!

If we were to crash into that, cleaning it up would be a huge undertaking!

The two quickly stood close to one side of the carriage, letting the train attendant pushing the cart pass first.

After another flurry of activity, Li Xiangdong and Hou San filled all the insulated water tanks on the entire train. The two were finally free and returned to the rest room to wait for the train to pull into Tianjin Station.

The distance from Beijing Station to Tianjin Station is 137 kilometers and takes two and a half hours.

However, due to delays in departure and arrival, it was almost 2 PM when the train finally stopped at Jinmen Station.

Passengers disembarked one after another, and the train attendants began cleaning.

Hou San stopped Li Xiangdong, who was carrying a cloth bag and wanted to get off the bus for some fresh air, and said, "Brother Dong, let's get off later."

Li Xiangdong asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Hou San leaned out of the train window and pointed towards the platform, saying, "The train conductor is down there."

Li Xiangdong glanced in the direction the finger was pointing and immediately sat down without hesitation.

When you have nothing to do, you can find a place to hide, but never hang around in front of your boss.

I sat there for almost half an hour.

They hurriedly got off the train as soon as they saw Ah Zhe appear on the platform.

The three of them had just gathered together for a smoke when someone notified them of a meeting.

The train conductor's office carriage.

"Our train back to Beijing is at 2 PM tomorrow. We'll board the train early after lunch tomorrow."

After the train conductor finished speaking, he looked at the seven or eight newcomers, including Li Xiangdong, and said, "You guys need to keep an eye on the time. Don't be careless. Our train doesn't wait for anyone. Nobody is allowed to be late. Do you understand?"

"heard it."

Among the scattered voices, only Li Xiangdong and A Zhe, the two outsiders, had the loudest voices.

The train conductor's face darkened, and he shouted again, "Did you hear me?!"

"heard it!"

Seeing the train conductor unleash his power, no one dared to be perfunctory anymore, and everyone shouted at the top of their lungs.

The veteran employees watched the show with their arms crossed, while Hou San stood to the side, laughing so hard he was practically standing on tiptoe.

The train conductor reminded everyone again, "Please be careful while traveling and try not to wander around. We're going to the guesthouse now."

He said it like that, but he knew in his heart that no one would listen to him.

Everyone's scrambling to get on the train, isn't it all just to get out and trade things? Why would they even bother getting on the train if they weren't staying in the guesthouse?

After the brief meeting, everyone walked together towards the guesthouse, and in the distance, they could still see the Tianjin Liberation Bridge.

The guesthouse is located not far from the Tianjin Railway Station.

Looking at the two-story red brick building in front of him, along with the several large poplar trees in the yard, Li Xiangdong thought he had come to the filming location of a suspense TV series!

Li Xiangdong and Hou San shared a room.

A small, cramped room with two single beds with metal frames, a table, and two benches.

There was a small mirror hanging on the wall, and below it was an iron rack for washing up, on which was a washbasin.

The whole room was empty, and there wasn't even a curtain on the window.

Li Xiangdong walked over, picked up the thermos, and shook it. "Hou San, let's go get some water together."

"okay."

Hou San also picked up a thermos, and the two walked together toward the water room.

As they passed the restroom, Li Xiangdong put down the thermos and said, "I'm going to use the restroom. Wait here for me."

The guesthouse had old-fashioned flush toilets, with a long waterway divided into individual stalls.

Ah Zhe was squatting in one of the stalls when he saw Li Xiangdong come in and greeted him, "Dongzi."

"Ah."

After Li Xiangdong finished relieving himself and fastened his pants, he looked at A Zhe and laughed, "You're smart, kid. You even know you can't squat in the first or last stall of this kind of toilet."

A Zhe asked in confusion, "What's wrong with the first and the last ones?"

Li Xiangdong said meaningfully, "There's a surprise."

Anyone with experience with toilets like this knows that when you flush the first stall, you might end up with a pile of water foam on your butt. If you're unlucky enough to get splashed, you can only pray that the water wasn't recycled.

Because in many places, the water in the urinals is recycled to the toilets after it runs out...

The last pit is just as impressive, not only with its foamy texture, but also with a smell that's so strong it'll make your head explode!

Just as Li Xiangdong was walking out of the restroom, Hou San walked in. "Brother Dong, why are you taking so long? Huh~"

He saw Ah Zhe, grinned, bent down, and tilted his head to look. "Hahaha, it's actually little Ah Zhe~"

Ah Zhe blushed and said shamefully, "You talk like you're some big shot!"

Hou San straightened up, tilted his head back, and replied in a serious tone, "I'm 19, I can get married next year when I'm 20!"