It takes two days and one night to get from Qi City to the capital by train. Jiang Youtao and her friends made a lot of preparations for this journey.
Put the stuffing on the rice, season it and knead it into rice balls. The dishes are cooked and packaged. Boiled eggs are indispensable when going out in this era, as well as pickles, must-have vegetables and pickled mustard tubers and other easy-to-grab side dishes.
The berth that Jiang Youtao and her roommates occupied was a sleeper berth that Han Yanqing had bought with the help of his connections, and the four of them sat exactly in the same place, with their doors facing each other.
The train left, and Han Yanqing, who had bought a standing ticket to see them off, ran after the train. Gu Nianwei kept waving at him.
The train sped up, and Han Yanqing's figure gradually faded away. Only then did Gu Nianwei withdraw her gaze.
Jiang Youtao handed her the water: "Drink some water first. Isn't Old Han going to the capital in a couple of days? Didn't he often go to meetings and not be home for a day or two? I've never seen you being so clingy."
Gu Nianwei and Han Yanqing have a good relationship. Han Yanqing lives across the street from them. Because he is the oldest among everyone, everyone affectionately calls Han Yanqing "Old Han".
Han Yanqing applied to study at the Public Security School in the capital, and it took more than a month for the higher authorities to review and approve his application. He has to hand over his work in the next few days. He has already promised Gu Nianwei that he will go to the capital to reunite with her in three days at most.
Han Yanqing is worthy of being the backbone of the smooth operation of the two small worlds. In the past two years, he has spent more than half of his time catching criminals.
Yangping County is now very safe, and many thieves in the past are now unemployed. If they want to make some money, they have to go to other counties. Therefore, Han Yanqing has the nickname of "the one who frightens even ghosts" in Yangping County.
Gu Nianwei said, "That's different." Gu Nianwei couldn't tell exactly what was different for a while.
Fu Shaohua, who was sleeping on the upper bunk, threw a book to Gu Nianwei: "Read, read, read and you won't think about so many things."
Gu Nianwei took the book and took a look, this was better.
Jiang Youtao gave Fu Shaohua a thumbs up, turned over inside, and said, "I'll take a nap."
The four of them kept their voices low. As the train swayed, Jiang Youtao fell asleep. When she woke up, the sun was almost setting outside. The attendant pushing a cart came from the end of the aisle. Before he got close, she could smell the rich aroma of food.
"We're selling boxed lunches. We have shredded pork with fish flavor, braised pork, four-happiness meatballs, and canned meat." The flight attendant's voice was a little off.
Jiang Youtao was hungry. Fu Shaohua sensed her movements and poked his head out from the upper bunk: "Would you like a box lunch?"
Jiang Youtao asked Gu Nianwei and Xu Manqiu who had just woken up, "Weiwei, Manqiu, do you want to have lunch?"
Gu Nianwei nodded: "The four-happiness meatballs and braised pork on this train are both good. Let's buy one to try and heat up the food we brought. It will be enough for the four of us."
Gu Nianwei took this train last time she went to the capital, and she had been thinking about the four-happiness meatballs on this train for several years.
Xu Manqiu said: "I will listen to you."
As the only person in the village who was admitted to university, Xu Manqiu also received money brought by Liu Manzhu before leaving. That was all raised for her by the villagers. Everyone knew that she was in financial difficulty and was afraid that she would not be able to study after being admitted to university. Before leaving, Liu Manzhu also promised that he would send her some money every month so that she could study with peace of mind.
Even if Xu Manqiu said that she had received subsidies from the university, it would be useless. Liu Manzhu and the others didn't believe it at all!
Even attending the Yuhong class and going to primary school requires money, so how can you go to university without paying a penny and even get subsidies? Even if there are subsidies, it must be enough for one person to eat. Whether you are rich or poor, you need money for writing such as brushes, inkstones, and other things.
Xu Manqiu accepted it.
She put the money away in a safe place.
Fu Shaohua waited for Jiang Youtao to make a decision, and Jiang Youtao made the final decision: "Then do as Weiwei said."
Everyone started to move. Xu Manqiu stayed behind to look after the luggage, Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei went to get hot water and heat up the food, and Fu Shaohua took the lunch box to get the food.
Coming out of their small compartment and passing by the next door, they saw a girl with excellent temperament and beautiful appearance quietly leaning against the window reading a book. It was obviously a simple green train sleeper compartment, but it gave the illusion of a three-star Michelin hotel.
There were many people at the hot water supply area, and there were even more people at mealtime. They had to wait in line for nearly half an hour before it was their turn. Gu Nianwei and Jiang Youtao filled two small basins with hot water, and when they came back, they threw the lunch boxes containing rice balls and vegetables into the basins to soak.
Fu Shaohua came back from the dining car very quickly, and with him was the person from the next cubicle where the girl had been.
Jiang Youtao tidied up the small partition, and Fu Shaohua put the dishes on it: "There are a lot of people in the dining car, all young people like us. I chatted with them while getting food there, and most of them wanted to go."
"We just found out when we went to get water."
In fact, it is not difficult to understand. School is about to start. There are a lot of educated youth from the countryside in Northeast China, and many of them have been admitted to universities. Jiang Youtao estimates that the passengers taking these trains in the past few days are probably future college students.
The food they had soaked was heated up, and Fu Shaohua opened the dishes he bought from the dining car on time.
The braised pork is fat and lean, and is a bright red color. There are four four-happiness meatballs, each as big as a baby's fist, and they are covered with a thick layer of sauce.
The four of them prepared and divided the food and started eating.
Halfway through the meal, the young man who came back with Fu Shaohua came over without warning. He glanced at the small partition in front of the four people and said, "Comrade Fu, can I borrow your bowl for heating rice?"
Just now, when Jiang Youtao and the others took out the basin to heat up the food, they put it on the table. It was probably at that time that this man saw it.
These two pots do not belong to Fu Shaohua. His eyes fell on Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei.
This wasn't a big deal, so Gu Nianwei said, "Okay. Xiao Fu, give it to him."
Fu Shaohua is younger than Han Yanqing, so Han Yanqing becomes Old Han and he becomes Little Fu.
Fu Shaohua put down his chopsticks, swiftly took out a small basin from under the lower bunk, took out a small one and handed it to him.
The man opened his mouth, wanting to borrow both, but before he could say anything, Fu Shaohua spoke first: "As you can see, there are many people here, and we need these two basins urgently. Please send them to us when you are done. Thank you."
Fu Shaohua was very polite. The man was speechless and walked away with the basin in embarrassment.
After he left, Fu Shaohua told Jiang Youtao and the others, "His last name is Du, Du Xun'an, and he is going to the same university as us. We chatted for a while while getting food just now, and I feel that this guy is not very good."
Fu Shaohua's words aroused Jiang Youtao's interest: "What do you mean?"
Fu Shaohua told Jiang Youtao what had just happened on the dining car: "Didn't I say before that most of the people on our train are students? But not many of them were admitted to Capital University. When he heard that the school they were admitted to was not very good, his attitude instantly became arrogant."
"When I told him I was from the capital, he became very enthusiastic towards me. It felt like he was flattering the powerful and bullying the weak."
Fu Shaohua doesn't like this kind of person very much.
Jiang Youtao and Gu Nianwei looked at each other and nodded in understanding. Xu Manqiu listened while eating, engraving the words "that man was not a good guy" in her mind.
After the meal, as the only male in the group, Fu Shaohua took on the responsibility of taking care of others. He collected the lunch boxes and washed them.
Passing by the next cubicle, he saw Du Xun'an, who had been so arrogant to others, talking cautiously to a good-looking young woman.
The young woman ignored him. Fu Shaohua didn't look at him and left.
When Fu Shaohua came back, it was already dark outside. The basin that Du Xun'an had borrowed had not been returned yet, and Fu Shaohua did not ask for it back.
After reading and talking for a while, not long after, everyone fell asleep again in the swaying train.
The next morning, when they got up to eat breakfast, they didn't use the basin. By noon, Du Xun'an hadn't returned it yet, so Fu Shaohua got annoyed and went to his room to ask for it back.
As soon as he entered the cubicle where Du Xun'an lived, he saw their small basin on the partition, which was filled with a lot of garbage, including fruit peels, melon seed shells, candy wrappers, and unknown liquids.
Fu Shaohua's face darkened instantly. Du Xun'an's face turned very bad the moment Fu Shaohua came in.
Fu Shaohua looked directly at Du Xun'an: "Comrade Du, when you went to our room to borrow the basin yesterday, you didn't say you wanted to use it to hold garbage!"
Fu Shaohua was very angry. This basin was made of aluminum. When he left Yangping County, his girlfriend went to the supply and marketing cooperative and queued for a long time, squeezing through a lot of people before buying it.
This basin is not big, about the size of an eight-inch soup bowl. Fu Shaohua had planned to rent a small yard when he arrived in the capital and use this basin as a soup basin! Now that it was being used as a trash can, Fu Shaohua's anger surged up.
Jiang Youtao and others heard his shout and immediately came out, followed by Gu Nianwei and Xu Manqiu.
In a blink of an eye, there was no one in the cubicle, but Gu Nianwei and the others were not afraid of their things being stolen. They didn't bring much stuff with them at all. They kept the valuables with them at all times, and they had mailed the cheap things long ago. Now the package in the room contained food and a few sets of clothes.
Jiang Youtao pushed aside the people who came to watch the fun and walked to Fu Shaohua's side: "What's going on?"
Fu Shaohua pointed his face towards the small partition and said, "Look for yourself."
Jiang Youtao's face darkened, and she cursed in her heart: "We don't want this pot anymore, you have to pay for it!"
Du Xun'an's face turned pale and blue, and he looked around with a pitiful look, then said helplessly: "This basin is not dirty, it can be used after washing, there is no need to pay for it, right? I'll go and wash it for you."
After Du Xun'an finished speaking, he was about to take the basin and go out. Jiang Youtao was also enlightened.
She has seen a lot of green teas in her two lifetimes, but someone like Du Xun'an is not even one of them.
"Don't tell me those useless things. This basin was clean and new when I lent it to you. You used it to hold garbage. No matter if it can still be used, we don't want it anymore. Because it makes me feel uncomfortable. This is not a thing for holding garbage. If you use it, you have to compensate me."
Jiang Youtao was already feeling irritated after sitting on the train for a long time. Everything was inconvenient on the train. She felt very uncomfortable, and then this thing popped up.
"We don't know each other, but we agreed to lend you the basin because we are both university alumni. But you used this good thing to hold your garbage. Is your garbage so noble?"
"I advise you to pay it back quickly. One industrial voucher plus 80 cents. Pay it back to me right away." Jiang Youtao stared at Du Xun'an's face. "Otherwise, when I get to school, I will do everything I can to find your school and your teachers and tell them about your capital behavior."
When Jiang Youtao put such a big hat on him, not only Du Xun'an, but everyone around him changed their expressions.
Du Xun'an hurriedly rummaged through the luggage and gave the money and industrial coupons to Jiang Youtao.
The reason why Du Xun'an borrowed things from Fu Shaohua and the others was that he thought they were easy to bully, seeing that there were three women and one man. Even if he used a brand new basin to hold garbage, Du Xun'an didn't think there was anything wrong.
He originally thought that he would just wash the basin carefully and return it to them before getting off the bus. After all, everyone was shy at this time. It was just a basin, and they had another one, so they probably wouldn't come to ask for it.
What Du Xun'an thought was just what he thought. Fu Shaohua and Jiang Youtao taught him a hard lesson and told him not to underestimate anyone.
The woman who was lying face inside woke up at some point. She just watched the scene in the room quietly until Jiang Youtao took the money and was about to leave.
A familiar electronic voice came from the melon-eating system that had been silent for a long time:
[ Ding ~ The melon-eating system is here to serve you ~~ The 14th heroine Ning Lei of "Marrying a Professor to Have a Good New Year" has been detected. The plot package is loading... Please wait... ]