"Brother Xiao Yuan, Run Sheng, our seats are here, oh, it’s a soft sleeper, Brother Liang is so generous!"
Xue Liangliang smiled at Tan Wenbin: "It’s not the Spring Festival travel rush, so it’s not that hard to get a soft sleeper ticket."
This compartnt with four bunk beds was just enough for the four of them.
After the train left the station, Li Zhiyuan climbed onto the upper bunk, with Xue Liangliang opposite him on the top, while Run Sheng and Tan Wenbin were on the lower bunks.
At this mont, Tan Wenbin had already taken out his workbook and started working on problems at the small table.
"Hey, starting your howork as soon as you get on the train?" Xue Liangliang teased, "You’re studying so hard; instead of aiming for our Haihe University, you should apply to those two big universities in Beijing."
Tan Wenbin honestly said, "My foundation is weak; I’ve wasted too much ti. I should be grateful if I can make it into Haihe."
"Do you need incense?" Run Sheng passed over a stick of incense.
Xue Liangliang reminded him, "Run Sheng, if you want to smoke, go to where the carriages connect."
"Okay, I understand."
Run Sheng put the incense back into the tin box. It was specially made by Aunt Liu, wrapped in a layer of paper, short but thick.
He stood up, pushed the door, and went out to the connection point of the carriages, where two people were standing and smoking. Run Sheng joined them and took out a lighter, twisted the cap, and blew on it.
The lighter too was made by Aunt Liu, after all, it was troubleso to light a coarse incense with matches.
After lighting the incense, Run Sheng took a puff, blew out a ring of smoke, and the rich aroma began to spread, with most of it carried away by the gaps around the carriage door.
The two standing beside him were quite curious.
"Bro, what’s he smoking?"
"That, you wouldn’t know, it’s from the movies, a cigar."
After finishing the incense, Run Sheng walked back, spotting on his way an old woman in black with white hair sitting on a small seat in the corridor, and a little girl in red in front of her.
"Granny, I’m hungry."
The old woman sighed and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.
Run Sheng patted his pocket, took out a few candies, and handed them to the little girl.
"Thank you, big brother." The little girl smiled happily.
Back in the soft sleeper, Run Sheng lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
Waking up hungry, he asked the others who also said they were hungry, so he took out the food he brought from ho.
There was dry food, cured pork, and a bottle of alcohol.
The alcohol was placed by Li Sanjiang, who said that watching the scenery out of the train window while having a drink was quite poetic.
However, none of the four young n drank.
After the al, Tan Wenbin kept working on howork without a break.
Li Zhiyuan and Xue Liangliang looked at the landscapes passing by outside the window, chatting. Most of the ti, it was Li Zhiyuan listening as Xue Liangliang talked, like holding a nightti dormitory chat session.
From rural housing structures to the living standards of different regions, and even industrial developnt planning, Xue Liangliang’s main studies were in water resources and architecture, but he knew sothing about other industries as well, although he couldn’t say he was particularly proficient.
However, in an era when it was extrely inconvenient to obtain information, being able to know so much was quite a rare ability.
As night fell, and the scenery outside disappeared from view, only the train conductors reporting stops at intervals let them know exactly where they were.
Xue Liangliang got off his bunk and said he was going to buy boxed als.
On the way, he t an old woman in black, with a little girl in red standing by her side.
"Granny, I’m really hungry."
Walking past them, Xue Liangliang headed to the dining car and bought ten boxed als with at, carrying them back in a large bag. As he passed by the little girl, he handed her one.
"Thank you, brother."
Xue Liangliang smiled, returned to the soft sleeper compartnt, and distributed the boxed als to everyone.
He and Xiao Yuan had one each, Tan Wenbin ate three, and Run Sheng had four.
Li Zhiyuan thought that the food in the white plastic boxes tasted surprisingly good, especially the gluten braised pork, really delicious.
After downing three boxes, Tan Wenbin loosened his belt, opening his stomach as he was full, so he took out his workbook again, planning to aid digestion by doing problems.
Run Sheng still felt unsatisfied after eating four boxes, but there were still dry food and pickles from ho, so he could make up for it.
After dinner, the tea-ti chat began again. The dayti was about realism and future developnt reports, and the night was about historical evolution.
Li Zhiyuan could join in on this topic, but mostly he listened to Xue Liangliang speak, only when Xue Liangliang asked, "Who’s that again?" "What was that place called?" did Li Zhiyuan provide the accurate answers.
In these exchanges, Xue Liangliang also found great satisfaction.
They all went to sleep late into the night.
Waking up in the morning, Run Sheng went to fetch water for everyone to wash up. Tan Wenbin got washed up first; coincidentally the train was at a stop, so he went down to buy everyone breakfast.
On the way, he encountered a grandmother with her granddaughter, the granddaughter crying out hungry to her grandma, who sadly wiped away tears.
Returning, Tan Wenbin brought them several stead buns and a bag of soy milk.
The soy milk was in bags, and after carrying it back, Tan Wenbin tore an opening and poured it into cups for everyone.
After breakfast, Xue Liangliang took out so design drawings from his backpack; Li Zhiyuan saw and simply left his bunk to join Xue Liangliang, the two sitting together, looking at them.
To Xue Liangliang’s surprise, Xiao Yuan actually understood the annotations and data on the drawings, so he took the opportunity to explain so professional matters to the boy.
As lunchti approached, a train attendant was announcing the sale of roasted sweet potatoes on the train. Li Zhiyuan went to the train corridor and bought a bag.
It wasn’t the attendant selling them; she just helped to shout a few tis, then the vendor from the platform ca over to collect the money and hand over the goods.
As Li Zhiyuan walked back with the bag, he passed by an old woman sitting there, looking numb.
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