Lu Chuyu was stunned by the 1979 green-skinned train. Passengers in the seated carriages were all climbing in through the windows, and the platform was a sea of people. If she had to describe it, it was like the Badaling Great Wall during the May Day holiday or Tiananmen Square on National Day in her previous life—nothing but heads as far as the eye could see.
Fortunately, she was in a soft sleeper carriage. With Sun Yueying supporting her, and Liu Changxing and Han Jianhua shielding her from front and back, Lu Chuyu finally squeezed through the crowd to the door of the soft sleeper carriage. By then, a thin sheen of sweat had formed on her forehead.
Though she looked slightly disheveled, Lu Chuyu was in excellent spirits.
On the semi-transparent system panel visible only to her, the Emotion Points were ticking up faster than a stopwatch.
The more people, the better. She loved crowds.
In just a few days since returning to Huaxia, her Emotion Points had already reached 3,689.
Sun Yueying turned sideways and thanked the three train station workers she had asked to help carry the luggage: "Comrades, I really can't thank you enough. Without your help, I don't know what we would have done with all these bags. Don't worry, I'll write a letter of thanks."
With that, she discreetly slipped a kraft paper envelope to the lead worker.
"This, this is too kind. It's all about serving the people. We'll carry these to your carriage for you—otherwise, relying on just these two big brothers, they'd probably have to make several trips."
The worker had originally thought he was unlucky, having been roped in by his supervisor to help the "foreign lady" carry her luggage—so many boxes, all heavy as lead. He never expected there'd be a perk like this.
What he didn't expect even more was that when he returned and opened the kraft envelope, it contained 10 US dollars—nearly half a month's wages for him.
Sun Yueying didn't stand on ceremony either, offering a grateful smile. "Then we'll trouble you comrades."
Lu Chuyu greatly appreciated Sun Yueying's approach. As expected of someone who had worked at the grassroots level—her mind was sharp and flexible, not rigid at all.
What Lu Chuyu hadn't expected was just how thoughtful and meticulous Sun Yueying could be. A flicker of surprise passed through her eyes as she watched Sun Yueying pull a white machine-embroidered pillowcase with a goldfish-playing-in-water pattern from her carry-on bag and lay it over the lower berth across from them, letting Lu Chuyu sit down and rest first.
Then she brought out a set of bedsheets, a duvet cover, and a pillowcase embroidered with the name "North City Grand Hotel." After changing them, she took out a nylon rope, strung it around the upper edge of Lu Chuyu's lower berth, and hung a curtain printed with bamboo leaves.
"Boss, is this alright? I bought this set of bedding from the North City Grand Hotel—it's brand new."
More than alright! She was an all-capable assistant!
Lu Chuyu felt she had gotten really lucky. Her eyes were full of appreciation. "You've done very well. Your salary will be doubled this month."
She wasn't short on money now—what she needed was capable people around her who could share her burdens and get things done. Since Sun Yueying's work ethic and ability had satisfied her, she naturally wouldn't be stingy.
A doubled salary meant 400 US dollars, which converted to 624 yuan in Huaxia currency.
Sun Yueying instinctively swallowed, her face flushing slightly with excitement. "I'll continue to work hard serving you."
Han Jianhua secretly gave Sun Yueying a thumbs up, while Liu Changxing beside him directly proved with his actions that he too had sharp eyes.
He remembered that yesterday Sun Yueying had specifically bought a washbasin and placed it in the woven bag. He bent down and took it out. "Boss, you rest for a bit. I'll fetch you some water. In a while, Hua Zi and I will keep watch at the door, and you can freshen up and feel more comfortable."
Lu Chuyu nodded, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly. See—the competition had already begun.
On trains in this era, ordinary people couldn't buy soft sleeper tickets. There were strict restrictions on identity and administrative rank—only cadres at or above the county-regiment level were qualified to purchase them. Of course, returned overseas Chinese like Lu Chuyu enjoyed special treatment, so the soft sleeper carriage was very quiet. Currently, it was just the four of them.
To earn Emotion Points, Lu Chuyu had gotten up early that morning to prepare. She wore a bright yellow Halston silk blouse from America with red polka dots and a low V-neck, paired with an extremely exaggerated high-waisted sequined red skirt, black stockings, and a pair of 7-centimeter black-and-gold high heels. This was also why she needed Sun Yueying's support.
She had also styled her hair in a somewhat extravagant high updo, stacking gold, pearl, and diamond bracelets on her wrists.
Pretty it was, dazzling it was, and the Emotion Points were climbing steadily as she had predicted. But the sequined skirt was genuinely uncomfortable—it prickled a bit.
Lu Chuyu didn't plan to maintain such elaborate grooming on the train. Once she reached Nanhu, she'd make another big haul.
After a simple wash, she drew the curtain and changed into a comfortable pair of long-sleeved striped silk pajamas. Leaning back against the pillow, she exchanged 3,000 Emotion Points for 300 Life Points and rested easy.
Over 30 hours of train travel was truly torturous, and Lu Chuyu's hair had become somewhat greasy. Fortunately, she was lucky—the entire soft sleeper compartment was occupied only by the four of them for the whole journey. So she filled a basin with cold water, added hot water she'd requested from the train attendant to make it lukewarm, and washed her hair with Sun Yueying's help.
Sun Yueying had short hair and could wash it easily herself. As for Han Jianhua and the other man, they simply washed with cold water.
Before getting off the train, Lu Chuyu changed into a pink Chanel dress with black trim, fitted at the waist with a body-hugging silhouette. The curve-hugging design showed off her figure very well.
Beside her, Han Jianhua and the other man both had slightly red ears and didn't dare look directly at her. This boss was good in every way, but she was just too bold—what she was wearing didn't look quite proper. Were foreigners really this open?
The two exchanged glances, both feeling a bit pressured. She was simply too eye-catching. What if they ran into some thug with bad intentions?
Lu Chuyu naturally noticed Han Jianhua and Liu Changxing's discomfort, but she didn't care. It wasn't her who needed to get used to it.
Still, she could understand. After all, it was 1979. Although reform and opening-up had begun, the vast majority of Chinese people's thinking hadn't opened up yet. If a Chinese woman dressed like this today, she'd probably be reported to the Revolutionary Committee the moment she stepped out the door.
Just as Lu Chuyu had anticipated, the moment she got off the train, she became an impossible-to-ignore focal point on the platform.
"Where did this she-demon come from? This is utterly indecent."
"What are you staring at? Could that be a decent person? Stare again and I'll gouge your eyes out."
"Is she a foreigner? Nanhu has foreigners now?"
"This foreign she-devil has no shame."
"The clothes on her really are pretty."
"Your thinking is dangerous. You can't let capitalism corrupt you. She clearly isn't a proper person."
Watching the Emotion Points on the system panel in front of her climbing rapidly, a few scattered unpleasant remarks reached Lu Chuyu's ears, but they didn't affect her good mood.
Liu Changxing and the other two wore serious expressions, doing their best to shield Lu Chuyu, forming a small vacuum of space in the crowd. As for the luggage they'd brought, they handled it the same way as at Beicheng Railway Station—handing it over to the station staff to carry.
The Beicheng Overseas Chinese Affairs Office had contacted the newly established Nanhu Overseas Chinese Affairs Office after Lu Chuyu boarded the train. Nanhu had received one overseas Chinese returnee visiting family before Lu Chuyu, so they'd sent someone early to hold up a sign at the exit.
Railway public security officers also quickly arrived to maintain order. If this "foreign woman" got squeezed or injured and it escalated into an international incident, no one would get off easy. The whole of Nanhu would become nationally famous, and not for a good reason—and they'd be the primary responsible parties.
Though they inwardly complained that this foreign woman was too flashy and causing trouble for their work, duty was duty, so they could only steel themselves and do their best to disperse the crowd.
The Nanhu Overseas Chinese Affairs Office had been established less than six months and didn't yet have a dedicated vehicle. The car sent to pick up Lu Chuyu was a Beijing Jeep 212 borrowed from the Revolutionary Committee.
Zhang Liping, the receptionist from the Nanhu Overseas Chinese Affairs Office responsible for hosting Lu Chuyu, subconsciously opened her mouth slightly when she saw her. Her expression stiff as she forced a smile, she greeted her in English with a nervous, slightly stuttering voice: "Welcome, welcome Ms. Harris to Nanhu. I am Zhang Liping, the receptionist from the Nanhu Overseas Chinese Affairs Office responsible for your trip."
Good heavens, the way she dressed was far too bold. Were women raised abroad really this thick-skinned? Even at home, she'd be too embarrassed to dress like that.
Lu Chuyu shook hands with Zhang Liping. "Comrade Zhang, hello. My mother is Chinese, so I can speak Chinese. My mother gave me a Chinese name, Lu Chuyu. You can call me Ms. Lu directly."
A flicker of surprise passed through Zhang Liping's eyes. She hadn't expected this overseas Chinese, who looked completely foreign, to speak Chinese so fluently. Though she had an accent, she was far better than the last overseas Chinese she'd hosted, who looked Chinese through and through.
"Alright, Ms. Lu. Let me first take you to check in to your accommodation. Our Nanhu guesthouse for foreign visitors is still under construction and hasn't been completed, so we can only ask you to stay at the municipal guesthouse. Please rest assured—our Overseas Chinese Affairs Office has made arrangements in advance. We've reserved the most spacious room on the sunny side for you, with a private bathroom. Your accompanying staff have also been arranged in the rooms next to yours and across the hall."
"Thank you for your thoughtful hospitality. I just need a place to rest. The most important thing about this trip home is to fulfill the last wishes of my maternal grandparents and my mother—to find my uncle. I'll need you to put extra effort into this."
"Please rest assured, Ms. Lu. We've already sent staff down to search for him. However, many villages have changed their names, so it will take some time."
Lu Chuyu smiled. "No rush. In the meantime, I'll take the opportunity to browse the Friendship Store here in Nanhu and prepare some gifts for my uncle's family."
Lu Chuyu naturally felt no affection for an uncle she had never even met in her original life; this uncle was merely her excuse to return to China.
Moreover, China had just gone through the "Campaign to Purify the Class Ranks," and she had no idea whether this uncle, who had been so blinded by love in the original life, had been sent down to the countryside or was even still alive.
If he was no longer alive, that would be convenient—she could put on a show of grieving for a lost relative and extending that love to his memory, then smoothly invest in and build up her hometown as a matter of course.
If he was still alive, then she would need to see whether this uncle was sensible, reasonable, and knew his place. If he was, she could easily let his family ride the spring breeze of reform and opening-up like "pigs soaring into the sky," living a life of wealth and comfort without worry.
If not, she would just play her part for a couple of days, complete the family-visit formalities, and then leave Nanhu directly to invest and build her career in the Special Economic Zone. After all, she would come bearing generous gifts stunning enough to leave everyone speechless—even if she left and never returned, no one could say a single bad word about her.