Lu Zhengning thought about it and figured she was right. No matter what, his third brother would still have to send money home. It was just that the amount he sent would probably be less, and then there would inevitably be another tug-of-war with the second brother’s family. What a hassle.
“Fine, I understand.” Lu Zhengning scratched his head. This time, when his third brother sent money to make up for what had been lost from the family, he would have to suggest that the money be divided equally among everyone. He couldn’t let the second brother’s family take advantage of them.
His second sister-in-law was very shrewd. If Su Yuanyuan ran away and the money Lu Zheng’an sent home became less, she would definitely keep her eyes on that money.
After hurriedly wolfing down breakfast, Lu Zhengning rushed to the county town.
There were many people in the village and county who couldn’t read or write, so the post office had people specifically assigned to write letters for them.
Lu Zhengning arrived at the post office and sat down at the letter-writing counter.
The person writing the letters was a twenty-year-old young woman with shoulder-length short hair. She wore a green uniform that was neat and tidy. Smiling, she asked Lu Zhengning, “Comrade, what would you like to say to the recipient? Just tell me, and I’ll write it down.”
Lu Zhengning cleared his throat and began telling her what he wanted written in the letter.
The young woman became more and more shocked as she listened.
From the letter writer’s perspective, the story went like this: A woman had waited at home for her husband for three years. Every year, the man sent a large sum of money home, but this year, the woman teamed up with another man and stole everything from the family before running away with him.
Military marriages were difficult, but the men were protecting the country and serving the people. It was an honorable thing. How could that woman do something like this?
If she no longer wanted to continue the marriage, couldn’t they simply discuss it properly and get a divorce? Yet she had actually teamed up with another man to steal everything from the family and then disappeared.
There really were all kinds of shameless people in this world.
There were many people in the surrounding villages and county who couldn’t read or write but still needed to send letters, which was why the post office had a letter-writing service.
The young woman had only started working at the post office that year. Even though she had only been on the job for half a year, the amount of gossip she had heard was practically enough to fill an entire melon field.
She never expected to get another juicy story today.
Destroying a military marriage could land someone in prison. That other man certainly had some nerve.
The young woman enjoyed the gossip while writing, accomplishing both tasks at once. Before long, she finished the letter and handed it to Lu Zhengning to read.
Whether or not the people who asked them to write letters could read, the post office still had to let them look over the letter once before sending it.
Lu Zhengning glanced at it, then put the letter into an envelope and sealed it. After the postmark was stamped, he had someone write the postal code and recipient’s address on it.
“Make sure it’s sent by express delivery to Jingbei!” Lu Zhengning reminded the postal worker.
After mailing the letter, Lu Zhengning hurried home. Regardless of whether Su Yuanyuan had really run away with another man, they still had to find her.
Only after they found her could they recover the money the family had lost.
“What a shameless, restless woman!” Lu Zhengning kicked at the dirt on the ground and cursed all the way back to Cong Village.
Because she no longer had to work, Su Yuanyuan and the children slept until seven in the morning.
After washing the children’s faces and brushing their teeth, she made them breakfast and told them to stay in the space while they waited for her.
She needed to go to the train station to buy tickets first. Once she reached the station, she would bring them out of the space.
The train station in the 1980s was packed with people. At this time, there weren’t many railway routes or train departures, and the ticket windows were crowded with people.
Outside the station, vendors were selling all kinds of things, while crowds of people hurried around with anxious expressions.
Su Yuanyuan was very glad she had let the two children stay in the space. Otherwise, buying tickets while squeezing through the crowd with two three-year-olds would have been extremely difficult.
After buying the tickets, she found out that there were still two hours before the next train departed. Su Yuanyuan asked the ticket seller where the nearest post office was. After getting directions, she went to the closest post office and mailed the letter she had written earlier.
The journey from Bajiao County to Jingbei was a long one and would take several days.
Outside the station, Su Yuanyuan bought a bag of egg cakes, some aici, and several wowotou and put them into her bag. She looked around, then walked to an empty corner outside the station and quickly brought the two little ones out of the space.
“Wow! So this is the train station! It’s so big! There are so many people!”
“I’ve never seen this many people before!”
As soon as Lu Siyuan and Lu Mingzhu came out, they were captivated by the scene before them.
The weather was beautiful that day. The golden sunlight illuminated the station brightly, while the lively atmosphere of the vendors filled the area around it.
They had never even left Cong Village before, so they had no idea there were so many people outside.
The outside world was actually so huge.
Even simple stalls selling fried dough sticks and porridge seemed magical to them.
“We’re going to take the train now, so you have to stay close to Mommy, okay? If you can’t see Mommy, shout loudly for someone and then stay where you are. Don’t wander off, and don’t go anywhere with strangers. Understand?”
There were still many human traffickers operating during this era, so Su Yuanyuan couldn’t relax.
She only had two eyes, and there were so many people at the station. It was better to be safe than sorry.
“Don’t worry, Mommy! We’ll stay right beside you!” the two little ones promised solemnly.
Su Yuanyuan felt slightly more at ease. She smiled and kissed both of them on the forehead before taking the food in one hand, holding one child with each hand, and leading them into the station.
Since the journey was so long, she had bought sleeper tickets. She didn’t know whether there would be other passengers in the sleeper compartment, so she kept some food in her hands. Otherwise, if there were other people around, taking food out of her space would be inconvenient.
She carried a military-green cloth bag and a water bottle. Whatever could fit into the bag went inside; whatever couldn’t, she carried by hand.
Just thinking about it, Su Yuanyuan knew it wouldn’t be easy. But once she was actually holding two children while carrying things, she still felt nervous, constantly afraid that she might lose sight of one of them.
She held both children’s hands tightly, worried they might be separated by the crowd.
If it weren’t for the fact that the journey by train was too long and they could only remain in the space for a maximum of twelve hours at a time, she could have simply kept the children inside the space. That would have been much safer.
But there was no other choice. The children could only stay by her side.
Su Yuanyuan finally brought the children to the platform and stopped, letting out a deep sigh of relief.
A green-skinned train stood on the tracks while the conductors arranged for the passengers to board.
Holding the children’s hands, she entered the train. The hard-seat carriages were packed with people, and the air was filled with all sorts of smells. None of them were particularly pleasant.
The train had not departed yet, and passengers inside were saying goodbye to their family and friends outside.
Su Yuanyuan struggled through the train with the children. After passing through five carriages, she finally reached the sleeper compartment.
The noise of the station was left behind. Su Yuanyuan was already covered in sweat. She looked down at the children she was still holding onto and finally relaxed.
Even during the Spring Festival travel rush back in her own era, she had never squeezed onto a train this badly.
During the holidays, she would usually take annual leave and fly home early or take the high-speed rail. It was much more convenient.
Su Yuanyuan put her hands on her hips and panted. “You two wait while Mommy catches her breath. I’ll take you to find our seats in a moment.”
She was exhausted. She unscrewed the water bottle and let the two little ones drink first before taking a sip herself.
“Mommy, so this is a train! It’s amazing! How many people can fit on one train?”
Lu Mingzhu looked around like a curious little explorer.
Lu Siyuan stood by the window, watching the people walking outside. He was equally amazed by everything he had seen that day.
“Does the train go all the way to Jingbei? Will it stop along the way?” Lu Siyuan had only heard other people talk about trains and had seen them on the village chief’s television. He had always thought trains were black and white like the ones on television. He hadn’t expected the real thing to be green.
“It’ll stop. We’ll pass through many stations, and the train will stop whenever it reaches the next station. But we don’t have to get off. This train can take us all the way to Jingbei.”
At the mention of Jingbei, Su Yuanyuan became a little worried. She didn’t know whether the letter would reach Lu Zheng’an before they arrived.
Once they reached Jingbei, if Lu Zheng’an didn’t come to meet them, she would first find an inn to stay at and then send another letter directly to the military unit where Lu Zheng’an was stationed. She should be able to contact him soon enough.
When she left, Su Yuanyuan had brought their marriage certificate with her. If necessary, she could use the certificate to locate Lu Zheng’an’s military unit.
After resting enough, Su Yuanyuan took the tickets and led the two children to find their seats.
Sleeper tickets were expensive in those days. Unless a family was relatively well-off, they were reluctant to spend money on a sleeper.
Bajiao County was the starting station for this train, so there were temporarily no other passengers in the sleeper compartment. Su Yuanyuan had originally planned to squeeze together with the two children, but since there were plenty of empty spaces, she let the two children sleep on the lower berth next to hers.
The children didn’t need tickets, so it didn’t matter if they slept there too. If someone eventually came and the space wasn’t enough, she could simply move them over to her berth.
She had gone to bed late the previous night, then spent the morning buying tickets and mailing the letter, followed by squeezing through the train with the children. Su Yuanyuan was exhausted.
“Mommy’s going to take a nap. If anything happens, call Mommy right away. Don’t wander off on your own, okay?”
Su Yuanyuan looked at the two children uneasily. She finally understood what people meant when they said that once you became a mother, there was always something to worry about.
“Don’t worry, Comrade. There will be a conductor in every carriage. You can rest. I’ll keep an eye on the children for you.”
A female conductor walked over and smiled at Su Yuanyuan.
Her hair was neatly tied up, and she wore a work uniform that had been washed until it was slightly faded. The uniform was somewhat old, but it was kept very clean.
Su Yuanyuan froze for a moment before noticing the conductor who had approached from the other side. She smiled and thanked her.
“Thank you, young lady.”
“It’s nothing. It’s our job.”
After saying that, the conductor walked over and stood by the carriage door.
“Mommy, don’t worry. We won’t leave you either. We definitely won’t wander around.”
The two little mischief-makers promised Su Yuanyuan earnestly.
Her heart nearly melted from how sweet they were, and she praised them, “You two are the best-behaved kids!”
Su Yuanyuan was simply too tired. She closed her eyes and began to rest.
A middle-aged woman walked in through the carriage door. She glanced toward the sleeper berths and noticed that there were still plenty of empty spaces.
“Comrade Conductor, can I sleep here?”
“Hello, Comrade. Please show me your ticket first.”
The conductor smiled and held out her hand.
The middle-aged woman handed over her ticket. The conductor glanced at it and apologetically shook her head.
“I’m sorry. You bought a seat ticket. Your seat is in the seventh carriage. Just walk through two more carriages in that direction and you’ll reach it.”
The young woman’s voice was gentle, and her manner remained polite.
“Or, if you’d like to upgrade from a hard seat to a hard sleeper, you can do that as well. You just need to pay the five-yuan difference.”
“Five yuan?! Why don’t you just rob people!” The middle-aged woman’s eyes widened in shock at the price.
Five yuan! That could buy so many noodles!
“I’m sorry, Comrade. If you don’t upgrade your ticket, you’ll have to find the seat indicated on your ticket. That’s the rule.”
Although the conductor’s attitude was already very courteous, the middle-aged woman still refused to let it go.
“Young girl, why are you being so rigid? Can’t you see there are so many empty berths? Why won’t you let me sleep here? Why do I have to pay extra?”
The conductor was also in a difficult position.
“Comrade, you bought a seat ticket, so you cannot use a sleeper berth. There’s no one here right now, but someone might have purchased a ticket for this berth at the next station. Of course, since it’s empty at the moment, you can sit here temporarily, but if the passenger arrives, you’ll have to get up.”
What the conductor meant was that since no one was using the berth right now, the woman could sit there temporarily. Once the rightful passenger arrived, however, she would have to leave.
The middle-aged woman could first go to her assigned seat, then come back to the sleeper compartment after the conductor left and sleep there. If nobody had purchased a ticket for the berth, the conductor might turn a blind eye.
The conductor had practically spelled it out for her.
Unfortunately, the middle-aged woman wasn’t sharp enough to understand the hint.
“You’re wasting resources! There are empty berths and you won’t let passengers use them. Don’t tell me you’re a capitalist-roader! You don’t think about the people at all!”