The train had been running for about an hour. The educated youth around her had gradually calmed down and started chatting with one another.
The girl sitting next to Su Yun looked around and began introducing herself:
“Hello everyone! My name is Liu Huan — Huan as in ‘joyful.’ I’m from Jing City.”
“You should introduce yourselves too. We’ll be helping each other out over the next few days. My dad said there are a lot of bad people on this train!”
Wow! Su Yun opened her eyes wide and looked at her. Such a thin girl named Liu Huan!
Liu Huan looked very slim — which was typical of the era. You hardly ever saw fat people on the streets; everyone was thin.
But she had a round little face, with round eyes, a round nose, and a round mouth — she looked very fortunate and gave off a warm, kind vibe.
Su Yun had seen her earlier when entering the station — she’d been wailing outside the train door in a scene of epic proportions. Howling at the top of her lungs, tears and snot streaming down her face. Everyone around had stared at her in astonishment, while her parents looked like they wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground.
Now, looking at her, she was definitely what you’d call a social butterfly of the 1970s — outgoing and warm, a rare personality among girls of this era! It was clear she came from a good family that had raised her to be so confident and cheerful.
Su Yun secretly gave her a mental thumbs-up and began her own introduction.
“I’m Su Yun — Yun as in ‘hidden meaning.’ Also from Jing City. Nice to meet you all.” Having done introductions at the start of every school year since childhood, Su Yun could handle the formalities.
The girl across from Liu Huan looked a bit nervous. She glanced around quickly, then lowered her head and spoke in a very quiet voice: “I… I’m Li Xiaoyan. I’m from Shanghai…”
“I’m also from Shanghai — got on the train with her. Hello everyone, I’m An Qin — Qin with the three-dot water radical.”
The pretty girl sitting across from Su Yun also spoke up.
Su Yun was taken aback. Wow! She hadn’t expected to run into the supporting female character from the book so soon!
That’s right — the supporting female character!
She was referring to the book Getting Rich in the 70s that came with the Going-to-the-Countryside Gift Pack.
Su Yun had thought it would be about postpartum care for sows or a step-by-step guide to farming and raising chickens.
But two days ago, when she was so bored she was about to start peeling paint off the walls, she’d opened the book.
It turned out to be a period novel! And the setting was exactly where she was about to go!
Over the past two days, Su Yun had carefully read through the entire book and marked key points with a pen — old habits from nine years of compulsory education die hard.
To put it simply, it was a typical time-travel female lead rags-to-riches story — a very formulaic novel, the kind Su Yun had read countless times before.
The female lead was called Tao Yining. She’d transmigrated with her family’s supermarket, and the original owner was about to be married off to a fool by her stepmother. She fought her father and stepmother, stepped on her stepsister and half-brother, cleaned out the family’s money, and decisively signed up to go to the countryside to escape.
After going to the countryside, she met the male lead, Zhao Jiayan, a fellow educated youth. After going through all sorts of trials, they ended up together.
Then they got into university, started a business, and got rich.
During her time in the countryside, she also frequented the black market — and she was incredibly lucky, never once getting caught.
And now, the girl sitting across from Su Yun — An Qin — was one of those “trials” on the path to the leads’ happy ending.
An Qin was the supporting female character and the male lead Zhao Jiayan’s fiancée. A year after Zhao Jiayan went to the countryside, she graduated high school and also needed to be sent down.
Her family had directly arranged for her to be sent to the same place, so the two could look after each other and cultivate their relationship.
But later, when the male lead fell for the female lead, An Qin started causing trouble for them — from the beginning of the novel all the way to the end. And in the finale, she actually married a man even better than the male lead!
Su Yun rather admired her. In the book, An Qin wasn’t love-struck at all — she didn’t even like the male lead that much. It was only because he wavered early on and disrespected her and her family that she began her “little revenge.”
From An Qin’s perspective, the male and female leads really had some serious issues.
One of them knew the other had a fiancée and still “couldn’t help” developing feelings, using “free love” as an excuse to be the other woman.
The other had his fiancée right there and was secretly dating someone else, only confessing after getting caught.
And to convince his parents, he even wanted to use his “love story” to move An Qin and get her to ask her family to break off the engagement.
Wasn’t that just plain crazy? What girl could swallow that?
Especially when she was this gorgeous!
That’s right — she was truly beautiful! Su Yun looked up and carefully studied the girl across from her.
She had fair skin, a delicate oval face with a pair of stunning peach-blossom eyes, a straight and elegant nose, and full, well-shaped lips. Her bearing was noble and graceful — clearly a girl raised in a wealthy and distinguished family.
This was the kind of beauty that even many actresses couldn’t achieve with surgery — her bone structure and features were both that of a classic beauty. With a bit of makeup and some lipstick, she could play Su Daji on screen!
Pretty sister, let’s be friends!
Su Yun reluctantly tore her gaze away and joined the girls’ conversation.
As always, girls never ran out of things to talk about — family, clothes, gossip — even the shy Li Xiaoyan seemed to relax a lot.
They chatted for a while, each pulling out their own dried rations and water to eat. No one bought food from the train. It was only the first day, and it was summer — whatever they’d brought from home would go bad if not eaten soon. Waste wasn’t tolerated in this era.
Su Yun also pretended to pull two mushroom and cabbage buns out of her cloth bag — she’d taken them out earlier to cool down, then put them back.
Outside the window, the sky had long gone dark. She checked the time — it was already past nine. Liu Huan beside her had fallen asleep, and the other two had closed their eyes to rest.
The carriage was quiet now. Everyone had gotten up early to catch the train, and after a day of excitement and sadness, most were exhausted and had dozed off after eating.
Su Yun hadn’t checked in yet today. She was curious what she’d get from checking in on the train.
[Check-in successful! Location: Train from Jing City to Yang City]
[Congratulations, host! You have received: Boxed Meal ×4]
Su Yun had actually been planning to try the train’s boxed meals! She hadn’t expected to get them through check-in.
Stainless steel probably wasn’t common yet — these were aluminum lunch boxes. Inside was braised pork over rice, with a fried egg on top — similar to modern gai fan (rice with toppings), with gravy soaking into the rice.
Su Yun swallowed hard and regretted checking in so late. It looked so tempting! Too bad she was on the train — otherwise, this would be the perfect time for a midnight snack!
…
The train from Jing City to Dong City took two and a half days — they’d arrive in the afternoon the day after tomorrow.
An Qin and the others had come from Shanghai, so they’d already been on the train for two extra days.
The female lead in the book was also from a town near Shanghai and should logically be on the same train, probably in another carriage.
The girls’ bond grew quickly — over the next day or so, they became fast friends.
Aside from Li Xiaoyan, who had brought three days’ worth of dried corn cakes, the others had already finished their steamed buns, boiled eggs, and cornbread by yesterday.
From then on, they bought boxed meals on the train. Su Yun had initially worried about not having meat coupons and was ready to settle for plain steamed buns or vegetarian meals.
But it turned out the train’s boxed meals didn’t require any coupons at all — no meat coupons, no grain coupons — and they were very cheap, at least in Su Yun’s opinion.
Vegetarian meals were only 0.3 yuan, while meat dishes ranged from 0.8 to 5 yuan.
The braised pork boxed meal she’d gotten from check-in was priced over 3 yuan without coupons.
But she couldn’t buy it anyway — it was limited and prioritized for cadres and military personnel in the sleeper carriages.
Over the past two days, she’d been eating the 1-yuan-plus boxed meals — cucumber with sliced pork and braised vermicelli with meat.
They tasted pretty good, about the same level as stir-fried dishes from a small restaurant.
The other two ate basically the same as Su Yun — none of them were short on money.
An Qin, as the supporting female character and the male lead’s fiancée, came from an impressive family — with elders serving in both the military and politics.
Like the male lead, she’d only left home for a place so far away because of the policy requiring one family member to go to the countryside — otherwise, it might affect her family’s standing.
As for Liu Huan, the “social butterfly” beside her — according to her, both her parents were employed, her father was a deputy director at a machinery factory, and her two older brothers also had jobs.
She was a girl who’d been doted on by her family since childhood. If her brothers hadn’t already been married, one of them probably would have gone to the countryside instead.
Neither of them carried much luggage — likely because their families had mailed things ahead so they wouldn’t have to haul heavy bags.
At a glance, Su Yun seemed out of place next to them — she didn’t look like someone who could afford to buy boxed meals.
After all, the other two were wearing buraji dresses or dacron shirts, with leather shoes or Warrior-brand sneakers.
And her?
A blue cotton shirt, black cotton pants, and a pair of half-worn cloth shoes — yet this was already the original owner’s best outfit.
Her explanation was that her family had told her not to be too flashy on the road, to avoid attracting thieves on the train.
She didn’t know if anyone believed her, and she didn’t care.
By the time she arrived and changed into new clothes, they’d have no choice but to believe anyway.