Zhou Pangzi stopped when he saw this and smiled somewhat ingratiatingly at Old Master Su: "Greetings, Old Chief. Greetings to the Old Chief's wife. Comrade Huang, I am Lao Su's colleague, Zhou Changqing, the Buzhang of the Procurement Department. Everyone calls me Zhou Pangzi. We agreed yesterday to see off Xiao Su Tongzhi as she goes to the countryside. Thinking about how hot it is and that she'll be on the Huoche for several days, other things are inconvenient to carry, so I asked my wife to boil some Jidan. They aren't valuable, but they can fill her stomach on the train."
Then he looked around and asked, "Isn't Lao Su coming?"
Su Jiaojiao looked towards Zhou Pangzi and said to Old Master Su's guard: "Uncle Li, it's fine, he is my Baba's colleague."
Then she looked at Zhou Pangzi and said with a grin, "My Baba went inside to put away my things. Didn't I tell you that you didn't need to come and see me off?"
"Ah~ I was going to come," Zhou Pangzi said after the person blocking his way moved aside, handing the Jidan in his hand to the hand holding Su Jiaojiao's thermos. He continued, "Take these, eat them if you get hungry on the train."
Su Jiaojiao accepted them generously without being coy, and said with a smile, "Thank you, Uncle Zhou. But I need to go up now. Please wait here for a moment; my Baba will be down shortly."
Hearing this, Zhou Pangzi smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits and readily agreed, "Yes! Alright~ You hurry up and go. I'll wait here for Lao Su for a bit."
Su Jiaojiao nodded with a smile, glancing at this Jiaren she had known for over ten years. Only when the moment of parting truly arrived did a trace of reluctance surface.
She took a deep breath, suppressed the emotions in her heart, and turned to walk towards the Huoche.
In her decade-plus years of Secluded Cultivation, it might not even equal the time of one of her Secluded Cultivation sessions.
But they had raised her since childhood, giving her a love untainted by self-interest, apart from that from her Shifu, which Su Jiaojiao cherished deeply.
Just as one of her feet was about to step over the Car Door, Mother Su reached out and grabbed her arm, saying, "Lao Su told me yesterday. Mama thanks you."
Su Jiaojiao grinned upon hearing this, "It's what I should do. Baba seems to have deep feelings for that Comrade-in-arms."
So you should be mindful of your conduct towards her and the child.
Mother Su looked deeply at Su Jiaojiao, her eyes turning red. She stroked her head and said, "I know. Go now, take good care of yourself. If you need anything or are bullied, call us back. Tell your Baba to go settle things for you."
Seeing her like this, Su Jiaojiao couldn't help but let out a light chuckle. She put her Píxiāng on the ground and gently hugged Mother Su to comfort her, "It's alright, I'm just going to the countryside, not going to die. I will come back."
"Slap~" came a slap from Mother Su.
Su Jiaojiao: ... I was careless!
...
Su Jiaojiao had a soft sleeper berth. When she found her bunk, Su Fu had already put away the luggage and was sitting on her bunk waiting for her.
The soft sleeper berth on the Huoche had a door; it was sealed and had a sliding door, forming a four-person compartment with upper and lower bunks.
Seeing her finally board, Su Fu patted the bunk beneath him and said to her, "Your bunk is here. Everything is put under your bunk." Saying this, he bent over to point it out to Su Jiaojiao.
Then he continued, "I've already spoken to the Attendant here and asked him to look after you along the way. Also, when you arrive at Hongxing Town, your grandfather's Comrade-in-arms will send someone to pick you up and take you directly to the Educated Youth Office there."
Su Jiaojiao listened actively, nodding to show she had heard, and casually put her Píxiāng by the bed. She looked up and saluted Su Fu with a smile, "Comrade Old Su, you've worked hard."
Seeing this, Su Fu played along with his old daughter, immediately standing at attention and saluting back, "Serve the people."
The two looked at each other and smiled.
"Alright," Su Fu patted her shoulder. "It's almost time. I'm going down now. Take care of yourself."
Su Jiaojiao smiled and lightly punched Su Fu in the stomach, "Go on, I'm not a little child anymore."
Su Fu chuckled and left.
It was just that Su Jiaojiao didn't know how freely Su Fu left, but he would cry just as miserably holding his Wife when he got home. Mother Su, who was also feeling sad, had all her emotions wiped away by her husband's crying.
She stared blankly at the mosquito net above her head for an entire night. The howling sound from the person beside her was more annoying than the mosquitoes outside the net!
Until Mother Su could bear it no longer, she slapped him and snapped, "Shut up." Only then did he stop making noise and quiet down.
...
Not long after Su Jiaojiao lay down, an elegant old man wearing a Zhongshan suit came into the lower bunk next door. It was easy to tell that he must have looked like a refined scholar in his youth.
He also saw the little girl lying on the adjacent bed and spoke warmly to Su Jiaojiao, "Hello there, little comrade."
Su Jiaojiao smiled and replied, "Greetings, comrade." Her young voice held the charm unique to her age.
The refined old man merely nodded and smiled in response, then took out a book from his cross-body bag and began flipping through it by himself at the small table by the head of the bed.
Just as Su Jiaojiao thought they were the only two people in this Car Compartment, one minute before the train departed, another man in his 40s came looking for his berth number with his ticket.
Wow~ This appearance was even more like an old cadre than her Lao Su.
And seeing the old and the young sitting and lying in the Car Compartment, he merely nodded politely, then tossed his briefcase onto his own bed.
He took off his shoes and got onto the bed in one smooth motion.
Heh~ I heard that soft sleeper tickets were hard to get at this time, and those who could get them were even fewer.
Tsk~ Looking at the appearance of these two, Su Jiaojiao had a more intuitive understanding.
She closed her eyes and released the Divine Sense she hadn't used in a long time. Besides having the strength for self-preservation here, she just wanted to live an ordinary person's life and enjoy everything without cultivating—she just wanted to lie flat.
Truly degenerate. Was this what Shifu meant by 'if you don't advance in cultivation, you regress'?
Due to her powerful Divine Sense, her five senses were overly sensitive.
"Clack, clack..." The sound of the Huoche starting, combined with the noisy sounds of the crowd coming through her Divine Sense, was irritating... Su Jiaojiao instantly retracted her Divine Sense.
Forget it. I woke up too early today; I should just sleep.
It was said that this Huoche trip would take a detour to pick up Educated Youth from other cities heading to the Northeast, so it would take two days to arrive.
For a moment, the only sounds in this Car Compartment were the clacking of the Huoche and the sound of the old man turning pages.
"Peanuts, Sunflower Seeds, snacks—anything you need?"
Su Jiaojiao was woken up by the voice selling snacks. She stared blankly at the ceiling of the upper bunk with sleepy eyes.
She thought the Attendant would push a small cart straight through the compartment, but he stopped outside the compartment instead.
This was followed by two "knock-knock" sounds.
"Hello, may I open the door?" the Attendant's questioning voice sounded from outside.
The old man sitting on the edge of the bed stood up upon hearing this, pulled the door open, and asked the Attendant, "Hello, what is it?"