Chapter 100: Chapter 100: The Green Train Heading South
Wang Yumin felt that this semester, Feng Yiping was getting more and more involved in things. Half a month ago, he took two classes of leave for the first time. Now he's gone even further, and he actually wants to take four and a half days off!
She looked coldly at Feng Yiping in front of the desk. Although Feng Yiping seemed docile and kept his head down, the faint stubbornness and persistence was obvious even to the little swallow beside him.
Once these usually good students are stubborn, they are really hard to deal with. If those students with bad behaviour make such a request, she will reject it without hesitation. If you dare to skip class, she will deal with it decisively and without mercy.
You can't give leave to someone like Feng Yiping, who is so timid that if you don't let him go, he might just run away.
'Fine, I'll let you this time, but for the rest of the semester, no, the whole year, don't you dare mention the word 'leave' to me again,' Wang Yumin said with gritted teeth. She had originally wanted to ask Feng Yiping to ask his grandfather to come to the school to prove it, but she thought better of it. Feng Yiping's reason was also a major one. His family ran a shop in the provincial capital, so it was understandable if he went for a few days.
When they got downstairs, Feng Yiping couldn't hold back the smile on his face anymore. Haha, four and a half days off, plus a day and a half at the weekend, that's a total of six days!
Early on Saturday morning, Feng Yiping once again told Wang Changning, who had already moved in, that if his grandfather or uncle came to deliver the groceries tomorrow, he must tell them that he had gone to Xiao Zhijie's house, and not to let slip his real destination.
Even Wang Changning was not sure of his real destination, for fear that he would worry and tell the adults if he knew.
This time, everything went smoothly. He arrived in the county, caught the first bus to the provincial capital, which left at 9 o'clock, and arrived in the provincial capital at a little after 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
He turned to the street behind the bus station, relying on his memory from the summer holidays. The train ticket agency was still open, but it was almost closing time, and only one window was still open, with an older woman reading a newspaper inside.
He asked for a ticket to Yangcheng for that evening. 'A standing ticket? Do you want one?' the woman asked him in a very formal way.
Of course he didn't want a standing ticket. How could he bear nearly 30 hours of it? Even if he could, he was worried about having his money stolen. This time, he had brought a lot of money!
'What about tomorrow morning? Do you have any sleeper tickets?'
'Only hard seats.'
'What about tomorrow night? Do you have any sleeper tickets?'
'No, only hard seats. Are you going to buy it or not?' The woman was getting impatient.
There was nothing he could do. The railway was like a big bull, and everything related to it was also like a bull.
Seeing that there were no other people inside or outside, Feng Yiping stuck his head out the window and whispered to her, 'Auntie, I'm in a hurry and it's best if I can get on the train today. But you see, I'm just a kid, and neither a standing ticket nor a hard seat is safe. I know I can find someone at the train station to buy me a sleeper ticket, but I'm worried about getting a fake one. How about this, I'll follow the rules for finding someone to buy a ticket at the train station, plus 30 yuan. Can you help me think of something?'
The woman looked at him suspiciously. Seeing that he was just a young boy, she felt that there shouldn't be any problems and became a little more enthusiastic. 'Well, you're about the same age as my child, in middle school, right? At such a young age, it's safer to travel by sleeper train alone. I'll find someone I know and see what I can do for you.'
'Thank you!'
The woman got up and went into the back room. After a while, she came out and said, 'I found someone to get you a ticket, but it's an upper berth. Is that okay?'
'An upper berth is fine.'
As long as it was a sleeper ticket, Feng Yiping didn't care. He gave her the money and handed her three extra 10-yuan bills.
'I really don't want to take your money. I also asked someone to get it for me, and I have to give it to them. I won't get any of it.'
'Yes, thank you!' At this time of day, if you go to the train station and queue up to buy today's tickets, you'll be lucky to get a standing ticket. You'll still have to find a ticket seller there and pay the same price, so it's safer to stay here.
After getting the ticket, he wasn't in a hurry to go to the train station. First, he found a place to eat a bowl of noodles. While sitting in the noodle shop, he couldn't help but look around, trying to find somewhere worth learning from. As a result, he didn't find any good places, but he did find a lot of things that this noodle shop could improve.
He bought a magazine and lingered in the waiting room of the station until after 8 o'clock. This was safer than the station, and after only two transfers, he arrived at the station before 9 o'clock.
At this time, the train station was still brightly lit and bustling with people. Speakers, which were located somewhere, were announcing the arrival and departure of trains. People with suitcases and knitted bags were coming and going, all of them in a hurry.
In the ticket hall, the ticket buying queue extended all the way to the square. The square in front of the station was packed with people, with groups of people in the east and west. Many people were carrying bags, sitting by the flower beds, while others just sat on their luggage anywhere in the square. The area around the tall lights in the square was the most crowded.
On the way to the ticket gate, no fewer than twenty people asked Feng Yiping questions, some asking if he wanted to stay at a hotel, while most asked, 'Young man, where are you going? Do you want a ticket?'
Feng Yiping carried his black backpack in front of his chest, and walked straight through these people without looking away, heading straight for the ticket gate and joining the queue.
Even when he got there, every now and then someone would come over with their head down and ask, 'Do you need a ticket?' Feng Yiping felt that this kind of persistence, this kind of persevering salesmanship, was well worth learning from.
The waiting room was even more noisy, with dialects from all over the country blending together, the combination of loud voices of all sizes, and the sound of trains entering and leaving the station outside. You just felt like your ears were stuffed with all kinds of sounds, but the only things you could hear clearly were the words of the staff in uniforms, who were maintaining order with loudspeakers.
The distinctive mixed smell of the station was even stronger here, strongly stimulating your sense of smell.
Feng Yiping thought that people who worked here for a long time were probably not very good at hearing, and their cooking skills would not be very good either.
Strangely, the noise and excitement combined made people feel drowsy.
Even here, Feng Yiping did not dare to be careless. He kept his bag in front of him and found a place against the wall to stand.
In the past, present and future, for a long period of time, train stations everywhere were the most mixed places. People of all kinds gathered here, so it was only right to be cautious and careful.
Once here, order is much better. When checking tickets and boarding the train, most people queue up consciously, but there are also those who cut in line. Those who are lucky enough to get away with it are ignored by the staff, but those who are not get a belt whipping.
Although cutting in line is also wrong, this is a bit barbaric and rude, isn't it?
From the overpass to the platform, no one walks, everyone runs the whole way, as if they are afraid that the train will leave under their noses the next moment.
The train was of course a classic green train. I heard that there are some red trains now, but this trip was not one of them. As soon as Feng Yiping got on the train, he climbed into the upper berth, put his bag and food on the bunk, and lay down leisurely.
A few minutes before departure, the carriage finally became a bit quieter. It wasn't long before the auntie pushing the cart to buy lunch shouted the classic catchphrase and made her way around the carriage, and the lights were turned off.
In the middle of the night, in a daze, and not knowing which stop it was, Feng Yiping heard a man talking to the female attendant of this carriage at the carriage door.
The female attendant said, 'No, the sleeper carriage is closed at night, and no one else can come in.'
The man said, 'I only have a standing ticket, but it's too crowded up front, so let me sit at the small table by the aisle for the whole night. I'll be there in the morning, is that okay?'
'No,' the conductor said firmly.
After a few back and forths and some more bargaining, the conductor accepted 50 yuan, found him a seat at the small table in the aisle, and told him to move aside immediately if a sleeper came to sit down.
This would have been fine, but about an hour later, a dramatic scene unfolded. The man called out to the passing conductor, 'I've memorised your number. Give me back my money, or I'll complain to the Railway Ministry's Roadwork Office as soon as we get off the train.'
Feng Yiping had no idea what the Railway Workers' Office was, but he found the whole thing quite novel. He was shocked. How dare this man threaten the railway boss!
What surprised Feng Yiping even more was that the attendant didn't say a word. There was a moment of silence, and then Feng Yiping heard a rustling sound. Then he heard the sound of high heels walking away.
The high heels stopped at the carriage door, the tin ash bucket slammed onto the carriage, and then the door to the attendant's cubicle was slammed shut. She was really angry, and from this it can be seen that she really gave in!
Feng Yiping heard laughter coming from the rooms to the left and right, and it seemed that everyone was having a good time.