Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Arriving in the provincial capital
After crossing the Yangtze River Bridge, you have entered the city proper. The sounds of people, cars, and music come at you. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Feng Yiping looked greedily out of the car window, taking in the hurried passers-by, the crowded bicycle traffic, the cars passing one after the other, the congested intersections, the 'dripping' traffic lights, the brightly lit high-rises, the brightly lit shops... He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the familiar yet modern smell inside. It wasn't easy, but finally he had seen the big city again after a long time!
The first impression of the provincial capital at this time was that it was a big rural village under construction.
There are not many tall buildings, and you can see from one side of the city to the other without obstruction. In the distance, under the setting sun, there are also old houses with a grey-yellow colour scheme, interspersed with lots of greenery.
But this big village is full of vitality and brimming with a positive energy. Especially along the river, there are construction sites one after the other, with tower cranes standing side by side, on the former village and farmland.
The shuttle bus was waiting at a red light at an intersection. On Feng Yiping's side, an old residential area appeared to be being demolished, and a green mesh was pulled up on the side of the road, with the broken walls of the demolition site inside.
On the way to the station, this kind of situation was very common.
After all, it was the provincial capital, and the road could also be described as 'traffic'. Needless to say, bicycles, motorcycles could also speed on the main road at this time in a wide and open manner. The cars on the road had relatively sharp edges and corners, unlike the streamlined models of later times.
Later, the so-called 'old three' were running on the road in large numbers, but they were not old at all at this time, and they were in the prime of youth. The other cars were mostly imported big brands. Feng Yiping glanced at them briefly, and saw the European Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi logos, as well as the American Lincoln, Cadillac, and Chevrolet, and the RB Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, without missing a single one.
Although Feng Yiping is a car enthusiast, he doesn't really know many of the current models. The Mercedes-Benz with the fierce-looking front that just passed by is an S600, according to the label, but he doesn't know which generation it is. The red BMW over there has four big round eyes that are very expressive, but they are as small as the kidney-shaped grille in the middle, and the two together are not as big as the one later. Which series is it? The black-plated car is almost six metres long, and the white Cadillac, he has no idea what model it is. As for the blue Chevrolet commercial vehicle, with its bullet-shaped, modern and sharp design, he couldn't name it either.
On both sides of the road, the shops were also one after the other, many of which had replaced their shopfronts with large glass walls. Unlike before, when the shop names were all in printed block letters, many of them had now replaced them with various types of light boxes.
The road in front of the long-distance bus station was very lively.
Both sides were packed with people, and the buses in the middle of the road came one after the other. After driving for a while, they had to stop and wait for a while. There are restaurants and hotels on both sides of the road, and it is a good time for business, with many people coming and going.
In the shop next door, Zhou Huajian is singing 'Flesh-Heart' cheerfully, in the next shop, Jacky Cheung is singing 'Kiss Goodbye' with deep feeling, in another shop, Li Chunbo is singing 'Little Fang' with a guitar and thick, long braids, and in another shop, Yang Yuying is singing softly, 'Let Me Tell You Gently'....
These songs, which are rarely heard nowadays, were all the rage at the time.
Feng Yiping watched all this with rapt attention, not noticing that as the shuttle bus stopped frequently, Mei Qiuping's face next to him grew increasingly pale.
After entering the station and changing buses several times, the shuttle bus finally stopped at the designated location. When the door was pushed open by the air valve, Mei Qiuping could no longer hold back. Without caring about her son or the things she was carrying, she covered her mouth and ran out the back door, spitting into a trash can.
Feng Yiping looked at her pale face and saw a mother holding her child's hand walk past, covering her nose and looking disgusted. He felt a little sad.
Mei Qiuping was not sentimental. She stood by the trash can for a while, waiting until she felt no more nausea. She wiped her mouth, ran onto the bus, and carried two plastic bags. She told Feng Yiping to hold the big bag and she would carry the small one. She said happily to her son, 'Let's go to where we live!'
The mother and son, with their bags, squeezed their way through the crowds from the station, crossed the pedestrian crossing in front of the station to the other side, and walked a little further, stopping behind the bus stop.
It was past rush hour, so there weren't many people on the bus.
Mei Qiuping looked down and found a clean patch of ground, put the two bags on her shoulders on the ground, and took the two bags from Feng Yiping's hands and put them on top. 'You must be hungry, just bear with it a little longer, we'll be there soon.'
After waiting for a while, Mei Qiuping took him onto a blue and white tram. On the roof of the middle part of the tram, two power poles looked like two upturned braids.
There weren't many people on the tram either. 'Walk towards the back!' the driver said when he saw them get on.
Mei Qiuping led him carefully through the middle aisle, directly to the last row, and placed everything on the floor.
The woman with the military green bag came over to sell tickets, kicked the bag on the ground with her foot, and said, 'You have so much luggage, you have to pay for an extra person's ticket, you know!'
Mei Qiuping guessed that she had tried to bargain before, but now she knew it was useless. She took out the money from her pocket and bought three tickets.
Sitting down, she wiped the sweat from her sleeve and said to Feng Yiping, 'We have to take eight stops and change to another train. It'll take seven stops to get there, and your father will have finished cooking by now.'
'It's okay, Mum, I'm not hungry,' Feng Yiping unscrewed the cap of a tin of water and offered it to his mother.
After just three stops, not far from the station, the train suddenly stopped. The woman selling tickets skillfully took out a broom from under the small table top, swearing as she walked, 'Those incompetent people at the second repair factory, who eat people's food, have still not fixed it after so many repairs. I'm definitely going to complain today, and make sure they don't deduct a month's bonus. These guys don't know any better!'
She walked under the power pole, opened the window next to it, climbed out with her upper body, and poked the broom up a few times. Feng Yiping saw sparks flying, and then with a loud noise, the car slowly started to move.
Haha, I guess she's done this kind of thing a lot.
After getting off this tram, they got on another bus. When they finally got off at the stop near their rented room, it was already past eight o'clock. Mei Qiuping perked up, put the two bags on her shoulders, and said to Feng Yiping, 'That alley up ahead is it, we'll be there soon.'
As soon as they entered the alley, they could smell the rich aroma of life, with children playing and adults arguing. A woman happened to be going out to empty the sink, and when she saw Mei Qiuping, she greeted her enthusiastically, 'Oh, Sister Mei, you're back. Is this your son? He's so big!'
Mei Qiuping strained to look up from under her bags to speak to her, "Yes, he's in junior high school. Have you just finished eating?'
'Yes," the woman called from the door, carrying a pot, 'Lao Feng, your wife and son are here, come out and greet them.'
This person, Feng Yiping, is quite transparent. He is extremely enthusiastic, but it is all fake. If you have the time, you won't come over and help take a bag downstairs?
Not far ahead, Feng Zhenchang, wearing a white T-shirt, ran out of the house, 'Back already?'
He took the bag from Mei Qiuping's shoulders, and at this time he saw Feng Yiping behind him. Even though Feng Zhenchang has always been cold towards his children, when he saw his son, whom he hadn't seen in half a year, he smiled happily, 'Yiping is here too?'
Mei Qiuping took the two bags that Feng Yiping was carrying and said, 'Let's go back to the house first, you're tired and hungry!'