PDLP Chapter 160 Green Leather Train
Chapter 160 Green Leather Train
Chapter 160 Green Train
Hearing him coming in, the fat man put on his shirt and turned around.
Qiu Huoming exclaimed in his heart, what a fat guy, he was really strong, about 1 meters tall, fat, with hair gathered on the top of his head, very short eyebrows, spread in an "e" shape, he smiled before the other party opened his mouth.
"I just checked in. This is the only bed left. It's quite clean here..." His voice was loud and he had an accent, but it wasn't heavy and I could understand him.
On the open space near the door, there were two half-empty sacks, with traces of dragging on the ground and a carrying pole placed beside it.
"My last name is Qiu. What's your name, brother?" Qiu Huoming closed the door and turned on the fan in the corner.
Nowadays, people who are that fat usually come from a decent family.
Qiu Huoming walked to his bed, took a quick look and found that no one had touched his things. He put down his backpack, took out the paper and pen inside, then walked to the table and chair, sat down, and reached out to spread out the letter paper.
"My name is Yuan Qiang. Can you read?" Yuan Qiang came over curiously and asked.
"Well, what about you?" Qiu Huoming responded, lowered his head and began to write.
"I only know how to count." Yuan Qiang sighed, "Your handwriting is so beautiful, just like the words printed in a book."
This made it difficult for Qiu Huoming to continue writing. Although he knew that the other party was illiterate, it made him feel a little awkward to see him staring at him like that.
"Brother Yuan, where are you from? Are you here to do business in Hanjiang?" Seeing that he was very interested in talking, Qiu Huoming simply put down his pen and turned around to ask.
Yuan Qiang sat on the edge of the bed and said, "I'm a jujube seller. I came to Hanjiang to sell jujubes..."
Qiu Huoming was stunned. How could a date seller stay in such an expensive guesthouse?
This man must be a middleman. These days, farmers may not make money, but middlemen definitely make money.
After saying this, Yuan Qiang stood up and walked to the door, opened one of the sacks, grabbed two handfuls of dates, walked over and placed them on Qiu Huoming's desk.
"Try it. You can't find such authentic dates anywhere else..."
After saying that, he pinched one himself, rubbed it on his body, and put it into his mouth.
A crisp "crunch" sound came, and he chewed for a while and spit out the date pit, "It's delicious, Comrade Xiaoqiu, you try it."
"Thank you. I won't be polite then." Seeing his generous manner, Qiu Huoming felt fond of him and took one to eat.
The dates are crisp, sweet in the mouth and have a small core, so they are of such high quality that they are easy to sell.
"Do you have water transportation?" Qiu Huoming recalled the relevant geographical location of Zaozhuan and asked curiously. There is no large waterway near Zaozhuan. If it is transported by car for such a long distance, the cost will skyrocket.
"There is a railway over there, and there are also canals going north..." Yuan Qiang said with a smile: "This is my first time back to the Han River. I rented a carriage with someone in partnership. Everyone over there is doing this business. I'm lucky, I sold them all, and there are still two small bags left, so I won't sell them, I'll give them away."
"Not bad, there is actually a railway in Zaozhuang!"
"Comrade Xiaoqiu, you must be a student. In my area, besides dates, there are also coal mines. Trains transport goods every day, running back and forth, making a lot of noise..." There was a hint of disgust in his tone, but more of pride.
(Abandoned station)
Qiu Huoming searched in his mind, it seemed that in later generations, Zaozhuang was classified as a "resource-depleted city". The bustling city that Yuan Qiang described now probably no longer existed.
"Brother Yuan, I still have some letters to write. I'll talk to you later..." Qiu Huoming greeted him and continued writing.
He had a lot to say to Chen Suniang, and he wrote three pages before stopping. He took out a blank envelope, filled in the address, put a stamp on the upper right corner, sealed it, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Have you finished writing?" Yuan Qiang asked while sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Well, it's done." Qiu Huoming returned to his bed, bent down and took out the washbasin. The towel had been dry after hanging for a day, so he pulled it off and put it together with his spare clothes.
"Going to the bathhouse? Let's go together!" Yuan Qiang took out the washbasin, took a towel from the bag hanging on the wall, stuffed the small bag under the pillow into the clean clothes, and put them in the washbasin.
Qiu Huoming glanced at him. Although this man seemed careless, he was actually very cautious. Doing this would indeed save a lot of trouble when going out. He responded, put his backpack into the basin, and walked out the door just like Yuan Qiang.
Showers are very quick in summer, and Qiu Huoming came out of the bathroom after a few minutes.
Two people were in the room, with the window open, eating dates while looking at the street in the night and the noodle shop across the street that was doing a booming business.
"When I make money, I will take my wife and son to move to a big city..."
"How do we solve the household registration problem?" Qiu Huoming asked.
Yuan Qiang touched the back of his head and said, "Let my eldest child go to college..."
"That will take several years."
"Big brother will take the college entrance examination next year. Comrade Xiaoqiu, how old are you?" Yuan Qiang asked.
"18 is old."
"Oh, he's only two years older than my kid."
Qiu Huoming was shocked, "Brother Yuan, how old are you?"
"33 years old, you can't tell, I look younger..."
Qiu Huoming calculated in his mind, that is, he had a child when he was 17 years old?
"Then I have to change my name to Uncle Yuan. Besides the date business, do you do other things?"
Dates are seasonal fruits and cannot be harvested for long.
"Hey, if my kid was half as smart as you, I would wake up laughing in my sleep..." Yuan Qiang threw all the remaining dates on the table to Qiu Huoming.
"I'll give you some to eat on the way. I'll pack you some more later. I eat it every day and I'm tired of it."
Qiu Huoming took the dates and thanked him, "This is enough."
"Why be polite to me?" He said excitedly, and simply took a newspaper and packed some dates for Qiu Huoming. Regardless of Qiu Huoming's objection, he stuffed it directly into Qiu Huoming's backpack.
"When I go back this time, I have to go to the canning factory. It's cold in the north in the second half of the year, and canned goods are in short supply. I'll sell as many as I can, but I need a permit. Otherwise, they'll intercept me halfway and I'll be fined to death..."
Seeing that he was eager to learn and was about the same age as his own son, Yuan Qiang felt somewhat friendly to him and was not shy about talking about some unimportant things about his business.
"You only sell canned food in the north?"
"There are a lot of fruits in the south, and people don't want canned fruits. It's not that we can't sell them in those places, but it takes time... it's not cost-effective."
Qiu Huoming listened with great interest as he talked about some things about selling canned food and some accidents that happened on the road.
It is true that a tree that is moved will die, but a person who moves will live.
The threshold for making money these days is much lower than in later generations.
The two chatted until 11 o'clock at night before they decided to go to bed.
Qiu Huoming went to run the water first. When he came back, Yuan Qiang had already fallen asleep. His snoring was so loud that Qiu Huoming suddenly felt like changing rooms.
Qiu Huoming endured it, reached out to turn off the light, took out the earplugs and put them in his ears, then he felt the vibration was slightly relieved.
He was lying in bed, thinking in a daze that he didn't expect Qiu Jianshe's snoring was not the loudest.
The next morning, Yuan Qiang from next door had already packed up and was ready to go out.
"The day before yesterday, I was kicked out of the large room I was staying in, so I moved to a double room. It's too expensive, so I'm going to live somewhere else..." Yuan Qiang explained, "I'm going back with my fellow villager's car tomorrow. Comrade Xiaoqiu, see you again if we're lucky..."
Qiu Huoming smiled and said, "Have a safe trip, Uncle Yuan."
Yuan Qiang was carrying a cloth bag on his back and two sacks on his shoulders. He walked out of the door with a smile on his face, like an old farmer.
After Qiu Huoming finished washing up, he put on his backpack, hung the strap of the guitar packaging on his shoulder, went downstairs to the service desk, filled his kettle with water first, then returned the key and got his deposit back.
After going out, he looked at the sky. It was a sunny day again and the sun came out early in the morning.
At 7 o'clock in the morning, the streets of Han River were already busy, with many breakfast stalls appearing.
Qiu Huoming looked curiously and didn't walk far before stopping in front of a steaming iron pot. He looked into the pot and saw round pastries rolling up and down in the oil pan. After a while, they were fished out by the boss and placed on a plate beside to drain. This thing looked golden in color and was very tempting.
"Two of these, comrade, what is this called?"
"Mianwo..." said the boss in broken Mandarin.
Qiu Huoming paid the money and ate while walking with the oil paper in hand. The taste was somewhere between fried dough sticks and fried cakes, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Halfway through the journey, I saw the 'Three Fresh Bean Curd' that I had eaten at Yu Xueying's house. The boss was frying it in an iron pan. One pot was already ready and there were diners lining up to buy it.
(Three Fresh Bean Curd)
Qiu Huoming bought two servings. The restaurant had tables and chairs, and there were already diners sitting nearby enjoying their meals early in the morning.
He saw that the customer also bought a bowl of noodles, so he asked and found out that it was called "hu tang noodle". He followed suit and ordered one too.
Qiu Huoming sat on the street, taking a mouthful of rice noodles, a sip of soup, and then a bite of "three-fresh bean curd". This "breakfast" suddenly made him feel more favorable towards Hanjiang.
Food is the most important thing for people, so a place with a rich breakfast can’t be too bad.
After breakfast, Qiu Huoming walked to the intersection and put the letter to his family into the mailbox.
We are leaving here today, and Qiu Huoming is a little excited about the upcoming journey. This is his first time riding a green train.
He raised his wrist to look at his watch. It was already past eight o'clock and the train at ten-fifteen was about to depart.
Qiu Huoming walked quickly towards the train station along the same route he took last time.
After checking his ticket and getting on the train smoothly, he looked for his bed along the aisle. A hard sleeper is equivalent to a large dormitory bed, with three berths: upper, middle and lower. There are about 10-12 such three-layer beds in a carriage, with two beds facing each other. There is only a thin wooden board behind each bed, which means that even if the person next to you farts, you can hear it.
(Hard sleeper style, picture from the Internet)
Soft sleeper rooms are slightly better, they have doors and the bedding is higher quality.
Qiu Huoming's hard sleeper seat is in the middle, and the toilet and washbasin are located at the rear and front of the car.
The carriage was almost full. It was past 10 o'clock when he got on. Most of the passengers had already finished washing up. Several passengers were sitting on folding chairs in the lower bunks and aisles. Regardless of whether they knew each other well or not, they would get close and chat.
From a distance of half a meter, Qiu Huoming saw a young woman sitting on his bed, about 23 or 4 years old, with wavy hair and fashionable clothes. She was chatting and laughing with a young man opposite him with shiny hair. On the middle bunk opposite him was a half-grown boy, lying on the bed, still sleeping with one hand hanging down.
Qiu Huoming squeezed over. The car suddenly shook, followed by a honking sound and a noise. The child in the middle bunk swung his hands back and forth with the waves.
"Comrade, this is my bed." Qiu Huoming steadied himself, walked to his bed and said to the young woman who was blocking the intersection.
The young woman glanced at him and stood up obediently.
"Comrade Xie, please come and sit over here." The young man said to her. His Mandarin was very standard and sounded like someone from the capital.
This train is from the capital to Yangcheng, so it is normal to have passengers from the capital.
Comrade Xie responded and sat down next to him.
Qiu Huoming sat down on the edge of the bed, took off his backpack and put his guitar away.
He took out a towel and wiped the sweat from his forehead, then hung the towel on the metal frame of the bed.
The train made a clanging sound, and the body of the train was unstable, shaking from time to time.
The aisle window was half open. Diagonally opposite, there were two middle-aged male passengers who were smoking, looking at the scenery outside the window, and loudly expressing their opinions on some things. The sound was intermittently transmitted to Qiu Huoming's ears in the noisy carriage.
At this moment Qiu Huoming suddenly missed the ship he had taken before.
"Young comrade, are you taking the bus alone? Are you working or visiting relatives?" the young man opposite asked.
"Comrade, how about you studying?" Qiu Huoming asked.
"I'll go over there and take a look at...the electronic watch." The young man spoke too quickly and couldn't stop himself.
He added: "When I'm on a business trip, I buy some things and give them to people when I get home."
Qiu Huoming understood it immediately. Nowadays, people from the capital often go to coastal cities to wholesale electronic watches and bring them back to inland areas to sell. They can make a lot of money from this trip.
"Well, when you go on a business trip, you must bring some things with you." Qiu Huoming said perfunctorily.
"My last name is Qiao. Comrade, what's your name? Is the thing in your long bag a guitar? It looks a bit like a guitar." asked the young man.
"Brother Qiao, call me Xiaoqiu. There's a guitar in here."
"Xiao Qiu, can you play the piano? We've been so bored along the way. Play for us." Brother Qiao suggested.
Qiu Huoming shook his head. He had just sat down, and he was not in the mood to play the guitar. "I can't play well. You might as well play your tape recorder."
Near the head of Brother Qiao's bed, there was a single-cassette recorder with the slot half open, revealing the tape inside.
"It's out of power. The battery is too durable." Brother Qiao said and closed the bayonet.
A few people were chatting when a slightly plump man came into the corridor. He saw Comrade Xie and sat down next to her. "We can't stay in the toilet. It's so dirty and they don't even clean it," he complained.
"Chang Fei, have you washed your hands?" Comrade Xie asked suspiciously.
"After washing, the water dripped, like horse urine..."
As soon as he finished answering, he looked up and saw Qiu Huoming, "Hey, you just got in the car? Alone?"
Qiu Huoming nodded.
"My wife is in your middle bunk, and I'm in your upper bunk. It's too inconvenient to get up and down. Let's change places."
"The middle bunk can be changed." Qiu Huoming said.
"That won't work. Are you going to separate us?" Chang Fei said.
Qiu Huoming spread his hands and said, "Forget it then."
Comrade Xie reached out and tugged at his arm, "Don't embarrass them, we're doing fine this way."
Chang Fei waved his fist at Qiu Huoming, then turned around and scolded Comrade Xie, "Your elbow is bent outward, right?"
Comrade Xie's pretty face immediately flushed when he scolded her. She lowered her head angrily and ignored the man.
Brother Qiao winked at Qiu Huoming and mouthed, "This guy is sick."
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