CHAPTER 209: CHAPTER 209: FULL OF NOSTALGIA

The waiting area had a strong sense of nostalgia, with wooden benches and people everywhere carrying large sacks or bags.

There was no space on the benches in the waiting area, so everyone sat on the floor next to their luggage.

Some were traveling with children, and others were elderly couples supporting each other.

People of all kinds hurried about, their faces uniformly sallow, yellow and gaunt, clothes patched over and over again, with only a few dressed decently and looking slightly better.

It was the height of summer, and the smell in the waiting area was unbearable for Lin Xue.

"Let’s go find somewhere else to wait!" She glanced at her watch, saw there was still some time, and led the two of them out of the waiting room.

Luckily, they had bought sleeper tickets, otherwise, there would have been too many people in the regular car.

The three found a shady place to sit down. In less than ten minutes, a young lad approached sneakily, came to their side, and lifted his clothes to reveal cigarettes inside.

"Comrades, want to buy some cigarettes?" The young man didn’t look like a peddler anxious to sell goods; rather, he gave Lin Xue the impression that he was bestowing an honor by approaching them.

Indeed, that’s how it was. This young man was none other than under Wang Cheng’s charge, responsible for selling cigarettes at the train station.

He was indeed not worried about sales. Whenever he pinpointed someone, went over, and lifted his clothes, showing the goods, the other party was sure to pay up.

Because he could judge who could afford it and who couldn’t.

Several times, he sold out in an instant, not having enough to sell.

Today, the reason he pinpointed these three was that two were young men. Young men valued their appearance and liked to show off, and these two dressed decently, carried new bags, and had plenty of luggage. However, unlike the common folk whose luggage was packed in large sacks, theirs was in bags.

Lin Xue looked at the familiar cigarettes hanging from his clothes and waved her hand, "Comrade, go sell elsewhere! We don’t smoke!"

He was one of her people, so she had to be polite to him.

However, no sooner had she said this than Li Jianshe contradicted her.

"Wait a moment, comrade, give me two packs! How much?"

Since Li Jianshe had spoken, Lin Xue couldn’t stop him. Although she had just restocked, and these cigarettes were plentiful, she couldn’t take them out herself!

"Twelve yuan a pack, comrade!" The young man swiftly handed two packs of cigarettes to Li Jianshe and told him the price.

Li Jianshe clicked his tongue; it was indeed expensive. How many times costlier than the supply and marketing cooperative was this?

Still, he painfully handed over twenty-four yuan to the young man and took the two packs of cigarettes.

Lin Xue was also taken aback; they were selling so expensively, earning two yuan per pack. She paid these people separate wages and gave Wang Cheng ten percent, yet they were selling it at such a high price.

And this matter was something Wang Cheng never mentioned to her.

While she was lost in her thoughts, the young man had already left.

Li Jianshe carefully put away the two packs of cigarettes.

"Comrade Li Jianshe, I didn’t expect you to smoke?" Lin Xue asked curiously.

Other matters she would address when she got back; there was no point thinking about them now.

"I can’t afford to smoke; these are for my grandfather. He enjoys them! Otherwise, I would never spend so much money on these! Grandpa will surely like them; I’ve never seen such cigarettes in the Capital City, but they are truly expensive!" Li Jianshe said with a pained expression.

Lin Xue glanced at Zhang Yuan, who gave a barely noticeable nod.

She said nothing further since it wasn’t her place to give a gift.

The three of them sat in the shade until the train pulled in, and they went in for boarding.

There were indeed a lot of people, a crowd bustling with noise, children’s cries echoing around.

Lin Xue didn’t have anything in her hands, so she carried all three tickets, and Zhang Yuan and Li Jianshe dutifully shielded her as they moved slowly forward.

The three of them boarded the train with difficulty, but the sleeper car was completely different from the hard seat section! Here, people weren’t crowded, followed the conductor’s instructions, found their bunks, and placed their luggage in order. People in the sleeper car were dressed well; many appeared to be leadership figures.

This car’s tickets couldn’t be bought without connections, so Lin Xue was particularly satisfied now.

All three of them had lower berths, 5, 6, 7 next to each other, with 5 and 6 in one compartment and 7 beside them. Li Jianshe naturally went to berth 7.

They put all the luggage under the bed; with the lower berth, it was more convenient to store things beneath.

Zhang Yuan and Lin Xue shared a compartment with two lower berths.

Lin Xue disliked the upper berth due to the hassle of climbing up and down; it wasn’t comfortable to lie down the whole way, and the aisle seats were no better.

Soon, the sleeper car was filled up.

In their compartment, all the upper berths were occupied by young men, but there were no women.

Lin Xue was curious; to be so young and sit in the sleeper car suggested their families were either wealthy or influential?

At Chenxi County railway station, the train stopped for half an hour, then began clattering onwards.

Lin Xue gazed at the rapidly retreating scenery outside the window; this nostalgic countryside, the gray dirt houses, and the toiling common folk gave her an unreal feeling.

On a whim, Lin Xue pulled out a pencil and drawing paper, actually from the supermarket space, and began drawing the scenery along the way.

Having had enough sleep, eaten well, and drank sufficiently, she chatted with Zhang Yuan... but both of them were still in an awkward phase, unsure what to say.

And whenever they tried to speak, they recalled the romantic scene at noon, the passionate entanglement between the two of them.

His hand had already reached for her collar, and they had almost gone too far before stopping.

Zhang Yuan was also sitting on his bunk, keeping his head down, not daring to look at Lin Xue.

Thus, Lin Xue began to watch the scenery and sketch.

Though her drawing skills weren’t spectacular, she had taken art classes for a couple of semesters in middle school, so it wasn’t to the point of being unwatchable.

Moreover, the scenery along the way wasn’t difficult to draw. So, after more than an hour, Lin Xue ended up with a bold depiction of hardworking, sweating common folk on her paper.

Even the plodding big dog beside them couldn’t escape Lin Xue’s pencil, vividly captured.

Though Zhang Yuan didn’t dare look at Lin Xue, his gaze fell on her drawing as she focused intently on her work.

Now, with the drawing complete, he emerged from the scene, marveling at it.

This young girl had managed to capture even the fatigue and resignation on the common people’s faces with her drawing.

Since the beginning of summer, not a drop of rain had fallen; in the Chaoyang Commune, watering the fields was an unrelenting daily task.

Other places were similar; it seemed it hadn’t rained here either, with peasants showing faces of fatigue, tinged with despair.

Food was already scarce, and if there was no harvest, they wouldn’t just struggle to eat; they couldn’t even pay the taxes.

That would be a death sentence for the common people.

After finishing her sketch, Lin Xue looked outside, her mind filled with worries, while Zhang Yuan momentarily didn’t know what to say.

"Comrade! Your drawing is truly incredible. Did you study art professionally?"

As the two silently watched the scenery, a man’s voice from the upper berth suddenly broke through, pulling them back to reality.