On the platform, Qian Qianqian, the spirited little girl, was jumping up and down, waving her hands and shouting, "Idol, go for it! Once you get there and arrange everything, call me quickly, and I’ll come to join up with your big troop!"
Zhao Xiaogui soon joined in the shouting too, "Sis, take good care of yourself! When you get there, if there’s anything delicious, remember to send some back to me..."
From a distance, she saw her cousin being led by Uncle Xia and Aunt Xia, like a mixed doubles pair of men and women.
Xia Chuyi broke into a smile through her tears.
As the green-skinned train rumbled along, everyone’s figures gradually faded and vanished in the distance, and the voices of the two treasures, Qian Qianqian and Zhao Xiaogui, were no longer to be heard.
Gazing out the window at the retreating scenery, she momentarily felt as if she had returned to her previous life...
Back then, she was alone with her bundle, boarding a train to go out to work, and the platform behind her was empty.
Her lips were cracked, her belongings crisp and deflated, her eyes full of defiance masking the confusion in her heart as she embarked on the long journey.
This time, she was still leaving, but everything was different.
The loved ones she cared for were all still there, and her future was full of hope.
"Have some water, going to college is a good thing, so don’t be sad!" The young man in a rail police uniform next to her, handed her an enamel mug full of water.
"Thank you, Mr. Kang," she nodded thanking the police officer.
Mr. Kang was the one Chang Luhui had asked to take care of her on the train.
"No need to thank me, Mr. Xia, please don’t be so polite!" Mr. Kang touched his head and thought to himself, Huo Commander’s daughter-in-law, he dared not be so courteous with her.
"Well then, Mr. Xia, I’ll go off to work now. If there’s anything you need, just call out to me."
"Thank you," Xia Chuyi smiled.
After Mr. Kang left, the woman sitting next to Xia Chuyi, who was with a child, struck up a conversation with her, "Comrade, are you going to college in another city?"
This woman, who had previously helped her with her luggage, was kind-hearted.
Xia Chuyi returned her smile and said, "Yes, how about you? Are you going to visit relatives?"
Upon hearing this, the woman’s face broke into a smile, "Exactly, exactly, exactly, you can tell I’m going to visit relatives just by one glance! You deserve to be a college student."
Xia Chuyi chuckled to herself, thinking: she had told her child several times to "find daddy, find daddy," if she couldn’t tell the woman was visiting relatives, then she would be simply obtuse or deaf.
The two exchanged a few pleasantries and then rested on their own; they had sleeper tickets, and it was just the three of them, quite quiet for the time being.
When it was time to eat, Xia Chuyi opened her bundle and took out the braised meat and steamed buns—these two items could not be left inside.
No sooner had she taken out the meat and buns than the little boy, who had been sitting quietly in the woman’s arms, round eyes rolling around.
"Sister, pretty," the child blurted out unexpectedly.
Both the woman and Xia Chuyi were startled for a moment.
The woman patted the child’s cheek, "Are you trying to charm your way into getting the sister’s steamed bun?"
Shaking her head, the woman then raised her eyes to her and said, "Don’t mind this little one, he has a sweet mouth and likes to coax people for their food."
Xia Chuyi immediately thought of her cousin, so she simply scooped up two steamed buns and a few large pieces of braised meat and handed them over, saying, "The kid is growing, it’s fine to let him eat a bit."
The woman hurriedly tried to decline.
But seeing she couldn’t refuse anymore, she finally took out a box of nicely packaged biscuits from her own belongings and handed them to Xia Chuyi.