“That’s pretty expensive, right?” Soft sleeper didn’t come by easily at this day and age.
“They are not expensive,” said Feng Zeyu with a smile.
There was no direct train line that would take them from City Nan to the grassland; they would need to transfer at capital city, then another 10 plus hour of ride, followed by 2 hours of car ride. And, to get to where Feng Zeyu used to say, an extra 1-2 hours by horse.
“Are there no residences where you used to say?” That sounded so remote.
“No, there aren’t any.” Feng Zeyu thought that perhaps Shu Yan was worried about the roughness of the trip, he smiled and said, “I have contacted my friends already. He will be picking us up.” He pulled out some fruits that had been washed ahead of time along with some snacks and placed them on top of the small table.
“Would you two like some?” He asked the two children.
The two children shook their heads. They had been woken up early by their mother today and they were a little tired now.
“Go get some sleep for now.” It would take 19 hours for the train to get to capital city. They would arrive around 1 AM. Then they would have to wait for over an hour for the connecting train. They needed to rest up now.
Worried that the children would fall off from the upper bunk, Shu Yan and Feng Zeyu would take the upper bunks. After she had laid down and pulled the blanket over herself, she noticed that Feng Zeyu was staring at her. She glared at him and said, “What are you looking at? Hurry up and get some rest.” Having said that, she turned her back to him but she could still feel Feng Zeyu’s passionate look on her that made her back burned.
Shu Yan moved awkwardly and felt that the look was gone. She relaxed slowly and had also fallen asleep.
Perhaps because they were the only ones in the room or that Feng Zeyu was there, Shu Yan slept very well.
It was almost 11 when she woke up. Shu Yan stretched and noticed that both Feng Zeyu and the children were awake and playing pokers on the lower bunk across from her.
Shu Yan looked for a little while and noticed that they were playing jielong, the game where each person would place a card, and whenever one had a card that was identical to one above it, they could take the entire stack as their loot.
“Mom, you are awake. Come play with us,” shouted Tianbao excitedly when he noticed that Shu Yan was awake.
JingJing, too, looked at her with anticipation.
“Okay, Mom will join too.”
Through their entire trip, Feng Zeyu knew every single city and was able to tell them a thing of two about each of them. That surprised Shu Yan a little.
“You have been to all of these places?” Why else would he know them so well?
“Some I have been to. Others were told to me by others. When I was in the military, we travelled along this path as well. Our monitor also heard stories from the others and shared them with us.” Feng Zeyu recollected his memories. “I’ve met a few of my comrades then.”
All of them belonged to the same company. Him and another one of them were lucky to ended up in the same location. Sadly, he would never make it home.
“Uncle Fang, can you tell me more stories when you were in the military? I am interested.” Such was the difference between boys and girls. Tianbao was interested in Feng Zeyu’s life in the military but JingJing cared more about playing jielong with Shu Yan.
By 1 AM, they finally arrived at capital city. After their nap, they all felt refreshed. The other passengers who rode in the hard seat sections looked particularly tired.
“Let’s wait in the waiting area for now. I assume you are hungry? Let me go and see what I can find for eating,” said Feng Zeyu as he put their luggage down.
“It’s fine. We are not hungry. Besides, there are fruits and snacks here. You sit and get some rest too. You were the one who carried all of the luggage.” Shu Yan had wanted to help but Feng Zeyu wouldn’t let her.
Even so, Feng Zeyu still went out to look. He returned with a few tea eggs in his hand. JingJing and Tianbao each had two. Shu Yan didn’t have too much appetite and only had one. Feng Zeyu ate the rest of them.
“Okay, they are checking tickets now. Let’s go.” Shu Yan followed Feng Zeyu closely with her two children in tow.
“We should arrive around noon tomorrow.” Seeing that the children and Shu Yan still looking sleepy, he said, “You get some more rest. I’ll wake you up in the morning.”