673 A Bumpy Journey
“I really don’t have 500 dollars. Why don’t I bring you for treatment,” Qiao Mei said.
Li Xiong refused to give up and shouted, “How can that be enough! How can I work when I’m injured? Don’t we have to eat or drink at home! You have to pay for my loss of income, emotional damage, medical fees and food expenses.”
Qiao Mei pursed her lips. This was a really comprehensive list of items. He was good enough to be a lawyer.
Compared to Old Madam Li, Li Xiong was more skillful.
“The way that you demand for things, you’ll come and ask me to buy your coffin for you in the future!” Qiao Mei muttered softly.
“How can you say that! As if we offended you! Why are you cursing us like this!” Sun Ying said angrily.
“Then why are you here? For Old Madam Li? Don’t you already know the truth? Why don’t we take our issue to the armed forces department in the county city?” Qiao Mei said with a smile.
At the mention of going to the armed forces department, the women who were close to Qiao Mei all straightened their backs and glared at Li Xiong and his wife, as if they suddenly felt motivated.
At the same time, in the capital, He Ning and Huo Gao set off for Qiao Mei’s house. Train journeys could be classified into good ones and bad ones. The more one paid for the ticket, the better the treatment. However, such special trains only traveled between popular cities.
Qiao Mei’s tiny little hometown was not considered a rich city at all. It was already good enough that there was a train connecting it to the capital.
When they first left the capital, everything felt fine. However, as they gradually approached Qiao Mei’s city, many pigs, dogs, chickens and ducks also boarded the train.
The smell in the entire carriage was extremely bad. Some pigs even excreted everywhere in the carriage. The ticket price for pigs was half that of humans. As long as one was willing to pay, one could bring anything on board, even if it was very dirty and smelly.
Everyone relied on trains to trade the livestock they raised in order to earn some money.
“Didn’t you buy the expensive tickets?” He Ning pinched his nose and said disdainfully.
Huo Gao looked at the train carriage helplessly and said, “There’s no other train that services the place you want to go. It’s already good enough to be able to get on this train.”
He Ning accidentally saw a pig excreting and immediately started retching. Once he started vomiting, he could not stop.
He immediately got up and ran to the other carriages. He only sat down slowly when he found one that did not have any livestock. However, he still covered his mouth and nose with his handkerchief, afraid that he would catch a whiff of that disgusting smell once he removed it.
Huo Gao picked up the luggage and followed closely behind He Ning. If He Ning had not insisted on coming, they would not have needed to suffer like this.
He Ning chuckled for no reason when he saw the scenery outside the window, as if he was in a very good mood. A second ago, he was still vomiting uncontrollably, but now he was beaming with joy. It was a really strange sight.
“What did you see that made you so happy?” Huo Gao asked.
“I’m just thinking that it’s really quite amazing for such a place to produce someone like Qiao Mei. I put in so much effort to nurture He Mei, but in the end, she found it difficult to achieve anything and was defeated by a young girl from the countryside. Now, there are still a bunch of people laughing at me! They say that He Ning lost to the young daughter-in-law of the Xia family,” He Ning said self-deprecatingly.
“Maybe it has something to do with Qiao Qiang. After all, he was the one who brought up the child. Perhaps children from the countryside are better than what we imagine,” Huo Gao said.
He Ning could not explain it either and he quietly waited for the train to reach the station. When he disembarked, the strong smell of mud and sand blowing into his face made him feel very uncomfortable. It was also much colder here than in the capital.
“Why don’t I take out the jacket from the luggage and put it on for you?” Huo Gao asked worriedly.
“There’s no need for the time being. It’s getting late. Let’s find a car and go straight to Qiao Mei’s house,” He Ning said.
Huo Gao hesitated. They had already been on the train for one day and one night. Would it not be better to find a guest house and rest first? Even if he was looking for ginseng, there was no need to be in such a hurry.
“Look, there’s a guest house over there. Why don’t we stay there for the night?” Huo Gao said cautiously.
He Ning rejected Huo Gao’s idea without a second thought. If they went now, they would be able to make it in time for mealtime when Qiao Mei would be cooking. If she saw how pitiful they looked and allowed them to stay for a meal, that would be the best outcome.
“Let’s go now!” He Ning said.
