Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
The trains traveling to the province were trans-province green trains. Even sleeping berths had no air conditioning. The weather had turned cooler in July but with so many people sleeping in a small space, the windows had to be opened.
Ye Jian and Principal Chen found their berths and prepared to put their luggage on it. A middle-aged couple sleeping at the lower berths suddenly got up and looked at Principal Chen vigilantly.
“Where are you all sleeping? Are you sleeping in the middle berth or the upper berth?” The woman opened her mouth and questioned them. “Did you change your bed number? The berths are based on your berth number. You can’t just sleep anywhere.”
Her expression showed that she was guarding against them. She was probably afraid that they were thieves. It was good to be vigilant when you were outside but it wasn’t right for her to be so disrespectful. Did she think that she was the police and that they were criminals?
Ye Jian pursed her lips unhappily. She said to Principal Chen, “Principal Chen, I don’t have many things with me. I don’t need to put it on the luggage rack. I will put in on my bed.” She needed to tell them that they made the wrong judgment.
After she said this, the couple exchanged glances with each other. Then, they laid back down on their beds without even a word of apology.
After putting down their luggage, Principal Chen sat on the foldable seat next to the window and enjoyed the wind. The middle-aged woman sat up and pointed at the window. “Don’t open the window, do you understand? Just leave it like this.”
There were more than ten people in the train carriage. The first thing most of them did when they came into the room was to pull up the windows near the aisle and the bed. Those people that felt too warm would sit on the foldable seats next to the window and fan themselves as they complained about the hot environment.
Ye Jian looked at the window on their side. It was only opened slightly, just enough for the wind to blow in at night.
Principal Chen waved his hand nonchalantly. He didn’t want Ye Jian to be irritated by this middle-aged woman’s actions. It was common for them to meet such people during a long journey. There was no need to take it to heart.
Ye Jian smiled. She didn’t argue with the middle-aged woman.
She didn’t like to open her window entirely too. In this era, many things could happen on the train. The story that Principal Chen told them last time happened in May 1993. It was during a train from Beijing to Moscow.
It was a true story. The influence it had internationally was extremely bad. Many people didn’t dare to take that train anymore.
That was not the only instance. There were many other cases but the impact was not as great as the international train case.
After the train left the train station, Principal Chen smiled at Ye Jian. “I have been going out very often this year. Normally, I wouldn’t take the train unless I have to.”
When he was young, Principal Chen went to many different areas to carry out missions. Hence, when he retired, he wanted to live a calm and stable life. The oil reserve below the school didn’t allow him to leave the school often too.
This time, he came out because he had to bring Ye Jian to the Provincial People’s Great Hall.
“To us, taking the train is an interesting experience. That time when 12 of us came to the province, Zhou Liao and a few of the male students didn’t sleep for an entire night due to their excitement.” Ye Jian had climbed to the middle berth. She popped her head out and chatted with Principal Chen who was still sitting on the foldable seat. “The first trip is always exciting.”
A principal and a student. This identity was easily accepted by other people.
Hence, the middle-aged couple joined in their conversation too. Principal Chen was a talkative person. After some time, he was already chatting freely with the middle-aged man.
