Compared with intercity buses, the passenger buses from Xinhong County to Humiao Town are particularly dilapidated.
The car was filled with that dull smell unique to cars, making people wring their noses.
The space inside the car is narrow, the leather seats are worn out, and the windows often make a shattering "clang" sound while driving, as if they are ready to disintegrate at any time.
There were not many passengers, and Xue Yuantong and Jiang Ning sat in the second to last row.
The seat in front of him collapsed a bit and leaned back a lot, but Xue Yuantong was petite and was not affected.
For a distance of 30 kilometers, the bus fare is 6 yuan.
Xue Yuantong whispered: "The buses were contracted by a boss. There are many of them, and they are specially responsible for traveling between the county and the town."
"When I was in the first year of junior high school, I went home and the bus only charged 5 yuan. Later, the price increased to 7 yuan, but many people in the town resisted, so the boss lowered it to 6 yuan."
Jiang Ning didn't say anything. They also had this kind of bus in Guyang County. They were also very old and old, and the color and model of the vehicles seemed to be the same.
He remembered that in 2019, private buses to various towns and villages in Yuzhou City were banned, and later buses were uniformly used.
As the bus drove out of the county town, every time it passed a bus stop, the conductor stood at the door and shouted.
However, even though it was almost out of the county town, the bus was still not full of passengers, so a strange operation happened. Before leaving the county town, the bus turned into the county town again and made another circle along the same road...
Thanks to the hard work of the conductor, all the seats were now filled with passengers. Not only that, there were also many people standing in the car.
The bus finally sent to Humiao Town.
Just after leaving the county town, I heard the conductor shout:
"All standing passengers, all squat down, all squat down, there are cameras in front to check!"
"Squat down quickly, squat down quickly!" Her tone was urgent, as if she was commanding someone to fight.
In the chaos, even though the passengers complained, they also knew the seriousness of the matter and squatted down in cooperation.
It wasn't until they passed the surveillance area that they stood up again.
Forty minutes later.
When the bus arrived at Humiao Town North Station, the conductor stood on the bus and shouted:
"We've arrived at North Station, everyone get off!"
There were only seven or eight passengers on the bus at this time, and the others disappeared in the village on the way.
Xue Yuantong and Jiang Ning were the last two people to get off the bus.
The station in Humiao Town is an open station, that is, there is no station.
After getting off the car, the two stood on the side of the road.
Xue Yuantong looked at the familiar environment, and the look in his eyes suddenly returned.
There are no high-rise buildings in Humiao Town. The tallest building in the surrounding area is only three floors.
There are many bicycles and motorcycles on the road.
There were several electric tricycles carrying passengers parked on the roadside. The aunt stood beside the cars and shouted:
"Where are we going? Can we take a tricycle?"
Xue Yuantong waved her hand to refuse, and she pulled Jiang Ning forward. A few dozen meters away, a straight river stood horizontally, with a width of fifteen or six meters.
Xue Yuantong climbed onto the arch bridge, held on to the stone railings, and took a breath of fresh air.
There are a few fishermen on the east bank of the river, and to the east is a large area of green farmland.
Xue Yuantong pointed to the river and reminisced: "When I was a child, there were many people swimming in this river. At that time, my mother and I stood on the bridge and watched. They plunged into the water and it took half a minute to emerge.'
Jiang Ning looked at the gray river water and asked, "What now?"
Xue Yuantong sighed: "Now the river has become dirty, and I have never seen anyone swimming again."
Jiang Ning deeply agrees that rural areas are not as beautiful as many people imagine, especially in the central towns and villages. Garbage management is not in place, and the level of education is generally low. The phenomenon of garbage being thrown everywhere is quite serious.
It will not improve until a few years later when large green trash cans on the roadside become common.
"Is your neighbor's house far away?" Jiang Ning asked.
"It's not far, it only takes ten minutes to get there."
"That's good."
Xue Yuantong looked at the tobacco and alcohol shop on the roadside: "I want to buy something."
This time she came to her hometown to visit patients on behalf of her mother. Her mother told her not to be empty-handed and to buy some milk and fruit gifts, which would make her look much better.
Xue Yuantong bought a box of walnut milk, a box of pure milk, a large bunch of bananas, and a pack of big apples, which cost her a total of 160 yuan.
After buying things, Xue Yuantong looked at the pile of things on the ground and subconsciously worried, how should he carry them over?
She was not very strong, so she was very tired carrying a box of milk, not to mention that the village was more than a kilometer away from the town.
She looked at the passenger tricycles on the roadside and planned to call one.
Jiang Ning didn't let her worry. He bent down and picked up a carton of milk with each hand, and then picked up the fruit. This weight was nothing to Jiang Ning.
"What are you doing? Lead the way." Jiang Ning looked at Xue Yuantong.
"Oh, oh." Xue Yuantong reacted and led him forward until he crossed the road.
Her mind is quite complicated, and Jiang Ning can solve many things that she cannot do easily.
In her past life, she could only rely on herself and her mother.
"Jiang Ning, I'll carry the fruit." She volunteered.
Jiang Ning ignored her. The fruit weighed several kilograms and it would be difficult for her to carry it.
He said: "There is no need for you to help me."
Xue Yuantong rarely spoke back.
After crossing the arch bridge, the east suddenly opened up, a long asphalt road extended out, and large fields on both sides came into view.
Within five hundred meters ahead, there is only one power supply building.
"That's the only power supply station in our town." Xue Yuantong introduced.
The power supply station occupies a large area, and Jiang Ning's Body Tempering Thunder Technique was trembling faintly.
There is an empty concrete field in front of the power station.
A tractor stopped there, making a powerful roar, and a crowd of adults and children gathered around it.
The woman picked up the bag and poured corn kernels into the opening on the tractor.
Everyone invariably stared at the machine in front of the tractor.
The children who were supposed to be chirping were actually unusually quiet, and for a while there was only the roar of the machine.
Soon, strips of 'charred rice sticks' were squeezed out of the machine, and a slight aroma came out.
The greedy children suddenly let out a cry of joy.
The women skillfully wrapped the coked rice sticks into bundles and distributed them to the children.
The children held the coke rice sticks, bit them in their mouths, and made kacha kacha sounds, forming a beautiful market scene.
Xue Yuantong beside him muttered: "That's great!"
She was like this too when she was little.
Xue Yuantong gathered around her without hesitation, and she and Jiang Jing passed by quietly.
…
One hundred meters ahead, Xue Yuantong got off the asphalt road.
In front of you is a dirt road leading to the south, with no end as far as the eye can see.
There are fields to the west, fields to the east, and a village beside the fields to the east.
Xue Yuantong walked for a while, and she suddenly stopped and raised her face with a smile on her face:
"Jiang Ning, I'm not bragging. I've walked this road many, many times. Even if I close my eyes, I can still get home."
Jiang Ning: "Real or false?"
"Huh, of course it's true." Xue Yuantong was full of confidence, "My elementary school is over there, look at it!"
She turned back and pointed to a three-story building in the distance to the north.
“I’ve been walking this route for six whole years!”
Jiang Ning observed the terrain. To the east of the village, there was another road into the village. That road was a cement road.
If you take the cement road to school, the distance will obviously be closer.
"Why didn't you take that road before?" Jiang Ning asked.
Xue Yuantong's smile continued: "I like silence."
Although he said this, Xue Yuantong could not help but feel melancholy in his heart.
Her father passed away very early, and her mother never remarried and raised her up.
Children from such families are likely to receive strange looks in the village.
Sometimes when Xue Yuantong was on her way to and from school, people from the village would often stop her and ask her about her family affairs.
Some aunts talked to her for a long time, saying that they were orphans and widowed mothers, and their lives were difficult. The aunts were talking, maybe thinking of their own suffering, or feeling sad from the heart. The aunts themselves said that they were crying.
…
She stood on the edge, neither walking nor walking, standing stiffly.
Xue Yuantong knew that they had good intentions, but she didn't like them.
Later, in order to avoid meeting people in the village, she always carried her schoolbag and walked home along this remote dirt road.
At this moment, Xue Yuantong was also carrying a schoolbag and walking back to the village along this dirt road.
Just like a few years ago.
Xue Yuantong never conveyed bad emotions to Jiang Ning, so she didn't let Jiang Ning know about it. She was always a cool little girl.
In rural fields, raised earthen graves can be seen everywhere. If you pass this dirt road late at night, the average timid person will probably be frightened.
Every once in a while, Xue Yuantong asked Jiang Ning if he was tired. If he was tired, he would ask her to carry the milk, but the answer he got every time was that he was not tired.
Country road, birds singing and flowers fragrant, Xue Yuantong walked and danced:
"Jiang Ning Jiang Ning, look, this telephone pole is crooked. It's so funny."
Jiang Ning looked up and saw a telephone pole standing at an angle of 60° at the junction of the dirt road and the field.
Xue Yuantong ran to the telephone pole. She stretched out her shoes, gestured twice, and said arrogantly:
"Jiang Ning, believe it or not, I kicked him down and the whole village was without electricity today!"
Jiang Ning: "Is this how you repay your villagers?"
Xue Yuantong ran to the middle of the road again, continued forward, turned a corner, and walked eastward.
In this way, Xue Yuantong led Jiang Ning into the village.
The name of their village is ‘Xue Xiaozhuang’. Just hearing the name makes people think of it easily. Why is it called ‘Xiaozhuang’?
In fact, there is another village called "Xue Dazhuang" to the east of Xue Xiaozhuang.
After entering the village and walking a little further in, Jiang Ning released his spiritual consciousness and observed a family.
He said: "I will help you put your things at your neighbor's door, and then I will wait for you in the town."
Hearing this, Xue Yuantong suddenly remembered that she was going back to the village to visit her neighbors, not her own home. It seemed unreasonable to take Jiang Ning to someone else's home like this.
When the neighbor asked, how should she introduce Jiang Ning?
Xue Yuantong made a decision: "You come with me. I won't stay for lunch. We will go to town to eat. There is a spicy hotpot in front of the middle school that is very delicious. I will treat you to it."
Jiang Ning: "Are you sure you don't want to stay?"
Xue Yuantong said flatly: "No need!"
Jiang Ning stopped at the door of her hometown carrying milk and fruits.
"Come here."
Xue Yuantong struggled to move the gifts and entered the neighbor's house. She repeatedly told Jiang Ning:
"Don't run away, be sure to wait for me when I come back~"
Jiang Ning said: "Ang, go quickly."
Xue Yuantong took three steps and turned back, reluctantly entering the neighbor's house.
Jiang Ning's consciousness opened and lingered around Xue Yuantong.
He did not wait where he was, but went around the village. Sometimes when people in the village saw him as a stranger, they often looked at him twice, but did not come up to talk to him.
Jiang Ning walked to the ditch. The ditch was oval in shape, about twenty meters long and wide. The water in the ditch was almost dry.
Two children were fishing for fish at the bottom of the ditch with bare feet, a little boy and a little girl.
He watched with relish.
The little girl touched it for a while and found an ugly toad. She was so frightened that she threw it away immediately.
There wasn't much water in the ditch, so the little girl always came up short when trying to fish. She said angrily:
"Let's get the water out. If you don't believe it, you can't touch it."
After that, the two children took the basin and started splashing water.
At first, the two of them splashed very carefully, fearing that the water would get on their clothes. Jiang Ning couldn't get enough of it, so he shouted:
"Hurry up, haven't you eaten yet?"
When the two children heard this, they immediately became energetic.
Although they are children, once they splash water seriously, their momentum is quite astonishing, and the sky is filled with mud and water, just like the Water Splashing Festival.
Children seem to have endless energy, and after a while, they actually compete with each other to see who can splash farther.
Especially the little girl, she splashed water very hard.
She splashed half a basin of muddy water, first glanced at the little boy fiercely, and then cast her proud eyes on Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning looked at this scene, raised his hands, and slowly applauded them.
When the two children saw someone cheering for them, they splashed water even harder as if they had received a reward.
In the end, the two children were covered in mud and water and turned into mud monkeys.
Jiang Ning was very satisfied with the appreciation.
At this time, a woman walked quickly from a distance. She stood by the ditch and looked at the two clay monkeys. She was so angry that she screamed:
"Xiaoyou, what are you doing!"
The little boy was okay and didn't react much. The little girl was so frightened that she trembled all over, as if she had encountered a big terror.
"Xiao You, come up here quickly!" the woman shouted with eyes wide open.
The girl named Xiaoyou turned around, looked directly at her mother, and said confidently:
"You got the wrong person, I'm not your Xiaoyou!"
The woman picked up a branch and chased her down. Xiaoyou ran away, running away like crazy.
Jiang Ning saw this scene and silently turned around and left.
After a while, Xue Yuantong came back.
Her hands were empty and she gave away all the gifts she had brought.
"Jiang Ning, I'm hungry."
It's now 11 o'clock at noon. I've been running around since about 6 o'clock in the morning, changing trains all the way, which consumes a lot of money. It's normal to be hungry.
"Go to town first."
When the two of them left the village, they happened to see the woman coming back holding the little girl.
Xue Yuantong was stunned: "Aunt Hua, is she Xiaoyou?"
Aunt Hua was so angry that she didn't even notice Jiang Ning: "This girl is so angry with me!"
"Watch if I don't treat her when I get home!"
After saying a few words, Aunt Hua said again: "Why did you leave without staying for dinner?"
Xue Yuantong said: "We will go back to the city later."
The two chatted for a few words. During this period, Xiao You, whose face was full of mud and water, stared at Jiang Ning with a pair of resentful eyes. If it weren't for this big brother, she would still be splashing water happily.
After saying goodbye to Aunt Hua, Xue Yuantong and Jiang Ning went to the gate of the town middle school and ate a bowl of Malatang worth 7 yuan.
After dinner, it’s 12 o’clock noon.
The bus bound for Xinhong County left at 1:20, which was still early.
Xue Yuantong suggested: "There is a peach orchard in the south of the town. Let's see the peach blossoms!"
April is the season when peach blossoms are in full bloom.
The two went to the peach garden. Amidst the gorgeous fragrance of flowers, Xue Yuantong walked happily, her pink and white skin contrasting with the peach blossoms.
Jiang Ning took out her mobile phone and took a photo of her to record this moment.
Xue Yuantong exercised much more than usual today. Jiang Ning didn't feed her the elixir. After the excitement, she was tired and listless.
Xue Yuantong dragged heavy steps and struggled to walk out of Taoyuan.
She looked at the North Station in the distance, and thought about the distant road home, and sighed:
"Jiang Ning, I'm so tired!"
Jiang Ning found a bench and said, "Stop and have a rest when you are tired. Don't force yourself."
He and Xue Yuantong were sitting on the bench.
Xue Yuantong rested his head against Jiang Ning for half a minute before feeling sleepy.
"Jiang Ning, I want to sleep." She informed.
"Go to sleep."
"Then why are you sleeping?"
"I am not sleepy."
"Jiang Ning, tell me, how nice would it be if I woke up and lay on the bed at home?" Xue Yuantong held his chin and thought.
"No need to catch the car, woohoo."
Jiang Ning smiled: "Go to sleep, maybe it will come true when you wake up."
"Oh, I'm going to sleep then, remember to call me!"
Xue Yuantong hugged Jiang Ning's arm, leaned on him, smelled Jiang Ning's fresh breath, calmed down, and closed his eyes.
After a while, Xue Yuantong fell asleep, his warm breath tickling Jiang Ning's neck.
Jiang Ning let her sleep for a while, then he looked at the nearby peach garden and suddenly opened his hand.
A formation enveloped them silently, and his and Xue Yuantong's figures disappeared from everyone's senses.
Jiang Ning flicked his fingers, and the spirit boat popped out of the storage ring, floated in the air, and then swelled in the wind.
He leaned over and picked up Xue Yuantong, feeling her soft body. Jiang Ning's feet seemed to be stepping on invisible stairs, stepping onto the spiritual boat step by step.
The light mask that comes with the spirit boat is activated, and Jiang Ning drives the spiritual power.
