Lu Mingfei stood in the bustling crowd, glanced at the train ticket in his hand, and looked up at the church-like dome of the Chicago train station.
There were two huge suitcases on his left and right, which together weighed almost as much as himself. The backpack on his back was bulging out because his aunt had stuffed a pressure cooker inside, and a twelve-hole quilt was stuffed into the woven bag.
The pillow was bundled with a box, and the passport was in his mouth.
He was also holding a gift specially given to him by Brother Fool.
Lu Mingfei, the proud son of God, a new student studying abroad, took all the equipment to go abroad, took a United Airlines flight alone, crossed the ocean, and landed at the Chicago International Airport. According to the itinerary given by Norma, he will take 1,000 express trains at the Chicago train station to get to Chicago.
Sale College.
Norma was indeed an excellent secretary. Three weeks later, a huge envelope was delivered to Lu Mingfei. It had everything from passport to itinerary. It also came with a copy of "The Idiot's Guide to Kassel College Admissions."
Marked "Lu Mingfei version".
But the embarrassing thing is.
Just like Harry Potter couldn't find Platform Nine and Three-Quarters at Hogwarts, Lu Mingfei couldn't find the 1000 Express at the Chicago train station.
"1000 express trains? Never heard of it... Maybe it's some kind of branch train? But the number you mentioned is not right... The new version of the train timetable contains all the information about the trains, go check it... the tickets seem to be genuine
Yes, but I really didn’t know there was such a train.” This was the reply given by different staff on duty.
Lu Mingfei glanced at the pillar between the two trains, thinking whether he should imitate Harry Potter and crash into it. Maybe he would be able to find the 1,000th express train.
But he soon shook his head to get rid of his ridiculous thoughts.
Kassel Academy is not Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so how could it have the Magic Express in the novel? If you crash into it, you won't go to heaven.
Just when Lu Mingfei's version of Harry was holding the only twenty-dollar bill, thinking about whether he should find a place to contact Norma, or try to find the express train 1,000 times, Fingall's version of Weasley
Appeared.
"One dollar, just one dollar..." someone said behind him.
In the United States, this is a typical begging phrase, asking for a dollar, which is the same as the ancient Chinese beggar's song "Lotus Falling".
"No, I'm poor! no money!" Lu Mingfei replied in simple and concise English.
He turned his head and glanced at the tall and burly young man behind him. His face buried in the beard could be considered handsome, his eyes as bright as candlelight were full of desire, and he wore a dark green plaid shirt and a procrastinating look.
The pants he wore had not been washed or changed for an unknown amount of time. It is not easy to meet a beggar like this in the United States. All the other beggars are dressed more decently than him.
"Chinese?" The other party noticed Lu Mingfei's nationality and immediately switched to fluent Chinese, "Master, please give me some money to buy a Coke. I'm really not a beggar. I just lost my wallet when I went out."
You are so familiar with the cuts of Chinese and English beggars, how dare you say you are not a professional beggar? Lu Mingfei complained.
"Fingel von Frins is really not a beggar, a college student." In order to prove his identity, the young man took out a dictionary-like textbook from the satchel on his back.
The title of the book, which looked to be quite old, was written in English mixed with Latin. Lu Mingfei seemed to have seen this type of writing somewhere.
This guy actually speaks such fluent Chinese... Lu Mingfei had an idea in his mind. He had seen this writing on the admission documents of Kassel College.
"Are you waiting for...cc1000 express train?" Lu Mingfei asked.
Good guy, Lu Mingfei thought to himself, this is really like the plot of Harry Potter, even Weasley has it, but I don’t know why this Weasley is so shabby.
Both parties took out a magnetic card ticket from their pockets. They were identical tickets. The dark surface of the ticket had a pattern of a giant tree with lush branches painted in silver.
"I am a new student, Lu Mingfei." Lu Mingfei stretched out his hand to express friendship.
"My dear! I can finally find a dollar to buy a Coke." Fingel grabbed Lu Mingfei's hand.
Is there nothing else but Coke in your henhouse-like head? Lu Mingfei felt that he had made a mistake. How could Weasley be so shameless?
But Lu Mingfei still felt it was a bit magical. The 1,000 express train couldn't really be the Magic Express, right? Cassel College corresponds to Hogwarts. Professor Guderian had previously said that his special talents were magical talents?
Lu Mingfei shook his head, how could it be possible? This is too ridiculous.
But Lu Mingfei still couldn't help but have wild thoughts. What if it was true?
"Brother, I admire you very much. You look very loyal!" Fingel sat sprawled on the bench, munching on a sandwich and drinking Lu Mingfei's Coke.
The two of them only had twenty-five dollars in total. Lu Mingfei suggested that since Coke refills were free, they didn't need to buy two cups at all. They only needed two straws and doubled the number of refills. Fingel came from developed capital.
Germany is a communist country, but in the aspect of health, there is no German reserve. I warmly praised the Chinese students for being so thoughtful.
"Senior brother, what grade are you in?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"Eighth grade."
"Eighth grade?" Lu Mingfei choked on his coke.
"Oh, it's actually the fourth grade, but I repeated the grade." Fingel said.
"Why is that eighth grade?"
"I stayed here for four consecutive years..."
Lu Mingfei was very worried about his future and decided not to discuss such scary things as repeating a grade for the time being, "Have you ever taken that train before?"
"I take it at the beginning of every semester, otherwise I have to go by helicopter. The campus is in the mountains, and this is the only train that goes there. No one knows the timetable. Anyway, no one knows about the Chicago train station. The last one knows which train.
The conductor who ran the timetable died the year before last, and he said that the train had been in operation since before World War II." Fingel said, "But don't worry, there will always be trains, and people of lower class will have to wait."
"Class?" Lu Mingfei asked, "What? Bourgeoisie and proletariat?"
"It's something like a noble status. Students with high class status will have some privileges, and the college's resources will be provided to them first, such as giving priority to cars."
"You've studied for eight years and your class isn't high enough?"
"To be honest, I am struggling with the dilemma of dropping out of school and making up for credits!" Fingel spread his hands.
"Is it easy to find a job after graduating from Kassel College? You studied fourth grade for four years and were reluctant to drop out?"
"No, they assign jobs!" Fingel burped loudly.
Lu Mingfei looked out from the floor-to-ceiling windows of the train station. The dark skyscrapers looked like giants standing side by side. Night fell in the city of Chicago. The elevated railway shed bright sparks when the train passed by. Pedestrians were rushing and neon lights were shining.
He and Fingel had spent two nights at the Chicago train station.
Although Brother Fool had given Lu Mingfei a lot of money and sent a long message since he found out about his pitiful experience, the general meaning of which was to ask him to take care of himself outside.
But Lu Mingfei still didn't accept it, he was still very embarrassed. He only took a small part of the money to stay in a small hotel next to the train station.
No one at the Chicago train station knew about this mysterious cc1000 branch line express. Lu Mingfei thought Weasley didn't bring any useful information to Lu Mingfei. But what is certain is that the cc1000 express does not need to go through the wall.
Fingel didn't care. He said that it was like this for him every time he returned to school. It was just because they were of lower class. Students of higher class would be picked up by a bus when they arrived at the station. Getting on the bus from the VIP channel would not cause any trouble.
commotion.
Lu Mingfei had to ask how low their priority was. Fingel said that it was about the same as the serf class in the Middle Ages. Lu Mingfei was in a low mood, and Fingel comforted him and said that there were actually people lower than serfs, and some people's class was like
Mule.
The two of them were the only ones left in the waiting hall. Fingel was walking around with his textbooks in his arms. The sound of reading echoed in the huge space. Lu Mingfei wrapped a blanket around him and curled up on the wooden bench. His consciousness gradually
The ground was a little groggy, and I could vaguely hear the sound of bells in the distance.
He was startled, wondering how he could have thought of this. It was crazy, magnificent and real, as if he had witnessed that magnificent scene with his own eyes.
Why was there such a monotonous bell? Lu Mingfei realized something was wrong. He was in Chicago, with a bustling highway outside, noisy and full of people. Why could he hear only that monotonous and lonely bell?
There was supposed to be no church nearby.
He sat up from the bench, and a huge moon slowly rose outside the floor-to-ceiling window. The moonlight poured in, like the tide rushing towards the coast. The entire waiting hall was shrouded in the cold, watery moonlight, and the shadows on the window panes were cast.
On the back of the bench, a boy sat silently, raising his head to face the moonlight.
Lu Mingfei looked around and couldn't find Fingel. The guard at the door was also gone. The Subway sandwich shop in the distance turned off the lights, leaving him and the boy alone. He felt strange, but he didn't dare to speak.
, I didn’t even dare to breathe hard. At this moment, there was a silence in the waiting hall that no one dared to break.
The boy looked to be a Chinese, about thirteen or fourteen years old, wearing a pure black evening dress, with a glow flowing on his young face. Lu Mingfei didn't know why such an older child had that "I've already lived" expression on his face.
After thousands of years of silence and sadness, and with so many rows of empty benches, the boy just sat next to him, as if waiting for him to wake up.
Lu Mingfei lifted the blanket and sat next to the boy. The two of them just looked at the moonlight in silence, and time passed slowly, like two people watching the sea.
"Stay away from them," the boy said softly.
"What?" Lu Mingfei didn't understand what he was talking about.
"Forget it, exchange?" the boy said again.
"Exchange for what? I have no money...i am poor, no money..."
"Then you still refused?" The boy slowly turned his head. His golden pupils were filled with flame-like light, like a mirror reflecting fire.
All of Lu Mingfei's will was swallowed up by the fire in an instant. His whole body trembled suddenly, as if he was on the verge of despair. A huge force came out of his body, and he suddenly jumped back.