Returning to '97, creating a new life

Chapter 36 Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles

"Every day, he would deliberately underreport his expenses."

This was Ma Xin's furious decision to take sides as a pledge of loyalty. Xu Kai, understanding and calm, smiled and patted his hand on the outside of his upper arm: "Brother, thanks."

Ma Xin didn't understand, but he didn't misunderstand that Xu Kai didn't value his reciprocation.

The reason is that Xu Kai secretly gave him an extra 200 yuan bonus every month. With the predetermined benefit in hand, Ma Xin, although he didn't understand, knew the principle of keeping quiet and making his own money. Once the work at home was arranged, this job would no longer be important.

Ma Xin thought that Xu Kai was about to graduate from middle school and didn't have time to deal with it, and would take action during the summer vacation.

In reality, by early July, Xu Kai had finished taking graduation photos, received his diploma, asked for leave from Park In-ji, the coach of a high school basketball team, and, amidst the surprised, shocked, and worried looks of his mother and Yun Shang, he bought a ticket and headed south alone.

Even though Yun Sheng introduced him to his college classmates and locals were there to meet and make arrangements for him at his destination, everyone was still secretly amazed by his performance. If this young man didn't succeed, it was truly because the times didn't give him the opportunity, and nothing else.

Xu Kai dared not leave late, fearing he would be stranded on the road. He vividly remembered the devastating floods of this year.

Although my home is in Northeast China, the disaster in the Songjiang River basin was not light. I still remember that when the river water rose and approached the bridge, the notice was delivered to every household. There were undeveloped hills near my home. The neighborhood committee and the local government told us that if there was any danger, we should immediately come out of our homes and move to the high ground.

He wanted to do something, but knew he didn't have the ability right now. When you're poor, you should just focus on doing your own thing. Xu Kai could only keep this in mind. Right now, he couldn't do anything, but if he ever needed to contribute his small share, he wouldn't refuse.

When Xu Kai set off from his hometown to Yanjing, Xu Dalong helped him find someone to buy him a lower berth sleeper ticket, so he didn't suffer and lay down all the way to Yanjing.

It's already quite good to be able to buy a seat on a train heading south from here.

During the several hours of waiting for transfers, Xu Kai strolled around Yanjing City with great interest. Although it was just a brief visit, the city still vividly reflected the spirit of the times. He wasn't interested in the famous attractions of later generations, as he had already visited them all. On the contrary, those "backward" places that were destined to be buried in the dust of history in the next few years exuded a sense of the changing times. Now that he had seen them, he had seen them. If he couldn't see them, he was destined to only be able to glimpse them in other people's images and materials.

Xu Kai also went to the film academy and drama school, without a specific purpose, simply out of curiosity. With the summer vacation approaching, he was somewhat looking forward to whether he would be lucky enough to see a future big star.

Wearing Li-Ning sneakers, jeans, a white T-shirt, and a sports jacket, with a backpack containing a change of clothes, he exuded a sporty vibe. He wasn't deliberately dressed maturely; his tall, strong physique and gaze, so different from his peers, made him blend seamlessly into the university campus, and he wouldn't be stopped from walking in.

Xu Kai wasn't disappointed at not being able to see any of the current graduating classes of future star college students. He checked the time, found a supermarket, bought some food, and then took a bus back to the train station to board his train.

"call!"

Even though he was tall and strong, the crowds at Yanjing Station, the central hub of the era, still caused him some trouble. By the time he finally got to his seat, he was already sweating.

A bench meant for three people is a common sight when traveling, but it's often used by four. The aisles are packed with people, and some even sleep on the luggage racks because they're too tired to care about the danger.

Xu Kai sat by the window, opposite a man in his fifties who could be considered an elder in this day and age. He wore glasses, had a weathered face, and had been reading a book since boarding the bus.

Many of the seats around belong to employees of a factory or mine unit who are on company-sponsored trips. They also transferred from the Northeast. Most of the passengers are women with children, and it's quite noisy.

The man opposite Xu Kai looked up, adjusted his glasses, met Xu Kai's gaze for a second, nodded as a greeting, and then lowered his head back to his book.

Currently, it's just a water level rise and we're in the warning stage. It hasn't affected people's normal lives. The female employees of the company are looking forward to the company-organized trip during the summer vacation, which they can take with their children. They started preparing a long time ago.

As the train started moving, their preparations began to take effect.

They brought a large amount of food and fruit of all kinds, which at one point overpowered the sweaty smell in the carriage.

The woman in her thirties called the man opposite her "Big Brother" and Xu Kai "Little Brother," which was perfectly acceptable. When she offered him food, the man opposite her declined, saying he had just eaten. Xu Kai, however, did not refuse and expressed his gratitude. The sausage smelled delicious.

Among the food he bought at the supermarket were Alpenliebe milk candies. After a while, the excitement of the group getting on the bus subsided, and the first round of eating was over, he took out the candies and began distributing them to the children. Big cities have their advantages; many things that only become available in small northeastern cities after several years are already on the shelves in Beijing.

"Young man, are you going to visit relatives?"

In response, since we were in the same carriage and would be traveling together, we chatted for a bit on the long journey. The older woman next to me gave up her seat on the outside for the children. The children huddled together in the small space and had a lot of fun playing rock-paper-scissors.

Xu Kai smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm going to my cousin's."

During the casual conversation, Xu Kai exaggerated his age to that of a sophomore in college this fall. Faced with the chatty older woman's inappropriate questions, he was vague about matters concerning himself, but he would chat with her in detail about things that were just casual conversation, thus passing the time on the train.

It wasn't hot enough to warrant opening the windows, but without them, the smell inside the carriage was indescribable.

There were tea eggs, boiled corn, the smell of sweat, the smell of feet, and all sorts of other odors from the passengers. With so many people, there was a lot of trash. The trash cans and toilets in the connecting areas of the carriages were emitting unpleasant smells. Four people were crammed into seats meant for three. You can imagine that the passage of time became an ordeal at this moment. Any way that could resist the passage of time would be used.

When the train police and attendants started the ticket check, Xu Kai witnessed a young woman with dark skin, ordinary appearance, and wearing a floral dress. She was originally standing in the aisle, but suddenly she put on a show of what it means to evade fares in the extreme.

Xu Kai, who has lived two lives and prides himself on being knowledgeable and worldly-wise, was also dumbfounded at this moment.

The woman was originally in the aisle two rows away from Xu Kai when she saw the train attendant appear at the carriage connection point, and she immediately ducked under the seat.

Not only did it hide, but it also crawled under the seat, reaching Xu Kai's feet and passing by, leaving him completely dumbfounded.

Only after the ticket check was completed did the woman emerge from under Xu Kai's chair, calm and composed, ignoring all the astonished gazes around her. She dusted herself off, looked around, and continued to stand there as if no one was there. Then, more than an hour later, she took a newspaper that someone else had read, crawled back under the chair, spread the newspaper on the floor, used the cold ground as a bed, and lay down to rest.

Even the uncle opposite Xu Kai put down his book.

At this moment, the saying "reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles" comes into being. Even if it is just a very small scrap, it is enough to change people's established perceptions.

This world is vast, far larger and more interesting than you can imagine.

The ten-yuan boxed lunch was hard to eat, but on the train, more than 90% of people couldn't bear to buy it. When Xu Kai was eating, the child next to him was watching. He wasn't so tactless as to offer to treat the child's mother, as that would put her in an awkward position, and his good intentions would not be appreciated, and would also embarrass her.

Even if it tastes bad, it's still a hot meal. After a day and a night of travel, this hot meal can provide Xu Kai with the strength to endure the journey. It's not much, but it's better than eating some dry rations.

"Well……"

"Uncle, go wash up, I'll watch your luggage for you."

The man across from me didn't realize until he needed to wash up and use the restroom that his solitary world, confined to this enclosed space, was not the right choice.

Xu Kai took the initiative to speak with a smile, and the other party also smiled and expressed their gratitude. His getting up gave the little girl in the mother and daughter opposite him more than 20 minutes of comfortable lying down to ride the bus, and the people standing next to him also got the chance to sit on the edge of the seat.

Despite taking great care in washing up, Xu Kai still felt sore all over after a day and a night. Looking at those who had stood all the way and rested on their packages, he thought of those who traveled back and forth between the north and south to do small business in the 1980s and early 1990s.

He used to only see the glamorous side of those who started businesses early in his social circle of relatives and friends. Now, he realizes that those people got rich early not because of luck or the opportunities of the times, but also because of their firm will and resilience.

The carriage was packed with people, like sardines in a can.

Xu Kai couldn't recall if he had said it that way, but those one or two lines that appeared in the novel and weren't noticed by readers were true. In this day and age, there are still large numbers of people going south to buy goods and start small businesses, including those who go north to do small commodity business in the south. The journey back and forth is a test of willpower.

As evening approached, the sweltering wind did nothing to dispel the heat.

After getting off the train, the group of traveling employees, along with their children, gathered on the platform.

The middle-aged man sitting opposite him was walking briskly. Xu Kai didn't deliberately follow him, but being tall and long-legged, his normal walking speed allowed him to keep up with the man.

After exiting the train station, Xu Kai took off his backpack and slung it in front of him. There was nothing of value inside except his ID; he just didn't want to be targeted.

His height and physique were an advantage. His eyes, which shone with a scrutinizing light that didn't match his age, swept around a small area. He didn't flinch when his eyes met those of many people standing in the square in front of the station, showing none of the fear that a young man new to the place would have.

After years of rectification, the security situation here has improved a lot, but there are still a lot of pickpockets and swindlers. They are just not as brazen as before. They just sneak up on tourists and look for opportunities to steal from them.

"Brother, need a place to stay?"

"Hey bro, where are you going? I'll give you a ride, cheap."

"Young man, my shop is right next door. Come and rest at my place."

The Cantonese accent is quite interesting, and Xu Kai is no stranger to it. Having lived for so many years, he is familiar with this kind of accent just by seeing those Hong Kong stars who have worked hard to improve their Mandarin on TV and the Internet. The joke about "Zha Zha Hui" is still popular more than 20 years later.

It's only because the public security situation is much better now that Xu Kai would never have bothered with this. He sighed, took two quick steps, and took the arm of the uncle sitting opposite him on the train, a hint of anger on his face: "Third Uncle, I told you not to wander around after getting off the train. What if you get lost?"