NOVPUB
Chapter 317: Chapter 307: Back to Hometown
Last week, when Li Hongjun got home and mentioned he had a mission to go on, with an uncertain return date, Shen Yunfang started thinking about going back to Gaijiatun to stay for a few days. After giving it some thought, Li Hongjun agreed, and had someone buy a train ticket for his wife before he left.
Because it was a sleeper ticket and there wasn’t any rush, the young soldier only brought it to her this week.
After coming back from eating at Sister Wu’s house, Shen Yunfang first coaxed her son to sleep. Having played the entire afternoon, the boy hardly needed any cajoling—a bottle of formula was all it took, and after gulping it down, Pangpang threw the bottle aside, tilted his head, and fell asleep.
Shen Yunfang closed the door, then took out some food from the storage space to fill her stomach.
After washing the dishes and bowls, she began packing up.
There really wasn’t much to take; her own things could just be thrown into the storage space. The main task was packing up Pangpang’s things. For instance, his diapers, small pads, milk bottles, formula, and such were all necessary for the train ride. The formula couldn’t be prepared in advance and had to be mixed on the spot, so it was better to carry these items with her.
Time flew quickly, and by Thursday morning, Shen Yunfang got up early, ate something, then dressed her son. Since the weather was hot, she didn’t need to bundle the child up in blankets, which lightened her load a bit.
"Yunfang, are you ready?" Sister Wu came in from outside.
"Sister, what brings you here?" Shen Yunfang was quite surprised.
"You’re leaving, aren’t you? I thought I’d come help you carry some stuff and take you to the train station." Sister Wu walked over and lifted the big black leather bag on the kang bed. It was manageable; Yunfang could carry it even with her child in her arms.
"Let’s go, it’s getting late. The car from the cooking squad is about to leave."
Today, Shen Yunfang was going to take the cooking squad’s procurement car to the provincial capital. Even though her train was in the afternoon, she still needed to set off early with her child.
"Sister, I’m off. Please help look after my home while I’m gone." Shen Yunfang said, holding her child.
She had actually said this before.
"Oh, don’t mention it. Just go on without worries. Everything will be fine here. I’ll make sure of it," Sister Wu assured, patting her chest.
"Heh, I feel at ease with you, Sister. Also, the vegetables in the backyard, if you see something ripe, just help yourself. I’m going to be away for at least a week or two, and it’d be a shame if they went to waste," Shen Yunfang added.
"Sure, I won’t be polite," Sister Wu replied cheerfully.
"Right, I’ve also planted some watermelons by the house. I reckon in a couple of days they’ll be ready to eat. Pick some for Tingting, huh?"
"Heh, don’t worry. That girl Tingting’s had her eye on them for a while, no need for you to mention it." 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝑝𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
Shen Yunfang laughed along.
The two chatted and laughed all the way to the entrance of the cooking squad. Since Shen Yunfang had never been into the city since she joined the army, she didn’t know the people who went out to make purchases. Sister Wu had to step forward to greet them and then opened the car door for Shen Yunfang to get in.
After bidding farewell to Sister Wu, Shen Yunfang followed the car all the way toward the provincial capital.
Upon reaching the provincial capital, the young soldier went out of his way to accommodate Shen Yunfang, and detoured to drop her off at the train station.
Shen Yunfang stood by the roadside with Pangpang sleeping on her chest, one hand holding luggage and the other waving goodbye to the little soldier until the car was out of sight, then she looked around and walked towards the railway guesthouse on the left side of the train station.
The train was at four fifty in the afternoon, and it was only seven twenty-five in the morning now, leaving them, mother and child, with over nine hours to wait. Unlike other small cities, the provincial train station was crowded twenty-four hours a day. If she stayed inside the station with her child, they might not even get a seat. Therefore, Shen Yunfang had decided to take her child to the guesthouse to book a room where they could rest if they were tired, and Pangpang did not have to be held all the time which would be a relief for both; it was certainly better than squeezing and squatting the entire day in the train station, something she did not want to endure.
After viewing Shen Yunfang’s introduction letter, the attendant at the guesthouse didn’t say anything and gave her a single room.
By four twenty in the afternoon, Shen Yunfang left the guesthouse with her child and smoothly checked in and boarded the train.
After finding her lower bunk, she stuffed the package underneath the berth, then bent down to unfasten Pangpang, whose eyes were rolling around, from her front.
"Oh, this is your child, isn’t it? So fair and chubby, really adorable," said the old grandpa sitting opposite, looking at Shen Yunfang managing the child on her own and kindly offering his help. However, she was so deft that before he could even reach out, she had almost finished arranging everything on her own.
Shen Yunfang looked back and saw a very distinguished old grandpa wearing a white shirt of fine quality and a pen pinned to his chest, clearly a man of culture.
"Yes, Grandpa, this is my son," she replied, seeing that he didn’t appear to be a bad person.
She placed Pangpang to the side, holding him with one hand to prevent him from falling and pulled out the black bag from under the berth with her other hand. From inside, she took out a single bed sheet and a quilt cover. She spread the single sheet over the berth for Pangpang to crawl on, and put the quilt cover to the side to use at night with her child.
The cultured grandpa opposite watched her meticulousness and smiled faintly, "Are you travelling alone with your child? Where are you two heading off to?"
"Going home. When we get off the train, the child’s father will pick us up," Shen Yunfang said, keeping her guard up even though she felt that the grandpa opposite didn’t seem to be a bad person.
The grandpa could tell Shen Yunfang was being cautious and didn’t continue the conversation.
At this time, the train gradually started moving. There were six berths in this compartment, and after Shen Yunfang and her child got on, four were already occupied. No one had claimed the bunks above Shen Yunfang’s yet.
Shen Yunfang had thought someone might get on at one of the next few stops, but just five minutes after the train started, she heard a woman’s voice calling in the corridor.
"Excuse me, excuse me! Ahead there, could you please move aside? Our sleeper berths are up front, sorry to disturb you," the woman’s voice said.
"Mom, this is number six, we need to go further up."
"Here it is, right here," the newcomers stopped right at Shen Yunfang’s compartment.
Shen Yunfang looked up and saw a woman holding a child, accompanied by an old lady who resembled her a bit; the elder was laden with bags large and small, probably the mother of the woman holding the child.
"Oh dear, finally found it. What a confusing train. I had to walk from the front to the back, totally exhausted me," the old lady said, unloading her bags from her shoulders and then beginning to look for places to stow them.
Under Shen Yunfang’s berth, there was still plenty of space occupied only by her large bag. The old lady bent down and without hesitation began shoving her belongings in as if she hadn’t noticed there was already something there.
"Grandma, my bag is inside there. Please don’t push like that. Wait a moment, let me take my bag out first, and then you can put yours in, okay?" Seeing her bag being pushed far inside, Shen Yunfang hurriedly spoke up.
Her bag contained things her child would need at night; having it shoved inside would make it inconvenient to retrieve later.
