From Lancheng to Yangcheng, the train journey is nearly 2,500 kilometers.

In this era when the average speed of trains is less than 60 kilometers per hour, even express trains need to run for two days and two nights.

Like the K-shaped train that Pang Xuelin takes, it stops and stops from time to time, or makes way for other trains because of scheduling reasons, so when it actually runs, the speed is much lower, and it takes four days and three nights to arrive in Yangcheng.

When Pang Xuelin came to the hard sleeper car, he found that there were not many people in the hard sleeper car.

It's May now, and it's not yet the peak of holiday travel, plus this bus starts from Lancheng and has to pass through Chang'an, which is also the destination for most people who depart from Lancheng.

Therefore, most travelers to Chang'an will choose hard seats, and only those who go straight to Yangcheng like Pang Xuelin will choose hard sleepers.

When Pang Xuelin arrived at the hard cubicle where he was, he found that there were already two people in the cubicle.

One was about thirty years old, with a shaved head, looking relatively thin, wearing an ordinary leather jacket, and looking like he was silent.

The other was a fat man in his thirties, wearing a suit with a bright gold chain around his neck.

The fat man seemed to be a little surprised by Pang Xuelin's age, and stared at Pang Xuelin for a while before retracting his gaze.

Pang Xuelin's position was in the lower bunk, and the man who looked like a soldier was in the middle bunk, and he climbed to his place early to lie down.

But the fat man sat opposite Pang Xuelin, took out a pack of peanuts from his bag, listened to the beer, and ate it comfortably.

After a while, the train started with a bang.

Pang Xuelin had nothing to do, so he took out a copy of "Principles of Microeconomics" borrowed from the library of Lancheng University from his backpack and read it.

At this time, the fat man was a little curious: "Little brother, where are you going?" ”

"Yangcheng."

Pang Xuelin glanced at the fat man and smiled.

"Yo, you're going to Yangcheng too?"

The fat man's eyes lit up and he smiled: "You don't look very old, do you?" Going to study in Yangcheng? ”

"Doing business, my face is tender, in fact, I'm twenty-five!"

Pang Xuelin said with a smile.

"Yo, I didn't expect to meet my peers, I'm glad to meet you, little brother, this is my business card."

The fat man laughed, took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Pang Xuelin.

Pang Xuelin took a look: Manager of Shencheng Ganglong Trading Co., Ltd., Liu Qi.

Pang Xuelin said with a smile: "Brother Liu, hello, my name is Ma Yandong, listen to your accent, I'm not from Lancheng, right?" ”

The fat man gave a thumbs up and said: "Little brother is amazing, I'm from Yangcheng, doing antique jade business, I went to Xinjiang Province to inspect Hetian jade this time, and I'm going to get some to sell in Xiangjiang, the big boss over there in Xiangjiang likes these things." ”

In this era, those who go to Yangcheng to do business are water customers, fallen masters, and heroes who take the rivers and lakes.

Pang Xuelin didn't expect that there would be an antique jade business.

Then, the two chatted enthusiastically, Pang Xuelin wanted to learn about the situation in Yangcheng from the fat man's mouth, the fat man was purely talkative, and wanted to find someone to talk to.

Pang Xuelin specially picked good words to talk to the fat man, and soon became familiar with him.

"Brother Ma, if you have time, you must come to Shencheng, I have a way to take you through the customs and go to Xiangjiang to have a look." It's a truly cosmopolitan city......"

"But it's not easy to go to Shencheng now, you have to have a border defense certificate, otherwise you won't be able to pass the second-tier pass, but don't worry, brother, if you want to go, my brother will help you find a snakehead, and I will definitely be able to get you a ......"

"Warwick, I haven't heard of this company, hey, now in Shencheng, as long as there is a way to open up the channels on the Xiangjiang side, then just take a trip to the goods, it will be tens of thousands of dollars......"

……

The fat man's mouth was full of words, most of which were bragging, but he also gave Pang Xuelin a lot of dry goods.

Seeing that it was approaching noon, Pang Xuelin stood up and said with a smile: "Brother Liu, thank you for providing me with so much news, I will invite you to dinner." ”

"Oh, Brother Ma, how embarrassing is this."

Liu Qi said so, but he still got up happily and followed Pang Xuelin to the dining car.

The food trucks of this era, like those of later generations, were expensive and delicious, and few people came to eat.

However, Pang Xuelin didn't care, eating in the dining car was better than eating instant noodles and nibbling bread.

Pang Xuelin ordered two dishes and one soup, Kung Pao chicken, tomato scrambled eggs and a seaweed egg soup.

The two of them devoured it.

In the afternoon, Pang Xuelin closed his eyes on his bunk, and when he woke up, it was already evening.

This time, it was Liu Qi who took Pang Xuelin to the dining car and said that he wanted to come back.

Pang Xuelin had no choice but to follow.

As for the stilt-looking man, he was gnawing on dry food for both meals.

Nothing was said all night.

The next morning, when Pang Xuelin woke up from his sleep, the car had already stopped at Chang'an Station, and the man with the head of the board was not in the middle bunk, and it seemed that he had gone to wash.

Seeing Pang Xuelin wake up, Liu Qi smiled at Pang Xuelin and said, "Brother Ma, it's early." ”

"Brother Liu, morning!"

Pang Xuelin smiled.

At this moment, the fat man suddenly whistled.

Pang Xuelin followed the fat man's gaze and saw a father and daughter man and woman walking over.

The man looked like he was in his fifties, wearing a decent tunic and glasses, and he had an elegant air on his body.

The only regret is that the man's legs and feet seem to be a little inconvenient, and he walks with a cane, and walks a little up and down.

But the most eye-catching thing is the foreign girl in a floral dress behind the man.

The girl carried a large suitcase and followed behind the middle-aged man.

She looked like she was seventeen or eighteen years old, tall, with a floral skirt, small leather shoes, and cotton socks just up to her ankle, revealing her slender white calves.

Her ponytail was tied high, and her pretty face was not powdered, even if Pang Xuelin was used to seeing the beauty of Qi Xin and Yao Bingxia, he couldn't help but feel a little amazing at this time.

Liu Fatzi's eyes were round, and he almost leaked out.

The middle-aged man took the girl to the compartment where Pang Xuelin and the fat man were, and said to the girl, "Nizi, you can sleep on the top bunk." ”

"Hmm."

The girl nodded, put the suitcase under the bed, at this time, she turned her head to look at Pang Xuelin and Liu Qi, and finally said to Pang Xuelin: "This big brother, you see that my father's legs and feet are inconvenient, his position is on your side of the upper bunk, you see if you can change the position, you sleep on the top bunk, how about my dad sleeping on your lower bunk?" ”

Before Pang Xuelin could speak, Liu Qi hurriedly said, "Little sister, I'll change it with your father." I'm young and strong, and I don't have any problem sleeping on the top bunk. ”

"Thank you."

The middle-aged man smiled politely and said, "I'd better swap it with this little brother, this position is just right to see my daughter, and it's convenient to talk to my daughter." ”

When the little girl saw Liu Qi's disappointed appearance, she immediately pursed her lips and chuckled.

"Okay, then I'll sleep on the top bunk."

Pang Xuelin nodded, lifted his backpack, and climbed directly to the top bunk.

The girl also took off her shoes, followed her to the top bunk opposite, and smiled sweetly at Pang Xuelin: "Big brother, thank you!" ”

"You're welcome."

Pang Xuelin smiled and said.

Liu Fatzi, who was sitting on the lower bunk, was so envious that his eyes were about to pop out.

But he couldn't say anything yet.

After a while, the man with the inch-headed head also returned, and he was not surprised to see that there were two more people in the compartment, and went straight back to his bunk and lay down.

And Liu Fatzi talked with the middle-aged man in the lower bunk.

From their conversation, Pang Xuelin learned that this middle-aged man who looked a little elegant was called Mu Donglai, and he turned out to be a professor at Chang'an Jiaotong University. This time he was going to send his daughter Mu Qingqing to Xiangjiang to study at university.

Not long ago, Mu Qingqing won the gold medal on behalf of the Chinese team in the International Physics Olympiad held in the United Kingdom. At the same time, it has been recruited by Peking University, Tsinghua University, Xiangjiang University, Nanyang Polytechnic and other famous universities.

Mu Donglai has a cousin who has been doing business in Xiangjiang since liberation, and he is not bad.

In this era, the ranking of Xiangjiang University is far above Peking University and Tsinghua University.

Therefore, Mu Donglai was ready to send Mu Qingqing to Xiangjiang to have a look.

Liu Fatzi's social skills are extremely strong, even if he is a university professor like Mu Donglai, he is licked comfortably.

However, Mu Qingqing looked a little embarrassed when the fat man touted too much.

The next day, nothing special happened. When eating, they also eat their own food, Liu Fatzi originally wanted to invite Mu Donglai to eat with her daughter, but Mu Donglai directly refused.

The day passed in a flash, and several people in the cubicle gradually became familiar with each other.

Even the man with the inch head, everyone knows his name Jian An.

However, he said very little, and he only answered when others asked, Pang Xuelin only knew that he had just transferred from the army and was going to Yangcheng to find a job.

Mu Qingqing seems to have a cheerful personality, perhaps because of the similar personality to Pang Xuelin, Pang Xuelin changed positions with his father, and occasionally chatted with Pang Xuelin.

Pang Xuelin didn't dare to provoke the girl at will anymore, and most of the time he said yes.

Mu Qingqing saw that Pang Xuelin didn't care about what he meant, so he didn't talk much, and took out a book from his box and read it.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the lights in the carriage dimmed.

Pang Xuelin was not sleepy at all, squinting and closing his eyes.

It was the lower bunk, and soon the snoring of Liu Fatzi came.

Pang Xuelin has long been accustomed to such a voice under the training of Shui Wa, but he doesn't feel so annoying.

And Mu Qingqing, who was opposite him, obviously couldn't stand this kind of snoring, and couldn't sleep after tossing and turning.

Time passed unconsciously, and just as Pang Xuelin was about to fall asleep, he suddenly opened his eyes, but startled Jian An, who appeared beside him with half of his head exposed.

"What's wrong?"

Pang Xuelin said in a deep voice.

"Shh

Jian An put his index finger to his mouth, pointed to the carriage in front of him and said, "Don't make a noise, someone is robbing." ”

Pang Xuelin was slightly stunned and frowned.

Mu Qingqing, who was opposite him, also got up and wondered, "What's wrong?" ”

Jian An said: "I went to the toilet just now and saw that the hard-seat carriage over there had been controlled. ”

Pang Xuelin frowned and said, "How many people?" ”

Jian An said: "I can only see four, two with gunpowder guns in their hands, and two with axes in their hands......"

Pang Xuelin nodded and climbed down from the top bunk.

Mu Donglai and Liu Fatzi have been woken up, Mu Donglai is quite calm, but Liu Fatzi looks panicked.

"What to do, what to do? Why am I so unlucky, I finally ran to Hotan and encountered this kind of thing......"

Liu Fatzi said with a sad face.

On the contrary, Mu Donglai was calmer and said, "Be quiet, where is our train now?" ”

Jian An said: "It should be to Shonan." ”

Mu Donglai said: "That's right, everyone takes out fifty yuan and puts it in their pockets, or just holds it in their hands, and then lies back in their bunks and continues to sleep." ”

Jian An was slightly stunned: "Mr. Mu, what are you doing?" ”

Mu Donglai said: "This group of people should be robbers from southern Xiangnan, they are all composed of locals, they rob the train has a set of rules on the road, twenty per person in the hard seat carriage, fifty per person in the hard sleeper, and they don't provoke the people in the soft sleeper, and they don't kill them if they make money, we can be regarded as ruining the wealth and eliminating the disaster......

Liu Fatzi also came back to his senses at this time, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief and said: "It turned out to be them, then good, then good, this group of people is still moral, no matter how much money you have, they only need so much ......"

Jian An frowned and said, "Doesn't anyone care about this?" ”

Mu Donglai smiled bitterly: "It's not that I don't want to take care of it, but I can't manage it, this neighborhood is located in a mountainous area, there are ethnic minority villages everywhere, and the hearts of the people are united, every time a case occurs, it is very difficult for the public security to go in and investigate, let alone arrest people." The local area can only turn a blind eye, as long as things don't make a big fuss, then it's easy to say anything......"

"But ......"

Jian An frowned.

Mu Donglai said: "Okay, don't do it, no one can do anything about this kind of thing." Besides, they all have guys in their hands, can you beat them? ”

As he spoke, Mu Donglai took out two fifty yuan bills from his inner lining, put one in his coat pocket, and handed the other to Mu Qingqing, who was a little panicked, and said, "Qingqing, don't be afraid, you can take this money in your hand, close your eyes and lie down, just pretend that you don't know anything." ”

"Daddy......"

Mu Qingqing took the money and looked a little nervous.

"Okay, don't be afraid, I'll pretend nothing happened......"

Mu Qingqing was helpless, so she had to lie down as she said.

Liu Fatzi also hurriedly took out fifty yuan and held it in his hand, lay down on the lower bunk and pretended to sleep with his eyes closed.

Jian An glanced at Pang Xuelin a little helplessly, and said, "Little brother, you can lie down too, as long as the other party is not too much, it will be regarded as a financial ......."

"Good!"

Pang Xuelin grinned, showed a row of white flowers, and lay down as he said.

Jian An also lay back to his bunk.

Pang Xuelin was half-sideways, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that Mu Qingqing on the other side was also open, looking at himself a little nervously.

Pang Xuelin smiled at her and made a gesture of reassurance.

Mu Qingqing's mood eased a little, and she smiled at Pang Xuelin Yanran, and then closed her eyes.