Riding the wind of rebirth

Mai Xiaomiao smiled sweetly: "Why don't you just say it's because I'm lucky?"

That's how it is when couples are in love. They say silly things that don't really mean anything, but neither of them realizes it. Instead, they feel warm and sweet.

That's how Mai Xiaomiao and Zhou Zhi are now. They chatted like that, and no one knew when they fell asleep.

When I woke up, the train had already passed the South Station and started circling around the city.

"Huh?" Mai Xiaomiao woke up too: "How come we've left Chengdu again?"

“That was Chengdu South Station just now,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “Chengdu has four stations in total. South Station is for both passengers and freight. We’re going to East Station now, which is for freight. After that, we’ll go to North Station, which is for passengers. We’ll get off there.”

"What about our West Station?" Mai Xiaomiao asked in surprise.

“The West Station is also a freight station, but now its main function is a maintenance station.” Zhou Zhi didn’t blame Mai Xiaomiao for adding the word “we” before “West Station”, because the West Station’s freight function has now mostly become the transportation of “private goods” for the Clover Group. Many secret-level equipment are transported directly from various secret processing plants to the West Station, and then shipped from there to even more secret locations.

Meanwhile, the West Railway Station also serves as a storage location for cultural relics rescued by the Yu Tang Foundation. Due to the urgency of the Three Gorges Project, in addition to items below the third-grade level that possess certain historical and cultural value but are transported to the West Railway Station log processing plant base for storage, even more unclassified items are now being sent there. The Sichuan Provincial Museum, Hubei Provincial Museum, and the two municipal museums of Chengdu and Chongqing, along with the History Department of Chengdu University, have established a joint working group there, with the assistance of the Yu Tang Foundation, to be responsible for the identification of valuable cultural relics.

Therefore, it's not entirely without reason that Mai Xiaomiao unconsciously added the word "we" before "West Station".

As the train slowed down and swayed along, the sky gradually brightened, and the suburbs on both sides of the railway began to come alive.

This was the first time Mai Xiaomiao had seen the busy, simple, and even somewhat ugly side of Chengdu, this beautiful metropolis. The railway was either cement gray or red brick red, and the buildings were basically these two colors. Moreover, they were old. Under the streetlights, there were occasional pedestrians riding bicycles to catch the early shift, and there were also many tricycles transporting vegetables.

Occasionally, steam would rise from the sidewalks at the far end of the road, where breakfast stalls were selling food to early risers.

Compared to the people in Chengdu, the people living by the railway seemed to live in a completely different city.

Fortunately, as the train gets closer to the East Station, the city becomes more and more prosperous. Sometimes the train will pass over an overpass that crosses the highway, allowing you to see the tall buildings in the city and the bustling traffic on the roads below.

After passing the East Station, many people had already gathered in the passageway; they were passengers who couldn't wait to get off the train.

Zhou Zhi and his companion were in a semi-working carriage. Apart from a few passengers who had boarded the train the night before and upgraded to sleeper berths, most of the passengers were staff members.

The flight attendant, Xiao Zhang, came over and said, "Oh, I was just about to wake you up. It turns out you're already up. Breakfast has been prepared in the dining car. Would you like some? We still have more than twenty minutes before we arrive at the station."

"Uh... no need for breakfast, you've already gone to so much trouble." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "Besides, we ate quite a few snacks last night, so we're not hungry yet."

The food on Chinese trains was not very good even decades later, and Zhou Zhi declined Xiao Zhang's invitation without much thought: "But you can have some boiled water, and we can also have a cup of morning tea."

After having a few cups of morning tea, the train stopped at Chengdu North Station. Xiao Zhang led Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao off the train and handed them over to Xiao Lu, a staff member on the ground. She then politely said goodbye to the two and went about her own business. Xiao Lu led Zhou Zhi and Mai Xiaomiao through a special passage to a freight yard, where Zhou Zhi was surprised to find his bodyguard already parked.

"You guys are really efficient!" Zhou Zhi praised.

"We handle the shipments with the train quite quickly," Xiao Lu said. "Your containers haven't arrived yet; they won't reach the West Station until this afternoon."

"That's alright," Zhou Zhi said to Xiao Lu. "Can we leave now?"

"Sure," Xiao Lu said with a smile. "You can just get on the bus and drive out from the station exit. However, the roads in this area are a bit complicated. How about I take you to the First Ring Road?"

"That's great!" Zhou Zhi said with a smile. In this day and age without navigation, Zhou Zhi was really a bit confused in this unfamiliar place with complicated road conditions: "I'm just going to have to trouble you."

The roads leading out of the freight area from the North Railway Station are indeed quite complicated. You have to pass the Lotus Pond Wholesale Market ahead. Lotus Pond is currently the time when all kinds of merchants are stocking up on goods, and some sections of the road are so congested that they are completely blocked. There is also a huge bus station there, and many buses depart from here, which is also quite congested. If Xiao Lu hadn't directed Zhou Zhi to take the back roads, Zhou Zhi would probably have been stuck in traffic.

After a series of twists and turns, they miraculously arrived at the edge of the First Ring Road. Zhou Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Thanks to you, otherwise I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to get out all morning."

"Then goodbye," Xiao Lu said with a smile. "I've completed the task that Sister Zhang assigned me."

"Please also ask you to thank her on our behalf." Zhou Zhi smiled and said, "We had a very pleasant trip."

After saying goodbye to Xiao Lu, Zhou Zhi turned the car onto the First Ring Road: "Xiao Miao, shall we go back to Suihuaxuan or go to Shuda first?"

"Let's go to Shuda University first," Mai Xiaomiao said. "It's a good opportunity to have breakfast; it's been a long time since I've had breakfast from the Mathematical Computing Center."

"Alright, let me take you to see your grandfather first, so he won't worry."

“He won’t worry at all. He said he still needs his aunt to take care of him. He feels more at ease with you than with him,” Mai Xiaomiao said with a smile.

Zhou Zhi rolled his eyes and thought about it, then had to admit that Mai Mingdong's words didn't seem to make any mistakes.

The Chengdu First Ring Road is only 20 kilometers long. It's about a third of the way from the North Station to Chengdu University. Even though the First Ring Road is starting to experience traffic congestion during the morning rush hour, it still doesn't take long to get there.

When the two appeared at the small canteen of the computer science center, they surprised many night owls who worked overtime and foodies who were willing to get up early to eat well because of the rich breakfast options at the computer science center.

Although both are top-tier experts here, they are rarely seen, with 90% of their communication conducted online via chat software and conference calls. The probability of them appearing together is even smaller. (End of Chapter)