Years: Salted fish life since going to the countryside.

Chapter 1712 The Changes of the Boarders
Han Li waved goodbye to Zhang Yaozu and Lin Jianguo on the platform. After the train started moving, he climbed up to the upper-level soft sleeper and took out a book to read.

Han Li did not intend to get off unless necessary, nor did he intend to give the people in the carriage too much contact, for two reasons.

First, Han Li's personality dislikes too much ineffective diplomacy and he doesn't like chatting idly with strangers. Even after living in Northeast China for many years, he still hasn't changed this habit.

Secondly, in that era, only cadres at the administrative level 13 or above were qualified to purchase and ride in soft sleeper berths on trains.

People with lower administrative ranks, no matter how busy they are, can only choose hard sleeper or hard seat.

Although Han Li is already a division-level cadre, he is only at level 14 in terms of administrative rank.

If it weren't for Zhang Yaozu's friend's help, he wouldn't have been able to buy this sleeper ticket at all.

Strictly speaking, according to the regulations, Han Li's soft sleeper ticket was of dubious origin.

Everyone has relatives and friends in this world. It's a very common thing, and no one would care too much about or pursue such a trivial matter.

However, Han Li still didn't want to chat with people in a carriage where most of them were cadres at or above the administrative level 13. He was worried that if he encountered a stubborn and argumentative person, he would only make things difficult for himself.

As for building connections? Having more friends means having more options, but it's really unnecessary with Han Li.

Han Li had the protection of "elders" above him, and in between he held the positions of deputy director of two departments at Yenching University, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Management Section, and associate professor at Hong Kong University. He also had many classmates helping him.

In the future, Han Li will have many more students supporting and following him. It can be said that, both now and in the future, he has reached a height that most people can only achieve in their lifetime.

If any unexpected events occur in the future, Han Li's life will be relatively smooth.

Therefore, this opportunity to build relationships and make new friends, which others might find difficult to obtain, is truly irrelevant to Han Li.

To put it bluntly, the relationships and friends formed under these circumstances may bring Han Li a lot of unnecessary trouble and trivial matters in the future.

There's a saying that goes something like this: never underestimate the determination, perseverance, and networking skills of anyone who wants to advance within the system.

Moreover, Han Li learned this through his younger sister.

Each sleeper train has a security compartment, where only secret agents carrying classified or top-secret documents are allowed to stay. The minimum number of agents is two, and they are armed.

Although other people are prohibited from entering these carriages, they can pass through them.

No one knew when or what would happen, and no one knew the exact location of the secret carriage.

Han Li has always been one to avoid trouble, which is one of the reasons why he doesn't want to go out too much.

Han Li lay in the upper-level sleeper car, listening to the clanging of the train over the tracks, flipping through the books in his hands. He only got down to eat or use the toilet.

During this time, Han Li would greet the other three people in the same carriage, but that was all.

In addition, Han Li's expression was rather indifferent, and the other people in the same carriage were all of high administrative rank, so they wouldn't try to curry favor with someone who was cold to them.

Therefore, Han Li's journey home was relatively peaceful. According to the best data reported by the official media, the shortest journey time for trains 15 and 16 from Beijing to Guangzhou is 46 hours and 32 minutes.

However, in reality, trains have corresponding rules for yielding. In this era, everything must take priority over freight trains carrying important materials, and all other trains must give way to them.

Although trains 15 and 16 are direct trains, their priority is only higher than other passenger trains. When faced with freight trains carrying important materials, they can only obediently stop in advance at a certain platform or railway crossing to wait for the other train to pass.

It was precisely because of this situation that Han Li's direct train, number 16, took more than 60 to nearly 70 hours to finally stop at the platform in Beijing.

Han Li was quite lucky; the train arrived at the station around 10 a.m., making it convenient to take either a bus or Uncle Ban's tricycle.

If it were midnight, Han Li's journey home from the train station would be much more difficult, and he would have to spend significantly more money.

When Han Li walked out of the station exit carrying a shoulder pole with several travel bags hanging on it, he found that the area in front of the station was different from last year.

The number of waiters waiting for work here has not only increased significantly, but small groups have also begun to emerge among them.

To attract customers, these vendors would swarm in groups of several, effectively pushing their competitors out. During this time, it was common for them to push and shove each other, and those with poor speech would even curse and swear.

However, because there were too many passengers at the Beijing Railway Station, these groups of hawkers did not have any major conflicts in the open. They would just push and shove each other and exchange a few words of cursing before rushing off to grab other customers.

As for these porters, it's hard to say whether they'll have any conflicts behind closed doors once they leave the area patrolled by the police in front of the station.

This is the situation Han Li encountered after leaving the station. He was surrounded by seven or eight porters, some asking where he was going, and others trying to take the carrying pole from his shoulders.

Most outsiders would find this situation overwhelming, but Han Li is neither an ordinary person nor an outsider.

Han Li raised the carrying pole on his shoulder with one hand to prevent the porters from touching it, and spoke at the same time.

"Hey guys, what's going on here? You all suddenly came out all at once with this enthusiasm, it really gave me a fright."

Everyone, stop talking nonsense. If you're going to No. N on the south bank of Houhai Street in Shichahai, it's about 500 meters north of Yinding Bridge.

We're all men here, so let's not talk nonsense, let's not be frivolous or try to be clever. Anyone offering an exorbitant price, get out of here! We'll take a real, honest guy and leave right away.

After Han Li finished speaking in his authentic Beijing accent, the men surrounding him stopped what they were doing.

There's no such thing as outsiders coming out to work at this time, so these shopkeepers are all from Beijing.

Although these people have all become big shots, they might demand exorbitant prices from outsiders, but they wouldn't do that to Han Li, a local.

So one of these bosses stepped forward, smiling, and quoted Han Li a price.

After Han Li nodded in agreement, the other party took the carrying pole from his hands.

However, the shopkeeper underestimated the weight of the suitcases. The moment he took them, the weight almost made him drop them, which drew laughter from his companions, who joked that he must have been...

The tricycle owner chuckled and teased his companion as he led Han Li toward his vehicle.
(End of this chapter)