Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 58: Homecoming (Extra update for the leader Angry Banana)

When Yan Hui got out of the train, what caught his eye was the unremarkable Beijing Railway Station, which looked not much different from Fengtian.

Someone on the train had mentioned that Beijing West Railway Station would be operational this year, and that it would be large, beautiful, and truly spectacular. Yan Hui followed the crowd out of the train and planned to visit the square before returning to the station.

As soon as he exited the station, Yan Hui noticed something was wrong. There were a ton of people at the entrance to Beijing Station, many holding signs with messages on them, likely looking to pick someone up. Walking past the crowd, there were cars everywhere, and taxis were endless.

On the train, Yan Hui asked a lot of questions, including about the subway, as there were several people from Beijing. There was a subway at Beijing Station, and it connected to many of the places he wanted to go. Yan Hui followed the crowd and quickly found the subway.

During the year of training in Fengtian, Yan Hui had matured a lot. He bought the ticket and got on the train skillfully, not at all like someone taking the subway for the first time.

Getting on and off the bus, Yan Hui kept jogging. He didn't have a watch, and he had to get back to the train station before the sun set. Time was tight, and there were many places he wanted to go!
By the time he returned to the train station in the evening, Yan Hui was so exhausted that he fell asleep as soon as he got on the train and sat in his seat.

Yan Hui was in a daze all night and didn't know how much time had passed. He woke up several times and fell asleep several times. When he woke up completely, the car had already arrived in Henan Province.

There were no problems along the way and they arrived at their destination in the late night. Yan Hui lay down at the train station for a while and went out to find a long-distance bus after daybreak. He changed buses in the county town and had a bumpy ride. Finally, they arrived at the village entrance on the afternoon of January 9th.

Yan Hui already had some things with him, and now he had his cotton coat and trousers slung over his arms, making it a little inconvenient for him to walk.

At this moment, the temperature in southern Fujian is about 15 degrees Celsius, and Yan Hui still feels hot after taking off his cotton coat and trousers.

15 degrees Celsius
As he walked at the entrance of the village, Yan Hui started crying.

He had never cried during the year he was in Fengtian. No matter what he had experienced, even if he was freezing and itchy all over, he had never thought of giving up or crying. At this moment, he simply arrived at the village entrance and stood on the land, and he couldn't help but cry.

He didn't know why he was crying. Was it the rotten earth? The green grass and flowers? The warm feeling?
Yan Hui stayed there for three or two minutes until a group of children ran by, and then he cheered up.

He recognized these children, who also had the surname Yan, but were about 10 years older than him, so they couldn't play together. He hadn't been back for a year, and the children didn't recognize him.

He ignored all this and walked straight ahead. He could find the location of his home even with his eyes closed, looking at the grass and trees.

It was only a few hundred meters away, but Yan Hui was reluctant to leave. He wanted to go home, but was afraid to go home too quickly. However, his legs seemed to move forward naturally without the need for brain control.

"Lao Wu!" A surprised voice came from the side, and then a monkey-like figure jumped out from the side.

"Ah? Third Brother!" Yan Hui hadn't expected to run into him. "Why are you here?"

"Didn't you say on the phone that you could come back this afternoon? I've been waiting for you all day! Hahaha!" The third brother hurried over, stretched out his hand and started to help Yan Hui get things.

"Aren't you studying at a medical school? It's not winter break now, right?"

"Do you think I'm the second oldest? I heard you were coming back, so of course I had to ask for leave!" The third oldest took over most of Yan Hui's things, and the two went back to Yan Hui's home together.

As they approached the house, Yan Hui looked at the one in front of him and asked, "Didn't they say they were going to rebuild the house?"

"You're just bragging! How can their family have any money? By the way, how are you doing? How much did you make this year?"

"I'm just a worker." Yan Hui shook his head.

He now has more than 11,000 yuan in hand, which is not a small amount, but it is far from being "rich".

"It's amazing that you can go so far!" After the third brother said this, he pushed open the door of Yan Hui's house and shouted inside, "Grandma! Grandma! The fifth brother is back!" Grandma was steaming rice. Upon hearing this, she immediately stood up by supporting the stove and walked out quickly.

Seeing grandma, Yan Hui almost couldn't hold back his tears. After not seeing grandma for a year, it seemed that grandma had more white hair. But grandma didn't pay any attention to it. She ran to Yan Hui in small steps, reached out and touched Yan Hui's face, her eyes full of distress: "Sun, what's wrong with you?"

"How come you've lost so much weight? You've suffered so much, Sun." As she spoke, grandma's tears couldn't stop. She cried while holding Yan Hui's hand, "Come in, come in, I've made something delicious for you."

Yan Hui wanted to break free and walk away, but his grandmother's hand seemed to have magic, and her strength was far beyond Yan Hui's imagination. He couldn't break free at all and could only follow his grandmother into the house.

After entering the house, grandma lifted the lid of the pot. Inside was ham, bacon, steamed dried fish, and sweet potatoes, a huge pot full of food.

"Eat, eat quickly, you must be hungry on the way." Grandma gave Yan Huisheng food while speaking.

Yan Hui took off his coat, put away the things he had brought back, picked up a piece of hot sweet potato, picked up a slice of ham with chopsticks, and said to the third brother, "Third brother, come, let's eat together."

Grandma said she wasn't hungry, and Yan Hui didn't force her. After eating a piece of sweet potato, he took out the things he bought in Beijing from his bag: "Grandma, I bought some cakes from Beijing!"

"Are you going to the capital?" Grandma asked happily.

“I passed by on the train and went to take a look.”

"This is packaged. Will it keep? If not, I'll take it to your uncle's house. He has a refrigerator." Grandma thought for a moment and said, "We'll eat it together when your sister comes back."

"No need to put it in the refrigerator, it's already packaged!" When Yan Hui heard that he had to wait for his sister to come back before eating it, he agreed immediately and handed a piece of sweet potato to his grandmother.

Yan Hui's grandparents were both religious and had been vegetarians their entire lives. If Yan Hui hadn't returned, there would have been no meat in the house.

As the three of them were eating, Yan Hui asked about his grandfather.

"He went to the field to pick sweet potatoes," grandma explained.

"Ah? Harvesting sweet potatoes at this time, right?" Yan Hui had been in Fengtian for a long time and had forgotten about this.

"Then let's go over and help after we finish eating." said the third brother.

"Okay." Yan Hui nodded and picked up a piece of sweet potato. "Let's go over there now."

"Child, why are you in such a hurry?" Grandma said unhappily. "Eat it first, and then we'll talk about it. Eat this fish. It's a gift from your friend."

"Who?" Yan Hui looked at the third brother.

"This dried fish was given by the fourth brother, but it's been around for half a year, right?" The third brother thought for a while and said.

"Old Four, okay." Yan Hui nodded, tore off a piece of dried fish and started eating.

Sweet potatoes and dried fish are a perfect match. Yan Hui was really craving for them, so he ate two pieces of sweet potatoes and a piece of dried fish in one breath, and then took the third child to his own field.

(The previous chapter was Homeward 1, and this chapter was originally Homeward 2, but the author really misses home, so let's just skip those meaningless plots and go home!)
(End of this chapter)