Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 413 All Kinds of Things

"Don't throw eggshells on the floor! Don't you know it's hard to sweep up? Look at all this yolk on the floor, it's leaking!" When the train attendant swept up the eggshells and yolk crumbs on Xiaowei's floor, he was getting angry at the mess.

Xiao Wei said, "Don't tell me we didn't eat it." The uncle sitting a few meters away, smoking, looked over but didn't say anything.

The train conductor tapped the berth with a broom handle and asked, "Whose berth is this?"

Geng Hui said, "Mine. What's wrong?"

The train conductor glanced at Xiao Wei and said to Geng Hui, "Why are there eggshells all over the place?"

Xiaohong said, "We didn't do it, the guy in the upper bunk did it. He insists on eating here, can we just kick him out?"

The train conductor pointed to the half-bag of eggs and said, "These aren't yours, are they?" He reached out and picked them up. The bag was old, a little leaky, and a wet patch was left on the bed.

Geng Hui shook her head. The train conductor didn't say anything more, and threw the half-bag of eggs onto the floor with a thud. A few brooms were used to sweep them up and mix them with the trash. The uncle jumped up and ran back: "What are you doing, comrade? Why did you throw my eggs?"

The train conductor glanced at him, pointed at Geng Hui's berth, and said, "Look at yourself, is that your berth? Look at this berth, one above the other, you're even blowing air while eating an egg? Smoking in the carriage, fine, twenty yuan."

The man pointed at the eggs on the floor and said, "You're going to fine me? You think you're right to throw eggs at me? What gave you the right to throw eggs at me?"

The train conductor said, "Because you're smoking. Smoking is not allowed in the train carriages, you know? How old are you? Do I need to teach you?"

The middle-aged man pointed to the side and said, "So many people are smoking here. Am I the only one? I take your train more than ten times a year. When did you start regulating smoking? I'm going to find your train conductor." He turned to leave.

The train conductor reached out and grabbed the man's shirt, saying, "Go find whoever you want, but pay the fine first. Should I call the train police?"

The uncle pointed to the side and said, "They all smoked too. If you fine them, I'll pay."

A guy in his early twenties stood up and yelled, "You son of a bitch, which eye of yours saw me smoking? Come on, if you find the cigarette butt, I'll pay your fine; if you don't, I'll kill you. Come here and find it." The window next to his shop was open, and the wind was blowing in; the cigarette butt had long been thrown outside.

Back then, train windows could be opened at any time, whether in hard seats or sleeper berths.

The man choked up, and the train conductor said, "Pay up. I didn't look at anyone else, I was only looking at you."

A woman, shaking the water off her hands, walked over from the restroom and said, "Oh my god, you're just throwing away so many eggs? What a waste!" She bent down, picked up the half-bag of eggs, shook it a few times to remove the eggshells stuck to the bag, and carried it away, saying, "What a waste! You're just throwing away perfectly good eggs."

The man said, "That's mine."

The older woman turned and sized him up, saying, "Yours? You threw yours in the trash? Didn't you see me pick it up from the ground? A grown man like you doesn't even know how to be timid." She then picked up the eggs and left.

"Cigarettes, fruit, sunflower seeds, poker, mahjong, checkers, beer, drinks, mineral water, what are you doing here?" The vendor pushed his cart up from behind and asked the train conductor.

The train conductor said, "This smoker won't pay the fine."

The sales clerk glanced at the middle-aged man and said, "Just accept your bad luck. Pay up quickly to save trouble. You'll have to go to the police station when the train police come. Guys, anything else you need?" He said to Xiao Wei, then said to the train conductor, "There was a fight in that carriage just now. One guy's feet were so smelly, he was picking at them on his berth."

The train conductor said, "Really? Is Sister Liu alright?"

The saleswoman said, "It's nothing, a few passengers got into a fight, she's handling it over there, Old Hu's there too. Want two more bottles?" He then asked Xia Maosheng, turned around, glared at him, and shouted, "Hey lady, your child needs to pee in the toilet, are you in the carriage?"

The train conductor took a half step back, tilted his head to look, and shouted, "Do you just let your child pee in the house like that? Go to the toilet right now, do you hear me? I'll fine you, you believe it?" The woman's voice drifted back leisurely, "I pee in the house when I'm at home. What's the big deal if a child pees a little?"

"Who the hell touched my bag? Who did it? Are you looking for trouble?" A man who had just washed his face stood under the luggage rack and cursed.

The train conductor put down the broom and went over: "What's all the noise about? Did you lose your bag?"

The man turned to look at the train conductor and said, "It's not lost. I put it over there, but who the hell brought it here? What a fool!"

The train conductor glanced at the bag and said with a dark face, "I took it, I just couldn't resist, so what? Is your bag so precious that you didn't hold it tight? Why are you making such a fuss if it didn't fall? Did you even put it securely in the first place? If it falls and hits someone, are you going to pay for it or am I? Go get a mop and clean up your piss, is this your house? Don't you have any public decency?" He then shouted at the woman who was urinating.

The older woman stood up and shoved the child in her arms into the train attendant's arms, saying, "Hold on tight, or I'll sue you if you drop the child." Then she turned and went to get a mop.

The child didn't cry, but reached out to pick at the train conductor's epaulettes.

Xiao Hong hugged Geng Hui, rested her chin on Geng Hui's shoulder, and watched the excitement, saying, "It's so lively! Riding the train is so much fun!"

Chen Hui said to the unhurried salesperson who was watching the commotion, "Why are you standing here watching the show if you're not selling anything?"

The saleswoman took off her hat, sat down on the stall, and said, "No one's watching this, so I'm free. I just need to finish my task when my number is called."

Xia Maosheng handed him the empty beer bottle and said, "Take two more bottles, another bag of peanuts, and do you have sausages? Take a few, do you want some?" He asked Xiao Hong and Geng Hui.

Xiao Hong looked at the vending cart and thought for a moment before saying, "Sausage, I'll have that. And a bread too. I haven't had this old-fashioned bread in so long! When I was little, a bread and half a sausage felt like a big treat. And soda too, but it's a shame they don't have those cheap sodas anymore. The ones they have now don't taste as good."

The salesperson threw a bag of spiced peanuts on the table, stuffed Xia Maosheng's empty bottle under the truck, took out two bottles of beer, placed them on the dinner table, and asked, "How many sausages do you want? I also have some Bingcheng red sausage, garlic flavor." He handed Xiao Hong an old-fashioned bread.

Sausages from that era still used casings, but the inside was still meat.

Xiaohong said, "Give me five sausages, long ones or short ones? Short ones, give me five."

The sales clerk rummaged around and took out four sausages, saying, "That's all, just four. How about one more red sausage? I'll give you a price." She placed the sausages, still in their plastic bag, on the table. Xiao Hong said, "Okay, I haven't tried them yet. Can I return them if I don't like them?"

The sales clerk took out a red sausage, a little shorter than the regular sausage, and placed it next to it, saying, "Oh dear, my wife has to compensate you. Twenty-nine. You guys are really rich, how much have you spent this morning? One hundred and thirty, or you can just pay me a month's salary."

Chen Hui took out a hundred yuan, handed it over, and asked, "How much do you earn in a month?"

The sales clerk took the money and gave change, saying, "If you complete the task, you get over four hundred yuan; if you don't, you lose one hundred. These days, everyone who takes the bus is as stingy as a stone statue. Who buys anything every day? Sigh, it's not easy, this lousy job. I don't know who decided that all the food vendors are women. Selling food is better than what I do, and their task is lower, only one hundred yuan a day."

Xiao Hong asked, "How much is your task?"

(End of this chapter)