Reborn in 1977, I will no longer be my brother's blood bag.

Professor Chen pushed the worker's few sheets of paper toward him.

"The official letter was written by the factory."

"These are not the words."

Teacher Gao looked down at the first page, then turned to the last page.

Seventeen names were crammed together.

He raised his face.

"Should we specifically name her?"

Zhao Guodong immediately replied, "Seventeen people."

Teacher Gao glanced at him.

"You count very quickly."

"I haven't decided on my graduation project yet, so I'm just killing time."

"Then let's come up with a question."

Zhao Guodong shut his mouth.

Teacher Gao turned to Lin Xiuhe.

"How long are you planning to stay?"

"Let's go check out the scene first."

"You cannot write 'visit the site first' on the application."

"Then three days it will be."

"It takes two days to travel back and forth."

"Watch as much as you can."

"Is the problem serious?"

"Come back and complete the application."

Teacher Gao put those pages of paper back on the table.

"You've thought all this through."

He Qiuyan touched the torn piece of paper.

I want to go too.

Teacher Gao asked, "What are you going to do?"

"They said they couldn't understand the instructions."

"I want to see if there are too many words or if the drawing is wrong."

Zhao Guodong immediately spoke up: "Then, for the old cold storage to be reused, on-site installation will also be necessary—"

"Let Lin Xiuhe go first."

Professor Chen interrupted him.

"The food company ordered her."

Zhao Guodong paused.

"I know."

"I just feel that if she goes alone, she'll definitely come back with a ton of work to do."

Lin Xiuhe looked at him.

"Are you afraid of having too much work?"

"I'm afraid that when you come back, the first thing you'll say is that this isn't difficult."

He Qiuyan chimed in from the side, "Then the three of us worked on it until midnight."

Zhao Guodong nodded.

"Qiuyan understands me best."

Lin Xiuhe folded the few pages of paper neatly.

"We'll talk about it when we get back."

Zhao Guodong squatted back down under the table.

The moment the screwdriver touched the table leg, the tabletop tilted to the side again.

Xu Xiaochuan quickly took the instrument away.

Professor Chen steadied himself on the corner of the table.

"Zhao Guodong".

"exist."

"Forget about the food company for now."

Why?

"I'm afraid you'll build someone else's cold storage room at an angle too."

He Qiuyan laughed so hard she leaned over the table.

Zhao Guodong picked up the table and walked out.

"I'll go ask the carpenter."

Teacher Gao said from behind, "After you ask the question, come back and fix it yourself."

"understood."

His voice carried down the corridor.

Professor Chen took a business trip application form from his drawer and placed it in front of Lin Xiuhe.

"Fill it out."

Lin Xiuhe sat down.

Name.

profession.

Business trip location.

Application period.

She paused for a moment when writing down the reason for the business trip.

Finally, I wrote: Investigation on the on-site usage of the old cold storage facility.

Professor Chen took it and looked at it.

"Meeting tomorrow morning."

When can we make a decision?

"Before the meeting ends."

"What if you disagree?"

"You just wait outside the door."

Lin Xiuhe looked up.

Professor Chen picked up the enamel mug.

"Didn't you already make up your mind?"

"I just want to buy the tickets as soon as possible."

"I haven't bought the tickets yet, but my heart is already at the factory."

Lin Xiuhe smiled.

"Then I'll wait for news tomorrow morning."

He Qiuyan had already spread out the manuscript paper.

"I'll copy what the workers said."

"The original document cannot be taken away."

"Know."

She flattened the lined sheets of paper.

I copied exactly what they wrote.

Professor Chen put the official letter and the original document back into the kraft paper envelope.

"Don't change a single word."

"Where are the typos?"

"Keep it too."

Why?

"Those are words he wrote himself."

He Qiuyan nodded and started copying from the first name.

Seventeen names filled the last page.

When she got to the bottom of the paper, she took it to the window.

"This only has a surname written on it."

Xu Xiaochuan leaned closer.

"There are also handprints nearby."

Half a red handprint was pressed on the corner of the paper.

He Qiuyan changed to a new sheet of paper and copied the surname neatly.

After she finished writing, she counted them from the beginning.

Seventeen.

Lin Xiuhe took the copy, folded it, and put it into her schoolbag.

The kraft paper envelope remained on Professor Chen's desk.

Those few pages of words written by the workers themselves were placed on top of her graduation project application form. The train pulled into the station just as dawn was breaking.

Lin Xiuhe got off the bus carrying a canvas bag. The platform was crowded with people catching the early bus.

An old woman selling eggs, carrying a bamboo basket, repeatedly called out for people to make way. Two men carrying sacks squeezed past her, the corners of the sacks brushing against their sleeves, leaving a gray stain.

She stepped aside and looked up to find the person from the food company who was there to pick her up.

"Lin, my classmate!"

Old Sun ran in from outside the station exit.

He was still wearing that faded blue overalls, the trousers rolled up to his ankles, and his shoes covered in mud. He'd lost some weight in the years I'd seen him, but he still ran with surprising speed.

"Finally!"

Lin Xiuhe glanced behind him.

"Didn't the factory send a vehicle?"

Old Sun took the letter of introduction from her, glanced at it, and handed it back.

"The truck went to pick up ice."

"Manager Huang said he would send someone to pick me up in a tricycle, but I didn't."

Why?

"The chain on that bike fell off three times yesterday."

After he finished speaking, he reached out to take her canvas bag.

Lin Xiuhe did not loosen her grip.

"I'll take it myself."

"The road is not short."

There were only two pieces of clothing inside.

Old Sun stood there for a while, clutching the bag strap, before pulling his hand back.

"OK."

He took a few steps forward, then turned back and asked, "Really, you don't need to?"

"Need not."

"Are people at your school all this polite?"

"The bag isn't heavy at all."

Old Sun nodded.

"Too."

The two people exited the station.

The food company was some distance from the county town, and the bus only ran a few times a day. Old Sun led her to the freight station.

An old truck was parked on the side of the road with several empty wooden crates in its bed.

The driver, surnamed Feng, was squatting next to the front wheel, looking at the tires, with an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth.

Old Sun called out to him from a great distance.

"Old Feng, we've picked him up."

Master Feng stood up, supporting himself on the front of the vehicle, and patted the dirt off his hands onto his trouser legs.

"From Tsinghua University?"

"Lin Xiuhe".

Master Feng nodded to her and then glanced at the canvas bag in her hand.

"Sit in the front."

Old Sun asked, "And me?"

"behind."

"On what grounds?"

"They are guests."

"I'm still an old worker."

"The old worker endured the cold."

Old Sun muttered to himself, but still climbed into the truck bed by stepping on the tires.

As soon as Lin Xiuhe sat in the driver's seat, Master Feng pulled out a folded piece of burlap from under the seat and stuffed it at her feet.

"The door is letting in drafts."

"Thank you, Master Feng."

"This car is old, it makes noises everywhere, don't worry."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the car door slammed open halfway.

Master Feng pulled the door back and fastened it again.

"See that?"

Lin Xiuhe smiled.

Master Feng himself was also happy.

"That's how everything is in the factory."

"It works, but it has a bad temper."