Chapter 5: A Restaurant on the Way Back to Hometown

Jiangcheng South Bus Station, 4:45 in the afternoon, rain falling in a steady drizzle.

When Wang Chuan arrived at the train station, there were no tickets for that day, so he could only buy a train ticket to return to Jiangcheng on May 31.

As soon as he entered the South Bus Station, a middle-aged auntie approached and asked in a low voice, "Young man, where are you going? We have cheap tickets."

Wang Chuan remembered that in 2004, some of the long-distance buses at the bus station were privately contracted, and part of the ticket fare had to be handed over to the station.

When exiting the main gate of the station, staff members from the station came up to count heads for verification.

Drivers with private contracts would call out to you, telling you to wait at the next two street corners, where the departing bus would drive over to pick you up, and the original fare would be discounted by at least ten percent.

The route from Jiangcheng to Wang Chuan's hometown, Xinzhou, crossed provincial borders, and the bus station sold tickets for 90 yuan.

If you waited at the street corner, the driver would charge only 75 yuan, saving 15 yuan.

Wang Chuan felt it was better to follow the rules and buy a ticket at the station.

As a result, the second-generation rich kid Li Wei insisted on going to the street corner ahead to buy a ticket for 75 yuan. This book is first published on Tian Tian Kan Xiao Shuo; visit ttks. tw for a convenient experience with error-free and correctly ordered chapters.

After the two of them were seated, the bus sped past several more street corners and stopped.

By the street, a young girl holding a transparent umbrella, with the brim of her baseball cap pulled low, boarded the bus.

The driver shouted, "Girl, take the last row; there's still a seat by the window."

Silver-white earphones, with red earphone cords dangling down the side of her neck, swayed gently with her steps.

Suddenly, as the girl closed her umbrella, one earphone cord slipped to the ground; Wang Chuan picked it up and vaguely heard that the earphones were playing:

Cloudy day, evening, outside the car window

Someone is waiting in the future

It was Sun Yanzi's "Meet." A delicate hand, as smooth as jade, took the earphone cord Wang Chuan had picked up. "Thank you!"

That young girl lifted her baseball cap slightly and smiled faintly at the corner of her mouth.

In that instant, Wang Chuan's mind was violently shaken. Xiao Yuchu, the fourteen-year-old Xiao Yuchu of this year.

She wore an MLB baseball cap, a Levi's denim jacket over a Burberry classic TB white T-shirt, Diesel hot pants, and Adidas sneakers.

"Chuanzi, what are you looking at?" Li Wei, sitting by the window, saw Wang Chuan staring blankly.

Wang Chuan came to his senses, silently lowered his head. No, the one who was reborn was himself; Xiao Yuchu had not been reborn. What was I afraid of?

So he replied, "Nothing!"

Li Wei stretched his neck to look toward the back of the bus for a minute. "Chuanzi, judging by her outfit, that little girl's family is very wealthy."

"I know, Levi's, Burberry, Diesel." Wang Chuan of his previous life did not know these brands at that age.

"However, she is a minor! Do you want to commit a crime? Being handsome is still illegal; you'd go to jail."

"Sleep, sleep." Wang Chuan closed his eyes, his heart churning inside.

Truly, just as one fears something, it comes.

In his previous life, two years after he and Xiao Yuchu married, they broke up for various reasons.

Wang Chuan did not want to relive the scene of their breakup that day.

Since he had been reborn, he would no longer have any contact with Xiao Yuchu; let each live in peace.

In 2004, the expressway network had not yet been fully built.

Traveling from Jiangcheng across provincial borders to Xinzhou required taking the National Highway all the way; departing at 5:00 in the afternoon, they would not arrive until 10:30 at night.

Sitting at the back of the bus, Xiao Yuchu felt that the handsome young man who had picked up her earphones kept staring at her back. Could he be a pervert?

Probably not, but the person sitting next to the handsome young man looked more like a pervert, staring at her for at least five minutes straight.

Today, after school, Xiao Yuchu received a phone call from her older brother, Xiao Rongyue, telling her that she must bring 30,000 yuan and rush to Xinzhou tonight.

Xiao Rongyue said he had hit someone, and the person he hit needed surgery early tomorrow morning. No matter how late it was today, he had to pay the Hospital; otherwise, he would be arrested by the Police Officer.

Xiao Rongyue also specially instructed Xiao Yuchu not to tell anyone else about the matter. If she told their father, his legs would be broken; telling the uncles and Nephew living nearby was the same as telling their father, and his legs would be broken just the same.

There was no choice; after their mother passed away, the two siblings relied on each other and trusted one another.

Because their Xiao family owned a factory, their father was often not at home, and there was only a housekeeper to do the chores.

From June 12 to 14, she still had to take the high school entrance exam. Although there was no problem with her scoring first in the entire school, she could not be sure about skipping the exam, and she still had to register on June 1.

The latest model MP3 player of 2004, the Sony NW-E70, was playing Sun Yanzi's songs, lulling Xiao Yuchu into a drowsy sleep.

"Everyone get off the bus for dinner!" the driver shouted loudly.

Xiao Yuchu and Wang Chuan were both awakened by that shout.

Wang Chuan looked out the window; the bus had pulled into the courtyard of a place called Iron Dragon Restaurant.

Twenty years ago, during long-distance bus trips, the driver had the authority to decide where to stop for meals; some restaurants were even owned by the drivers themselves, while others gave the drivers a commission.

More than forty people from the bus got off one after another.

The main gate of the courtyard was still locked with an iron padlock; the restaurant was just a large shed put up, and there was light only around this area, while everything else was pitch black.

Seeing the sign for the Toilet, "I'm about to burst."

The two rushed to use the Toilet, which was separated into male and female sections; they entered the men's room and looked inside.

Damn, there was no Toilet at all, just a patch of bamboo forest. Someone nearby was already peeing against the bamboo, making a hissing sound.

Wang Chuan was not surprised; he also opened the floodgates against the bamboo, and the bamboo leaves rustled.

After shaking himself off, he looked at Li Wei finishing up and laughed, "Li Wei, your parabola isn't good."

"Damn, I stayed up late yesterday; it's not normal."

"Stop making excuses. It doesn't matter anyway! For us men, after the age of 60, half of us will split."

"If it's half, then between the two of us, the one who splits is you!" Li Wei retorted.

Wang Chuan knew that eighteen years later, Li Wei would surpass his father and become an outstanding private entrepreneur.

However, the tobacco and alcohol consumed during daily social engagements caused him to be hospitalized for several months straight.

When visiting him at the Hospital, Wang Chuan asked about the specific illness, but Li Wei stubbornly refused to say; he suspected Li Wei had ED.

"Li Wei, drink less and smoke less from now on! One day you'll really become Brother Impotent!" Wang Chuan patted Li Wei on the shoulder.

He turned, went out to wash his hands, and walked straight into the restaurant's main hall.

Li Wei shouted from behind: "Chuan, don't slander me! I'm a triple-good student; I don't smoke or drink... Damn! I do smoke, I just don't drink alcohol."

In the restaurant hall, a meat-and-vegetable rice set meal: the meat dish was stir-fried pork slices, and for the vegetable dish, one had to choose between radish, cabbage, or tofu.

The variety and portion size were half of what was sold on the train, priced at 35 yuan.

If you brought your own instant noodles, a bowl of hot water cost 15 yuan; the restaurant sold instant noodles for 15 yuan.

Many people on the bus heading to Jiangcheng to work chose to take out fifteen yuan, buy the restaurant's instant noodles, and put their own instant noodles back in their bags.

"Why is it so expensive?" Li Wei asked Wang Chuan.

He was shocked; every year when going to school or on holiday, he flew back and forth to Jiangcheng and had never entered a restaurant like this.

In his past life, when Wang Chuan couldn't buy train tickets, he also took this kind of bus back and forth, so he wasn't surprised at all.

A melodious young girl's voice rang out: "Are you robbing people? It's so expensive!"

"Miss, the prices are clearly marked," the restaurant Boss said coldly.

The driver walked in, shouting: "Miss, out here in the middle of nowhere, having such hot meals at this price isn't high."

Xiao Yuchu, just disgusted by the filthy women's restroom and still holding her urine, saw these overpriced meals and was very dissatisfied.

"Open the bus door; I'm not eating!" Xiao Yuchu turned and walked away.

The driver followed out and shouted loudly to the passengers eating instant noodles and boxed meals in the yard: "There are forty-one people in total. If one person is missing today who hasn't spent money here, this bus door will break and won't open."

He paused, then continued: "The tires on this bus will go flat, and the bus won't be able to move!"

Xiao Yuchu didn't stop; she took out her Mobile Phone and said, "Then I'll call the police."

"Damn!" The driver flew into a rage; with a flick of his finger, he sent a cigarette butt flying toward Xiao Yuchu's hair.

In the instant the cigarette ember traced an arc, Xiao Yuchu suddenly turned back, whipping out her right leg like a whip!

The Adidas shoe tip precisely struck the red dot; "Hiss!" A loud explosion sounded as the cigarette butt shattered into fiery fragments and flew back, grazing the driver's earring before flying into the restaurant hall.

Wang Chuan, who had just walked out of the restaurant hall, froze in surprise.

Under the moonlight, the short, stocky driver and the petite Xiao Yuchu in the yard looked like a bear confronting a little white rabbit.

Xiao Yuchu retracted her leg, slowly raised her head, and revealed a fierce gaze beneath her baseball cap.