Chapter 939: Arriving safely in Yanjing: It's really not easy

After passing Dunhuang, further east, there were a few train stations that used to be places where big thieves entrenched themselves, and many passing passengers had suffered from them.

Of course, the victims were mainly at the stations, but occasionally someone would run rampant on the train for a stretch. He had encountered it on the last round trip, and this time, although he was in a sleeper, he still had to be careful.

When crossing the mountains, there was a temporary stop, and someone outside was knocking on the window with a stick in the snow.

The conductor reminded passengers not to open the windows to avoid accidents. However, in broad daylight, some people didn't care, and some people really opened the windows.

People outside were holding things to sell. Because it wasn't a platform and the train position was high, they could only hold sticks to pick them up.

The windows of a few seats were opened, and the conductor didn't care about that much either. He had reminded them, and these people didn't listen, so what could be done? Everyone was an adult and had to be responsible for their own behavior.

Li Long and the others didn't open the windows, and someone knocked with a stick, but they ignored it.

Soon, someone spoke on the side where the window was opened, and Li Long and the others heard it.

Someone was picking up pheasants to sell, saying it was ten yuan each. People in the car felt it was too expensive, the people outside refused to lower the price, so they were deadlocked.

Another window had someone selling kiwifruit, and it wasn't known how they had preserved it until now. Some people bought some, tasted it, and the flavor was quite good; it should be wild from the mountains.

Li Long leaned over to take a look, the price was one yuan for two jin, which wasn't expensive. Even so, people looked more than they bought, so Li Long bought two yuan's worth. His eye was good, he picked it, a small bamboo-woven basket was lifted up, Li Long threw two yuan down, the person saw the money go down and immediately wanted to take back the basket, but Li Long's arms were long, and he grabbed the basket and the stick up in one go.

He broke the stick into two pieces, pretended to scare the kid, and then returned to his seat with the basket.

It was about what he thought, the kiwifruit in the basket was quite good, not frozen or damaged, and tasting one, the flavor was quite good.

Shared it with his family, gave one to the middle-aged couple, and the two people politely declined, but finally accepted it.

Ming Ming and Hao Hao were quite happy, children like things with flavor the most, gnawing slowly, Gu Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiao Yu wiped them with paper from time to time. The two children were taken care of cleanly, looking at them made people like them.

At another window, someone started arguing, Li Long listened and knew, someone in the carriage had plucked the pheasant's tail feathers.

Why was there a feeling of *déjà vu*?

Then there was another argument, it turned out someone had given money, but the person below hadn't handed over the things—consider it a lesson bought, after all, they couldn't go down.

The train started again, and the noise slowly stopped.

Whether they bought things or took advantage or suffered a loss, it all became a topic of conversation for a period of time.

At the next station, the conductor came over to remind everyone to be careful with their valuables.

Obviously, these conductors were experienced and knew where the atmosphere was like.

People in the carriage started discussing, and some people's gazes intentionally or unintentionally looked at Li Long and the others here.

It was no wonder. Adults and children ate train boxed meals for three meals a day, and occasionally bought specialties at the station, and were generous when buying things, so such people were the targets to be watched.

Fortunately, this was a sleeper, not many people could get in, the last time people were let in was because the next carriage wasn't managed strictly, someone went to reflect it, and fewer people got on the train later.

At night, not long after eating, Ming Ming and Hao Hao fell asleep. The Gu sisters put the two children on one berth each to look after them.

Slowly, the carriage returned to calm, and basically everyone was resting.

At two o'clock in the morning, the train stopped at a small station, the conductor opened the door to go out and guard, someone climbed down from the upper berth and started packing their luggage.

This person carried his bag and stopped at Li Long and the others' place, his movements were skillful, he stepped on the ladder to go up, and reached out to grab the luggage Li Long and the others placed on the luggage rack.

"What are you doing?" Li Long sat up abruptly, slapped the person's leg, and the person was caught off guard and fell directly from the ladder, saying "ouch," which startled everyone else awake.

"What are you doing? I'm getting off the train, why are you blocking me?" The person reacted extremely quickly, climbed up in one go, and falsely accused Li Long, "Why are you blocking me, if I miss the station, are you responsible?"

"Turning the tables, huh?" Li Long went up and slapped him on the face, "Getting off the train and running over to touch my luggage, what are you doing? What, are you sleepwalking?"

"That is, you ran over to climb our luggage rack, what are you doing?" The middle-aged man in the upper berth was woken up and immediately helped Li Long refute that person.

Li Long guessed he might not have seen it, but naturally stood on his side.

"Those of you living relatively close to him, check if your luggage is missing anything?" Li Long heard someone seem to recognize this thief, so he said: "Don't wait until he gets off the train, and then you find things missing, it'll be too late."

Li Long guessed that this person definitely didn't just have designs on his own things.

Some people didn't care, some people brought valuable things and hurriedly checked.

"Oh no! My bag is missing! There are important documents inside!"

Hearing that someone really lost something, the people nearby immediately panicked, this thief had just had blood slapped out by Li Long. But looking at Li Long, who was tall and big, he knew he was not easy to deal with.

At this time, hearing that a victim found things missing, he knew that if he didn't act now, he probably wouldn't be able to run away, so he reached into his waist and a knife appeared in his hand, and this person said fiercely:

"Don't mind other people's business, my knife doesn't recognize people!"

Li Long thought to himself, who is this scaring?

But seeing the other party pull a knife, the middle-aged man in the upper berth immediately stopped speaking, but Li Jianguo stood up, obviously intending to clean up this guy with Li Long.

Gu Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiao Yu comforted Ming Ming and Hao Hao, looking at this side carefully.

"Heh, you really think you can scare us with a knife?" Li Long suddenly pointed to the side and said: "The train police are here!"

The thief was still inexperienced, as soon as he heard it, he turned his head, and he knew it was bad when he turned his head. Li Long had already moved at this time, chopped his wrist with one hand, the knife fell to the ground, Li Jianguo was also prepared, and kicked his calf with one foot, and this thief knelt down with an "ouch."

The train stop time was short, the conductor had already collected the board, closed the door, and got on the train. Seeing the commotion here, he immediately came over, and knowing there was a thief, immediately called the train police.

At this time, the person who lost things saw the thief's knife was knocked down and immediately surrounded him.

Li Long listened, and saw three people lost things, wasn't this evidence complete?

After the train police came over, they searched the thief's bag, two things were searched out, and another person's bag was missing, crying with a sad face, he didn't know where it was lost, and it looked like it couldn't be found back.

After the train police took the person away, many people praised Li Long and Li Jianguo for their good skills and quick reactions, Li Juan and Li Qiang had long woken up, and at this time, stars were appearing in their eyes.

Such things were only heard in stories, really didn't expect to encounter them in reality.

"Alright, rest early." Li Jianguo whispered to Li Juan and Li Qiang, "We'll arrive in Chang'an tomorrow, we'll buy some specialties then."

Li Juan and Li Qiang quite liked eating the specialties along the way. Li Long especially liked eating the wine dates bought at a small station, but he only bought two bags at the time. He thought about buying a few more bags when he came back, they were good to bring back as gifts.

The following journey was not bad, getting on and off all the way, the conductor strengthened the reminders, and the train police also strengthened the patrols, nothing happened, much smoother than Li Long imagined.

When arriving in Yanjing, even Li Long couldn't stay still, let alone Li Juan and Li Qiang.

At first, riding the train was very novel, later, getting off at every station was both moving and seeing the situation outside, and later it was a bit annoying.

After all, children used to running in the wild, how could they get used to that small carriage?

Ming Ming and Hao Hao were beyond Li Long's expectations, basically not crying or making trouble along the way, occasionally feeling uncomfortable, and were quickly coaxed well.

When arriving at Yanjing Station, several people breathed a sigh of relief. Not only them, but others on the train were about the same, feeling that they had enough of riding the train. But there was no way, at present, they didn't have the qualifications to take a plane, and the bus was not as good as the train, fortunately, there were not so many things here, only needing to come once or twice a year, so it could still be endured.

The middle-aged couple also got off the train with Li Long and the others. During these three or four days, most people sitting on the train were haggard, the middle-aged couple invited Li Long and the others to visit their home after leaving the carriage, and also left an address, in a certain alley in Xizhimen, which was quite sincere, not just polite.

Li Long held Ming Ming and Hao Hao, carrying a big backpack, Li Jianguo led the two children, carrying a handbag, Gu Gu Xiaoxia and Gu Xiao Yu followed behind, same as when getting on the train, following the flow of people out of the station.

After leaving the station, Li Long and the others looked at Gu Xiao Yu, actually according to his idea, find a state-run hotel nearby to stay first.

But Gu Xiao Yu was the local, it was better to listen to her opinion.

"Let's go to the vicinity of our school first, I'll find a place for you to stay." Gu Xiao Yu obviously had already thought about it, "The place is not far, it's quite quiet there, and the price is not expensive."

Li Long and the others naturally had no objections, following Gu Xiao Yu out of the station and walking towards the hotel.

"This is Yanjing City." Li Juan sighed, "There are so many buildings, the road is wide, and there are cars..."

How to say it, Yanjing City in the eighties was really different compared to the small county town in the Northwest. Unlike later generations, any city above the third tier, the prosperous areas seemed to be about the same, even if Wucheng in the Northwest had dozens of floors of high-rise buildings and prosperous business districts at that time.

In Li Long's view, the difference between first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities was not big.

But it was different at this time. Ma County couldn't find two buildings, Wucheng was more prosperous, but bungalows were everywhere, buildings could be counted on one's fingers, but Yanjing was obviously different.

Li Juan and Li Qiang just sighed, and then quickly followed the adults forward.

Coming out of the warm carriage to this cold street, it felt like entering reality from a fairy tale, this was winter.

"It's here." Gu Xiao Yu pointed to the name "Chunfeng Hotel" and said, "It's opened by a unit next to our school, let's all stay here today."

"Good." Li Long responded, pushed the door in, and asked the staff for rooms.

"Where are you from? Do you have work permits? Do you have proof?" The staff asked.

When Li Long was about to take out his work permit and the proof, Gu Xiao Yu blocked him, and then said:

"I'm from a nearby university, this is my work permit, they are my family." As she said this, she handed over her work permit.

Li Long smiled and took back his work permit.

The staff looked at Li Long and then at Gu Xiao Yu, and opened two triple rooms.

Li Long, Li Jianguo, and Li Qiang lived in one room, and the Gu sisters lived in one room with Ming Ming, Hao Hao, and Li Juan.

"Room numbers are 109, 110, go inside and turn left. There is hot water in the water room, there are thermos bottles and washbasins in the room, the toilet is at the very end, this is the key." After the staff collected the money and registered, they reminded them.

"Thank you." Li Long said, holding Ming Ming and Hao Hao and walking first.

The room was not big, but quite tidy, the heating temperature was also okay, sitting on the bed, several people relaxed, only then feeling tired.

There were not many words, even Li Juan and Li Qiang, who were very excited on the street earlier, were full of fatigue at this time, originally Gu Xiao Yu wanted to take them to dinner, but the meaning of adults and children was the same, drink hot water and get by, sleep quickly.

Although one could sleep on the train sleeper, the sleep was extremely shallow, waking up many times in the middle, not sleeping solidly at all, so now they needed to make up for a good sleep.

Li Long didn't wake up until after seven o'clock the next morning, the sky outside was already bright, he saw Li Jianguo was also just waking up, Li Qiang was still sleeping, so he stretched and climbed up, took the washbasin and washing tools to find the water room.

After washing and returning, he saw the door next door open, and the Gu sisters and Li Juan had already gotten up. Gu Gu Xiaoxia was mixing milk powder for Ming Ming and Hao Hao, Gu Xiao Yu and Li Juan were coaxing the two children.

After washing up, Gu Xiao Yu took everyone to have breakfast nearby, and when they returned, they discussed the next action.

"Xiao Yu, since you've already returned, go report to the school first, right? We'll come over according to our itinerary, you finish your things, and then help us ask how to buy a courtyard." Li Long stated his thoughts, "We are blind about this, have to trouble you."

"Brother-in-law, what trouble is this, I told you, my colleague bought a courtyard a while ago, I'll just go ask. You guys, just go around. There are buses and trams nearby, there are how to go on the station sign, you can also ask. I'll tell you how to go to Tiananmen later."

Because they were their own people, Li Long didn't hide anything, and said to Gu Xiao Yu:

"Then the matter of asking about the house is up to you. You can reveal to the seller that I have US dollars here."

"What? You have US dollars?" Gu Xiao Yu was a bit surprised, but immediately said, "US dollars are really attractive to many people now. However, if buying a courtyard, if there are few US dollars, I'm afraid it won't work..."

"Thousands can still be taken out." Li Long said on the low side, "Buying a courtyard should be no problem."

Although the official exchange rate is 1.5 to 1.8 RMB for one US dollar, in fact, private exchange, 1 to 6 to 1 to 8 are all conscience prices, and 1 to 10 also exists.

So Li Long said taking out thousands of US dollars, it was really enough to buy a few courtyards.

Gu Xiao Yu looked at Li Long and then at Gu Gu Xiaoxia, wanting to verify this problem.

"It's true." Gu Gu Xiaoxia didn't have much concept of this, she really didn't know how much money was at home, and didn't ask—Li Long earned so much money, and gave her a sum every year to save. Now just the money she saved was fifty or sixty thousand, let alone what Li Long put there himself?

So what Li Long said, whether she knew it or not, she believed it.

Gu Xiao Yu took a deep breath and said:

"If there are US dollars, then the matter of buying a courtyard is very simple. As long as this is said, there will be people begging us to buy the courtyard."

Her confidence suddenly became sufficient.

Li Long thought about it, went into the room, took out five hundred US dollars, handed them to Gu Xiao Yu, and said:

"Take this first, treat it as evidence or a deposit, as long as the courtyard is suitable, we'll buy it."

Li Jianguo hadn't spoken, he also heard that using US dollars was at least more convenient than using RMB to buy a courtyard at this time.

He was happy that his younger brother was capable, but he didn't have those US dollars, so he wouldn't say anything. He thought that after Li Long bought the courtyard, he would return it with RMB.

Li Juan and Li Qiang were stunned, but knowing this was something adults had to do, they didn't interrupt or ask questions.

Gu Xiao Yu left with her bag, and Li Long started studying the route Gu Xiao Yu said.

It was not particularly far from Tiananmen here, but the current transportation was not so convenient, squeezing on the bus was okay, wanting to take a taxi was basically no way.

In 1984, Yanjing had yellow vans as taxis, commonly known as *mian*, at this time taxis were for rich and status people to take, ordinary people really couldn't get one. After all, in such a big city, the number of *mian* was far less than later.

Fortunately, their two legs had been exercised, even if they walked two or three kilometers to Tiananmen, it was not far.

"Then let's walk around first?" Li Long said, "Tiananmen Square..."

"Walk." Li Jianguo also wanted to go over and take a look, since they were here, the first place they wanted to go was this place, right?

As for the university, with Gu Xiao Yu there, it was not a big problem.

Even Li Long thought about letting Gu Xiao Yu take them to see if they could go to the two top universities, Qinghua and Peking, to feel the humanistic atmosphere.

Of course, the top priority was to go to Tiananmen first, he himself was here for the first time in this life, and his heart was full of wanting to compare it with later generations.

It might fit the characteristics of the era, but precisely because of this, it might be more magnificent and imposing, right?

This was Li Long's own idea. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 940 =====