Chapter 1783: Buy Train Tickets

The exhibition hall was a grand but slightly aged Soviet-style building, its walls scarred with stains, the interior buzzing with voices, a mix of dialects and foreign languages mingling with the smells of sawdust, paint, leather, and sweat.

The entire venue resembled a massive construction site, filled with the clatter of work and the shouts of exhibitors from all over directing the unloading.

The floor was rough concrete, littered with adhesive residue and scratches left by past exhibitions.

"Is this it?" Lin Lin Xiuqing looked around curiously.

"Let them unload first; we'll go inside and find our booth."

Giant hand-painted signs hung high above, and they only needed to locate their assigned booth number.

There were also staff members inside the hall whom they could ask.

They walked around once and found their booth—every surrounding booth was the same size, exactly nine square meters.

And each had only the most basic setup: three rough plywood partitions, a long rectangular table covered with red plush cloth, and two folding chairs.

Some nearby booths were already being set up; Ye Yaodong told Lin Lin Xiuqing to stay put while he went out to call people and bring over the unloaded goods.

More than a dozen men and women all pitched in, carrying in just two trips to move all the goods and exhibits onto their nine-square-meter patch of empty ground.

While they were unloading, Lin Lin Xiuqing had already walked around the area, observing how others arranged their booths.

Everyone was a beginner; they had to learn by doing, then politely ask neighboring exhibitors for advice, and rush out again to buy whatever they were missing.

Others finished setting up in half a day; they worked from morning till night before finally completing their booth.

When everything was done, everyone sighed in relief, some collapsing straight onto the floor.

"Finally done. Looks decent now."

"The exhibition starts the day after tomorrow, right?"

"So does that mean we have an extra day tomorrow?"

"Boss, can we go sightseeing tomorrow?"

Ye Yaodong thought for a moment; he didn't want to be too strict—they'd only come once.

"You can go sightseeing, but someone must stay behind to watch the booth. Divide yourselves into three shifts—after dinner, I'll make a schedule."

"We don't know this place at all; don't linger outside too long, don't cause trouble—it's chaotic everywhere, thieves and robbers are everywhere, especially around here."

"Don't trust strangers who approach you—treat every one as a scammer. Better to avoid trouble than invite it."

"Don't carry your ID cards on you—they'll get stolen along with your money. And never go out alone; if you leave in a group, return as a group. Remember, this isn't Zhou City, not your own doorstep."

He kept repeating these warnings—before departure, on the train, and now again as they prepared to go out.

Better to say it several times than risk being helpless if something actually happened—no one to hear, no one to help.

No one complained about his nagging; after all, they were far from home, utterly unfamiliar with the place—last night at a night market, they'd seen several robberies and thefts, too chaotic to leave the lighted areas.

They left only after the exhibition hall closed.

Over dinner, Lin Lin Xiuqing suddenly spoke: "Since we have a full day tomorrow for sightseeing, why not use it to buy our return train tickets? Let's head back as soon as the exhibition ends."

"It's unsafe and tiring being away from home, and this place is chaotic—you've seen it, thieves are everywhere. One day of sightseeing is enough. We shouldn't linger too long away from home."

"The longer we stay, the more dangerous it gets. We're exhibitors; after the exhibition, our signs must be returned. If they check and find we don't have temporary residence permits, we could get detained—it's better to just go home directly. We've already been here."

Ye Yaodong agreed—there were too many unknowns when traveling.

"Lin Xiuqing's right. We've already set aside one day for everyone; buy what you need tomorrow, then head straight back after the exhibition ends."

Everyone nodded—it was the boss's decision.

"Then let's go to the train station and queue for tickets right after dinner—we should get them early."

Originally, they'd planned to stay two more days after the Canton Fair, so buying tickets wasn't urgent.

But train tickets could only be purchased three to five days in advance—small cities allowed three days, big cities or special periods up to five—and you had to queue overnight, since there was no computerized online ticketing.

Each station sold tickets only for trains stopping there; clerks manually checked massive printed seat charts on the wall and crossed off each seat or berth with a pen after selling it.

Everyone had to queue overnight at the ticket window—this was called "waiting for tickets." Whether you got one depended heavily on your place in line and how many tickets the station allocated.

If you couldn't get one, you'd have to pay several times the price to a scalper.

So when they were in Shanghai, they couldn't buy return tickets yet—they had to buy them now.

State-owned foreign trade companies and large collective enterprises, however, had channels to report their ticket needs, and the organization would handle them collectively.

The Canton Fair, as China's most important foreign trade event, had railway authorities reserving a portion of tickets for distribution to foreign trade systems assigned exhibition duties.

But they were a private enterprise… a private production unit…

Naturally, they had no such benefits—and this was the first year private production units participated after policy reforms. Who cared about them?

They had to figure it out themselves.

What could Ye Yaodong do in Guangzhou? He could only make everyone take turns queuing overnight.

And they should bring their Canton Fair invitation letters and work IDs—if not, they might reach the front of the line only to find no tickets left; with the documents, they might still get a ticket through special application.

Lin Lin Xiuqing said: "Let's pair up—two people per group, men and women together, so they can watch out for each other. Go right after dinner, each person queues for two hours, just in time for the window to open. Luckily, the train station is close to our guesthouse, but be careful on the way, especially at night."

"No need for men and women together—just two men take turns. It's nighttime, unsafe. Let the men handle the queue tonight."

As soon as Ye Yaodong finished speaking, the men immediately agreed.

"Boss is right. We can pair men and women during the day, but at night, it's unsafe for female colleagues to go out—let the men handle the queue."

"Yes, female colleagues can take over at dawn. It's already dark, and the train station is chaotic."

"Then we'll rely on you men—we'll come to relieve you around six in the morning."

Everyone discussed it among themselves, no objections—out here, they all understood each other.

Lin Lin Xiuqing smiled: "How about this? The men queue for tickets at night, and during the day, the women take turns watching the booth."

Ye Yaodong gave her an approving look. "Good idea—fair and balanced. Men handle night duty, women handle day duty."

No one objected; technically, the women got the better deal—no overnight shifts—but it was fair, no one did less work.

Ye Yaodong looked around, saw no one dissatisfied, then said: "Alright. After dinner, go queue. Buy sleeper tickets if you can—get as many as possible. If no sleepers are left, I'll find a scalper. Forty-hour journey without a sleeper berth is unbearable."

"The ticket windows won't open until tomorrow morning—we'll go early tomorrow to check the situation."

"Mm."

While eating, Ye Yaodong also wrote down the shift schedule on paper.

Men take the night shift, women take the day shift; it was easy to arrange, with everyone rotating in pairs, leaving daytime free to go out and stroll.

After he finished arranging the shifts, they circulated the list for everyone to read; each person knew what time they were on duty and who they were paired with.

Ye Yaodong and Lin Lin Xiuqing, the married couple, were naturally assigned to the venue shift tomorrow; they didn't plan to go out again that night and returned to the hotel after dinner.

Today had been tiring enough, and tomorrow they would still have to get up early to check the train ticket situation at the railway station.

Buying train tickets these days is truly difficult, especially a miserable ordeal.

Sometimes queuing all night, only to find that when it was finally their turn, the sleeper berths or even the seated tickets for the desired date and train number were already sold out, forcing them to change dates or take a standing ticket.

That standing ticket experience is unbearable for ordinary people; at least with a seated ticket, one can sit.

Ye Yaodong had made up his mind to take only sleeper berths; he wasn't short on money, and as for not spending a bit more to find scalpers, it wasn't that he was unwilling to spend.

Rather, it was best to buy through official channels whenever possible; scalpers might sell fake tickets, especially since he needed more than ten.

Lin Lin Xiuqing sighed, "It's really not easy to go out; buying train tickets is a huge problem."

"Our factory has so many retired soldiers; they come from all over the country. Every Spring Festival, they have to bring their own bedding to the railway station to sleep on the ground and queue. What we're facing is nothing compared to that."

"Now that it's the peak season for the Canton Fair, the railway station in Guangzhou, while not as crowded as during the New Year, is certainly much busier than usual."

"Mm."

"There are two Canton Fairs this year; we'll have to make the trip again in the second half of the year."

"It's unavoidable if we want to earn money; coming out here also broadens our horizons, so it's not bad. Guangzhou is famous after all."

"In my life, the farthest north I've gone is Shanghai, and the farthest south is Guangzhou."

"In a few years, I'll take you to Beijing; then the farthest north you'll have gone will be Beijing."

Lin Lin Xiuqing chuckled, "That sounds good; take Mom and Dad along then."

"It's a pity the old lady is too old; otherwise, we could take her too. If I could make it to Beijing once in my lifetime, I'd have no regrets."

PS: Dragging my feet, it's already this late; I'll add another one tomorrow during the day.