[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji":3,"chapter-the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-chapter-60":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Siheyuan: Food, Love, and Family in 1960s Beijing",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2314110,4526,"Chapter 60","the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-chapter-60",60,"\u003Cp>Li Xuewu felt his way in the dark, placed the baby on the bed, unwrapped the bundle, rewrapped it, and laid it deep inside the bed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the train he was crewing had hit and killed someone, Liu Guoyou was in a bad mood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing the men were downcast, Li Xuewu pulled out a Daqianmen cigarette, offered one to him, lit it, then gave one each to Wang Yimin and Han Zhan, and lit one for himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The four sat in the pitch-black caboose, facing each other in silence, smoking and staring at the baby on the bed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing one cigarette, Liu Guoyou casually tossed the butt into the stove, then said: “Did my actions just now confuse you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yimin nodded and said: “Yes, Chief Liu. I’ve been on the job for years, but this is my first time encountering something like this. Could you explain the reasoning?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Guoyou said: “According to regulations, if a train hits someone but they’re not dead, the conductor must actively seek medical aid. In today’s situation, the only option was to bring the injured into the caboose and deliver them to the next station for hospital treatment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But as you saw just now, the person was crushed beyond saving—even a god couldn’t revive them. Bringing them into the caboose wouldn’t change the outcome. If they died here, it would be bad luck and terrifying.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Today it’s just the four of us on duty. What if it were a short-haul escort, and you two were alone with the conductor?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Imagine being alone in the caboose at midnight, facing a stiff corpse. How would you feel?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, even Li Xuewu, a man reborn, dared not imagine further—he shivered involuntarily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>bidige.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Zhan, still young, was frightened by these things. His voice hoarse, he asked: “Chief Liu, what should we have done?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Guoyou spoke slowly: “People are just a matter of breath. Sometimes, when they seem beyond saving, they still can’t let go of that last breath.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s why I turned her over—her breath was stuck somewhere inside her body, unable to escape.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When I turned her, the breath came out—and she was gone. It saved us a lot of trouble, and freed her. Don’t you agree?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu nodded thoughtfully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The train stopped for two minutes at the next station. Chief Liu and Li Xuewu carried the baby to the operations room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Guoyou explained the full story; Li Xuewu handed the baby to the on-duty clerk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After letting go, perhaps stirred by the voices, the child—who had been asleep—began to cry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The clerk, a man in his forties, had likely held children before. He lifted the corner of the bundle, revealing the infant’s face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh! This… this child…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu, fearing something was wrong, leaned forward to look—and finally saw the child’s face clearly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pink and soft, with deep-set eyes and slightly yellowish hair—perhaps that was why the clerk was startled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the accident scene, Liu Guoyou, being kind-hearted, hadn’t shone his flashlight on the baby’s face. Li Xuewu had only glimpsed it by ambient light and hadn’t seen the features clearly. In the caboose, there was no light at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liu Guoyou, eager to leave, glanced over and said: “Our country is vast and rich with 56 ethnic groups. This might be a minority child. What’s so surprising? We’re pressed for time—handle it properly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu looked at the crying baby still gazing at him, slipped a note with a phone number and address into the bundle, added twenty yuan, and told the clerk: “If the parents can’t be found, or if they’re unable to care for the child, call this number and notify me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the moment he first saw the child, Li Xuewu’s heart had stirred—he remembered how, in his past life, his own daughter, full-term, had calmed only when he held her, smiling sweetly at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t bear to look at the baby any longer. He left the office, accompanied by the clerk’s soothing voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two hurried back to the train and pressed on into the night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night, Liu Guoyou never mentioned his past experiences again. Li Xuewu remained silent. The four either kept watch or slept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because it was an extra-long train, both passenger and freight cars were stopped to let freight-only trains pass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After running through over a dozen stations and six and a half hours, the freight train finally stopped at a station whose name Li Xuewu couldn’t read.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By then, daylight had fully broken. Chief Liu told Li Xuewu the freight train would change locomotives here, and asked him to accompany him to hand over the engine. He also took their three lunch boxes and gave them to the fireman to get food.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When changing locomotives, Li Xuewu had to supervise the chief in re-filling the waybill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The chief re-filled the waybill so the new locomotive’s engineer would know the train’s length and total weight, enabling him to operate it appropriately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu watched Liu Guoyou hand the waybill to the engineer, asked the engineer’s name, wrote it in the escort log, then returned to the rear and climbed onto the caboose.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Zhan, eating inside the caboose, handed Li Xuewu two warm lunch boxes. “The fireman brought these—bought from the station’s small canteen. We can’t get off this trip, can’t leave the car, so only the firemen can bring food.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Zhan hadn’t left the train last night, so he could eat now—if…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the lunch boxes—this was the perk of hauling freight trains—Li Xuewu had no reason to refuse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d barely eaten since noon yesterday, rushing straight to Wen San’er’s house to save time, and hadn’t eaten since. His stomach was now growling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No choice—it’s our duty. Let’s see how this station canteen’s food stacks up against Sha Zhu’s cooking!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu took the lunch boxes, joked with Han Zhan, then sat at his post and opened both large boxes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One contained half rice, half braised pork with potatoes; the other, half rice, half chicken stewed with mushrooms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hey! Once you pass Shanhai Pass, the dishes even taste Northeastern! These two dishes are hearty!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Han Zhan had already finished eating. He poured water from a repurposed military oil drum to rinse his box, and grinned at Li Xuewu’s remark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Chief Li, escort more freight trains in the future—you’ll taste all kinds of delicacies across the land. Enjoy your meal. I’ll go relieve Uncle Wang.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good, go ahead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The perks of hauling freight trains really were exceptional!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Xuewu, starving, scooped up a spoonful of braised pork and shoved it into his mouth—it was fragrant, not greasy at all, with a faint creamy note.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The events of last night didn’t affect him at all—he’d seen too much to be shaken anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Yimin entered, greeted Li Xuewu, picked up his own lunch box, and began eating.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Clearly, Wang Yimin was affected—he barely touched the braised pork, eating only a few bites of rice.\u003C\u002Fp>",1167,"2026-06-20T13:46:54.288Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","e2e92e5158e31fb4424cbabe1fd174a7995f1a84740c35fe739aaa2d198265ae","the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-chapter-61","the-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-chapter-59",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-siheyuan-food-love-and-family-in-1960s-beiji-cover.jpg"]