Chen Lan cautiously glanced around. The people waiting for the bus were dozing on the long benches, their necks shrunk against the chill, none noticing them. She quickly took out a cloth bag of mixed-grain *wowotou* and a bag of cooked potatoes from her large backpack, and handed them to the ticket seller.
The ticket seller quickly took the two bags, eagerly opened the cloth bag, and examined it. She saw that it contained *wowotou*, made of cornmeal. The bag likely held over twenty *wowotou*, each the size of an adult's fist. She then opened the other cloth bag, revealing a bag of cooked potatoes, also the size of an adult's fist.
The ticket seller happily accepted the two bags of food. She pushed the pile of small change that Chen Lan had given her for the tickets back to Chen Lan. Then, she leaned out, looked around, and asked softly, "Sister, do you have any more food? Could big sister trade for a little more?"
Chen Lan feigned difficulty and replied softly, "My elder brother has some more, but that's specifically for my husband! I heard there's a severe drought and people are starving everywhere."
The ticket seller sighed, "Isn't that the truth? The food stores can't keep up with supply, and no one is eating enough. Sister, please, help me out!" She looked at Chen Lan with hopeful eyes.
Seeing the ticket seller's sallow face, Chen Lan sighed. She walked around to where Xiang Xi was, then turned back and approached the ticket window. After looking around again, she quickly handed the ticket seller a cloth bag containing fifty catties of cornmeal.
The ticket seller quickly took the bag, opened it eagerly, and upon seeing the contents, thanked her profusely, "Thank you, sister, you've been a great help. Here's your money and tickets."
With nimble movements, she handed Chen Lan two train tickets and a wad of cash. She said warmly, "Here, sister, hold onto your two sleeper tickets carefully. And here's the change from buying the tickets, and some money for food too, take it all!"
Chen Lan took the money and tickets and turned to leave. The ticket seller kindly reminded her, "Sister, the toilets on the train are terribly smelly. There are toilets over there. You and your elder brother should go now, the boarding call will be soon."
Chen Lan thanked the ticket seller, quickly put the money and tickets into her system warehouse, and handed her large backpack to Xiang Xi, who was looking around from his seat on the bench. They took turns using the toilet. Before long, someone was calling for boarding.
Not many people were on the train that night, and even fewer had sleeper berths. After the tickets were checked, Chen Lan settled into her berth. Soon, the train started moving. Chen Lan finally had a chance to examine a sleeper ticket from this era. It was a piece of stiff paper with several lines of text printed on it. At the top were the words "Sleeper Ticket" in large characters. In the middle were the words "Changchun Station" in slightly smaller characters, followed by "to Suifenhe Station." At the bottom was the fare: "19.2 Yuan."
Chen Lan also found two bedding tickets. These were small slips of paper stating "Bedding Ticket" and "Bedding Fee 0.5 Yuan." At the bottom, a line read: "Bedding set available with ticket," along with a handwritten year, month, and day. Chen Lan thought that although train tickets from this era were indeed simple, they would be very valuable if preserved well in the future. "Heh heh! It'll be hard not to get rich then."
Chen Lan studied the era's train tickets for a long time, lost in her dreams of wealth. Then she realized something was amiss. Why was Xiang Xi, the chatterbox, so quiet after all this time? She looked up and saw that Xiang Xi had fallen asleep, even letting out soft snores. Chen Lan sighed. She had been running around all day, and though she hadn't done much, she felt exhausted.
She stopped examining the tickets and packed her things, storing essentials in her system warehouse. Chen Lan didn't use the train's blankets. She took out the blanket she had used in the car from her system warehouse. She didn't bother with washing up; there were no facilities for that on the train anyway, and she wasn't going to be fussy. She lay down and fell asleep.
To the rhythmic clatter of the train, Chen Lan, lying on the sleeper, swayed and soon fell asleep.
In the morning, Chen Lan was awakened by loud voices. She opened her eyes to find that it was already daylight. She glanced at the opposite berth; Xiang Xi was awake and sitting cross-legged on his bunk, reading. Only Xiang Xi and Chen Lan were in this compartment. The voices were definitely coming from the next compartment.
Seeing that Chen Lan was awake, Xiang Xi opened his mouth and retorted, "Little Lan, you can really sleep! You can sleep more than a pig. Look at the time! The sun is already high in the sky!"
Having not brushed her teeth in the morning, Chen Lan didn't want to speak. She ignored him and handed him a tin water flask and two mixed-grain *wowotou*.
Xiang Xi reluctantly took the water flask and *wowotou*. He took a few sips of water from the flask to rinse his mouth but refused to eat the *wowotou*. Chen Lan paid him no mind. She also took a few sips of water to rinse her mouth and then picked up a *wowotou* and started eating. Seeing Chen Lan eating a *wowotou*, Xiang Xi, his stomach growling, reluctantly took a bite. His eyes immediately lit up, and he began to eat with large mouthfuls. The two *wowotou* were quickly devoured, and he still looked as if he hadn't had enough. Chen Lan, seeing that he was still hungry, handed him another one.
Not long after they finished eating, the sun shone into the carriage. The carriage had been stuffy all night, filled with all sorts of smells, from foul feet to smoke. The carriage was also hazy with smoke. Chen Lan quickly asked Xiang Xi to help her prop open the carriage window to let in some fresh air and blow away the bad smell, fearing that if she used too much force, she might break the glass.
The smell inside the carriage was too strong, making Chen Lan lose the desire to talk. Like Xiang Xi, she took out a book to read. When she got tired of reading, she lay down and slept. She didn't even have an appetite for lunch and gave Xiang Xi three more *wowotou* to get him through the midday meal.
Midway, at Mudanjiang Station, it was noon. Chen Lan poked her head out the window and saw that many people had disembarked, and many more had boarded. Among the people boarding were quite a few Russians.
Mudanjiang was not very close to Suifenhe, about 150 to 160 kilometers away. Chen Lan and Xiang Xi traveled for about four more hours before finally reaching Suifenhe Station, the terminal for this train.