At these words, Tang Shi felt a sudden jolt in his heart.
This isn't good.
Could Ni Yang really be interested in him? Otherwise, why would she invite him for dinner on her own?
This woman belongs to his third brother; he doesn't dare to mess with her!
"No need, no need!" Tang Shi immediately refused, clutching his butt, limping and running away.
Ni Yang silently watched Tang Shi. Was she really so scary in appearance?
He ran even faster than a rabbit...
Tang Shi quickly ran to Mo Baichuan, "Third brother, I've returned the ticket to the female comrade."
"Hmm." Mo Baichuan nodded, "Go buy two tickets back to Beijing."
Back to Beijing?
Upon hearing this, Tang Shi looked at Mo Baichuan in surprise and asked, "Third Brother, aren't we going to Dam Village?" We just got off the train from Beijing, and now we're going back to Beijing. What on earth does he want to do?
Is he just running around for fun?!
"We're not going." Mo Baichuan answered indifferently, "We're going straight back to the base." Everyone has eagerly gone to Beijing. Going to Dam Village then has no meaning.
"Weren't you out looking for a person? Now we're returning to the base without finding her?" Tang Shi asked with confusion.
"What… Do you have a problem with my decision?" Mo Baichuan gave Tang Shi a plain look.
Even this plain look was enough to send chills down Tang Shi's spine. "No no, let's return to the base—we're going back to the base right away."
Even if he had a hundred guts, he would not dare to question Third Brother's decision...
By now, Tang Shi had a more audacious suspicion in his mind. Could Third Brother be going back to Beijing for the attractive female comrade?
Perhaps, this pretty comrade was the person that Third Brother was looking for!
**
Ni Yang went to a small restaurant nearby, packed up some food, and brought it to the inn.
In the inn, her younger sister had already fallen asleep. Ni Cuihua came out from the bathroom and said to a worried-looking Ni Yang, "Yangyang, I want to take a bath, but there's no tub. What should I do?"
Ni Yang placed the food on the table and spoke softly, "Mom, wait, let me see."
At that time, the showers were foot-operated.
To Ni Yang, this kind of shower was not unfamiliar at all. But to Ni Cuihua, a rural woman who had just arrived in Beijing, it was very strange. For a while, she found it hard to accept.
"Mom, it works like this. This is called a shower. When you step on this pedal, water will spray out. You can stand under it to wash."
Ni Cuihua frowned. "No good, no good! That's such a waste of water!" She was inherently thrifty.
Ni Yang smiled, "It's sanitary and convenient to wash like this. It's popular in the city. Go take a shower quickly, we'll eat after you're done. We have to get up early tomorrow to take the train."
"Alright." Ni Cuihua nodded and then asked, "Yangyang, do they charge for the soap? How much does it cost?"
Ni Yang shook her head, "They don't charge for it, Mom. Use it as you like."
"Really?" Ni Cuihua said joyfully, "Then I'll wash my hair too."
Ni Yang nodded, "Sure."
Ni Cuihua was quick. In less than an hour, she came out of the bathroom, smiling, "Yangyang, I have to admit, although that thing wastes some water, it's very convenient to use. I never dreamed that one day I'd be able to use things that city people do."
Ni Yang set up the food, glanced at the hairdryer on the bedside table, "Mom, come here, let me blow-dry your hair."
Hairdryers have been around even before the liberation, they just hadn't spread to the countryside yet.
"Blow dry?" Ni Cuihua asked in confusion, "How do you blow dry?"
Ni Yang replied with a mysterious tone, "You'll know when you come over."
Ni Cuihua had no choice but to approach, Ni Yang then turned on the hairdryer, which immediately emitted a humming sound. At the same time, a gust of hot air puffed towards Ni Cuihua's face, which startled her, making her stand up, "My goodness! What's going on?"
Ni Yang laughed and explained, "Mom, this is a hairdryer. See, it can blow hot air. It's specially designed for drying hair." While explaining, Ni Yang started to blow dry Ni Cuihua's hair.
With a face of awe, Ni Cuihua expressed, "How come the minds of people in the city are so brilliant? By the way, Yangyang, how did you know about all these?" She had never seen such things before, and assumed Ni Yang hadn't either, yet how did Ni Yang know how to use a shower and a hairdryer?
Ni Yang bluffed, "I learned all these from books." She could certainly not tell her mother that she had been reborn, could she?
As Ni Cuihua was illiterate, she naturally had no idea what was taught in textbooks. She nodded and sighed, "Indeed, there's a world of difference between us - the illiterate, and those who can read." She then said, "Yangyang, you just graduated from junior high school. When we get to Beijing, let's try to continue your education."
Ni Yang looked down and murmured, "We'll see." She had always been good at studying since she was young; whether to continue studying or not didn't matter much to her, but attending university was a must.
She certainly didn't want to end up illiterate in the future. In her past life, academic qualifications were extremely important.
After escaping from an old bachelor in her previous life, she managed to get admitted to a top-notch university through self-study. This time around, her goal is to get into Peking University.
Ni Cuihua sighed. In her opinion, they were fleeing to Beijing for refuge. They would be grateful just to survive. Getting an education was only a dream, and she blamed herself for failing to provide better for her child.
After dinner, Ni Cuihua went to bathe the kids. Meanwhile, Ni Yang was organizing their luggage.
They didn't carry many belongings — just one bag including food for the road. At this time, there were no plastic bags yet, so they stored everything in a woven bag.
Ni Yang extracted an envelope from the bag, which Zhou Changzheng had handed her. Aside from the household register and recommendation letter, there was also a thick stack of banknotes. She counted the notes; there were 1080 yuan in total.
Zhou Changzheng was indeed generous. In this era, a thousand yuan was equivalent to a hundred thousand yuan in the future.
However, buying two lives with a thousand yuan was a pretty good deal after all.
Ni Yang took out three ten-yuan notes and stored the rest safely on her body. The train was crowded with people and wasn't entirely safe. If she wasn't careful, pickpockets could easily steal their money.
After putting the money away, Ni Yang opened the household register. Her name had been changed from Mu Yang to Ni Yang, and her sister's name had been changed from Mu Laidi to Ni Yun.
From this point forward, she would be known as Ni Yang—the genuine Ni Yang!
Ni Yang looked at the brand new household register and felt full of confidence about her future life!
The next morning, the mother and daughter duo woke up at five o'clock. They were catching a train that departed at half past six.
After eating some noodles downstairs, they carried the kid and set off for the train station. Not many people were buying tickets yesterday, but today the train was packed. The crowd was tremendously dense.
"Mom, be careful," Ni Yang said, forging a way through the crowd for Ni Cuihua.
There were all sorts of people on the train, including women and children and farmers with livestock. Even the sounds of chickens and ducks could be heard, and the smell was quite unpleasant.
Ni Yang held their luggage in one hand and tightly held on to Ni Cuihua with the other. They made their way through the crowd before finally finding their sleeper compartment.
The sleeper compartment was much quieter. The train's bunk beds were arranged in an upper and lower formation. Ni Yang had purchased two lower bunk tickets. The beds were situated face-to-face, which was very convenient. When they arrived, the passengers for the top bunks hadn't arrived yet. The train was set to depart at half-past six, and it was only a little past six now.
Ni Yun behaved very well and didn't make a peep throughout the journey.
"Mom, I'll go get some water." Ni Yang picked up the cup and stood up.
"Hmm." Ni Cuihua nodded.
By the time Ni Yang returned with the hot water, the passenger for the upper bunk had arrived.
It was a woman in her forties. She had permed hair, drew thin curved eyebrows, and wore lipstick. She dressed in a white blouse, the trendiest bell-bottom pants, and a pair of shiny small leather shoes. She appeared lively and spirited, unmistakably a city-dweller.
Her attire was undoubtedly the model of fashion for this era.
Ni Cuihua glanced at the woman then looked down at her own clothes, suddenly feeling a sense of inferiority.
The woman appeared quite friendly. Upon seeing Ni Yang walking in, she asked, "Are you two heading to Beijing as well?"