“Alright, let’s go back,” Ning Shu said.

“Okay,” Yi Bao nodded, his voice slightly choked up.

Er Bao directly said, “Mom, I miss Grandpa and Grandma.” His personality was sincere, and his expression was direct.

“We’ll write to Grandpa and Grandma when we get to the army, and we can come back to see them in the future,” Ning Shu said, putting down San Bao and letting the three of them hold hands.

Yi Bao asked, “But we don’t know how to write. Can we use our hand and footprints like we did for Dad?”

Ning Shu replied, “When you go to the army, you’ll go to school and learn how to write. Then you can write letters to Grandpa and Grandma, telling them everything you want to say.”

Yi Bao said, “Then I’ll study hard and learn how to write.”

Er Bao, upon hearing about going to school, didn’t react as Ning Shu expected. Instead, he became excited. “I want to go to school too, and be a Instructor like Dad.”

Ning Shu raised an eyebrow and looked at Lin Guodong. “What does he mean? When did he become a Instructor?”

Lin Guodong explained, “I told him that going to school can become a Instructor and teach the young soldiers to be soldiers in the army.”

“Yes, I want to be a soldier like Dad, and I also want to be a police officer and catch bad guys.” Er Bao was an idealistic child.

Ning Shu remarked, “You have a lot of dreams.”

Er Bao replied, “Yes, I have a lot of dreams.”

He instinctively felt that this was something to boast about, but he didn’t even know what dreams meant.

Lin Guodong said, “It’s still early. You woke up early this morning. Take a nap.” He took out two small blankets from the bag and covered them.

It would take two nights on the train from the county to the army, arriving at the train station there by noon on the third day.

Because they were carrying two sacks of rice and couldn’t bring large blankets, they only brought two small blankets to make do.

The train wasn’t drafty, and with so many people and layers of clothing, they wouldn’t feel too cold.

“I’m a bit sleepy now. I’ll take a nap,” Ning Shu said.

She woke up even earlier to make cornbread.

She didn’t feel tired before, but now that she had some free time, she felt a bit sleepy, as if she couldn’t keep her eyelids open.

“Mom, Sa Bao wants to sleep,” San Bao tugged at his mother’s clothes, wanting to sleep too.

Lin Guodong said, “You take San Bao to sleep on the upper bunk, and I’ll sleep with Yi Bao and Er Bao on the lower bunk.”

“Okay, I’ll go up first. Later, you can bring San Bao up,” Ning Shu said, taking off her shoes.

Although the bed was a bit narrow, San Bao was small, so they could sleep while hugging each other.

The sleeper beds on the train were not separated by gender, so they were all single beds.

Ning Shu quickly climbed onto the upper bunk.

When Lin Guodong brought San Bao up, she let San Bao sleep inside and wrapped both of them in the small blanket, hugging San Bao tightly.

To be honest, she hadn’t slept in such a narrow bed for a long time.

She remembered that when she was in junior high and high school, the beds in the dormitories seemed to be this narrow.

Ning Shu and San Bao on the upper bunk slowly fell asleep, while Yi Bao and Er Bao on the lower bunk were wide awake.

The two brothers ran to the window and looked out. It was their first time on a train, so they were very curious about it.

They looked out the window for a while, then looked ahead.

By now, most people had already woken up, and some were also watching the two brothers.

Twins were probably quite surprising. There was even a young man who reached out to them, holding two candies in his palm.

“Here, have some candy,” the man said with a smile.

Yi Bao and Er Bao shook their heads. Yi Bao said, “Thank you, uncle, but we already have candy.”

His mother had told them not to accept things from strangers.

Lin Guodong was originally sitting on the bed resting.

When he heard Yi Bao’s words, he leaned out to look. It was the person in the bed opposite to him.

The man looked very young, probably not even twenty. When his eyes met Lin Guodong’s, he smiled.

His eyes were clear and straightforward.

Lin Guodong nodded in acknowledgment and then withdrew his gaze.

“Dad, this train is really big. Is it very expensive?” Er Bao’s talkative nature came out again.

Hearing his brother’s question, Yi Bao also looked at his father.

Lin Guodong said, “Yes, it’s very expensive.”

The value of the train lay not in its cost but in the progress of the country and its use for humanity.

However, these were things Er Bao wouldn’t understand.

Er Bao’s eyes lit up with curiosity as he asked, “Dad, how much does this cost? Can our family afford it?”

Lin Guodong was taken aback.

Even if he sold himself, he couldn’t afford it. “Do you want to buy this?”

He was genuinely curious about his second son’s peculiar question and wondered how he came up with it.

Er Bao’s mind was active.

If he wasn’t clever, how could he come up with such magical questions? And yet, sometimes his mind couldn’t quite grasp certain concepts.

“Yes, I want to buy this train. It’s so big, if we buy it, we can take Hai Cai, Youfu, Grandma, Grandpa, Xiaoshan, Xiaoshi … and everyone with us,” Er Bao explained his reasoning.

Lin Guodong understood. “Your idea is good, but your dad can’t afford this train.”

Unexpectedly, Er Bao gave his father a disdainful look and said, “Dad, I know you can’t afford it. I meant to ask if Mom can afford it.”

Since all the money was given to Mom, she might be able to buy it.

He wasn’t stupid.

A chuckle came from beside them.

Lin Guodong didn’t need to look to know it was the young man from earlier.

“…Ask her when she wakes up, but for now, we can’t wake her up,” Lin Guodong said, feeling like he wanted to scold his son, but he also didn’t want to wake his wife, so he had to let it go.

Er Bao nodded. “I won’t wake Mom up,” he promised.

He knew not to anger his mother, or they’d have to eat sweet potatoes.

After standing by the window for a while, the two brothers took off their shoes and climbed onto the beds.

Yi Bao took out a comic book from his bag that Ning Shu had put in there to keep them entertained on the journey.

The two brothers put their heads together and started reading the comic book.

They must have slept for a while before Yi Bao put the book aside and snuggled up with Er Bao, falling asleep.

Lin Guodong saw this and covered them with the other small blanket, then sat aside, closing his eyes to rest.

Lin Guodong was a light sleeper.

He would wake up at the slightest sound. So when there was movement on the upper bunk, he opened his eyes and saw Ning Shu turning over.

Perhaps the space was too small, and she wasn’t sleeping comfortably.

He sat up, but looking at the two empty beds opposite him, he had an idea.

Ning Shu and the three children slept until almost lunchtime. Lin Guodong saw that they were still sleeping and woke them up. “Ning Shu, Yi Bao, Er Bao, it’s time to wake up.”

Ning Shu was sound asleep.

Lin Guodong called her several times before she opened her eyes. “What’s wrong?” Her voice was hoarse.

She had gotten up very early today and was still a bit tired.

“It’s almost noon. I’ll go buy lunch later. What do you want?” Lin Guodong asked.

Ning Shu hadn’t realized they had slept so long. “See if there are noodles or something. If there are, I’ll have noodles. If not, buy some vegetables, cornbread, and salted eggs. That’s enough.”

She woke up San Bao and then said to Lin Guodong, “You take San Bao down, and I’ll come down.”

Lin Guodong carried San Bao down to the lower bunk, placing him on the small blanket covering Yi Bao and Er Bao, then asked Yi Bao and Er Bao, “What do you want to eat?”

The two brothers had no preferences when it came to food.

They used to eat whatever their mother made, so now they happily said, “We’ll have the same as Mom.”

They lifted the small blanket. “San Bao, come in quickly.”

San Bao immediately crawled into the middle of his brothers.

“Stay here, don’t wander off. I’ll go see what we have to eat,” Lin Guodong said, taking out a lunchbox from Ning Shu’s backpack.

“Okay.”

The two kids sat on the bed, looking a bit silly because they had just woken up.

Ning Shu climbed down from the top bunk and took out a enamel cup from her backpack.

Her backpack was super big, but the lunchbox, towel, and cornbread didn’t weigh much, so it wasn’t heavy when she carried it.

She also took out a military canteen that Lin Guodong had brought back from home.

The water inside was filled when they left home and was still quite hot.

She poured some hot water into the enamel cup and said to the three kids, ” Yibao, Erbao and Sanbao the hot water is for you to drink later when you’re thirsty.”

“Mama, I want to drink,” Erbao said immediately. Waking up from a nap, his mouth was dry and he was indeed a bit thirsty.

Ning Shu said, “It’s still too hot, wait a bit.”

Erbao replied, “Okay…” Then he suddenly remembered something he had asked his dad before going to bed.

“Mom, dad said this car is very expensive, is that true?”

Ning Shu didn’t know what her son meant.

She nodded, “This is a train, of course it’s expensive. Look at our family’s bicycle, it can only fit a few people, and it’s already so expensive. This train can fit so many people, it must be very, very expensive.”

Erbao hesitated when he heard Mom say it was very, very expensive. “Then Mom, can your money buy this car? If our family buys this car, we can let Grandpa and Grandma, Haicai, and Youfu… all ride together.”

Ning Shu thought for a moment.

She wanted to say, “You think too highly of Mom.” But instead, she said, “Erbao, Mom’s money can’t buy this car, because Mom is old and doesn’t have enough time to earn more money. But you’re still young, if you earn money early, you’ll definitely be able to buy this car in the future. Our family will rely on you.”

Erbao suddenly felt a great sense of responsibility.

He patted his chest and promised in a crisp, tender voice, “Mom, don’t worry, I will definitely earn a lot of money to buy this car for you.” Mom said their family would rely on him, so he had to buy this car to make Mom happy.

After all, he was the most promising one in their family.

Hearing Mom and Erbao’s conversation, Yibao also wanted to make Mom happy. “Mom, I will earn money with Erbao to buy this car early.”

Yibao didn’t know that because of Erbao’s promise, he had already sold himself.

When he grew up, became sensible, and understood the value of a train, he wished he could turn back time and take back what he said.

Ning Shu smiled and said, “Then Mom will be waiting for you.”

“What’s waiting for you?” Lin Guodong came back holding the lunchbox, followed by a train attendant!