Chapter 20: Starting Work

Early in the morning, Shuxin bid farewell to her boyfriend and family, heading to the city. Today was the day she officially started her job.

Life is unpredictable; you never know what will happen next. She never thought that half a month after her last visit to the city, by the time she returned for work, she would have found a boyfriend in the countryside and started a romance.

Thinking about her little husband, Shuxin’s heart swelled with happiness. He was delicate and easily swayed, with a sweet voice and affectionate nature. When she was single, she hadn’t realized how it felt to have someone see her off when leaving home; it gave her strength in her legs.

Members of the Liu family: So you didn’t have any energy when you went out before? Then why did you run so fast?

When they arrived at the bus station, Huang Yao was already there. Once they met up, they entered together.

Inside the station, everything was bright and new, with the concrete floor shining from being cleaned.

Shuxin and Huang Yao found their respective departments and followed their supervisors. Since this station was newly opened, everything began from scratch. Their group of workers needed to get familiar with their tasks quickly because the station was to be operational in two days, and they had to conduct final checks on time.

There were staff dormitories at the station, and since there were not many people currently, each person could have a single room. They went with the staff to collect their work uniforms and dormitory keys.

After lunch, they needed to prepare for the arrival of the first train into the station. However, this didn’t relate much to Shuxin since she only needed to tidy up her dormitory today. Tomorrow, there would be training, and the day after they would be accompanying the train.

Huang Yao had a different situation; she would be stationed at the train station for a long time and was extremely busy. Shuxin went over to ask her for the dormitory key, planning to tidy up together. Checking the number, they found that they were in adjoining rooms, which meant Uncle Huang must have pulled some strings for them.

When Shuxin opened the dormitory door, she found it completely bare and realized she would have to furnish it herself.

First, she went to the scrap station and picked out two reasonably good beds and a few usable cabinets. Then she bought some old newspapers to cover the windows and walls. She borrowed a cart from the staff to transport everything back to her dormitory and arranged the items.

After returning the cart, she went on a shopping spree at the supply and marketing cooperative, buying two basins, two water jugs, and a bunch of miscellaneous items.

By the time Shuxin finished tidying both rooms, it was already evening. When Huang Yao came back from work, she saw that Shuxin had made the room neatly organized. The quilt was properly laid out on the bed, the cabinet was beside it, a desk was set up in the room, and the windows were covered with newspapers. Overjoyed, Huang Yao leaped onto Shuxin, hugging her.

“Thank you, Shuxin! You worked hard. How much did this cost? I’ll reimburse you. Let’s go, I’ll treat you to dinner at the state-run restaurant!”

“You better! It’s worth my effort. Let’s go; I want braised pork.”

Shuxin had officially been on the train for two days, and she was already familiar with her work. Overall, it was relatively simple. She was responsible for the safety and hygiene of her assigned carriage, checking for fare evaders, and a series of other chores.

With her clever and eager-to-learn mindset, along with her service-oriented attitude, she managed to secure a position in the sleeper compartment. The current trains did not yet operate on a three-shift system like they would in the future; everyone only needed to work six hours a day and then could rest.

In the sleeper compartment, with not many passengers, there were only two train attendants responsible. During the day, they worked together, while at night, they took turns working the night shifts.

Since their work hours were long and they often worked night shifts, their salaries were quite substantial. The salary during the internship period was twenty-eight yuan, while the full-time salary was forty-two yuan, plus ticket commissions and night shift allowances.

Being among the first batch of staff at the Xinyang Station, they had a lot of tasks and responsibilities, so they skipped the internship period altogether and started as full-time employees right away.

One of her colleagues, a woman around thirty, was named Zhou Lamei. Both her husband and father-in-law worked at the grain bureau, and she was cheerful and straightforward. She often took care of Shuxin, a young girl.

Today was Shuxin’s second night on duty. Since Lamei had taken care of her the previous night, she worked the night shift first to give Shuxin time to adapt. However, Lamei often went into the mountains for work, so the shift wasn’t difficult for her. With her skills—having cultivated a spiritual technique called “Soul Decision”—a short rest felt as restorative as sleep, if not more so.

Fewer people traveled by sleeper compartment nowadays, which made Shuxin’s job more complicated. She needed to check each bunk for any issues and then examine the new passengers boarding. If everything was fine, she could return to the rest area.

This train departed from the Xinyang Station and passed through over thirty stops, and they had only covered a little more than a third of the journey—it would take three and a half more days to reach the final destination. After a day of rest at the end station, they would return to Xinyang, totaling a twelve-day trip.

Moreover, this was the only train available from Xinyang Station, one that the county leaders had fought hard for. Other trains simply entered the station without much responsibility.

This meant Shuxin would be responsible for this specific train and this route in the future. She understood that Xinyang Station was quite small compared to provincial and municipal stations. Having a train was already a good fortune, as many small stations didn’t have any trains at all.

On the train, one encountered all sorts of people—both good and bad. Sure enough, during the second half of the night, Shuxin encountered trouble.

After just passing a small station where people boarded and disembarked, Shuxin made her way through the carriage to check for any new passengers and verify their information. At the rear of the train, a middle-aged woman saw Shuxin checking tickets and immediately turned to leave without a second thought. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell there was something suspicious, and Shuxin wouldn’t let her get away.

Seeing Shuxin approach, the woman hurriedly tried to flee. But who did she think she was? Shuxin was not one to let anyone escape that easily. When the woman realized she couldn’t get away, she started throwing a tantrum, thinking that as a young girl, Shuxin might be easy to intimidate, hoping to bluff her way through.

“Shut up! What are you shouting about? Show me your ticket!” Shuxin sternly demanded.

The passengers who had been woken up looked on, thinking, “Oh, they might underestimate this little girl against that old woman,” but seeing Shuxin being so fierce, they realized she wasn’t someone to mess with. After all, she was a government-employed train attendant; one wouldn’t be stationed here without a bit of backbone.

The old woman, seeing no way out, began to cry. She had no ticket and just wanted to sneak a free ride, thinking that with so many people around, the attendants might overlook her. She had managed to bamboozle her way through at the last station but never expected to be caught here.

Shuxin recognized immediately that she hadn’t bought a ticket. Nowadays, fare evasion was becoming common, with many people trying to sneak on trains. If she hadn’t noticed, it would be one thing, but now that she had seen her, letting her go was out of the question.

“No ticket, huh? Planning to hitch a free ride? Do you think this train is your family’s bench, where you can just sit whenever? Stop talking nonsense; either come with me to buy a ticket, or get off at the next stop, or you can spend a few nights in the police station’s detention room. Choose!”

After some hesitation, the old woman obediently followed Shuxin to buy a ticket. The onlookers, disappointed that the excitement was over, began to disperse.

Smart people knew to choose what was in their best interest, and the old woman wasn’t a fool. Facing off against this young attendant who was both feisty and not to be trifled with—especially since she was working for the government—she knew she couldn’t afford to provoke her and thus relented, following along to pay for her fare.

The old woman felt genuinely distressed; train tickets were not cheap. A single ticket could cover two or three months’ worth of food for her family. She had no choice but to grit her teeth and buy the cheapest standing ticket available.