“Are you here? What did you buy?” Ning Shu asked.

“Dad, is there any meat?” Er Bao still loved meat the most.

San Bao: “I want to eat meat.” He was a follower.

Yi Bao looked at his dad but didn’t say anything.

Lin Guodong: “There’s no noodles, no meat. I bought two vegetarian dishes, stir-fried cabbage and braised tofu.” With that, he placed the lunch box on the small table and said to the attendant behind him, “Comrade, hello. It’s this bunk bed across from here. Is it taken?”

The attendant replied, “These two sets of bunk beds are arranged for the people from your county.

If there’s no one who boarded the train with you, it means there’s no one here. Do you want to buy a ticket?”

“Yes.” Lin Guodong originally thought that if they bought the upper and lower bunks, they could squeeze in a bit.

However, after Er Bao and Yibao went to sleep on the lower bunk, he couldn’t squeeze in.

It was too small. Moreover, he felt uncomfortable with Ning Shu and San Bao sleeping on the upper bunk.

He planned to buy the bed on the opposite side as well, so San Bao could sleep with him, and Ning Shu could sleep comfortably on the upper bunk by herself.

“Add another lower bunk bed, wife trouble you to pay for it.” He had no money.

Ning Shu didn’t say much at the time and directly handed over the money.

After Ning Shu paid, Lin Guodong opened the lunch box and said, “Tonight, let San Bao sleep with me on the lower bunk, and you sleep on the upper bunk alone.

Cover yourself with the quilt, and San Bao can use my clothes as a cover.”

Ning Shu didn’t mind, “Okay.”

San Bao wore more clothes, and with his dad covering him, he wouldn’t be cold.

However, although San Bao was young, he understood some things.

His dad and mom thought he didn’t understand, so they arranged his bed without any concerns.

He protested angrily, “No, mom, sleep.”

He didn’t want to sleep with his dad; he wanted to sleep with his mom.

Lin Guodong glanced at him. “Fine, then you sleep with your mom.”

San Bao thought he had won and showed a sweet smile.

Ning Shu raised her eyebrows, somewhat surprised by how readily he agreed.

Seeing her gaze, Lin Guodong also raised his eyebrows and said, “Wait until he’s asleep, then bring him over.”

Yi Bao and Er Bao covered their mouths and chuckled.

They looked at San Bao, who was still smiling.

San Bao, unaware of what was happening, continued to smile brightly when he saw everyone looking at him.

Ning Shu shook her head.

She took out two cold packs of corn steamed buns from her shoulder bag, then took out three salted duck eggs, giving one to Lin Guodong, keeping one for herself, and giving one to Yi Bao. “You two can share one.”

Although the corn buns were cold, they weren’t hard or cold.

Compared to breakfast, they were definitely not as soft, but they were still very chewy.

Paired with cabbage, braised tofu, and salted duck eggs, the taste was still great.

Ning Shu tore open half and gave it to San Bao, who held it himself, chewing it mouthful by mouthful.

Occasionally, he opened his mouth, eating the cabbage and tofu that his mom fed him, enjoying it very much.

However, seeing his dad, mom, and siblings all eating eggs while he didn’t have any, he protested, “Mom, eggs.”

He opened his mouth, indicating that his mom should feed him.

Salted duck eggs were hard to digest, so Ning Shu didn’t give him any.

But since he wanted to eat, Ning Shu picked out a tiny piece of the salted egg yolk, about the size of a fingernail, to satisfy San Bao.

San Bao smiled at his mom after eating the egg.

After lunch, Lin Guodong took the lunch box to wash, while Yi Bao and Er Bao stood by the window with San Bao, digesting as usual.

When the three children stood there, their little heads kept turning, sometimes looking out the window, sometimes looking at others.

Compared to them, who had eaten early, others had just started eating.

Compared to other train carriages, the sleeper carriage is more private. In other carriages, because there are no partitions, every movement can be easily seen by others.

However, in the sleeper carriage, since the beds are arranged in pairs facing each other, usually only the three people in the same section can see each other.

Since there was no one in the bunk opposite Ning Shu and her family, this position was like their private space.

It was fortunate that they were from a small county, so no one bought the sleeper beds.

Otherwise, it would have been uncomfortable to sleep across from strangers.

The afternoon was very boring.

Apart from going to the toilet, the family of five just stayed in their beds reading.

Yes, even Ning Shu was bored enough to start reading the comics of the three kids.

In the evening, after dinner, Lin Guodong first took the three kids to brush their teeth, then Ning Shu went alone.

They couldn’t shower in the carriage, and they didn’t bring any spare clothes.

Wearing the same underwear for three days was uncomfortable, so Ning Shu used toilet paper as a pad and then as a wet wipe, soaked in hot water to clean herself in the toilet.

This way, she could at least feel a bit cleaner and more comfortable.

And so, the two nights passed quickly, and soon it was noon on the third day.

There were no miscellaneous accidents on the train.

Perhaps it was really peaceful, or maybe Lin Guodong’s military uniform was intimidating enough, but they arrived at their destination safely and without incident.

When it was time to get off the train, they packed up their things.

Lin Guodong carried two bags of rice, Ning Shu carried San Bao, walking at the front, while Yi Bao and Er Bao queued up behind her.

Lin Guodong was at the back as usual.

When the train stopped and they could get off, they didn’t rush with the others.

Since they were at the back, they just slowly followed behind and got off.

After the family of five got off the train, they heard someone calling out, “Captain Lin…” Then a male comrade in military training uniform came up to them.

“Li Zao,” Lin Guodong also saw him.

Li Zao saw Lin Guodong carrying two large bags and hurriedly offered to help, “Captain, let me carry them.”

“No need, help me carry this.” Lin Guodong handed the sack containing the small blanket to Li Zao and introduced Ning Shu and Li Zao to each other, “This is Li Zao, my communicator. This is Ning Shu, my wife.”

“Hello, sister-in-law.” Li Zao smiled warmly.

In his heart, he was somewhat surprised. He had been with Lin Guodong since he was a captain or deputy captain, serving as his communicator for three or four years.

Although he knew that the captain was married because he often took various tickets to go home, he rarely heard the captain mention his wife and children.

If it wasn’t for last year when his sister-in-law sent something over, many newcomers wouldn’t even know that the captain was already married.

Originally, he thought that maybe his sister-in-law was quite ordinary-looking, so the captain didn’t mention her.

But he didn’t expect his sister-in-law to be so beautiful.

She was as fair as flour, and he had never seen such a fair female comrade even in the family compound.

“Hello.” Ning Shu smiled at him, “Yi Bao, Er Bao, San Bao, this is Uncle Li.”

Yi Bao and Er Bao: “Hello, Uncle Li.”

San Bao, with unclear pronunciation: “Hello, Uncle.” He managed to say “Uncle” clearly, after all, it was common to call people “Uncle” in the countryside.

“Ah… Hello, hello.” Li Zao said, glancing at Yi Bao, Er Bao, and San Bao again, “You all look alike. I’ve never seen twins in our family compound.”

Er Bao said, “There are no twins in our village, only me and my brother.”

He spoke vigorously, not at all shy.

Li Zao: “There are no twins in my hometown either. It seems that twins are rare.”

Er Bao continued, “Yes, my mother said there are twins who don’t look alike. Twins should look the same, right?”

Li Zao was somewhat surprised, “Oh? Are there twins who don’t look alike? Twins should look the same, shouldn’t they?”

“Yes, my mother said that because when the two were in her belly, they lived in different rooms, so after they were born, they looked different. Uncle Li, do you know why my brother and I look the same?”

Li Zao: “Because you are twins.”

“No.” Er Bao felt a bit frustrated, “It’s because my brother and I lived in the same room in our mother’s belly.”

Ning Shu: “…”

Although she knew that Er Bao could talk, after all, the police were fooled into coming to their house by Er Bao when they first entered the village.

But she didn’t know that Er Bao could chat with Lin Guodong’s communicator like brothers.

She was wrong.

She thought that she needed time to adapt to the family compound, and the two boys, being children, might need more time.

Now it seemed that the one who needed time was probably only her; Er Bao had adapted even faster than her.

Ning Shu looked at Lin Guodong, as if asking, “Your communicator is also so capable, able to chat with Er Bao like that.”

Lin Guodong responded with a look that said, “I didn’t know either.”

Probably meaning to say, “Your son is amazing.”

“Is that so?” Li Zao laughed heartily.

While Er Bao and Li Zao were talking, the group exited the train station.

Following Li Zao’s lead, they arrived at a military vehicle.

The truck driven by Li Zao was a dark green truck, similar to a van in later years. The front driver’s seat was not separated, so if they squeezed, three people could also sit.

The rear compartment had two rows of seats on the left and right, with an empty space in the middle. Similar to the small minibuses in rural areas in the 1990s.

Li Zao opened the door, first placed the half-sack of things on the back compartment, then together with Lin Guodong, lifted the two sacks of rice. “It’s so heavy, Captain, what did you bring?”

Lin Guodong said, “It’s the rice allocated to us from home.”

Ning Shu smiled and said, “The rice we grow in the countryside. Thank you, Xiao Li, for coming to pick us up today. When we’re done unpacking, please come and have a meal with us. It will be very filling.”

“No need, no need, it’s what I should do.” Li Zao quickly replied. He was the captain’s communicator, and the captain had taught him a lot of things. He had always been grateful to the captain, so coming to pick them up today was just a small matter.

Since the captain had informed him early, he had applied for the vehicle from the military in advance. Otherwise, there were not many public vehicles, and it would be difficult to arrange one suddenly.

“Don’t be polite. Your sister-in-law is a great cook. We’ll arrange it and you can come.” Lin Guodong said.

Although it sounded calm, Li Zao had worked with Lin Guodong for a long time and vaguely heard a hint of pride in his tone. Had he misheard? But since the captain said so, he naturally wouldn’t refuse, “Okay, thank you, sister-in-law, thank you, captain.”

After the rice was loaded onto the truck, Ning Shu first lifted San Bao onto the truck, then climbed up herself.

After she climbed up, Lin Guodong lifted Yi Bao and Er Bao onto the truck, and then he climbed up as well, closing the door of the compartment.

After Lin Guodong sat down, he said to the two boys, “Sit properly. The road outside the city is bumpy, so it will be shaky.”