Chapter 12: A Ticket Price to Make One Spit Blood

Chapter 12: A Ticket Price to Make One Spit Blood

"Comrade, I need tickets for the next train to Sea City, one adult and two children."

The ticket seller glanced down from the high window, "Letter of introduction."

Su Zhaozhao handed over the letter she had prepared in advance.

After reading the letter, the ticket seller clacked away on the abacus, "To Sea City, an adult ticket is seven yuan and thirty cents, two children at half price, that's fourteen yuan and sixty cents in total."

Hearing the price, Su Zhaozhao nearly spat blood!

When she arrived, all her possessions were worth only eighteen yuan and fifty-six cents in new currency. She sold the chickens at home for two yuan, spent one yuan and thirty-eight cents on candy in town, and five cents on the ride here. Now she had only eighteen yuan and eighty-six cents left. After buying the tickets, she would have only four yuan and eight cents remaining. By the time they reached their destination, she might not have a single cent left.

No wonder people these days don't like traveling far; who can afford such a journey?

Seeing her pale face, the ticket seller asked, "Do you still want the tickets?"

Su Zhaozhao felt exhausted, "Yes."

She quickly counted out the money and handed it over.

The ticket seller took the money, "Why are you still using old currency?"

Su Zhaozhao raised an eyebrow, "Can't use it anymore?"

"Not exactly, it's fine here, but I heard that big cities have already stopped using it. If you have old currency, you need to exchange it at the bank. Since you're going to a big city, if you have more old currency, you should go exchange it soon to avoid inconvenience."

Oh no! That would make collecting old currency quite troublesome?

Looking at the four yuan and eight cents in her hand, Su Zhaozhao forced a smile, "Comrade, I'm about to leave and don't have time to go to the bank. Could you help me exchange this?"

She then handed over the four ten-thousand-yuan notes.

The ticket seller was initially reluctant but agreed when she saw the small amount of money, giving her four yuan in change, "I'll give you some smaller denominations, it will be more convenient for you."

A yuan was a large denomination in those times, and most transactions involved jiao and fen.

Su Zhaozhao was extremely grateful, took the tickets and money, and checked the departure time—5:30 PM. There were still several hours to go.

"Mom, the tickets are so expensive!" The siblings were also shocked, even more than their school tuition.

Su Zhaozhao led them to sit on a wooden bench in the waiting area, "There's no choice, our destination is too far."

The siblings' faces were as worried as buns, too expensive, they had no money left. What if they couldn't find Dad?

Unaware of the children's concerns, Su Zhaozhao took out the pancakes she had made the night before and gave each child one, "Eat quickly, you must be hungry after the long trip."

Not only were they hungry, but they were also thirsty. Su Zhaozhao took out a bowl to get some water.

Why a bowl? Because they were so poor they didn't even have cups or enamel mugs, and without a bowl, they wouldn't have anything to drink from during the journey.

There weren't many people in the waiting area, but there was a staff member sitting behind a desk. Su Zhaozhao asked the children to watch the luggage and went to get a bowl of hot water.

After eating the dry food and drinking water, Su Zhaozhao took out three fruit-flavored candies, "Have some."

"Mom, keep them for yourself." The siblings knew she was weak and needed sugar to supplement her health, so they didn't feel bad about spending money on candy at the Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.

Su Zhaozhao peeled the wrappers and put one candy in each of their mouths, patting her bag, "We have more, enough for us to have one each day for the next few days."

She also ate one herself. The fruity candy made her mood better, bringing a sense of happiness!

Before entering this world, if anyone had told her that a piece of candy could make her happy, she would have slapped them.

Now, it really was delicious!

Gu Xiang and Gu Nian, with sweet candies in their mouths, kept their eyes on the candy wrappers in Su Zhaozhao's hand.

Su Zhaozhao smiled and gave them the wrappers.

In this era of scarce resources, candy wrappers became cherished toys for children.

The sun outside was intense. Gu Nian held the candy wrapper up to her eyes and looked through the window at the sky, where the sunlight and blue sky transformed into different colors before her eyes.

So beautiful!

The train was delayed and began boarding at six o'clock. Gu Xiang carried the bag, holding his sister's hand tightly as they followed their mother.

There weren't many people boarding at the small station. Once on the train, Su Zhaozhao found their seats, "Here."

Three connected seats, with the children seated inside. She thought about putting the wicker box on the luggage rack but decided to place it at her feet.

The cloth bag containing the food was held tightly in Gu Xiang's arms.

Across from them sat two fashionable women in blouses, who instinctively covered their noses when the family sat down, perhaps thinking it was impolite, they quickly lowered their hands.

Su Zhaozhao glanced at them.

Gu Nian stood on tiptoe, tucking her legs in, afraid of accidentally touching the clean and attractive shoes of the woman across from her.

Su Zhaozhao patted her leg, "Relax, you look so tense."

Gu Nian looked at the woman across from her and carefully placed her feet straight.

As the train started moving, a conductor soon came by pushing a cart selling food. There wasn't much variety—steamed buns made of mixed flour, steamed dumplings, and porridge made from coarse grains.

"Steamed buns for three fen, dumplings for four fen, coarse grain porridge for two fen, no tickets needed!"

The two women opposite each other each bought two buns with their money.

Compared to these prices, the train tickets were really expensive, and even the donkey cart wasn't cheap.

Su Zhaozhao didn't buy any food; she took out a bowl and asked the conductor to fill it with water. For dinner, she ate half a pancake and some fried rice with the water.

By nightfall, sleeping became a problem. Su Zhaozhao's back ached from sitting, but she had to endure it. She let the two children take turns lying down and sleeping with their heads on her lap.

After three days and nights on the train, they finally arrived at Sea City station at noon that day.

The station was crowded, and the three of them followed the crowd out. In this completely unfamiliar place, Gu Nian held tightly onto Su Zhaozhao's hand, not letting go. "Mom, will Dad come to pick us up?"

"I don't know." The main character might not have returned to the unit yet, Su Zhaozhao scanned the area. "It doesn't matter if no one comes to pick us up. We have the address, we can call a car when the time comes." It seemed their hope for a military escort was dashed.

At the mention of a car, the siblings both pursed their lips; taking a car was too expensive!

The difference between a big city and a remote small town was significant. Despite the current difficult times, there were quite a few people outside the station wearing floral dresses, leather shoes, and white shirts. The colors of their clothing weren't as dull as those in the 1960s and 1970s; from a 21st-century perspective, some of their outfits couldn't be called old-fashioned.

Of course, there were also people wearing patched clothes, mostly those who had just gotten off the train. But even so... Su Zhaozhao looked down at what they were wearing; no one had more patches on their clothes than they did!

(Note: The Sea City mentioned in the text is fictional and does not correspond to any real city.)