Departure, Departure

The road outside the school gate runs east to west.

The direction the two planned to take was exactly opposite.

Bian Guanyue looked puzzled and, very unusually, spoke at length: "Are we waiting for the bus here? When I come back from Rong City, I always go to the city first, then take a long-distance bus to the County East Bus Station."

Chen Guiliang explained, "The school is in the northeast of the county town, and the East Bus Station is in the southeast. If we take the route you mentioned, we'd need to take a bus here, go through the entire county town, and then transfer to a long-distance bus. Once we get to the city, we'd have to go through half the city to reach the place that fixes computers."

"Oh." Bian Guanyue didn't ask further.

Everything Chen Guiliang said was true, but he didn't tell the whole truth.

The routes Bian Guanyue usually took were all city roads and provincial highways, where the driving speed was definitely much faster.

The route Chen Guiliang chose was entirely on bumpy county roads.

You couldn't go fast even if you wanted to!

The distance of the two routes was similar, but the county road took more than three times longer than the provincial highway because the rural buses often stopped midway.

Confused, Bian Guanyue got on a rural bus.

The dilapidated state of the bus even made her temporarily forget her sadness...

Half of the windows were broken, either unable to open or close properly, or the entire pane of glass was missing. Many windows were cracked and held together with transparent tape.

The seats were long benches arranged side by side, with frames made of iron pipes and artificial leather cushions and backrests installed.

Due to prolonged use, the leather cushions and backrests were full of holes of various sizes. Some even had the sponge inside pulled out, and a few seats were just empty iron frames.

There were also rural buses in better condition, but those good buses didn't run the full route, only the sections with the most passengers.

"Can this bus even run properly?" Bian Guanyue was dumbfounded.

Chen Guiliang chuckled and said, "This bus is only a few years younger than your parents. If you went back four or five years, there would still be a huge natural gas bag on the roof."

Bian Guanyue asked, "Doesn't the bus company scrap them?"

Chen Guiliang pointed at the driver and ticket seller: "They've already been scrapped. But they were sold to them at a low price, specifically to run on rural routes. They don't belong to the bus company; they're just individual contractors running the rural routes."

As they were talking, the female ticket seller became impatient: "Where are you going? Hurry up and buy your tickets!"

Chen Guiliang took out 11 yuan: "Two people, to the Train Station."

It was afternoon, and on a rural route, there were very few passengers.

Besides Chen Guiliang and Bian Guanyue, there were only two farmers returning to their village from the county town.

Chen Guiliang was about to find a good seat when the driver stepped on the accelerator as if rushing to a funeral.

Bian Guanyue, carrying her backpack and holding her laptop in her arms, hadn't even stood steady while walking and fell backward towards the rear of the bus.

Chen Guiliang quickly hugged her, almost falling down with her.

Fortunately, he was prepared and grabbed the backrest of the seat next to them with his other hand.

To prove his uprightness, Chen Guiliang cursed loudly: "Are you trying to kill us? Driving so fast, didn't you see people were still standing!"

The driver didn't respond.

But the female ticket seller was a tigress: "Sit down if you want to sit, otherwise get a refund and get off!"

"I'm going to complain about you!" Chen Guiliang immediately retorted.

Bian Guanyue broke free from his embrace, pulled his sleeve, and advised, "Forget it, let's not argue."

Chen Guiliang then shut up and led Bian Guanyue to choose seats.

They picked two seats that were in slightly better condition, with Bian Guanyue by the window and Chen Guiliang by the aisle.

Shortly after they sat down, the driver slammed on the brakes again.

There was a large pothole ahead, and he intended to slow down and go around it.

Bian Guanyue was completely unprepared for this, and her body involuntarily lunged forward. Just as she lunged out, the driver sharply turned the steering wheel to go around the pothole, and Bian Guanyue was thrown against Chen Guiliang next to her.

"Exciting, isn't it?" Chen Guiliang chuckled.

Bian Guanyue couldn't care about anything else and quickly protected the laptop in her arms. She was afraid that if she wasn't careful, the computer would be completely shattered before they even reached the city.

They didn't go far before the bus slowed down considerably.

But the bumping intensified sharply; her bottom would just land back on the seat after flying up, only to be shaken into the air again.

Bian Guanyue had completely forgotten her sadness, holding the laptop tightly with one hand and gripping the rusty iron rod of the front seat's backrest with the other, complaining annoyedly, "Why hasn't this broken road been fixed?"

Chen Guiliang said, "It was even worse before, there wasn't even a cement road. When it rained and there were big puddles, and the bus windows were missing glass, passengers by the window would get splashed with mud. When I was in junior high, they finally paved a cement road, but it was ruined after only half a year. The broken cement road was even bumpier than the old gravel road."

Looking at the smile on Chen Guiliang's face, Bian Guanyue was filled with suppressed anger.

She strongly suspected that Chen Guiliang was doing this on purpose!

If she had known the road conditions here were so bad, Bian Guanyue would definitely have chosen the other route.

Swaying left and right, flying up and falling down, their bodies collided with each other from time to time.

Bian Guanyue didn't say a word, sitting there with full concentration, as if facing a battle.

Seeing her like this, Chen Guiliang also remained silent, so as not to annoy or upset her.

It was a full hour before the bus reached a slightly larger market town.

Then, it stopped and didn't move.

The female ticket seller held the ticket box in one hand and the bus door in the other, leaning half her body out of the bus. She shouted at the top of her lungs, "Train Station, Train Station, we're leaving soon! Train Station, Train Station..."

Seven or eight passengers got on one after another. There was no one outside anymore, but the female ticket seller kept shouting.

Bian Guanyue asked, "How long will we stop?"

Chen Guiliang thought carefully, "Usually it stops for about ten minutes. When there are very few passengers, I've seen it stop for over forty minutes. You can wake up from a nap and it still hasn't left."

Bian Guanyue had only eaten a few bites of lunch, then had a big fight with her mother, followed by quiet crying, and then an hour of battling wits with the bus. Now that the bus had stopped, her tension eased and she started to feel sleepy.

"Help me hold this." Bian Guanyue handed over her laptop.

Chen Guiliang reached out and took it.

Bian Guanyue took out her MP3 player from her backpack, put on her earphones, and prepared to listen to music.

After listening for a few lines, she felt this wasn't right.

Chen Guiliang had skipped his afternoon classes specifically to take her to the city to fix her computer. How could she just listen to music and rest while leaving Chen Guiliang to fend for himself?

"You listen." Bian Guanyue offered the MP3 player.

Chen Guiliang accepted it without hesitation. After figuring out the left and right earbuds, he immediately put one on himself and offered the other to Bian Guanyue's ear.

Bian Guanyue was startled and dodged towards the window. She wasn't used to being so close to someone.

"Put it on. Listening to music together won't make you pregnant," Chen Guiliang said in an unquestionable tone.

Bian Guanyue had already hidden her head outside the window, but Chen Guiliang's hand followed with the earbud.

She couldn't avoid it and felt awkward about getting angry, so she was forced to share an earphone with Chen Guiliang.

"Sleep for a bit."

Chen Guiliang knew when to stop. He stared at the MP3 player, skipped a few songs, then leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, pretending to nap.

Bian Guanyue looked at the laptop in his arms, wanting to ask for it back several times, but after thinking about it carefully, she felt there was no need.

She was indeed tired, so Bian Guanyue also closed her eyes.

"Love From Zero, testing how rational two people are."

"Only when we find the words we first wrote, do we realize how much we loved each other at the beginning..."

Stefanie Sun's "Love From Zero" came through the earbud. Bian Guanyue's pretty face inexplicably turned red.

It was the first time she had shared an earbud and listened to music with someone of the opposite sex, and she ended up hearing such ambiguous lyrics.

Wasn't that too much of a coincidence?

Chen Guiliang also thought it was quite a coincidence; he had only skipped four songs before landing on this one.

Bian Guanyue opened her eyes and peeked at Chen Guiliang sleeping next to her. His profile seemed a bit handsomer, making his thin cheeks look less sunken.

I wouldn't like him! This guy is a complete liar, and he even tricked that junior sister into going in circles!

Bian Guanyue closed her eyes again to rest, but she didn't take off the earbud, continuing to listen to Stefanie Sun's song.

Time passed by minute by minute.

The female ticket seller's voice was well-tested; she was still shouting non-stop, "We're leaving now, the bus is leaving now, those who haven't gotten on yet hurry up and get on!"

There was no response; she had wasted over ten minutes shouting.

The female ticket seller angrily closed the bus door and yelled and cursed at the driver, "Hurry up and leave, what are you doing standing there, you turtle son?"

This driver was most likely her husband, who had spent his life traversing the Shu Road Mountain.

The driver didn't say a word, suddenly stepping on the accelerator.

A passenger's body lurched back, hitting the iron bar of the seatback with the back of his head. He immediately cursed, "Can't you drive, you turtle son?"

"What are you howling about, you blind idiot?" The female ticket seller immediately shot back, and the bus echoed with their cursing.

Both had bad tempers and swore freely.

Bian Guanyue was in a state of semi-sleep. She was completely unaware of the driver's sudden start and also lurched backward.

But she didn't hit the rusty iron bar of the seatback; instead, she hit Chen Guiliang's palm. This enthusiastic deskmate had used his hand to block for her.

Suddenly startled awake, Bian Guanyue understood the situation and quickly turned her head to look at Chen Guiliang.

Chen Guiliang withdrew his hand and said with a smile, "No need to thank me. Helping others and not expecting anything in return, that's what we Red Scarves should do."

Bian Guanyue didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She turned her face towards the window, and the corner of her mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly.

Not long after passing the town, the bus became erratic again.

Bian Guanyue was completely unable to sleep because Chen Guiliang was helping her hold the computer, so this time she could grip the iron bar of the seatback in front of her with both hands.

Just as she had finally gotten through the bumpy section and relaxed her guard, the bus took a sharp turn, throwing her off balance, and she slammed into Chen Guiliang.

Bian Guanyue couldn't hold back any longer and finally voiced the question in her heart, "Are you doing this on purpose?"

Chen Guiliang looked innocent, "The driver is driving, what does that have to do with me?"

Bian Guanyue said, "You deliberately chose this route!"

"I've always taken this route. I'm not familiar with the one by the East Bus Station," Chen Guiliang insisted, refusing to admit it.

As they spoke, the driver slammed on the brakes because someone was waving on the side of the road.

Country roads don't have bus stops; you can stop and pick up passengers anywhere, anytime.

"Ah!"

"Driver, please drive slower!"

Bian Guanyue slammed into the metal bar of the seat in front of her, leaving a red mark on her forehead.

She was going crazy.

Chen Guiliang gloated, almost bursting into laughter.

The usually cold and aloof ice beauty, who typically spoke only two or three words at a time, had become so lively and outgoing. She was even taking the initiative to greet the driver.

This bus ride was only halfway through, and it was guaranteed to be an unforgettable experience for Bian Guanyue.

A disguised suspension bridge effect – Chen Guiliang hadn't read all those books for nothing.