Ice City Has Arrived

"Driver, to the train station!"

"Do you want me to start the meter?"

"Just charge the base fare. Why bother with the meter?"

"Got it."

In the taxi, Chen Xingguo handed Chen Hao a bankbook.

Chen Hao took it. "What's this?"

"A bet."

"Mom already gave me the bet money, didn't she?"

"This is my share."

"Where did you get the money? Did you steal it from Mom?"

"How can you call something between husband and wife stealing?"

"How did you know where Mom kept her money?"

"She can find my little private stash no matter where I hide it, and I know exactly where she keeps hers. We've been playing cat and mouse for decades. Your mom enjoys it, so I just let her have her fun."

"You did it on purpose?"

"Otherwise, your mom's intelligence would have had her searching for the rest of her life. It's all experience, kid. Learn from it."

"Really? I don't believe you! How are you going to explain this when we get back?"

Chen Xingguo said disdainfully, "Heh~ Don't you know the status of men in Northeast China households?"

"On your knees on a washboard?"

"Probably unavoidable." Chen Xingguo sighed heavily.

Then he patted Chen Hao on the shoulder and said earnestly,

"Kid, remember this: you're already a grown man. Do whatever you want and let go. As your father, I'll always be your strongest support. Back then, when your old man decided to enlist and dedicate himself to the country, your grandfather went against everyone's objections and supported me. That's the tradition of the Chen family."

"Dad~" Chen Hao looked somewhat moved.

Once I started making money, I'd definitely give Dad more spending money.

"Look at that pathetic face of yours. Don't put on that act. Aren't you ashamed? I'll just treat this as an investment. Once you make a fortune, you'd better pay me back—with interest!"

"Uh, no, I wanted to ask... When's your birthday again?"

He had raised this son for nothing all these years. The kid did not even remember his own father's birthday. "Hey, give me back the bankbook!" Chen Xingguo made as if to snatch it away.

When he looked up and saw the sly expression on Chen Hao's face, he realized the boy had done it on purpose. He instinctively raised his hand and smacked him on the head.

"You little brat! How dare you make a fool of your own father!"

At Chen Hao's home.

"Chen Xingguo, you deadbeat, just you wait!" Seeing that the bankbook had vanished, Wu Xiuhua immediately understood what had happened. She looked at the washboard standing against the wall. It had already been worn smooth and was about to retire, no longer carrying the imposing might it once had.

She stormed out in a fury, though it was unclear whether the fruit shop would have durians in stock this season.

Once past Shanhai Pass, call Uncle Benshan when you need help.

Don't invest beyond Shanhai Pass.

The first sentence meant exactly what it said: if you knew the right person, anything was possible. As for the influence Uncle Benshan had once possessed, those who knew, knew. Later on... those who knew, also knew. Reaching old age in peace was already a pretty good outcome.

The second sentence meant that in Northeast China, having money alone was useless if you had no connections. Countless entrepreneurs had been defeated there. Well, they had suffered catastrophic losses.

In Northeast China, connections were more useful than money.

It applied to everything, from running a business and getting qualifications approved to opening a shop, setting up a street stall, or buying a train ticket.

You had to understand that in those days, buying a ticket meant lining up outside a railway station or ticket office from the early hours of the morning. In the bitter winter cold, it was pure torture.

After waiting for several hours, you finally reached the moment when tickets went on sale. Even if you were third in line, bad luck could still leave you unable to buy a single seat ticket. You could only get a standing ticket—and you would still be happy, at least you had gotten a ticket.

Sometimes people wondered where those sleeper and hard-seat tickets had gone. Which bunch of bastards had bought them? They had been ridiculously fast.

Xu Pengkun held two seat tickets. When he saw Chen Hao approaching, he handed them over.

Chen Hao took them and looked at them.

Whoa, would you look at that—they were two adjacent seats.

But then he remembered that Big Bird had relatives working at the train station, so it was no longer surprising. Having someone on the inside certainly made things easier.

Xu Pengkun's father had also come to see him off. After sending off his own son, he chatted with Chen Xingguo nearby. The two men, kindred spirits in hardship, took the opportunity to smoke and blow clouds into the air.

The train station was packed with people. Chen Hao and Xu Pengkun said goodbye to their respective fathers, then went to queue up for the ticket inspection.

Chen Hao carried two bags. One held food for the train ride, while the other held food for school.

Xu Pengkun behind him was no less prepared. They looked at each other's luggage and both revealed understanding smiles.

At that time, students returning to school and migrant workers heading into the cities were split about fifty-fifty. The crowd surged forward in a noisy mass. Neither of them needed to exert much effort; the tide of people carried them automatically toward the train doors.

After fighting through every kind of obstacle, the two men relied on their tall, sturdy builds and finally reached their seats after several twists and turns. They hurriedly put their luggage in the overhead racks to claim their spots. Under the seats, a standing-ticket warrior spread out a newspaper, secured a favorable position in advance, rested his head on his luggage, and lay down flat.

This was the price of a standing ticket with the treatment of a floor mattress.

After sitting down, the two of them let out a breath. They had barely done anything, yet they were already sweating all over.

Chen Hao's throat felt a little dry. He gulped down half a bottle of mineral water.

Well, his bath that day had been a complete waste.

Before long, the entire aisle was filled with people. It was packed tight, leaving no room to pass.

"Wooooo—"

The train jolted and began to move slowly.

There were no high-speed trains yet, only express and regular trains. Trains without letters at the front, bearing only numbers, included the slow trains—what people commonly called green-skin trains.

Chen Hao's hometown was in a remote area, and the only train to Ice City was this kind of green-skin train. There was one trip a day. It covered only five or six hundred kilometers, yet the journey took more than ten hours.

Watching his hometown gradually recede outside the window,

Chen Hao carried a fortune of forty thousand yuan and was filled with ambition.

A confident man's life could last two hundred years; he would ride the waves for three thousand miles.

Fuck, he had drunk too much water and needed to pee.

There was something incredibly magical on trains. No matter how crowded they were, it could always move through without obstruction. That was—

Oh, here it came. Here it came. It was shouting its slogan as it approached.

"Beer, drinks, mineral water, peanuts, sunflower seeds, ham sausages~~"

"Hey, comrade in front, pull your legs in!"

Amid the crowded passengers and narrow space, nothing could ever stop a pushcart.

The pushcart even had another function—it was a path-clearing vanguard!

Three or four people were already following behind the cart. Chen Hao took the opportunity to trail after them. Those people were either heading to the restroom to relieve themselves or going to the aisle to smoke.

Even with the pushcart clearing the way, the round trip still took more than an hour.

The train was lively. Some people played cards and drank, but most cracked sunflower seeds or chatted and bragged over cucumbers dipped in fermented soybean paste.

That was exactly what Chen Hao and Xu Pengkun were doing. They had nothing else to do, so they chatted about trivial things.

Xu Pengkun explained the details of selling his account, while Chen Hao explained the concept of private servers. Then they talked about Legend, embarrassing childhood stories, and all kinds of nostalgic memories.

The two of them were chatting enthusiastically.

The brother below them kept rolling his eyes as he listened.

The man had claimed a spot as soon as he boarded and gone straight to sleep. He was half-asleep and half-awake, and people kept asking him to move his legs. It annoyed him to no end.

That was not all. He had no idea where the two idiots above had come from, but their bragging was loud enough to shake the heavens.

They casually claimed that selling some item had earned them several million yuan, or that merely handling something had made them hundreds of thousands. It had only taken a few hours.

They even said they were going to the capital to start a company, become bosses, and hire a whole bunch of pretty young women.

Damn, if he had several million yuan, who would still be riding this ancient train instead of driving? What was this, a trip to experience the hardships of ordinary people?

In this tiny place, he might have believed them if they said they were going to become bosses in Ice City. But the capital? They must have been dreaming.

He hated people who rode trains while talking complete nonsense.

After letting his imagination run wild for a while, the man shifted his body, turned over, and went back to sleep.

Time passed, and night grew deep. The sounds on the train gradually faded, occasionally interrupted by a baby's cry.

The hard seats were truly hard, and they formed an almost perfect right angle. Sitting made his lower back ache, while leaning forward made his arms hurt. In the end, Chen Hao leaned shoulder to shoulder against Big Bird, his head bobbing like a pecking chick.

He dozed for a while, checked the time, and repeated the process. Two o'clock... three-thirty... six o'clock.

He simply endured it. He could not even be bothered to open the food his mother had prepared for the journey.

The sun rose in the east, and dawn broke.

The carriage once again filled with lively noise. The smells of instant noodles and smelly feet mixed together into something indescribable.

No one knew how much time had passed before the conductor's voice rang out like heavenly music.

"The next stop is the terminal station of this train, Ice City Railway Station. Ice City Station is coming up. Passengers getting off, please take all your personal belongings and prepare to disembark in advance!"

Ice City had arrived.