Li Juan left home on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, heading to Wu City to catch a train to Yanjing.
She bought a sleeper ticket again. She was quite familiar with the process now.
Li Long thought she could actually try buying a plane ticket, but Li Juan refused. She said the express train was already very good. On the T70 Train-the service from Wu City to Yanjing-some of her classmates from Northern Xinjiang even traveled in hard seats. What she had was fine.
She was still a little reluctant to leave. It was only the sixth day of the New Year. Although the firecrackers had grown sparse, the festive atmosphere was actually still in full swing.
There was little to do in the countryside in winter, so people took advantage of the New Year festivities to visit relatives, exchange greetings, drink, and chat. It made up for not having gathered much throughout the year and gave them a proper rest.
Even households that were not well-off would prepare a few pickles and braised dishes, set out a table, and invite village friends over for a drink. That, too, was part of the New Year atmosphere.
Of course, after all the changes over the years, living conditions in the Fourth Team were generally better than in the other production teams. After a year of hard work, people had to treat themselves.
But the New Year in 1991 fell rather late. After the tenth day, the snow on the ground slowly began to melt.
People of the older generation, like Li Jianguo, only started making their proper rounds of visits after the seventh or eighth day.
By then, households were no longer as busy as they had been during the first few days, and dropping by would not