Year 1983: I was a carpenter in Northeast China

On the platform of the train station in Lindu City.

Because it was too open and there was no shelter, the biting cold wind was like an invisible blade, making people's faces sting and their bodies freeze to the bone.

Xu Bei wrapped his scarf tightly around himself, leaving only his bright eyes showing. He gazed in the direction the railway tracks stretched out and said, "The train is delayed again. How much longer do we have to wait?"

Xu Dashan, who was standing next to him, looked much more energetic after eating rice with lard and taking a nap on the forest railway train.

Coupled with her joy and excitement at the arrival of her mother and sister, she didn't even seem like she had just finished a night shift.

"It's normal for the train to be delayed. We'll just have to endure the cold for a while, but your grandma and aunt will suffer even more from such a long journey."

Upon hearing this, Xu Bei couldn't help but roll his eyes.

They chose to suffer this pain themselves; no one begged them to.

However, he was too lazy to talk to his father, and started stomping his feet again and again.

Finally, as time passed, a green train, panting and belching white smoke, slowly pulled in.

The wheels clattered against the rails with a loud clanging sound, making the ground tremble slightly.

Before the train had even come to a complete stop, the crowd on the platform began to surge.

Some people held up signs to welcome others, some stood on tiptoe to look around, and others carried large and small bags, ready to board the train.

Xu Bei and Xu Dashan also went against the flow of people, searching for their target among those getting off the bus.

Meanwhile, at the door of a certain carriage, an elderly woman with bound feet, wearing a dark blue cotton coat and a hat, carefully got off the train carrying a blue cloth bundle.

Behind him was a woman in her twenties wearing a coat of the same color and a red hat and scarf, carrying bulging bags in both hands. She shrugged and complained as she got off the bus.

"Mom, it's so cold here! It's freezing!"

The old woman, shivering and with her neck hunched, spat out a mouthful of phlegm on the platform. "How can it not be cold in such a frigid place? Da Hong, quickly put down your bag and look for your second brother."

That's right, the two people were the old lady and Xu Dahong that Xu Bei and his group were going to pick up.

Xu Dahong glanced aimlessly at the people on the platform and said irritably, "These people are all dressed so thickly and they all look so similar. How am I supposed to find him?"

My second brother is the same; instead of putting up a sign like other people do when picking someone up at the station, he leaves us freezing here, searching for him like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Stop picking on your second brother. He's a big, thick-skinned man; how could he think of such things?" The old lady sneered. "You know what kind of person your second sister-in-law is. She's cunning and malicious. Even if she did think of it, she wouldn't tell you. She'd rather we, mother and daughter, suffer in the cold!"

Hearing her mother mention her sister-in-law Zhao Fengying, Xu Dahong was filled with resentment. "It's all your fault! Why did you have to marry her, a woman who has no parents and only her brother and sister-in-law?"

Otherwise, if I were to find someone with a good heart, could I also find a partner here with a forestry household registration and receive government-supplied food rations...?

Just then, the old lady spotted her second son.

"Stop talking! I saw your second brother."

Then, he waved in one direction and called out, "Second brother, we're over here! Oh, Xu Bei is here too."

Following her mother's gaze, Xu Dahong looked over and, out of hatred for her nephew Xu Bei, she didn't have much affection for him either.

"Grandma and Aunt have come from so far away, it's only right and proper for this kid to come and pick them up!"

If you ask me, it's only polite for his mother to come and pick him up from the station. Only you, Mom, don't care about those things, and yet some people don't appreciate it!

With so many people between Xu Bei and Xu Dashan and the mother and daughter, they couldn't hear their conversation.

However, after squeezing his way to the two of them with Xu Dashan, Xu Bei simply called out "Grandma" and "Auntie" in a low voice, took the two bags, and then fell silent like a sawed gourd.

Xu Dashan was much more excited.

He rushed over, took the bundle from the old woman's hands, and asked her with genuine concern, "Mother! You've finally arrived! Was your journey safe?"

"Things went fairly smoothly. Second brother, you seem to have lost weight. Xiao Bei..."

The old lady originally wanted to show some concern for her grandson, who seemed somewhat different from before, but was interrupted by Xu Dahong's loud voice.

"What do you mean 'smooth'? I suffered a lot when I was reversing halfway through the journey!"

If it weren't for me taking care of things, my mother and I might not have been able to squeeze onto the train!

"Hurry up and find us a warm place to stay; we're freezing to death here!"

Xu Dashan then belatedly said, "Right, right, you're not used to the cold here all of a sudden, you'll get frostbite. Come on, let's go to the waiting room and wait, the little train back to the Forestry Bureau won't depart for another twenty minutes."

So, the group quickly made some more moves and got into the waiting room.

The waiting room at the city's train station was naturally not as simple and small as that of the Forestry Bureau.

Although some of the plaster has peeled off, revealing the mortar underneath, it still exudes a sense of the weight and weight of the industrial era.

There were many people sitting on rows of long, blue wooden benches.

However, there are many wooden chairs and plenty of space.

Therefore, they quickly found a place to sit down.

Xu Bei didn't sit down, nor did he want to watch his father and mother put on a dramatic family show. He made an excuse to go to the restroom and left temporarily.

Looking at her grandson's tall and upright figure, the old lady said with some doubt, "Second son, your boy has changed a lot. He didn't seem like this last time you came."

Xu Dahong also pursed her lips and echoed, "Yeah, I think they're ignoring us and not being enthusiastic at all. Is my second sister-in-law saying something behind our backs? She has a lot of complaints about us!"

Xu Dashan was well aware that his son had changed a lot recently, but there were some things he couldn't say to his mother and sister for the time being. "What could this kid possibly have against you? That's just his personality. He'll only get more and more of a troublemaker as he gets older. He's not even as reckless as he was when he was a kid."

"Also, Da Hong, you're always so suspicious. Your second sister-in-law has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. Knowing you were coming, she specially got some fresh lard and was chopping the filling at home to make sauerkraut dumplings."

The old lady and Xu Dahong exchanged glances, and regardless of what they were thinking, they both spoke.

"Really? Well, your wife is really thoughtful this time."

"Yes, I didn't expect my second sister-in-law to be so generous this time."

Xu Dashan scratched his forehead, deciding not to mention who bought the pork fat.

Xu Bei wandered around for more than ten minutes before returning.

We just happened to catch the start of the Sengoku Railway train journey.

The four of them quickly boarded the car back to Beishan Forestry Bureau.

After an hour's drive, I got off the bus and switched to riding a bicycle.

Xu Bei carried two bags and bundles, while Xu Dashan carried the old lady and Xu Dahong. When they arrived home together, it was already past ten in the morning.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, Xu Bei saw two long benches near the south window of the house with a curtain of frozen dumplings on them. He guessed that his mother and the others were probably still making them.

Zhao Fengying and Xu Juan also saw the returning people inside the house and came out one after the other to greet them.

The former greeted her warmly, "Mom, Da Hong, you must have been freezing on the way here. Come inside and warm up on the kang (heated brick bed)."

The latter calls out to people in a much softer voice.

The old lady and Xu Dahong, who didn't live here often, were truly freezing cold.

Shivering and shivering, his teeth chattering, he gave a few perfunctory answers before rushing into the house, taking off his shoes, and getting onto the kang (heated brick bed)...