Reborn in the 60s, I hunt to support my family and even seduce the village beauty.

When I arrived at the office, I pushed open the door and found that everyone was already there.

Monkey King sat on a chair with his legs dangling over the edge of the table, holding an enamel mug in his hand, taking sips here and there.

Xiao Lü was lying on the table, her chin resting on her arm, her eyes half-open and half-closed, it was hard to tell whether she was really sleepy or just too lazy to open them.

Xiao Yu sat in the corner, flipping through a newspaper over and over again, but didn't change the page.

Lei Guohong sat in his seat, an unlit cigarette between his fingers, turning around and looking dazed.

Old Zeng leaned against the window, staring blankly outside. The sky outside was gray and there was nothing there.

"Hey, Kun's here." Monkey put his legs off the table, gestured with his chin towards Chang Kun, and said, "I thought you weren't coming today. Aren't you supposed to be out driving tomorrow?"

"I didn't leave today either, I'm just idling at home anyway." Chang Kun took off his coat and draped it over the back of the chair before sitting down.

"Just sitting here?" Xiao Lü lifted his head from his arms and gave a weak laugh. "We're just sitting here doing nothing. No need to go to the platform, no need to wander around the waiting room. We can just sit here, drink tea, read the newspaper, and wait to get on the train tomorrow. How relaxing!"

"Isn't a peaceful life good?" Old Zeng turned from the window and interjected, "When you were running your legs off on the platform before, didn't you complain about being tired? Now that you're allowed to rest, you're not happy about it."

Xiao Yu put down her newspaper and muttered, "I'd rather run my legs off on the platform than sit here waiting to be exiled."

The group chatted amongst themselves, their words tinged with resentment.

Monkey King placed the enamel mug on the table, looked at Chang Kun, and asked, "Brother Kun, aren't you feeling aggrieved?"

Chang Kun leaned back in his chair and chuckled, "What's the use of feeling resentful? We still have to do what we're supposed to do."

After sitting for a while, he became increasingly restless, so he stood up, took his coat off the back of the chair, and draped it over his shoulders: "I'm going out for a walk."

"Where to?" Monkey King looked up.

"Platform, waiting room." Chang Kun straightened his collar. "Look at the mess those new guys have made of the platform."

Upon hearing this, Monkey King put his enamel mug on the table and said, "Wait for me, I'm going too."

Xiao Lü called out from behind, "You two be careful, don't let anyone see us and say we're meddling."

"So what if I saw it?" Monkey King didn't even turn his head. "This platform belongs to the railway department, not to Sima Bin's family. Can't people even walk here?"

The two left the office one after the other.

"Brother Kun, do you think those new guys can manage the platform well?" Brother Monkey asked in a low voice.

Chang Kun didn't answer. He pushed open the door at the end of the corridor, and the wind from the platform rushed towards him.

There weren't many people on the platform, just a few scattered passengers carrying large and small bags.

From afar, I saw two uniformed men standing at the entrance of the waiting room, one tall and one short. Their hats were worn neatly, and their uniforms were brand new, without a single wrinkle.

The two men leaned against the door frame, one with his arms crossed and the other with a cigarette between his fingers, chatting and laughing, their eyes not paying any attention to the passengers.

Monkey King glanced at them and his mouth fell down: "Look at these two, they're the newcomers. Standing here like door gods, why don't they go down and take a look around?"

Chang Kun remained silent, his gaze sweeping across the platform.

Back when he and Monkey King were there, there were always people patrolling the platform. They would lend a hand to elderly people carrying big bags, question those who were acting suspiciously, and shout to children who were running around so they wouldn't fall.

The platform may be small, but there's a lot to do and many things to worry about.

Chang Kun frowned and turned to walk towards the waiting room.

The waiting room was even more crowded, with benches packed with people, luggage piled on the floor, and the air thick with the smells of smoke, sweat, and instant noodles.

Monkey King followed behind, muttering under his breath, "This is what they call patrolling? We can't even see a ghost."

Chang Kun didn't say anything. He walked around the waiting room and came out from the other end. The wind on the platform blew in his face, feeling chilly, so he pulled his collar up higher.

"Let's go back," Chang Kun said.

Monkey followed behind him, took a couple of steps, glanced back at the platform, then at the two doormen at the entrance to the waiting room, shook his head, and muttered, "It's a perfectly good line, don't ruin it."

The two returned the way they came, and the breeze through the corridor was still so cool, making them feel empty inside.

As Chang Kun walked, he thought to himself that the absence of patrols on the platform might not seem like a problem in the short term, but in time, the petty thieves and pickpockets would catch a whiff of trouble and return.

This line was painstakingly repaired by him and his colleagues, and they couldn't just let it fall into disarray.

We need to think of a solution.

Hou Jun pushed open the office door, muttering under his breath, "Those two gatekeepers stand there like two stakes. There's not even a single person patrolling the platform. If passengers lose something, who are they supposed to contact?"

Xiao Lü looked up and said, "Why are you so nosy? He's the new section chief's man, it's none of your business."

Hou Jun snorted coldly: "We built this line up bit by bit. If we hand it over to them now, I'm afraid they'll mess it up."

Lei Guohong sat in his seat, twirling the cigarette in his hand for a long time before finally lighting it.

He took a drag, exhaling smoke from his nose, and said slowly, "Whether it gets smashed or not is none of our business. We'll be on the train tomorrow, out of sight, out of mind."

At lunchtime, the cafeteria was noisy. There were long queues at the food windows, some people were standing on tiptoe to peek in with their lunchboxes, some were frowning as they looked down at the food in their bowls, and some were huddled together in twos and threes, whispering to each other.

Chang Kun stood at the end of the line with his lunchbox in hand. Monkey followed behind him, craned his neck to take a look, then pulled back and whispered, "Something doesn't look right with today's dishes."

Chang Kun took two steps forward. When it was his turn, the cook scooped a large spoonful into his lunchbox. It was a thin, watery mess, with more broth than vegetables.

I glanced down and saw it was a wild vegetable paste, a brownish-green paste mixed with broken leaves and a few bits of sweet potato residue, without a trace of oil.

The next compartment contained cornmeal porridge, so thin you could see your reflection in it, with a few pieces of leaves of unknown origin floating on the surface.

Monkey King followed over with his lunchbox, and his face fell when he saw what was in the bowl: "This is it? At least there used to be some cabbage stalks, but now there's not even any cabbage left?"

The cook glanced at him, sighed, put the large ladle on the side of the dish, and shrugged.

"I can't help it, this is all the ingredients approved from above. I wanted to give you more, but there's not enough in the pot. Cabbage? Where would we get cabbage? We'd be lucky to get any wild vegetables!"

That's fucking amazing!

The new section chief spoke eloquently, saying he would live up to the trust placed in him and strive for even greater achievements.

The wild vegetable stalks have grown several layers!