Chapter 73: Chapter 70: Ferry

The station was quite crowded. The ticket to Dashiqiao was only ten cents.

Yang Liying waited for Lin Lan to buy their tickets and find the bus to Dashiqiao. Then, she carried Little Douzi aboard and said with a smile, “Be careful on your trip.”

Lin Lan nodded. She said to Little Douzi, who was curiously touching this and looking at that, “Third Aunt is leaving now. Quick, say goodbye to Third Aunt.”

“Bye-bye, Auntie!” Little Douzi said perfunctorily, then pressed his face to the window to watch the bus next to them, which was starting its engine.

“You little rascal!” Yang Liying said with a laugh, patting his head before getting off the bus and leaving.

Lin Lan saw there were only a dozen or so passengers on the bus. Some carried bamboo baskets, with woven back-carriers placed beside them. She glanced at the adjacent bus and saw it wasn’t crowded either.

Just then, the driver and the ticket conductor got on. The female conductor, who had a shoulder-length bob, scanned the passengers and shouted authoritatively, “Put all your luggage on the overhead racks.”

Everyone sat still. A man spoke up, “The bus isn’t even full. Besides, it’s raining. What if our luggage gets wet on the roof rack?”

“That’s right! Miss, if more people get on, we’ll put our things on our laps. We promise they won’t take up any space.”

The old driver in the driver’s seat turned his head and said to the conductor, “It’s raining. Just let them keep it inside the bus.”

“If you say so, what else can I say!” the conductor grumbled, sitting down in her seat.

Lin Lan listened and thought of Lin Guoliang and the others pushing that wheelbarrow full of things over last time. ’Such heavy sacks, and the wheelbarrow itself, all had to be hoisted onto the roof rack. How exhausting that must have been!’

The thought that her two brothers had brought all those things all the way to Lexing just because she’d asked made her feel incredibly warm inside.

The bus started up and gradually pulled away. Little Douzi sat on Lin Lan’s lap, looking out the window curiously. “Mama, the big trees are running backward.”

Lin Lan nodded. Then, she started to worry that he might get carsick since it was his first time on a bus. “Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?”

Little Douzi shook his head, his eyes still fixed on the scenery outside. “Nope. Riding the big bus is fun.”

Lin Lan relaxed upon hearing this. She held him and looked out the window. The bus left the city, and the countryside was shrouded in a misty rain. Lush green paddy fields, low-lying houses, and verdant bamboo groves unfolded before them, looking like a landscape painting from a distance.

She thought about how in ten years or so, this beautiful scenery would be replaced by reinforced concrete, and the brilliant blue sky would turn a hazy gray. ’By then, everyone’s living conditions will be much better than now, but people won’t be as easily satisfied.’

After watching the scenery for a while, Little Douzi turned to Lin Lan and said, “Mama, my tummy’s hungry.”

“You’re hungry! Mama will give you a bean roll to eat.” Lin Lan set him down on the empty seat next to her, took a kidney bean roll from her back-carrier, and gave it to him.

Little Douzi took it and started eating with big bites. “Mama, I like the red bean paste inside.”

“You little glutton!” Lin Lan said, smiling at her son, who seemed much more lively now. “When we get home, Mama will make you red bean rolls.”

The conductor in the front row turned her head, glanced at the kidney bean roll in Little Douzi’s hand, and asked, “Where did you buy that bean roll?”

Little Douzi looked at her. “Auntie! Mama made it!”

The conductor glanced at Lin Lan and said with a smile, “Your mother is very handy.”

An idea sparked in Lin Lan’s mind. She recalled how people used to ask bus drivers to help deliver urgent items. She took a roll from her back-carrier, smiled, and offered it to the conductor. “Comrade, have a taste.”

The conductor hesitated for a moment before reaching out to take it. “Thank you!”

Lin Lan just smiled and didn’t say anything more.

After a moment, the conductor turned to Lin Lan and said with a smile, “This is really delicious!” She looked at Lin Lan, thinking it was quite rare for a country woman to be able to make such a fine pastry.

Lin Lan smiled. “An elder in my family used to make and sell these. I just learned a little from them.”

The conductor’s face lit up with understanding. “Oh, so it’s a family recipe! No wonder they’re so good.”

The two of them started to chat.

An hour later, the bus arrived in Dashiqiao Town. The good news was that the rain had stopped, and Lin Lan had become friendly with the conductor.

She learned that the conductor’s name was Li Hongmei and the driver was Old Chen. They worked as a team on this route. The first bus left at 7:30 AM and returned to the city at 10:30 AM. In the afternoon, they departed from the East Market at 1:30 PM and returned from Dashiqiao Town at 4:30 PM.

As Lin Lan was leaving, she gave a few more bean rolls to her and the driver, Old Chen. Li Hongmei and Old Chen told her that if she ever needed to send anything, she could just bring it to the bus, and they would help take it back for her.

Lin Lan happily agreed. After saying her goodbyes, she took Little Douzi and headed toward the riverbank.

The mother and son passed through a street paved with bluestone slabs, flanked on both sides by quaint, traditional wooden houses.

An old woman with bound feet and her hair in a bun sat under the eaves, doing needlework while wearing reading glasses. At her feet was a crimson-lacquered bamboo sewing basket. The sight reminded Lin Lan of the small town she used to live in. ’Could it also exist in this time and space?’ she wondered.

Following the stone steps down toward the river, she came to a grove of nanmu bamboo. Next to it was a cooperative’s bamboo ware shop, its entrance crowded with all sorts of bamboo products.

Cooling mats, drying mats… and also, stacked high, were steamers still bearing their verdant green bamboo skins, available in large, medium, and small sizes.

Lin Lan thought that she would need a steamer for steaming beans in the future, so she walked toward the shop. Just then, an old master bamboo weaver came out. She went up to him and asked, “Master, do I need a ration ticket for one of these large steamers?”

The old master shook his head. “No, you don’t. How many layers do you want?”

Lin Lan thought for a moment. “A five-layered one!”

The old master pointed at the steamers. “These are all woven from nanmu bamboo. A five-layered one is more expensive. It comes out to six yuan and eighty cents in total.”

Lin Lan thought that getting a nanmu bamboo steamer for just a few yuan was an incredible bargain. She smiled and asked him, “Do you have any in stock? If so, I’ll come back to buy it tomorrow.”

Seeing she was carrying a child on her back, the old master figured she was serious and nodded. “We do. Nobody’s opening restaurants these days, so the steamers we weave don’t sell well.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“No problem!” The old master pulled up a chair, took out a long-stemmed pipe, lit some tobacco leaves, and started puffing away. PUFF, PUFF.

Lin Lan remembered that if she went around the nanmu bamboo grove, it was only a ten-minute or so walk to the river dike.

When she reached the dike, she saw that the sandy land beyond the embankment was planted full of sugarcane and peanuts. Lin Lan recalled that this type of sugarcane was called “white silk cane.” It was tough in texture and had a high sugar yield, making it ideal for sugar production.

Just then, the ferry’s whistle blew. The boat was about to dock. Lin Lan quickly scooped up Little Douzi. “The ferry’s here! Mama will carry you so we can run faster.”

The few people walking unhurriedly ahead also quickened their pace.

Lin Lan arrived, panting, crossed the pontoon bridge, and boarded the ferry. It probably wasn’t a market day, as there weren’t many people crossing the river, and there were still seats available by the gunwale.

Lin Lan found a spot to sit and gathered Little Douzi into her arms. “Douzi, don’t wiggle around, or you might fall into the water.”

Little Douzi looked curiously at the big boat, then at the waves lapping against its side. “Mama, Sun Wukong’s raft was so small.”

Lin Lan nodded. “That’s right. Sun Wukong had a raft. This is a ferry. They’re different.”

Little Douzi thought for a moment, then asked, “Why didn’t Sun Wukong take a big boat like this?”

Lin Lan thought for a moment and said, “He hadn’t learned his skills yet, so he couldn’t build a big boat like this.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep