Chen Fusheng’s older sister was named Chen Guizhi. She was five years his senior.
She worked as a nurse and had already had two children after marrying Chen Fusheng’s brother-in-law, Wang Yao.
Today was the day of departure. His sister’s family arrived early in the morning.
But only his sister was going to Harbin with them. Brother-in-law Wang Yao and the two children were there to see them off.
It was worth noting that Wang Yao was also a teacher, a middle school math teacher.
As for the two children: the older one was a girl named Wang Xue, seven years old this year. The younger one was Wang Long, three.
“Auntie, Auntie! Mom says you have a baby in your belly too?”
The two kids took to their aunt immediately, peppering her with questions.
“Yes, Auntie has a baby too. You’ll have to play with the baby when it comes, okay?”
“Okay, okay!”
The sister and brother took turns asking:
“Auntie, is the baby in your belly a brother or a sister?”
Chen Fusheng’s voice suddenly cut in.
“Guess, you two. Is your auntie carrying a boy or a girl?”
“I guess a brother!” “A sister!” “A brother!” “A sister!”
Seeing the two siblings break into an argument, Chen Fusheng laughed and ruffled their heads. Then, seeing that everything was packed, he suggested: “There are only about two hours until the train departs. I think we should head to the station.”
“Right, no more dawdling at home. If we have to wait, we’ll wait at the station.”
“Remember to grab all your luggage.”
The Riverside Community wasn’t far from Jiangcheng Railway Station, just a little over three kilometers. But with so much luggage, walking wasn’t practical. Fortunately, there was a direct bus to the station from the community gate, which saved a lot of trouble.
“The train is here!”
In this era, family members could come onto the platform to see people off. So Wang Yao and the two children stayed until they’d boarded the train before leaving.
The distance from Jiangcheng to Harbin was over two thousand kilometers, and there was no direct train. A transfer in Beijing was required. All told, they wouldn’t arrive until the afternoon of the third day at the earliest. The one good news: long-distance trains like this offered sleeper berths, and Chen Fusheng had naturally bought sleeper tickets for everyone.
Some might wonder: why not fly, being so far?
Good question. There were flights from Jiangcheng to Northeast China, and Chen Fusheng had inquired before. But tickets couldn’t be purchased.
Because in this era, planes weren’t for ordinary people.
In Chen Fusheng’s preconceived notion, trains in this era had terrible hygiene. There’d be a strange smell the moment you boarded.
But after experiencing it firsthand, it wasn’t as bad as he’d imagined.
Maybe it was because they’d bought sleeper berths.
Maybe it was the cold winter temperatures.
Maybe…
But whatever the reason, the absence of any unpleasant smell was definitely a plus.
Wu Qiutong and Li Mei were both from Beijing. After graduating high school in 1975, the two of them had been assigned to a collective commune called Little River Village in Hubei to be sent down. With the implementation of the educated youth return-to-city policy in recent years, they too had finally gotten their chance to go home.
On this trip home, they were on the same train as Chen Fusheng’s family, and even in the same sleeper compartment.
But that wasn’t the point. The point was that before boarding, to pass the time on the journey, they had gone to the bookstore and bought quite a few reading materials.
Among them was a magazine called Fragrant Grass.
“Li Mei, I strongly recommend you read this issue of Fragrant Grass. There’s a novel in it that’s incredibly vivid and moving.”
“What novel? Let me look… Oh, I don’t think I bought Fragrant Grass. Wait, which magazine is that? I don’t think I’ve heard of it.”
Chen Fusheng and Liu Xiaoli’s bunks were right across from them, so they unavoidably overheard the conversation. The couple exchanged a glance and shared a knowing smile.
The two educated youth women didn’t notice the young couple’s meaningful smiles and remained immersed in their conversation.
“This is my first time hearing of Fragrant Grass too, but the lead novel Cowherd in this issue is definitely worth reading.”
Li Mei asked, “Which author wrote it?”
“Let me see… the author is called Fusheng.”
“Never heard of him either.”
“Me neither. But judging from the writing style of Cowherd, this is probably some old veteran author.”
Cough cough.
Pfft.
Hearing himself described as an old veteran author, Chen Fusheng couldn’t hold back a cough, and Liu Xiaoli burst out laughing.
Wu Qiutong and Li Mei looked at them in confusion.
Chen Fusheng explained:
“Um… we heard you discussing this issue of Fragrant Grass. As it happens, my wife and I have read it too. Perhaps we could exchange thoughts?”
Liu Xiaoli suppressed her laughter and echoed, “Yes, yes, yes!”
“Really? You’ve read Cowherd too?” Wu Qiutong had just finished the novel and was bursting with the urge to share. Hearing that the couple had read it too, she was excited to discuss the plot.
But at that moment, Li Mei quickly interjected, “Wait… hold on. Can you not discuss the plot yet? Let me finish reading first.”
“Of course.” Chen Fusheng smiled and nodded at Li Mei.
As an author, he didn’t really want to discuss plot points with readers anyway. But he didn’t mind giving the two of them a little background on Fragrant Grass.
“I heard you say you don’t know Fragrant Grass. Have you heard of River City Literature and Arts?”
“We’ve been sent down in Hubei these past few years. Of course we have.”
“Actually, Fragrant Grass is what River City Literature and Arts used to be. They just changed their name. There’s a note on the cover of this issue. You might not have noticed.”
Prompted by Chen Fusheng, the two women quickly checked and found it was true.
With the ice broken, the conversation flowed naturally.
“I noticed you boarded at Jiangcheng Railway Station. Are you locals?”
Liu Xiaoli answered, “My husband is from Jiangcheng. I’m from Harbin.”
“So you’re heading to Harbin? That’s quite far.”
“No choice.”
Liu Xiaoli smiled and asked back:
“What about you? Are you educated youth?”
“Yes. I’m Wu Qiutong, and this is Li Mei. We’re both from Beijing. In ’75, we were assigned to a production team in Hubei together. Hasn’t the government been rolling out the return-to-city policy for educated youth these past couple of years? Finally, it’s our turn.”
“You get to go home and reunite with your families. Congratulations.”
“Sigh. I hear the cities can’t absorb all of us returning educated youth. Who knows what’ll happen once we get back.”
Wu Qiutong skipped past the topic and glanced at Liu Xiaoli’s belly. “Comrade, you’re pregnant, right?”
“Yes.” Liu Xiaoli gently stroked her already slightly showing belly, then looked up to introduce herself. “My name is Liu Xiaoli. My husband is Chen Fusheng.”
Chen Fusheng?
Wu Qiutong felt the name was very familiar.
Suddenly, she seemed to think of something and looked at Chen Fusheng in surprise. “What a coincidence. Your name is only one character different from the author of Cowherd.”
Chen Fusheng smiled. “Is it possible that Fusheng is actually me?”
As he finished, he watched Wu Qiutong and Li Mei perform an impressive evolution of expressions, from doubt to shock.
