Chapter 397 - 410: Arrival
A bowl of douzhi’er had rendered An Ning and An Guoping completely silent.
On either side of the low table, the siblings stared at each other, their expressions as pained as if they had swallowed razor blades.
"Sis, you have some more."
An Guoping pushed his bowl of douzhi’er toward An Ning. She stuck out a hand to block it, pressing firmly against the rim.
"I’m the older sister. I should be the one yielding to my younger brother."
"You’re really my sister, alright."
"You’re too kind."
The siblings withdrew their hands in unison. They tacitly picked up the fried cakes and crispy dough rings beside them. As for the two bowls of douzhi’er, they just couldn’t stomach them.
After finishing their food and paying the bill, the two only voiced their opinions on the douzhi’er once they were a good distance away.
"Sis, I think it smelled exactly like Big Brother’s socks after he’d been shoveling pig manure all day and then soaked them in water for a few days—"
GACK— GACK—
An Ning bent over, leaning against a wall, and retched uncontrollably.
"An Guoping, you’re asking for it!"
"Sorry, sorry, GACK—"
An Guoping had meant to apologize, but seeing An Ning retching, combined with the sound and his own vivid imagination, he started throwing up even more violently than she was.
Their breakfast, which had barely warmed their stomachs, was now back out again.
After they were done, the siblings sat on the curb, looking deathly pale.
A constant stream of pedestrians passed in front of them, occasionally shooting them strange looks.
"Sis, should we go?"
"No. I’m thinking of getting you a begging bowl."
An Ning joked as she prepared to get up.
"You have hands and feet, you’re young, you could be doing anything but this!"
An old lady carrying a vegetable basket looked at An Ning and An Guoping with disdain. While scolding them, she took out two steamed buns and forcefully shoved them into their hands.
"Eat up. There’s a construction site up ahead. With hands and feet, you can do anything and not starve. But you can’t be doing this!"
The old lady wasn’t just quick-tongued; her legs were surprisingly nimble too. An Ning held up the steamed bun, trying to give it back, but the old lady pulled a long face and lectured, "You can’t even afford to eat, what’s the point of saving face? Just take it! It’s not like I can’t spare two steamed buns."
The old lady, probably afraid An Ning would try to return them again, clutched her basket and ran off.
Each holding a steamed bun, the siblings stood on the unfamiliar street, looked at each other, smiled, and shouted in unison, "Thank you!"
Hearing their thanks, the fleeing old lady broke into a huge grin. ’Another two lost youths saved today,’ she thought.
An Ning and An Guoping each took their large steamed bun and began to eat, savoring the sweet taste.
The buns weren’t pure white but a slightly dark yellow, made from whole wheat. With each bite, the more they chewed, the sweeter it became.
"This steamed bun is delicious. It’s so sweet."
"The bun tastes sweet because substances in the wheat have a chemical reaction with your saliva, making it sweeter the more you chew."
After An Ning delivered this casual science lesson to An Guoping, she received a speechless look in return.
"I’m imparting knowledge to you."
An Ning walked in front with An Guoping following behind. After finishing their buns in a few bites, they found the right bus and got on.
The train station must have been the first stop on the route, because when they boarded, there were still empty seats. They each took one and waited for the bus to depart.
Three minutes later, the bus driver started the engine. The conductor stood by the door, collecting fares or checking monthly passes from people who got on at each stop and shouting at them to move to the back.
Before they had gone two stops, the bus was getting more and more crowded.
An old man steadily made his way from the front and stood next to An Ning. His eyes scanned the bus before finally settling on her.
"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH— COUGH, COUGH, COUGH— Excuse me, young lady. I’m getting old."
"Oh dear— my legs are just not what they used to be. Don’t mind me."
The old man stood beside An Ning, swaying back and forth as if he couldn’t keep his balance.
It wasn’t that An Ning didn’t want to give up her seat; she just didn’t want to give it up *like this*.
This old man was clearly a master of his craft. He was using a tactic of feigning retreat to advance, playing on her sense of guilt.
Sure enough, after the old man spoke, several onlookers who couldn’t bear to watch any longer started playing the hero.
"Young lady, give the old gentleman your seat."
"Exactly... You’re young. What’s the harm in standing for a bit?"
One after another, more and more people chimed in. The play-acting old man, however, repeatedly waved his hands as if to dissuade them, but his incessant coughing prevented him from getting a single word out.
With her spiritual power as a cheat, An Ning could perceive the shifts in the old man’s emotions with perfect accuracy.
Behind An Ning, An Guoping was about to stand up and offer his seat, but after seeing what his sister was doing, he sat right back down.
An Ning the blind girl made her reappearance.
An Ning’s pupils went slack and unfocused. She fumbled with one hand along the seat and window to stand up. Even more miraculously, she pulled a collapsible stick from her bag.
With a single fluid motion, she flicked open the walking cane and began tapping the air with her other hand.
"I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry! I can’t see, I didn’t realize you were an elder!"
"I’ll get up right now. Please, you take the seat. You sit."
The moment An Ning stood up, everyone fell silent. One of the people who had been lecturing her curiously waved a hand in front of her eyes and saw that there was truly no reaction at all.
"Oh, my, sit down, quick, sit down."
"That’s right, you sit, you sit. Don’t you stand up."
The bystanders’ change of heart was faster than a tornado.
Behind her, An Guoping gave his sister countless thumbs-ups in his mind. ’My sister is incredible!’
"I really can stand, it’s fine. You’re surely an elder, I can’t—"
An Ning insisted on giving up her seat, and the crowd that had been lecturing her now turned their gaze onto the old man. He had stopped coughing and said with an awkward smile, "You sit, child. You sit."
The old man had thought he’d picked an easy target, but she turned out to be blind. ’What rotten luck,’ he thought.
He had wanted to pull the same trick again, but it would be too difficult to control the situation now, so he gave up.
Persuaded by everyone, An Ning finally sat down again.
The bus stopped at every station. A wave of people would get on, a wave would get off; coming and going, going and coming.
The old man who had tried to pressure An Ning into giving up her seat finally got off after standing for five stops. His legs were nimble, and he walked off at a brisk pace, hoisting a sack of rice on his shoulder.
An Ning watched the old man’s sprightly figure through the window, unable to understand the way such people thought.
Do people’s minds change when they get old? Or had his character always been this way, even when he was young?
An Ning pulled her gaze away. After transferring to another bus midway, they finally arrived near Beijing University.
With bags on their backs and bags on their fronts, the two of them, like heavily burdened snails, finally reached the gates of Beijing University.
"When did Zhou Xiaoshan and the others say they were coming?"
"I think they got here yesterday."
An Ning nodded. Gazing at the stately gates, she said to An Guoping, "Little brother, your big sister has some words of wisdom for you."
"What a coincidence, Sis. I have some words for you, too."
The siblings’ twin-like synchronicity was on full display at that moment. They both opened their mouths at the same time.
"Study hard and improve every day."
"Be careful when you get into a fight. You have to pay up if you kill someone."