The uncle found the little girl's stubborn yet pitiful look quite amusing. "Hey, little girl, where did you get separated from your parents? They must be worried sick if they find you're missing. If you take this bus and leave, where can your parents find you?"
The little girl pursed her lips and said nothing. Her two hands were tightly twisted together, almost wrinkling the shabby and yellowed cotton-padded jacket.
The conductor was anxiously pacing back and forth. The bus was about to leave. If they delayed any longer, the other passengers would surely complain. The little girl stood there refusing to leave, and she couldn't just force her off the bus, so her tone became firm. "Little girl, our bus is leaving soon. If you don't have money for the ticket, you have to get off."
The little girl buried her head even lower.
The uncle seemed to have seen through the little girl's thoughts. He changed his tone. "Then let me ask you, is your home in this direction?"
The little girl nodded ever so slightly.
The uncle was an experienced person and immediately understood. So he straightened up. "Okay, I'll buy the ticket for her. If she doesn't know where to get off, she can just take the bus back."
This little girl must have been left behind by her parents and had no money to take the bus.
The conductor, who was sweating profusely with anxiety, immediately nodded gratefully again and again. "You're really a kind person. The little girl's parents are so careless. They'll surely thank you when they find out."
The uncle took out his money to buy the ticket, then told the little girl to sit in the frontmost seat so it would be convenient for her to get off later.
From beginning to end,
the little girl's mother didn't say a single word. Her eyes never left the son in her arms.
After sitting down,
the uncle took good care of the little girl. He even took out his own water and biscuits for her to fill her stomach. The little girl was a bit embarrassed, but the northeastern uncle was extremely enthusiastic and forced them into her hands. Soon, the little girl's hands were full.
Finally, the bus could depart.
The roar of the engine, accompanied by a strong and pungent smell of gasoline, made the bus body sway. The cramped carriage filled with carbon dioxide made people drowsy.
Li Chuchu tried to stay awake for a while, but soon closed her eyes.
Shen Yanshan carefully placed Li Chuchu's head on his shoulder. Then he tried to relax his muscles to make her sleep more comfortably.
When Li Chuchu opened her eyes again,
it was almost noon.
Seeing her awake, Shen Yanshan took out the biscuit he had been holding in his arms and stuffed it into her hand. "There's no hot water on the bus. You'll have to make do with this. We'll have a proper meal after we get off."
The smell in the carriage made Li Chuchu feel nauseous. Coupled with the smell of scallions in the biscuit, the feeling of nausea rushed straight to the top of her head. She waved her hand at Shen Yanshan, wishing he could take the biscuit as far away as possible.
Seeing Li Chuchu looking pale, Shen Yanshan frowned with concern. "Do you feel very uncomfortable? Let's open the window for some fresh air."
Taking a bus was much more tiring than taking a train. He never expected that Chuchu would get carsick.
Looking at her like this, Shen Yanshan felt worried. So he got up and asked the conductor for some warm water from the thermos and placed it beside Li Chuchu. "Drink some warm water first, then lean on my shoulder and sleep for a while. You might feel better after sleeping."
Shen Yanshan didn't get carsick, so he didn't quite understand how it felt. But seeing Li Chuchu looking listless, as haggard as a little white flower beaten by frost, he instinctively felt heartache and wanted to do something to relieve her discomfort.
Li Chuchu didn't want to say anything now. She just wanted to sleep.
At around three or four o'clock in the afternoon,
the conductor's loudspeaker sounded. "We've arrived at Ancheng. Passengers getting off at Ancheng, please line up to get off."
Li Chuchu opened her eyes groggily and vaguely heard the sound of an argument in the carriage.
"Just now the conductor asked for so long whose child it was and no one answered. Now that it's time to get off, you know to pick up the child?"
It seemed that the uncle was arguing with the little girl's mother.
Li Chuchu opened her eyes and listened to their voices.
The little girl's mother held her chin high. "I'm picking up my own child. What does it matter to you?"
"It doesn't matter to me. Then give me back the money for the ticket!"
The woman immediately got angry. "It's your own choice to give the money. My daughter is not old enough to buy a ticket. Why should I pay? She's not even 1.2 meters tall without her shoes on!"
The few people in the front were arguing fiercely.
The people in the back were eager to get off and could only keep urging those in the front.
The middle - aged man was arguing with the woman because he was indignant. He originally thought that the little girl's parents hadn't given her enough money to buy a ticket, so she had to stand on the bus alone. It turned out that the mother was on the bus all along, just watching. The little girl was almost kicked off the bus, but she remained silent.
The people in the back also scolded. "What kind of mother is this? She would even abandon her own daughter just to avoid buying a ticket. There really are such heartless mothers in this world."
"Maybe she already has a son, so it doesn't matter if she has a daughter or not."
"This woman is so shameless. She can do anything. Why does she even have children?"
Seeing that more and more people in the carriage were talking about her, the woman felt embarrassed. So she gave the little girl a hard twist on the arm, with a fierce look on her face. "Why didn't you tell me you had no money for the ticket just now? I've been so busy taking care of your younger brother. Don't you know how to say something? Are you mute?"
The little girl covered her arm in pain and took a step back.
Her eyes were red with grievance.
When she looked up, she saw her mother glaring at her fiercely, as if she were looking at an enemy.
She was so scared that she shrank back behind the seat.
The uncle couldn't bear to watch any longer. He said that the woman was taking her anger out on the little girl. Then he simply shut up.
The woman snorted and pulled the little girl's clothes and got off the bus.
...
When the crowd started to move forward, Li Chuchu lazily stretched and stood up.
Shen Yanshan didn't notice this episode on the bus. He just found them noisy. He carried two very large luggage bags in one hand and wrapped Li Chuchu in his arms with the other, squeezing through the crowd to get off the bus.
When Li Chuchu took the first breath of fresh air outside the carriage, she felt as if her soul was about to be purified. The air in the carriage must have been moderately polluted.
Shen Yanshan patted her on the back to help her catch her breath. The station was noisy, so he leaned close to her ear. "Didn't you say your uncle would come to pick us up? What does your uncle look like? Can you find him?"
Li Chuchu looked at the sea of people in front of her and fell into deep thought.
She wasn't sure if she could recognize her uncle at a glance.
Did the original owner have memories of her uncle in her mind?
Why couldn't she find them?
"Let's look for him first. If we can't find him, we'll find a public phone booth and call my grandpa to tell him we'll take a taxi back."
Shen Yanshan nodded.
He turned his head and saw something. His eyes twitched a few times.
Just when Li Chuchu was busy looking around, Shen Yanshan nudged her with his elbow.
"Chuchu, look. Is that your uncle?"
Li Chuchu looked in the direction he was pointing. In the crowd, there was a thin middle - aged man holding up a very eye - catching sign with a few big words on it - "Welcome Chuchu Home!"