The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Chapter 128 Going Back with You

After hanging up the phone, Wang Jie rushed back to the ticket office to wait for Zhou Yanruo. After ending his call with Jian Zheng and learning that his grandfather's condition was critical, he became even more anxious.

Wang Jie stared intently at the clock on the wall of the waiting hall, unconsciously counting silently in his mind as the second hand ticked. Time passed second by second until the clock struck six. The "dong dong" echo was almost drowned out in the noisy waiting hall, but Wang Jie silently counted six in his mind as the clock struck.

Just then, a slender girl walked briskly toward him, carrying a heavy suitcase in her left hand and a large cloth bag in her right. The weight in both hands was clearly a heavy burden for her.

When Wang Jie saw that it was Zhou Yanruo, he quickly went forward to take the luggage and bag from her hands. "Ruoruo, did you get the tickets? Why did you bring so much stuff?"

Zhou Yanruo shook her hands, which were red from being tied up, and said quickly, "My mom found someone. I'm going to the ticket office to get the approval slip. You wait here for a bit." Before she finished speaking, she turned and ran behind the ticket window.

About five or six minutes later, Zhou Yanruo ran back. Without even speaking to Wang Jie, she directly knocked on the partition of the ticket window.

With a "whoosh," the partition was pulled open, and an impatient voice came from inside the ticket window: "What are you banging on? Can't you see the sign says 'Tickets Sold Out'?"

Zhou Yanruo didn't reply, but handed over a note directly, "Hello, I need two soft sleeper tickets for the 7:50 train to Haicheng."

The ticket seller at the window took the note, checked it for a moment, and confirmed, "Two soft sleeper tickets, departing for Haicheng at 7:50, is that right?"

“Yes,” Zhou Yanruo replied.

"Two tickets cost 680 yuan in total," the ticket seller said.

Zhou Yanruo quickly took out the money she had prepared beforehand from her pocket and handed it in.

After the ticket seller checked the tickets and confirmed they were correct, her attitude improved noticeably. She said in a friendly tone, "Perfect, please take your tickets." With that, she handed over the two tickets.

Zhou Yanruo took the tickets and finally breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to Wang Jie and said, "Okay, the tickets are bought. You don't need to be so anxious now."

Watching Zhou Yanruo efficiently complete the ticket purchase process, with almost no one able to help, Wang Jie finally asked, "Did you just buy a direct ticket to Haicheng?"

Zhou Yanruo took a bottle of water out of her bag, took two big gulps, and said after catching her breath, "Yeah, I'm so thirsty. Well, only this direct express train has tickets left, and only soft sleeper berths. But the station has a rule that you need to have a certain administrative rank to buy one. My mom found someone and got a special approval slip to get it."

"Thank you, Professor Yang," Wang Jie said softly, then asked, "Why did you buy two tickets?"

“I’ll go back with you.” Seeing Wang Jie’s surprised look, Zhou Yanruo added, “My mom agreed. She also said that if you need any help, just call her anytime.”

Wang Jie didn't know how to express his gratitude, so he simply repeated, "Thank you, Professor Yang. Well, I'll return the money for your train ticket."

Zhou Yanruo shook her head and waved her hands, saying, "No need, this money was given to me by my mother, and I will pay her back in the future."

“But you’re just a student, how can you afford to pay me back?” Wang Jie insisted.

“I have New Year’s money, so let’s not be so calculating,” Zhou Yanruo said with a slight pout. “We still have time, let’s find a place to get something to eat. I brought some food, including bread, eggs, and snacks.”

The two arrived at the platform where the train was about to depart and found a relatively quiet corner in the waiting room to sit down.

Zhou Yanruo rummaged through her large cloth bag and pulled out two Yili jam breads and two boiled eggs, asking Wang Jie, "Have a bread, and I'll peel an egg for you, how about that?"

Wang Jie was worried about her grandfather's condition. Although she was hungry, she had no appetite. "No, I can't eat."

“That bread might be a bit dry, so I brought some snacks, including cakes, sachima, and gold coin chocolates. These are delicious; they’re my favorite.” Zhou Yanruo continued rummaging through the food as she pulled out more.

"Don't take any more, I really can't eat right now. How did you prepare so much food in such a short time?" Wang Jie asked curiously.

“These are all snacks I have at home. I was worried I wouldn’t have time to eat on the road, so I brought everything I could,” Zhou Yanruo explained, while peeling a boiled egg and handing it to Wang Jie. “Have an egg to tide you over. Get a good night’s sleep after you get on the bus, and you can eat something else if you get hungry.”

Wang Jie obediently took the egg and reluctantly ate a few bites.

Fifteen minutes before departure, boarding began. As soon as the announcement came on, the waiting room became noisy. Passengers grabbed their bags and formed long queues at the ticket gates, all eager to board and grab the limited space on the luggage racks.

Wang Jie quickly got up and pulled Zhou Yanruo to join the queue.

Zhou Yanruo said, "Pick your bag and come with me." With that, she picked up the cloth bag containing food, walked straight past the queue, and headed towards the side of the ticket gate. After showing their tickets, they were allowed through and entered the passageway leading to the platform.

They quickly found their carriage and boarded. Wang Jie then realized that the sleeper carriage was almost empty; there were very few people in the entire carriage, and it wasn't full at all.

He had been worried that if the carriages were as crowded as when he arrived, Zhou Yanruo, a young girl, would suffer a lot. Now, seeing how comfortable the soft sleeper was, Wang Jie felt a little relieved.

After settling in, Wang Jie suddenly remembered that the train went directly to Haicheng, but he would need to transfer to a long-distance bus to get back to Xichuan. He regretted not contacting Jian Zheng at the train station to ask him to check the bus schedule from Haicheng to Xichuan for tomorrow. Although the train journey to Haicheng only took 17 hours, what would he do if he missed the bus in Haicheng? Thinking of this, Wang Jie couldn't help but frown.

Zhou Yanruo sat on the bed, pointed to the bed opposite her, and said softly, "You can sleep in that one. It's just the two of us in this private room."

Seeing that Wang Jie did not respond, she turned to look at him and found that he looked worried. She asked, "What's wrong? Are you worried about Grandpa? Don't worry too much, we will see Grandpa at this time tomorrow."

Wang Jie frowned and said, "I was thinking, this train goes directly to Haicheng, it doesn't stop in Xichuan. When we get to Haicheng we have to transfer to a long-distance bus, what if we miss it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanruo suddenly realized and said, "I was so busy just now that I forgot to tell you. My mom has already made arrangements. One of her students works in Haicheng and will send a car to pick us up from the train station and then take us directly to Xichuan. It will only take about two hours to drive back to Xichuan, so it will be quick."

Upon hearing this, Wang Jie was filled with gratitude, but he was even more at a loss for words.