Coincidentally, the car met the Mercedes-Benz S50 on the road not long after leaving Wuzhou City. I don't know whether it was for safety reasons or the people in the car didn't like to drive too fast, the S50 drove slowly on the asphalt road, more like watching the scenery rather than rushing. Wen Liang signaled Chang Cheng to slow down and lower the window when passing by. After a while, the other party also opened the rear window, revealing Xiang Ziyu's beautiful face.
Wen Liang smiled and nodded as a greeting. Just as he was about to close the window and leave, he saw Xiang Ziyu pointing to the roadside and making a gesture to stop the car.
Um
Wen Liang was a little surprised, but he still asked Chang Cheng to pull over, and the Mercedes-Benz S50 stopped. Xiang Ziyu changed her clothes, but the exquisite workmanship revealed a low-key luxury. Her long black hair was simply tied behind her head with a hairband, revealing a small part of her white neck, and she was as elegant as a swan.
"Mr. Wen, what a coincidence, we meet again."
Ever since that encounter in the lobby, Wen Liang learned that Xiang Ziyu was also staying in the same hotel, but he was busy carrying out operations against the Shenyu Company and rarely went out, so they never met again.
"Yes, I didn't expect that Miss Xiang would go out of town today as well." Wen Liang smiled at Assistant Liu who followed behind, and turned his gaze back to Xiang Ziyu's face, waiting for her to speak.
"Mr. Wen, are you going back to Jiangdong?"
The two had only met a few times, so it was very abrupt to ask someone where they were going. Wen Liang couldn't figure out her intention and smiled, "Yes, we've been out for so many days, it's time to go back. Where are you going, Miss Xiang?"
Perhaps it was because of the glare of the sun, Xiang Ziyu narrowed her eyes, and a few faint wrinkles suddenly appeared between her delicate eyebrows, making her look very cute. Combined with her beautiful face, it made people feel dazed.
"I am going the same way as Mr. Wen, and we are also heading to Jiangdong. But we are new here, and Old Wei is not very familiar with the environment. Can I have the audacity to follow Mr. Wen?"
Oh, she came to Suhai first and then to Jiangdong, and she was in such a hurry. Who is the background of this Miss Xiang who looks either rich or noble
Wen Liang was puzzled in his heart, but he remained calm on the surface. He laughed enthusiastically and said, "It's really an honor!"
After that, he said a few more words. Xiang Ziyu and his group were going to Guanshan, and Wen Liang also had to pass through Guanshan to return to Qingzhou. So they drove towards Jiangdong one after the other at a speed much slower than the average speed of all vehicles on the road.
There was no conversation along the way. When they arrived at Changsi, the sun was setting. If it was only Wenliang, they could buy some water and food on the roadside, and then take advantage of the cool evening breeze to travel overnight. With Changcheng around, they didn't have to worry about safety. They had traveled to Jiangdong and Suhai many times, and had never spent a night on the road. But this time they brought Xiang Ziyu and others, who were obviously strong and might not be able to endure the hardship of a long journey.
The Audi stopped by the roadside, Wen Liang got out, waited for the Mercedes to get closer, and knocked on the window. Xiang Ziyu was indeed quite tired, so he pulled himself together and asked, "Mr. Wen, what's wrong?"
Wen Liang pointed to a place not far ahead and said, "Miss Xiang, I'm afraid we won't be able to reach Guanshan before dark. We have two choices now. One is that there is a service station a few kilometers ahead where we can take a short break and have some dinner, and then continue on our way. Or we can drive straight ahead, get off the highway at Changsi City, go into the city and find a hotel to stay the night, and then leave early tomorrow morning. What do you think?"
For Xiang Ziyu, it would be best to find a comfortable hotel to rest for a night, but since she had said before that she would go with Wen Liang and the others, she naturally couldn't take care of herself too much. She smiled and said, "Everything is up to Mr. Wen."
Wen Liang had wasted too much time in Su Hai and was eager to go home. He didn't care about being gentle with women and said, "Then let's go to the service station to have a meal and rest for a while, and then we will continue on our way."
As a major highway artery connecting the north and the south, the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway was fully opened to traffic in the mid-1990s. The Jiangdong section and the Suhai section were opened to traffic later, so the infrastructure was not perfect. There were only two service areas on the road of more than 1,000 kilometers, which was absolutely impossible to miss. Moreover, these two service areas were not private enterprises that integrated catering, accommodation, refueling, and maintenance after market-oriented reforms in later generations. Instead, they were pure state-owned enterprises that were planned, designed, and constructed by the Department of Transportation, and then handed over to the highway management department for operation and management. In this era, once the state-owned enterprises were mentioned, the service level could be imagined.
However, no matter how bad the service is, they have a monopoly. There are so many people driving sports cars from all over the country. If you don't want to starve to death, you have to accept it. So when Wen Liang and his friends drove in, there were already quite a few vehicles parked in the wide parking area, mainly large trucks such as Dongfeng Jiefang, and occasionally a few small cars, mostly official cars.
The main part of the service area is just a row of bungalows with seven or eight rooms, which are much larger than ordinary houses. On the left side of the room is the gas station and toilet. There are five rooms for accommodation, with large bunk beds. One room can accommodate nearly 20 people, but a letter of introduction from the unit or a certificate from the police station is required. However, this rule is in name only and no one strictly enforces it. The catering department is in the small room on the far right, which has four wooden tables and long benches. The food served is mainly steamed buns and noodles. Even if there are many people, you don’t have to wait too long, because one pot can hold ten bowls of noodles. It is a real big pot meal, so you don’t have to worry about the taste.
However, only four tables obviously could not meet the dining needs, so there were more than a dozen tables placed in a messy manner in the open space outside. Most of them were long-distance drivers. It was midsummer, and there were no such things to pay attention to when going out. They took off their shirts, bare-chested, wearing shorts and slippers, and either ate vegetarian noodles in big mouthfuls or played rock-paper-scissors while drinking beer. There were also a few women among the men, who should be family members of the car or hitchhikers, who were dealing with the verbal harassment of the surrounding men with either embarrassment or indifference. These people almost occupied most of the tables, forming a huge circle. Outside the circle, there was a young couple at a table with four little girls. The oldest was only six or seven years old, and the youngest was still breastfeeding. There were two woven bags filled with gifts next to the table legs, and they were dressed very simply. There was another table with four or five people wearing shirts and trousers sitting on it, with a black leather briefcase on the table. In addition to the mutton noodles with a bit of meaty smell, two plates of boiled peanuts and cold lotus root slices made them look classy at once. From time to time, they frowned and looked at the noisy drivers here, with a look of contempt and disdain in their eyes.
This was the most common scene during travels in the 1990s. It was commonplace for Wen Liang and Chang Cheng, but for Xiang Ziyu, who saw this for the first time, it might not be a very pleasant experience.
Assistant Liu stood outside the crowd, smelling all kinds of strange smells. He couldn't help but frowned and said angrily, "Is this the resting place you mentioned? It's so dirty!"
Wen Liang smiled but didn't say anything. Chang Cheng had long since disliked this Assistant Liu and said sarcastically, "Yes, this is how we poor people eat and stay. Miss Liu is of high status, so she will be wronged today."
Assistant Liu's face flushed with anger. Just as she was about to retort, Xiang Ziyu stopped her and said, "Liu Ya, apologize to Mr. Wen!"
"Humph!" Liu Ya turned her head away and muttered in Cantonese: "Uncle!"
Wen Liang was a little amused. In his previous life, he often went to Lingnan and Mingzhu. He didn't know much Cantonese, but he could still understand simple words. He also understood that people in Mingzhu at that time looked down on mainlanders and often called them "Achan" and "Uncle" with discriminatory names, just like the mainlanders called Hong Kong people "Hongchan" in the future.
It is a very strange thing to say that the Chinese are not good at foreign wars, but good at domestic wars. In particular, regional discrimination, which greatly lowers the quality of the average person, is fully demonstrated. Almost every province has its own "exclusive name", and some provinces even look down on each other. Take Suzhou and Hai as an example. Southern Jiangsu and northern Jiangsu are two different worlds. The origin of this behavior is no longer traceable, but it has been carried forward by some people who don't know whether it is because the resistance of the brain circuit is too high or the limbic system of the hypothalamus has been stagnant for a long time. They are not ashamed but proud of it.
"Liu Ya, apologize to Mr. Wen!"
If Xiang Ziyu had a hint of affection in his reprimand last time, this time he was truly angry. Liu Ya pouted, tears glistening in her aggrieved eyes, and lowered her head and said, "I'm sorry!"
Wen Liang actually didn't mind. With his broad mind, he wouldn't make things difficult for a girl. However, this Liu Ya might not just be Xiang Ziyu's helper. She seemed to be spoiled because of her favor.
“It’s serious!”
Wen Liang accepted Liu Ya's apology with a smile, because at this moment he was not representing himself, but the millions of mainlanders. He turned to Chang Cheng and said, "Go get a clean table, buy some instant noodles and ham, and by the way, buy a few bottles of purified water."
Due to the overcrowding, there were no vacant dining tables, but this little thing did not pose a problem for Chang Cheng. He walked to a table where three people were sitting and asked them to share the table with the diners at the table next to them. He paid for it with five bottles of beer, and then cleared the table and chairs and moved them over.
"Miss Xiang, please take a seat. The conditions here are simple, so please bear with me."
Xiang Ziyu hesitated for a moment, knowing that he couldn't be so polite outside, so he smiled apologetically at Wen Liang. Just as he was about to sit down, Liu Ya took out a tissue from her bag and wiped the bench again. At the same time, she glared at Wen Liang, looking very angry and unconvinced.
Wen Liang deliberately didn't look at her. After everyone sat down, he asked, "Miss Xiang, are you from Mingzhu?"
Xiang Ziyu tilted her head and asked curiously, "How did Mr. Wen know that... Oh, I'm sorry, Liu Ya was so rude just now." She was very smart and instantly realized that Wen Liang understood what Liu Ya said just now, "uncle", and guessed that she was from Mingzhu.
Seeing this beautiful lady who had always been graceful and elegant reveal a somewhat embarrassed look, Wen Liang was also happy and said, "It doesn't matter, it's just a title. In fact, I feel like I'm a generation older than you, so it's still a good feeling."
The latter part of the words were said to Liu Ya. She also heard Wen Liang's teasing and felt even more ashamed and angry. She turned her head away without saying a word.
After a while, Chang Cheng bought instant noodles with ham and asked Dawei to help brew them. As for the purified water, it was indeed produced by Yishan. Wen Liang thought to himself: Should I give some bonus to Yishan's marketing department after I go back
"Boss, I think the mutton noodles here are good, would you like a bowl?"
Wen Liang nodded. With their physique, they couldn't survive a night just by eating instant noodles. He said, "Go ahead, cut two pounds of mutton, and order some steamed buns."
As for whether it is clean or not, he is not as particular as Ziyu!
"Okay!"
When the noodles were ready and served, Xiang Ziyu and Liu Ya had only eaten a small half of their instant noodles. Liu Ya was pounding the noodles while eating, as if she was treating the instant noodles as an object of attack, while Xiang Ziyu was eating in small bites. Among the people Wen Liang knew, this one had the most graceful manners while eating.
"fragrant!"
Chang Cheng ate noodles slurpingly. He didn't care whether the person sitting opposite him was a beauty or a distinguished guest. It was his own business to eat comfortably. However, this way of eating made Da Wei on the opposite side stare eagerly. He couldn't help swallowing a few mouthfuls of saliva, but he didn't dare to say anything about the instant noodles his young lady was eating.
While they were eating, they heard some quarrels not far away. Wen Liang looked up and saw that the woman who had been breastfeeding was being dragged to a remote dark corner by a fat driver holding a beer bottle. The woman seemed to be struggling, while her husband, holding the baby, sat woodenly at the table.
Don't move! (To be continued)