Whether it's snow-capped mountains or lakes, deserts or oceans, I want to travel to every place, see all the world's scenery, and experience all the vicissitudes of life.
But that was just the dream of a naive kid who had read too many martial arts novels.
All dreams eventually end.
As I boarded the train heading north, I couldn't help but feel a little excited.
This was my second time traveling alone. The farthest I'd ever been before was to S City, where my best friend from high school goes to university. It was supposed to be a happy occasion, but like a coward, I broke out in a full-body allergic reaction after just the first meal, covered in big red bumps. After spending two days in my classmate's dorm, I sheepishly slunk back to N City.
The trains to Beijing are all night trains, departing at 9:30 PM and arriving around 8:00 AM the next morning. My dad, who sponsored my travel expenses, specially bought me a comfortable soft sleeper ticket. Later, I checked and found out that the soft sleeper ticket was more expensive than flying! I should have just flown; it would have been faster.
I drifted off to sleep until dawn when music suddenly started playing in the carriage. It was a solemn and historically rich piece of music with an extremely beautiful melody. Just listening to that music, I felt as if I could see the solemn and magnificent Forbidden City.
"It sounds so beautiful..." I couldn't help but exclaim.
"It's S.E.S.'s 'The Forbidden City'." The voice that suddenly came from the upper bunk startled me.
There were only two people in the soft sleeper room, me and the person in the upper bunk. When I boarded the train, the person was already lying on the bed, covered with a blanket and asleep, so I couldn't even tell whether the person sleeping above me was male or female.
Suddenly, the upper bunk creaked and groaned. The person on top tossed and turned for a while, then thudded a large bag down.
"Whoa—" I exclaimed, sitting up abruptly. "What...what are you doing?"
A young man wearing a baseball cap, whose face was almost obscured, jumped down from the upper bunk. "We've arrived in Beijing! Are you planning to take another nap and then take the train back to H City?"
"Have we arrived in Beijing?"
"Never ridden this bus before? As soon as that music plays, we're in Beijing!"
"Oh... I see!" I suddenly realized.
The young man slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out. When he reached the foot of the bed, he turned back to look at me, and I stared back at him with wide eyes.
"Never been to Beijing before? Alone?"
I shook my head warily. "My family is all in the hard sleeper berths; they'll be here to find me soon!"
"Oh!" The young man nodded. "I was thinking of giving you a ride if you didn't know the way, but it seems that's not necessary. Goodbye!"
"Goodbye!" I waved to him solemnly.
Before I left, my mom told me not to talk to strangers.
Standing in front of Beijing Railway Station, looking at the unfamiliar and vast city, I suddenly realized, how can I find Qu Ling?
Oh, right, give him a call!
I took out my phone, dialed a number, and it connected.
The line was open, but no one answered.
I kept calling and calling, relentlessly calling, until finally, I think I drained Qu Ling's phone battery and it was completely dead.
What am I going to do? I can't find Qu Ling, I'm completely lost in Beijing.
After calmly thinking it over, I remembered that I had a good friend from university who was from Beijing and had returned to Beijing after graduation. I still had her number in my phone. I thought I should contact her first, and then slowly look for Qu Ling after I settled down.
Once I figured out a solution, I immediately called that classmate. As soon as she heard that I was in Beijing, she screamed on the other end of the phone and pretended to faint. After a while, she finally said, "Where are you? I'll come pick you up!"
"No need to trouble yourself. You're at work, right? Where's your company? I'll come find you."
Can you find it?
"If you can't find me, can't you just take a taxi?"
"Okay, come to the ** Building on ** Road, ** District. Call me when you get there! Yuanyuan, I've missed you so much!"
"Hehe, see you in a bit!"
Although I told my classmates I would take a taxi, my dad sponsored my travel expenses, and I didn't know how long I would be staying in Beijing, so I didn't dare to spend money recklessly and couldn't bear to take a taxi. After studying the map for a long time, I decided to use public transportation such as buses and subways to get to my destination.
I thought Beijing's roads were as simple as those in H and N cities, but I got completely lost as soon as I stepped out of the train station. Not only could I not find the roads on the map, but I couldn't even tell which way was which.
I asked someone at the intersection for directions, and a kind older woman told me I had to take bus route **, then transfer to route **, then transfer to route ** again, and finally take route ** again. She explained it in great detail, but I was completely confused and just nodded repeatedly. By the time I realized what she meant, the kind woman had already left with her shopping basket.
There's no other way, I'll just take the bus for now and ask the driver for directions when we get to the stop.
After finally getting on the bus, I stood in the carriage like a round turtle, carrying a large travel bag. Looking at the glamorous women around me, I felt even more ashamed of myself.
At one stop, a few young men with curly hair and amber eyes boarded through the front door. They looked around the bus and finally stood a short distance from me, spreading out and surrounding me. Although I found it odd, I didn't think much of it. How they stood was their business; I just needed to keep myself upright and not slumped over!
When I arrived at my stop, I stood early at the back door with my bag. A few young men with exotic features followed me there, apparently also getting off. I kindly moved aside, but one of them didn't move to the front; he remained behind me. I couldn't help but think to myself, "What a gentleman!"
A moment later, I felt so ashamed of my own praise that I wanted to slap myself.
I got off the bus less than ten seconds ago, and when I tried to buy a bottle of water from a roadside vendor, I discovered that my wallet and phone were gone.
Without a doubt, those foreign youths I praised for their gentlemanly manners were pickpockets! They were following me because they had their eyes on my wallet and saw me as their target!
A bead of sweat immediately appeared on my forehead. I quickly looked around and saw that the four young men had just crossed the street and were heading into the alley on the other side. I tightened my backpack straps and mustered all my strength to chase after them across the street.
After a frantic chase, I finally caught up with the four people in the alley. Hearing the hurried footsteps behind me, the four turned around in surprise and were astonished to see me wearing an extra-thick down jacket and carrying a turtle-shell travel bag.
None of the four showed any sign of panic. They looked at each other, then turned and continued walking deeper into the alley.
"Give me back my wallet!" I shouted after them. "I'm poor! My wallet contains all my possessions. If you had any conscience, you should steal from rich people, not target someone like me!"
The four ignored me and walked forward at a leisurely pace, while I followed closely behind them with the tortoise shell on my back.