Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“No way, Master Yu.”

Just then, a young man walked in from behind us and happened to overhear what we were saying. “Are you seriously going to do that mystical mumbo-jumbo? They’re just a few lousy stones. The station doesn’t go in for that stuff anymore. You’d better be careful the higher-ups don’t find out.”

The moment Zhu Xuan saw him, her expression soured. “What did Master Yu do? What is there to be afraid of the station finding out? Besides, as long as certain bigmouthed gossips don’t run off to the station and talk nonsense, the leaders aren’t that idle!”

The young man was clearly irritated after being snapped at by Zhu Xuan, but he couldn’t exactly make things difficult for a young woman, so he fixed his eyes on Master Yu instead. “If you ask me, Master Yu, you’re about at retirement age anyway. Once the expressway opens, you can retire with honor. There are only a few days left. Why bother worrying yourself over all this?”

Master Yu obviously had no desire to deal with him. He pulled out a cigarette and handed it to me, signaling for me to go outside and smoke with him.

Zhu Xuan, however, had no intention of letting the man off. She planted both hands on her hips and said, “Who said Master Yu is retiring? Some people sure know how to scheme! You think once Master Yu retires, you’ll get to move up? Why don’t you take a look at yourself first and see whether you’ve actually got the skills!”

I followed Master Yu outside for a smoke. Almost every driver coming and going took the initiative to greet him.

But most of them were young now.

After Master Yu finished his cigarette, he tossed the butt into the trash can and turned back to smile at me. “Old fellows like us are just like that Old Road. Maybe it really is time for us to be phased out.”

When we dragged Zhu Xuan out of the break room, the girl was still fuming.

She secretly told me that the annoying man just now was named Wu Zhe, and he was also a driver in their group.

He hadn’t even been here three years, yet he was always stirring up trouble at the station.

Master Yu had been an annual Outstanding Individual in their group for years, a model driver.

Wu Zhe could never get selected and was always getting complaints.

Instead of looking for the problem in himself, he always felt other people were blocking his path.

Usually, he prided himself on being part of the younger generation and looked down on the rules and customs of veteran drivers.

But his own driving was far from steady.

This time, with the new expressway opening and a number of passenger shuttle runs being added, he had set his sights on them early.

He couldn’t wait for Master Yu to retire as soon as possible. Maybe then he could even land himself the position of group leader.

At three-thirty in the afternoon, I boarded Master Yu’s bus as the very first passenger.

Zhu Xuan had specifically bought me a seat in the first row, beside the door.

Seats in this row were usually the last to be sold. If the bus wasn’t full, I could sit in the row by myself, which would also make it easier for me to handle anything that came up at any time.

At three-forty, passengers began boarding one after another.

Zhu Xuan had the initial number of tickets sold, which was still under thirty-seven, but there were always people who bought tickets at the last minute and got on board, so that number couldn’t be taken as final.

About five or six minutes later, the number of people boarding started to thin out.

Zhu Xuan also returned to the bus and began checking tickets.

“It’s thirty-three people right now,” Zhu Xuan whispered to me on purpose.

I turned to look down the carriage. Some passengers were putting away luggage, some were making phone calls. Nothing seemed off.

But when I turned back around, I saw a pregnant woman standing in front of the bus door.

She held on to the door and asked Master Yu, “Does this bus go to Yu Bridge?”

“It does!” Master Yu answered readily.

The pregnant woman asked again, “I haven’t bought a ticket yet. Can I get on first?”

“Of course. Give me your ID, and I’ll have the conductor buy one for you.”

With that, Master Yu quickly called Zhu Xuan over and asked her to help the pregnant woman onto the bus.

That made thirty-four people now, I counted silently. A number ending in four also meant the bus had to be weighed down.