The green train back in the 90s was very different than the high-speed rail in the future. First of all, the air quality was awful. They had barely just sat down when those on the side started smoking and eating breakfast. Some of them even took their shoes off. The messy hallway was saturated with the smell of body odor, stinky feet, and cigarette smoke along with the smell of food.

Shu Yan got close to a small window and took a breath. Luckily, the windows could be opened. Otherwise, she just might vomit.

Shu Yan had purchased the map of the entire country and studied it before their departure. She had decided that their destination would be City Nan when they departed City Xi.

She was thirty years old in her original life, but she would not consider herself as someone very experienced. She moved back home after graduating college and moved back to the college city after two years. Even the job that she had was not a very challenging one with an income that was just about enough to cover all of her expenses. She had gone through her life aimlessly.

If it was just her, it didn't matter where she went. But now that she has two kids in tow, she must put them first when she made any decisions.

She had picked the city which she attended college in. Mainly because she was already familiar with that place. Even though where she was now was a parallel universe of where she was from, the history wasn't really that different. It was still the same earth and the same country. The location names might be different, but the geographical location was the same.

There were many variations when it came to small details, but not much in terms of big directions. For example, City Nan was still a super tier one city. It has the same geographical advantages that it offered; nothing could change that. The details within City Nan might have altered, for example, the subway routes might be different, or some places were to be taken down in her own world, but not in this one.

Of course, these were just Shu Yan's speculations. It could be that this world wasn't even that much different than her own. What she knew for certain was that she could just buy a few houses in City Nan randomly and when the wave of force eviction takes place later on, she'd be compensated with ten or twenty of them in return...

The cost of houses in City Nan would become astronomical in the future. If she invested in real estate now, all she needed to do was to stay home and count her money. How exciting would that be?

"Mommy, I want to pee," said Ye Tianbao softly.

Perhaps because he was still very traumatized from the last time he saw Ye Zhiqiang, he had been behaving very well lately. A noisy child was a headache, but when they are too quiet, one would worry that something was wrong with them. As the saying goes, kids were placed on earth to collect the debt that you owed them. Shu Yan believed that saying deeply now.

Public safety wasn't very good back in those days. Shu Yan dared not leave Ye Jingjing at the seat by herself. Carrying Ye Tianbao in one arm and holding Ye Jingjing's hand with her other, they headed toward the bathroom.

"Mom, our bag?" Ye Jingjing wanted to grab their bag.

"No need. It is just a few old clothes inside. Let's go." Everything that mattered was in her inner pocket.

They didn't have a lot of luggage with them; just the one bag with the old clothes of the three of them. She had thought about buying some new clothes for her children, but things happened and she was distracted. Then she figured they'd be leaving City Xi soon, and it was already difficult enough to have two children in tow. They might as well pack light. As long as she has money, she could buy them new clothes after they have settled down in City Nan.

As for herself, she had no plans to buy new clothes in the next six months. The first item on her to-do list was to lose weight. She would buy new clothes after she had lost some weight. There was no reason to be wasteful.

After Ye Tianbao was done with the bathroom, Shu Yan had Ye Jingjing went and used it too. It wasn't easy to do anything with two children in tow, going to the bathroom was even worse.

Sitting across from Shu Yan was a very honest looking middle-aged couple. They looked to be in their fifties. The man was quiet, but the woman was very chatty.

"Hi, sister. Where is the kids' father? How come he wasn't with you?"

Shu Yan's heart dropped. As a woman with two kids, she was definitely the prime target of human trafficker. She must be cautious. People were difficult to read; one couldn't be too careful.

Shu Yan smiled calmly, "Their father works in City Ning. He said he misses the kids and had me take a trip with them."

"City Ning is a good place. What does he do? He must make good money. How else would he ask you to take a trip. A round trip there is not cheap," said the woman very matter-of-factly.

"He worked too hard and didn't even come home for the new year, which was why he misses the kids now and had me take them to him." Shu Yan stroked Ye Tianbao's head slightly. Leaning close to him, she whispered into his ear, "Don't say anything."

Ye Tianbao was so frightened that he pushed himself against Shu Yan's chest and Ye Jingjing tightly held onto the corner of her mother's clothes.

Children were very sensitive; they could sense the adults' emotions.

"That is true. We all work hard for our kids, right?" chuckled the woman as she looked at her two children. "You two kids are so pretty. The daughter is a bit skinny though. Here, these are my homemade hardboiled eggs, take a couple."

Shu Yan felt even more alarmed. She smiled lightly and said, "No, no need." She declined, "We brought our own food." She took a bag of hardboiled eggs out from her pocket and gave them two in return. "Our family made these for us. I worry that they won't keep in weather like this. Here, try some of mine."

"We have ours too. Save them for the children."

The two pushed the eggs back and forth and finally all four of the eggs ended up on the floor, "Aiya! I'm... so sorry. Here, I'll give you a couple more."

"No need. You young people are so concerned about hygiene. The shell is still there. All the same after you peeled them." The woman waved her hand, picked up the eggs, peeled them, and ate them with her man.

Were they not crooks? Was she being too overly cautious? It didn't matter. It was better to be suspicious rather than regretting after something bad had happened.

Shu Yan smiled embarrassedly, "My two children have always had sensitive stomachs."

"Oh, if they have sensitive stomachs, you need to have that taken care of. It's not fun when they get sick." After the woman had finished her hardboiled eggs, she pulled out quite a bit of dates from her pocket, "We grew these dates ourselves. Whatever we couldn't finish, we sun dried them. These are good for both women and children. Have some, they are very sweet."

"We have those too." Shu Yan felt that that woman was too overly friendly.

Right then, a train attendant walked over and Shu Yan quickly asked him, "Hi, comrade. Can you tell me if there's still any room in the sleeper car?"

They bought their tickets in a hurry and weren't able to get the tickets for the sleeper car. Shu Yan originally had thought that it was just ten or so hours, so they would just suck it up. But now she wanted to see if she could switch to a sleeper car.

"I'm sorry. I'm not sure either," said the train attendant as he shook his head.

"Please, comrade, help me out. Look at my two kids. They are not well," said Shu Yan as she gently nudged Ye Jingjing. Ye Jingjing was a smarty pants, she immediately coughed and feigned an ill look. "Can you please take a look for me? I'll pay the difference."

She knew that trains would usually keep a few empty slots in the sleeper car. They were generally used for emergencies or for favors but difficult for the general public to purchase. After all, this body had died once and wasn't in good shape. And she had two children with her. The little girl was small and the kid she was carrying also looked pale. The train attendant had a stroke of conscience, took them to the captain, explained the situation to him, and let them purchase a spot in the sleeper train.

"You think she caught on?" The woman who was sitting across from Shu Yan asked her man after they were gone.

"You were too eager. A woman with two children is usually very careful," grumbled the man in a low voice.

"She would have been a great catch. I saw it. The man who saw them off drove a car and had on a watch and a gold chain. Look? She upgraded to the sleeper car just like that. She must have a lot of money on her," said the woman regretfully. "The two kids were cute too, especially that boy, light skinned and chubby. He'd fetch a great price."

"Shut up! Do you want others to overhear you?" The man gave her a stare. This was a wasted trip.

After they went into the sleeper car, three of the beds were already occupied. The empty one on top was theirs. The two spots on the bottom were taken up by an old man on the left and a young one on the right. Above him, it was a young woman.

Shu Yan smiled at them, hesitated for a little bit, and finally decided against asking them to switch. Yes, this was a little more troublesome. She'd make a mental note to buy tickets in advance going forward.

She first helped her daughter climb up into the top spot before she carried her son up with her. After they were settled, Shu Yan let out a sigh of relief. She patted Tianbao on his back as she asked Jingjing softly, "Were you afraid?"

"No, I am not." That might be what she said, but she clung onto Shu Yan's arm tightly the entire time.

"Don't be afraid. Mom's right here." Shu Yan pulled Jingjing into her arms as well and said to her, "Remember, never take anything from anyone you don't know in the future, especially food items.

Seventeen hours later, they finally arrived at the Nan Station. Shu Yan, with her backpack on her back, Tianbao in her arms and Jingjing's hand in hers, walked into the train station along with everyone else. They were finally here.

"Comrade, would you like to stay at a hotel?"

"Comrade, do you need to get a room?"

"Comrade, do you need a ride?"

"Comrade, where are you heading?"

"Do you want to go to Oupu? Just one slot left. Hop on and we can take off right away."

Many surrounded her as soon as Shu Yan walked out of the station. Shu Yan didn't slow down and took the two kids to the bus station. She saw the old bus station exactly where she had remembered it and let out a sigh of relief. Luckily that hadn't changed.

There weren't many routes and Shu Yan picked the one that she was most familiar with. They waited for over half an hour before the bus came. Nothing she could do. Buses weren't common back then, not like the future when a bus would come every few minutes.

Shu Yan finally let out a slight smile after they had arrived at their destination. This was the college town that she was most familiar with. She had looked up the location of her college when she decided on coming to City Nan. It was at the same spot as the one in her own world. Shu Yan had a pretty good idea of the changes to come in the area surrounding the college. For example, Xuefu Street that was not too far from the university was a 100-year-old street, one of the attractions of City Nan.

As it was a 100-year-old street, it meant there wouldn't be a lot of changes. Shu Yan found out that she was right when she arrived. The hotel that she had stayed in when her parents came with her to register for her university was already in existence. She walked inside with her children and noticed that the owner was not the same person.

When Shu Yan first transmigrated here, she had made a call to her father's factory. The number did not exist and neither did the factory. So she could understand that the owner was not the same person. As similar as the two worlds were, they were two different worlds after all.

"Hi, would you like a room?"

"Yes please. I'd like a room. How much for one night?" asked Shu Yan when she didn't see any prices listed.

"Do you want a single or a double? Single is $5 and double is $8." The owner smiled.

"Can I take a look at them first so I can make a comparison?" Shu Yan walked upstairs with the owner. The rooms were quite similar except that a double is slightly bigger and has its own bathroom. Shu Yan picked the double room immediately, closed the door, and let out a long sigh of relief. They had finally arrived.