short series

Unable to Return Home Amidst National Rejoicing

share time: 2025-10-11 06:01:50

On New Year's Eve, Lin Xiaoman, a high-speed rail attendant, spends her third year on duty instead of celebrating with family. Watching the elderly with New Year goods and young couples pasting Fu characters in the carriage, she clutches an unsent home ticket—her mother fell and hurt her leg last week but lied, saying, "The unit needs you; I'm fine." Late at night, 5-year-old Tangtang bursts into tears, desperate to find her mother, a nurse deployed to Wuhan. Xiaoman comforts her and contacts Nurse Qin, who's on night shift. The voice "Baby, wait for mom to come back" over the phone makes everyone in the carriage tear up. When Xiaoman finishes her shift and steps out of the train, rubbing her frozen hands, she sees her mother standing under the streetlight with a crutch, a thermos of steaming dumplings at her feet: "I talked to the conductor—I’ll stay half an hour to share a hot meal with you." The aroma of dumplings in the snow, mixed with distant fireworks, becomes her warmest "homecoming feast."

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