I, a Mental Patient, Was Chosen to Participate in AnalogHorror
Chapter 527 - 493 The Secret in the Family Letter

Chapter 527: Chapter 493 The Secret in the Family Letter

When he came to the assistant driver’s carriage once more, he found the assistant driver sitting in his own seat, clutching a sweaty handkerchief in his hand.

It seemed he had not fully recovered from his previous terror.

The face that had once been willful and unruly had turned somewhat pale, and his eyes betrayed a hint of nervousness and confusion.

Jiang Xiao did not waste words and got straight to the point.

"Assistant driver, I need your help with something. I need you to tell me everything about the train driver."

The assistant driver lifted his head, and his gaze met Jiang Xiao’s.

Perhaps knowing that Jiang Xiao had no ill intentions, he quickly opened his mouth and told Jiang Xiao everything he knew.

"The train driver... his name is Fang Tianyu, he’s been driving this T180 train for over a decade, ever since he graduated from Railway University, and he has been diligently working at his post, step by step rising to his current position, you should know that at first..."

"Cut it out!" Jiang Xiao stopped Scar-faced before he could continue, "Buddy, can you focus on the important parts?"

Important parts?

Scar-faced looked at Jiang Xiao with a baffled expression.

"But as his colleague, isn’t it normal for me to know these things about his work? What do you want to hear then?"

"Like... uh..."

In truth, Jiang Xiao did not know what to ask, but he just wanted to know more about this dedicated train driver who was willing to sacrifice his life...

"What does he usually like to do? Does he have any habits or special places he frequents?"

"He usually... if nothing goes wrong, he’s usually driving the train. His habit is to drive trains..."

Scar-faced wore a strange look on his face, starting to doubt whether there was something wrong with Jiang Xiao’s head.

What kind of a good person would ask where a train driver usually likes to be?

It was like asking an air conditioning technician what kind of work they do.

Does the train not run?

Are you going to run it for him?!

"Then, does he have any shady dealings or secrets he can’t tell anyone about?"

The assistant driver shook his head, and his expression grew even more peculiar as he looked at Jiang Xiao.

"Kid, forget that we are just colleagues; do you know what ’secrets that can’t be shared’ or ’things that shouldn’t see the light of day’ mean? They’re things nobody can tell, not even to his own wife and kids, so how could I possibly know?"

Jiang Xiao stroked his chin, feeling that what the assistant driver said seemed quite reasonable.

"Also," the assistant driver’s voice turned serious all of a sudden, "you should not doubt Mr. Fang Tianyu. He is an upright and kind person, has never been lazy at work, and has served diligently for decades. Moreover, during the bizarre invasion, he sacrificed his life for our temporary safety."

Jiang Xiao waved his hand, indicating that wasn’t what he meant.

"Right, Fang Tianyu kept a box that he would take out and look inside several times a day."

"Where is it?"

"Right here."

As he spoke, Scar-faced took out a small box from a compartment.

"You wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t mentioned it, but that’s his private matter..."

"Cut the act. You’ve already taken it out, and now you’re saying that!"

Scar-faced hesitated, indicating that since Fang Tianyu probably wouldn’t be coming back, looking into it shouldn’t be a problem...

What a useless thing!

Jiang Xiao inwardly criticized, frustrated by his indecisive behavior, completely belying his terrifying scar and sinister eyes.

The box was a deep, dark black.

Nevertheless, holding it didn’t feel uncomfortable.

It was the kind of matte texture that comes from being handled over a long time.

The box did not have any complicated locks, merely a clasp that could be opened with a light flick.

"Huh?"

Seeing the content inside, Jiang Xiao let out a soft exclamation.

It seemed to be a stack of letters...

Oh, right, this was the green-skinned train of the eighties and nineties.

If it was that era, and the assigned area was far from home, then the train conductor really might have only been able to return home a few times a year.

Letters were the most common method of communication.

The conductor would go to the nearest post office after arriving at the station to send the letters he had written and, at the same time, could pick up anything that had been sent from his hometown.

He casually opened a few.

He found they were all about everyday family matters.

Occasionally, there were tender words of affection between Fang Tianyu and his wife.

"Huh, there’s also a letter from Fang Tianyu that wasn’t sent out? And a diary."

"Let’s read the diary first."

It wasn’t hard to tell from reading between the lines.

Train conductor Fang Tianyu was a man of old-fashioned character, rather serious, his writing meticulous to the point that not only were there no typos, even the punctuation marks were correct and neatly used.

But Jiang Xiao could also tell that this Fang Tianyu loved his family deeply.

Those letters from his hometown were neatly folded, but some spots were smudged due to being frequently touched by the hands.

Apart from those one or two letters Fang Tianyu had written but hadn’t had the chance to send,

Almost all of them were sent by his wife from back home.

Knowing they were letters, Scar-faced lost interest and moved aside to rest with closed eyes.

He wasn’t interested in these things.

At first, he thought there was money in the box, but since the train couldn’t stop, he didn’t care even if it was money, let alone letters from home.

Jiang Xiao, however, found it all very interesting.

After all, he was idle anyway –

His wife was named Yu Fen.

Her writing was like a man’s, bold and carefree, large swaths corrected and smeared over, with areas so overly corrected in frustration that they were vigorously rubbed out.

There were not a few typos, and many characters she likely didn’t know how to write, deliberately writing homophones.

Quite understandable.

Nowadays on Blue Star, with nine years of compulsory education, there were hardly any that slipped through the cracks.

But in those days, it was rare for girls to be able to write their own names completely, and most had never been to school.

Although Yu Fen’s writing was choppy, she could, at least, correctly express her intentions.

After reading her letters, Fang Tianyu would carefully circle the typos with a pen and write the correct character in small print next to it.

As for the purpose of doing this, Jiang Xiao found out from Fang Tianyu’s diary.

He planned to bring all these letters when he went home for the New Year, correcting them one by one for Yu Fen...

Ah, this...

Jiang Xiao couldn’t help but start to visualize.

On New Year’s Eve, as the whole family joyously celebrated the New Year,

Our Mr. Fang Tianyu would be busy correcting his wife’s typos...

It was indeed a bit of a romance killer.

It was entirely possible that the bold and forthright Mrs. Yu Fen wouldn’t take his word for it and might even pick a quarrel with him.

However, this seemed to be Fang Tianyu’s own brand of "romance."

Well, at least he thought so, as his diary mentioned,

"While smelling the plum blossoms in the courtyard, with Yu Fen at the desk, her sitting, me standing, I explain to her one by one the correct way to write these typos and their uses, ensuring she won’t make the same mistakes next time before having her copy them ten times. She must find it very romantic too."