Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

Chapter 6. Non-malicious fare evasion
"Hey," Dong Qiangqiang smiled embarrassedly, "Isn't this anxious to see how round the moon is in Germany?" He paused, "I just arrived at Hannover Airport."

"That," said Old Jin hesitantly on the phone, "I'm at work, I'll call you later, do you have a cell phone number?"

"Phone number? Well, I haven't bought it yet."

"Then you should buy one as soon as possible. Are you still at the airport? There are mobile phone cards sold at the airport. Remember that the operator chooses O2. The Chinese use it a lot."

"Well, okay, I wrote it down. That... the house I asked you to find before..." Dong Qiangqiang hesitated for a while, but said it directly.

Old Jin hesitated to chat, and said politely: "Cough, this is a bit troublesome..."

"Trouble?" Dong Qiangqiang was taken aback. He looked down at his suitcase and took a deep breath, "What's the trouble?"

"I can't say a word or two on the phone. Hey, don't say it. My boss is here. What, you need to write down an address. The person will go first. If there is anything, we will meet later."

Dong Qiangqiang hurriedly took out his pen: "Okay, let's talk."

"No. 54, Hippo Street. 30059." Speaking of the back, there was a rustling noise coming from the receiver, and Dong Qiangqiang couldn't hear it clearly.

Dong Qiangqiang quickly wrote it down: "Is it 30059? Who will I look for after I go there?"

Blind tones came from the phone.

"Hello? Hello? Old Jin..." Dong Qiangqiang shouted again without giving up.

"Bang" hung up the phone, Dong Qiangqiang stared at the address on the book: there is no other way to do it now, people will go over and talk about it.

He dragged his luggage to the ticket vending machine. Dong Qiangqiang entered the address Jin Yuan told him at the bottom of the LCD screen, and three or four "Hippo Streets" appeared. Dong Qiangqiang didn't know which one to choose. An old woman's voice: "Need help?"

Hannover is located in North Germany, and people speak standard German with few dialects and accents. Dong Qiangqiang turned his head and saw that it was an old German lady with a kind face.

The old lady was thin and thin, dressed in business attire, her silver hair was neatly combed, and she was holding a briefcase in her hand, looking at him intently.

"Hello," Dong Qiangqiang seemed to see the savior, "I want to go to Hippo Street, but there are many 'Hippo Streets', I don't know which one to go to?" Dong Qiangqiang explained his predicament one by one.

"Well, Hippo Street, I'll take a look..." As the old lady approached, she put on her reading glasses and carefully checked the giant map of Hanover posted next to the ticket machine.

"No. 54," Dong Qiangqiang repeated again, "I'll go to No. 54. By the way, the postal code is 30059."

The old lady didn't say a word. She entered the address while looking at the map. Dong Qiangqiang looked at her operation. There seemed to be nothing special about it. When he was considering whether to call Jin Yuan again to confirm, the old lady suddenly pointed happily. Looking at the LCD screen, he said, "This is it."

"Huh?" Dong Qiangqiang quickly put his head in front of the machine, staring at the address on the LCD screen and asked, "Why this?"

The old lady smiled and said, "Because the other addresses either don't have the 54th number, or the zip codes are different."

"Thank you so much!" Dong Qiangqiang bowed deeply.

The old lady pointed at the LCD screen and said, "Remember, the place you are going is in the third district. I wish you all the best."

Dong Qiangqiang's heart was full of gratitude as he watched the enthusiastic old German woman go away.

The numbers on the LCD screen show that the price of a bus day ticket is 10 marks, while the combined fare of the subway + bus is close to 18 marks. , the price was only 7.5 marks, Dong Qiangqiang was overjoyed and immediately paid for the ticket.

Sitting on the train, looking at the receding trees and farmland outside the window, Dong Qiangqiang couldn't help but wonder what trouble Jin Yuan was talking about.

The train swayed regularly, and suddenly the door opened, and a uniformed conductor walked in with the ticket gate on his back.

Dong Qiangqiang didn't notice the other party's approach, and was still staring out the window in a daze, until the other party called him for the second time, and he pulled away from his thoughts.

"Show your ticket, please," said the conductor politely, a young blond German guy.

Dong Qiangqiang handed over the ticket, and the conductor checked it with the machine in his hand, and then said a few words into the intercom on his shoulder. Before Dong Qiangqiang could respond, the conductor said to him, "Please show your ID."

Dong Qiangqiang was a little puzzled. Do I still need a passport to take the train?Still, he obediently handed over his passport.

The conductor shook his head: "Student ID. I want to see your student ID."

Dong Qiangqiang quickly pulled out Hannover University's "Admission Letter" from his backpack and handed it to the other party. After reading it, the conductor shook his head: "This is not a student ID card."

"But it said that I can enroll as a German university student in September?" Dong Qiangqiang defended.

The conductor took out a red and white manual, turned to one page, and said patiently: "According to the regulations, your ticket must be used in conjunction with your student ID to be valid, otherwise it will be regarded as a fare evasion."

Dong Qiangqiang suddenly remembered that he did see two lines of German prompts at the bottom of the screen when he bought the ticket, but because he was in a hurry to set off, he didn't read it carefully. I didn't expect that there were so many rules here. No wonder the ticket he bought was cheaper than the day ticket. .

"So what?" he asked.

"First you have to make up the ticket and then accept the fine."

"What ticket?"

"You can choose to buy a day ticket, or a combined train ticket + bus ticket."

"Then I'd better buy a day ticket." Dong Qiangqiang reluctantly handed 100 marks to the other party, and asked nervously and concerned, "What about the fine?"

While issuing the receipt, the conductor said without looking up, "The fine is 60 marks."

Dong Qiangqiang thought he heard it wrong: "How much?"

The conductor did not speak, but directly handed the ticket receipt that had been issued to him.

Looking at the ticket, Dong Qiangqiang felt agitated, and felt extremely distressed: It's really expensive.

"Please keep in mind that if you are caught trying to evade fares again, in addition to being fined, it will also affect your university attendance here," the conductor reminded.

"No, definitely not." Dong Qiangqiang muttered, "I have so much money to pay the fine." He complained in Chinese.

The conductor shrugged and continued on to the next car.

Hannover has a well-developed intercity train, subway and ground bus transportation system. Although he has a lot of luggage, Dong Qiangqiang did not encounter any trouble when transferring.

After getting off the bus, Dong Qiangqiang dragged his suitcase while walking, paying attention to the names on both sides of the street, and at the same time observing whether there was a mobile phone store facing the street.

While walking, Dong Qiangqiang suddenly noticed a strange thing.

(End of this chapter)