Companion on the bus

Liu Wengang is a bus driver, and today it happens to be his shift. His wife calls him on the mobile phone, saying that his father, who lives in the countryside, has come, and asks him to go back early after work to accompany the old man. Liu Wengang hesitated for a moment, told his wife that he had just made an appointment with a few friends to have dinner, and asked her to settle his father first, and he would accompany him tomorrow, then hung up the phone.

As he was talking, it was time to set off, and passengers gradually got on the bus, throwing money into the coin box with a jingle. Seeing that the passengers were almost on board, Liu Wengang started the bus. At this moment, someone waved at him from a distance. Liu Wengang quickly stopped the car, and when the person approached, he recognized that this was an old man, about the same age as his father, dressed in rural attire. After getting on the bus, the old man asked Liu Wengang, "Master, how much is the ticket?" Liu Wengang, while driving, said kindly, "One yuan, please put it into the coin box!" and pointed to the coin box beside him.

The old man obviously had no preparation, and he couldn't find a single yuan in all his pockets. He said anxiously, "Master, I don't have change!" Liu Wengang, steering the wheel, said to the old man without turning his head, "Well, you sit near the door and collect money. When you have collected enough change to give back, you can put your whole money into the box." Usually, Liu Wengang also encounters passengers who don't bring change, and at this time, he lets the passengers collect money themselves, and then they put five or ten yuan bills into the coin box.

The old man understood and said okay, and sat by the door to start collecting money. The passengers who got on later saw the old man holding a stack of change in his hand and naturally understood what it meant, and cooperated by putting the money into the old man's hand.

The bus moved forward, and the old man collected the money carefully. Every time he collected money from a person, he would report loudly, "Three yuan" or "Eight yuan." Seeing the old man's serious appearance, Liu Wengang knew that the old man was not used to taking the bus. People who often take the bus know that they don't need to report the amount of money so meticulously; the driver has a count in his mind.

The bus moved on station by station, and the old man carried out his "responsibility" meticulously. Seeing that more than half of the journey had passed, the old man still hadn't paid his fare. Liu Wengang thought, the old man's whole ticket is probably not ten yuan or twenty yuan, it's probably fifty yuan. It's too rare to see someone use such a large bill to take the bus. Liu Wengang glanced at the old man and shook his head with a smile.

The bus continued steadily, and in a few more stops, it would reach the end. Liu Wengang looked back at the change in the old man's hand, and he knew that the old man had already collected more than fifty yuan, but he still didn't mean to pay. Could it be that he has no money at all? Liu Wengang started to wonder. If he still doesn't pay when he reaches the end, then this old man must be problematic. Thinking of this, Liu Wengang suddenly had a thought, many old people have bad memory and often miss their stop, could this old man have forgotten where he was getting off? Thinking this way, Liu Wengang felt it was necessary to remind the old man, so he turned his head and said, "Old man, where are you getting off? We are almost at the end." The old man looked at Liu Wengang and said, "No hurry, no hurry." Then he concentrated on collecting his money again.

In a short while, the bus arrived at the terminal, and Liu Wengang stopped the bus steadily. He turned around and said to the old man, "Old man, thank you for helping me collect money all the way! The bus has reached the terminal, if you don't have money, it's okay, I won't charge you!"

The old man was anxious when he heard this and said, "Who says I have no money? Here it is." Then he took out a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket and waved it in front of Liu Wengang. Then he sat down again and said, "I haven't collected ninety-nine yuan yet, I won't get off, I will sit back and help you collect money until I have enough!"

Liu Wengang was stunned, thinking that the old man was indeed not clear-headed! So he reminded him, "Sir, this is the terminal, you should get off." The old man slowly put away his smile and said slowly, "I can't get off, or I won't find my home." Seeing Liu Wengang's puzzled expression, he continued, "I came from the countryside to see my son half a month ago, but I'm not familiar with everything here, and I'm very bored, but I dare not walk too far alone, afraid of getting lost, so I came to take the bus. The bus can go back to the original stop, right? This way, I can relax and get familiar with the terrain while sitting all the way down!" As he spoke, the old man became excited and felt proud of his idea.

"So that's it, why don't you let your son take you around?" Liu Wengang couldn't help asking.

The old man sighed, "They are all busy and have no time to accompany me! This morning, my daughter-in-law gave me a hundred yuan and said they won't be able to rest this week, let me go out for a walk by myself! I thought where could I go, only taking the bus is the safest."

After hearing the old man's words, Liu Wengang's heart suddenly trembled, and he thought of his father, who also came to the city today. He had just called to say he wouldn't go back to accompany his father. In fact, since he started working, eight years have passed, and his father has only come twice, and each time he stayed for a short time. Last year, his mother passed away, leaving his father alone, and he probably came to the city because he was bored. Thinking of this, Liu Wengang took out his mobile phone; he wanted to call his friends immediately and tell them that he had something important to do today and couldn't attend the party.

Ten minutes later, Liu Wengang's bus was back on the road. Passengers saw that the person sitting closest to the driver was an old man, looking at the map while excitedly looking out the window.