A simple honk (汽车喇叭声) from the bus is one part of a secret code between the driver and students living in a remote village in Wanzhou district, Chongqing city.
Noticing a schoolbag hanging on the door of an old house along his route, the bus driver pulls over and honks to answer the “code”. After a moment, he leans out of the bus and shouts a loud reminder. A boy then rushes outside and gets on the bus.
The boy’s parents work far from home, leaving him in the care of his grandmother. Despite this separation, the boy is determined to pursue his education, making the weekly journey to the city to go to school. He and the driver, Mr Cheng Lin, have developed a special routine. Whenever the boy’s schoolbag is hanging outside the house, it signals to Cheng that the young student needs to catch the bus. This simple interaction between the driver and the student became their shared “secret code”, a non-verbal way of saying, “Today, it’s time to go back to school.”
Mr Cheng, who has been driving the Luotian to Wuqiao Nan Station route for many years, shared his ideas on the matter. He mentioned that this rural route had a significant number of left-behind children due to their parents’ work experiences. Recognizing the importance of his role in their lives, he paid extra attention on Fridays and Sundays, the days when these children typically traveled back and forth to school.
Touched by the story, netizens (网友) praised him as a “good driver” and admired his promise to his young passengers. One netizen pointed out that “some people may not realize that the mountain road is so winding. A 15-minute bus drive may take at least an hour of walking...”. Another commented that “the schoolbag is their code, packed with love inside.”
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