The young boy Su Nian’an had pulled to his feet hadn’t yet spoken when the middle-aged woman who’d taken Su Nian’an’s seat could hold back no longer. She shouted at Su Nian’an: “You unraised little wretch! He was sitting perfectly well—why did you yank him up?!”
Seeing how fiercely she was defending the boy, the surrounding crowd instantly changed their expressions. Anyone could tell: unless this boy was her own grandson, why on earth would she speak up so sharply for him?
Su Nian’an was hardly about to be intimidated by this rude, ill-mannered woman. Having grown up with her grandparents as a left-behind child in the countryside, she’d learned early to speak up for herself—otherwise she would have been bullied endlessly.
“If anyone is unraised and ill-mannered,” Su Nian’an shot back, “it’s you—criticizing others for the very faults you yourself possess!”
She then turned her gaze back to the boy, speaking with a knowing half-smile: “To have a grandmother who’s always chasing petty gains, quarreling with every neighbor, and disliked wherever she goes… even if she dotes on you, surely you must find it exhausting, living like this?”
At those words, the boy’s face drained of color. He did not argue with Su Nian’an. Instead he looked straight at the woman and said clearly: “I don’t want to sit here.”
A boy his age cared deeply about his pride. And he looked so meek—clearly he’d been dominated his whole life by this overbearing grandmother, which was exactly why he’d grown so timid. Such a grandson might not share a close, loving bond with his grandmother at all.
At this age, with everyone around him viewing his grandmother with dislike, it was quite possible he disliked her too—he had simply never stopped to question it, content with the small conveniences she secured for him. Su Nian’an had laid the truth bare, and the woman could no longer keep her composure.
“You wicked girl! How dare you try to turn my own grandson against me!”
She sprang to her feet and lunged forward, ready to strike Su Nian’an across the face. Su Nian’an stood her ground—she was strong enough to defend herself and felt no fear. Just as she braced to fight back, a hand reached out—long, elegant, as if each finger had been sculpted with divine care. It closed firmly around the woman’s wrist, stopping her in her tracks.
Su Nian’an turned—and found herself gazing up at a face of breathtaking handsomeness. But his features were set in a stern, icy line; an aura of quiet power radiated from him, keeping everyone at a distance, sending a chill down onlookers’ spines. He carried himself with such noble, unapproachable grace that no one dared step forward to speak to him.
Time seemed to stand still. Every eye fixed on the stranger who had stepped between them—who had stopped the woman from striking Su Nian’an. His clothes were plain, rough-spun common cloth, yet they looked entirely different on him. He cut a strikingly handsome figure regardless.
“Oh, so we have a busybody sticking his nose in!” the woman snapped. She tried to yank her hand free—but it would not move an inch. “Let go! What do you think you’re doing, holding my hand?”
The man frowned deeply. “You were clearly in the wrong,” he said gravely, “yet you fly into a rage and try to strike her.”
“What’s it to you?!” she shot back venomously. “Could this woman be your old flame? Are you defending her because she’s yours?”
The words were cruel—malicious slander spoken freely without a shred of shame. Though Su Nian’an had been born in another time, she knew full well how a woman’s reputation could be ruined by gossip. This woman’s words were utterly vicious, spreading lies to tarnish her honor right in front of everyone.
Su Nian’an had never been one to suffer such insults calmly. Without hesitation she slapped the woman hard across the cheek—so loud and sharp that everyone nearby stood stunned, jaws dropping open in shock.
Good heavens! This delicate, slender young woman had dared strike the rude, overbearing matriarch?
The woman stood frozen, stunned. She clutched her stinging cheek, pointing a shaking finger at Su Nian’an. “You—you—how dare you…!” The pain was sharp enough that she hesitated before lunging into a brawl.
“You stole my seat,” Su Nian’an said coldly, her voice steady. “I simply wanted to sit where I belonged—and you tried to hit me. When this kind gentleman stopped you, you lied and slandered me, claiming I was carrying on with him. With so many people watching, you dare spread such lies to ruin my good name? Do you believe I have no right to call the authorities?”
“You… you dare strike me—and then you threaten to call the police?” the woman stared at her, utterly bewildered.
“I struck you because you slandered my name!” Su Nian’an replied firmly. “And you were the one who raised a hand first—this gentleman simply stopped you before you could land it.”
The disturbance had drawn quite a crowd. After a moment of stunned silence, whispers broke out all around them. A young man sitting across from Su Nian’an spoke up: “That woman and her grandson—they pretended not to know each other at first! I was here before anyone else, and I never once heard them speak to one another.”
“So it was deliberate!” another said. “She pretended not to know him just so she could seize the seat by the ticket counter. This was clearly premeditated—whoever had that seat, she planned to take it for herself.”
“And when she saw it was just a defenseless young woman, she grew even more brazen. Little did she know she’d picked a fight with someone who won’t be pushed around!”
“Exactly! The country strives to raise public decency—and yet people like this remain, rude and unreasonable as can be.”
Hearing that not a single voice sided with her, the woman’s face darkened. Her earlier arrogance melted away, replaced by unease and guilt. It was not only the woman who felt those judgmental stares—her grandson did too. He had his pride. Standing there, exposed and ashamed, he felt a surge of hot anger. He looked at his grandmother—the woman who strutted about their village as if she ruled it—and saw genuine fear in her eyes. And suddenly, he felt nothing but disgust.
“Grandmother,” he said, “please give that seat back to her.”
The words stung—they stripped away every last shred of her pride. She might have yielded the seat voluntarily, or even at Su Nian’an’s bidding—but to be told to do so by her own grandson? Before a crowd of strangers? It felt as though her authority had been challenged in front of her own kin.
“Hush, child! How dare you interrupt your elders while they speak? Have I not told you to stay silent? Always so slow-witted and ungrateful… I go to all this trouble to find you a seat, and this is how you repay me?”
Her unreasonable, ungrateful words rang out—and the crowd’s gaze turned to one of pure contempt. To speak so cruelly to her own grandson, lording over him as if she were queen of the household and everyone owed her deference… Truly, there was no dealing with such unreasonable, impossible people.