The man in the felt hat rolled his eyes and licked his lips. “Look at those fox like eyes so tempting. This afternoon, I’ll take her to the guesthouse myself.”
A companion snorted. “This guy’s dreaming again.”
Su Yemang didn’t hear them. Clutching the red bean buns, she hurried back.
Suddenly, the platform speaker blared: “Attention, passengers! The train will depart in 1 minute…”
As soon as the announcement came, the train became crowded. Those without seats scrambled for a spot, and the connection between carriages became packed.
Two street vendors selling fruit were fighting over a female customer.
The customer, with strikingly exotic features, hesitated, glancing at Su Yemang from a distance, unsure whether to approach.
Her companion said, “Yun Ruo, you and Su Yechuan are done, so why bother with her sister?”
Yun Ruo said nothing and turned away.
At the train car connection
Su Yemang was jostled and staggered, barely making it back to her original carriage.
She looked up and saw Xiao Ye not far away, his gaze cold and sharp before quickly moving away.
Next to him, Shen Yuetao’s smile bloomed like a flower.
Opposite them, Su Yixin grinned mischievously at Shen Yuetao. “Ah, Auntie, you pooped in the restroom, everyone smelled it!”
“The restroom vent must be cold. You should keep your stomach warm, or else you’ll have diarrhea again.”
Su Yixin laughed and made funny faces.
Shen Yuetao bared her teeth in annoyance, and Xiao Ye’s mouth twitched.
Su Yemang smiled helplessly. Xinxin, this kid…
“Wow, you have such a pretty smile.” The man in the felt hat suddenly approached.
Su Yemang realized and glared at him. “Sir, I don’t know you. Please stay away from me!”
As soon as she spoke, everyone around looked over.
People started pointing at the man in the felt hat. Several young girls who had also been harassed glared at him in anger.
The man in the felt hat was embarrassed… and angry. He swung a fist at Su Yemang.
She dodged, and the punch hit her bag.
“Bang!”
The man hit a hard object and rubbed his hands in pain…
At the same time, something fell out of Su Yemang’s bag.
“Crash ”
A ceramic jar fell out, its mouth shattering.
“Ah…” Su Yemang hurried to pick it up.
Inside the jar were the ashes of her colleague, Xu Li. Thankfully, the jar was wrapped in a leather bag, so none spilled.
Xu Li had been exposed to penetrating hydrogen bomb radiation and had recently passed away.
Her friend Xu Li had been forced into a blind date by her parents. Engagement arranged.
Then she was struck by penetrating radiation, life threatening.
Her fiancé, upon learning this, immediately offered the dowry to another girl.
Xu Li, however, smiled. “Xiaomang, isn’t this better? I’m finally free.”
She had said wearily, “Cremate me and take me to the Military Science Institute in Liaodong. My family won’t want my ashes. Liaodong… the back mountain is beautiful. That was my first workplace. I want to… stay on that land for generations.”
After Xu Li’s death, her parents discarded the dowry, unwilling to accept her remains.
So Su Yemang, carrying her ashes, firmly chose the Liaodong Military Science Institute to become a Three Defense Officer.
She wanted to research radiation protection equipment.
She couldn’t bear to see researchers die again.
“Boom!” The train suddenly lurched as it started moving, and the crowd tilted to one side.
While gathering the ceramic shards, Su Yemang’s hand was stepped on by a man.
“Ah!”
Xiao Ye, dodging Shen Yuetao handing him peach pastries, shivered and immediately locked his gaze on Su Yemang’s hand, moving upward…
His eyes were as sharp and cold as a blade.
The man in the felt hat withdrew his foot, wearing a smug expression, then suddenly crouched down.
Leering at Su Yemang, he tried to preemptively accuse her.
“Ouch, who stepped on you? That’s terrible… let me take care of you.”
The man grabbed her bag strap with one hand, while the other hand moved toward her waist.
Su Yemang’s hand had been scraped and was painfully cold.
“Hands off!”
Suddenly, Xiao Ye appeared, yanking the man in the felt hat up with one hand. Veins bulging, he slammed the man to the ground and stomped hard on his hands.
The man wailed, “Ow…”
The commotion drew the passengers, who gathered around, murmuring and discussing the incident.
“Keep your hands to yourself, or I’ll cripple you,” Xiao Ye said, his tone ice cold.
He turned to help Su Yemang up, then paused, then stepped closer again.
His face was cold as he glanced at her wound.
Then he pulled out the small first aid kit he always carried.
Su Yemang watched him take it from his inner pocket, and her thoughts tangled again.
During those four years in the countryside, her skin had been delicate, and she was always bumping into things, often getting cuts and bleeding sometimes hitting walls or table corners, sometimes getting bruises in places she didn’t even notice.
Because she was always getting hurt, Xiao Ye had developed the habit of carrying a first aid kit.
Some habits just couldn’t be broken.
Su Yemang’s misty eyes widened, facing Xiao Ye’s distant yet conflicted expression.
He hesitated… reached out…
She inhaled sharply…
The moment their skin touched, it was familiar yet strange.
For several seconds, both of them froze…
So close, Su Yemang caught the smell of smoke on him.
He… smoked now.
Before, he had only smelled of licorice. She remembered him holding her in the haystack, saying that men smoked because of anxiety, but with her, every day was happy and peaceful.
Her fingers trembled as they rested against her chest, remembering how he had disappeared from her life without warning…
Xiao Ye saw her thin, sharp chin and paused his hand.
Suddenly, he thought she deserved it.
He abruptly let go of her hand.
A few seconds later…
His face darkened as he looked back at her.
“Mom.”
Su Yixin grabbed the thermos from Shen Yuetao’s seat and ran over quickly.
“I’ll hit you!”
He raised the thermos and jabbed the spout at the man in the felt hat’s backside.
“Ahhh ”
The man screamed like a slaughtered pig.
Clutching his backside, he stood up and slapped Su Yixin. “You little brat! Fighting and even hitting below the belt! No manners!”
Before his slap could land, Xiao Ye’s foot came down with a “thud!”
The man was kicked into the middle of the aisle.
“Ah!” he howled.
“You hit the most vulnerable spot, humph,” Su Yixin said, hands on his little hips, glaring at the man angrily.
“Eh, what’s wrong with this guy? Why’s he getting beaten?”
“He harassed a female passenger, didn’t you see?”
People around muttered among themselves…
Xiao Ye borrowed a farmer’s hemp rope and quickly tied up the man.
“Tie him up! At home, he brags about hitting his wife. I’m sick of it!”
“Yeah! That bastard, good job tying him!”
The crowd, hating evil, clapped and cheered, forming several layers around to watch the spectacle.
The commotion caught Shen Yuetao’s attention as she returned from making tea for Xiao Ye.
“What’s going on up front with so many people?” she murmured.
A short haired male attendant followed her, pretending to collect trash from passengers with a pair of tongs.
Taking advantage of tossing the trash, Shen Yuetao flirted, licked her tongue at him, and secretly slipped him a note.
The attendant pursed his lips, looked at the note, then glanced toward the dark smoking area, his pupils burning with desire again.
After exchanging a knowing look with her, he walked away, full of expectation.
Shen Yuetao, after sending him off, muttered under her breath, “Ha, this attendant, kissing skills just okay… so boring.”
She wrapped her scarf to cover the hickey on her neck, stepped to the outer edge of the crowd, and tiptoed…
Seeing it was Su Yemang, her eyes widened instantly, stunned beyond comprehension.
After a moment, she trembled and cursed through clenched lips.
“Well, well. You bitch Su Yemang, abandoning Brother Ye and still showing up.”
“I… I’ll teach you a lesson!”
She pressed a mysterious packet in her inner pocket and looked at Xiao Ye, standing above the crowd.
A glint of impatient urgency flashed in her eyes.