“Take it. When Second Son married your Second Daughter-in-law, we gave eighty-eight yuan and bought a sewing machine, spending around four hundred yuan in total.
When Xiaofen married into the family, we didn’t have as much money, but your father and I made it up to her later. Don’t worry that she might feel slighted—your father and I treat everyone equally, and we’ve already made this clear.”
Since her mother-in-law had put it this way, Wen Nianxin didn’t refuse any further and accepted the money.
“You can continue packing. I’ll go out and get back to work.”
After Zhou Mu left, Wen Nianxin placed the money in a small tin box inside the wardrobe.
She had no intention of taking this money to Mingzhao City—not a single cent would go to the original owner’s scumbag father or stepmother.
…
On Thursday morning, Wen Nianxin carried her simple luggage and the food prepared by her sister-in-law, once again boarding the bus that made her scalp tingle with dread.
Learning from her previous experience, she had wrapped a few preserved plums in paper and kept them in her pocket, just in case.
Fortunately, the driver drove more steadily this time. Though she felt nauseous, she didn’t vomit.
After getting off the bus, she checked the time in the station hall. With only an hour and a half left before her train departure, she hurriedly quickened her pace.
“Someone, help! Catch that thief! Someone up ahead, stop him!”
Just as she reached the train station, Wen Nianxin heard a woman’s loud shout.
The woman was pointing at a young man clutching a bag as he fled forward—directly toward Nianxin’s path.
When the thief was about forty or fifty meters away, her mind hesitated over whether to intervene, but her foot had already disobediently stretched out slightly.
A heavy thud followed as the man crashed to the ground, and then a figure in military green swiftly stepped forward, pinning the thief down.
Using her luggage to shield her face, Wen Nianxin opened her wide, watery eyes to look at the thief she had tripped. At the same time, he glared venomously in her direction.
“Eek—”
The look he gave her was as if it were laced with poison, causing her to shiver involuntarily. Clutching her luggage to cover most of her face, she bolted toward the station entrance.
She needed to hurry and catch her train!
As she ran, the figure in military green turned to glance in her direction, a faint, almost imperceptible smile curling at the corner of his lips.
“Comrade soldier, thank you so much.
If you hadn’t helped me catch this thief, I might never have gotten my bag back.”
The woman whose bag had been stolen hurried forward to retrieve it, clutching it tightly to her chest. In a fit of anger, she gave the thief a hard kick.
“It was nothing, just a small effort.”
He hadn’t actually done much—just stepped in at the end to subdue the thief. The one who had truly helped was the female comrade who had “fled in a panic” moments earlier.
By the time Wen Nianxin entered the station, her train had already begun boarding. She hurriedly joined the line with her luggage.
Once on board, she found her assigned seat—only to see someone else already sitting there.
“Comrade, this is my seat. Could you please move?”
The man occupying her seat, seeing it was just a young woman, didn’t budge. Instead, he spoke disdainfully, “What’s yours or mine? Whoever sits first gets it.”
“Then what does the red seat stamp printed on this ticket mean?”
Wen Nianxin flashed her train ticket before the man’s eyes.
“I don’t care what you say. This seat is mine, and that’s final. You can either stand or find another spot, but I’m not giving it up.”
“So you’re refusing to move?”
“That’s right!”
Faced with the man’s shameless stubbornness, Wen Nianxin remained calm. She waited until all passengers had boarded and settled in their seats, and the train began moving. Then, clearing her throat, she called out loudly toward the train attendant: “Comrade attendant! I want to report a counter-revolutionary here!”
“What nonsense are you spouting? Who’s a counter-revolutionary?!”
The man occupying her seat visibly panicked upon hearing those three words.
In these times, being associated with that term meant nothing good.
“Comrade attendant, it’s this man!
Since our nation’s founding, the railway system has been gradually implementing assigned seating – a policy that benefits both country and people.
Yet this person not only fails to support state policies, but actively opposes their implementation through his actions! I strongly suspect he’s a counter-revolutionary!
Those who oppose social progress and resist our country’s positive reforms must be firmly denounced!”
After speaking, Wen Nianxin even made a fist-pumping gesture.
Inspired by her words, surrounding passengers began rising spontaneously, chanting “Down with the counter-revolutionary!” in unison.
“I… I… you’ve misunderstood! I’m not… I’ll leave right now! I’ll give you the seat! I support state policies! Assigned seating – yes, we should have assigned seating! This is your seat, take it back!”
Hearing the crowd’s slogans, the man’s legs turned to jelly.
He scrambled to his feet, grabbed his luggage from the overhead rack, and scurried through the crowd like a rat across the street, disappearing into another carriage.
“Hmph!”
Wen Nianxin rolled her eyes dramatically toward the direction the man had fled.
The journey to Mingzhao City would take over ten hours, including an overnight segment. Hard seats were uncomfortable enough without someone trying to steal hers! No chance!
“Comrade, you were amazing.”
After Wen Nianxin took her seat, the female passenger beside her gazed at her with starry-eyed admiration.
“I was just defending my rights.”
She had only chosen to confront him after confirming he was traveling alone. Had he been with companions, she might have acted differently.
“Weren’t you afraid he might hit you?”
“That man had sallow skin, greasy hair, cloudy eyes, and heavy dark circles – clear signs of kidney deficiency and outward strength masking inner weakness.”
If it came to blows, it wasn’t certain who would be beating whom.
She wasn’t some delicate girl who couldn’t hurt a fly.
She never knew her biological father. Her mother had abandoned her before she was six months old to marry abroad. Fortunately, her grandmother took pity and raised her.
Children without parents inevitably face bullying from others.
Some endure it passively, growing increasingly timid. Others choose to fight back against their tormentors.
She belonged to the latter category.
When she earned her first paycheck at fifteen from a part-time job, she bought her grandmother a set of clothes and took her to a restaurant they usually couldn’t afford for a lavish meal. The remaining money, she saved up to enroll herself in a sanda class, which she continued to practice for eight years.
……
Shaking off the memories in her mind, Wen Nianxin hugged her luggage and closed her eyes to rest.
While she was traveling south, Zhou Zhan, who had been on a train for two days, was now only a few dozen meters away from home.
“Is that the Zhou family’s third son?”
“Aunt Wang, it’s me. Long time no see.”
“It must have been a while since you last returned, right?”
“Indeed, it’s been three years.”
“You look even taller and sturdier. The military really does wonders for one’s physique.”
Zhou Zhan smiled without responding. After turning eighteen, his height had remained at 186 centimeters, never growing any taller.