Jiang Yan’s heart was pounding. She got a clear look at the man’s face. Compared to Huo Ying, he looked ordinary, but next to the average person, he was quite handsome.
People around who weren’t heading south couldn’t help but urge her: “Little girl, say yes quickly! You’d be a fool to refuse!”
Someone else was suspicious. “Why would he turn down five yuan? Young man, do you even have a ticket, or are you trying to scam people with an expired one?”
The man gave a short laugh and pulled out the ticket, holding it right in front of Jiang Yan. “See for yourself. Is this or isn’t this a ticket to the southern province for tomorrow?”
Before she could speak, someone gasped. “Oh my god! It’s a sleeper ticket! I’ll give you ten yuan commission! Sell it to me!”
“Fifteen!”
No one was stupid. A sleeper ticket to the south cost 34 yuan and was almost impossible to get normally; scalpers sold them for at least triple the price.
Even as the offers climbed to twenty yuan, the man only looked at Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. Please sell it to someone else.”
The crowd exchanged looks. “This girl really must have something wrong with her head.”
The man was stunned for a moment, then said, “Is it because you only have enough money for a hard seat? That’s fine. Just pay me the hard seat price. That’s all.”
Again the onlookers stared. “So he’s the crazy one, even worse than her.”
“How could a fool get a sleeper ticket? Obviously he’s got a crush on the pretty girl and is using the ticket to chat her up.”
The man looked straight at Jiang Yan. “Don’t get me wrong. Actually, this ticket was bought for my grandmother. But last night she had a dream saying she mustn’t take this train, or disaster would befall her.”
“The dream said the ticket must be given to a girl with a small red mole at the end of her left eyebrow. Only then will her misfortune be averted. I don’t want any money. It’s a gift. Consider it thanks for taking the bad luck away from my grandma.”
The crowd murmured, looking at her. “Oh! She really does have a little red mole there! She’s the one! It’s fate, we can’t argue with that.”
Jiang Yan said stiffly, “Thank you, but I don’t need it.”
To show her resolve, she turned her back on him.
The man’s hand holding the ticket froze in mid-air, his expression shifting through surprise, confusion, and frustration.
“Hey lad, if she doesn’t want it, she’s not the one from the dream! Sell it to me! My daughter is about her age and has a mole in the same spot! I’ll pay you thirty yuan commission, what do you say?”
People made all kinds of offers, but the man ignored them all, turned, and walked away.
The crowd turned on Jiang Yan. “You don’t look stupid! Even if you didn’t want it, you could have taken it and sold it to us after he left!”
Jiang Yan just lowered her head and said nothing. When they finally got bored and left, she turned back. In the sea of people, he was already gone.
Unknowingly, Jiang Yan’s eyes filled with tears.
She wasn’t stupid. But she had her past life memories. She knew this man.
Zheng Bin. He was Huo Ying’s comrade-in-arms and his most loyal follower.
In her past life, whenever Huo Ying had to go away on business, he would always tell Zheng Bin to look after her.
In the end, Huo Ying was demoted to being a gatekeeper in a small county town. Zheng Bin had it even worse he was expelled from the army and disowned by his father. Desperate, he drank some cheap, toxic bootleg liquor that blinded him, and then he was hit and killed by a car.
She would never forget the look on Huo Ying’s face at Zheng Bin’s funeral the pain as if he wished he could die right then and there.
Who was responsible for their tragic lives?
In the end, wasn’t it her? The walking disaster.
Today, Zheng Bin coming to give her a ticket… it must have been Huo Ying’s idea.
Only by being cold and heartless could she keep them away from her misfortune!
In a quiet corner of the station, Zheng Bin chattered away. “…So yeah, Captain, I’m sure of it. That girl’s brain must have been kicked by a donkey. She’s either an idiot or retarded. And she’s not even pretty. From any angle, you really don’t need to worry about her anymore.”
Huo Ying had the top two buttons of his shirt undone. His face was gaunt. He took a drag from his cigarette, exhaling a cloud of smoke that shrouded his face, making it impossible to see clearly even five meters away.
He had been listening silently, but at the word “ugly,” it was like being pricked by a needle. He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and crushed it violently on the ground.
“Shut up! Which one of your eyes sees her as ugly?”
The sudden silence was deafening. Zheng Bin scratched his head. “Uh… both of them?”
He hadn’t actually looked at Jiang Yan that closely, but in his mind, any woman who turned down free money was automatically the ugliest thing alive.
“You’ve got such great ‘vision,’ no wonder you got caught red-handed smuggling cigarettes! If I hadn’t spoken up for you, do you think you would have gotten off with just an honorable discharge?”
Zheng Bin’s face fell into a pout. “I wasn’t smuggling! The guys knew I was going south for training and asked me to bring back good brands! You know me better than that, Captain!”
“Oh, I know you. I know you charged them double the price! And now I finally understand exactly why your father chased you out of the house with a broom!”
“You’re just a fool who risks everything for a few pennies! Worse than an idiot! You went through special forces training and you couldn’t even give away a single ticket? What face do you have calling her ugly?”
Huo Ying grew more and more agitated as he scolded.
He was frustrated at Zheng Bin, but even more at himself why was he still worrying about that wicked girl?
He was the real fool whose brain had been kicked by a donkey!
Huo Ying turned sharply and walked away. “Don’t follow me. Go do whatever you want.”
“Captain, I’m sorry!” Zheng Bin trotted after him, looking like he was about to cry. “I’m the ugly one! I’m the worst! But you can’t abandon me! I don’t want to go back to the docks carrying cargo! It’s ten times harder than training and the foreman cheats us out of wages!”
Seeing Huo Ying still ignoring him, he quickly changed tactics. “Fine, I failed to give her the ticket. But I’ll make up for it! I’ll get on the train and take care of her personally! Every little need!”
Huo Ying stopped dead in his tracks.
Bingo. Zheng Bin’s eyes lit up. “She’s going to a village in the south, right near the border! You know what those places are like, Captain. The food is terrible, and the people are rough they pull knives over nothing!”
“She’s delicate like a flower. You can’t go with her, and no ordinary guy could protect her.”
Zheng Bin pounded his chest. “It has to be someone like me! Trained, but discharged now, and desperate to stay by your side! I’ll follow her there and watch her back! How can you send me away?”
Huo Ying raised an eyebrow. “There are plenty of guys like you. You think I have to pick you?”
Internally, he completely agreed. Besides, this idiot had terrible taste in women he actually thought Jiang Yan was ugly. That was perfect; Huo Ying could trust him to look after her without getting any funny ideas.
“I’m only doing this because we’ve fought together and saved each other’s lives. I’m giving you a chance.”
Zheng Bin nodded vigorously like a chicken pecking rice. “Thanks Captain! Can I ask… what exactly is her relationship to you? I don’t mean anything else, it’s just… you taught us before, to know everything about the person we’re protecting!”