"Eldest Brother Conductor, could I trouble you with something?" Ruan Sui'an greeted the conductor politely.
Looking at the pretty young girl before him, the conductor's originally stern face involuntarily softened into a smile.
"Young lady, tell me what you need. If I can help, I certainly will," the conductor's voice became much gentler than usual.
After all, who could bear to put on a stern face and speak loudly when faced with such a fair and lovely young girl?
What if they scared her?
"Eldest Brother Conductor, I wonder if you could trouble the other conductors on the train to let me know if any passengers in the sleeper berths get off? I'd like to switch to a sleeper ticket," Ruan Sui'an said with a smile.
The conductor looked troubled upon hearing this. Sleeper tickets weren't something just anyone could buy.
Those who could purchase sleeper tickets were usually leaders, military officers, and such.
It would be difficult for a young girl to buy a sleeper ticket.
"Young lady, it's not that I don't want to help you, but those who can ride in sleeper berths are usually leaders or military officers. I'm afraid you probably can't purchase a sleeper ticket," the conductor told her honestly.
The conductor really didn't want to disappoint the girl, but rules were rules and couldn't be easily broken.
Several passengers standing nearby overheard their conversation and shook their heads.
The young girl was too naive. Wanting to buy a sleeper ticket was a very difficult matter.
Who wouldn't want to travel more comfortably!
But even if you had money, you might not be able to get one—those were sleeper tickets, after all.
Ruan Sui'an, of course, understood this well. When she had bought her ticket, the salesperson had mentioned it too.
She smiled at the conductor, crouched down, and took out a martyr's certificate from her small leather suitcase.
Although it didn't feel entirely right to keep using the original owner's father's name as leverage, she had to use it when necessary. After all, this was the protection the original owner's father had left behind.
She believed the original owner's father would want this body to avoid suffering.
After all, she was living in the original owner's body.
She held up the martyr's certificate and placed it in front of the conductor. "Eldest Brother Conductor, will this work?"
The moment the conductor saw it, his expression immediately turned solemn and respectful. This was a martyr's certificate.
Of course it would work.
"Young lady, please put it away quickly. Don't worry, I'll definitely inform the other conductors on the train. If any sleeper berths become available, I'll come find you first," the conductor said with great respect for martyrs. Their children deserved respect and preferential treatment too.
These were heroes who had defended the country. They couldn't let heroes shed blood and tears, nor let their children suffer after their sacrifice.
The others didn't see what the young girl had taken out, but seeing the conductor's solemn expression, they realized that piece of paper was definitely no ordinary thing.
They looked curiously at the pretty, fair-skinned young girl before them.
They were very curious about what she had shown. Someone tried to sneak a peek, but Ruan Sui'an had already rolled up the martyr's certificate.
She didn't let anyone besides the conductor see it.
Carefully, she placed the martyr's certificate back into her leather suitcase, closed it, and smiled at the conductor again.
"Thank you, Eldest Brother Conductor."
"You're welcome. Rest assured, if any sleeper berths become available, I'll make sure you get priority," the conductor assured Ruan Sui'an.
Ruan Sui'an thanked him once more. "Thank you!"
At that moment, a vintage green train clattered slowly into the station.
Looking at this type of green train, Ruan Sui’an felt quite emotional. Having always lived in a big city, she had never truly seen such a train in person.
Of course, she had seen it on television—this kind of green train was safe but extremely slow.
In this era, it was the only means of transportation for ordinary people to travel far away.
Indeed, every era has its own symbols.
Since she was standing at the very front, the conductor checked her ticket first and kindly told her the exact location of her carriage.
Ruan Sui’an thanked the conductor and boarded the train with her small leather suitcase.
She didn’t carry much—just the small leather suitcase and a little crossbody bag on her person.
She quickly found her seat, which was quite good—a window seat. She placed her small leather suitcase under her seat.
Pulling open the window, she kept her gaze fixed outside. The order outside wasn’t very good, with all the passengers crowding toward the train in a rush.
Everyone wanted to board as quickly as possible, but the conductors were stopping them, checking tickets one by one.
Some people were even trying to climb in through the windows, and of course, Ruan Sui’an’s window was no exception.
Seeing such a scene, Ruan Sui’an had no desire to be touched or crushed by anyone.
Before the man’s hand could even reach the window, she swiftly closed it.
The man outside widened his eyes, his gaze filled with fury.
He slapped the window and cursed, "You little brat, open this window right now. Otherwise, once I get on this train, I’ll find you and teach you a harsh lesson."
Having ridden so many trains, this was the first time someone had closed the window to prevent climbing through.
This little girl sure had guts.
Ruan Sui’an wasn’t afraid of the man’s threats. If he wanted to teach her a lesson, he’d have to see if he had the ability.
She felt that just closing the window wasn’t enough, so she kept her hand pressed against it and even pulled the curtain shut.
The man hadn’t expected the little girl to even close the curtain. Gnashing his teeth in anger, he reached out to try and push the window aside.
But no matter how hard he pushed, it didn’t budge an inch. He knew someone was holding it shut, but the person sitting by the window was clearly just a frail little girl.
Where on earth did she get the strength to keep him from pushing it open?
The man raged and cursed helplessly, his large hand slapping the window repeatedly. "You little bitch, open this window for me, you hear? If you don’t open it, I’ll smash it. Hurry up and open it!"
Ruan Sui’an rubbed her ears, not backing down in the slightest.
Go ahead and curse!
Consider it the barking of a dog.
A conductor noticed the man slapping the window and hurried over to stop him.
"What are you doing? If you break the glass, can you afford to pay for it?"
"Heh heh, I wasn’t doing anything, nothing at all. I’ll leave right away." The man spoke to the conductor with none of the arrogance he had shown earlier.
Nodding and bowing, he prepared to leave. Before going, he shot a fierce glare at the window, as if he could see the person behind the curtain through it.
In the end, he could only leave, filled with resentment.
Sitting next to Ruan Sui’an was a girl two or three years older than her. Watching Ruan Sui’an’s actions, she opened her mouth as if to say something but then closed it.
Forget it!
Although she felt what the little girl did wasn’t quite right, truth be told, she didn’t really want anyone climbing in through the window either.
Anyway, if that man wanted revenge, he’d go after the young girl—it had nothing to do with her.
The girl was young, fair-skinned, and clean-looking, but her temper was quite fiery.
The train carriage gradually filled up, with some even standing.
Just like on TV, as long as there was space to stand, standing tickets sold like hotcakes.
Unlike trains and high-speed rail in later times, once seated tickets were sold out, that was it.
There was no such thing as standing tickets.
The carriage grew noisy, and all sorts of smells began to spread, making it quite indescribable.
People in this era weren’t as particular about hygiene as in the 21st century—some even went two or three months without bathing.
It was easy to imagine how unbearable the smell on the train could be.
She instinctively waved her hand in front of her nose, but it was useless—the unpleasant odor remained hard to tolerate.
Fortunately, she had a homemade mask. Putting it on would solve the problem.
Pretending to reach into her small shoulder bag, she actually retrieved a homemade mask from her Space.
With the mask on, Ruan Sui’an finally felt much more comfortable, and her furrowed brows finally relaxed.
The girl next to her glanced at Ruan Sui’an, thinking the young girl was being overly fussy.
The smell on the train was indeed unpleasant, but it was unavoidable. A little patience would get you through it.
Being this fussy, she wasn’t afraid of being criticized.
Ruan Sui’an, of course, noticed the gazes of those around her.
She couldn’t be bothered with them and continued reaching into her shoulder bag, actually taking a black cloth strip from her Space to cover her eyes.
She decided to take a nap first. Her appearance drew the attention of everyone around her.
They all thought this young girl was too fussy. The smell on the train was indeed bad, but there was no need to dress up like this.
Unconsciously, Ruan Sui’an fell asleep, completely indifferent to the scrutiny of those around her.
These were all strangers, and their opinions meant nothing to her.
She didn’t care. After all, if you care too much about what others think, you’ll live an unhappy life.
She didn’t know how long she had slept when someone suddenly pushed her.
Ruan Sui’an was extremely irritated. She shot up and snapped, "Who’s the blind fool disturbing my sleep?"
Ruan Sui’an had a terrible temper when woken up. In the past, anyone who disturbed her sleep would get an earful.
She could be woken by an alarm clock, but never by a person.
It was a matter of principle.
She angrily tore off the black cloth strip from her face, her eyes blazing with fury as she glared at the two people standing there.
Without guessing, she knew one of them was the one who had pushed her.
Her intuition told her the girl in the white dress was the one who had disturbed her sleep.
"Was it you who pushed me?" Ruan Sui’an’s voice was filled with irritation.
The girl in the white dress had delicate features and fair skin—at least compared to others.
But compared to Ruan Sui’an, she was no match.
Ruan Sui’an was still wearing her mask, revealing only her large, obsidian-like eyes.
The girl hadn’t expected Ruan Sui’an to be so irritable and was momentarily speechless.
This only made Ruan Sui’an angrier. She stared at the girl and said, "Was it you who pushed me? If you don’t want your hand anymore, you can go chop it off."
She didn’t care who the other person was. If they disturbed her sleep, they deserved a scolding.
No one had expected her to be so irritable—it was just a little push, after all.
It's not a big deal anyway.
The girl in the white dress finally turned around, her eyes immediately welling up with tears as she looked pitifully at Ruan Sui'an.
"Sister, I didn't mean to, I just…" Before she could finish, Ruan Sui'an cut her off.
"What sister? We don't even know each other. Stop pretending to be family." It was obvious at a glance that the girl before her was a master manipulator.
Putting on a show right here.
She wasn't buying it.
The man beside them clearly liked the girl, his gaze filled with pity as he took in her aggrieved expression.
His face immediately softened with concern, and he reached out to gently pat the girl's shoulder in comfort.
When he turned to Ruan Sui'an, his expression turned stern. "How can you speak like that, colleague? Xiao He only gave you a light push. Was it necessary to be so harsh?"