Qiao Zhenzhu immediately stood up, took down the two bags Lu Huai had tossed onto the upper bunk, and threw them back onto the lower bunk across from them.
Then she said to Lu Huai, “Hubby, lie back down. We paid for this lower bunk. We’re not switching with them!”
The woman clearly hadn’t expected Qiao Zhenzhu to turn hostile so suddenly. She stared at her in shock.
“Y-you… how can you be like this? You already agreed just now!”
“We agreed because we were being polite.
“But if you push your luck, then we can change our minds. Got a problem with that?”
“If you think it’s too cramped here, why don’t you just buy the whole train?”
“We’re not related in any way, so why should I accommodate you?”
Sentence after sentence left the woman completely dumbfounded.
She opened and closed her mouth several times, yet couldn’t squeeze out a single word.
At that moment, the man hurriedly apologized.
“Sorry about that. My wife doesn’t mean any harm. She just feels bad for the child. She didn’t do it on purpose.”
“She feels bad for her kid, and I feel bad for my man. I don’t want him climbing up and down. Is there a problem with that?”
“N-no…” The man shrank back a little, not daring to argue with Qiao Zhenzhu anymore.
She was obviously so beautiful—how was her mouth sharper than gunpowder?
Qiao Zhenzhu snorted and couldn’t be bothered with them anymore.
In the end, the family of three still moved to the upper bunks.
The woman grumbled and slammed things around a bit, but she didn’t dare say anything else, and Qiao Zhenzhu ignored her completely.
When she looked toward Lu Huai, she found him smiling at her, a strange light flickering in his eyes.
Not understanding what he was laughing about, Qiao Zhenzhu simply ignored it and continued crunching away at her fruit.
The train was nothing like a high-speed rail. It rattled and clanked loudly the whole way.
Every few hours, it would stop again.
Fortunately, this was a soft sleeper carriage, so at least they could lie down.
There weren’t many people around, and with the windows open, not only was there no strange smell, but it was actually quite cool.
Otherwise, enduring two days and two nights on the train would’ve been unbearable.
After being verbally crushed by Qiao Zhenzhu, the couple behaved much more honestly and didn’t cause any more trouble.
The little boy was only three or four years old, right at that lively and energetic age. His tiny mouth kept chattering nonstop.
But he didn’t scream or throw tantrums, so Qiao Zhenzhu didn’t find him annoying at all.
Listening to his babyish voice only made her look forward even more to the children in her belly.
Late at night, while Qiao Zhenzhu was sleeping, she suddenly smelled smoke.
The scent was somewhat choking, and at the same time, her head began to feel heavy.
Something’s wrong!
It’s knockout smoke!
Qiao Zhenzhu instantly became alert and mobilized the wood-element ability inside her body to cleanse the drugged smoke she had inhaled.
After doing all that, she didn’t immediately get up.
To catch thieves, you had to catch them red-handed. She wanted to see exactly what the people outside were planning.
Not long after, the compartment door was pried open from the outside.
Although the door had only been secured with a latch, opening it from the outside wasn’t easy.
Yet the people outside managed to open it effortlessly—it was obvious they were experienced criminals.
As Qiao Zhenzhu was thinking this, she heard the footsteps of two people.
Along with their hushed conversation.
“I’ll go up and grab the kid. You search the luggage under the beds and see if there’s anything valuable.”
Hearing their conversation, Qiao Zhenzhu laughed inwardly.
These thieves really weren’t going to leave empty-handed!
Not only did they want to steal a child, they also wanted the valuables!
Just as Qiao Zhenzhu was about to make her move, Lu Huai, who was lying on the lower bunk across from her, suddenly sat up.
Even though the compartment lights were off, Lu Huai accurately grabbed both men by the arms. With one hard yank, he slammed their foreheads together with a loud bang.
The two men were instantly dazed.
Before they could recover, Lu Huai had already pulled out a rope and tied them together.
The whole sequence of actions took less than a minute.
Qiao Zhenzhu was stunned.
By the end, she even felt like applauding.
No wonder he had become a regiment commander at such a young age—he really was incredible!
The commotion was loud, and the thieves kept screaming, so the drugged couple on the upper bunks also woke up.
Taking the opportunity, Lu Huai switched on the light, and people from neighboring compartments crowded over to watch.
Seeing everyone’s curious expressions, Lu Huai explained,
“These two sneaked into the compartment in the middle of the night to steal a child and luggage. I caught them red-handed.”
No one doubted his words.
This was a four-person compartment, and two strangers had secretly slipped in during the middle of the night. If they weren’t thieves, then what else could they be?
The railway police soon arrived. After solemnly thanking Lu Huai, they took the two thieves away.
Only then did the couple on the upper bunks fully understand what had happened.
At the thought that their child had nearly been kidnapped, both of them were overwhelmed with fear.
The man looked at Lu Huai gratefully.
“Thank you! Thank you so much! Really, thank you!”
The woman’s eyes were red as she repeatedly thanked him as well.
Although there had been some unpleasantness during the day, compared to something this serious, that tiny conflict was nothing worth mentioning.
Watching the couple, Qiao Zhenzhu sighed inwardly.
Parents truly would do anything for their children.
There were still many parents in this world who genuinely loved their kids.
A scumbag father like Wang Anquan was actually quite rare.
The child was young, and after inhaling the knockout smoke, he slept even more deeply than usual, not waking up until the next morning.
Fortunately, he could still eat, run, and jump around energetically, which finally put the couple at ease.
While eating in the dining car, Qiao Zhenzhu finally found a chance to ask Lu Huai,
“The thieves used knockout smoke. How did you avoid it?”
“I didn’t avoid it,” Lu Huai explained. “I just have a certain resistance to drugs.”
With that simple sentence, Qiao Zhenzhu instantly understood.
Some people, in order to carry out missions more smoothly, would deliberately expose themselves to various drugs beforehand to build resistance.
It sounded simple, but achieving that kind of tolerance involved suffering that ordinary people could never endure.
Lu Huai spoke lightly of it, but he must have gone through a lot of pain back then.
Seeing Qiao Zhenzhu staring at him like that, Lu Huai smiled gently.
“Don’t think too much about it. It’s really nothing.”
Nothing, my foot!
Qiao Zhenzhu sighed inwardly.
This man truly was worth falling for.
And worth treating well.
After this incident, the train became much quieter. Everyone focused on keeping an eye on their own children and luggage.
As for those two thieves, they’d either face execution or be sent off for hard labor reform.
After another night passed, the train finally arrived at the station at ten the next morning.
The moment she stepped off the train, Qiao Zhenzhu felt somewhat dizzy and unsteady.
After resting for a moment, she was escorted by Lu Huai toward the station exit.
The station was packed with people, and many were waiting outside.
Among them, a military jeep stood out the most.
Beside the jeep stood a young soldier in uniform, smiling brightly. The moment he spotted Qiao Zhenzhu and Lu Huai, he immediately ran over and took the luggage from Lu Huai’s hands.
“Commander, Sister-in-law, let’s go!”