Jiang Yuan lifted her small face to look up at him. Breathless from running, her skin glowed with a soft flush, and the fine, downy hairs upon her cheeks were plainly visible — innocent, and utterly pitiable.
Yet that changed nothing. Lu Qinian reached out, seized her roughly, and drew her out from behind him. His expression was dark, vexed and angry. “What are you doing here?”
She knew well enough — jokes had their place, and this was not it. Jiang Yuan stepped back at once, placing a respectful metre between them. In these times, the university entrance examinations had been restored and sent‑down youth were returning — yet the world had not fully opened. To trade without a permit at the railway station was, in Lu Qinian’s eyes, a serious matter indeed.
She was still casting about for a way to explain things gently when his subordinates marched the three men who had pursued her forward and set them before him. All who served Lu Qinian knew his temper; they had already questioned the men thoroughly and now reported the facts plainly.
Lu Qinian listened, nodded once to show he understood, and issued his command: “Hand them over to the station police station. Investigate the matter fully and punish them according to regulations.”
“Sir!”
The three men were led away before they could utter a word. At this, Jiang Yuan met Wang Yajuan’s gaze — and the two exchanged a faint, triumphant raise of the eyebrows.
Their triumph was short‑lived. Lu Qinian’s dark, jewel‑hard gaze swept over both young women. He turned to his subordinate and said coldly:
“These two female comrades have disturbed public order at the station. Take them into custody as well.”
— Dammit!
Jiang Yuan itched to curse aloud. Restraint was plainly her only option now. She pleaded instead: “Commander Lu! Those three men were chasing us — had we not run, we might have come to harm. We are the victims here! I beg you — grant us leniency. I give you my word we shall never do such a thing again.”
“That is true!” Wang Yajuan added earnestly. “We have always kept to ourselves and done no harm. They were the ones who meant us ill. We shall keep far from such men henceforth, I promise — please, let us go this once!”
Lu Qinian looked down at Jiang Yuan, his face set hard as flint. This woman — what a stout heart she had. Chased through the station by three ruffians, threatened with harm and death — yet she showed no fear, not a tremor of dread, only that bright, unrepentant look.
“Take them away.”
Seeing Wang Yajuan about to speak again and beg further, Jiang Yuan caught her firmly by the arm and shook her head. Some things weigh nothing at all when lifted — yet crush you utterly when set down. Selling goods without a permit would be frowned upon even in peacetime; today, it could be labelled speculation and profiteering — a crime grave enough to carry a prison sentence. To charge them only with disturbing the peace was already the mercy of Lu Qinian’s judgment. To rouse his ire further and have them formally charged — that would be ruin.
Above all else, one must know when to yield. An arm cannot fight a thigh — such is the way of the world. For all her sharp wits, Jiang Yuan could not fight nature itself. A few days’ detention was nothing.
No one rejoiced more at Jiang Yuan’s arrest than Song Yuhua. She might have ordered banquets to celebrate.
“That little hussy has met her comeuppance at last! Nothing could be sweeter!” Song Yuhua sipped her tea, light‑hearted and triumphant.
Aunt Liu grinned from ear to ear. “They say it was the Commander himself who gave the order to arrest her. I always knew his temper — he would never suffer such insolence. He waited only to catch her in a grave fault — and punish her thoroughly.”
To suffer small faults and strike down the great — that was indeed Lu Qinian’s way.
“She brought this upon herself!” Song Yuhua said with satisfaction. “A country girl — had she any sense, she might have taken honest work as a maid, earning a steady wage in a decent home. Instead she chose speculation and unlawful trade. Now see where it has brought her — fed and housed by the state! Comrade Song — you know the law well… how many years in prison might such a woman expect?”
At the question, Song Yuhua paused — struck by a sudden, important thought. She longed to see Jiang Yuan punished severely. But that girl was sly and desperate. Once locked away, she would doubtless spread lies — claiming the child she carried was Lu Qinian’s, perhaps even dragging Lu Ze’s name into the mire as well.
“Years in prison?” Song Yuhua mused, a slow, cruel smile touching her lips. “Why settle for that? Far more entertaining — to bring those three men of hers here, and set them before her.”
Jiang Yuan bore herself with such pride only because no one yet knew the truth — that she had been with those three common brutes. Once those men were brought to the capital, once they stood before Qinian and Lu Ze and identified her openly — she would have no face left to threaten anyone with claims of marriage and children. She would have no face left to live with at all.
Because they had been sent directly by Commander Lu, the police took their statements at once. The two young women had already agreed upon their story — their accounts matched perfectly. They were small‑time peddlers, at worst in breach of public order regulations — subject to a fine and short administrative detention.
As Jiang Yuan had foreseen: a fine of fifty yuan, and seven days’ administrative detention.
Wang Yajuan’s first thought was her money. She leaned forward, bargaining earnestly: “Comrade Officer — might we waive the fine? Lock us up a few days longer instead?”
Police Chief Cheng Fangping looked at her, stern as an old scholar. “You imagine this is a market stall?”
Cheng Fangping was in his mid‑twenties — broad‑shouldered, upright, and handsome, with clear features and deep, steady eyes. He had been assigned to the station from the army. He had known many women — yet never in his life had he seen one so strikingly beautiful as Jiang Yuan. He met her gaze, and his face flushed; he looked away, awkward, and explained:
“Reform is underway, yes — but unlicensed trade remains unlawful. And to carry on such business at the railway station… and to be caught in the act by Commander Lu himself! You are fined not merely by the letter of the law — but so that you may learn a lesson. Do not trade unlawfully in such places again. It is far too dangerous for two young women.”
Wang Yajuan bristled — not only were they being fined, but their livelihood was to be forbidden entirely. She would have spoken up in anger — but Jiang Yuan, knowing her friend too well, cut in quickly before she could speak.
“You are entirely right, Comrade Chief. We accept your correction. We shall remember this lesson and never repeat our mistake.”
Cheng Fangping stood, seeming uncertain what more to say. At last he offered awkwardly: “Then… rest well.”
When he had gone some distance, Wang Yajuan could contain herself no longer. “Rest well indeed! In a cell? The bed is hard as stone, and the blanket no softer. He bids us rest well — as though we were guests at a guesthouse!”
“My dear,” Jiang Yuan said calmly, “we are here to serve time — not to lodge at an inn.”
Wang Yajuan knew that well enough — she was merely venting her spleen. Then she turned upon Jiang Yuan, perplexed. “And you — why were you so agreeable? Where is that sharp tongue of yours? Fifty yuan! Fifty yuan is nearly three months’ wages!” Her heart was bleeding.
“Think of it this way,” Jiang Yuan soothed, drawing her down onto the cold, hard bunk. “Every day we remain here is a day we lose earnings. In our trade, we clear easily fifty or sixty yuan a day. Why pay fifty yuan in fines to stay locked up a few days longer — and lose several hundred in earnings? With arithmetic like that — how ever shall you manage our future company, when we are turning over hundreds of thousands a day?”