Meeting Wen Shunu
Jian Mingyue’s face turned green, a wave of nausea rising in her chest.
[This damned old hag, making me eat something she spat on. Does she think I’m some kind of lowlife? Pah! Eat, eat, eat—I hope your grandson chokes to death!]
The old woman froze for a moment. She realized she could hear this woman’s inner thoughts—she was actually cursing her in her mind? And worst of all, she was wishing death upon her precious grandson.
Like an enraged mad dog, the old woman lunged forward without warning and clawed at Jian Mingyue’s face, leaving five bloody scratches of varying depths.
“Ah!! Help!! Waaah!!”
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. By the time Jian Mingyue reacted, she only felt a burning pain on her face.
She valued her appearance above all else, and now it had been marred by an old woman’s claws.
In that instant, Jian Mingyue lost all reason.
“Ah, you old bitch, you decrepit hag, I’ll kill you!”
The people around stared in shock. How had this female comrade ended up rolling on the ground with the old woman in the blink of an eye?
The two were pinching, scratching, and tearing at each other’s hair while hurling a constant stream of curses.
No one dared to step in and break up the fight. Both women were simply too fierce, and they feared getting caught in the crossfire. What if they tried to intervene and accidentally touched the female comrade, only to be accused of harassment? It was better to stay out of it.
Some even watched with eager eyes, almost ready to cheer them on. After all, there was nothing to do on the train, and boredom had set in.
“What’s going on here? Stop fighting, break it up!” At some point, a train attendant had arrived and separated the two who were locked in combat.
The old woman’s hair was disheveled, with a few silver strands hanging messily over her face. Her clothes were twisted and askew, missing several buttons. Red scratch marks covered her face and the back of her hands, and she was panting heavily.
Jian Mingyue wasn’t faring much better. Her hair was a tangled mess, her face red and swollen, her pants covered in dust. Her eyes were as red as a rabbit’s, tears smeared all over her face.
Seeing the attendant, she felt as if she had found a savior. She grabbed her and poured out her grievances.
After listening to her story, the attendant looked at the old woman with disdain. After all, stealing someone else’s food was a disgraceful act, something that would earn contempt no matter where you went.
Before she could say anything, the old woman hastily grabbed the attendant and said, “Miss, don’t listen to this little tramp’s nonsense. What do you mean ‘stealing’? It was just a few dumplings, and it’s not like she was going to eat them anyway.”
The attendant looked up at the sky, speechless. A sense of helplessness filled her heart. Dealing with someone like this old woman was like a scholar trying to reason with a soldier—utterly futile.
In the end, after much persuasion, the conflict was resolved with the old woman offering an apology.
Watching the attendant walk away, the old woman shot a triumphant glance at Jian Mingyue. What was an apology? Her grandson had gotten to eat dumplings made with fine white flour.
Seeing her look, Jian Mingyue was so angry she could hardly breathe. She simply turned her head away and closed her eyes, deciding that out of sight was out of mind.
“Grandma, I want more!”
The little boy had polished off all the dumplings by himself. Having gotten a taste of something good, he stared greedily at the half-eaten roast chicken Jiang Taohua had left behind.
The old woman and her grandson exchanged a glance, both understanding without words. They planned to pull the same trick again.
The old woman stood up and moved into the aisle. Her wrinkled hand was about to touch the roast chicken when, unexpectedly, an accident occurred.
Her hand was pressed firmly against the table by Jiang Taohua, and she felt as though it might break from the pain.
“Ah, let go! Let go of me!”
Jiang Taohua sneered, “What? Finished stealing the dumplings and now you want the roast chicken too?”
The old woman’s eyes darted around nervously.
“What nonsense are you talking? Who said I wanted to steal your roast chicken? I was just going to the bathroom, and you’re accusing me for no reason.”
Jiang Taohua’s smile grew even colder. “Whether I’m accusing you wrongly or not, we both know the truth.”
Her tone suddenly turned sinister. “If you dare stretch your claws toward my things again, I won’t mind chopping them off.”
As she spoke, she squeezed the old woman’s hand hard, causing her to break out in a cold sweat. The old woman felt as though she might collapse from the pain at any moment.
Only when Jiang Taohua released her grip did the old woman look at her with fear in her eyes. Today, she had truly met her match. Knowing this woman was not to be trifled with, she slunk back to her seat in defeat.
The baby-faced female comrade sitting opposite gave Jiang Taohua an admiring thumbs-up. “Comrade, you’re amazing! That old woman is so unreasonable and stubborn, but you managed to put her in her place.”
Jiang Taohua smiled faintly. The two of them began chatting, and as they talked, they found themselves getting along better and better.
Through their conversation, Jiang Taohua learned that the woman’s name was Wen Shunu. She was the only child in her family, and because she was usually loud and boisterous, her parents had given her this name in the hopes that she would become more ladylike.
Jiang Taohua recognized the name—like her, Wen Shunu had met a tragic end in the story, destined to be a cannon fodder character.
“Sister, here, have some sunflower seeds.”
Wen Shunu was now addressing Jiang Taohua as “sister.” Each of them held a handful of sunflower seeds, chatting as they ate. When Wen Shunu learned that Jiang Taohua was being sent to the same rural brigade as her, she marveled at the incredible coincidence.
Suddenly, something flashed through Jiang Taohua’s mind, too quickly for her to grasp. It wasn’t until dinner time that it finally clicked.
Damn it, how could she have forgotten something so important?
The book mentioned that on the very first day of their train journey, a robbery would take place on this train. There were five robbers, working together to cover for each other and carry out the crime.
They were armed with knives and forced everyone on the train to hand over their money. During the robbery, one person who refused to cooperate was stabbed to death by the bandits.
By the time the train attendants arrived with the railway police, the robbers had already smashed a window and escaped with the stolen money.
No, she had to find those robbers now. If she stayed close to them and struggled fiercely, refusing to cooperate, she could provoke them into stabbing her. Once she was dead, she could return to the modern world. Jiang Taohua felt a surge of delight, as if she could already see a billion yuan waving at her.