The one speaking was an old woman with slanted, upturned eyes and a harsh-looking face.
She was holding the hand of a little boy—probably her grandson. The boy was chubby, with a runny nose, his eyes fixed on the braised pork in front of Yin Jiao.
“Grandma, I want braised pork…”
Seeing the snot running from his nose, Yun Ting suddenly lost her appetite. She couldn’t finish the meat pancake she was eating and put it away.
“Hey… my grandson said he wants braised pork!” the old woman said, reaching out to grab Yin Jiao’s food.
“What are you doing? This is my meat! Why should I give it to you?” Yin Jiao shouted angrily, blocking her hand.
Tsk… magic defeating magic, Yun Ting thought as she watched from the side. She wondered if Yin Jiao felt the old woman’s behavior was a bit familiar.
“There’s so much meat. What’s wrong with letting my grandson have some? No respect for the elderly or care for the young! And you call yourself an educated youth—this is capitalist hedonism!”
Those words were serious enough that the others stopped treating it like a show.
“Grandma, that’s not right,” Wang Xue spoke up first. “We’re going to support rural construction. If we eat something nice, it’s because we paid for it ourselves. How is that hedonism? Can you share the money in your pocket with us then?”
“Exactly,” Zhou Yang added. “Just because you like someone else’s things doesn’t mean you can take them. That kind of thinking isn’t good. Should we call the conductor?”
“Grandma, braised pork… braised pork… I want braised pork!” the boy kept whining.
“Eat, eat, eat! Didn’t you see they won’t give it to you? Let’s go—Grandma will buy you buns later,” the old woman said, pulling him away.
But the little boy suddenly rushed forward, grabbed the braised pork, and spat into it.
“Ugh…” Yun Ting couldn’t help gagging.
The others were equally disgusted.
Yin Jiao didn’t even want the lunchbox anymore.
“You must compensate me, or I’ll call the conductor,” Yin Jiao said to the old woman.
“He’s just a child who doesn’t know better. Why are you being so petty? At worst I’ll wash the lunchbox clean and return it later.”
“Pay me. Five yuan.”
“Five yuan? Why don’t you just rob me!”
“What’s going on here? Why all the noise?” someone had already called the train conductor.
Yin Jiao explained what had happened. The others nodded in agreement.
The conductor looked at the old woman. “Ma’am, your behavior is indeed inappropriate. Your grandson grabbed her food—you need to compensate her.”
“Oh my heavens! You’re all bullying an old woman traveling with her grandson! Where would I get money to pay?” The old woman suddenly lay down on the floor and began wailing loudly.
The conductor rubbed his head in frustration. People like this were the most troublesome.
Yun Ting noticed that the old woman had looked nervous when someone mentioned calling the conductor. Maybe she hadn’t bought a ticket.
“Did this grandma buy a ticket for this carriage? Most people here are educated youths, right?” Yun Ting asked Yang Qingqing quietly, though her voice was loud enough for the conductor to hear.
“Grandma, let me see your ticket. Did you get into the wrong carriage?” the conductor asked.
The old woman immediately stopped wailing, panic flashing across her face.
“My… my ticket was lost earlier. My grandson dropped it.”
“Grandma, didn’t you say we didn’t need to buy tickets?” the chubby boy blurted out, instantly exposing her.
“Pfft—” Yun Ting couldn’t hold back her laughter. What a pig of a teammate.
Everyone else tried to suppress their laughter, but Yun Ting had already laughed out loud, so all eyes turned toward her.
“Heh… sorry,” she said quickly. “The emotion came too suddenly—I couldn’t hold it in.”
“Pfft—” Zhou Yang also burst out laughing because of her.
“You two are traveling without tickets. That’s illegal,” the conductor said sternly. “Come with me. But first, you must pay the girl back. Otherwise I’ll take both of you to the police station.”
“I’ll pay! I’ll pay!” The old woman immediately pulled out crumpled bills and threw them at Yin Jiao the moment she heard the words “police station.”
The conductor then took them away, telling her she had to buy a ticket or be forced off the train at the next stop.
Yin Jiao looked disgusted at the money the old woman had given her and tossed it to Li Zhaodi.
“Hold this for me.”
Li Zhaodi carefully put it away, not daring to speak. Her timid appearance made others look down on her.
Fortunately, nothing strange happened during the rest of the journey.
On the third day, the train arrived in Hechuan County, Black Province. From there, they still had to take a bus to Shengli Commune.
After three days on the train, everyone felt relieved to get off. The weather was hot, the train smelled terrible, and no one had eaten much. Now they were both tired and hungry.
But they didn’t realize that the real nightmare would begin once they boarded the bus to the commune.
There was no space for luggage. The small bus was packed with people, filled with the smell of sweat and feet. The weather was scorching, and this time they weren’t lucky enough to find seats—they had to stand.
Even worse, the ride would last more than an hour.
Yun Ting couldn’t take it anymore. She took out her water bottle and drank some spiritual spring water, finally feeling a little better.
The roads in those days were terrible. The bus jolted constantly, the smell of gasoline was strong, and some passengers even vomited inside.
Several girls turned pale with nausea.
Yun Ting could tolerate it after drinking the spring water, but she wasn’t about to reveal her space or the spiritual water, so she had no intention of kindly sharing it.
Lu Jiayan truly lived up to his military background. His stamina was strong; aside from a bit of fatigue, he seemed fine. He even had time to check on Yang Qingqing and helped carry her luggage.
Yin Jiao looked extremely jealous, glaring at Yang Qingqing several times. Wang Xue also looked quietly heartbroken.
Watching from the side, Yun Ting thought to herself:
Tsk tsk… as expected, wise people stay out of love. I must always remain rational.
After more than an hour of shaking along the road, they finally arrived at Shengli Commune.
As soon as they got off the bus, people rushed out vomiting until it felt like their bile would come up.
Yun Ting couldn’t bear watching the scene and quickly took her luggage to the side.
Aside from slight discomfort, she was fine. This body actually had decent physical fitness—probably thanks to drinking so much spiritual spring water recently.
She wondered if the spiritual spring water and fruits and rice she had left for her family had frightened them.
“This ride was unbearable…”
They arrived at the educated youth office, where groups of young people with large bundles gathered outside.
After resting for only a few minutes, they heard someone shout:
“Those assigned to Xiangyang Production Team, come over here!”
They quickly grabbed their luggage and headed over.
The man who called them was about fifty years old, with dark skin and a tall, sturdy build.
“Hello, I’m Li Jianguo, the captain of Xiangyang Production Team. I’m here to pick you up today. I’ll read the names to make sure everyone is here: Lu Jiayan, Yang Qingqing, Yun Ting, Wang Xue, Zhou Yang, Yin Jiao, Li Zhaodi… Is everyone here? Anyone missing?”
“No.”
“Good. Then get on.”
Only then did they notice that the Xiangyang Production Team had come with a tractor to pick them up—which meant their team’s conditions were actually quite good.
They loaded their luggage onto the tractor and then climbed aboard one by one.