“Because the next train to Yangcheng is on the twenty-third. If we change the ticket, we can only move it to a later date!” Jiang Meng lied to Jiang Jianguo.
“Oh, I see.” Jiang Jianguo did not suspect a thing.
Jiang Meng continued, “It’s only a few more days. Just bear with it for now. When the time comes, we can put some medicine in her food, knock her out, and get her onto the train!”
Jiang Meng did not feel the slightest bit guilty about how vicious she was being.
Since they could not change the train tickets, Jiang Jianguo had no choice but to let it go.
But in the end, they could not even wait until the twenty-third.
Late at night on the twentieth, Lin Shujuan got up and happened to see Jiang Yan in the kitchen, sharpening a cleaver to kill a chicken.
Jiang Yan deliberately played a nasty little prank. Right in front of Lin Shujuan, she slit the chicken’s throat.
Blood sprayed everywhere in an instant, splattering even onto Lin Shujuan’s face.
“Ahhh!”
Lin Shujuan screamed in terror. She was so frightened she nearly wet herself, then ran back to her bedroom trembling all over.
The next morning, Lin Shujuan came to Jiang Yan with a deathly pale face.
“Jiang Yan, we’ve agreed to the one-thousand-yuan dowry you asked for!”
As she spoke, she reluctantly pushed a handkerchief-wrapped bundle containing one thousand yuan in large bills toward Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan glanced at the handkerchief on the table, then looked up at Lin Shujuan.
“One thousand yuan? That was the old price!”
“Now I want two thousand. Of course, you don’t have to give it to me!” Jiang Yan had overheard their plan to drug her unconscious and force her onto the train.
If they were going to be so ruthless, there was no reason for her to be nice to them!
When Lin Shujuan heard “two thousand,” her eyes bulged like a bull’s.
“Two thousand? Why don’t you just rob me?!”
Jiang Yan did not think she was asking for too much at all.
“You don’t have to give it to me. Then I simply won’t get married. Besides, staying home is pretty nice.”
As if suddenly remembering something, Jiang Yan added, “And don’t even think about drugging me unconscious and throwing me onto the train. Because before I pass out, I’ll make sure I take your entire family down with me!”
Jiang Yan even made a throat-slitting gesture.
Lin Shujuan immediately remembered the sight of Jiang Yan slitting the chicken’s throat the night before.
“Two thousand it is! Wait here. I’ll go get it!”
All Lin Shujuan wanted now was to get this scourge out of the house as quickly as possible.
Before long, Lin Shujuan returned with two thousand yuan in large bills and flung the money straight at Jiang Yan.
“Take it and go buy yourself a coffin!” Lin Shujuan cursed viciously.
Jiang Yan did not reach out to catch it. She simply let the bills fall to the floor, one after another.
“Pick them up.”
Jiang Yan stared coldly at Lin Shujuan.
Lin Shujuan desperately wanted to shout, *I won’t!*
But her body moved against her will, and she crouched down to pick up the money.
“You really are asking for a beating!”
Jiang Yan took the money, spat once, wet her finger with saliva, and began counting.
“Ten, twenty, thirty…”
After making sure not a single coin was missing, Jiang Yan happily left the house to stock up on food.
Too bad she didn’t have a storage space. Otherwise, she could have stocked up even more!
When Jiang Yan emerged from the black market, she tearfully hauled two enormous bundles home, each one nearly twice her size, puffing and huffing the whole way.
When she got home, Lin Shujuan nearly had a heart attack at the sight of Jiang Yan’s two huge bundles.
That was all bought with *her* money!
Lin Shujuan beat her chest in frustration. She desperately wanted to snatch the two bundles back, but she didn’t dare.
Jiang Meng quietly comforted her.
“Mom, don’t be angry. Some people may have the luck to take things, but that doesn’t mean they’ll have the luck to enjoy them.”
Jiang Yan stopped in her tracks and shot Jiang Meng a sharp look.
Jiang Meng raised an ill-intentioned smile as she met Jiang Yan’s gaze.
*In her previous life, Jiang Yan had been kidnapped by human traffickers on this very train. They had robbed her of her money and possessions, then beaten and humiliated her… She had suffered inhuman torment.*
*In this life, Jiang Yan, it’s your turn to endure it!*
……
On the twenty-third, because of Jiang Meng’s cryptic warning, Jiang Yan remained extra cautious. From the moment she boarded the train, she stayed on high alert.
She was glad she had been careful. Otherwise, she really might not have noticed this group of human traffickers.
They used fragrant braised pork as bait, striking up conversations with their targets and pretending to be their relatives.
Once their targets ate the braised pork and passed out, the traffickers would stay beside them, chatting casually with the people around them under the guise of being family members.
By pretending to be relatives, they could naturally take their victims off the train when they reached the station without arousing anyone’s suspicion.
What a clever scheme!
Too bad they had run into her!
Jiang Yan had been planning to be a good Samaritan, alert the railway police, and help wipe out the entire gang.
But before she had the chance, she realized that she herself had already become their target.
The three-generation family sitting beside her had been exceptionally friendly from the moment they boarded.
The middle-aged woman dressed in coarse clothes called her “girl” over and over again in an overly affectionate tone. Her son was a simple, honest-looking man who never let go of the little boy in his arms.
The boy looked about four or five years old. He was chubby and adorably cute.
Even after everything she had experienced in the apocalypse, Jiang Yan still had a soft spot for a five-year-old child.
With his chubby little cheeks, he kept calling her “Big Sister” in the sweetest little voice. And now Jiang Yan had two huge bundles of food with her.
Although this era was short on food and clothing, things were nowhere near as extreme as during the apocalypse.
Along the way, Jiang Yan gave him quite a few snacks.
She never imagined that even this little brat was part of the human traffickers’ scheme.
*The kid’s barely old enough to walk…*
*Sure enough, whether it’s the apocalypse or this era, the only person you can truly rely on is yourself!*
Because Jiang Yan had become quite familiar with the three-generation family, they did not even bother with the fragrant braised pork.
The middle-aged woman simply waited until Jiang Yan wasn’t paying attention, then suddenly pressed a handkerchief coated with drugs over her mouth.
Fortunately, Jiang Yan was alert and had been keeping her guard up the entire time.
But just as she was preparing to fight back, the corner of her eye caught something the seemingly honest man accidentally revealed beneath his clothes.
A gun.
This group of human traffickers actually had guns!
It looked like she couldn’t confront them head-on.
There were too many people on the train. What if the traffickers were exposed and, driven to desperation, went on a killing spree?
Jiang Yan pretended not to notice what the middle-aged woman was doing. She held her breath, and the moment the handkerchief covered her mouth, she tilted her head and slumped against the train window, pretending to pass out.
“Good girl, good girl…”
The middle-aged woman called out twice. When Jiang Yan showed no reaction, she happily exchanged a look with the honest-looking man.
*It worked!*
The man remained calm and quietly gave the woman their signal.
“We’ll wrap things up at the next stop!”
Wasn’t the next stop Nandu?
And they were almost there. How was she supposed to leave behind a clue?
Pretending to be unconscious, Jiang Yan secretly racked her brain.
*Heh. I’ve got it!*
The corners of Jiang Yan’s lips lifted in an almost imperceptible smile.
All the way to Nandu Station, the middle-aged woman never realized that Jiang Yan was pretending to be unconscious. Together with the honest-looking man, she naturally carried Jiang Yan off the train.
Not long after they got off, two soldiers hurried into the carriage where Jiang Yan had been.
Nandu Station was only a temporary stop. By the time the soldiers reached Jiang Yan’s carriage, the train had already started moving again.
One of the soldiers was nearly six feet three. He had broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and excellent proportions. His long legs looked powerful.
His handsome face bore a faint scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. Rather than detracting from his appearance, it gave him an even more masculine air.
“Whose bundles are these?”
Huo Zhanting was blocked by Jiang Yan’s two extraordinarily large bundles and asked in a deep voice.
The bundles were so large that they could not fit on the luggage rack, so Jiang Yan had been forced to leave them on the floor.
When the traffickers had carried her off, Jiang Yan had deliberately hooked the two bundles with her foot, moving them securely into the middle of the aisle.
In this era of scarce food and clothing, someone like Jiang Yan, who had been eating nonstop ever since boarding the train, would leave a very deep impression.
Her arrival had already been eye-catching because she was carrying two bundles larger than herself.
Anyone walking down the aisle who was blocked by the bundles would naturally ask whose they were.
And once someone asked, someone else would surely remember her—and realize that she was missing.
In this particular era, most people were quite warm-hearted. Once they discovered that she had disappeared, they would surely report it to the railway police!
And Jiang Yan was especially lucky.
The bundles had blocked the path of a soldier!