It was already autumn. Although the temperature in Hucheng still refused to come down, winter in the Northeast was no joke.
She needed to stock up as much as possible, especially on items that could be used openly.
During the two recent one-cent flash sales, she got lucky once and bought thirty random Hucheng ration tickets. The other time her luck was worse and she only picked up a can of milk powder.
With those tickets in hand, she immediately went on a major shopping spree at the state-run stores. She could buy cotton herself through Pinduoduo, but cloth was unavoidable. Once she reached the Northeast, she could take it out and use it directly without worrying about being seen.
She also bought daily necessities like towels, toothbrushes, and soap, not skimping at all to avoid trouble later.
In the end, she still had one bicycle ticket and one watch ticket left. Short on cash, she went to the black market and exchanged one large gold bar, selling it for twelve hundred yuan.
It was a bit of a loss, but special times called for special measures. What she needed most right now was money.
After spending all the tickets, she put big and valuable items like the bicycle into her space. Ye Cai’e was left with seven hundred twenty yuan, six mao, and eight fen in her pocket.
Once everything was ready, Ye Cai’e took advantage of her remaining time to wander around Hucheng. She also lay in wait near several well-known capitalists, collecting their property before they left and placing an anonymous report letter under a stone at the entrance of the public security bureau.
Even the black soil area had been filled with many sturdy boxes that were not afraid of spoilage. Even so, there was still not enough room. In the end, she did not even bother keeping the boxes and directly stuffed the contents in to fill the gaps.
Unbeknownst to her, the name “righteous phantom thief” began to spread through Hucheng. For a time, anyone with some family assets that had not been obtained through proper means slept poorly, afraid they would be next.
Life was busy yet comfortable, and time quickly came to the day she was to go to the countryside.
Holding the train ticket bought by the educated youth office, she boarded the train. People were coming and going inside the carriage, everyone carrying large and small bundles.
She saw many people around her age. Some faces were full of anticipation for the future, while others were filled with worry, perhaps anxious about how they would survive once they reached the countryside.
Before long, Ye Cai’e found her seat. Her luck was good. There was overhead luggage space, and it was a window seat.
But when she finished stowing her luggage and looked down, a young woman with braided pigtails was already sitting there. There were still tear marks on her face that had not been wiped clean.
“Comrade, this is my seat.” Ye Cai’e lifted her chin slightly and smiled as she handed over her ticket for the other woman to see.
Yao Yulan’s body stiffened for a moment. She first glanced at Ye Cai’e, then turned her pleading gaze toward the man beside her.
The man was about 178 centimeters tall, with a standard square face, thick brows, and narrow eyes. He stood up with a frown. “Comrade, can’t you see that Yulan isn’t feeling well? She just left home and is in a bad mood. Learn from Lei Feng and do a good deed. Let her have the seat. This is her place. You can sit here.”
After speaking, he sat back down as if it were only natural, fussing over Yao Yulan with concern.
Neither of them paid any attention to whether Ye Cai’e agreed.
The spot he pointed to was a middle seat on the other side. Anyone who had taken a train knew that trading a window or aisle seat for a middle seat was a downgrade. In this era, it was outright shameless.
Ye Cai’e clutched her stomach and retched toward the two of them. “Ugh, yue, ugh!”
Yao Yulan jumped up in fright, her face flushing red. “What are you doing?”
The man beside her, Qi Jiahui, also stood up and glared angrily at Ye Cai’e.
Ye Cai’e did not care about the two of them at all. If the space had not been so narrow, she could have taken both of them down by herself.
“Yue!” Wherever the two of them dodged, she retched in that direction.
When they finally retreated all the way out, Ye Cai’e twisted her body and darted straight into her own seat, sitting down securely.
Only then did the two realize they had been tricked. They immediately pointed at Ye Cai’e and started yelling. “Hey, what’s wrong with you!”
Just as Yao Yulan finished her first line of scolding, the train attendant arrived. “What’s going on?” There were already too many people. Making trouble here was unacceptable.
“Comrade attendant, she took my seat. This is mine!”
Ye Cai’e was so amused she almost laughed. Sure enough, one had to go out more to truly see the diversity of humanity. For an oddball like this, she would only ever see one in her lifetime.
“Comrade attendant, sorry to trouble you. Please take a look. This is my ticket.” She smiled with curved eyes, looking very agreeable.
Her features were naturally delicate. Coupled with the fact that her once sun-darkened skin from the countryside had grown much fairer after a year in Hucheng, she could be considered an above-average beauty.
The attendant blushed slightly, took the ticket, and examined it carefully. Then she looked at the troublemakers with a strange expression. “This is her seat. What are you arguing about? Keep making trouble and you’ll get off the train.”
Qi Jiahui was not satisfied. “Hey, I already told you to sit there. Yulan isn’t well. What’s wrong with letting her sit for a bit? Unity and mutual help, the virtue of helping others, you don’t have any of that. Someone like you still wants to go to the countryside to build the nation?”
Before Ye Cai’e could speak, the attendant who had not yet walked away spoke first. “Is she your mother? Why should everything be given to her? You’re both female comrades. How can you be so unreasonable? And you, a male comrade, talking like this. Aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Pfft.” Several nearby people burst out laughing. They had long found the pair annoying. From the moment they boarded, they had been cloyingly attached, creating a terrible impression.
Ye Cai’e smiled and joined in. “How about this, good son. You stand in the middle of the carriage and shout ten times that Ye Cai’e is my mother, that you were wrong and that you are guilty. I’ll give you the seat then, how about it?”
“Hahaha!” Nearly half the carriage erupted in laughter, especially the girl sitting across from her, who laughed the loudest.
The anger on Qi Jiahui’s face could no longer be suppressed, yet Yao Yulan was still at his side, softly whining, “Brother Jiahui.”
So the would-be hero trying to save the beauty ended up being roasted over the fire.
Ye Cai’e had seen plenty of Hucheng young masters with this kind of temper. There was no way he would do something like that, even for the girl he liked.
After all, it was a three-day journey from Hucheng to the Northeast. If she were willing to switch to a middle seat, that would mean her brain was broken.
In the end, the two reluctantly returned to their own seats, which happened to both be middle seats.
“Good grief! So the two of them weren’t even sitting together to begin with—what nerve!”
Because of what had just happened, a small rift formed between them. Yao Yulan felt that Qi Jiahui was unwilling to do even such a small thing for her, leaving her stuck in an uncomfortable middle seat.
Besides, the Qi family was not short on money. Yet he had not even bought sleeper tickets. If she had known earlier, she would have chosen someone else.