Chapter 153: Whose Seat

As soon as they boarded the train, an unpleasant odor assaulted Yu Xiangnian’s senses, making her gag a few times.

The smell was a mix of sweat, foot odor, and food, which, after fermenting in the stuffy train carriage, emitted a sour and strange odor.

Yu Xiangnian pulled her clothes up to cover her nose and mouth.

Cheng Jingmo, leading the way with two large suitcases, glanced back at Yu Xiangnian and Xiao Jie from time to time.

Yu Xiangnian held Xiao Jie with one hand and used her clothes to cover her nose and mouth with the other, keeping close behind Cheng Jingmo.

The carriage was packed with people, and it was easy to get jostled.

After passing through several carriages, they finally arrived at their compartment.

To make Yu Xiangnian’s journey as comfortable as possible, Cheng Jingmo had bought sleeping berths, which were the best seats available at the time.

If there had been better options, he would have gladly paid extra for Yu Xiangnian.

Cheng Jingmo placed the two suitcases under the bed and let out a long sigh.

Yu Xiangnian and Xiao Jie sat at the edge of the bed, looking around.

It was their first train ride, and they were both fascinated and uncomfortable!

Cheng Jingmo set down his backpack, took out some water and food.

He had prepared some dry food, including pancakes he made himself, bought some pastries, and fried some small fish as snacks.

“Do you want some water?” Cheng Jingmo asked Yu Xiangnian.

After twenty minutes on the train, Yu Xiangnian felt like she smelled bad.

She shook her head, “I need to wash my hands.”

The small compartment had four beds, two on top and two on the bottom.

When Yu Xiangnian returned from washing her hands, an elderly couple was talking to Cheng Jingmo.

She listened in and realized the couple wanted to exchange berths with Cheng Jingmo.

The couple had bought their tickets late and didn’t get adjoining berths. Since they were traveling together and needed to look out for each other, they asked Cheng Jingmo if he would switch.

If Cheng Jingmo were alone, he would have agreed without hesitation.

But with Yu Xiangnian and Xiao Jie, he was concerned for their safety and looked at Yu Xiangnian for her opinion.

Yu Xiangnian glanced at the elderly couple’s tickets. Their berths were at the end of the carriage, while theirs were closer to the front.

The elderly couple appeared to be in their sixties.

Yu Xiangnian thought that changing seats wasn’t a big deal. “Let’s switch with them.”

The elderly couple thanked them profusely, and Yu Xiangnian and Cheng Jingmo assured them it was no trouble at all.

“I’m not going to sleep now. You stay with us for a while, and when it’s time to sleep, you can move over,” Yu Xiangnian said to Cheng Jingmo.

The train started moving.

Xiao Jie lay on the upper berth, looking out the window, while Yu Xiangnian and Cheng Jingmo sat on the lower berth.

Yu Xiangnian rested her head on Cheng Jingmo’s shoulder, playing with his fingers, and they chatted idly.

Across from them, the elderly couple was also quietly chatting.

Yu Xiangnian had woken up very early that day, and after a little over an hour, she was yawning one after another.

Cheng Jingmo said, “You should take a nap for a while. I’ll come back later.”

After covering Yu Xiangnian with a blanket, Cheng Jingmo straightened up and looked at Xiao Jie on the upper berth.

Xiao Jie had also fallen asleep at some point, still in a prone position with his face towards the window.

Cheng Jingmo covered Xiao Jie with a blanket and returned to his own seat.

In the small compartment, all four beds were occupied.

Cheng Jingmo thought he might have gone to the wrong compartment. He checked his ticket again to verify the bed assignments.

This was indeed the right compartment.

But why was there a woman in her twenties and a little girl, about three years old, lying on the beds?

The woman had her back to the aisle and was playing with the child.

Cheng Jingmo approached the bed, “Comrade, this comrade.”

The woman turned around, and Cheng Jingmo showed her the ticket, “You’re in the wrong seat. This is my berth.”

The woman, surprised, said, “That’s impossible. This is the seat on my ticket!”

Cheng Jingmo reiterated, “This is my seat.”

The woman sat up and rummaged through her pockets but found nothing.

She said, “Comrade, my ticket is missing, but I remember my seat was 36 in Car No. 10.”

Cheng Jingmo replied flatly, “I’ll go find the conductor to resolve this.”

The woman quickly said, “Comrade, look at me—a woman with a child. Just let me have this seat. I’ll buy a hard seat ticket for you and pay you for it.”

Cheng Jingmo didn’t want to argue with her, so he went to the corridor outside and found the conductor.

The conductor followed Cheng Jingmo to the berth.

By this time, the woman had gotten up and was sitting at the edge of the bed, while the child played alone on the bed.

The conductor asked the woman for her ticket, and she repeated that her ticket was missing.

The conductor said, “Since you don’t have a ticket, you need to buy a new one. This seat belongs to this comrade, so please move to a seat in the regular carriage.”

The woman tried to negotiate with the conductor, “Conductor, look at me—I’m with a child. The child can’t handle sitting on a hard seat. Can’t I buy a ticket and let this comrade take a hard seat instead?”

The conductor coldly replied, “I only enforce the ticketing rules. This seat belongs to this comrade, so he should sit here.”

The woman started to act pitiful and said to Cheng Jingmo, “Comrade, can we work something out?”

“Sure,” Cheng Jingmo replied calmly, “but since mine is a sleeping berth ticket, you need to compensate me for the difference.”

A regular ticket from Nancheng to Sucheng was 32 yuan, while a sleeping berth ticket was 65 yuan, more than double the price.

The woman began moralizing, “You’re a young, strong man. What’s the big deal about sitting in a hard seat? And you want to charge me the difference! I’m a woman traveling with a child, and it’s so difficult. Can’t you just be a bit accommodating?”

Cheng Jingmo’s expression remained unchanged, “Are you going to pay the difference, or are you giving up the seat?”

He had already figured out that the woman was trying to take advantage.

If the woman had been honest from the start, he might have been willing to switch seats given that she was a woman with a child.

But since she kept coming up with excuses and making a fuss, Cheng Jingmo was increasingly unwilling to switch.

The woman started to act like a troublemaker, “Why should I give up my seat to you? This is clearly my seat, just that the ticket is now missing!”

As if realizing something, she looked at Cheng Jingmo with suspicion, “This ticket isn’t something you picked up, is it? My ticket is missing, and you’ve been looking for a seat for over an hour since the train left. Your seat must not have been this one before!”

Cheng Jingmo said, “Your ticket is in your child’s hand.”

The woman’s bag was on the bed, and the child behind her had opened it at some point and scattered its contents.

The woman’s face changed as she hurriedly turned around, snatching the ticket from the child’s hand and crumpling it into a small ball, ready to throw it out the window.