Chapter 3: Rescue the Child

She didn’t know how long she had been asleep, but Yang Niannian heard someone calling her “move your foot”. Before she could wake up, her ankle was kicked. She jolted awake and saw a sharp jawline in front of her. She was startled and quickly sat up straight.

Noticing a wet patch on Qin Aonan’s shoulder, Yang Niannian felt so embarrassed she could have dug a tunnel out of the train. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to. I fell asleep just now.” Seeing the panic on her bright face, Qin Aonan’s heart skipped a beat. He looked away uncomfortably, “It’s, it’s okay.

The clothes can be washed.” As soon as he said it, he felt like it sounded like he was criticizing her, so he quickly added, “My sweat is dirtier than that.” But it sounded like he was saying her saliva was dirty! Not having interacted with women much, Qin Aonan found himself getting more and more confused with each explanation. He was even more uncomfortable than Yang Niannian.

He simply shut his mouth and said nothing. Yang Niannian could see that Qin Aonan wasn’t angry, so she breathed a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to say something to ease the awkwardness, the woman sitting opposite them spoke up. “This is a train, a public place. Even if you’re a couple, you should be mindful of your actions.” Yang Niannian realized that the person sitting across from her had changed. It was a man before, and now it was a woman.

The man must have gotten off the train and the woman got on. It was this woman who had kicked her earlier. The woman was wearing a floral short-sleeved shirt and gray pants, with short hair that reached her ears. She had thick eyebrows and big eyes, a look favored by the older generation in this era, but her skin was a bit dark, probably from working in the fields under the sun. At the moment, the woman was looking at Yang Niannian with disdain, as if Yang Niannian owed her millions.

It was Yang Niannian’s fault for falling asleep and her foot getting in the way, and she didn’t want to cause any trouble on her trip, so she didn’t argue with the woman. She simply explained, “I’m not his wife.” Qin Aonan nodded in agreement.

The woman wouldn’t let it go, she pursed her lips and looked up and down at Yang Niannian and Qin Aonan, “If you’re not a couple, why are you so close?” Yang Niannian explained, “I just fell asleep and my head fell on his shoulder.” The woman rolled her eyes, looking unconvinced. Yang Niannian didn’t bother to argue with her. Her stomach suddenly growled.

Seeing that everyone else was eating steamed buns, she turned to Qin Aonan and asked, “What time is it?” When he helped her put her things away, she noticed that Qin Aonan was wearing a watch. “Twelve thirty-five.” No wonder she was hungry, it was already noon. Yang Niannian wanted to grab her scallion pancakes to eat, but she suddenly realized that the bag of scallion pancakes she was holding was gone. She was about to bend down to look for it on the ground when the bag suddenly appeared in front of her. “Are you looking for this? I saw you were asleep and your things almost fell, so I caught them.” “Thank you.” Yang Niannian’s eyes lit up and she quickly took the bag.

As she opened it, the aroma of scallion pancakes wafted out. The woman across from her couldn’t help but swallow. In this era of limited resources, it was good enough to have enough to eat.

Who could afford to eat scallion pancakes except for special occasions? Yang Niannian took a bite of a scallion pancake and suddenly remembered something. She turned to Qin Aonan and asked, “Did you bring any food?” Qin Aonan shook his head awkwardly, “No.” Yang Niannian took out a pancake and handed it to him. “Try it, my mom made these scallion pancakes.” Scallion pancakes were a delicacy in this era. Qin Aonan was embarrassed to eat something so precious and was about to refuse, but Yang Niannian had already placed the pancake in his hand. “Don’t be polite, it’s so hot, it’ll go bad if you don’t eat it.” With the pancake in his hand, Qin Aonan couldn’t refuse.

He took a bite. After finishing the pancake, he took out fifty cents and gave it to Yang Niannian, as if he was buying it from her. But Yang Niannian refused. Seeing the two of them, one giving a pancake and the other giving money, the woman across from them thought they were flirting and being ambiguous. She rolled her eyes, looking disgusted.

After eating the pancake, Yang Niannian kept looking out the window and didn’t speak. Qin Aonan glanced at her profile unconsciously and was completely mesmerized. When he realized he had been staring for a while, his face turned red. He had been in the army for so long, surrounded by men, he rarely interacted with girls.

A girl as beautiful as Yang Niannian was a rare sight. His heart was pounding, he wanted to ask Yang Niannian where she was getting off and where she was going, but he had never interacted with girls, so he didn’t know how to talk to her. Until the train arrived at Haicheng station, he didn’t dare to ask. This parting, they probably wouldn’t see each other again in this lifetime!

Yang Niannian followed the crowd off the train. Because she hadn’t contacted Lu Shi in advance, he didn’t come to the station to pick her up. After getting off the train, she asked around for a long time before finally finding an ox cart going to the area near the army.

The ox cart was slow and bumpy. The ox cart driver was a sixty-year-old man, he looked kind. Knowing that there was an army nearby, he guessed that Yang Niannian was a military family member and kindly asked, “Little girl, are you a military family member? Why isn’t anyone here to pick you up?” The old man spoke with a thick Haicheng accent, but she could understand what he meant. “My husband is busy. He said I could take a cart to the area near the army, and he’ll pick me up there.” Being alone on the road, Yang Niannian was a bit cautious.

Although the old man looked kind, she didn’t tell him the whole truth. The old man didn’t suspect anything. He introduced the surrounding area to Yang Niannian along the way. Before she reached the army, she had a general understanding of the geography. The ox cart bumped along for over an hour, and just when Yang Niannian’s bones were about to fall apart from the jolting, they finally reached the village where the old man lived.

Looking at the sky, it was almost four o’clock. There was still about a kilometer to the army. Yang Niannian didn’t dare to delay, she said goodbye to the old man and hurried on her way. As she approached the army, there was a winding river by the side of the road.

Yang Niannian glanced at it casually and saw a dozen children, ranging from five or six to ten years old, bathing in the river. There wasn’t an adult in sight. She thought it was very dangerous and was about to shout at the children to stay away from the riverbank, when she suddenly saw one of the boys lose his footing and fall into the water.

The other children seemed to be scared, they just stood there blankly watching the boy in the water, not even one of them went to call an adult. It all happened so suddenly. Yang Niannian didn’t have time to think, her mind went blank, she threw down her luggage and ran towards the river, diving into the water.