Returning to the guesthouse, Song Suisui’s wildly pounding heart finally settled down.  

Though she was bold enough to venture into the black market alone, she still felt a bit of fear.  

When she went out for dinner, Song Suisui wandered around for a while. Before the agreed-upon transaction time, she arrived at the designated spot.  

The place Tao Zhu had arranged was a dilapidated courtyard house in the suburbs. Song Suisui checked her surroundings and, after confirming no one was around, disguised some traces and placed the 100 bolts of fabric she had prepared in the empty space.  

When Tao Zhu arrived with his people, they inspected the goods. After the exchange—money in one hand, goods in the other—they parted ways.  

……  

Today was the day she was heading back, so Song Suisui didn’t wander around aimlessly. She just went to the state-run restaurant to buy some food and stored it in her space.  

Once the steel materials were loaded and shipped off, it was time for her to return.  

When the time came, she shouldered the same military-green backpack she had arrived with and carried a burlap sack filled with local specialties and gifts, making her way to the train station.  

It seemed there were also educated youths from the capital being sent to the countryside today, so the station was quite crowded.  

After squeezing through the crowd to reach the waiting room, Song Suisui didn’t have to wait long before her train arrived.  

The return trip was also on a sleeper ticket.  

This time, she had managed to secure a lower berth, which was perfect for stashing her sack of goods under the bed.  

However, when she arrived at her compartment and found her assigned berth, she discovered someone already sitting there.  

She took a look and said, “Excuse me, auntie, but this is my berth.”  

“You say it’s yours, so it’s yours? Does it have your name on it?”  

The middle-aged woman occupying Song Suisui’s berth had a sharp, unkind face. Across from her sat a fair-skinned, delicate-looking young man.  

“Auntie, sleeper tickets are assigned to specific berths. My ticket clearly states this berth number. It’s not right for you to just take it like this.”  

“You young girls these days—no respect for elders or care for the young. At my age, you should know to give way.”  

“If you want this berth, you can pay me the price difference.”  

Song Suisui glanced at the middle berth, which was still empty, and assumed the woman was assigned there. She wasn’t dead set on keeping the lower berth.  

But the woman clearly had no intention of paying any difference.  

Hearing Song Suisui’s words, she glared and said, “Little girl, you should have a conscience. Trying to swindle people at your age—how did your parents raise you?”

Hearing this, Song Suisui scoffed inwardly.  

She had already figured out what kind of person this auntie was and couldn’t be bothered to waste her breath. After giving the woman a look, she picked up her luggage and left.  

Seeing her walk away, the auntie smirked triumphantly at the young man across from her. “Jianshe, see? Mom was right. This way, we even saved the cost of an extra sleeper ticket.”  

Pleased with herself, the auntie sprawled out on the bed.  

Of course, Song Suisui wasn’t backing down—she just didn’t want to argue with fools.  

So, she decided to let the professionals handle it.  

She went to find the train attendant and explained the situation.  

When Song Suisui and the attendant returned to her berth, the auntie was already shamelessly stretched out on it.  

“Comrade, as you can see, this auntie has been hogging my berth and refuses to pay the difference. I really don’t know what to do!” Song Suisui said, putting on a pitiful expression.  

Faced with a soft, pretty young girl on one side and a wrinkled, sour-faced auntie on the other—and with the girl holding a valid ticket—the attendant naturally sided with Song Suisui.  

“Elder sister, which berth is yours? This one belongs to this young lady. If you want to switch with her, you’ll have to pay the difference. If not, then move aside.”  

Back in those days, there was no such thing as “the customer is always right.”  

The attendant’s tone was far from polite.  

But no matter how much the attendant insisted, the auntie refused to budge—neither willing to give up the berth nor pay the difference. Seeing her stubbornness, the attendant remained unfazed.  

The attendant, a woman in her thirties, had been working on trains for over a decade. She’d seen all kinds of ridiculous behavior.  

So, she issued a stern warning: if the auntie didn’t vacate the berth immediately, she’d call the train police to escort her to a private compartment for a “chat.”  

In those days, people revered soldiers but were somewhat intimidated by the police.  

Yet, the auntie still refused to surrender the berth she’d snatched. A standoff ensued.  

Just then, two middle-aged men arrived—their tickets assigned to the middle berths on either side of the compartment.  

Song Suisui glanced up and saw that the passengers in the upper berths were already settled in, peering down to watch the commotion.  

Now, with both middle berths taken—one on each side—the lower berth on the left belonged to Song Suisui, while the one on the right was occupied by the delicate-looking young man.  

Which meant… this auntie didn’t have a sleeper ticket at all.  

Oh-ho~

The train attendant finally caught on and demanded the auntie show her ticket immediately!  

The auntie hesitated for a long time, her face full of guilt.  

Song Suisui scoffed. “Auntie, don’t tell me you’re riding without a ticket?”  

The commotion drew a crowd of onlookers.  

Eventually, the train conductor himself arrived. Under the stern gaze of the conductor and the train police, the auntie finally pulled out her “ticket.”  

Except it wasn’t a ticket at all—it was a platform pass.  

Her actions amounted to fare evasion. Meanwhile, her son, who had let his mother make a scene without stepping in or even acknowledging her, watched with impatience and disdain, as if she were an embarrassment.  

Song Suisui instantly disliked him.  

Selfish, spineless man-children were the worst!  

In the end, the auntie was escorted to the hard-seat carriage.  

Since she hadn’t bought a ticket, she was forced to pay for a standing-only fare.  

Throughout the whole ordeal, her precious son remained silent.  

With the matter resolved, Song Suisui reclaimed her berth. But the thought of that auntie having lain on it made her skin crawl—she wasn’t a germaphobe, but the idea was still gross.  

After stuffing her sack under the bed, she rummaged through her military-green backpack as if searching for something, then discreetly pulled out a plain gray bedsheet from her space.  

After remaking the bed, she ignored the man across from her and pulled out a copy of *The Little Red Book*, flipping through it casually.  

The incident left the compartment awkwardly quiet.  

Including Song Suisui, there were only two women in the compartment—the other was on the upper berth, but after watching the drama, she had gone back to lying down.  

The two middle-aged men in the middle berths seemed like cadres on a business trip. Older and not particularly sociable, they kept to themselves.  

With no extroverts around, silence was the best option.  

Song Suisui had boarded in the afternoon. As night fell, she took out an aluminum lunchbox from her backpack, containing steamed buns and braised meat she’d bought from a state-run restaurant in the capital.  

After dinner, she washed the lunchbox and refilled her thermos with hot water.  

When she returned to her berth, she found the auntie—who’d been banished to the hard-seat carriage—back again.  

Spotting Song Suisui, the woman immediately launched into a passive-aggressive tirade.  

Hah— Did Song Suisui look like someone who’d tolerate that?  

Hell no. So she served the exact same sarcasm right back at her.