Chapter 4

As they passed through the carriage connection, the corridor on both sides was filled with men smoking. Fan Hua immediately covered her nose with her hand, held her breath, and hurried forward.

She already hated the smell of smoke, and now that she was pregnant, she couldn’t tolerate it at all. Just as she tried to catch a breath, a thick puff of smoke rushed into her nose and shot straight to the top of her head, making her so nauseous she nearly vomited up the three big bowls of noodles she’d just eaten.

Fan Hua kept her mouth tightly covered and closely followed behind Sister Geng, eager to escape the smoky area. She squeezed through the crowd and finally, pale-faced and on the verge of collapse, reached the seats that were supposed to be theirs…

But unexpectedly, two men were already sitting in their seats.

Fan Hua ignored them, resting her hand on the back of the chair and trying to calm the churning in her stomach, deciding to wait before speaking. She was genuinely afraid that if she opened her mouth, she’d throw everything up.

“Comrades, you’re in the wrong seats. These are ours!” Geng Ailing said, somewhat lacking in confidence.

The older of the two men shot Geng Ailing a disdainful glare. “What do you mean your seats? Whoever gets here first sits here!”

These two men had tickets for seats in the front carriage but were too lazy to walk that far with all their luggage, so they sat in the nearest carriage instead.

Geng Ailing was instantly furious and pulled out her ticket to show the man.

“It’s written clearly on the ticket—these two seats are ours.”

Seeing that Geng Ailing and Fan Hua were both young and appeared fragile—especially Fan Hua, who hadn’t said a word and looked sickly—they assumed they were timid and not worth taking seriously.

So, the man replied even more arrogantly, “So what? We’re sitting here today. Why don’t you go find other seats while the train isn’t full yet? We’re not moving!”

Sister Geng trembled with anger at their attitude, but as someone who rarely went out, she didn’t know how to deal with such shameless people.

After leaning against the seat for a while, Fan Hua finally suppressed her nausea. She stood up straight, pulled Geng Ailing behind her, and stared at the two men for a moment.

They looked average in build and appearance, clearly just bullying them because they were women. Considering they were on a train, surrounded by people, it was unlikely the men would actually do anything extreme.

Fan Hua put one hand on her hip and pointed at the two men with the other, her eyes sharp and imposing, and began to fire back:

“What, do you have nails growing out of your asses that you’re stuck to the seats? Or are you blind, brain-dead, and lame, that you can’t even find your own seats?!”

“Look at your crooked eyes and twisted mouths—you don’t look like good people! You’ve probably done this kind of bullying a lot. Today you’re bullying two women, what are you trying to do—act like hooligans? I think we should call the police and have them investigate. People like you, who threaten social civility and stability, should be thrown in jail! Your thinking is warped, your behavior indecent, a disgrace to our great motherland!”

“You… you…” The two men were so angry their faces turned dark, but they couldn’t get a word in.

Fan Hua gave them no chance to respond and continued, “You what? I’m telling you, whether you go willingly or not, you’re leaving today! These are our seats. Don’t think that just because you’re men, you can take what’s ours. If you won’t move, we’ll get the police and see how they deal with bullies like you!”

“I refuse to believe that in broad daylight, under heaven’s gaze, you can still get away with hogging someone else’s seat!”

…

Geng Ailing was stunned, utterly impressed by Fan Hua’s explosive verbal retaliation!

She never imagined that delicate, quiet Fan Hua could be this fierce in an argument! She had already resigned herself to going to another carriage to find a seat…

Many nearby passengers had started turning their heads upon hearing Fan Hua’s scolding. Seeing such a beautiful girl speak so sharply left them in disbelief.

In the end, the two men gave up under Fan Hua’s relentless barrage. They glared at the two women, grabbed their luggage, and left in frustration.

Fan Hua huffed and pulled Geng Ailing down into their seats.

What Fan Hua and Sister Geng didn’t know was that their refusal to give up their seats would prove to be a turning point in their lives. From that moment on, the gears of fate began to shift…

Sister Geng couldn’t help but praise her: “Lihua, I never expected you to be so good at arguing—and not a single curse word!”

“Oh, I’ve seen plenty of guys like that. They only pick on the weak. You can’t let them get away with it,” Fan Hua said casually, as if the earlier confrontation was nothing.

“You’ve seen a lot? Don’t tell me you were often bullied back in the village? With your two troublemaking brothers, who would dare mess with you?”

Only then did Fan Hua realize she had let something slip in her moment of triumph.

“I mean, I saw my two brothers bully people so often that I got familiar with the type.”

Geng Ailing believed her.

She looked at the bright and spirited Fan Hua in front of her, puzzled. She remembered hearing from the village that although Fan Lihua was beautiful, she was supposedly dumb and timid. But after today—how could that be true?

Clearly, rumors couldn’t be trusted!

Just as Geng Ailing was deep in thought, a stir suddenly swept through the carriage…

They turned their heads to look—turns out a group of soldiers in green uniforms had just boarded this train. They each wore big red flowers on their chests, clearly new recruits.

The recruits entered the carriage in neat formation. As soon as they arrived, the people occupying others’ seats immediately got up and returned to their assigned spots. Soon, over a dozen seats on the opposite side of the aisle were empty.

Fan Hua watched the young soldiers with interest. They were all 18 or 19 years old, full of youthful energy. Their clean, clear eyes were a stark contrast to the boys of forty years later, who were obsessed with phones and video games.

Suddenly, Fan Hua’s gaze locked with a pair of deep, intense eyes…

Across the aisle, a soldier was staring directly at her, his eyes burning with a complex emotion…

Though he wore the same uniform as the others, he stood out from the crowd—about 1.85 meters tall, with a tall, straight figure. Even the plain green uniform looked distinguished on him.

Sword-like eyebrows, starry eyes, a high nose bridge, thin sexy lips, and a sharply defined jawline paired with a clean buzz cut—his otherwise handsome and upright features carried a rogueish edge of unrestrained boldness.

Fan Hua was puzzled. Why was this handsome guy looking at her like that? Could it be that he recognized the original Fan Lihua?

She nudged Geng Ailing and whispered, “Sister Geng, that super handsome soldier diagonally in front of us—is he from our village? Have you seen him before? I feel like he looked at me like he knew me.”

Geng Ailing followed her gaze. The soldier had already turned his head and was looking out the window, seemingly deep in thought. Only his sharply outlined side profile was visible.

After a moment of study, Geng Ailing replied seriously, “He does look kind of familiar, but I can’t figure out who he is. Judging by his presence, I don’t think he’s from our village.”

She paused and added, “Besides, I’m a young widow. In the village, I have to avoid looking at men to keep from being gossiped about. How would I know many men?”

Hearing that, Fan Hua dropped the topic about the soldier and instead mulled over Geng Ailing’s words.

Someone who avoided men like that—would she really take her to do that kind of work?

So Fan Hua asked, “Sister Geng, tell me more about the job in the South. I want to understand it better.”

“There’s not much to tell. It’s my first time doing it too, so I don’t know much.”