Chapter 17 Let me introduce you to someone

The cadre sitting on the lower bunk was stunned — his book even slipped from his hands in fright. He quickly stood up to help catch the thief, but there was no need — the scene before him left no room for intervention.

The elderly lady chasing behind was quite formidable. When she saw the thief had fallen, she immediately stomped on his hand and began slapping his face left and right without mercy.

“You dare steal from me? You dare steal from me? You think you can touch my things? You’re asking for it!”

“Damn it! Help! Help!” the thief screamed. But the old lady’s combat prowess was overwhelming. He had no chance to fight back. At first he tried to struggle, but Song Nanting kicked him right back down again.

The old lady gave Song Nanting a grateful smile, then resumed her barrage of punches and kicks. All the while, she cursed fluently and endlessly — not repeating a single insult — leaving Song Nanting both impressed and astonished.

Thousands of years of historical experience had taught one thing: never underestimate old ladies — especially ones who just had their money stolen.

Eventually, the train police arrived and pulled the old lady away, saving the thief from a complete beatdown. Song Nanting peeked over and nearly looked away in shock — the thief was so battered that even his own parents wouldn’t have recognized him. His face was swollen beyond recognition, and he curled up like he might stop breathing at any moment.

The old lady, now with the fight drained from her, suddenly dropped to the floor and began theatrically crying and wailing, “Oh heavens! There’s no justice! The train police are siding with the thief! My money!”

The train officers were speechless. Of course, they didn’t dare mention how badly she’d beaten the guy — so bad his own mother wouldn’t know him. One officer restrained the thief, while the other pulled a ragged pouch from his coat.

“Ma’am,” he said, “please stop crying. Can you take a look? Is this your money?”

The old lady took it, opened it up, and beamed with joy. “That’s it! One jiao and two fen — this is the money I was going to use for food after getting off the train.”

The thief nearly burst into tears. He thought he’d at least score a bit of cash, but it was only 0.12 yuan — and for that, he got beaten half to death. What a loss.

When the thief dared glance at her again, the old lady slapped him across the face again. “You look down on my 0.12 yuan but you still stole it? You heartless bastard! May your future son be born without an anus—”

Her mouth was sharp, and she gave him no chance to speak as she cursed his entire family tree.

The police quickly interrupted her. “Ma’am, could you come with us to give a statement? At the next stop, we’ll hand him over to the local station. Please cooperate.”

Hearing that, the old lady immediately stopped crying. She turned to Song Nanting and said, “Girl, I’ll come thank you properly later!”

With that, she followed the officers.

Song Nanting couldn’t help but laugh — this old lady really was something else.

Once things settled down, the cadre from the lower bunk looked at Song Nanting differently. He gave her a thumbs-up. “You’re amazing.”

Song Nanting smiled politely.

“I’m Comrade Han,” he said. “You can call me Comrade Han. I’m returning to the capital. If you need anything on the way, feel free to ask.”

After a pause, he added, “I’ve got some connections in Yu Province who can help get sleeper car tickets. If you need one, I can ask them to reserve two tickets when we arrive.”

The offer tempted Song Nanting. She nodded. “Alright, thank you. Once the tickets are secured, we can do the exchange at the station. I’ll pay a small handling fee.”

As for whether he might scam her — she wasn’t too worried. The transaction would happen at the station. She wouldn’t meet anywhere else.

Comrade Han smiled and nodded. “Sure.”

When Song Nanting returned from the bathroom, she saw that the old lady was already chatting with Comrade Han. When she walked by, the old lady waved her over. “Young comrade, come here. I’ve got to thank you properly.”

She stuffed a handful of sunflower seeds into Song Nanting’s hand. “Here, munch on these when you’ve got nothing to do.”

Song Nanting noticed Comrade Han had some too. He smiled helplessly.

The old lady asked curiously, “Why aren’t either of you eating them?”

“I don’t really like sunflower seeds,” Song Nanting replied politely, and climbed back to her upper bunk.

The old lady looked up at her. “You were amazing earlier. Are you traveling alone?”

“I am,” Song Nanting answered with a smile.

“Where are you headed?”

“To the countryside,” she replied.

“Oh, to the countryside? That’s not easy. We’ve got educated youth in our village too. They come all the way from their families — when they first arrived, their hands were covered in blisters. I bet their parents were heartbroken. But I’m heading to the northeast — it’s so far and I hear it’s freezing.”

Northeast? That caught Song Nanting’s attention. “Ma’am, why are you going there during the New Year? Visiting family?”

“You bet,” the old lady said proudly. “My youngest son is a soldier there. After he got promoted, he got married — and now his wife is about to have a baby. I wasn’t happy back home, always being picked on by my other daughters-in-law. So I talked to my youngest, filed a request, and decided to go help take care of the baby. It’s better to look after one daughter-in-law than get bullied by several!”

That piqued Song Nanting’s interest even more, so she got down and started chatting in earnest with the old lady. The lady was a real talker — before long, she’d spilled everything about her sons and grandkids.

Soon, more passengers boarded the carriage. Seeing the lower bunk already taken, they didn’t look too pleased.

Song Nanting and the old lady moved into the corridor. But one of the new passengers grumbled impatiently, “Can you be quiet?”

The old lady was about to snap back, but Song Nanting stopped her and said apologetically, “Sorry. We’ll stop talking.”

The old lady rolled her eyes dramatically, then leaned in and whispered to Song Nanting, “My last name’s Song — just call me Auntie Song. I’m in the hard seat carriage, but if you need anything, come find me. I’ll come back to chat with you later.”

Song Nanting laughed. “Auntie, what a coincidence — my last name is also Song.”

“Well now, maybe we were even part of the same family back in the day. I’m off now,” Auntie Song said with a chuckle, then walked away.

The young man who had just boarded rolled his eyes in the direction she’d left. But when his gaze landed on Song Nanting’s face, he paused, then muttered, “She looks pretty, but talks to all sorts of people.”

Song Nanting acted like she didn’t hear him and climbed up to her upper bunk. Then she said to Comrade Han below, “Comrade Han, I’ve noticed that some people only ever see others’ flaws and never their own. Isn’t that kind of like the pot calling the kettle black?”

Comrade Han chuckled and nodded. “That’s exactly it.”

The two stopped talking after that, and the young man below turned red in the face.

The train clattered along. Around noon, Song Nanting was still munching on her cold buns when Auntie Song returned. Without a word, she stuffed two eggs into Song Nanting’s hands — they were even warm.

“Here, eat these. Auntie’s treat.”

Song Nanting smiled and quickly tried to give them back. “Auntie, you should keep them for yourself.”

“It’s fine, you just eat. Before I left, I boiled all the eggs at home — didn’t leave a single one for those heartless kids of mine,” Auntie Song said as she settled into a seat in the corridor and started eating while chatting with Song Nanting.

When she learned that Song Nanting was also being sent to the Northeast countryside, she asked, “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Song Nanting shook her head. “No.”

Auntie Song said, “Well, once we get to the Northeast, how about I find you a good one?”