Chapter 19 You Deserve It

Some people are just like that — it’s not that they have some deep grudge against you; they simply can’t stand you. Song Nanting figured this man must be holding a grudge over her sarcastic words to him yesterday. Who knows how long he’d been watching them?

Song Nanting said this, but her hands were already itching. Hopefully, this guy wouldn’t provoke her again. If he did, she would definitely deal with him and show him why the flowers bloom so brilliantly — and how one should behave when out in the world.

For now, Song Nanting didn’t show any of these feelings. Instead, she looked at the men with the red armbands with a somewhat pitiful expression and said, “Big brothers, we all have parents and family. When we’re away from home, we should help each other out whenever we can. This Comrade Han here is kind-hearted, wanting to help others and ease their burden, fully embodying the spirit of ‘not for fame, not for profit.’ Such a spirit can’t be labeled as scalping; instead, it deserves encouragement and praise.”

While she spoke, Auntie Song feigned weakness and coughed twice. “That’s right, Comrade. We’re all poor peasants, redder than red, how could we possibly do anything illegal? My son is an officer in the army, and as a military family member, how could I do something to bring shame to him?”

In this era, the status of soldiers was special; anyone who heard that would look up to them.

The two men with red armbands saw their resolve waver. The young man added, “Comrade, you can’t listen to their lies…”

“Then you’re the one lying, twisting the truth and talking nonsense?” Song Nanting interrupted, disdainfully glancing at him. “If anyone is deliberately trying to undermine the spirit of our great leaders, it should be you. On the train, I was chatting and exchanging revolutionary feelings with this poor peasant auntie, and this young man mocked me for talking to just anyone. Isn’t that looking down on the red and specialized poor peasants like Auntie Song?”

The young man started sweating coldly. “I didn’t mean that…”

“Then what did you mean?” Song Nanting stared him down without backing off. “Comrade Han heard everything clearly; he definitely won’t lie. You can also ask the nearby passengers — maybe they heard it too.”

In reality, everyone had gotten off the train, so even if others heard it, they wouldn’t be able to find them. But the young man was already scared, refusing to argue, his forehead dripping with cold sweat, eyes full of terror. “Comrade, I didn’t mean that.”

The men with the red armbands asked Comrade Han, “Is what these comrades say true? Even if you know each other, you can’t lie. If you’re caught lying, you’ll be criticized too.”

Comrade Han, having seen the world, immediately raised his hand and swore, “I swear to the great leaders, I haven’t uttered a single false word.”

Then Comrade Han pointed at Song Nanting, “Besides, this female comrade helped this poor peasant auntie catch a thief on the train. You two can also check with the train attendants. The three of us — one is a state cadre, one is a youth who caught a thief while going down to the countryside, and one is a poor peasant. You two comrades are good comrades reported by our committee, you wouldn’t falsely accuse us, right?”

Song Nanting glanced at Comrade Han and thought he really was good at cooperating, always bringing up the poor peasants, and referring to the time she helped catch a thief, nailing down their roles. If these two committee members still didn’t let go, it meant they were clearly going against the people.

The young man was alone, and with his earlier words weighing against him, the outcome was already decided.

Sure enough, the two committee men believed their words and instead grew suspicious of the young man. “Comrade, your name?”

The young man pursed his lips. “Xu Shichang.”

“Come with us. We now have reason to suspect you’re a disruptive enemy element.”

The men in red armbands wrote down his name and said, “Come with us.”

Xu Shichang finally got scared and hurriedly said, “Comrades, please believe me. I am also a committee member. Please give me a chance to explain…”

“Come back with us and explain,” the red armband men said firmly. They didn’t care who he was; this was their turf, so he had to obey.

In the end, Xu Shichang was taken away by the two men with red armbands.

Auntie Song gave a thumbs-up, “You two are really something. This old lady’s impressed. I almost went up and slapped him just now.”

Hearing this, Song Nanting laughed. Comrade Han said, “You can fight, but you have to know who you’re fighting. You can’t fight committee members, soldiers, or public officials. As for other bad elements, we can fight them, but we have to choose the right occasion. Just now, with committee members here, if you had fought, we’d have been in the wrong.”

This made Auntie Song a bit confused. “There are so many rules for fighting? So I’m not even allowed to hit people?”

“You can hit them,” Song Nanting whispered, “just secretly and with a sack over their head.”

Auntie Song burst out laughing. “You’re a bad girl; I like that.”

The three couldn’t help but laugh, though they knew chances for that were probably rare.

The tickets were bought — for the noon train on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

Auntie Song said, “Meeting each other is fate. We’ve fought together as comrades now. Tonight is New Year’s Eve. Why don’t we celebrate the New Year together?”

No matter the reason for gathering, at least they had fought together. Song Nanting nodded, “Okay.”

Comrade Han thought for a moment and said, “Alright, our train leaves tomorrow noon. Tonight, we’ll stay at a nearby guesthouse. But the state-run restaurants close in the afternoon, so we should buy enough food at noon. We can heat it up in the guesthouse kitchen, or if that doesn’t work, just eat at the guesthouse.”

Auntie Song was straightforward and said, “Since that’s the case, let’s book rooms at the guesthouse first, then go about our business. We’ll come back at noon to buy food, alright?”

Neither Comrade Han nor Song Nanting objected. But to be cautious, Auntie Song and Song Nanting didn’t mention sharing a room.

At the nearby guesthouse, each booked a separate room, spending three yuan in total.

This raised Song Nanting’s admiration for Auntie Song. If she hadn’t seen and heard it herself, she wouldn’t have believed Auntie Song was just a rural old lady. Her courage, insight, and skill in handling matters surpassed even those accustomed to city life.

No matter how the guesthouse staff looked at them, the three insisted on having separate rooms. The other two probably wanted a good rest and more safety, but Song Nanting’s reason was to enter her space.

As soon as she closed the door and entered the space, she was stunned.