Chapter 23: Revenge

Seeing the surprised expressions on Song Nanting and Auntie Song’s faces, Xu Shichang looked a bit smug. He turned back and said, “Auntie, it’s this lower berth here.”

Li Guihua had a large, tattered bundle strapped to her back and was covered in dust. She glanced around at the surroundings and the bed, clearly very pleased.

“Young comrade, thank you. You really are a kind person.”

At that moment, Li Guihua finally believed that Xu Shichang was truly willing to exchange tickets with her. What a fool. She’d never seen anyone exchange a sleeper ticket for a hard seat ticket before.

Ugh, just thinking about the stinky feet of that old man next to her made Li Guihua want to vomit.

She pulled out her ticket and handed it over. “Here you go.”

Seeing that Xu Shichang didn’t take it immediately, Li Guihua raised an eyebrow and raised her voice, “What, are you backing out now?”

“No way,” Xu Shichang readily accepted the ticket and took out his own to hand to Li Guihua.

But Li Guihua couldn’t read, so she turned to Song Nanting and her eyes lit up. “Young lady, could you check if this is the right berth?”

Xu Shichang was about to stop her from getting involved, but the ticket had already been taken by Song Nanting, who looked carefully and said, “Auntie, yes, this is it.”

Satisfied, Li Guihua waved at Xu Shichang, “Alright, you can leave now.”

Xu Shichang thought about the scuffle earlier between the old lady and that old man, and finally felt a bit relieved. This old lady wasn’t easy to get along with—he was just waiting for those three to start fighting. Hmph.

Xu Shichang shouldered his luggage and left.

Li Guihua plopped down on the berth and lay back, sighing, “Officials really know how to enjoy themselves.”

Song Nanting smiled and exchanged a knowing glance with Auntie Song.

Auntie Song sat on Comrade Han’s berth and chatted with Li Guihua, asking where she came from and where she was going. Li Guihua said, “I’m going to the capital to visit relatives.”

The two elderly ladies chatted happily.

Meanwhile, Xu Shichang carried his luggage and approached Li Guihua’s seat. Before he got close, he couldn’t help but cover his nose—too smelly.

What annoyed him even more was that the old man who had fought with Li Guihua was now lying on the seat, and there was nowhere for Xu Shichang to put his feet.

But Xu Shichang thought about how fierce Li Guihua had been during the fight, and actually hoped she would pick a fight with Song Nanting and Auntie Song too. So he held his breath and said, “Sir, I swapped seats with that lady. Could you please move?”

The old man glanced at him irritably, “You say ‘move’ and I just move? Who do you think you are, my father?”

Xu Shichang was furious. Having been uncomfortable in the sleeper carriage, he’d thought to annoy those people by swapping in a tough old lady, but this old man turned out even tougher.

“I’ve already exchanged tickets; this is my seat. Please get up.”

Xu Shichang’s tone grew sharp. People around turned to look, even pointing at the old man.

But the old man wasn’t someone to mess with—he didn’t care what others thought and just closed his eyes, snoring loudly.

Xu Shichang was infuriated.

Suddenly, he realized he might have swapped with the wrong person. The real troublemaker seemed to be this old man, not the old lady.

He blamed himself for not paying attention earlier—just hearing the old lady’s fierce quarrel, he’d assumed she was the troublemaker. But it wasn’t like that at all.

Unable to argue with such a rogue, Xu Shichang gave up and wanted to go back to swap tickets with Li Guihua again.

But before he got there, he heard laughter from the compartment. Approaching, he saw Li Guihua and Auntie Song chatting happily—talking about shaking the bed and deliberately singing opera.

All of it was aimed at him! They were having such a good time, and the fight he had hoped for between the two old ladies was not happening at all.

He was completely fooled.

Xu Shichang scowled, “Auntie, we have to swap the tickets back because over there…”

“What?” Before he could finish, Li Guihua snapped angrily, jumping up and glaring at Xu Shichang, “Pah! Who do you think I am? A monkey for you to play with? You say swap, so swap? You say don’t swap, then don’t swap!”

“It’s just that the seat over there is taken; I can’t sit there…”

Xu Shichang tried to explain. He was a cultured man, not going to fight with an old man like a shrew. After thinking it over, he figured enduring Auntie Song’s singing was better than sitting in a smelly place with no room.

He just didn’t expect Li Guihua to refuse.

Li Guihua’s eyes widened as if ready to eat him alive. “Want to swap back? No way.”

Xu Shichang got anxious, “That ticket was mine originally…”

“Yours? Does it have your name on it?” Li Guihua put her hands on her hips, looking smug. “Try calling it and see if it listens.”

Song Nanting couldn’t help but snicker.

Tickets then weren’t like the modern ones—no real name system. Whoever held the ticket owned the seat.

Xu Shichang regretted swapping but had underestimated Li Guihua’s fighting spirit.

Li Guihua laid back on the berth nonchalantly, “Get lost.”

Xu Shichang gasped in frustration, “Such low ideological awareness…”

“Comrade,” Song Nanting said with a smile, “If anyone has low ideological awareness, it should be you. You’re an official, yet you do this kind of flip-flopping with ticket swaps. If you couldn’t sit there, shouldn’t you reason with the other party and try to raise their ideological awareness? Then they’d give up the seat for you, right? I remember you said you’re from the capital’s committee, working in politics—you must be familiar with educating others.”

Xu Shichang thought to himself that if he could reason with them, he wouldn’t have come over in the first place. He just hated that he had misjudged the situation.

“I absolutely have to get the ticket back.”

Unfortunately, no one paid any attention to him. Li Guihua and Auntie Song deliberately chatted loudly nearby, which made Xu Shichang even angrier.

In the end, Xu Shichang still left.

Li Guihua spat and said, “You probably don’t know, but when he brought me over just now, he was badmouthing both of you the whole way. Luckily, I didn’t believe him.”

Song Nanting and Auntie Song exchanged a glance and saw anger reflected in each other’s eyes. But on the train, there was really nothing they could do.

The train clattered along, and soon it grew dark.

Comrade Han said, “It’s getting late. I’ll go get some food so we can eat early and rest. Want me to bring some for you?”

The two old ladies declined, but Song Nanting took a lunchbox and prepared to pour some hot water over the remaining braised pork to warm it up, mixing it with rice to eat.

After dinner, the two elderly ladies chatted for a while longer, then each returned to their berths to sleep.

The carriage quickly grew quiet.

Song Nanting couldn’t sleep, so she got up and paced back and forth in the aisle. She saw Xu Shichang, his face dark and gloomy, coming out from a small private compartment in another carriage.

Song Nanting raised an eyebrow. Oh, so he really is somewhat wealthy—after losing that berth, he actually went to the conductor to get another one.

The hard sleeper carriage was less crowded and quiet.

When Xu Shichang saw Song Nanting, for some reason, he suddenly felt a bit frightened and quickly turned to leave.

Song Nanting chuckled quietly. No rush—there was still a full day’s journey to the capital.

The three of them got along well with Li Guihua, chatting and laughing all the way.

In another night’s time, they would arrive in the capital by morning. From there, they would transfer trains to the Northeast, which wasn’t far from their destination.

Song Nanting had something on her mind, so she went to bed early that night but got up to walk around in the middle of the night.

She stood at the junction between two carriages, looking out at the pitch-black night through the window, thinking over the trip to the Northeast.

Suddenly, footsteps slowly approached.

Song Nanting stood still and didn’t move. The person seemed not to notice her and went straight to the bathroom.

After a short while, the person came out.

Song Nanting took out the anti-assault baton she had used before and suddenly struck out.

Sssshhh.

Xu Shichang fainted.