Chapter 28 – She Can Wrong Others, But Never Herself

Shen Yunyun stood in place for a while. Seeing that Ning Zhiyuan had no intention of speaking up for her, and that the others were watching with amused expressions, she suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. Her arms tightened instinctively around her belongings.

After a moment, she suddenly looked up, her eyes rimmed red with a single teardrop threatening to fall. Her pitiful expression could melt anyone’s heart.

“I guess I misunderstood.”

“Zhiyuan-ge has never had feelings for me. My aunt even joked about wanting to match us up.”

“I just didn’t expect him to already have a fiancée.”

Ning Zhiyuan furrowed his brows tightly. “Since when did my aunt like playing matchmaker?”

“She’s not my blood relative, of course she wouldn’t know I already have a fiancée!”

The color drained from Shen Yunyun’s face. If Ning Zhiyuan didn’t even respect his aunt as an elder, what chance did she have?

No—she had to come up with a plan.

Biting her lip, she mumbled, “I’m sorry!”

Then she turned and left, looking like she’d just suffered immense humiliation.

Sang Feiyu fought the urge to roll her eyes, crossing her arms and looking at Ning Zhiyuan with a meaningful gaze.

Ning Zhiyuan practically wanted to raise his hands and swear an oath. “There’s nothing going on between me and her!”

That woman was absolutely ridiculous!

How could his aunt have a niece like that?

Sang Feiyu plopped herself down on the soft quilt. “This is quite comfy. Did you bring it just for me?”

She didn’t mention the earlier incident at all.

Women like that, she could tell what kind of person they were at a glance. No way she’d let someone like that affect her relationship.

Of course, if Ning Zhiyuan had been the type to mess around with other women, she wouldn’t hesitate to get off at the next stop.

She could wrong others, but she would never wrong herself.

“Mm, I figured since you’re still recovering, a hard sleeper would be too uncomfortable,” Ning Zhiyuan replied.

After hearing that, Sang Feiyu felt a little guilty. Her injuries were already more or less healed.

But oh well—if she could sleep comfortably, she would. Everything else could be dealt with later.

“I’m going to sleep.”

“You should rest a bit too.”

“Mm.”

Ning Zhiyuan helped her tuck in the blanket before climbing up to his own bed.

The middle bunk only had 75 centimeters of headroom—just a slight misstep and you’d bump your head.

Ning Zhiyuan was tall to begin with, so he had to hunch over to crawl in.

The treatment in soft sleepers was vastly different from hard sleepers.

Each compartment had only four berths—two upper, two lower—and no middle ones.

There were also wooden doors with brass latches, and the beds were wider than in hard sleeper compartments.

Each berth came with a red woolen blanket stamped with the words “People’s Railway.”

When Shen Yunyun left the soft sleeper car earlier, she had even taken her red blanket with her. She felt that swapping her soft sleeper for a hard sleeper was already a loss—no way she’d let that strange female comrade get it for free. Who would’ve guessed that the woman didn’t even want her soft sleeper?

What shocked and angered her even more… was that that woman turned out to be Ning Zhiyuan’s fiancée!

Su Wei was brewing a jasmine tea bag—something only soft sleeper passengers received—when she saw Shen Yunyun return angrily.

In truth, she wasn’t too pleased. After all, she had gone out of her way to get the soft sleeper ticket for Shen Yunyun, but not only did she not cherish it, she turned around and tried to swap it with someone from the hard sleeper compartment.

Still, seeing her sulk made Su Wei curious. “Why are you back so soon?”

Shen Yunyun tossed her belongings back into place and grumbled, “That female comrade had no taste, probably afraid of getting the short end of the deal. She didn’t want to trade.”

Su Wei didn’t buy that. Everyone knew that soft sleepers were much better than hard sleepers. Even the carriage had two dedicated washbasins!

…with both hot and cold water, no less.

She glanced sideways at Shen Yunyun’s face, slightly twisted with frustration, and tested the waters. “That acquaintance you saw—was it a man or a woman?”

“A woman,” Shen Yunyun replied casually.

“She found herself a female companion and won’t hang out with me anymore.”

After saying that, she lay down on her bed and pulled the blanket over her face. “I’m going to sleep now.”

“Mm.”

Su Wei turned her gaze out the window. Shen Yunyun had been willing to ditch her for the sake of a so-called acquaintance. There would definitely be a second time.

A friend like that wasn’t worth keeping.

She mentally removed Shen Yunyun from her “close friends” list.

…

Lights out in the hard sleeper car was at 2:00 a.m. When Sang Feiyu woke up, the lights had already gone out.

She listened for a moment. Aside from the thunderous snoring, all she could hear was the rhythmic clatter of the train wheels on the tracks.

She quietly retrieved two pillows from her space, hiding them under her blanket so it looked like someone else was sleeping next to her.

Then, she entered her space completely.

Bathroom, shower—a flurry of efficient activity.

After blow-drying her hair, she returned. Everything in the compartment looked normal. Only then did she put the pillows back into her space.

The sky had just started to lighten when people began waking up one by one to freshen up and use the restroom.

Sang Feiyu wasn’t woken by the noise.

She also grabbed her things and headed to the restroom—there were fewer people in the morning, so no need to line up.

Once inside, she slipped back into her space. Unexpectedly, her grandparents were already waiting for her.

She brushed her teeth while listening to her grandma nag, “We waited in the space for you for two hours last night, and you never showed up.”

Mouth full of foam, Sang Feiyu mumbled, “I did come in—I didn’t see you.”

“The lights in the hard sleeper car go off at 2:00 a.m. I entered the space after that.”

Zhao Hui smacked her forehead. “Ugh, my memory—I completely forgot about the lights-out time.”

“Finish brushing, then drink some boat congee and eat a bit of pastry before heading back.”

Grandpa Sang Youde couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

After rinsing her mouth, Sang Feiyu replied, “I can’t eat too much, or Ning Zhiyuan might notice something strange.”

“Then just drink a bowl of boat congee. It’s easy on the stomach in the morning,” Zhao Hui said as she ladled a bowl for her.

Sang Feiyu was worried it’d be too hot, but the first sip was just right.

“Grandma, did you take it out to cool?”

Grandpa Sang finally found his chance. “I remembered last night and took it out to cool for an hour.”

“That’s the downside of the space—it doesn’t automatically adjust food temperatures to be ideal for humans.”

If he hadn’t done that, the congee would still be piping hot.

Sang Feiyu gave her grandpa a thumbs up. “Grandpa, you’re the best!”

She quickly finished the bowl, then washed the dishes.

“Grandpa, Grandma, I’m heading out. See you tonight!”

“Okay, be careful!”

“Will do!”

Sang Feiyu exited the space and immediately checked the time. She was shocked—after doing all that, only two minutes had passed!

What surprised her even more was that when she opened the door…

She came face-to-face with someone she absolutely didn’t want to see—