Chapter 17: This is Braised Pork! So this is what it tastes like, so delicious!

The accusation hung in the air, and the young conductor’s face paled slightly as she repeated, “I’m sorry, comrade, but that’s against regulations.”

“Are you deaf?! I said I want to sleep here!  It’s a waste to leave it empty! Believe it or not, I’ll report you!”

The middle-aged woman’s voice was loud, like a loudspeaker right next to your ear.

Su Yuanyuan, suffering a headache, sat up and looked at the woman confronting the conductor. “If you’re going to yell, can you do it somewhere else?”

She had been about to fall asleep, but the woman’s shouting had jolted her awake.

Besides, the conductor was right. The woman was being unreasonable and disruptive.

Already irritated, the middle-aged woman took Su Yuanyuan’s comment as an attack.

Finding an outlet for her frustration, she lashed out at Su Yuanyuan.

“You’re rich enough to afford a sleeper berth, aren’t you? You look down on poor people, don’t you! People like you, who look down on others, are the most unwelcome! I know you’re trying to get rid of me! But I won’t go!”

She kept invoking “the people” and making accusations, words that could easily lead to serious misunderstandings.

Su Yuanyuan had only wanted her to be quiet or move elsewhere. Passengers who paid for sleeper berths needed to rest. She had paid, and she deserved a peaceful sleep.

Instead, the woman turned the situation around, leaving Su Yuanyuan dumbfounded by her illogical behavior.

This wasn’t her home; it was a train.  You sat where your ticket said; that was the rule.

Besides, the conductor had hinted that the berth was temporarily empty. If she was tired, she could rest there after the conductor left.  This way, neither the conductor nor the woman would be inconvenienced.

Reasoning with an unreasonable person was pointless; you’d just get more accusations thrown at you.

Su Yuanyuan didn’t bother arguing, addressing the conductor instead. “Conductor, she’s disturbing my rest. If she doesn’t quiet down, please arrest her for disrupting order.”

This was her children’s first long trip, and she didn’t want to leave them with a negative impression.

The woman was simply being unreasonable; she wasn’t interested in resolving the issue.  A single word of criticism would make her angry.

Su Yuanyuan had encountered this type of person before; only by appeasing them could you avoid trouble.  Any sign of disagreement, and they’d assume you were causing problems and blame you for everything.

The conductor, however, was professional and immediately apologized to Su Yuanyuan.

“I’m sorry for disturbing your rest. Please give me a moment; I’ll speak to this comrade.”

Since the woman hadn’t become violent, the conductor couldn’t use force, leaving her feeling both awkward and anxious.

Su Yuanyuan glanced at the young conductor, not wanting to make things difficult for her, and nodded, lying back down.

“Comrade, assigned seating is our regulation. Since this is the starting station, there aren’t many people in the sleeper car. To sleep in this carriage, you need to buy a ticket.  Also, the rules for civilized train travel prohibit loud noises.”

The conductor cleverly realized that the woman wasn’t understanding her, so she avoided mentioning the possibility of resting in the empty berth while the conductor was away, for fear of causing trouble.

“What loud noise? I was reasoning with you! I haven’t violated any rules about civilized train travel.” The woman sat down on the sleeper berth, clearly indicating she wasn’t leaving.

The conductor was speechless but patiently explained.

“Comrade, the civilized train travel regulations state that if you continue to make loud noises, I will notify security, and they will remove you from the train.” The conductor glanced worriedly at Su Yuanyuan.

“Hey! You little girl, you’re so sharp-tongued! You want to get rid of me? I paid for my ticket!”

The conductor: “…”

Su Yuanyuan smiled, propping herself up to watch the persistent woman.

“It seems we don’t need to bother. Let’s just call security and have her arrested at the next stop.  Charging her with disturbing public safety and order and banning her from ever riding a train again would be the simplest solution.”

“Mind your own business! You think you’re better than everyone else just because you have some money!”

The woman, yelling and rolling up her sleeves, was about to attack Su Yuanyuan when the conductor, her face grim, pulled her back.

“Comrade, please behave yourself! This passenger is right. If you continue to make a fuss, we will take you to the police station, and your personal information will be banned from train travel.”

“Oh, really! You’re ganging up on me, a country bumpkin, aren’t you!”

The woman wrenched her arm free from the conductor’s grasp, glaring at Su Yuanyuan and the conductor, her face flushed with anger.

She was furious but also afraid of being banned from train travel.

That couldn’t happen.

Her son and daughter-in-law were both working in the city, rarely coming home. If she couldn’t take the train, she wouldn’t be able to visit them often!

The woman snorted, snatched her ticket back from the conductor, and stormed off.

Her seat was only two carriages away from the sleeper car; she found it quickly.

The hard-seat carriage was packed, with both seated and standing passengers.  Many were traveling to visit relatives, carrying chickens, ducks, geese, rice, flour, oil, and other goods.  The carriage was a sea of people.

When the woman had visited her son and daughter-in-law before, she hadn’t been able to afford a sleeper berth and had always bought a hard seat.

She hadn’t minded before, but today, she felt utterly uncomfortable.

After the woman left, the conductor went to patrol the next carriage.

The train slowly pulled away.

Much later, Lu Mingzhu opened her eyes and looked out.  Seeing that the woman hadn’t returned, she spoke softly.

“Mommy, that woman was so mean,” Lu Mingzhu said, peeking out from under the covers.

“Silly, Mommy said she was tired and needed to sleep. Let’s talk after Mommy wakes up,”

Lu Siyuan held his sister’s hand, closing his eyes to nap as well.

Su Yuanyuan had intended to sleep, but the commotion had completely ruined her rest.

Now that only the three of them were in the sleeper carriage, Su Yuanyuan had a brilliant idea. She sat up and took some food from her [spatial storage], adding it to what she had bought at the station.  They now had enough food for the next few days.

“No more sleeping! It’s almost noon. Let’s eat!”

The children had been eating well for the past two days, their stomachs recovering. They could finally start eating meat again.

Su Yuanyuan took out two braised pork lunch boxes one for herself and one for the children.

It wasn’t that Su Yuanyuan was stingy; the children had small stomachs, and eating too much would upset them.  A small amount was enough to satisfy them.

Su Yuanyuan took out the aluminum lunch boxes she had taken from the old Lu family, replacing the braised pork containers and putting them back into her [spatial storage].

This braised pork was a local specialty Su Yuanyuan had bought on a previous trip.

Because of her [spatial storage], the meat wouldn’t spoil. She had packed a lot, intending to eat it slowly.

The braised pork was savory, tender, and delicious.

“This is braised pork! It tastes so good!”

The two children were well-behaved; even without Su Yuanyuan’s instructions, they took turns eating.

At the first bite of braised pork, their eyes lit up.

They had never tasted such delicious meat before. In fact, they rarely ate meat.

They had seen braised pork at the village head’s house and it looked so delicious.

But Mommy had said they couldn’t eat other people’s food, especially meat dishes. So, Lu Siyuan had resisted the temptation and run home.

Now, they savored every bite of braised pork.

Su Yuanyuan was enjoying her meal when she heard her children’s comments.  Looking at their oily faces, she smiled and said that once they arrived in Beijing, she would buy some for their father.  A wave of sadness washed over her.

Considering the money Lu Zhengan sent every month, the children should have had much better living conditions.

But they were three years old before they tasted braised pork.

Before that, they hadn’t even had a decent piece of meat or a decent outfit. 

Su Yuanyuan took a bite of the meat, silently cursing the old Lu family.