Chapter 18: Isn’t this something only the heroine of a period novel would encounter? 

“Eat slowly. Don’t get oil on your clothes or the bedding.  Scoot over a bit,” Su Yuanyuan nudged the children’s lunch boxes towards the center of the table.

The children ate quietly, nodding obediently as they shared the meat and vegetables.

Su Yuanyuan felt a surge of warmth watching them.

Traveling alone with two children was exhausting, but Lu Mingzhu and Lu Siyuan were exceptionally well-behaved, almost angelic.

The train reached the next station.

It was a city center station, and many people boarded.

City dwellers had better living conditions, and more people bought sleeper berths compared to Bajiao County.

Several passengers headed towards the sleeper car. Su Yuanyuan beckoned her children to sit on their berths.

Children didn’t need tickets, but seats on the train did.  Children could travel without tickets, but they were essentially free standing passengers, and they had to give up their space if someone needed a seat.

Su Yuanyuan had finished eating and waited for her children.

Just as the train was about to depart, a family of three rushed aboard, wiping sweat from their faces before settling down in the sleeper car aisle.

The last passengers boarded, and the train started moving.

Su Yuanyuan glanced at the couple in the aisle, noticing their sweat-drenched faces and raising an eyebrow.

It was late autumn; while not freezing, it wasn’t hot enough to cause such profuse sweating.

With so many people on board, Lu Siyuan and Lu Mingzhu ate even more slowly.

Su Yuanyuan noticed their unusual behavior and teased them, “Oh my, are you shy with so many people around?”

Lu Siyuan smiled shyly, revealing a set of bright white teeth. Lu Mingzhu smiled timidly as well.

“It’s okay, there are only two bites left. Finish quickly, and then Mommy will take you to wash your hands and faces.”

Su Yuanyuan wiped their oily mouths with a handkerchief actually, a scrap of cloth.

The children nodded and continued eating slowly, but more cautiously.

While talking to her children, Su Yuanyuan noticed glances from the side.  She saw the couple in the aisle looking at her children.

Although Lu Mingzhu and Lu Siyuan were thin, they inherited her and Lu Zhengan’s excellent genes. In the original story, Lu Zhengan was handsome and considered the most attractive young man in the area.  He had striking features.

Even though they were thin, the children were adorable, especially their bright eyes.

It wasn’t just Su Yuanyuan boasting; even strangers would look at her children.

The train windows of the 1980s could be opened.  Despite the ventilation, the aroma of braised pork was incredibly enticing.

Passing passengers would glance over, their mouths watering, before moving on.

Children, attracted by the smell of meat, started fussing in their parents’ arms, wanting to eat.

“Mommy, what are they eating? It smells so good,”

Young children are naturally curious about different flavors, and in this era, with limited food options, the oily, fragrant braised pork was particularly tempting.

“Nothing. Weren’t you sleepy just now? Go to sleep. We’ll be at Grandma’s house in two hours.”

The child’s mother, soothing her child, glanced at Su Yuanyuan.

“Mommy’s lying, that’s meat, right? Is it a boxed meal sold on the train? I want some too.  Can you buy me some, Mommy?”

The child, his appetite piqued, licked his fingers and stared intently at the lunch boxes in Lu Siyuan and Lu Mingzhu’s hands, forgetting about sleep.

The woman, her eyes weary, held her child, trying to soothe him to sleep.

“Didn’t you eat meat yesterday?  Let’s skip it today, okay?  Just hold on a little longer; we’ll have steamed buns at Grandma’s house.”

Due to her husband’s troubles, the woman had taken refuge at her parents’ home.  Recent events had exhausted her, but she patiently soothed her child.

Long-distance trains sold food, but boxed meals with meat were expensive.

And the meat those two children were eating oily and clearly high-quality must have cost a lot.

But the child, clearly spoiled, wouldn’t listen, insisting on braised pork.

Su Yuanyuan felt a little embarrassed by the commotion. The braised pork’s aroma was too strong, and although eating on the train was allowed, it was now disturbing other passengers.

And since the child was so hungry, Su Yuanyuan considered offering him a piece of meat.  Before she could speak, a loud cry echoed through the carriage.

“I won’t sleep! I don’t want steamed buns; I want meat! Buy me meat! You’re a bad mommy if you don’t!”

The child grabbed the woman’s hair, pulled her clothes, and screamed, crying loudly.

His nails, not trimmed short, left several red scratches on the woman’s neck.

Su Yuanyuan’s face hardened; her sympathy vanished.  The thought of offering the child a piece of meat disappeared.

Not all children were sweet; a child who cried, screamed, and hit their own mother was spoiled.

Su Yuanyuan didn’t look at the mother and child again.  Parents who raised such a brat were likely terrible people themselves.

She kept a close watch on her own children and the passing passengers.

The child continued to cry and fuss, the woman struggling to hold him and prevent him from kicking other passengers, her expression embarrassed as she tried to calm him, promising to buy him food from the dining car.

Despite her promises, the child wouldn’t stop, kicking and screaming uncontrollably.

Su Yuanyuan, unwilling to be overly judgmental, turned her head and her gaze stopped.

The crying child next to them was loud, attracting the attention of many passengers.  Several children sleeping in their parents’ arms were awakened, yet the child in the arms of the couple in the aisle remained completely undisturbed.

The two-year-old child lay quietly in the woman’s arms, breathing softly, unaffected by the noise.

Children have different sleep patterns; some are light sleepers, others deep sleepers.

But in such a noisy environment, the child’s lack of reaction suggested something was wrong.

Su Yuanyuan silently withdrew her gaze, pulling Lu Siyuan and Lu Mingzhu close.

Unexpectedly, on her first train journey in this world, she encountered a classic plot from period novels: human trafficking.

Had the traffickers been eyeing her children not because they were cute, but because they were potential targets?

Su Yuanyuan was speechless.  Even a minor character like her could encounter this plot.

Wasn’t this supposed to happen only to the heroines of period novels?