Chapter 14 Fighting

As soon as Song Nanting shouted “Run,” the other two were startled and bolted as well. When they reached the alley entrance, Song Nanting decisively split off and darted into a smaller side alley. In situations like this, if those two were caught as buyers, they might get off lightly, but she—the seller—would be in big trouble.

There were still people in the alley, so she weaved her way through. Soon enough, no one was chasing her anymore. She found a quiet spot, stored the money in her space, and leaned against a tree, catching her breath.

In front of her was a household, and smoke was rising from their chimney—it looked like they were cooking lunch. Song Nanting felt a bit hungry and took the remaining local meal coupons to a state-run restaurant.

The smell of braised pork made her mouth water uncontrollably. In her past life, after marrying Lu Jian’an, she had eaten so much meat that she even got tired of it. But Lu Jian’an never laughed at her—instead, he’d feel sorry for her. “It’s because you were deprived before,” he would say.

After their marriage, her living conditions drastically improved. Lu Jian’an bought her all the foods she’d never had before. Braised pork was something they had every few days, and she eventually got sick of it.

But right now, she was back to being that malnourished girl. Just the sight of good food was enough to make her drool.

She ordered a plate of braised pork, a plate of greens, and four taels of rice. Song Nanting even poured the leftover sauce from the dishes onto her rice and finished every last grain.

It was delicious. Song Nanting felt like she had never eaten such good braised pork in her life.

Full and satisfied, she headed out again. Most of her items were already dealt with, so she simply returned to the guesthouse and took another nap.

At dinnertime, she went back to the state-run restaurant, where they were serving spicy pepper chicken that night. Song Nanting ordered a portion of the chicken, plus a plate of stir-fried eggs with chives. After eating, she headed toward the train station.

Meanwhile, in the textile factory’s residential compound, the atmosphere was suffocating.

With a pale face, Song Nanfu said, “Mom, what if we can’t find Nanting? Are you really going to let the two of us go to the countryside?”

“Yeah, Mom, I don’t want to go!” Song Nanshan cried and begged.

They had still been hoping that Song Nanting would take their place, but Zhao Xiue had spent the whole day searching and still hadn’t found her.

Zhao Xiue was beyond anxious. Her two sons were her lifeline—her and her husband’s future support. If they both left, what would become of the two of them?

“I don’t even know which heartless person signed them up—how could they be so cruel?”

The household registration booklet was on the table—the postman had already delivered it.

Song Aiqiang sat with a furrowed brow for a long time before saying, “I think… the one who stole our things is the same person who signed the boys up.”

Zhao Xiue’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Otherwise, how would they have gotten the household book?” Song Aiqiang’s brows knit tighter. “Tomorrow we’ll go make a scene at the Pan household. We must find Song Nanting—dead or alive.”

Their household was in chaos, and the Pan family wasn’t doing any better.

Pan Shiying had been crying all day—mourning her tragic fate.

The staff from the youth relocation committee had gone to the Song house first and then were harassed by her and her mother. Frustrated, they spoke harshly, “If she’s not going, great. The committee will be happy to use this as leverage to publicly criticize you.”

Then they left.

Pan Shiying cried even harder. Her eyes were swollen. The crowd outside watching the drama nearly tore the roof off the house.

But it was in line with the policy. Pan Shifeng had originally said he was going to attend a worker-peasant-soldier university, not be sent to the countryside. So their family should have had one person go down.

When the committee staff arrived, almost no one defended them. Why should every other family’s kids go to the countryside while the Pan family’s didn’t?

They claimed Pan Shifeng had passed away—but where was the proof? It was all just what Wei Dani had said.

Pan Shiying cried, “Mom, I don’t want to go to the countryside!”

Wei Dani looked grim. Though she also favored sons over daughters, now that her son was gone and that wretched girl Song Nanting had run away, her daughter was her only support. She didn’t want Pan Shiying to go either.

“What can we do now? Who knows which heartless person stole our household registration and signed you up. My poor daughter!”

The mother and daughter cried in each other’s arms again.

After the crying came the cursing. “Mom, could it be that bitch Song Nanting? No one else could’ve gotten into our house.”

Wei Dani froze. “That’s right—it could’ve been her.”

Her expression turned sinister. She cursed viciously, “That shameless little whore—so black-hearted. She didn’t just clean out our money and coupons, but now she’s caused your name to be registered. Now her family is coming to make trouble too. She’s truly evil!”

The two launched into a new round of cursing Song Nanting.

Wei Dani fumed, “First thing tomorrow, I’m going to the Song house. They have to hand over Song Nanting and make her take your place in the countryside.”

The Pan women were scheming, and the Songs were thinking the same thing.

Only Song Aiqiang couldn’t shake his unease. Somehow, everything seemed to trace back to Song Nanting.

Was it possible that she was the one who took their things? That she had signed up his sons for countryside work?

There didn’t seem to be anyone else it could be.

He had a gut feeling they would never find her again.

Still, no one wanted to give up hope—at least, not yet.

At 11:30 that night, Song Nanting boarded the train.

Trains were scarce, and people were many. After finding her seat, she finally let out a breath of relief.

It was packed, and the air was stifling.

Seeing a train attendant walking by, she quickly flagged them down.

“Comrade, could I pay extra to upgrade to a sleeper? I have asthma, and I’m afraid if I have an attack it’ll affect everyone else.”

The train attendant looked at her—her face was indeed quite pale—and, worried that something might happen on the train, he frowned and said, “You’ll have to pay extra for a sleeper.”

“That’s fine, I’ll pay,” Song Nanting quickly replied. “As long as I’m not causing trouble for everyone else, anything is fine. Thank you so much.”

The train attendant nodded. “Follow me, then.”

Song Nanting hurried after him. Surprisingly, the people around her looked at her with envy. Sleeper cars were different from regular hard-seat cars—it wasn’t just about having money.

Of course, most people still preferred hard seats because sleeper tickets were so expensive. A hard seat from their provincial capital to Henan already cost over 20 yuan—about a month’s salary for an average worker. A sleeper was almost double that. That’s why most people avoided long-distance travel—transportation was just too costly.

Song Nanting was lucky. She had met a kind and reasonable train attendant. If it had been someone else, they might’ve refused with a simple “no proper referral letter, no upgrade,” and there’d be nothing she could do about it.

The farther they walked, the fewer people there were. By the time they reached the sleeper car, only a few people remained.

Song Nanting offered a few kind words and slipped him a handful of milk candies. The attendant happily accepted them and became more talkative. “You’re lucky you ran into someone kind like me. Seeing that you’re a girl traveling alone, I made an exception. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to get a sleeper ticket.”

Song Nanting quickly replied, “You’re absolutely right. I’ve been feeling grateful all the way here. Thank you so much again!”

After completing the ticket exchange, Song Nanting thanked the attendant and walked into her compartment. It was a small room with two bunk beds. She had specifically requested the upper berth. Although less convenient to get in and out of, the upper bunk was cleaner—at least she didn’t have to worry about other passengers sitting around her bed, leaving her no privacy at all.

Of course, privacy on a train was nearly impossible.

At the moment, only one of the four bunks was occupied—a lower bunk by a man in his forties. He glanced at Song Nanting and then went back to sleep.

Song Nanting climbed into bed and placed her satchel right beside her pillow. Then she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Youth has its perks—despite having napped all day, she could still sleep again at night. Still, she was more alert now. In the second half of the night, whenever someone passed by the compartment, she would briefly wake up, glance around, and then fall back asleep.

By the time she woke again, dawn was breaking. The man on the lower bunk, apparently a cadre, was already up reading a book. Song Nanting lay there for a moment, then got up to wash.

Meanwhile, in front of the Pan family’s house, things were getting noisy.

Wei Dani and her daughter had always been lazy and gluttonous. In the past, Song Nanting had done everything around the house, and the two of them had just reaped the benefits. But now that Song Nanting was gone, they couldn’t change their lazy habits.

Still, they had no choice but to get up.

Outside, Zhao Xiue’s furious shouting echoed through the neighborhood:

“Wei Dani, give me back my daughter! If you don’t, I’ll hang myself right here in front of your door!”