Chapter 14

Gao Chong could hardly believe his eyes.

He couldn’t help but turn to Yin Xiaoman and ask: “Sister-in-law, didn’t the captain’s telegram say everything was prepared?”

Yin Xiaoman pursed her lips. “If we don’t take these things, they’ll spoil.”

But this was too much—how were they supposed to carry all of this?!

Gao Chong felt a headache coming on.

He was still trying to figure out something to say when the young man driving the mule cart accidentally bumped his arm. “A lot of this stuff are heirlooms from my Sister-in-law’s parents. ” he said.

The young man’s words completely silenced Gao Chong, and his expression turned awkward.

He cast a brief, apologetic glance at Yin Xiaoman, then quickly, without another word, began carrying the luggage onto the platform along with the young man.

Yin Xiaoman, with the child in tow, followed behind them. She felt a bit surprised.

The person who had brought them here today was the village party secretary’s grandson. She didn’t interact with him much and only knew him by the name Er Wa.

The young man, who was only about sixteen or seventeen, wasn’t very talkative and hadn’t spoken much during the trip.

Yin Xiaoman didn’t expect that, at this moment, he would help explain things for her.

Although she didn’t think it was necessary.

Er Wa and Gao Chong had to make several trips before they managed to carry all the luggage onto the platform, just as the train was approaching.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and was about to leave when Yin Xiaoman called out to him.

Yin Xiaoman pulled out an oil-paper package from her bag and took out a warm cornmeal steamed bun, still slightly steaming, and handed it to Er Wa.

“It was steamed this morning, still warm. Eat it and fill your stomach.”

Er Wa’s face immediately turned bright red, and he hurriedly declined: “No, Sister-in-law, I already ate this morning!”

Though it was no longer a time when people would starve to death, food was still scarce in most households. They had only moved a bit of luggage, so how could she accept the steamed bun?

“Even if you’ve eaten, take it! What’s the matter? Sister-in-law hasn’t left yet, and you’re already not listening to instructions?”

Yin Xiaoman spoke in a tone of playful reproach, imitating the village women.

She wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to say, but she had no experience dealing with a boy of this age.

She certainly didn’t want to have a tug-of-war with him over a steamed bun in front of so many people.

Er Wa was a bit surprised.

He had known Yin Xiaoman before, but his impression of her was that of a city girl, a student who was proud and aloof, with her nose in the air.

He hadn’t expected that once they actually interacted, he would find her quite different from what he had imagined.

In fact, he found her a bit approachable.

After a brief pause, he reached out to take the steamed bun and shyly smiled at Yin Xiaoman. “Sister-in-law, next time when you and Brother come to visit, let me know in advance, and I’ll come pick you up!”

His words were clearly sincere.

After getting on the train, Gao Chong led them to the soft sleeper compartment.

The compartment had four bunks, arranged in two upper and two lower. 

At the moment, two men were already sitting inside.

One was in his sixties, with graying hair and glasses, exuding the air of a respected elder.

The other, a man in his early thirties, seemed to be his attendant.

Seeing their group, with a child and all the bags, the elderly man quickly moved over to make space, waving at Gao Chong. “Young man, there’s an empty spot under our bed. You have a lot of luggage, so you can put some of it here.”

Gao Chong thanked him gratefully and didn’t refuse. With the help of the middle-aged man, they managed to arrange all their bags in the compartment.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, took out an enamel mug from his bag, and picked up the thermos in the compartment. Turning to Yin Xiaoman, he said: “Sister-in-law, these two bunks are ours. You can settle in first, and I’ll go get some hot water.”

With that, he left the compartment.

Yin Xiaoman nodded.

Inside, however, she felt quite overwhelmed.

Before the trip, Gao Chong had already told her about the train situation.

He had even boasted to her, saying how capable Shen Qingyun was to have managed to get the soft sleeper tickets.

The thing about these soft sleeper tickets was that they weren’t available to just anyone—they had level restrictions.

As he spoke, Gao Chong’s eyes were filled with admiration and respect.

In his words, if it hadn’t been for the good fortune of having their family of three, he might never have had the chance to sit in a soft sleeper his entire life.

But now, sitting on the train and stepping into the compartment, it hit her that she was going to be stuck in this confined space for two days and nights with a few completely unfamiliar men. She would even have to share a room with them…

Yin Xiaoman felt a wave of despair inside.

This was something she hadn’t anticipated at all.

Yet, despite the chaos in her mind, not the slightest bit of it showed on her face.

At least, in the eyes of Ning Haocheng and Liu Chuang sitting across from her, she appeared as nothing more than a quiet, introverted rural wife.

Yin Xiaoman tidied up the bed, helped Da Bao and Erniu take off their shoes, and had them climb onto the bed to play.

As for herself, she took out some unfinished sewing work and sat quietly at the corner of the bed, stitching away.

She didn’t engage in any conversation with the two men across from her, treating them as if they weren’t there.

When the men first entered the compartment, Liu Chuang had assumed they were the family members of some high-ranking official.

After all, anyone who could secure a soft sleeper ticket wasn’t just an ordinary person.

But after watching for a while, especially when he saw the bundles they brought in, still patched up with cloth, Liu Chuang couldn’t help but feel a hint of disdain.

He glanced at the farmer woman, who was focused on her work, then at the two clearly unworldly children, who were excitedly hopping around. He thought to himself that he had definitely misjudged them earlier.

The thought of spending several days with this group, possibly having to endure the children’s ruckus, made him frown. He decided to assert some dominance and set the tone early.

“Can you all be a little quieter? It’s so noisy. Don’t you see that someone’s trying to read over here?” he said irritably, raising his voice at Da Bao and the others.

The compartment immediately fell silent.

Yin Xiaoman lifted her head, and the two children, who had just climbed up to the upper bunks, immediately stopped making noise.

Erniu, startled, peeked out from the top bunk and pouted, calling out: “Mama.”

Ning Haocheng, who had been reading, clearly hadn’t expected Liu Chuang to shout like that either. He was startled as well.

He gave Liu Chuang an unhappy glance, then quickly put down his book and waved at the people across from him. “It’s fine, it’s no problem, they’re not bothering anyone.”

After speaking, he reached out, trying to lift Erniu down. “Girl, don’t be scared. Grandpa will carry you down.”

“No need.”

Yin Xiaoman stood up and gently took Erniu down from the top bunk, then looked at Da Bao. “Come down and do your homework.”

“Okay.”

Da Bao took out a small notebook that his Mom had sewn for him and Erniu from his bag, then climbed down from the upper bunk.

He handed Erniu her notebook, laid his own flat, and sat down at the little desk that Yin Xiaoman had cleared for him, starting to write seriously.

Erniu, as obedient as ever, took up her pencil, sat beside her brother, and earnestly began drawing in her notebook.

The compartment fell silent again.

Watching the two children across from him sit so obediently and quietly drawing and writing after their Mom’s words, Ning Haocheng couldn’t help but lean over in curiosity.

What he saw on the boy’s notebook stunned him. The boy had listed a number of arithmetic problems, some of which even involved mixed operations with all four arithmetic operations.

Yet, the little guy wrote smoothly, showing no sign of being stumped by the problems.

Ning Haocheng was utterly amazed.

He couldn’t help but glance at the young woman who had been pushed into the corner.

She was referred to as a young woman because he had heard the children call her “Mama. ” but from her appearance, she didn’t seem like one at all.

If Ning Haocheng had to guess, this woman might even be younger than his own granddaughter.

How had she raised such remarkable children?

He looked at the little girl’s notebook again, and suddenly couldn’t help but laugh.

The little girl, no more than three years old, was holding a red and blue pencil, coloring in a small duck she had drawn in her notebook.

The duck had red feathers and blue feet, looking both simple and full of childish charm.

“Little girl, what’s this you’re drawing? Have you ever seen a red duck?” he asked, unable to contain his laughter.

Erniu paused, looking at her drawing and clearly agreeing with what Grandpa had said.

But she only had this one red and blue pencil, which her Mom had specially asked Gao Chong to buy for her.

She pouted and said: “Mama said, it’s fine as long as I like it.”

“Right, right, as long as you like it!” Ning Haocheng chuckled heartily.

Laughing, he reached into his briefcase by the pillow and pulled out a box of twelve colored pencils, placing them next to Erniu.

“Little girl, use these. You’ll like the result much better.”

“Engineer Ning!”

Liu Chuang saw Ning Haocheng casually pull out the box of colored pencils, which he had gone through a lot of trouble to acquire through connections, just to give them to a little girl who didn’t understand anything. His anxiety immediately made him shout out.

He reached out to grab the box, but Ning Haocheng stopped him with one hand.

“I’m giving them to the little girl. Don’t worry about it.”

“But…”

Before they could continue their argument, Da Bao, sitting beside them, had already pushed the box of pencils back toward Ning Haocheng.

“We don’t need it. ” he quickly responded.

After speaking, he couldn’t help but glance at Yin Xiaoman, holding back for a moment before adding: “Thank you.”

Hearing her brother say this, Erniu hesitated for a moment, staring at the pencil box again, but then nodded solemnly. “Mm, Erniu doesn’t need it, thank you.”

Watching the interaction between the mother and her two children, Ning Haocheng remained silent, though there was more appreciation in his eyes.

He didn’t take the pencil box but shifted the conversation.

He pointed at the notebook in front of Da Bao and asked: “Who gave you these problems? Can you do all of them?”

Hearing this question, Da Bao immediately puffed out his little chest proudly, his eyes full of pride.

Erniu, equally cooperative, answered for him: “Mama gave them to him. My brother can do them all right!”

Someone in the compartment let out a soft gasp. Ning Haocheng and Liu Chuang both turned their gazes toward Yin Xiaoman, seemingly in disbelief that this quiet, unassuming woman, dressed simply and who hadn’t spoken much since entering, had such abilities.

Yin Xiaoman furrowed her brows.

She hadn’t expected the conversation to somehow end up focusing on her.

She had no desire at all to speak with these two men.