"How dare you insult me?" Kong Lijuan was trembling with rage. If it weren't for Xu Qinghuan, she would have gotten the job at the lighting factory. But just in time, Xu Qinghuan turned up out of nowhere.
"Haven't I already insulted you? If you want to fight, I don't mind joining you!"
Xu Qinghuan held a milk candy in her mouth, her voice soft and sticky. She was incredibly beautiful, and at this moment, her wide deer-like eyes stared fiercely, one cheek puffed out adorably, instantly attracting the attention of half the carriage.
Everyone felt she was glowing with whiteness, and her eyes shone brightly.
People have a natural yearning for beautiful things. When they looked at Kong Lijuan, with her coarse dark skin, arched brows, and ordinary eyes, her originally unremarkable face now twisted in anger, she was almost unbearable to look at.
Kong Lijuan was already jealous of Xu Qinghuan's face, and seeing the hostile gazes from around her, she became even more furious. She stood up abruptly, hands on her hips, pointing at Xu Qinghuan's nose, and cursed, "You shameless little harlot! Don't think I don't know about you. Your dad died because of you, your mom abandoned you, your fiancé was stolen by your cousin, and you couldn't stay in the city, so you had to go to the countryside, right?"
A crisp sound!
A loud slap landed on Kong Lijuan's face, as Xu Qinghuan stood up, her height half a head taller than Kong Lijuan. Her calm eyes gleamed like blades with a cold light, "I don't mind you insulting me, but you shouldn't curse my father. My dad was a hero, sacrificed for the country, I'm a martyr's orphan, saying such things means you should be taken for reformation!"
Kong Lijuan covered her face, only feeling a buzzing in her ears. She stammered with her lips, eventually cried out loud, "You hit me! How dare you hit me! Someone, help! There's someone attacking here!"
The commotion quickly caught the attention of eager volunteers who called a conductor over.
"What's going on here? As soon as you get on the train there's trouble. Don't want to go to the countryside, want to spend time in jail?" The conductor shouted angrily at both of them.
Xu Qinghuan's eyes reddened, she pointed to Kong Lijuan, "She slandered me, my dad was a soldier who sacrificed for the country, she said he died because of me, that's disrespect towards my dad. Did I hit her wrongly?
Should heroes be slandered by the living?"
The conductor was instantly filled with rage, almost wanting to step forward and help Xu Qinghuan hit her. He took a deep breath, "Comrade, do you want to come with us for ideological education, or should we hand you over to the police at the next station?"
Is it that serious?
Kong Lijuan was instantly stunned, she dared not be handed over to the police and had to follow the conductor under glaring gazes.
After receiving two hours of ideological education, her seat was changed by the conductor to across the aisle.
While Xu Qinghuan garnered a mix of sympathetic and compassionate looks.
It's not what Xu Qinghuan wanted, but after a dispute, this was the best outcome.
After sitting down, her mood was unsettled for quite a while, not for anything else but thinking of her deceased father. Even though she had no memory of his face, at this moment, she felt proud of having his blood flowing in her veins.
In her past life, her parents were alive and well, but in over twenty years of memory, she never received their care.
Yet this person had died, and as his daughter, she'd always been protected by him all these years.
This also validated the saying: Some people are alive, yet they are already dead. Some people are dead, yet they still live.
Xu Jing'an, Xu Qinghuan silently recited her father's name in her mind.
Her elbow was nudged lightly, Xu Qinghuan turned her head to see a girl sitting to her right in the middle seat, an egg-shaped face, single eyelids, a few adorable freckles dotted on her nose bridge, she cautiously looked at Xu Qinghuan, and comforted her softly, "Don't be sad."
Xu Qinghuan smiled, "I'm not sad, my name is Xu Qinghuan, what about you?"
"My name is Yu Xiaomin, I'm glad to meet you..."
Opposite them, Chen Dewen knocked on the small table, interrupting their conversation, "I'm Chen Dewen, have you heard of me?"
Xu Qinghuan glanced over, it was the young man with closely cropped hair, round face, and big bushy eyes, "Didn't we go to the same high school?"
She remembered vaguely.
Chen Dewen chuckled, "You finally remembered, huh? Yes, I often did reviews on the school playground, don't you remember?"
Xu Qinghuan touched her nose, embarrassedly said, "I didn't pay attention."
"Oh, let me ask a blunt question, you and that Jiang guy..."
Xu Qinghuan jumped in, "We broke off the engagement. It should be published in today's morning paper!"
On her way to Yan City Station in the morning, she specifically bought several copies for future reference.
Chen Dewen laughed, "That's great news, congratulations!"
Xu Qinghuan gave a carefree smile, "Where are you going to the countryside?"
Chen Dewen said, "I heard Qiao Xinyu went to Hei Province, Anguang County, Red Flag Commune, so I'm heading over there too. What about you?"
"That's such a coincidence, same here." Xu Qinghuan was quite happy, although she wasn't familiar with Chen Dewen, coming from the same high school, there was some sense of familiarity, better than facing a bunch of strangers.
At noon, everyone took out their prepared food, Xu Qinghuan took a lunchbox from her wrap, filled with meat buns, which she had bought and stored from a state-owned restaurant before.
She purposely took them out earlier so they remained warm and wouldn't raise suspicions.
Otherwise, if food stored in the space remained in its state, taking out piping hot meat buns would definitely arouse curiosity.
Yu Xiaomin was eating a black flour bun, tough and hard, each bite scraped off a bit painfully, chewing slowly, then swallowing hard, Xu Qinghuan felt her throat hurt watching it.
Yet she didn't share her food, silently eating her two buns before going to wash her lunchbox.
When she returned, Yu Xiaomin was still gnawing on that bun, Xu Qinghuan offered her a cup of hot water, "Do you want some? I got the boiling water from the conductor."
Yu Xiaomin smiled with her apple cheeks puffed up, eyes squinting into lines, curling up cutely, "Qinghuan, thank you, can I call you Qinghuan?"
"Of course, Xiaomin, are you heading to Red Flag Commune too?" Xu Qinghuan asked, she had noticed that people going to one place might be sitting together.
"Yes, we're from the same place." Yu Xiaomin had long wanted to talk to Xu Qinghuan about this, and when she spoke, she chirped like a little sparrow, very endearing.
Along with them sat three other males, to whom Xu Qinghuan had no desire to make acquaintance. But Chen Dewen was quite sociable like a cow, he talked to the three and found out they were going to Ji Province for countryside relocation, suddenly losing the desire for conversation.
After a day and night, the train arrived at Yan City Station, quite a few people disembarked from the carriage, not many boarded, making it considerably emptier than before.
The three male youths who sat with Xu Qinghuan and her companions also disembarked, shortly after, two men and a woman boarded.
"Dai Yifeng, help me put the luggage up!" The young woman in a white Bulaji dress handed her suitcase to a tall and sturdy young man.
"Can't you do it yourself?" The man named Dai Yifeng didn't even glance, instead sat directly beside Chen Dewen, occupying his left side, waiting for another young man.