Free Web NovelChapter 207: Chapter 207: Arrival
The train continued on its way. The trio—whether a real mother and her daughters or not—slept soundly until the train pulled to a stop.
"We’ve arrived at Jin City! The train will be stopped for five minutes. Hurry up, please hurry up and get off."
The attendant’s voice arrived first, followed by a loud BANG BANG BANG on the door.
"Hurry up, hurry up! Didn’t I already call for you once? Why aren’t you moving?"
The sleeper car attendant was obligated to wake and remind every passenger about their stop.
The attendant had already come by over ten minutes ago. The train was already stopped, so why weren’t the people in this compartment up yet?
"What’s going on? Isn’t this Jin City?" free𝑤ebnovel.com
The attendant took out her little ticket booklet, confirmed the stop, and said, "This is Jin City. What are you all doing?"
An Ning, who had already left the compartment and was standing about a meter away, extended her spiritual power once more. The three sound sleepers finally stirred.
"It’s morning—"
"No kidding. Get a move on, or the train will leave and you’ll miss your stop."
"Hurry up!"
The attendant urged them on as the women groggily packed their things. ’When did we get here?’
’How could we have not felt a thing?’
But no matter what, the train waits for no one.
The women had no time to ponder the cause and effect of their situation or check their belongings. They just dazedly grabbed their things and ran for the exit.
Meanwhile, An Ning stood with Jiang Xia on her left and Li Chengze on her right.
The two men waited in confusion, anticipating the "good show" An Ning had spoken of.
Just then, as the curly-haired woman reached the train car’s exit, the sack she was carrying suddenly tore open.
CLANG.
A cookie tin fell onto the metal floor, the sound drawing everyone’s attention.
But what drew even more attention was the money inside the cookie tin—the cash that spilled out everywhere.
"That’s so much money!"
"That’s way too much!"
"Wait, I think that bill is mine! I wrote my name on it."
"Holy shit! They’re thieves!"
"They must be the ones who were stealing money last night!"
"Catch the thieves!"
"Get them!"
Years of experience kicked in, and the curly-haired woman instinctively bolted.
’Money can always be stolen again, but getting thrown in jail is another story.’
But with so many people, both inside and outside the train car, they were completely surrounded.
Forget running; it was getting hard to even breathe.
The attendant had been following close behind them, initially worried they wouldn’t make it off the train in time.
She never expected that she’d end up catching last night’s thieves.
Seven or eight people had reported their money stolen last night. The tally had just been completed this morning, and now the thieves had walked right into the trap.
Even as they were being apprehended, the three women still couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.
An Ning, who was watching the commotion from outside, smiled with satisfaction. She gestured to her two companions and said, "Let’s go."
Jiang Xia, starting to understand, asked, "Did they try to steal from you, or were they just in the same compartment?"
"What do you think?"
Jiang Xia thought for a moment. "I’m guessing the odds are higher that you were in the same compartment."
"Clever!"
An Ning’s generous praise made Jiang Xia feel a little smug.
He affirmed with the utmost confidence, "You’re just speaking the truth."
Jiang Xia’s response made An Ning chuckle. They picked up their pace, walking in perfect sync.
Li Chengze, a step behind, felt like a complete third wheel. So much so that he wanted to just turn around and go home.
An Ning, who was walking ahead, suddenly turned around.
"Keep up!"
"Yes!"
Li Chengze quickly caught up. As he came alongside An Ning, he heard her say, "Don’t get lost."
For a moment, Li Chengze didn’t know whether to feel happy or sad.
"I’ve been abroad by myself before."
An Ning tilted her head.
"But have you ever been to Jin City?"
Li Chengze shook his head honestly. "No."
An Ning gave him a look that said, ’There you have it.’ "See? Going abroad and coming to Jin City are two completely different things. They have nothing in common."
"Every design is unique. Don’t rely on a fixed mindset. Innovation is the primary driver of progress."
An Ning had instantly slipped into her role as a teacher.
Li Chengze naturally stooped a little, following humbly and cautiously behind An Ning.
Soon, the trio exited the train station.
An Ning stopped and asked Jiang Xia, "Where are you headed?"
Jiang Xia pointed to the right. "I’m going this way."
"What a coincidence."
An Ning’s words made Jiang Xia’s heart leap just a little.
"I’m going in the exact opposite direction. This way."
An Ning pointed in the opposite direction. "Goodbye, or see you back in the village," she said to Jiang Xia.
"Alright. See you back in the village."
Showing no sign of reluctance, An Ning took Li Chengze and headed to the left.
Jiang Xia stood and watched for a moment. The second An Ning was out of sight, the tenderness in his eyes vanished as well.
’Time to make some money!’
Jiang Xia strode off to the right.
On the other side, An Ning bought a map and studied it on the spot.
"This way. We’ll take the bus."
Li Chengze asked admiringly, "Teacher An, you memorized the entire map just by looking at it once? And you already know which bus to take?"
An Ning rolled up the map and held it in her hand. "I asked for directions when I bought the map," she said calmly.
Li Chengze, trailing behind, felt like he had something caught in his throat.
But he couldn’t find a single thing wrong with her answer.
An Ning led Li Chengze to the bus stop, then turned and gave him fifty cents in change.
"Pay your own fare."
Li Chengze, who had been about to reach into his own pocket, obediently took the change from An Ning and followed her onto the bus.
Without wasting any time, the two of them headed directly to the auto plant.
Once they arrived at the bus stop near the auto plant, An Ning was no longer in a rush.
She looked up at the midday sun and felt the hunger pangs in her stomach.
"Li Chengze, let’s find a place to eat."
"Okay!"
Li Chengze had been obedient the entire time, so of course he had no objections.
Jin City was very close to Beijing, so its development was naturally quite fast.
Although it had only been a few years since the economic reforms began, stalls selling boxed lunches had already appeared near the auto plant.
It was the middle of the lunch break. The auto plant had its own cafeteria, but some of the nearby construction sites did not.
Many of the day laborers would head out at this time to find their usual food stalls and buy a boxed lunch.
An Ning observed from the side for a moment. Of the two boxed lunch stalls, one clearly had a bigger crowd, and the customers seemed to be full of anticipation.
"We’ll go to that one."
An Ning led Li Chengze to get in line, moving forward with the queue.
"What’ll you have? We’ve got meat and vegetable dishes."
An Ning glanced down. Before her were five large tubs: two meat dishes and three vegetable dishes.
One of the vegetable dishes was even stir-fried with eggs.
"I’ll take some of everything. Two meals. How much is that?"
"Three meat and two veg, two meals... that’s thirty cents."
"Okay, I’ll take two of the thirty-cent meals."
The woman running the stall was very efficient and didn’t skimp on the portions.
An Ning paid, thanked the woman, and carried the boxed lunches to the side, where she sat down on the curb to eat.
"Teacher An, are we eating here?"
An Ning, who was already about to dig in, tilted her head to look at Li Chengze.
"Did you want to get a drink with it?"
