The woman’s sharp voice was piercing. Although Yan was listening to music, she could still hear her taunts clearly. Yan’s expression grew grim. Who knew I would be this unfortunate to bump into people like these on the train? But she could not be bothered to argue. She closed her eyes and leaned back, turning up the volume to pretend like she did not hear anything. It will be fine once I get off the train.
As it was late in the night, she eventually fell asleep despite not feeling sleepy earlier. Moreover, because it was a night train, the atmosphere had also quietened down for the most part. Being in that environment helped Yan fall asleep. She closed her eyes to get some rest.
Tugging at her coat tightly, she continued to sleep. But not long after, the child next to her started to make a fuss about wanting her earphones again. Someone nearby became annoyed and said to the woman, “Can you control your child? People are sleeping now. Can he stop being so noisy?”
Without any hesitation, the woman rebuked, “Do you want to handle him? What can I do if he’s being disobedient? If you find this noisy, then you should have just bought this whole train to yourself.”
That person only commented because the child was being unreasonably noisy, but he did not expect to get scolded instead. In the end, he could only stay quiet miserably.
On the other hand, the woman must have had pent up frustration because that short rebuke was not enough for her and she continued, “Some people here just don’t know their place. They still expect so much when they only bought an economy-class ticket. Do you think you’re the king to have so many requests? What do you have to say when you couldn’t even buy a premium-seat ticket? Look at you now. You’re too scared to even say anything.”
The person who got insulted became furious. “Who said I couldn’t buy a premium-seat ticket? If it weren’t for the fact that it was all sold out, I wouldn’t have had to buy a economy-class ticket!”
“Oh? You sound so sure of yourself but you still can’t buy off a whole carriage. Who the hell are you? Isn’t it normal for a child to make noise? You don’t have the least bit of decency or care.”
“Sure. You’re right, Madam. I won’t argue with you anymore.”
“You’re backing away now because you have nothing else to say? Are you kidding me?” Suddenly, the woman took out a handful of sunflower seeds and tossed it at the child. “Crack your sunflower seeds. What are you crying for? Didn’t you hear someone scolding you? You’ll get thrown off this train if you don’t stop crying.”
The child became quiet after getting an earful. He also started to crack the sunflower seeds in front of him. Then, the atmosphere slowly hushed down again and Yan let out a sigh of relief. When she was about to fall back asleep, another disturbance occurred. The child had started to throw the empty sunflower seed shells at her.
At first, she did not feel it because of her thick clothing but she slowly started to feel like something was off. A moment later, she looked down and found a bunch of shells on her clothes. When she glanced over at the child, he just looked proud of himself. It looked like he had done it on purpose because she had not let him play with her earphones when he wanted to, so he was taking revenge on her. After thinking for a bit, she pursed her lips and pulled out her earphones. “Madam.”
The woman was also cracking sunflower seeds. When she heard Yan, she turned over to look at her.
“Your child threw all these empty shells on my clothes.” Yan pointed at all the shells on her clothes. She thought the woman would apologize but the woman just glanced at Yan and retorted, “Aren’t they just a few harmless shells? The child doesn’t know any better. Why are you, an adult, trying to even things out with him? Can’t you just use your hands to pat them off?”
Yan had not been in the greatest mood, so she instantly flew into a rage when she heard what the woman said. She wanted to get mad at them but it did not feel quite right. She looked at the woman for a while then said, “Don’t you think there is a problem with the way you’re parenting your child? Not throwing it in the rubbish bin is one thing, but he’s throwing it at someone else, and you even think I’m being calculative with him?”
“Aren’t you? He’s not even that big yet. You look like a bright young lady. How can you be so mean? How am I supposed to explain to a child at this age? I already told you that he doesn’t know any better. Wouldn’t patting the seeds away yourself solve the problem?”
The people around them heard the commotion and were all spectating the scene instead of sleeping.
Yan scoffed, “His saliva is all over these seeds. How would I know whether he’s healthy or not? What will happen if I catch something from him because he’s spitting his saliva everywhere?”
She had spoken out of anger, but she did not intend on speaking ill of the other party. Nonetheless, she was still furious. If the woman had apologized to her, quickly got rid of the shells on her clothes and lectured the child, then maybe Yan would have just let it go. But not only did the woman not apologize, she even acted entitled and was unreasonable which was the last straw for Yan. Impudent child. She doesn’t even care to teach him the right way!
However, the woman also became furious. “Goodness gracious! How are you so vicious, young lady? To curse my child with an illness!” The woman seemed to have been incredibly disturbed and started wailing in the carriage. “What do you think of this, everyone? My child accidentally dropped some empty sunflower seed shells on this decent-looking young lady’s clothes; he’s a child after all so it’s normal for him to act up, but she just cursed my child with an illness! How can she do this? Good heavens. Everyone, help me make sense of this!”
She started to cry out in anguish but no one spoke up for her. First, it was her child who made a big fuss and now it was her turn. Everyone was annoyed with them and had no intention of speaking up for her. She kept going for a while. When she realized that no one was coming to her aid, she started to scold Yan again. “Tell me. How can a young lady like you be so vicious? You’re not married and you don’t have any children yet, right? I’m telling you; your own child will be cursed!”
Yan was pregnant at the time. Triggered by the woman’s insult, she smirked and said, “If you can’t teach your own child properly and are just letting him make a mess everywhere, then you shouldn’t have given birth in the first place and cause trouble for other people. You’re lucky that you met someone like me today, and not a hot-tempered big man. Otherwise, your child would have gotten thrown off this train a long time ago. Also, what do you mean by accidentally dropping these shells? He obviously threw them at me on purpose. As his guardian, you’re being too aloof and you’re just letting him do whatever he wants. Judging by your age, you must be his grandmother, right? You’ve raised your grandson to be an uncultured swine. Are your son and daughter-in-law even aware?”
Before this, Yan was just not bothered to say anything to her but it did not mean that she did not know how to speak. The string of crude remarks she made now angered the woman beyond words. A few other people, who were annoyed by the woman, began to admire Yan.
When Yan finished, she shot a final glance at the woman. She was getting ready to put her earphones back in when the woman suddenly grabbed her frail arm. “How dare you speak to me that way? Apologize right now or you will never see the end of this!”
