Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

As the sun began to set, after walking about a mile, we reached a fork in the road. One path led to the county train station, while the other led to a labor reform farm deep in the mountains.

Sun Shouzhen stopped and rubbed the soles of his cloth shoes on the hard soil.

He unloaded the empty basket he had been carrying and placed it on the bluestone by the roadside, his movements so slow it was as if he were unloading a mountain.

"Alright." The old man had his back to the mother and daughter, his voice a little hoarse from the wind. "I'll see you off here. Further ahead, there are too many women with red armbands. With my social status, I'd be a burden to you."

Lin Wanrou's heart skipped a beat. She stepped forward and grabbed Sun Shouzhen's patched sleeve: "Uncle Sun, please come with us. When we get to Beiping, even if we have to beg for food, I won't let you go back to that cowshed and suffer again."

Sun Shouzhen turned around, his old face, as withered as tree bark, was stern, and his cloudy eyes revealed no emotion. He reached into the lining of the yellowed shirt in his pocket and pulled out a square wrapped tightly in oil paper.

The layers of oil paper were peeled away, revealing a book without a cover.

The pages were yellowed and brittle, and the edges were frayed. It was hand-bound with the thickest cotton thread used for sewing shoe soles.

"Take it." Sun Shouzhen shoved the book into Lin Wanrou's arms with such force that it seemed as if he were entrusting her with his life.

"These are my medical notes from most of my life, along with some folk remedies that haven't been passed down. I managed to save them by sewing them into tattered cotton wadding when those people ransacked my house."

Lin Wanrou's hand trembled, and she almost dropped it. This wasn't just a book; it was Sun Shouzhen's life.

"And this too." Sun Shouzhen pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from inside his waistband. It was stamped with a bright red official seal and was a blank letter of introduction that had been prepared long ago.

Lin Wanrou's eyes were red, and her knees buckled as she was about to kneel down.

Sun Shouzhen reacted quickly, grabbing her arm: "Don't try that. Remember, a person has to have their own abilities to stand tall. Go back and memorize what's in this book; it's your capital for making a living in the future."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Meng Yaya, who was standing next to the basket on her back.

The little girl was looking up, her clear black and white eyes staring straight at him.

Sun Shouzhen reached out and gave the withered little head a hard rub: "You little brat, only you would dare to treat an old man like me like a farmhand. When you get to Beiping, don't cause trouble for your mother, but don't let anyone bully you either."

Meng Yaya didn't dodge, letting those rough hands ruffle her hair into a mess. She took out a White Rabbit milk candy from her pocket, unwrapped it, stood on tiptoe, and shoved it into Sun Shouzhen's mouth.

"Old man, is it sweet?"

Sun Shouzhen was stunned. The sweet taste in his mouth melted away, and the sweetness lingered until his heart ached.

"It's too salty." The old man chewed twice and turned his face away.

"Go back to the cowshed and stay there. Don't die." Meng Yaya put her hands back in her pockets, her tone as indifferent as if she were commenting on the nice weather.

"Once I've made something of myself in Beiping, I'll come pick you up in a fancy car. I'll give you the first seat, and you'll be there to treat the top leaders. Anyone who dares to call you a 'stinking intellectual' will get a good slap across the face."

Sun Shouzhen stiffened, then laughed and scolded, "You're so young, yet you've got quite the nerve. Get lost!"

He didn't look at the mother and daughter again, grabbed the empty basket, slung it over his shoulder, turned around, and walked away on the path leading to the mountains with his slightly limping leg, without looking back.

His back was hunched, stretching long in the setting sun.

Lin Wanrou clutched the medical book tightly, her tears finally falling onto the dry dust. She bowed deeply to the old man's back and remained standing for a long time.

Only after that figure disappeared into the withered woods did Meng Yaya tug at her mother's trouser leg.

"Mom, let's go. The train won't wait."

Lin Wanrou wiped her face, took a deep breath, carefully put the medical book away from her body, took her daughter's hand, and turned to walk towards the county town.

At that moment, my previously timid back seemed to straighten a little.

……

The county train station was packed with people, like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

The air was filled with a mixture of the smells of sweat, tobacco, rotten apples, and the distinctive coal dust of a green train, which wafted straight into my nose.

"Make way! Make way! Don't block the way!"

Passengers carrying large bags and small packages were crammed together, and the noise of children crying, adults shouting and cursing, and the train conductor's loudspeaker was enough to give anyone a headache.

Lin Wanrou protected Meng Yaya, clutching the two hard-earned hard-seat tickets in her hand, as she was pushed and shoved forward by the crowd.

"Mom, hold on tight to me."

Meng Yaya was small but quick. Carrying her old cloth handbag, she slithered through the dense crowd like a slippery eel.

Finally, I got on the bus.

The carriage was as stuffy and hot as a steamer, the aisle was packed with people, and the luggage racks were crammed together and about to collapse.

Their seats were three-seaters by the window.

Lin Wanrou, carrying Meng Yaya, finally managed to squeeze in. Just as she was about to put the basket on the luggage rack, a hand wearing oil-stained blue overalls reached out and roughly pushed her basket away.

"Can't you see this is full? Put it at the bottom!"

The speaker was a bearded man with a fierce face. Two huge snakeskin bags were piled up at his feet, completely blocking the space under the seat.

Lin Wanrou didn't dare to say anything, so she put the basket down at her feet, hugged Meng Yaya, and sat down in the corner by the window.

"Hey, young lady, going out with your child alone?"

Before I could even sit down properly, a smiling face came over from the other side.

She was a woman in her fifties, with slicked-back hair and wearing a dark gray jacket. Her triangular eyes were smiling, yet they held an unsettling shrewdness. She clutched a blue floral cloth bundle tightly to her chest, and her hands were grimy, with dirt under her fingernails.

Lin Wanrou was a little flustered, so she hugged Meng Yaya tighter in her arms and nodded politely: "Yes, we're going to Beiping to stay with relatives."

"Beiping is great, it's the capital."

The woman became even more enthusiastic, leaning forward slightly, and a strong smell of cheap face cream mixed with a rancid odor wafted towards us.

"This child is so handsome! How old is he? What's his name?"

Meng Yaya leaned against Lin Wanrou's chest without saying a word.

Those clear, black and white eyes swept over the woman's shoulder and around the room.

A man in a Zhongshan suit sat by the aisle reading a newspaper, holding the newspaper upside down for a long time without turning the page;

The man in the blue overalls next to me, though he was pretending to sleep with his eyes closed, his eyeballs were constantly moving under his eyelids, and his right hand remained in his pocket.

These people are acting strangely.

That was the scent of predators she had smelled for ten years in the ruins of the apocalypse.

"Auntie."

Meng Yaya suddenly spoke, her childish voice standing out clearly in the noisy carriage.

"Hmm? What's wrong, girl?" The auntie smiled, her face crinkling into wrinkles, and reached out to touch Meng Yaya's face.

Meng Yaya shrank back, avoiding the hand. She stretched out her delicate little finger and pointed to the area under the aunt's seat.

"The sack under your feet just moved."

The woman's smile froze for a moment, and she reflexively pulled her foot back, stomping hard on the sack.

"Waaah..."

A very faint groan came from the sack, like a kitten with its mouth covered, or something else entirely.

The noise in the carriage masked the strange sound; Lin Wanrou didn't hear it, and the surrounding passengers didn't notice it either.

But Meng Yaya heard it.

She tilted her head and looked at the fine layer of cold sweat seeping from the aunt's forehead.

She stomped her foot on it hard until the sound disappeared.

"Oh dear, those free-range chickens I brought are being naughty."

The auntie chuckled dryly, but her triangular eyes didn't look at Ya Ya; instead, they were fixed on Lin Wanrou.

"Hey girl, you only have one daughter? No brothers to help you out?"