Old Mrs. Song is reborn; get out of here, you scumbag husband and illegitimate child!

Zhou Fang timed it perfectly. When the train stopped, he ran downstairs and bought a few meat buns. He then squeezed through the dining car, sweating profusely, and managed to snatch back two still-warm boxed meals.

"Godmother, Erhua, eat while it's hot." Zhou Fang handed over the lunchbox and took a vegetable bun to eat herself.

Nie Erhua had no appetite, so she ate a couple of bites and picked out the only two large, greasy slices of meat from the lunchbox.

Feed it to Da Bao and Er Bao's mouths:

"Hey bro, eat some meat."

Da Bao rested his chin on his hands, his eyes fixed on the piece of meat.

He swallowed hard, then shook his head.

"My brother and I ate steamed buns, and there was meat inside them."

The middle-aged man on the lower bunk kept fidgeting. One moment he would put his bulging suitcase under his head, and the next he would feel uncomfortable and stuff it into the gap against the wall on the inside, with his hands and legs resting on it.

Hearing the child speak.

The man turned over and stared at the plump, white meat bun in Da Bao's hand.

A forced, insincere grin:

"Kid, you think you can resist eating fatty meat? Are you stupid?"

Da Bao took a big bite of the bun and said indistinctly, "I have meat too. Auntie isn't feeling well and needs to eat meat."

People were coming and going in the corridor.

Several men wearing polyester shirts walked back and forth several times.

His eyes kept glancing at the lower bunk across from him, intentionally or unintentionally.

Song Xianglan had lived two lives, so she recognized that look.

The wolf's eyes when it saw meat.

Her heart tightened, and she kicked the middle bunk with her toe, giving Zhou Fang, who was peeking out, a look.

Zhou Fang understood and stuffed the bun into his mouth.

She rolled out of bed and followed him out.

More than ten minutes passed.

Zhou Fang returned, looking rather grim. He lowered his voice and said to Song Xianglan, "There was a gambling den in carriage number five ahead. Some people got so enraged that they started a fight, and the train police have already gone over there."

The old man on the top bunk, who had been silent until now, finally uttered a sentence:

"Young people, don't get involved in this kind of thing. Be careful, it might be a honey trap. You'll lose everything if you go in."

Zhou Fang didn't respond.

I climbed back to the middle bunk.

The other man in the middle bunk was sleeping with his head covered.

Late at night.

The clanging sound of wheels hitting the rails became exceptionally clear.

Erbao hummed softly, "I miss Mommy."

"I miss my mom too, and I miss Xiao An'an and Chou Gou Dan..." Da Bao whined.

"Dad, when are we going to see Mom?"

Da Bao didn't say anything more, he just hugged Er Bao tightly.

This child is precocious and has a heavy heart.

At his maternal grandmother's house, he overheard the plump old lady who was cooking muttering that his grandmother was going to introduce an uncle to his mother to be her new father.

He also knew that his grandmother didn't like his father.

Da Bao pouted, tears welling up in her big eyes, but she bit her lip tightly to keep them from falling.

He doesn't want a new dad.

Hearing the child's words, Zhou Fang felt as if her heart had been squeezed tightly, the pain making it hard to breathe. She said in a hoarse voice, "It'll be soon. Go to sleep, you'll see when you wake up."

The lights in the carriage were finally turned off.

Only the dim floor lamps in the corridor remained.

The latter half of the night is when people sleep the most soundly.

Song Xianglan was already light-skinned, and with a large sum of money in her arms, she dared not sleep soundly at all.

In a daze, a very light footstep stopped in front of the bunk.

Immediately following was a muffled groan.

Using the little light coming in from the corridor, Song Xianglan squinted her eyes into slits.

Three dark figures.

One person covered the man's mouth tightly, while the other held down his leg.

Just as the man was about to struggle, he kicked the wall hard with a dull thud.

Song Xianglan's muscles tensed instantly, and she didn't dare to breathe.

To dare to move is to have a death wish.

The shadowy figure moved with lightning speed, even a bit roughly, snatching the suitcase that the man was protecting in his arms, and the zipper was ripped open with a ripping sound.

The man panicked and tried to grab the knife without regard for the knife, and the two wrestled in the narrow lower bunk.

"Splash—"

The bag was ripped open, and its contents were scattered all over the floor.

In chaos.

A bundle of square objects slid off the edge of the bed and landed right next to Song Xianglan.

Song Xianglan's heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her throat.

The group was busy subduing the middle-aged man and then groping around on the ground.

Fortune favors the bold.

Song Xianglan's body moved faster than her mind. Her withered hand reached out like an eagle's claw, grabbed the thing, and shoved it into her quilt.

It feels substantial.

This is the great unity of ten thousand yuan!

Just as he finished stuffing it in, the middle-aged man struggled to kick out an even smaller cloth bag.

Song Xianglan reacted quickly and scooped the cloth bag back as well.

At this time.

Footsteps, flashlight beams, and shouts came from the other end of the corridor.

"What are you doing? What's going on over there?"

The three dark figures were clearly panicked.

"Retreat quickly."

One of them grabbed the remaining half of the tattered bag from the ground, while the other punched him on the head with his fist. The tattered bag opened, and Song Xianglan took the opportunity to reach over and grab two wads of money, scattering them under the covers.

The three of them turned and ran towards the connecting area between the carriages.

The man in the leather jacket lay limp on the bed, motionless.

Song Xianglan's heart pounded; she knew this wasn't over yet.

It's a classic case of the cunning predator preying on the cunning, with someone else lurking in the shadows.

She reached out and handed the money from under the covers.

Zhou Fang wasn't fast asleep; he had seen everything that had just happened and was now leaning out.

Song Xianglan grabbed Zhou Fang's hand and stuffed the money into it.

Without saying a word, Zhou Fang stuffed the things into the loose work pants and covered himself up tightly with the blanket.

Less than two minutes later, another group of people rushed over and glanced at the man lying dead.

He cursed "bad luck" and turned to chase after the group ahead.

They're all eyeing this fat sheep.

Song Xianglan huddled under the covers, her back drenched in cold sweat. She touched the cloth bag on her chest, thinking that since the money was ill-gotten anyway, she might as well use it to help this old woman get rich rather than let those robbers steal it.

Among the first group of people, a man returned and touched Song Xianglan's shop.

He then peeked under the bed.

Zhou Fang gritted his teeth and talked in his sleep. The other person glanced at him and left.

That night.

Song Xianglan stared wide-eyed until dawn.

The next day, when the sun was high in the sky, the man in the leather jacket on the lower bunk still didn't move.

The man in the middle bunk, who hadn't said a word, got down to put on his shoes. He glanced at the man in the lower bunk, reached out and felt under the man's nose, and jumped in fright:

"Holy crap, how come this guy is sleeping so soundly? I thought he was dead."

The old man on the upper bunk slowly climbed down.

He glanced meaningfully at Zhou Fang, then looked at Song Xianglan.

"You sleep like a log," the old man muttered in a cryptic tone.

The man checking her breath chuckled.

"I'm the kind of person who gets a good night's sleep without fail."

Zhou Fang felt a chill run down his spine from the old man's gaze.

Song Xianglan glared at him, then pretended to be nonchalant as she peeled an egg for Da Bao.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

The train finally chugged into the new city railway station.

Song Xianglan held her urine for several hours, but dared not go to the toilet, fearing that something might go wrong if she left her sight.

As soon as the car came to a stop, Song Xianglan picked up the snakeskin bag.

Pulling Nie Erhua along, he urged Zhou Fang, "Come on, hurry up! I need to pee!"

She always felt that the old man in the upper bunk had a strange look in his eyes; he might just be some old sparrow.

The group practically fled off the train. Once they were off the platform, they didn't even dare to catch their breath. They hailed two pedicabs, gave the drivers an extra dollar, and told them to pedal until sparks flew as they headed straight for the ferry.

I bought the nearest ferry ticket.

……

Only after entering her own courtyard and closing the two mottled wooden doors did Song Xianglan finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Song Xianglan threw the bag down and headed straight for the outhouse.

When she came out, Zhou Fang had already sent Da Bao and Er Bao to play with their friends. Nie Er Hua was seasick and had gone to sleep in her room downstairs.

They were the only ones left in the main room.

Zhou Fang closed all the doors and windows tightly before taking out the three bundles of yuan and placing them on the table.

"Godmother, you scared me to death." Zhou Fang plopped down on the stool, her legs still cramping. "The groups of people who came back later searched through everything again, and they even rummaged through my blankets."

Song Xianglan poured herself a large bowl of cold boiled water, gulped it down, and wiped her mouth:

"I'm most afraid of Erhua screaming. Erhua and I, who share the lower bunk, have been groped several times. It's only good if we take this money. If that group takes it, it's like double-crossing."

Brand new "Great Unity" papers, stack upon stack, with a strong smell of ink.

"One, two, three..." Song Xianglan counted, a total of thirty thousand yuan!

Without hesitation, Song Xianglan pulled out a thick wad of cash, about ten thousand yuan, and slapped it directly in front of Zhou Fang: "Take it. You also bore the transportation risk, but I can't give you half."

Zhou Fang reacted as if she had been burned.

"Godmother, I can't accept this. This is yours... this is something you brought back without permission, it has nothing to do with me."

"If this were me, it would probably be taken away." Song Xianglan put on a stern face. "If you don't take it, it means you don't consider me your godmother."

Besides, you've gone back to your hometown now, how will you survive without money? Aren't your two kids in school anymore? You can take care of me when you've earned some money later."

The two pushed and shoved each other back and forth several times.

In the end, Zhou Fang couldn't persuade him otherwise.

He took a thousand yuan and put it in his pocket, but absolutely refused to take the rest.

"Godmother, I only need a thousand yuan. Really. If you give me any more, I'll leave."

Seeing that he was being stubborn, Song Xianglan stopped trying to force him.

He stuffed all the remaining money into the snakeskin bag.

"Alright, go back and clean the house."

Zhou Fang nodded and went out.

Song Xianglan first took two packs of cigarettes to the neighbor's house and asked Lin Gang to make a trip to Songjiazhuang. She said she wanted to call Song Xiangmei and Nie Xiaochuan over.

Lin Gang readily accepted the cigarette and rode off on his bicycle.

Song Xianglan returned home and her gaze fell on the cloth bag that had remained unopened.

The group returned, specifically looking for this bag.

Song Xianglan carefully untied the knot of the cloth bag.

It was a yellowed, thread-bound ancient book, and a scroll of paintings.

She slowly unfolded the painting.

The painting depicts a landscape.

The gaze moves downwards and lands on the signature.

Four characters came into view: Bitter Gourd Monk.

That 30,000 yuan is nothing compared to this painting.

She quickly took the painting, along with the ancient book, to the cellar in the room.

Unbelievable wealth fell upon her.