Rebirth: The Courtyard Bride Is Cool and Radiant

Chapter 194: Chapter 194: At such a young age, how can you speak like that?

Yunyi stayed here for a week. She collected quite a few plant species from the south, especially various kinds of tea trees, as well as local fruit trees, including lychee, passion fruit, citrus, longan, pomelo, loquat, mango, and banana. After buying her train ticket and seeing she still had some time, Yunyi also found a place to transplant some bamboo into her space. Then, she went to a state-owned restaurant and bought twenty large meat buns. She planned to eat some on the first day of her journey and stored the rest in her space.

During the forty-nine days following Old Master Chu’s death, Yunyi found a secluded spot to burn some homemade spirit money for him. After that, she stopped abstaining from certain foods.

After the ticket check, she followed the crowd towards the train. With her identity, she couldn’t buy a sleeper ticket, but when she was buying the ticket, she put a national Grain Coupon inside her letter of introduction. The ticket seller, a shrewd person, directly offered her a favor when Yunyi asked if there were any sleeper tickets available.

She was so tired that, once on board, she climbed up to the upper bunk and slept like a log. She didn’t wake until the next morning. If it hadn’t been for her need to use the restroom, she wouldn’t have wanted to get down at all.

The lady in the lower bunk saw her coming down. ”Girl, you sure can sleep,” she remarked.

Hearing this, Yunyi felt it sounded familiar. She remembered that the woman on the middle bunk had said the same thing the last time she traveled from Beijing to Songling Village.

She couldn’t help but laugh. ”Anyway, I had nothing to do, and it saved me from disturbing everyone, right?”

The lady heard this and chuckled, ”You sure have a way with words, girl.”

At that moment, an unwelcome female voice interrupted, ”I’ve never seen someone sleep like you do. Could it be that you didn’t bring anything to eat and are too embarrassed to come down?”

Yunyi glanced at the speaker and said coolly, ”It seems your family lives by the sea.”

Obviously, the woman didn’t understand what she meant. After a brief pause, she asked, ”What do you mean?”

Yunyi didn’t answer her and headed straight for the restroom.

The woman didn’t expect Yunyi to react like that. ”Hey, what’s the matter with you?” she demanded. ”Didn’t you hear me talking to you?”

The lady in the lower bunk, somewhat annoyed by this girl, said, ”Everyone has urgent needs. That young lady hasn’t moved for so long; she naturally has to take care of business first.”

The girl hadn’t expected the lady to defend the ’vixen’ on the upper bunk. She said in displeasure, ”What’s it to you?”

The reason she had spoken to Yunyi like that was that her boyfriend had been looking up at the upper bunk, and she had been itching to pick a fight, but the ’vixen’ was always asleep.

Before the lady could respond, her son became unhappy. ”You’re so young,” he said. ”How can you talk like that?”

Seeing the lady’s son about to stand up, the girl’s boyfriend quickly apologized, ”Sir, I’m sorry. She’s not great with words; please don’t take it to heart.”

The girl was smart enough to recognize the situation; seeing the size of the lady’s son, she dared not make another peep.

When Yunyi came back, she exchanged a few words with the lady before climbing back up. This time, however, she really was hungry. She used her backpack for cover and took out a bun from her space to nibble on.

The aroma of the meat bun soon wafted out.

The woman in the bunk below muttered, displeased, ”You sleep when others are eating. Then, when everyone else has finished, you bring out something with such a strong smell. It’s as if no one here has ever eaten a meat bun before!”

Yunyi had initially been disinclined to engage with her. However, seeing the woman glare up at her again as if about to speak, Yunyi preempted her. ”There are people eating in the compartments both in front of and behind us right now,” Yunyi said, her voice clear. ”Who exactly are you referring to?”

Her voice wasn’t hushed, and people from the adjacent compartments peeked over. The woman, flustered at being put on the spot, quickly retorted, ”I wasn’t talking about anyone else!”

Yunyi said coldly, ”So you’re talking about me?”

The woman didn’t reply, but her silence was an admission.

Yunyi’s face immediately turned cold. ”We’re just strangers meeting by chance. Who do you think you are to point fingers at me?”

The older lady in the lower bunk chimed in, ”It’s mealtime now anyway. When you were eating earlier, no one said anything to you. Now that she’s eating, you decide to interfere?”

Yunyi added, ”That’s why I said her family must live by the sea.”

A little head poked out from the adjacent compartment. ”Sister, how do you know her family lives by the sea?”

Yunyi broke into a smile. ”Because she meddles too much.”

No one understood for a moment. Then, a few seconds later, someone chuckled, and soon the compartment was filled with roaring laughter.

The woman’s face turned beet red, her neck practically swelling with anger. ”You—you’re all ganging up on me!” she sputtered.

Yunyi rolled her eyes. ”Oh, so now you’re trying to play the victim? You’ve got some nerve.”

The woman wanted to say more, but her companion directly intervened, ”Stop making a scene.”

The woman immediately turned her anger on him. ”Xun Keping, what are you implying? We’re not even married yet, and you’re already siding against me? Is it because you’ve taken a liking to that vixen on the upper bunk?”

Her words made everyone frown.

This time Yunyi’s face turned cold. ”I suggest you watch your mouth. Say one more disrespectful word, and I’ll slap you. Do you think everyone is your parents, here to coddle you?”

The woman flinched, visibly frightened by Yunyi’s icy glare. She hadn’t expected this girl, who seemed so gentle, to have such an intimidating aura when angered. With her boyfriend holding her back, she finally quieted down.

Yunyi was not one to forget a grudge, and she certainly wouldn’t let her off easily. However, I’m not about to act now; I don’t want to disturb my rest. I’ll give her a ”parting gift” when she gets off the train. No need for thanks.

Unexpectedly, however, even after all the other passengers in the lower bunks had changed, this couple was still on the train. Moreover, they were getting off at the same station as her.

After exiting the station, Yunyi found herself walking right behind them. Surely, we’re not still heading in the same direction? she thought.

Yunyi quickened her pace and, as she passed by the woman, delivered a small punishment. Of course, if she can’t handle it and it affects her looks, that’s her own fault. Who told her to call me a vixen?

When she returned to Songling Village, the autumn harvest had just wound down. Groups of villagers were heading to the mountains to gather wild produce.

After tidying up, Yunyi gathered a dozen or so mandarin oranges and headed towards the Branch Secretary’s house.

The Branch Secretary and his wife were home. ”You’ve lost weight!” the Branch Secretary’s wife exclaimed, greeting Yunyi warmly. ”Chu Zhiqing, you’ve truly done a remarkable thing.”

Yunyi smiled faintly. ”I simply did my part.”

The Branch Secretary’s wife pulled Yunyi to sit down. ”Not everyone has your courage,” she said.

They’d heard about the disaster in Tang City. They felt pain, worry, and concern for the people there, but they admitted that if it were them, they couldn’t have taken two months off from work to help with disaster relief.

The couple asked incessantly about the situation in Tang City. After hearing Yunyi’s account, not only the Branch Secretary’s wife but also the Branch Secretary himself became teary-eyed.

Once they finished discussing that topic, Yunyi learned from the Branch Secretary that Liu Chenglin had left, but in his place came the real Liu Chenglin.