The incident that night, thanks to the drugged man’s misfortune, remained known only to the passengers in Zhu Yanyi’s compartment and the relevant train staff. The culprit had been secretly taken away at a previous station. What happened to her next was no longer their concern. However, the train conductor, whether intentionally or not, began visiting their compartment frequently. Through these interactions, she struck up a conversation with Cheng Baokun and Zhu Shunyao.
Male friendships can be strange. Although they had only just met the conductor, within half a day, the three men were already calling each other brothers.
Besides his rounds and necessary duties, the conductor spent his free time chatting in their compartment, making the day quite interesting.
At dinner, the conductor brought some wine. Zhu Shunyao asked Zhu Yanyi to bring out some snacks to go with the alcohol. Zhu Yanyi took out five-spice dried meat and five-spice peanuts. The others ate the egg pancakes Zhu Yanyi had brought from home. Because of the conductor’s help, they didn’t have to eat cold food. She had warmed the cooled egg pancakes in the boiler room. Zhu Yanyi and her sister, Zhu Yanli, also prepared lotus root powder soup for everyone. As a result, everyone ate with great appetite.
The conductor chewed on the five-spice dried meat and said directly, “Brother, you are so lucky. I haven’t eaten such authentic dried meat in a long time. This pork must be from free-range pigs.” In current society, although meat ration coupons were gradually becoming unnecessary, meat was still not something one could eat whenever one wanted.
Zhu Shunyao smiled and said, “Brother Wang, you’re right. The pork for this dried meat comes from villagers’ free-range pigs in our village. My daughter made it herself. Her skills are excellent.”
The conductor looked at Zhu Yanyi and said to Zhu Shunyao, “Shunyao, your daughter is extraordinary. I heard from the train police that her moves are very sharp. Like this.” She said, raising her thumb.
Zhu Shunyao laughed heartily, “To be honest, Brother Wang, my daughter’s martial arts skills are indeed quite good. It’s a pity I don’t have them.” She sounded a bit disappointed, as Zhu Yanyi was the most skilled in their family.
The conductor understood immediately and laughed, “Don’t envy, brother. Having such a daughter is great. I’m the one who should be envious of you.”
Cheng Baokun added, “Exactly. I don’t have a daughter, so I envy her. That’s why I simply adopted her as my goddaughter.”
“Wonderful, wonderful.” The conductor laughed.
Just then, the train police hurried over. “Conductor, someone has fainted in Carriage Six.”
Hearing this, the conductor put down his wine and stood up. “Has the train doctor gone?”
“Yes, he has checked. It’s a sudden asthma attack, and the condition is critical. The next stop is still over forty minutes away. The doctor suggested seeing if we can ask for help via the broadcast.” the train police asked.
The conductor nodded to Cheng Baokun and Zhu Shunyao. “You two continue eating. I’ll go handle this.”
“Please go ahead, brother.” Zhu Shunyao and Cheng Baokun both nodded.
The conductor and the train police hurried away. Zhu Shunyao turned to look at Zhu Yanyi. “Daughter…”
Zhu Yanyi quickly raised her hand. She understood what Zhu Shunyao meant. If possible, she wanted her to step in. However, there were many people here, and she was worried about her.
“Dad, let’s go take a look too. If it’s not a big deal, we’ll leave. But if it’s truly critical, it’s still a human life. I studied medicine, so I can’t ignore a life in front of me.”