Zhu Zhibin rubbed his head and complained to Xie Xinlian, "Mom, Dad is bullying me."
"Then just say less nonsense," Xie Xinlian laughed softly.
In the soft sleeper compartment, Zhu Shunyang and her wife shared a room with Zhu Zhibin and Luo Gang. Zhu Yanyi, Yan Aohan, Zhu Yanli, and Taishu Yuanxiang were in another. Niu Jiu, Peng Ming, Chen Yun, and Chen Lu occupied a third. Wang Ye, Zhang Yan, Pei Tiandu, and Li Yang were in the fourth.
Since Qin Tianxiang and Wang Weiguo had gone to Wang Weiguo’s hometown for the New Year, they were not on this trip, leaving exactly four compartments.
Zhu Yanyi took out a deck of cards and said to Zhu Yanli, "Sister, let’s play Dou Dizhu."
"I’ll ask Dad and the others if they want to join," Taishu Yuanxiang said respectfully.
Zhu Yanyi smiled slightly, shuffling the cards in her hand. "It’s fine. I brought ten decks. Brother-in-law, you can distribute them. The journey is long, and we need something to pass the time." She decided firmly to stay inside to avoid any trouble.
Yan Aohan understood her thoughts immediately. He chuckled, "Do you think you have a 'trouble magnet' constitution? Things happen wherever you go."
Zhu Yanyi stuck out her tongue. "I don’t want it to be like this. But out of ten trips, eight have problems. So I think if I stay here, nothing will happen."
Taishu Yuanxiang laughed lightly. "So your constitution is indeed interesting. Eight out of ten trips bring trouble." She teased her gently, then took the cards Zhu Yanyi prepared and left.
Since everyone in the four compartments knew each other well, playing cards was a good way to kill time.
However, trouble doesn’t always stay away just because you don’t want it. Soon, an incident occurred.
They had only played two rounds of Dou Dizhu when a conductor arrived, followed by a man. The man entered and declared, "You are gambling in a group. Everyone will be detained at the next station."
"We are gambling?" Zhu Yanyi pointed to the white paper strip stuck on her nose. "We are playing with paper strips on our noses. Which gambler plays so cleanly?"
People from other compartments came out to watch. Hearing Zhu Yanyi’s words, an old man laughed. "The little girl is right. I’ve lived this long and never heard of playing cards with paper strips being called gambling."
"Exactly. Playing cards for fun among family and friends during a trip is normal. Is this really gambling? And look, the little girl is even wearing a paper strip," others added, defending them.
Yan Aohan’s expression darkened. He looked at the man. "Who are you?"
Yan Aohan was the head of the Yan family in the capital, known as the Venerable Yanluo. He had seen many people and immediately sensed something was wrong with this man.
"I am a police officer," the man said, a hint of guilt flashing in his eyes.
"What is your badge number? Which police district do you belong to? What is your position?" Yan Aohan asked quickly.
The man looked confused. "What do you mean? Are you implying I am a fake?"
"To be honest, I didn’t know you were fake until you volunteered to say it. Now I see you really are." Yan Aohan turned directly to the conductor. "You are an accomplice, aren’t you?"
"What accomplice? Don’t talk nonsense. I am the train conductor. I have a proper work ID," the conductor argued.
"But you brought him here. If you weren’t working together, why would you bring him?" Yan Aohan asked directly.
Taishu Yuanxiang laughed. "So you are colluding to extort people. That is a form of fraud."
"What’s wrong?" Zhu Yanli asked, looking at Taishu Yuanxiang with confusion.
Taishu Yuanxiang explained carefully to his wife. "It’s simple. This man and the conductor are partners. The conductor’s job is to check the compartments. When he finds a target, he signals this man to pose as an undercover officer and extort money. They split the money privately. Usually, this trick is simple. Some people don’t want to make a scene, so they pay a small amount to settle it."
"Oh," Zhu Yanyi said. "Aohan, this little ghost has bumped into Zhong Kui. This fake undercover officer has run into you. You should handle this properly."
Yan Aohan did not usually interfere with police matters, but as the head of a protective national family, he supervised all affairs. He could intervene in such a matter.
Who would have thought this person would be so blind as to offend the Venerable Yanluo of the capital?
Yan Aohan smiled faintly. "It’s a small matter. A phone call will solve it." He turned to Pei Tiandu. "Tiandu, make a call. Have someone take them away at the next station."
After giving the order, Yan Aohan said to Zhu Yanyi, "Come, let’s continue sticking the paper strips. You lost this round. Most importantly, let’s gamble again in front of them."
Zhu Yanyi looked at Yan Aohan. "Aohan, this is wrong. You should stick the paper strip for me. Aren’t you worried about losing me?"
"Ani, you must know the saying: 'Accept the result of the bet,'" Yan Aohan smiled lightly, ignoring the intruders.
They walked back into the compartment. Others returned to their rooms, though some curious people peeked from the doorways.
Wang Ye and Li Yang watched the conductor and the fraudster. Their faces changed. They never expected to fail. They always thought they were invincible, but now they realized they had met the real deal.
"I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to. We will leave now," the fraudster said wisely. If he stayed, he might really be sent to prison at the next station.
"Did I say you could leave?" Yan Aohan dealt the cards without looking up. Did these people really think Yan Aohan was so easy to bully?
Taishu Yuanxiang added, "Why hasn’t the train conductor come? Does he think hiding will make the problem disappear?"
Taishu Yuanxiang believed that if the train conductor was indeed hiding, he must be foolish. Discovering such misconduct among his staff and not addressing it was unacceptable. No matter how small, this was not a good thing.