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墨書 Inktalez
Another day passed, and Jiang Chen arrived at the train station. Although Shihu City has the largest clothing wholesale market in the country, it is not considered a big city in Fujian Province, so there are no flights available. Jiang Chen had no choice but to take the train.
There was only one slow train to Shihu, and Jiang Chen could only buy a hard seat ticket. The train was scheduled to depart at 10:00 AM, and at 9:50 AM, ticket checking began. Jiang Chen boarded the train and found his seat.
Once the train started moving, the brief noise in the carriage gradually faded away, replaced by silence. The passengers sitting next to Jiang Chen and across from him were all men, and he had no interest in chatting with them, so he closed his eyes to rest.
By noon, the dining car attendant pushed a cart through the aisle, calling out to sell boxed meals, breaking the tranquility of the carriage. "Boxed meals are here! Boxed meals are here! 30 yuan each! 30 yuan each, what a bargain!" The attendant shouted as he pushed the cart along.
Jiang Chen found it amusing that a boxed meal for 30 yuan could be considered cheap. Most people had brought their own food, so they didn’t buy the meals from the train and were content with what they had brought.
Jiang Chen hadn’t brought any food, but he didn’t mind. The people around him not only had food but also water to drink. Jiang Chen rummaged through his bag and pulled out an empty cup. He stood up to go to the junction of the train cars to get some water. There was a place for hot water there, a water dispenser, but when he turned on the switch, no water came out. When he asked the attendant what was wrong, he was told it was broken and that someone would come by later to sell water.
No water? Jiang Chen shrugged it off; why buy water anyway?
In the afternoon, an attendant did come by selling water, but at 10 yuan per bottle—who would buy that? Jiang Chen didn’t purchase any.
The entire afternoon passed as Jiang Chen dozed off and daydreamed; overall, the carriage remained quiet except for some noise when they arrived at stations.
By evening, the carriage became even quieter. However, around nine o'clock at night, it suddenly became lively again. What was going on? Was there late-night food being sold on the train?
It turned out that a person dressed in what looked like an attendant's uniform was carrying a kettle of water, asking which passengers needed some. Jiang Chen thought many people would rush to get water, but he noticed not many were holding out cups for the attendant to fill.
When the attendant reached Jiang Chen's seat, he remained silent while a middle-aged man across from him spoke up first: "I need a cup here too!" After saying this, he pushed Jiang Chen's cup forward. The attendant immediately poured water into Jiang Chen's cup until it was about half full before moving on.
The man across from Jiang Chen probably thought he hadn’t had any water all day! So he took the initiative to ask for a cup for Jiang Chen as well.
Jiang Chen glanced gratefully at the man across from him and took a sip from his cup. Not bad; it seemed to be tea, warm enough. He thought to himself that this attendant had good service!
However, this thought was quickly shattered by what happened next. A group of ten people arrived; their leader was tall and fierce-looking—definitely intimidating—and they were demanding money from those who had just received water.
"Pay up! That cup of tea cost 20 yuan! Hurry up!"
Those who had just taken water were stunned; 20 yuan per cup? It felt like robbery! They regretted their decision too late. When they turned back to find that "attendant" for clarification, he had already vanished.
The group pressed them hard; it seemed they would resort to violence if they didn’t pay up. Those who had taken water had no choice but to comply obediently. Ordinary passengers were generally timid and afraid of trouble.
"I don’t have change for 20 yuan!" a girl said timidly.
"If you don’t have change for 20 yuan, just give us a 100 or 50 yuan bill; we can give you change," shouted their leader.
The girl believed him and obediently handed over a 100 yuan bill, extending her hand to ask the leader for change. The leader took the 100 yuan note, then slapped the girl's hand away, shouting, "Change? No way!" The girl was so frightened that she didn't dare to make a sound.
Soon, they reached Jiang Chen's location.
"You just ordered a cup of tea; pay up—20 yuan!" The leader extended his hand toward the middle-aged man sitting across from Jiang Chen.
"I didn't order any tea," the middle-aged man stammered.
"Clearly, our person poured tea into this cup. How can you say you didn't order any?" The leader pointed at Jiang Chen's cup.
The middle-aged man pointed at Jiang Chen, saying, "That cup is his!"
The leader looked at Jiang Chen. "Is this cup yours?"
"Yes," Jiang Chen nodded.
"Then pay up!" The leader demanded money with his right hand while holding a thick wad of cash in his left, mostly consisting of 20 yuan notes, along with some 50s and 100s. It seemed this group had already collected "tea money" from several carriages ahead and likely did this often, which explained why some passengers were aware and didn’t shout for tea when the "attendant" asked if they wanted any.
"Why should I give you money? If anyone should be paid, it should be the one who poured the water!" Jiang Chen suddenly retorted loudly.
The leader was clearly taken aback, and the thugs behind him were surprised as well; they hadn’t expected this passenger to have the audacity to turn the question back on them.
"What? You think you can get tea and not pay? The person who poured the water is with us; he serves the tea, we collect the money. Hurry up and pay! If you delay, it'll cost you 100 yuan!"
"Say whatever you want; I won't give you a single cent!"
This sparked interest among other passengers, who stood up to watch.
"You’re asking for trouble! I'll make sure you regret it!" The leader had not anticipated Jiang Chen's attitude. He thought that with more than ten people on his side, every passenger would be too scared to refuse payment. Now that Jiang Chen was loudly declaring he wouldn’t pay anything, if they didn’t teach him a lesson, how would they continue collecting money from others?
After saying this, the leader reached out to grab Jiang Chen, intending to drag him into the aisle for a beating. While most passengers were merely spectators, some kind-hearted individuals felt anxious for Jiang Chen. They imagined him getting beaten black and blue by these thugs.
However, what everyone envisioned did not happen. Instead, as the leader reached for Jiang Chen, his hand was caught by Jiang Chen instead. The leader's face immediately contorted in pain; he found himself unable to move at all. It felt as if an iron clamp had seized his hand, threatening to crush his bones.
Jiang Chen didn’t crush the leader’s hand but pushed him backward instead. The leader felt an overwhelming force surge toward him; he tried to steady himself but lost balance and crashed into the seats across the aisle, first hitting the table there before falling to the ground.
A sharp pain shot through his lower back as it collided with the table between the seats. However, this also helped reduce the impact on his head when it hit the ground. He had intended to grab onto something to prevent himself from falling but ended up scattering all the cash he held across the floor instead.
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