“They work in groups, not just one person. We can’t let their accomplices escape.”

Xia Xiaolan added this reminder.

The first time, she had let that plump woman and her accomplice escape – that was Xia Xiaolan’s first encounter with traffickers on a train after her rebirth. Heaven’s net is wide-meshed but lets nothing through; now encountering traffickers doing evil for a second time, Manager Xia was ready to do some good.

The female attendant told them to return to their seats quickly.

“Don’t act unusual, just do what you normally would!”

Xia Xiaolan and Sister exchanged glances, both feeling somewhat excited.

Catching traffickers would be a great thing – doing good always makes one feel better.

Sister was extremely excited. As Xia Xiaolan and Sister returned to their seats one after another, Sister winked at her husband, and the three shared knowing smiles.

Zhou Cheng was still sleeping soundly.

The smell of alcohol hadn’t dissipated; he had drunk quite a lot during that drinking contest.

Xia Xiaolan didn’t blame him; rather, she felt sorry for him.

In that situation, Zhou Cheng couldn’t admit defeat – whoever passed out first would be at others’ mercy.

When Jiang Wu was drunk, Zhou Cheng couldn’t help wanting to deal with him. If Zhou Cheng had passed out drunk, while Jiang Wu wouldn’t dare do anything to Zhou Cheng, who knew if he might try something with Xia Xiaolan?

It was uncertain, after all, he had seemed quite sinister!

So Zhou Cheng refused to give in or show weakness, all to protect her. He had held on until the train started moving when Jiang Wu could no longer catch up, before collapsing into a deep sleep.

Xia Xiaolan’s gaze grew increasingly tender.

“You two have such a good relationship!”

Being women, how could they not read the love in Xia Xiaolan’s eyes – when love is in the heart, the eyes can’t hide it?

Xia Xiaolan smiled, “We argue too.”

Sister dismissed this: “Who doesn’t argue? When tempers are high, both sides want to grab knives and fight!”

“You and Brother have a good relationship too, how could you use knives?”

The husband across from them grimaced, “When she takes a knife to me, how dare I fight back… Ouch, ouch, ouch…”

How could it not hurt when she pinched the soft flesh at his waist?

This move seemed to be known by women worldwide!

Their laughter eased the earlier tension. After about ten minutes, train police followed the attendant, checking tickets car by car:

“Everyone take out your tickets, we’re checking tickets. Those without tickets need to buy them now!”

“Ticket check, please take out your tickets.”

Fare evasion was persistent, but attendants usually showed some face, treating it as if people had to board urgently without tickets. In such cases, voluntarily buying tickets resolved the issue. After all, who wanted the embarrassment of being publicly scolded for fare evasion?

Soon, they reached Xia Xiaolan’s car.

The female attendant remained fierce and unfriendly, as if not recognizing Xia Xiaolan.

Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng naturally had tickets. The police officer gave Zhou Cheng an extra look:

“What’s going on here?”

“Officer, this is my partner. He had a bit too much to drink and is resting.”

While the officer checked their tickets, Xia Xiaolan seized the chance to identify the suspects: “In the next car, the woman wearing a checkered shirt, plump, with thin curved eyebrows.”

The officer straightened up, “Be more careful in the future, don’t drink too much. If he gets rowdy while drunk, won’t it disturb other passengers?”

Pretending to lecture Xia Xiaolan, the officer and attendant moved forward together.

The ticket check was coordinated, moving from both ends of the train toward the middle cars, trapping both fare evaders and wrongdoers, and herding them toward the middle cars.

They caught quite a few fare evaders.

Some truly couldn’t afford tickets but needed to travel, while others just wanted to take advantage and avoid paying if possible.

The latter mostly bought tickets on the spot, though Xia Xiaolan wasn’t sure how they’d handle the former. She felt people were more sympathetic back then – many would offer help to those in trouble outside.

Of course, there were bad people too, but the overall social environment wasn’t as cold as it would be 30 years later. If an elderly person fell, someone would help them up without worrying about being scammed – that was Xia Xiaolan’s impression of the 1980s!

Finally, they reached the traffickers’ car.

For some reason, the police didn’t immediately arrest the traffickers, still checking tickets one by one.

The fierce female attendant maintained her stern demeanor.

Sister sitting across from Xia Xiaolan kept anxiously turning her head.

Xia Xiaolan was also watching the situation.

From her angle, she could see the girl the trafficker was trying to deceive.

She was thin with delicate features, a young and pretty girl.

The trafficker certainly knew how to pick targets!

For some reason, the closer the attendant got, the more nervous the girl became.

She kept fidgeting, her face turning red… Could it be she was traveling without a ticket? Just as Xia Xiaolan thought this, the attendant stood before the girl.

“Comrade, are you feeling unwell?”

The fierce voice tried to be gentle, but someone used to speaking loudly couldn’t manage true softness.

The girl still trembled, speechless.

The female attendant asked again:

“Do you need help?”

The question was meaningful – if she was being controlled by someone, this was her chance to ask the attendant for help.

But the girl just blushed more intensely, clearly uncomfortable. If the attendant kept asking, she might burst into tears.

The female attendant was puzzled – what was going on?

Was she more frightening than the traffickers?

Who was the bad person here?

Had the two female passengers who reported this made a mistake?

“Please show me your ticket—”

Now the girl started crying, her hand in her pocket unable to produce anything.

The female attendant suddenly understood – so it was fare evasion?

Before she could speak, the plump woman in the next seat stood up: “Oh, comrade, we were in a hurry to board and only bought two tickets. My niece here squeezed on with us, I’ll buy her ticket now!”

The attendant looked up, “What’s your relation to her?”

“I already said, she’s my niece. We’ll buy the ticket now, isn’t that enough?”

The plump woman seemed annoyed.

The ticket checkers from the other end had also reached this car, surrounding it.

The police officer nodded, “Show us your introduction letters.”

The plump woman froze, sensing something was wrong.

The man beside her grumbled: “If we didn’t buy a ticket, we can just buy one now, why do you need to see introduction letters?”

“Stop talking nonsense, show your introduction letters when asked!”

At the officer’s stern command, both the plump woman and man pulled out their letters.

The girl who couldn’t produce a ticket could show an introduction letter.

The officer compared them and laughed: “Your niece? Tell me, which street does your niece live on?”

The plump woman was suddenly stumped.

Their usual scam didn’t include asking where people lived.

She had offered to buy the girl’s ticket to gain her trust, having only just learned her name. She put on a pitiful face: “Officer, I was wrong, I apologize! I just saw this young girl without a ticket and felt sorry for her. I was trying to save her face by saying she was my niece. We just met today…”

Listen to that – she was making herself sound like a good person.

Xia Xiaolan, who had been watching from the connection between cars for a while, spoke up:

“If she’s not your niece, what about me? Last time you said you had a job to introduce to me, to help me make big money – does that offer still stand?”

The plump woman looked over.

She hadn’t forgotten Xia Xiaolan, nor had Xia Xiaolan forgotten her. In all her years in this business, Xia Xiaolan was the prettiest one she’d encountered, though unfortunately, she hadn’t managed to take her!

Both beautiful and clever – the plump woman’s expression changed:

“I don’t know you, what nonsense are you talking!”