The train back to Rinzhou was an old green train with hard seats.
The carriage was packed, its aisle crammed with passengers carrying bags of all sizes. Occasionally, a child's cries rose above the din. All the noise mingled into a thick, suffocating crush.
Yuan Su had bought the cheapest standing ticket.
He leaned beside the door connecting two carriages, his body swaying slightly with the jolting train. A dark gray scarf covered most of his face, leaving only his deep, black eyes exposed as he stared at his blurred reflection in the window.
The night outside was like an enormous black curtain.
It swallowed every last trace of light.
Yuan Su had been standing for hours. His legs were starting to go numb, and an aching heaviness crept up from his calves.
He leaned against the window and closed his eyes.
But those thoughts still refused to leave him alone.
Two million.
Yuan Hongzheng.
The factory.
Her.
He thought of Pu Yu, who had set out without hesitation not long ago.
She had bought a standing ticket like this, too, and stood in this same crowded, noisy carriage for well over ten hours before reaching Rinzhou.
How exhausted must she have been?
How had she endured that long night?
Then he thought of Yuan Hongzheng.
When the family had been well-off, Yuan Hongzheng had only meant to gamble for fun.
First small bets, then big ones. When he lost, he wanted to win it back, only to lose even more. Once he lost everything, he borrowed. When he couldn't borrow, he stole. When he couldn't steal, he begged. His mother had cried, pleaded, even knelt before him, but none of it had helped. In the end, that deranged man had sent her off to...
When Lu Zhen's condition was