To his surprise, there were only two people in the last passenger carriage.
A filthy, disheveled child of about ten, and an old woman in tattered clothes.
The old woman sat in a corner, coughing so hard that she doubled over, her whole body curled into a ball. The child held a faded military canteen, carefully feeding her water.
Hearing the old woman's wrenching coughs and smelling the sour stench coming off the pair, it was no wonder no one crowded into this carriage.
Who knew whether the child had rolled around in a pigsty? The child stank, yet had clear, bright eyes. At the sight of a stranger, the child seemed to make no move, but wariness lurked in those eyes.
Lian Youming glanced at the canteen in the old woman's arms. He could still faintly make out the words "For the most beloved people." His eyes flickered. "Did you climb aboard without tickets?"
In those days, people traveling far and wide often hopped trains along the way. Judging by the coal dust and black ash covering them, they might even have crawled out of a freight car.
The child stared at him, still gripping a short knife, and said nervously, "I'm warning you, we've got consumption. Anyone who catches it dies. Come any closer and I'll spit in your face."
The voice was clear and crisp. So the child was a girl.
"Consumption? No wonder... But, silly girl, they can treat consumption these days."
Lian Youming couldn't help chuckling at the sight, and some of his wariness faded. Seeing that the people behind him were in no hurry to surround him, he had Yan Tao sit in the corner of the last row, just across the aisle from the grandmother and granddaughter.
The girl now spotted the crowd