Chapter 51.1: A Hug
“That’s understandable too.”
All police officers under heaven are one family. Zhao Weiguo didn’t want Jiang Xia to be misunderstood, so he took the initiative to explain to Guo Qingshan:
“She didn’t have a gun on her, after all. If she didn’t act fierce enough, how was she supposed to intimidate the robbers?”
“Hmm… I guess that makes sense.”
On some subconscious level, Guo Qingshan didn’t want to think about it any further either. Since the chief train police officer had put it that way, he immediately accepted the explanation—and the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
It was basically the same thing as when the robbers had stormed in to commit the robbery and viciously beaten any passenger who refused to hand over their money.
They had been so ruthless that they had frightened everyone into submission in an instant. No one dared to resist, leaving them with no choice but to obediently hand over their money.
“Anyway, those two were willing to step up and help. That’s already more than enough. Let’s not nitpick and complain about them being too fierce.”
Zhang Yongfeng, who was in the middle berth, was still shaken. He was carrying a large sum of money himself, and it wasn’t even money from his factory—it was money he had borrowed from relatives and friends.
If he’d been robbed, then…
Just thinking about it made another layer of cold sweat break out across his back.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness that hadn’t happened.
They still had a long journey together ahead of them. Zhang Yongfeng said nothing more about it and instead praised Guo Qingshan:
“But Brother Guo, you were pretty impressive just now too. If you hadn’t risked yourself to grab the gun and give it to Comrade Lu, who knows what might have happened afterward!”
“That counts as an act of bravery in the face of danger, too.”
Zhao Weiguo didn’t overlook this detail, either. He asked, “Comrade, where are you from? Which work unit are you with?”
Hearing the chief train police officer say that, a hint of envy appeared in Zhang Yongfeng’s eyes.
An act of bravery in the face of danger!
The reward itself didn’t matter. Just imagine how much face he’d have if he could show people that certificate of commendation.
If only he’d known, he would’ve gone down to help too.
But then he remembered how badly his legs had gone weak just now, and he immediately abandoned the thought.
Forget it, forget it. I’m just an ordinary citizen. As long as I stay safe, that’s enough. If I’d gone up there, I might very well have ended up losing my life. That would’ve been a terrible trade-off.
Hearing the chief train police officer say that, Guo Qingshan immediately blossomed with joy.
If he really got one, he could brag about it for at least the next twenty years!
He hurriedly said, “I’m the director of the Sales Department at Taikang City Leather Factory. My name is Guo Qingshan. If I really qualify for one, make sure the letter gets sent to the factory!”
“Don’t worry, Comrade. It definitely will.”
What was the point of earning such an honor if you didn’t let your leaders, coworkers, relatives, and friends all see it? It would be like wearing fine clothes while walking around at night—completely wasted.
Zhao Weiguo seriously took a small notebook from his pocket and wrote down the man’s name and work unit. After confirming the information with him, he asked:
“Is there anything else you’d like to add?”
“Uh, the robbers also injured several people earlier.”
As Guo Qingshan spoke, he glanced toward the other end of the carriage. Seeing that the train attendants were already dealing with it, he didn’t say anything more.
“That’s all. Oh, right. Comrade Jiang doesn’t look like she’s doing too well. She’s been suffering from motion sickness ever since she got on the train. It seemed pretty bad, too. Does that count?”
‘Good grief. She suffered from severe motion sickness too?’
Zhao Weiguo was suddenly filled with respect.
She was even tougher than an iron lady!
But someone who was both badly carsick and had just taken down criminals was bound to be feeling awful. With passengers constantly coming and going through this carriage, it would definitely affect her rest.
Should he arrange a different berth for them?
Keeping that in mind, Zhao Weiguo continued asking, “That counts too. Anything else?”
“Uh, does it count that they didn’t tell us they were police officers at first?”
Zhang Yongfeng scratched his head. “Were they perhaps on some kind of secret mission?”
The pen in Zhao Weiguo’s hand paused.
That kind of situation really was possible. But Comrade Lu had openly identified himself just now, so presumably that wasn’t the case.
“You’re overthinking it. They’re just traveling on official business. They didn’t mention their professions simply to avoid unnecessary trouble.”
“Oh.”
Zhang Yongfeng agreed, but he didn’t believe it for a second.
It wasn’t as though he had never seen criminal police officers before. How could ordinary criminal investigators possibly be this good at fighting? These two had to be special agents from some kind of secret department. For all he knew, they might even be involved in national security!
Zhao Weiguo confirmed once more, “Anything else?”
The two men shook their heads in unison.
“Nope.”
“All right, then. Get some rest. I’m going to check on the injured passengers.”
With that, Zhao Weiguo turned and headed toward the next compartment.
By then, the train attendants had already persuaded the furious passengers to return to their seats.
Several passengers were visibly injured, with marks on their faces. One attendant hurried back to retrieve the medical kit and disinfected and bandaged one of them with povidone-iodine. Another railway police officer took some gauze and cotton balls and hastily staunched the bleeding of the two robbers who had been shot, then dragged the already bruised and battered robbers together and kept watch over them.
Meanwhile, the chief attendant conducted a check of the entire train from front to back. Apart from the three passengers with obvious injuries, there was also one passenger who had been struck twice on the head. He was currently sitting on a lower berth, completely unaware of what had happened just moments ago. All he knew was that his head hurt terribly and he felt nauseated.
These were obvious symptoms of a concussion. Fortunately, the passenger was still reasonably lucid. His pupils were neither unfocused nor dilated, and he was still able to communicate with others. His condition wasn’t particularly serious.
When Zhao Weiguo heard this, he let out a genuine sigh of relief.
Six of the seven robbers had been apprehended, there were no serious passenger casualties, and no one had lost any property.
It really couldn’t have gone better.
It was all thanks to those two for stepping in. Otherwise, who knew how serious an accident might have become?
Once again, Zhao Weiguo silently thanked them in his heart.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the train, the person being thanked, Jiang Xia, finally felt like she had come back to life.
At the washbasin by the connection between the carriages—
Space on the train was extremely cramped. The metal sink was barely two palms wide, and the water came out in a pitiful trickle. Four red Chinese characters above it urged passengers to conserve water.
But Jiang Xia had completely forgotten about that just now.
She washed her hands three times in a row. Only after making absolutely sure there wasn’t the slightest trace of the smell left on them did she finally turn off the faucet.
She turned her hands over and splashed some water onto her face.
The cold droplets struck her skin, making her shudder.
The images of adulterated food gradually faded from her mind, and Jiang Xia’s own thoughts began to regain control. At the very least… she no longer looked at people the way she looked at vegetables.
And perhaps because her threshold had been lowered so drastically, she no longer felt much fear about having killed a robber with her own hands. At present, she was remarkably calm.
Jiang Xia felt that she would definitely be able to eat and sleep normally from now on, and remain perfectly healthy.
It would be even better if the side effects left behind by Uncle Ba’s lessons were a little less severe.
With that thought, Jiang Xia raised her head and looked at herself in the mirror.
The mirror above the washbasin was fairly large, extending low enough to reflect her chest. Jiang Xia’s gaze first settled precisely on the exposed, fair skin of her neck. Her eyes lingered briefly over the faintly bluish veins before moving upward to her face.
Her face was somewhat pale, with a slight sickly cast to it, but overall, she looked fine. There was nothing particularly unusual.
But—
Jiang Xia met her own gaze in the mirror.
Those eyes were extremely cold.
It was almost as though the owner of those eyes wasn’t looking at herself, but at some kind of creature and conducting some sort of assessment.
A little like a salesperson at a luxury store sizing up a customer to see whether they could afford anything.
Jiang Xia was amused by the thought.
She pulled herself out of it and helplessly pressed her temples.
Who would’ve thought that people could really have something called “killing intent”?
It would be difficult to completely get rid of this look in such a short time. She would have to keep pretending to be carsick.
As for the parts she couldn’t explain away… she could simply attribute them to having killed the robber.
When someone encountered a life-threatening robbery involving knives and guns, wouldn’t it be perfectly normal for them to have an unusually severe stress response—to regard everyone around them with suspicion, constantly assess the level of danger posed by those nearby, and remain ready to fight back at any moment?
That was perfectly reasonable!
It was just that, for the remaining thirty or forty hours of the journey, she still had to work hard to adjust her state of mind and suppress it as much as possible.
Jiang Xia closed her eyes and recalled the fun moments from her life, the warm memories of interacting with other people. Gradually, she began to feel the warmth returning to her body.
When Lu Yixing arrived, he found Jiang Xia standing alone in the empty washroom with her eyes closed.
Her face was pale, and two strands of hair on her forehead were damp and tangled together, with a bead of water dripping from them. There were also faint traces of moisture beneath her eyes. He couldn’t tell whether they were drops of water that had splashed onto her face while she was washing her hands, or…
Tears.
Lu Yixing clenched his fists.
He hadn’t done enough.
If he’d brought a weapon with him in advance—even if it wasn’t a gun, but merely a dagger—Jiang Xia wouldn’t have had to risk confronting a robber who was a full head taller than her.
In that situation, she’d had no choice but to force herself to kill someone.
After a moment, Lu Yixing slowly relaxed his hands.
He took a step back and pretended he hadn’t seen anything at all. Then he raised his hand and knocked lightly on the wall.
“Jiang Xia?”
“Hmm?”
Hearing the familiar voice, Jiang Xia quickly opened her eyes. She restrained the urge to turn toward the sound and asked, “Lu Yixing? What are you doing here?”
“I came to see how you’re doing.”
Lu Yixing said, “The railway police are busy dealing with things over there, and it’s a bit chaotic. The chief police officer said you can go rest in the train crew’s office for a while.”
“That sounds good.”
Jiang Xia was tired of standing too. She rubbed her eyes and walked out.
“Could you bring my backpack over? I need to draw what the robber who jumped out the window looked like.”
Using something to occupy her mind was a good way to distract herself. Lu Yixing nodded.
“Okay.”
Jiang Xia made her way through the crowded corridor and entered the train crew’s office.
The train crew’s office wasn’t actually a place for resting. It was essentially an administrative workspace.
It handled various functions, including train operations, passenger services, and safety management. The first thing Jiang Xia saw when she entered was the broadcasting equipment. There was a filing cabinet beside it, while the two desks farther back were covered with various tickets, forms, and documents.
Only in the very corner at the back were there three hard-berth bunks—an upper, middle, and lower berth—which appeared to have been provided for staff members on duty to rest.
Perhaps because everyone had gone out to deal with the robbers, there wasn’t a single person left in the train crew’s office.
Jiang Xia looked around before finally sitting down on the lower berth by the window.
She opened the window just a crack and enjoyed the fresh air blowing in from outside.
Lu Yixing soon arrived carrying her bag.
He walked over to Jiang Xia and handed her the backpack.
“I brought your things.”
Jiang Xia took it from him and lowered her head, beginning to rummage through it for her notebook and pencil.
“Jiang Xia.”
Lu Yixing pulled over a stool and sat beside her at a safe distance that wouldn’t make her feel uncomfortable. In a gentle voice, he said, “I want to talk to you.”
“Hmm?”
Jiang Xia’s movements stopped.
She immediately remembered the moment after she’d dealt with the bearded robber, when she and Lu Yixing had exchanged a glance.
Oh no. Had she made him suspicious?
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