"Xiao Lin, that’s no way to talk." Hearing his younger sister’s cry of alarm, Cheng Beize quickly stopped her. He immediately turned to Su Qing and apologized, "I’m sorry. My sister is young and has no filter. Please don’t mind her."

"It’s fine. I did startle her," Su Qing said calmly, then carried her wicker case to her bunk.

Su Qing had just sat down when Cheng Beilin, sitting opposite her, complained to Cheng Beize, "Brother, what do you mean I have ’no filter’? She *did* scare me, and I haven’t even made her apologize to me yet."

As she spoke, Cheng Beilin glared huffily at Su Qing. "Hey, you scared me. Apologize right now. And while you’re at it, do me a favor and switch to another bunk. If I wake up in the middle of the night and see you looking like that, you’ll scare me half to death." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Xiao Lin, you’ve gone too far." Cheng Beize grew angry hearing his sister speak that way. "Who taught you to talk like this? Where are your manners?"

"Hmph, she did scare me. Is it so wrong to ask for an apology?" Cheng Beilin felt she was in the right. She had been frightened by Su Qing’s appearance. With a scar that big and ugly on her face, she thought it was courageous of her not to have jumped out of her skin.

"You!" Cheng Beize was infuriated by his sister’s words. Just as he was about to speak, Su Qing cut in, "If we’re talking about apologies, you should be the one apologizing to me. You were just incredibly rude, and I haven’t even called you out on it yet."

"What?!" Cheng Beilin wasn’t having it. "You want *me* to apologize to *you*? On what grounds? You’re the one who scared me."

"I’ve been out and about and have met plenty of people. How is it that no one else was scared, but you were? Are you that precious? Or do you think you’re a class above everyone else?" Su Qing raised an eyebrow, not yielding an inch. "And you want me to switch bunks? Where do you get the nerve? If you’re scared, you can switch yourself. Stop demanding this and that from other people. I’m not your mother or father; I don’t have to spoil you."

"What did you say?" Enraged, Cheng Beilin shot to her feet. Staring at Su Qing, she demanded, "Say that again."

Not to be outdone, Su Qing also stood up and faced her. "What’s wrong with saying it again? I’m not your mother or father, and I won’t put up with you."

"You!" Cheng Beilin raised her hand to strike Su Qing, but Su Qing caught her by the wrist. Cheng Beize rushed forward to pull them apart. "I’m sorry, I’m so sorry," he said to Su Qing. "My sister can be a bit blunt. Please don’t take it to heart."

Seeing that Cheng Beize’s attitude was decent, Su Qing didn’t press the issue. She simply said, "As long as she doesn’t throw another fit, I can pretend this never happened. But if she does, let’s just say I’m no pushover."

"I’m sorry." Cheng Beize knew his sister’s actions had been completely out of line, so he quickly pulled her out of the compartment.

"Are you even my brother? How could you side with an outsider like that?" Cheng Beilin looked at Cheng Beize indignantly, her face full of grievance. "Mom and Dad told you to take care of me on this trip. Is this how you take care of me?"

Cheng Beize glanced back at the compartment, then said to Cheng Beilin in a low voice, "Xiao Lin, you really were out of line just now. That girl has a scar on her face; it’s not like she wanted it. It must be from an old injury. How could you mock her for it? Is that what Mom and Dad taught you?"

Cheng Beilin was defiant. "But she did scare me! And she cursed at me."

Cheng Beize pressed his lips together in frustration. "Why can’t I get through to you? Let me ask you something. When you hurt your leg last time and were limping for ages, would you have been happy if someone had called you a cripple to your face? You even tried to hit her just now. Who taught you that rotten habit?"

"I..." Cheng Beilin lowered her head, pursing her lips and saying nothing for a long moment.

After a while, she pouted and said, "Fine, fine, I was wrong, okay? I just won’t say anything about her."

"Go apologize to her in a minute," Cheng Beize said. "You were the one in the wrong from the start. You’re lucky she doesn’t have a fiery temper, and you’re lucky I was here. Otherwise, you might have gotten a beating today. That young lady was right—when you’re out in the world, no one is your parent, and no one is obligated to put up with your rotten temper."

Cheng Beilin blushed, chastened by her brother’s words. She resorted to whining, "Alright, alright, I get it! You’re my brother, can’t you lay off me a little?"

"Would I be lecturing you if you hadn’t been so rude to her?"

"Hmph."

"Come on, hurry up and apologize to her."

"I know, I know."

Although the siblings outside the compartment spoke in low voices, Su Qing still heard them. She raised her eyebrows slightly. ’At least the brother is a reasonable person.’

"Um, about what happened earlier... I’m sorry," Cheng Beilin said quietly to Su Qing after the Cheng siblings re-entered the compartment. She took a deep breath before speaking.

"It’s fine," Su Qing replied lightly.

Cheng Beilin pouted, slumping dejectedly onto her bunk. She pulled a book out of her bag and started reading, pretending Su Qing wasn’t even there.

Cheng Beize gave Su Qing a gentle smile and asked, "Are you also going to Chuncheng?"

"Yes."

"What a coincidence, so are we," Cheng Beize said with a smile. "It’s a pleasure to be traveling with you."

Su Qing nodded with a faint smile but didn’t speak. Cheng Beize tactfully said no more. A short while later, the other passenger in the compartment arrived, and soon, the train started moving.

Su Qing still had plenty of the food Fu Yuzhen had prepared for her. She ate two steamed buns, then made a sandwich with a plain bun, meat sauce, and sausage. With some fried meatballs on the side, she finished her dinner. Afterward, she lay down to rest. Having spent the previous night on a hard seat, Su Qing hadn’t slept well and planned to catch up on her sleep today.

Soon, Su Qing drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, in another sleeper car, the middle-aged man was restless and flustered.

The middle-aged man stared out the window, watching the buildings and trees recede rapidly as he fell deep into thought.

’That person I just saw... did I see her wrong?’

’How could that person come to Beijing? Would she have the nerve?’

’I asked around about her before. The word was she wasn’t doing well. Logically, there’s no way she could have left that place.’

’Besides, even if she could get out, how could she possibly afford a sleeper ticket?’

’Right, I must have seen wrong!’

’It was just a similar-looking profile. There’s no need to scare myself.’

’Yes, that’s it.’

The middle-aged man turned it over and over in his mind, finally managing to reassure himself. Seeing that the others in his compartment had fallen asleep, he eventually drifted off into a groggy sleep.

「Around two in the afternoon on the third day,」 the train pulled into Chuncheng Railway Station. The farther south they went, the warmer it became. By the time she got off, Su Qing had changed into the sweater Fu Yuzhen had knitted for her.

The bright sunlight felt wonderfully warm on her skin. Looking at the vibrant flowers of all kinds along the roadside, Su Qing was in an excellent mood. Chuncheng really lived up to its name, "Spring City"—it was truly like spring all year round.

"Miss, you heading to the flower market?" a man asked, walking up to Su Qing and speaking in a low voice.