Chapter 7 If you don't steal, you're not an old Sha'e (revision)...

The windows on Russian trains are different from those in China; they open from top to bottom.

Therefore, when the windows are open, the upper bunk is the easiest place for someone outside the vehicle to steal items from inside.

So some thieves would climb up the train carriages and stick long hooks through the open windows to snatch valuables that passengers had left on the upper bunks.

The train was noisy, and with shoppers crowding outside the carriage on one side of the aisle, and everyone busy selling their goods, no one noticed the crime taking place on the other side of the carriage.

He Changyi spotted the guy stealing her leather jacket at a glance, and at the same time, he also spotted her.

But instead of panicking at being discovered, this guy sped up, leaning half his body in and grabbing the luggage bag from the upper bunk right in front of He Changyi, completely disregarding this Chinese woman.

Seeing that he was about to succeed, He Changyi was furious.

That leather jacket only cost seventy rubles to buy, but sold for a whopping five thousand rubles!

"Put down my leather jacket!"

A thunderous roar startled the thief, nearly causing him to drop the hook.

He Changyi rushed forward, grabbed the leather jacket the thief was clutching, and yanked it sharply—

Caught off guard, the other person was pulled off balance and half of their body slumped into the car. The hand gripping the leather jacket instinctively loosened, and they instead held onto the car window to prevent themselves from falling headfirst.

The whistle sounded, and the train slowly started moving.

The thief glared at the damn loud-voiced woman and prepared to let go and jump off the car.

However, He Changyi threw away the leather jacket, raised her hand and grabbed his arms, preventing him from escaping.

The thief was half inside the train and half outside, forced to hang on the window, while the train was leaving Irkutsk station and its speed was increasing.

He was both shocked and furious, and he unleashed a torrent of words at He Changyi.

He Changyi only understood a few words of Sukabul, and his eyes widened. This guy dares to curse?

She loosened her grip, and the thief immediately slid down a few centimeters, his toes dangling outside the car so low he could almost feel the vibrations of the wheels.

The thief's face turned pale with fright, and his tone immediately became mournful. Even those who couldn't understand the Emei language knew that he was begging for mercy.

He Changyi remained unmoved, letting him just stand there on the car window.

"My God, what are you doing?"

Xie Shirong, who was satisfied with selling all the goods, turned around and saw an astonishing scene in the private room.

He hurriedly pulled his legs back from the small table and the stall, swept the unsold goods into his luggage, stuffed the money into his lower garment, and then leisurely came over to watch the excitement.

"Who is this Russian guy? What's going on?"

Outside the private room, many people were drawn to He Changyi's shout, but they had been blocked by Xie Shirong and couldn't get through. Now they swarmed over.

"How did he offend this girl? She's not someone to be trifled with..."

"That's really ruthless. If someone fell down there, wouldn't they be run over by a train and cut in two?"

"Two pieces? You're exaggerating, it's basically just minced meat!"

"That's why they say you should never offend a woman..."

Behind him, murmurs rippled through the crowd, but He Changyi didn't turn around and said loudly:

"This guy was stealing things with a hook outside the car window, and I caught him red-handed..."

Before he could finish speaking, the crowd erupted in a commotion.

"It's a thief!"

"Go check quickly, see if any of our luggage is missing!"

"Oops! I'm missing two leather jackets!"

My down jacket is gone!

Among the traders traveling between Zhong'e and E'luo, almost none had escaped being robbed; no one could bring all their goods to E'luo unscathed.

If you're lucky, you might lose a few pieces of clothing on the way; if you're unlucky, your entire bag of luggage could be stolen.

When the dealers learned that He Changyi had caught a thief, they were overjoyed.

Push him down!

"Throw them out of the car!"

Others hold different views.

"We can't let him get away with this!"

"That's right, bring him back and make him pay us back!"

"Even if I don't have money, I'll still beat him up to vent my anger!"

The scalpers were in high spirits, and some had already started rolling up their sleeves, ready to teach the thieves a lesson.

The thief was so frightened that tears streamed down his face, and snot froze into two lines on his face.

To everyone's surprise, He Changyi ignored everyone's words and instead shouted:

"Xie Xun, Xie Xun!"

Upon hearing the call, Xie Xun struggled to push through the crowd and squeezed into the private room amidst complaints.

He Changyi said to him, "Go and call the train attendant. Tell her I caught a thief and ask her to come and handle it."

The traders were very dissatisfied upon hearing He Changyi's words.

"Why do you need to talk to the train conductor? What problem can she solve?"

“These Oroqen people are all in cahoots. If you go looking for her, isn’t that like releasing a tiger back into the mountains?”

"She's a woman after all; she's not ruthless enough, too soft-hearted, and can't accomplish anything great..."

"I really thought she was someone important, but it turns out she's nothing special!"

Amidst a chorus of complaints, He Changyi gestured to the loudest scalper.

"Here you go, you're great. Here, take this thief."

The scalper's lips twitched. He glanced at He Changyi, then at the thief who was almost frozen stiff, and remained silent before turning and disappearing into the crowd.

—Does he think he's stupid? These days, a thief is no different from a hot potato. He must be crazy to take on this.

He Changyi then gestured to another scalper who was yelling that he would throw the thief off the bus.

"If he won't come, then you will."

The middleman didn't come either, muttering something like "I was just joking," and when no one responded, he chuckled twice and left.

"You, you, you, and you."

He Changyi, like a Khan reviewing his troops, went through each of the traders who had just spoken.

The traders who were called out by He Changyi all stepped back.

Nobody's stupid. People travel all the way to Oros to make money, not to go to jail or grow potatoes in Siberia.

If no one had seen it, they could have just thrown the thief off the bus and let it go; but now, with everyone watching, including Chinese people and several foreigners peeking in, isn't this just handing someone else leverage over us?

If someone reports you, you'll be set for permanent residency in Siberia for the rest of your life.

The train attendant rushed over, sweating profusely, along with the train conductor.

With their help, He Changyi dragged the thief into the carriage.

When he saw the train conductor, his frozen face lit up with gratitude, and he almost cried.

The train conductor instructed the train attendants to detain the thief in the work area and hand him over to the local police at the next station.

With nothing to watch, the people left dejectedly, returning to their respective private rooms.

Xie Shirong marveled.

"Wow, you're really amazing! We've been relying on you for protection all this way."

The old fox spoke in a sarcastic tone, three parts truth and seven parts falsehood, which He Changyi ignored, leaving him quite frustrated.

Xie Xun, however, focused on other aspects.

Are you alright?

He Changyi moved her wrists; they had been exposed to the cold wind by the window for too long, and they felt a little numb and itchy.

Xie Xun quickly fetched a basin of hot water, soaked a towel, wrung it out, and used the scalding hot towel to apply it to her wrist.

He Changyi smiled at him and said, "Thank you."

Xie Xun's palms were scalded red, but he seemed oblivious. He glanced at He Changyi's face before slowly saying:

"The Russians are no good. You'll see in time. There are so many thieves along the way that you can't catch them all. If you argue with them every time, you won't be able to do business."

Xie Xun meant well, and He Changyi nodded.

"I know, it's just something I did, nothing serious."

Xie Xun's gaze held a hint of inquiry, but in the end he said nothing. He took the basin of water, which had cooled down a bit, and went out to fetch another basin of boiling water. He continued to apply the hot water to He Changyi's wrist.

Xie Shirong watched coldly and chuckled.

"woman……"

After leaving Irkutsk station, the train ventured deep into the heart of Oros, transforming the vast wilderness into a landscape dotted with scattered towns.

The stations along the route were extremely enthusiastic about this "scalper's special train".

Whenever the train stopped at the platform, many Rus' people would wave rubles and chase after the train to buy goods.

He Changyi's leather jacket and Adidas shoes had already sold out, earning him over 110,000 rubles, equivalent to more than 5,800 yuan.

She only spent 1,800 yuan to purchase the goods, and made a gross profit of 4,000 yuan!

With two days' drive to Mosk ahead, and feeling extremely bored, He Changyi went to help Xie Xun sell goods and also to make more contact with Eros buyers so that she could decide on the types and quantities of goods to order next time.

Xie Xun readily agreed, while Xie Shirong hesitated.

He pretended to be sorry for making He Changyi work so hard, but in reality, he was afraid she would embezzle his money, so he only allowed her to do errands and pick up goods.

He Changyi was happy to relax, and at the next stop, he only helped Xie Xun carry his leather jacket and down jacket.

By stepping back, He Changyi was able to observe more details than before.

The Rus' people rushed to buy goods, buying whatever was available without any discrimination, whether it was ill-fitting shoes or out-of-season summer clothes, all with the intention of exchanging their rubles for tangible goods.

In the frenzy of buying, some resellers got so carried away that they even took off their cotton-padded coats to sell, oblivious to the sub-zero temperatures, their faces flushed with excitement.

Xie Xun quickly sold the goods and collected the money, and dozens of down jackets were sold out in the blink of an eye.

He Changyi got into the car to pick up the goods, while Xie Shirong remained in his old posture, legs spread apart, blocking the aisle.

He leaned against the car window, holding a down jacket in his hand, waving it around outside to attract customers.

Seeing He Changyi return, he turned and asked, "Sold out so quickly?"

In that brief moment of distraction, someone suddenly jumped up outside the car, snatched the down jacket from his hand, and ran towards the crowd.

Xie Shirong hurriedly called for help:

"Xie Xun! Xie Xun!"

Xie Xun saw this scene from outside the car and took off chasing after the guy.

"Stop! Don't run!"

He ran fast, grabbed the thief by the collar, forcing him to stop, and then reached out to pull at his down jacket.

Just as Xie Xun was retrieving his down jacket, a Russian policeman in a military green uniform intervened, using a baton to shoo him aside, allowing the thief to escape.

He Changyi witnessed all of this from the car and exclaimed in surprise:

Why did the police stop Xie Xun? Isn't that a thief right next to him?

Xie Shirong was not surprised.

"Hmph, those Russian police..."

Xie Xun managed to get his down jacket back, but he also took two solid hits from the police batons.

He was in excruciating pain, but chose to sell the stolen down jacket first before returning to the train.

He Changyi frowned and asked him, "Was the beating serious?"

Xie Xun smiled nonchalantly.

"I'm fine, this is nothing, even a tickle is more intense—hey, wait, what are you doing..."

Ignoring Xie Xun's resistance, He Changyi forcibly tore off his clothes and saw that the area on his back where he had been beaten was red and swollen, with bluish-purple bruises starting to emanate from the edges.

She raised her hand and pressed lightly on the mark left by the stick, causing Xie Xun to gasp.

He Changyi smiled enigmatically: "Doesn't it hurt?"

Xie Xun said with a bitter face, "A little..."

He Changyi countered, "Just a little?"

Xie Xun immediately changed his story: "It hurts a lot, it hurts terribly!"

He Changyi borrowed a first-aid kit from the train attendant and gave Xie Xun's wounds a quick treatment.

Throughout the entire process, he buried his head in the bed like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, pretending that he was a piece of pork on a chopping board.

Xie Shirong pursed his lips, looking like he couldn't stand it.

The train traveled westward, and strangely enough, when it arrived at Yekaterinburg station, the goods that were originally easy to sell suddenly became unsaleable.

Leather jackets that were previously unsellable for less than 5,000 rubles can now be sold for 4,500 rubles.

He Changyi found it strange, and Xie Xun explained:

"The closer to Mosk, the harder it is to sell. We need to sell it quickly while it's still selling well."

The traders on the truck probably all had the same idea: to frantically sell off their goods, looking like they were heading into Moscow lightly equipped.

However, the stop time at each station is limited, and even with discounts, a considerable amount of goods still cannot be sold.

As the train slowly pulled away, Xie Shirong was still making the most of his last moments to sell his goods.

He leaned forward, took a handful of rubles from the old woman outside the car, spat on his hand, and started counting them one by one.

The train began to accelerate, and the people below started walking and running, anxiously chasing after the train.

He Changyi reminded:

"You haven't given them their clothes yet."

Xie Shirong said impatiently:

"What's the rush? I haven't finished counting yet. If I'm missing one, you're going to pay me back!"

The old woman from Oros outside the car had already started running after it, her face full of panic.

Xie Shirong was still dawdling as he counted the money. He flipped through the few thousand ruble notes over and over again, but he couldn't finish counting them.

The old woman stretched her hand out of the car window, frantically shouting something in Ethnic language.

The ground was covered with gravel from the track's shock absorption mechanism. The old woman was so focused on chasing the train that she didn't notice and fell forward, with the wheels rolling dangerously beside her.

The other scalpers gathered around the window, watching the spectacle unfold, but Xie Xun ignored them and turned to tidy up the unsold clothes on his stall.

He Changyi glanced at the people inside the car, then at the old woman outside who was on the verge of tears.

The wind whipped up by the train blew off her headscarf, revealing her gray hair.

He Changyi suddenly stepped forward, stuffed the clothes out of the car window, and let go, so the clothes were blown over the head of the person chasing the car.

Grandma Eros lifted the clothes off her head, got up from the ground in surprise, held them in her hands and looked at them again and again, a smile spreading across her face.

Xie Shirong became anxious.

"Hey, what are you doing!"

A note from the author:

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