One meal was not enough for Lu Changzheng, so he ate three cakes at an astonishing speed.
After dinner, he took the initiative to take on the task of washing the dishes. Liu Meiyu sat at the head of the bed, eating an apple while waiting for Lu Changzheng to return.
When Lu returned from the Long March, she wanted to go to the toilet again.
"How about I accompany you?" Lu Changzheng was worried. The train was full of people and Liu Meiyu was not under his supervision, so he was worried.
"It's just a short distance, please take good care of your luggage."
Liu Meiyu was helpless. Although she had only spent a short time with Lu Changzheng, she could see that this man had no major problems except one thing: he was a worrier.
Although he is only in his early twenties, he is more stable than people in their thirties.
Thinking about how I was already in my thirties in my previous life, and now that I traveled through time, I am taken care of in every detail by a young man in his twenties, that feeling... is pretty good.
Who told her to lack love in her previous life? She struggled for half her life and now has a house, a car and savings, but she has never experienced the feeling of being held in the palm of someone's hand and cared for.
After going to the toilet, Liu Meiyu washed her face.
The coal-fired steam train was filled with strong coal smoke and heavy dust. Liu Meiyu really hoped to take a hot bath after getting off the train.
"Hey, comrade, I've told you many times, this is a sleeper car, you can't go through."
When Liu Meiyu was about to go back, the door of the front carriage was opened and a man in a Zhongshan suit walked hurriedly towards her, followed by two attendants.
He had only taken two steps when he was grabbed by the flight attendant. He looked anxious and said, "Please let me go over and ask for an accommodation. I originally bought a sleeper berth ticket."
"That won't work. We've already reported your situation to the conductor. We just told you to wait. Why are you in such a hurry?" The attendant frowned, looking a little impatient.
"That's the purchasing fee given to me by the factory. How can I not be anxious!" The man's face was full of despair. It was his first business trip to purchase parts for the factory. Not only did he lose the money, but also the parts list and the approval slip. He couldn't imagine how he would explain to his leader after returning, and whether he would still keep his job.
"Oh, young man, you shouldn't be careful when you go out by yourself."
The flight attendants grabbed the man and didn't care how desperate he was. They couldn't let him go since the chief flight attendant hadn't arrived. Not only could they not let him go, they also treated him like a fool and gave him a lecture.
"You are an adult, but you are so careless when you go out and take the train. Others know to sew a pocket in their trousers for a few dozen yuan, but you just put the big package of 300 yuan into your coat pocket. You are not as careless as me. You are so careless and you work as a buyer for a factory..."
Liu Meiyu listened to the conversation with great interest. She just felt that this person was very careless and unlucky. Three hundred yuan of public funds disappeared. Not to mention whether she could keep her job, she might have to be investigated when she returned. If she was caught, she would have no way of explaining whether the money was lost or not, unless she spent a lot of money to make up for it.
But these days, the monthly salary of an ordinary worker is only 20 to 30 yuan, and 300 yuan is already a huge sum of money for a family...
The train conductor came and was also confused after hearing the man's story.
There were so many people on the train that the man couldn't be sure whether the money was lost before or after getting on the train, and where to check.
"The factory bought me a sleeper ticket. I changed it out of kindness because I saw that the lady was in a bad mood. The lady was sitting next to me in the waiting room. You asked me to go and ask her first, in case I lost my money when I was changing the ticket and someone else picked it up..."
The man stared in despair for a long time, then expressed his doubts.
Although he put the money in his coat pocket, it was in an inner pocket. Unless someone got close to him and reached into his chest, it wouldn't fall out. After thinking about it for a long time, I felt that it was very likely that he had taken it out when he was exchanging tickets with the lady.
Liu Meiyu was about to leave, but when she heard the man say that, she stopped.
"Are you from Liaoning No. 3 National Cotton Mill?"
The man was originally begging the conductor to allow him to go to the sleeper car to ask, when he suddenly saw a very beautiful girl with two big braids and a green military uniform standing in front of him. He blinked, a little unpredictable.
"How do you know that?"
Seeing that he did not deny it, Liu Meiyu directly reported what she had just seen to the train conductor.
Now, everyone was silent.
Except for the man who lost the money, he grabbed Liu Meiyun and asked excitedly: "Comrade, are you serious? Have you really seen the approval slip from our factory?"
Liu Meiyun frowned and pulled her arm out. "I only saw half of it. It said Liaoning Provincial Cotton Factory No. 3. You guys should go investigate it yourself. If you go too late, there might be nothing left."
Liu Meiyu left after saying this.
On the way back, she met Lu Changzheng who came to look for her.
"Why did you take so long?" Lu Changzheng relaxed a little when he saw that the person was fine.
Liu Meiyu told him what had just happened.
Lu Changzheng frowned, "Let's go back first. They will definitely come over to investigate soon."
Liu Meiyu nodded and returned to the carriage. She looked up and saw the old lady sitting cross-legged on the bed, chatting with the person in the next bed with a smile on her face.
When he saw her, he glared at her out of habit, and Liu Meiyu also ignored her out of habit.
In less than five minutes, the conductor came to their carriage with two crew members and the purchasing agent who had lost the money.
Liu Meiyun and Lu Changzheng gave up their positions to them.
"What money? I haven't seen it. How can you wrongly accuse me?"
"Is there any justice in the world? You bully an old woman like me. I don't have any money anyway!"
No matter how the man and the conductor tried to persuade her, the woman refused to admit that she had any money on her. Even the man who had reminded her that she had dropped something told the conductor that he saw a piece of letter paper with the words "National Cotton Mill No. 3" printed on it fell from the woman.
"I just picked up that piece of paper from the ground. What's the matter? You don't allow people to take waste paper home to burn as firewood!"
"I am just a country girl, how can I have any money? You black-hearted people are really bullying me!"
The woman hid on the bed, crying and snotting, as if she had suffered a great injustice, and she cried her heart out.
"Auntie, didn't you just spend 30 cents to buy a meat dish? How could you be out of money?" The woman in the next bed, who had spoken to the old lady before, couldn't stand it anymore and interrupted her to remind her.
She had been scolded by the lady before because she only spent two cents to buy a vegetarian dish. Now she wanted to make up for it.
When the people around heard this, they looked at the old lady and saw that she was wearing a patched jacket with torn cotton wool showing through it. She didn't look like someone who would be willing to spend money on meat and vegetables, unless she had really made a fortune unexpectedly.
There was a sudden whisper in the carriage. Many people tried to persuade the old lady to return the money, and some even shouted for a body search.
"Why should I let you search me? If you dare to touch me, I will sue you for being a hooligan!"
The conductor and the train attendant had gloomy faces and said all sorts of nice and harsh words, but the old lady just wouldn't listen and even said something rude. If she had any brains, she, who was old enough to have her grandchildren, wouldn't talk nonsense.
Such a desperate move can only give people the impression that the money is on her.
"Auntie, you said you have a bad heart. I gave you my sleeper ticket out of kindness. You can't turn the tables on me. The money is from the factory. If you take it, I won't be able to keep my job. There are more than a dozen people in my family who rely on my salary for food! You want me to die!"
It was a late month and the man was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, which looked pitiful.
It was public money! It was still only three hundred yuan. Many people in the carriage had never seen so much money in their lives.
Seeing that so many people on the train couldn't do anything about the woman, the train conductor couldn't really just open his mouth and forcibly search her. If she found anything, it would be fine, but if she didn't, and the woman made a scene at her superiors, he might even lose his job.
Just when both sides were at a stalemate, Liu Meiyun stepped forward.
"Conductor, I just saw some patrol comrades in the first two carriages. The 300 yuan this comrade lost is state property. If someone picks it up or obtains it by other means and refuses to hand it over, it is considered embezzlement of state property and digging into the socialist wall. In serious cases, they can be dragged out and shot. It is difficult for you to manage it, so why not let the patrol comrades in front manage it?"
As soon as the gunshot was heard, the carriage suddenly became quiet.
Even the crying woman on the upper floor stopped crying unconsciously, and stared at Liu Meiyu with her eyes as loud as copper bells, as if she wanted to tear her mouth apart.
"Auntie, this young comrade is right. If you don't cooperate, we will have to hand you over to the patrol team. Before that, we will guard here, and you can't leave the bed."
The train conductor lost his patience and thought that this was a good idea. The people who gave him a headache would probably be much more obedient when they were in the patrol team's place.
"Why? I need to go to the bathroom!"
The woman who was holding on to the railing just now and refused to let go, now suddenly made a fuss about going to the restroom. People around her knew what was going on, she must be going to hide money and destroy evidence.
"Auntie, if you really picked it up, return it to the owner as soon as possible. If the patrol team finds it on you later, it will be a serious matter. If you don't consider yourself, you should also think about your family."
"Okay, go ahead and call for help."
The train conductor had completely lost his patience and ordered the crew to go to the front carriage to call for help.
The flight attendant nodded, and just as he pushed through the crowd, he heard a "bang" from behind.
"Hey! Don't go, I'll give it back to him!"
Looking back, it turned out that the old lady was too anxious to catch people, she missed a step and fell directly off the stairs.
Fortunately, the bed was not very high, so apart from some scratches, nothing serious happened.
The old lady quickly got up from the ground, grabbed the flight attendant's clothes, and her face looked more painful than if she had eaten shit.
"It's all here. You dropped it when you were taking out your ticket!"
The old lady took out a large bundle of paper from the innermost pocket of her cotton trousers, as well as two wrinkled pieces of letter paper with the words "Liaoning No. 3 National Cotton Mill" printed on them.
The man took the money and the receipt, his legs went limp, and he leaned against the carriage, as if he had come back to life.
The farce gradually died down amid the sighs of the crowd.
The man found the money and the receipt, and the old lady was driven back to the hard seat car. Before leaving, she was scolded by the train conductor. She was so scared that her face turned pale and her legs were shaking like a sieve. She dragged her luggage and quickly left the sleeper car.
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