Xiaofeng took out her water bottle, poured water into her baby bottle, and handed it to her.
Erbao didn’t want to drink by herself and insisted on being held by Mom to drink.
With no other choice, Xiaofeng had to hold Erbao to her chest to feed her water.
Dabao lay on one side, not asleep; her eyes round and bright as she looked at everything outside. It was probably her first train ride, and she seemed excited, her expression not as cold as usual.
After Erbao finished her water, she looked out the window motionlessly, occasionally pointing outside and asking what the places were.
Across from Xiaofeng sat an older sister who looked rather kind. Seeing Xiaofeng with two toddlers by herself, she offered in a somewhat rough but warm voice, "Young lady, are those boy and girl twins yours?"
Xiaofeng met the older sister’s eyes and smiled, "Yes, they are."
"You look like a young maiden yet to be married; I hadn’t expected you to be the mother of two children. Where are you headed?"
"To the Imperial Capital, how about you?"
"Me too," the older sister said warmly. "I see you struggling on your own. Let me help you take care of one of them."
It was mainly because Erbao looked so cute and tender, one could hardly resist the urge to pinch her cheeks.
"They recognize people," Xiaofeng of course couldn’t let a stranger take care of her children. In this day and age, although people generally had good intentions, there were also some criminals who engaged in illegal activities.
"Are they a year old yet?" the older sister asked with a smile.
"Almost." Erbao had already started speaking; if Xiaofeng told people she was not yet eight months old, it would certainly startle them.
"Such lovely babies," the older sister came closer and took out some food she had brought from home. "Young lady, here’s some homemade food for you; have some."
"No need, older sister, I just ate before getting on the train; I’m not hungry right now," Xiaofeng said.
"All right, maybe later."
The older sister chatted with Xiaofeng for a while longer and then returned to her bunk.
During that time, she kept her eyes on Xiaofeng’s twins, looking at them as if they were her own children.
After a few stops, the older sister stood up, indicating that she was going to fetch water: "Young lady, I see your bottle is empty too, I’m about to get some water, let me refill yours as well."
Xiaofeng handed the water bottle to her: "Thank you, older sister."
It wasn’t long before the older sister returned the water bottle to its place, not bothering Xiaofeng and her daughters any further.
"Hungry." Dabao sat up, her black eyes fixed on Xiaofeng.
Xiaofeng looked around, no one was on the upper bunk, and the... older sister across wasn’t paying attention, so she lifted her shirt to breastfeed Dabao and then pulled up a blanket to cover her upper body.
An embarrassed look crossed Dabao’s face, Mom was at it again, he was nearly eight months old and she still hadn’t weaned him. Being fed now was so embarrassing.
He closed his eyes and couldn’t care less about anything else.
After eating and drinking his fill, Dabao fell asleep.
Seeing the baby fed, Xiaobao got hungry, but Xiaobao being put to sleep meant it was already night.
At night, Xiaofeng lay with her eyes open, finding it hard to sleep.
The sound of the train running on the tracks was especially loud, clacking rhythmically, and it made her particularly uncomfortable.
At two o’clock in the morning, the elder sister across seemed to have gotten up and returned after a while.
"Sis, Sis." The elder sister called out to Xiaofeng.
Xiaofeng sat up, "Sister, what’s the matter?"
"I must have eaten something bad, I’ve got diarrhea." The elder sister clutched her belly, "I’m out of toilet paper, do you have any?"
Xiaofeng gave her a few sheets.
The elder sister took the paper and went back to the bathroom.
A man swaggered up to Xiaofeng and glanced at her, holding a dagger in his hand, his voice soft but threatening, "Wife, go to sleep; I’ll take care of putting the kids to bed."
It was evident that if Xiaofeng dared to scream, he wouldn’t be polite to her. After speaking, he also shook the knife in his hand, his gaze fierce.
Xiaofeng looked at the man and squinted.
With a "slap," she hit the man across the face, "You have the nerve to come back? Weren’t you cozying up with Wang Dahua, sleeping happily in her bed? Now you remember us, your wife and child."
The man hadn’t expected her to be so bold as to slap him on approach, and the sound wasn’t quiet. With Xiaofeng’s shout, the nearby travelers were all alerted, and some onlookers even gathered around to watch the commotion.
Seeing the situation, the man quickly hid his dagger, his face flushed, "You woman, don’t push your luck. If it weren’t for the sake of the two kids, you’d see how I’d deal with you."
Damn, she looked so demure, yet she struck so hard.
Xiaofeng wasn’t afraid of him, "Who are you? Do I know you?"
"I’m your husband, are you trying to get yourself killed by not recognizing me?" The man said, moving to grab Xiaofeng’s hair.
Of course, Xiaofeng wouldn’t let him succeed. The initial slap was just a way to make noise to attract attention, "You say you’re my husband, alright then, I’ll ask you, what’s my name, what are our two babies’ names, how much do they weigh, and when were they born?"
The man spat out, "You just wait until we get home, and see how I’ll take care of you." Realizing he wasn’t gaining any advantage, he decided to leave for the time being.
He had just taken a few steps when someone’s shoe somehow slipped onto the corridor floor; he didn’t see it, tripped over the shoe, and fell flat on his face.
Xiaofeng seized the opportunity and shouted, "Catch him, everyone! He’s a human trafficker, he was trying to steal my twins."
The travelers nearest to the man immediately held him down, not letting him get up, shouting to those behind, "Get the train police over here."
The man struggled to escape, but as if he was under a spell, he lacked the strength.
Shortly after, the train police arrived.
The elder sister who had gone to the toilet returned as well, looking somewhat bewildered at the scene, "What’s going on?"
"Sister, your accomplice has been caught. Don’t you think you should say something?" Xiaofeng looked at her, her words edged with chill.
It was as if the elder sister had been caught by the tail, "Sis, how come I’m an accomplice? I took care of you along the way, helped you fetch water, took care of your kids. If I were an accomplice, would I have just walked away, and would I have come back?" "Sis, you can’t just beat everyone with the same stick, see everyone as a bad person."
Listening to her, Xiaofeng gave a slight smile, "Using the pretext of fetching water, in reality, you were reporting the situation to your man. You used the gap of going to the toilet in the middle of the night as an alibi, then let your man come over."
"You’re making things up; I don’t even know him." The elder sister sat down in her seat, letting out a long sigh, "Sis, it’s right to be cautious when traveling with two kids. But Sis, you can’t just falsely accuse good people without evidence."
"Sister." Xiaofeng looked at her, thinking about her designs on the boy and girl twins, which had already crossed her bottom line; she would never tolerate it. She reached out her hand, gently tugged at the elder sister’s hair, and a wig fell off.
The people around were shocked. This person wasn’t a woman, but a man?