The older woman never expected the frail-looking young girl in front of her to be so strong, and her expression instantly darkened.
Just at that moment, someone tried to pass by, only to be blocked by her in the aisle, infuriating the other passengers, who began to curse and shout.
"What are you doing? Are you going to let people past or not? Do you think this train belongs to just the two of you?"
"Move aside right now! If you keep blocking the way, I'm going to report you to the conductor and have you thrown off."
"What are you all yelling for? Once I get a seat, you can pass." Thick-skinned as ever, the older woman completely ignored the accusations and continued her verbal assault on Ye Yihan.
"I said, what kind of manners do you young people have? What's wrong with standing for a little while? I'm old, how can you have the nerve to compete with me? Don't you know anything about the virtue of yielding to your elders?"
The older woman glared fiercely, clearly determined not to give up until she got the seat.
"Listen here, Aunty," Ye Yihan took a deep breath, a forced smile playing on her lips, "there are plenty of people here older than you. Even if I were giving up my seat, I wouldn't give it to you."
Perhaps realizing that Ye Yihan really had no intention of getting up, the older woman glared at her several times before resorting to shameless tactics, sitting right there in the aisle and refusing to budge. She muttered defiantly, "I don't care! My legs and feet aren't good, I can't stand. Either I sit in that seat, or I'm sitting right here and not going anywhere."
The train aisle was truly narrow. With a full-grown person blocking the way, no one else could get past. Of course, some people tried to step over her regardless of their dignity, only to be severely scolded by the older woman for being hooligans, leaving them no choice but to retreat in humiliation.
After a prolonged standoff, seeing that the train was about to depart, the other passengers could no longer hold back and began to speak up one after another.
Since they couldn't do anything about an unreasonable, shrewish woman like her, they shifted their focus to Ye Yihan instead.
After all, she looked young, thin-skinned, and easy to talk to.
"Comrade, why don't you display a bit of mutual aid and collective dedication? You can't expect everyone else to just sit here and waste time with you."
"Little girl, you shouldn't be so selfish. It wouldn't kill you to yield your seat."
Hearing this, Ye Yihan looked up and saw that the speaker was a man sitting across the aisle. She immediately shot back without any politeness, "Mister, since you're so selfless and great, why don't you just give your seat to this aunty? That would solve all our problems."
Upon hearing this, the older woman fixed her eyes directly on the man who had spoken. "Elder brother, look at this..."
Everyone else turned to look at him as well, eagerly hoping he would stand up immediately.
The expression on the man's face was quite dramatic. He never imagined that by just watching the fun and making a casual remark, he would paint himself into such a corner.
Faced with everyone's stares, he simply pulled off his coat, covered his face with it, and shamelessly pretended as if nothing had just happened.
"Hmph!" A chorus of sarcastic sneers rose from the crowd.
Yet the man's psychological fortitude was extraordinary, and his body remained entirely motionless.
"Little girl, he's not getting up. What about you?"
Ye Yihan looked speechlessly at the older woman on the floor, wondering if she was somehow born with a face that shouted "bully me." Why else would this woman keep hounding her relentlessly?
"Aunty, as for me, I am definitely not getting up. If you want to keep squatting here, be my guest," Ye Yihan said calmly. "Though I'll remind you, if you keep blocking the path, you'd better watch out—you might incur the public's wrath and get thrown off."
The older woman's eyes flickered. She looked back and saw that everyone whose path was blocked indeed wore looks of dissatisfaction and anger.
Fearing things would go too far if she caused a bigger scene, the older woman decided to drop this tough nut. Just as she was about to get up, one of the two young women sitting across from Ye Yihan suddenly spoke.
"Hey, what kind of person are you? What's wrong with giving up a seat? Look at how much time you've wasted for everyone else because of you!" The other woman looked at Ye Yihan with an arrogant expression, filled with censure and discontent.
Seeing someone step in to fight her battle, the older woman's eyes rolled, and her backside promptly dropped right back down.
Ye Yihan cast an indifferent glance in their direction.
Where did this idiot pop out from?
She had no intention of falling for this person's moral blackmail, nor did she want to waste any more time here over a single seat. Leaning forward, she directly grabbed the outspoken young woman by the arm and yanked her to the side.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Zhang Wenli cried out in a startled, piercing shriek. Her companion seemed equally caught off guard by Ye Yihan's audacity and quickly stood up to pry Ye Yihan's fingers apart.
Not about to give them the chance, Ye Yihan shoved the pair aside and smiled at the older woman. "What are you waiting for?"
Stunned by this sudden turn of events, the older woman snapped to her senses upon hearing Ye Yihan's prompt. She snatched up her luggage and heavily dumped herself into the empty seat, causing the chair to creak in protest.
Seemingly afraid that Ye Yihan might change her mind and haul her back up, the older woman reached out and gripped the table for dear life.
Having finally managed to steady herself, Zhang Wenli glared at the scene and cried out in furious exasperation, "What right do you have to give my seat to her?!"
Ye Yihan curved the corners of her lips, looking at her with a face full of mockery. "I return those exact words to you. Since you're so great and selfless, you can just give your seat to this aunty. Look, aren't we all happy now?"
Happy my foot!
"Then what about me?!"
Zhang Wenli glared with wide eyes, gritting her teeth as she stared at Ye Yihan and the older woman.
Ye Yihan spread her hands with an innocent look. "How should I know? Why don't you ask the aunty to give your seat back?"
As soon as those words left her mouth, the older woman hastily piped up, "No way!"
Pointing at Zhang Wenli, she scolded, "What's wrong with giving up a seat? You little girl were talking pretty before, but in the end you're still too stingy to let me have it—don't even think about it!"
"You..." Zhang Wenli was fit to be tied, her eyes reddening as she glared at Ye Yihan and the older woman.
Her companion pulled her back helplessly and gently coaxed, "Forget it, Lili. Let's just squeeze into one seat together."
"Sister Yuru," Zhang Wenli pouted, thoroughly unwilling to let the matter drop like this.
Qin Yuru glanced indifferently at Ye Yihan, then leaned in to whisper something in Zhang Wenli's ear, which finally made Zhang Wenli sit down with a gloomy expression.
However, two people sharing a single seat was already cramped, and to make matters worse, the older woman who had moved to the inner seat was not someone who would ever inconvenience herself. One seat wasn't enough for her; she even piled her luggage onto Zhang Wenli's side. Zhang Wenli was left with most of her backside hanging in mid-air, feeling so wronged that tears streamed down her face.
Seeing Ye Yihan across from her leisurely pulling out a Little Red Book to read made her feel even more resentful.
Noticing her state, Qin Yuru frowned slightly, her gaze then shifting back to Ye Yihan with a thoughtful look in her eyes.
Ignoring them entirely, Ye Yihan focused all her attention on memorizing the famous quotes and philosophical passages in her Little Red Book.
The train had started moving, slowly pulling away from the platform.
The carriage was filled with a mixture of odors. Since their spot was relatively close to the toilet, it reeked of a foul blend of sweat, smoke, and waste. If she hadn't relied on memorizing texts to distract herself, Ye Yihan would have practically been gagged by the stench.
If she weren't afraid of being treated like a total oddity, she would have pulled out a face mask and put it on right then and there.
That's right, a face mask.
Earlier today, she had unexpectedly drawn a pack of medical surgical face masks.
Too bad the style didn't fit the current era, otherwise pulling one out to block the smells would have been quite nice.
Not only Ye Yihan, but the young girl beside her, as well as Zhang Wenli and Qin Yuru across the aisle, all wore terribly pale expressions.
The older woman, however, was completely unfazed. Seeing their unsightly complexions, she let out a mocking chuckle. "You young girls are just so pampered and delicate. You can't even handle a little bit of smell? Once you get down to the countryside and get assigned to shovel nightsoil, won't you just cry your eyes out?"
Hearing this, Ye Yihan cast a surprised glance at her. This older woman actually knew they were educated youths heading down to the countryside.
Yet, after looking at the others—aside from herself, every single one of them had skin as fair and tender as could be—it was no wonder the woman had figured it out.