“Ugh…”
“Sorry, miss. I… ugh…”
Inside the swaying bus, Tian Tian looked at the elderly woman next to her who was dry heaving from motion sickness. The sour, stale smell of vomit lingered in the air. Her expression was one of pure helplessness.
Who would have thought her luck would be this good? She had been seated right next to an auntie prone to motion sickness.
“Auntie, maybe don’t talk. I have some tangerine peel here. If you don’t mind, hold it and smell it. It might help with the nausea.”
The auntie, too queasy to thank her properly, took the tangerine peel with her rough, weathered hands and shoved it right under her nose, taking two deep breaths. After a while, she finally said, “Thank you, miss. Thanks to your tangerine peel, I’m feeling much better.”
Tian Tian was also desperately sniffing her own piece of tangerine peel. She shook her head without speaking.
Not because she was being aloof, but because the sour stench in the bus was getting stronger and stronger. Motion sickness seemed contagious. Not long after the auntie started dry heaving, dry heaves erupted one after another throughout the bus. The people sitting by the windows were especially bold—they simply yanked open the windows, stuck their heads out, and let loose.
The ticket collector sitting at the front grew anxious and yelled, “Don’t throw up inside the bus! Don’t throw up inside! I have plastic bags here. If you’re going to be sick, speak up now!”
Unfortunately, back in those days, there was no concept of overloading. Not only were all the seats filled, but the aisles were also packed tight. Heads pressed against heads like sardines in a tin—it was terrifying. Even if people wanted plastic bags, getting one through that crowd was a nightmare-level challenge.
—
“Hey, miss. Got any more tangerine peel? I feel like I’m going to be sick.”
Just then, a young woman sitting in the front row turned around and asked Tian Tian.
Tian Tian replied, “No. I only brought one tangerine. I already gave half the peel to the auntie next to me.”
“That piece in your hand is pretty big. Share some with me. Otherwise, I might throw up on you.”
Tian Tian thought to herself: You’re sitting in front of me. If you throw up, it’ll land on the person ahead of you or the person next to you. There’s no way it defies the laws of physics and hits me back here.
But since she was out in public, Tian Tian didn’t snap back. Instead, she stood up and faked two dry heaves—aiming right at the woman’s head. The woman yelped and shrank back in fright, but not before warning Tian Tian, “If you’re going to be sick, ask the ticket collector for a plastic bag. The clothes I’m wearing are imported from Hong Kong. A country bumpkin like you couldn’t afford to replace them…”
Tian Tian rolled her eyes. If she could really afford Hong Kong–imported designer clothes, she wouldn’t be riding some rundown country bus.
The bus they were on had departed from the county station and was taking the slow road. It swayed and jolted so much it made people want to throw up. But back then, there were no highways anyway. They were traveling on the national road, stopping whenever someone flagged them down. Even though the bus was already crammed full, the driver would still stop and let more people on whenever someone hailed it.
Seeing how terrible the travel conditions were, Tian Tian realized she had been a bit naive. She had completely forgotten that transportation in this area back in the 1980s wasn’t good at all.
But taking the train was even less feasible. The trains passing through their station were just stopovers, filled with a motley mix of people from all over the country. If someone stole something, they could just disappear without a trace. Many villagers had warned her: better not take the train.
The bus she was on now, though crowded and beat-up, carried only people from within the city. Generally speaking, their homes were nearby, so they wouldn’t do anything truly heinous.
But Tian Tian was about to be proven wrong—and fast.
—
After traveling for nearly two hours, the bus suddenly stopped right in the middle of the road.
By then, the first wave of vomiting had subsided. Thinking the bus had stopped to let them use the restroom, everyone perked up considerably.
“What’s going on? What’s going on?” the ticket collector shouted as passengers started crowding toward the door.
“What, isn’t this a restroom break?”
The ticket collector yelled back, “Who said anything about a restroom? This is a main road—where would there be a restroom for you to use?”
Tian Tian looked out the window at the patches of grass on both sides of the road and thought: If people really needed to go, the grass would serve as decent cover.
But the ticket collector had stopped the bus and wouldn’t let anyone off. Clearly, something was up.
Tian Tian racked her brain, trying to recall all the little mishaps she had encountered while traveling by bus in her previous life. She thought: They’re not trying to take us to some rest stop to force us to buy overpriced food and pay for expensive toilets, are they? Or maybe the bus broke down?
Villagers had warned her about such things. The advice was to just fork over a yuan or two to avoid trouble. But this situation felt a bit strange.
Suddenly, a car horn blared from behind.
Tian Tian watched as another bus wobbled past theirs and then pulled to a stop.
A long-dead memory came rushing back to attack her.
She remembered.
…
Just then, the door of the bus she was on suddenly swung open. The ticket collector shouted a few words to the bus ahead. Then, Tian Tian watched as a string of people got off that bus. She counted—good grief—thirteen of them.
Watching those thirteen people walk toward their bus, Tian Tian’s face turned very ugly.
And it wasn’t just her. Everyone on the bus wore grim expressions. The passengers crammed in the aisle, in particular, started cursing.
But it was no use. More people were going to board.
One by one, the thirteen people squeezed onto the bus. A bus with a maximum capacity of 20 ended up carrying nearly 50 people. And after they boarded, the ticket collector immediately shouted, “Those who just got on, buy your tickets now! Buy your tickets now!”
“We already bought tickets on the other bus!” someone protested, unwilling to pay again.
The ticket collector gave a dismissive snort. “Then go ride that bus!”
“That bus isn’t going to Shenzhen…” The protester trailed off helplessly. They were already on board. If they refused to pay and got off in the middle of nowhere, it would be dangerous.
So the thirteen latecomers reluctantly coughed up the fare.
“Tsk, what a bunch of black-hearted swindlers. Got sold like pigs, and now we have to pay double.”
The elderly woman next to Tian Tian muttered quietly, not daring to speak loudly for fear of being kicked off the bus.
Tian Tian simply stayed silent. In the wilderness around them, offending the ticket collector would be a huge hassle.
As for being “sold like pigs”—well, that was just how things were. The bus stations didn’t have strict controls back then, and drivers often “sold” passengers to each other. They’d promise you the world when you boarded, guaranteeing they’d take you to a certain destination. After you bought your ticket, they’d change their story, saying they couldn’t make it. Then, spotting another bus heading to the same destination, they’d pull over and herd their “pigs” onto it.
This way, both buses made money.
And the only world where everyone got hurt was the passengers’ world.
The only silver lining was that Tian Tian hadn’t been one of the “pigs” herself. If she had been forced to switch buses midway, she wouldn’t have had a seat at all. She definitely would have thrown up.
—
The bus continued on its way.
The newcomers raised the temperature inside the bus considerably. Even with the windows open, it was stifling. So people started taking off their outer jackets.
It was February. Around here, people wore a padded jacket and that was enough. Now with their jackets off, many were left in just their base layers.
That wouldn’t have been a problem—until someone shouted that their money was gone.
Tian Tian’s first instinct was to reach for her thigh, where she had hidden her money. But she quickly suppressed the urge.
For this trip, she had brought her entire fortune with her. Unlike her previous life, when she had left home with only 250 yuan, this time, after flipping goods back and forth and selling her job, her total savings came to over 4,000 yuan.
Times were chaotic, so she had divided the money into four portions, each wrapped in a handkerchief. She taped one portion to each of her thighs and the other two around her waist.
Afraid that the money would make her walk unnaturally, she had even practiced at home. Only after confirming that it wasn’t noticeable did she set out today.
But while Tian Tian could stop herself from reaching for her money, others couldn’t.
Soon, the bus erupted into chaos. People patted themselves down frantically, then sighed with relief.
Tian Tian’s heart sank. This is bad.
—
Sure enough, not long after, someone else shouted that a thief was on board.
The same scene played out again. Those who had checked their money earlier did so again, and soon, people were wailing that their money was gone. Curses filled the air—”Damned thief!” “Rot in hell!”
The ticket collector rushed over, shouting for everyone to calm down and stop making noise. Then he started asking who had lost money.
Watching this, Tian Tian sighed. She had figured it out. The first person who shouted about losing money was likely “fishing.”
Because that shout made everyone check their own money, pointing the thief directly to the targets. That was why the second round of theft had been so precise—so many people had been robbed.
With that realization, Tian Tian’s gaze swept over the people crammed in the aisle.
Yes, most of those who lost money were standing in the aisle. But some seated near the aisle had also been hit.
Tian Tian’s seat was by the window, and she was dressed in ragged old clothes today, with none of her hidden money exposed. Naturally, she hadn’t lost anything.
The vomiting auntie next to her hadn’t lost anything either.
But the “imported clothes” woman in the front row had already stood up and was shouting at the ticket collector: “Let me tell you something. If you don’t find that thief today, I’m going straight to the police station to report you!”
With someone taking the lead, others who had lost money quickly chimed in: “That’s right, that’s right! The bus hasn’t stopped. The thief must still be on board. I say we search everyone—then we’ll find out who stole the money!”
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