Chapter 66: Zhang Yazhi Receives a Rebuke

"Team Leader Zhou, this fellow deliberately violated railway regulations, intimidated the train attendants, and disrupted the railway operation order."

"The railway is a vital national transportation lifeline. Disrupting its operation order is tantamount to sabotaging the nation's transportation lifeline."

"I suspect... he might be an enemy spy!"

Facing the approaching railway police officers, Li Aiguo pointed at Huang Samao and spoke with righteous sternness.

Thud!

Huang Samao felt a heavy label suddenly slapped onto his head.

The kind that was severe enough to earn him a firing squad execution.

Huang Samao was scared out of his wits.

The crucial part was that Li Aiguo wasn't even strictly exaggerating.

If they really wanted to push the matter to the highest level, Huang Samao's actions could indeed be classified as sabotaging railway operation orders.

Struggling to his feet, Huang Samao brought his hands together in a pleading gesture, tears and snot streaming down his face. "Comrades, I'm just a punk, a good-for-nothing rogue. I don't have that kind of capability, and I could never pull off something that big."

"So, if you did have the capability, you were planning to do it?"

The railway police officer frowned, his face dark.

Huang Samao: "......"

He felt like he had been led right into a trap by Li Aiguo.

The railway police instructed their colleagues to escort Huang Samao aside and proceeded to search him, pulling out over thirty jin of nationwide ration coupons from his pockets.

It was obvious that such a large quantity of nationwide ration coupons had been acquired through illicit means.

They were either stolen or robbed.

Li Aiguo put on a stern face. "Good lad, wait until we tack on a major charge of disrupting the economic order later."

In a daze, Huang Samao collapsed limply to the ground.

He was just a small-time scalper dealing in ration coupons...

This train driver was way too ruthless.

Huang Samao resolved never to set foot on Train 131 ever again for the rest of his life.

...

Meanwhile, the comrades from the train's security team had also received the news and rushed over.

Having frequent dealings with the station's railway police, they were all acquainted with one another.

After exchanging warm greetings and learning that Li Aiguo had caught a punk, Team Leader Wang of the security team looked at Li Aiguo with gratitude and saluted him. "Driver Li, we owe this entirely to you. If we had really let this fellow slip through on our train, our security team would have lost all our face."

"Don't mention it. Our train crew is one big collective, and it's my duty to uphold the collective's interests."

With a serious expression, Li Aiguo returned the salute.

Seeing that Huang Samao had already been led away, and remembering that he still needed to use the restroom before departure, he didn't linger.

After bidding farewell to Team Leader Wang and asking him to help maintain the boarding order, Li Aiguo turned around and walked toward the direction of the crew accommodation carriage.

At that moment.

Train Conductor Bai Yuejie had already received word from the water attendant and hurried over to the eleventh carriage.

Zhang Yazhi was reporting the situation to Conductor Bai Yuejie, intending to express her gratitude to Li Aiguo.

When she turned around, however, Li Aiguo was already nowhere to be seen.

She could only keep the matter in her heart for now.

Li Aiguo's kick just now had been truly magnificent; that was what a real man should look like.

"Zhang Yazhi, today's incident is a lesson..."

Seeing Zhang Yazhi suddenly biting her lip with a smile, Bai Yuejie furrowed her brows into a knot. "Yazhi, I am talking to you. Please correct your attitude."

"Ah? Conductor, I'm listening."

Zhang Yazhi stuck out her tongue in embarrassment.

With a straight face, Bai Yuejie continued, "Although you are the broadcaster and don't need to handle specific operational duties, our train crew is short-handed. There are certain responsibilities you still need to shoulder."

"An incident like today's would certainly not have happened if an experienced veteran with solid professional skills had been on duty."

Zhang Yazhi lowered her head and lightly twisted the hem of her uniform.

"...Then we wouldn't have caught that punk."

Hearing this, Bai Yuejie gave her a sideways glance. "Catching criminals is the job of the security team. As a member of the train crew, your primary task is to fulfill the duties of our team."

"Maintain the normal boarding and deboarding order, and check passengers' introduction letters and tickets."

"Anyone who doesn't meet the regulations must be barred from boarding entirely."

Watching Zhang Yazhi, whose mind was clearly wandering off who-knows-where, Bai Yuejie felt a mix of frustration and exasperation.

Zhang Yazhi could be considered a veteran crew member.

At twenty-five years old, she sometimes still acted as naive as a child, with a careless and breezy work style.

No wonder she hadn't even had a child after being married for so long.

Having received a scolding, Zhang Yazhi's complexion dimmed, her mood souring, and she turned around intending to return to the broadcasting room.

Bai Yuejie called out to stop her once more. "We're about to depart. Go communicate with Driver Li and see if we can depart on time."

"Isn't that the water attendant's job?" Zhang Yazhi pouted.

Within the train crew, the water attendant held a somewhat unique position.

Their daily main task was boiling and supplying water to provide passengers with drinking water.

More often than not, however, they acted as errand runners for the conductor, relaying relevant matters—essentially the conductor's little sidekicks.

Chores like delivering messages were typically handled by the water attendant.

Zhang Yazhi felt that Bai Yuejie was deliberately targeting her.

"The water attendant has other tasks to attend to. As a train crew member, you need to follow the conductor's orders."

Bai Yuejie put on a stern face. "Comrade Zhang Yazhi, your mindset has been a bit off lately."

"I know you have family conflicts, but that must not interfere with your work."

"No matter how big personal matters are, they are trivial; no matter how small collective matters are, they are paramount."

"Do you not even understand this principle?"

Zhang Yazhi felt a sense of grievance. This clearly wasn't her job, yet it was forced upon her, and now if something went wrong, she would be held responsible.

Besides, with Li Aiguo's help, nothing had gone wrong anyway.

They had even caught a ticket scalper.

Yet, facing the stern Bai Yuejie, Zhang Yazhi didn't dare to flare up and could only let her head droop.

After all, the conductor controlled the crew members' performance evaluations.

Performance evaluations were directly tied to the crew members' allowances.

The more Bai Yuejie talked, the more worked up she got, and she seemed inclined to continue lecturing.

Having finished in the restroom, Li Aiguo emerged from the accommodation carriage and happened to pass by the eleventh carriage, prompting him to casually ask a question.

"Conductor Bai, time is almost up. Are we departing on schedule?"

Li Aiguo's remark effectively came to Zhang Yazhi's rescue.

Bai Yuejie turned to look outside and saw that the platform was nearly empty.

With a smile, she said, "I'll have the attendants close the doors right away, and we'll depart on time."

"Alright!"

"Comrade Zhang Yazhi, in our passenger transport work, we must always keep our job responsibilities in mind..."

Relentless as ever, Bai Yuejie turned back around to continue lecturing Zhang Yazhi.

Conductor Bai certainly loved to lecture people...

Seeing the faint redness in the corners of Zhang Yazhi's eyes, and connecting it to Bai Yuejie's ashen expression from earlier, Li Aiguo seemed to understand what was going on.

"Comrade Zhang Yazhi, we're about to depart. There might still be people who got off to buy things. You should hurry back to the broadcasting room and make an announcement twice."

"Remind those passengers' families, and notify any passengers who got off to return to the train promptly."

In his past life, Li Aiguo once took a bullet train and got left behind because he stepped off to buy a drink for his girlfriend and returned too late.

Consequently, the train left with his girlfriend inside.

Leaving him all alone on the platform, holding a drink and looking around in bewilderment.

What a pity about that waterbed in the romantic hotel.

In this era, various railway rules and regulations were not yet fully standardized, and there were no established protocols for broadcasting reminders to passengers to board the train.

Hearing Li Aiguo's suggestion, Bai Yuejie's eyes lit up as she clapped her hands.

"Now that's a good idea. Every train always has a few passengers who fail to make it back on time. We are here to serve the masses after all. Comrade Zhang Yazhi, return to the broadcasting room immediately and make the announcement twice, following Comrade Li Aiguo's method."

A weight lifted from Zhang Yazhi's chest. She looked up to give Li Aiguo a grateful glance, smiled with a reddened face, and then turned to head back into the broadcasting room.

Having gone through the events of just now, she felt that this rough-hewn, towering man possessed not only a fierce and domineering exterior, but also a considerate and warm-hearted side.

Compared to the good-for-nothing at home, he was like heaven and earth.

If that good-for-nothing were merely useless, that might be one thing.

Instead, he also loved to run around hanging out with local street thugs.

Whenever he came home dead drunk, he would throw his weight around like a master of the house, pulling out his leather belt to brutally beat Zhang Yazhi.

Naturally, Zhang Yazhi would not take it lying down; she would pick up a broom to fight back.

Almost every week, the two of them would stage a grand drama.

Accumulated over time, Zhang Yazhi had reached the verge of despair.

Even on her days off, she would stay in the dormitory and absolutely refuse to go home.