By the light of the flashlight, Wang An and Wang Li subconsciously reached their hands into the pile of money.
"Fourth Brother, the people in these hard-seat carriages all look so unremarkable, I didn't expect them to actually have so much money."
Wang An nodded and said
"That's for sure. How many hard-seat carriages are there, and how many people are inside? There are only a few sleeper carriages, and how many people are in a whole carriage?"
There was one thing Wang An didn't say: at this time, sleepers weren't something anyone could just sit in if they wanted to; you had to be someone with status and position to buy a ticket.
Therefore, many "scalpers"—people like Qiao Xiaohu who traded goods from north to south and east to west—although they were among the wealthy of this era, could only sit in hard seats.
Roughly estimating, the money in these two sacks combined must be around fifty or sixty thousand, and it might even reach seventy thousand. From this, it was evident that the bandits had likely plundered every single passenger on the entire train.
Wang An randomly took out nine stacks of "Big Unity" bills, gave three stacks to Wang Li, and said
"The three of us will each take 3,000 to spend for now. After that, it's the old rule: I take 40% of these things, and Xueli and you each take 30%. We'll come back in a while to retrieve the items and the money."
Wang Li took the money, his face beaming with a smile as he said
"Now I've finally got a lead on that big TV, hehehehe..."
It was clear that Wang Li's biggest desire at the moment was to buy a television to watch.
Wang An looked at the delighted Wang Li and said
"Alright, hurry up and hide these things. We have to get back quickly, otherwise, if the train leaves, we'll have to chase it on foot."
As they spoke, the two of them combined the contents of the two sacks into one, then slipped the empty sack over the full one as an extra layer of insurance.
Next, Wang An tied the mouth of the sack and painstakingly stuffed this sack, worth tens of thousands, into the cave.
He then labored to collapse the cave entrance with stones and did some simple camouflage before the two of them headed back.
To prevent forgetting the location, Wang An fired several shots into the side of a large tree in the distance, shredding the bark until it looked like a raw wound, leaving a barely noticeable "mark."
There was no other way; in such a desolate place, the trees and valleys all looked the same. The only way to leave a mark was to carve a "sign," which was, of course, the most common method used by mountain folk.
By the time the two of them dragged a corpse each back to the train, the train's whistle had already sounded, signaling that it was time to depart.
With the help of Cui Chengjing, Liu Chengjing, Xu Chengjing, and others, everyone worked together to move the two corpses onto the train.
This half-section of the carriage was the resting area for all the Chengjings and attendants, but at this moment, it was filled with corpses and a bunch of crippled bandits.
Naturally, Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li had also been invited into this half-section of the carriage.
"Comrade Wang An, Comrade Wang Li, and Comrade Mu Xueli, you have given us a huge help. On behalf of all the staff of this train, I express my gratitude to you!"
As he spoke, the Chengjing captain surnamed Ren, along with the crowd of Chengjings behind him, gave the three of them a very standard salute.
Under these circumstances, Wang An naturally returned the salute, and Mu Xueli and Wang Li followed his example in returning the salute to Captain Ren and the others.
After the pleasantries, Captain Ren said very warmly to the three of them
"I've asked the dining car to prepare some wine and food for you three. Why don't we chat while we eat?"
It was clear that Captain Ren wasn't being hypocritical, but sincere. Wang An sat down to think and then said with a smile
"Perfect, we still have quite a few red sausages and dried meats in our sack. We'll contribute a dish, and we'll have a little drink, hahahaha..."
And so, Wang An and the other two sat in the dining car eating and drinking with Captain Ren, Brother Cui, Xu Chengjing, and Liu Chengjing.
While eating, Wang An told Captain Ren and the others the names of the two mole attendants. This infuriated Captain Ren and his team; they immediately found the two attendants and gave each of them a pair of "silver bracelets" (handcuffs).
At first, the two attendants tried to argue with innocent expressions, but after being confronted by the bandits, their faces turned a deathly gray, and one of them even began to cry.
Being an attendant usually meant a stable life with guaranteed income, which was quite good; unfortunately, they had chosen to be thieves.
After eating and drinking, Captain Ren made an exception and arranged for Wang An and the other two to stay in a soft-sleeper compartment.
It must be said that no matter the era, there will always be a hierarchy between people.
In this era, soft sleepers required a certain rank to ride; if no one of that rank was traveling, these soft sleepers would remain empty.
Whether you call it a waste of resources or say the railway had money to burn, such things were absolutely a step that ordinary people could not cross in their entire lives.
Compared to ordinary sleepers, soft sleepers were very impressive.
Not only were there four beds in each compartment, but there was also a door standing at the entrance. This meant that if one didn't want to be disturbed or seen, they could close the door, and they could even bolt it from the inside while sleeping.
After sleeping until dawn, Wang An practiced handstand push-ups in the compartment for an hour and a half. After a simple wash, Wang Li and Mu Xueli also woke up.
The three of them had slept exceptionally well.
Just as they were about to take out some dry rations to stave off hunger, there was a knock on the compartment door.
The person knocking was Liu Chengjing.
Seeing the steamed buns and pancakes Wang An and the others had placed on the table, Liu Chengjing said with a smile
"Why eat dry rations? These are ice-cold. The dining car has already prepared breakfast. Quick, quick, come with me to the dining car for something hot."
The three of them were stunned for a moment, and Wang An said with a smile
"Oh, it was just a small favor, there's no need to be so polite, right?"
However, Liu Chengjing grabbed the arms of Wang Li and Mu Xueli and used his body to nudge Wang An toward the exit, saying as they walked
"What small favor? If it weren't for you, we'd be in big trouble, and none of our disciplinary actions would have been light. Now it's great—we've actually earned merit, hahaha... Stop arguing, it's just a matter of eating breakfast, what's there to argue about?"
Thus, Wang An and the other two "reluctantly" followed Liu Chengjing toward the dining car.
It had to be said that these Chengjings were truly lucky to have encountered Wang An and his companions; what should have been a disciplinary matter had instead turned into a blessing in disguise.