Those Classmates who Suddenly Disappeared
Chapter 529: Unexpected Encounter in the Carriage

Chapter 529: Chapter 529: Unexpected Encounter in the Carriage

Because it was too late in the day, Gu Fan could only find a sleeper ticket, and took an overnight train with his data to meet Boss Ding in another city.

This soft sleeper cabin had four berths, and Gu was the first to arrive. He sat quietly on his bunk, listening to music, and contemplating his first time spending a night on a train. He wondered if he could sleep soundly.

At that moment, the door to the cabin opened and a woman roughly Gu’s age entered. Her clothing and demeanor suggested she wasn’t a student, but rather, someone who had worked a few years. She glanced at Gu Fan, and then placed her bag on the bunk across from him.

Gu Fan didn’t mind, and continued to enjoy his music. When the train started moving, a third passenger, a bespectacled man, entered the cabin. After greeting everyone, he picked a bunk.

Soon a fourth person entered the cabin. He had a shifty look, with small, dishonest eyes. As soon as he entered, he took a long look at the woman, and then chose a bunk.

Though they were strangers, Gu Fan decided to initiate a conversation. Only the bespectacled man responded, while the woman only said a few words. The shifty-eyed man didn’t utter a sound, and just lay on his bunk to sleep.

That evening, Gu Fan, the bespectacled man, the woman, and the shifty-eyed man all fell asleep, one by one entering the realm of dreams.

In the first small hours, Gu Fan woke up and wanted to use the restroom. To his astonishment, he found the rowdy man from the upper berth using his phone to film the sleeping woman in the lower berth.

Gu Fan detested these kinds of people. So, he coughed softly as a warning, but the shifty-eyed man only gave him a dismissive look. It was as if the man was telling Gu Fan not to meddle.

Gu Fan decided to mind his own business. After all, it was just filming - it wouldn’t physically harm the woman. He still needed to use the restroom, so he got up and left.

When he returned, the shifty-eyed man, still on the upper berth, had extended his arm for a close-up shot of the sleeping woman. This was too much for Gu Fan to ignore.

He grabbed the shifty man’s hand and made him retract it. In response, the shifty man coldly snorted, grabbed Gu Fan’s arm, and shook him off.

"Oh my god!" With that jolt, Gu Fan lost his balance and fell on the bed with the sleeping woman, who immediately woke up and demanded loudly: "What are you doing?"

Gu Fan tried to explain, but was slapped before he could finish. He was baffled.

The woman, assuming that she was being harassed by Gu Fan, immediately called upon the train police for assistance, while the shifty-eyed man from the upper berth chimed in, "There’s your bed over there. What are you doing up here? Did you do it on purpose?"

Unfairly blamed, Gu Fan was furious. He wanted to grab the shifty-eyed man and pull him down from his upper berth, but calming the woman was the most important task at the moment.

While trying to explain his attempt to defend her honor, she refused to listen and even called the train conductor to help resolve the situation.

"Are you kidding me?" Gu Fan was baffled. He tried to explain, but nothing seemed able to clarify the mess.

Soon, the conductor arrived and asked for details. The woman promptly alleged that Gu Fan had harassed her, and the shifty man backed her up with his eyewitness account.

At this point, all Gu Fan could do was put his faith in the universe and explain the whole series of events. He was certain that the evidence would still be in the man’s phone.

Yet, surprisingly, the shifty man voluntarily offered up his phone. To Gu Fan’s dismay, a sense of foreboding washed over him.

The sly man had outsmarted him, already deleting the compromising video. Now, Gu Fan had no way of clearing his name and felt his fate was sealed.

"No way, I have the moral courage to do right. It shouldn’t end like this. Good deeds should pay off." In his desperation, the quiet bespectacled man finally broke his silence. He had witnessed the entire incident and, out of fear of the sly man, had stayed mute. He did, however, manage to record it all on his phone.

So, the truth came out, the sly man was led away, and Gu Fan was vindicated while also earning the woman’s gratitude. Gu Fan, in turn, felt thankful towards the bespectacled man.

Meeting by chance and experiencing such an event evoked friendship among them.

However, as the train finally reached its destination, there was not enough time for them to introduce themselves, and they had to part ways.

This was a small incident during the journey, thrilling though danger-less. Gu Fan had acted heroically, almost falsely accused, but in the end, good deeds were rewarded, and the incident was finally behind him.

As soon as he got off the train, Gu Fan made a call: "Hey, Boss Ding, I’ve arrived. I’ll head straight to your hotel."

"Alright, Gu Fan, make it quick, we have a vital meeting at the hotel. Whether our company can survive the crisis depends on this meeting." Boss Ding’s recurring dramatization piled more stress on Gu Fan, who was perplexed: "I am just delivering documents. Why put so much pressure on me?"

Although the success of Boss Ding or the survival of the company had no significance for him, his heart was moved every time he saw Boss Ding battling tirelessly in the desolate office, refusing to give up. His spirit of determination, despite the lack of hope, deeply influenced Gu Fan.

Gu Fan recalled Boss Ding had once said that he would never abandon an employee in trouble because he knew the day might come when the company would be in difficulty. If he expected his employees not to abandon the company, he should do the same and not abandon his staff.

Boss Ding seemed like an excellent boss to Gu Fan. It is a pity though, he lost to reality. All his employees left him; not one stayed with him to weather this storm.

As he witnessed his employees departing one after another, Gu Fan wondered how Boss Ding must have felt. It must have been devastating. However, seeing him plunge back into work ardently, it did not appear as if he were hugely affected. It seemed that people who had overcome countless challenges and weathered many a storm, had a different mindset.

"I hope he can pull through this." Gu Fan sighed inwardly, as the chances seemed bleak.