Chapter 36: Not Short of Money

When we arrived at the train station, the rain had stopped completely.

The driver dropped them off at the station before leaving. This was not Zhou Nuan's first time taking a train. She had taken a train to teach in rural areas when she was in college, but not long after, she was called back by her father.

The current station is naturally incomparable to that of her time, and the crowd is crowded, but fortunately, everyone helps each other because they are all women and children, and they found seats without much effort.

Just as she arrived at her seat, a man with a mountain city accent enthusiastically helped her put away her things and asked, "Big sister, where are you going?"

Zhou Nuan gave him a grateful smile and said, "Let's go to Haicheng and find my man."

"Haicheng? Oh, what a coincidence, this Sun sister is also going to Haicheng, so you guys just happen to have company along the way."

Zhou Nuan looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a young girl with single eyelids and lips painted bright red looking at herself in the mirror near the window. She was pretty, but too dark. The color of her lipstick didn't suit her very well, and it made her skin look even dirtier.

She thought about it and decided it would be hard to reject her enthusiastic brother, so she said in a gentle voice, "Hello, are you going to Haicheng too?"

The girl didn't move.

The eldest brother called out again, "Big sister, I'm talking to you."

Hearing what her elder brother said, the young girl raised her eyelids, a little impatient.

After seeing Zhou Nuan's face, she was stunned for a moment, but soon became disdainful, "Which district is your man in? What does he do?"

Because she was worried about the crowds on the train and that they might be noticed, Zhou Nuan asked the whole family to change into simple clothes. Unexpectedly, she was despised by the little girl.

Zhou Nuan: ...

Does this questioning expression look familiar to you?

She ignored him. The man with single eyelids probably wanted to show off in front of her, so he said proudly, "I want to go to Baohu District to live with my aunt. She is now a housekeeper in a wealthy family and has a high salary."

He glanced at Qin Yuezhi and said, "Seeing you carrying a lot of bags and your family, you are not going to escape, are you? I heard that many families are going to Haicheng to work in factories. Does your husband also work in a factory?"

Gu Xiyue actually works in a factory, but it is his own factory.

Zhou Nuan didn't want to talk to her any more and lowered her head to coax Xiaoxi.

Seeing that she didn't refute, he acquiesced, and the contempt between his single eyelid brows became even stronger, "Who are you, and dare to have anything to do with me?"

Shancheng was very embarrassed, "Sister, why do you talk like that?"

The single-lidded girl continued to look in the mirror, "Brother, don't think you can interfere just because you helped me. I hate people who don't know what's good for them the most."

Brother Shancheng's dark face turned red, and he muttered, "I'm just being kind, since they're both girls, it's good to have someone to take care of them on the way..."

Zhou Nuan said, "Brother, you are right. It's just that some people look like humans but actually don't speak human language. There are all kinds of people in this world. Don't take it to heart, brother."

Qin Yuezhi opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but Su Hang stopped her. Su Hang lowered his voice and said, "Grandma, don't get involved. My aunt is here."

The man with single eyelids slapped the mirror in his hand and glared, "Who are you saying is not a human?!"

"Just say whoever answers. If you don't acknowledge it, how do you know I'm talking about you? Are you feeling guilty?" Zhou Nuan glanced at her coldly.

Single Eyelid was about to lose her temper, but when she saw that Brother Shancheng, who had been so enthusiastic just now, was now glaring at her with a look of disapproval, her momentum suddenly weakened.

"I won't bother with you poor people." She snorted coldly and continued to admire herself in the mirror.

The elder brother from Shancheng was helpless and said to Zhou Nuan with a guilty look on his face, "I'm sorry, sister, I thought she had been to Haicheng and was familiar with the road, but I didn't expect..."

Zhou Nuan, "It's okay, big brother, you have good intentions. Big brother, are you here to work?"

Speaking of this, a trace of sadness floated across the dark face of the elder brother from Shancheng, "No, I am also here to look for someone, the mother of my child..."

He didn't want to say any more, and Zhou Nuan was tactful enough not to ask any more questions. Just then, a snack cart happened to come over.

"Pearl seeds, steamed buns, lunch boxes, do you need anything?"

Little Su Hang's stomach growled and he quickly covered his stomach with his hands, his little face stern, as if nothing had happened and it wasn't his stomach growling.

Zhou Nuan looked at his movements with amusement, "You can't cover up your growling stomach."

She must have been hungry too. She was a little hungry too. She left in a hurry and didn't even have time to eat dinner.

She called the conductor, "Hello, what can I eat?"

The conductor stopped and introduced the items one by one, "We have steamed buns, porridge, and dry rice. What do you want to eat?"

"Let me see..." Zhou Nuan leaned over.

The elder brother from Shancheng grabbed her and said, "Big sister, I have food here, you don't need to buy any more."

Then he lowered his voice and whispered, "The food on this train is expensive. It will cost a lot for your family to have enough to eat. When you are away from home, save as much as you can. I have it with me."

As he said that, he took out a few pancakes from his bag and handed them over. "This is what your aunt made for me before she went out. If you don't mind, just have some to fill your stomach."

Zhou Nuan looked over. The pancake smelled delicious. There wasn't much of it. It was obviously the only thing Shancheng's brother ate. She was not willing to take it. "It's okay, brother. You can keep it for yourself."

Brother Shancheng was unwilling to do so. The two of them pulled each other back and forth for a while. The conductor couldn't wait any longer and asked, "Do you want it or not? If not, I'll push it away."

"How can they afford to buy food?" Single Eyelid said coldly, standing up. "Give me something to eat."

Seeing that there was a lot of business, the conductor hurriedly called out enthusiastically, "Okay, what do you want to eat? The most delicious thing here is this braised pork lunch box. Would you like a box?"

"How much?"

"Not expensive, three dollars a box."

The action of taking out the money froze for a moment, and he said in a lost voice, "It's so expensive! Are you trying to rob me?"

The conductor was unhappy and glared at her angrily. "How can you talk like that? We didn't set the price. Why are you arguing with me? Besides, there's a lot of meat in the braised pork. The price is not expensive. If you can't afford it, don't eat it. It's ridiculous. If you don't want it, I'll just push it away."

The girl with single eyelids felt embarrassed in front of Zhou Nuan and couldn't hold it in, but she didn't want to offend the conductor. However, she was reluctant to spend three yuan to buy a box of rice, so she just gritted her teeth and picked the cheapest fried rice box at one yuan and fifty cents.

After paying the money, she took the lunch box from the conductor. She straightened her back a lot and deliberately slowed down her movements to pass it in front of Su Hang. The aroma of the rice wafted out, the fragrance was so tempting that it attracted envious glances from many people around.

She was very proud. "Kid, what are you looking at? You can't afford this. Go eat your cake."

Brother Shancheng frowned, regretting why he had helped such a person just now, while the conductor had already pushed the cart and was ready to leave.

Just then, a voice sounded faintly.

"Give me four boxes of braised pork lunch."