There are only two stops left to reach the terminal, so there are not many people on the train, and there are still seats for Lin Mai.
She randomly picked an empty seat and sat down.
A well-dressed and pretty girl sitting in the seat next to her, who looked like she was from the city at first glance, gave her a disgusted look.
He said unkindly: "There are so many seats, but you have to sit next to me. Don't you know you stink, a rural person!"
Lin Mai rolled his eyes at her: "What's wrong with the rural people? Without the rural people, you would have starved to death!"
Many of our country's martyrs were also from rural areas. Without them sacrificing their lives and blood, how could you comfortably sit here and despise rural people?
If you think I smell bad, you can change seats, as if someone forced you to sit here!"
The pretty city girl's face was distorted with anger: "I sat here first, and you have to change seats if you want!"
Lin Mai retorted: "I took your seat? I sat next to you, okay! Then why should I change seats?"
In this era, although city people look down on country people, there are not many who go as far as this city girl.
Not to mention the rural people in the carriage supporting Lin Mai, even the city people angrily accused the city girl.
The city girl was so beaten up by everyone that she had to get up and go to another carriage.
More than an hour later, the train arrived at the terminal station, Hankou Railway Station.
Lin Mai picked up the burden and got out of the car with a few passengers.
At this time, Hankou Railway Station has not been relocated and is still on the bustling Station Road.
After getting off the train and exiting the platform, you will see the bustling Station Road. As far as you can see, they are all European-style buildings.
Not far away, a little girl of three or four years old, dirty and with yellow hair, was crying helplessly and looking for her mother.
The passers-by who saw this shrank away one after another, commenting that this child must have been abandoned by his biological parents, and that children from normal families could not be so dirty.
Lin Mai didn't take it seriously. She had been living for two generations and was used to the harsh conditions of the world. How could she have such a kind heart?
The pretty city girl who had had a conflict with Lin Mai on the train saw the dirty little loli from afar and wanted to take a detour in disgust.
That little loli probably saw that she was clean, beautiful, and young, and had a crush on her. She suddenly ran towards her and said in a tearful voice: "Auntie, do you want me? I..."
Before she finished speaking, the pretty city girl was so frightened that she ran away on her little leather shoes, fearing that her little dirty hands would touch her red woolen coat.
As he ran, he muttered angrily: "You are blind, call me aunt!"
With tears in her eyes, the little girl stood there blankly, looking sad.
When she turned around sadly, she saw Lin Mai, hesitated for a moment, and ran towards her staggeringly.
He hugged one of her thighs and begged: "Auntie, do you want me to be good? I'm so good..."
Lin Mai looked down at the child, who was so thin that there was no flesh on his face, and couldn't help but feel compassion.
In her previous life, she and Wu Xiaoyu were never married, so they never had children.
She doesn't plan to get married in this life.
Since this child found her in the vast sea of people, she should adopt her so that she would have someone to rely on when she gets old.
Lin Mai said softly to the little girl: "Okay, but you have to tighten my clothes. If I pull them off, I won't come back to find you."
She carried a heavy burden on her own and struggled in the crowd, unable to take care of her.
The little girl nodded her head obediently and kept holding on to the hem of her clothes tightly.
Even if someone knocked her to the ground, she quickly got up, staggered to catch up with Lin Mai, and tightly grabbed the hem of her clothes again.
Two girls, one young and one young, stumbled out of the most crowded street at the entrance of the train station.
Lin Mai put down his burden, lowered his head and asked softly what the little girl's name was.
The little girl said in a milky voice: "My name is Duoduo."
This name clearly shows that her parents don't like her very much.
Lin Mai saw that Duo Duo had a sallow face and thin skin, his lips were peeling, and he looked very thirsty at first glance.
She raised her eyes and looked around, and saw a small tea stall set up at the door of a house facing the street. Behind the tea stall sat an old lady with gray hair but who kept the house clean.
In this era, although the government has loosened up on self-employed businesses, official documents have not yet been issued, so few people dare to start small businesses.
But after all, Hankou was once a foreign market ten miles away. The locals had a strong sense of business and were very courageous. Even an old lady would dare to set up a tea stall in front of her house. In Wuchang across the river, no one would dare.
Lin Mai rubbed his aching shoulders, picked up the burden again, and walked to the tea stall with Duoduo.
It's hard to sell tea in winter, so the old lady hasn't opened her shop since morning. She was a little happy to see that she finally had a customer.
He immediately took out two small benches from under the table and let the two girls, one big and one small, sit on them.
Duoduo was a little timid, so when she saw Lin Mai sitting down, she followed suit.
Lin Mai smiled and asked: "Mother-in-law, how do you sell this tea?"
In his previous life, Lin Mai came to the city in his twenties and lived in the provincial capital Jiangcheng until his death, so he spoke the Jiangcheng dialect very authentically.
There is a characteristic of Jiangcheng people. If you speak the local dialect well, the locals will recognize you as a local and treat you with extra enthusiasm and frankness.
Hearing Lin Mai's pure dialect, the old lady initially disliked her and Duoduo's poor appearance, but now she doesn't dislike them anymore.
He smiled and said: "A big cup costs two cents, a small cup costs one cent."
In this era when grain supplies only cost 15 cents per catty, this price is neither cheap nor expensive.
Lin Mai handed over two cents: "Let's have two small cups."
The old lady hurriedly poured two cups of scalding hot tea. Although the tea was inferior, it tasted pretty good, had a good texture, and had a pleasant fragrance.
Duoduo took the tea and couldn't wait to drink it. Because it was too hot, he couldn't drink it in big sips, so he could only drink it in small sips.
Lin Mai was afraid that she would drink too much.
She was not only thirsty, but also hungry, and very tired. Drinking water too quickly could hurt her heart.
Now seeing that she couldn't drink even if she wanted to, Lin Mai felt relieved.
She took out the bag of dried sweet potatoes that Zhou Caiyun had given her as dry food and gave Duo Duo a large handful, letting her eat to satisfy her hunger first.
Duoduo took it and ate it hungrily. He didn't know how hungry he was.
Lin Mai said distressedly: "Eat slowly, don't choke, there will still be more after you finish eating."
As he said that, he grabbed two more handfuls of dried sweet potatoes and put them in her pocket.
At this time, a five or six-year-old boy ran out of the house and stared at Duoduo eating dried sweet potatoes with salivation.
Although conditions in cities in this era are better than in rural areas, you have to pay for everything, and urban children don’t have much snacks to eat.
Lin Mai generously grabbed a large handful of dried sweet potatoes and gave them to the little boy.
The little boy said thank you, took the dried sweet potato and ran into the house.
The old lady turned her head and shouted at his back: "You can just take over what I'm doing. Why are you so thick-skinned? You only know how to eat!"
The little boy didn't respond.
The old lady smiled apologetically at Lin Mai: "My grandson is too greedy. He doesn't care about anything when he eats."
Lin Mai smiled and said, "All children are like this."
She looked thoughtfully at the busy street with people coming and going, and asked the old lady tentatively: "Mother-in-law, can I borrow your pot and spatula to fry chestnuts and sell them?"
"Fried chestnuts." The old lady obviously didn't want to borrow it. She looked at the two sacks next to Lin Mai and said, "It takes a lot of time to fry chestnuts."