Transmigrated as the Villain Boss's Precious Darling-Chapter 127: The Train Station

Adrian Hawthorne couldn’t help but give one of Tang Xiaonan’s pigtails another tug. The chubby girl was such a little money-grubber; the moment she heard they’d be splitting the profits, her eyes shone brighter than lightbulbs.

Tang Xiaonan just beamed, not at all annoyed. ’The one with the money is the boss,’ she thought. ’Let him tug away. I can be magnanimous.’

"Meat-filled rice dumplings, tea eggs, small steamed buns..."

A middle-aged woman in a station worker’s uniform came over, pushing a cart laden with food. It was all easy-to-carry snacks like tea eggs, zongzi, and buns, as well as wontons.

Not many people were buying, and those who did were clearly well-off travelers. You could tell by their clothes, appearance, and behavior.

Those with neat, clean, and even fashionable clothes were certainly from well-to-do families. Most of the men wore Mao suits or work jackets made of dacron, their sleeves impeccably creased. They often had a fountain pen tucked into a breast pocket, a watch on their wrist, and leather shoes polished to a gleam. Some also wore glasses. Male travelers like these were typically on official business trips.

Their food and drink were reimbursed by their work units, so they spent freely and didn’t hold back. Tang Xiaonan watched several of these sharply dressed travelers buy wontons. The wontons here were more expensive than those outside—sixteen fen for a serving that wasn’t even filling—but they didn’t require grain coupons. Most other travelers preferred to buy the five-fen tea eggs, which were better at staving off hunger.

Female travelers were even easier to tell apart. The ones dressed fashionably certainly came from well-off families. Although this was an era dominated by blues, grays, and blacks, that couldn’t suppress a woman’s innate love for beauty. Many young women found clever ways to adorn themselves.

Their Lenin suits were tailored to be more form-fitting, outlining their alluring curves. The waist, in particular, was cinched tighter to create a slender, willow-like figure. The pants were made with straight, crisp legs, unlike the baggy, oversized trousers of the past that looked so sloppy.

Resourceful girls would also focus on other small details, using brightly colored gauze scarves to accentuate their youth. A simple, solid-colored handkerchief, tied in the hair, became a beautiful ornament or a headband. These small accessories were both modest and pretty, creating a lovely spectacle in this unique period of history.

As for the travelers in rough, unkempt clothes, their families were usually not doing well. They couldn’t even bring themselves to buy a five-fen tea egg. Some simply went hungry, while others brought their own dry rations and got free hot water to get by for a meal.

There was no need to even consider such travelers. They would certainly never buy a movie still for twenty fen. For them, it would be like a salaried worker today buying a ten-thousand-yuan handbag—completely unrealistic.

"What do you want to eat?"

The auntie pushed her cart past, the aroma of food wafting into their nostrils. Adrian Hawthorne looked down and asked.

Tang Xiaonan shook her head. "I don’t want anything."

’I haven’t earned any money yet. I’m in no mood to eat.’

Adrian Hawthorne, however, called out to the auntie and bought six meat buns. Meat buns from restaurants outside required grain coupons, but you didn’t need them at the train station or on the train. They were more expensive, at fifteen fen each, but it was still considered a good deal. Many people on business trips would take the opportunity to buy meat dishes like soy-braised beef or roast duck to bring home.

"This little girl is so pretty."

The auntie chuckled as she sized up Tang Xiaonan. Here in Vessaria, a little girl was called a *nan*, and a boy was a *jian*. The characters used for these words were homophones in Mandarin, but in the local dialect, they were pronounced differently: the one for "girl" was "nu," and the one for "boy" was "ni."

Tang Xiaonan smiled sweetly, her eyes curving into crescents. She loved hearing people call her pretty. In fact, she thought she was pretty herself whenever she looked in the mirror. ’I have no idea how I’ll end up growing into such a dull, clumsy, fat person later on,’ she mused.

Once the auntie was a good distance away, Adrian Hawthorne took Tang Xiaonan by the hand to scout for potential customers. They quickly found their first target: a young woman with a badge pinned to her chest. She had her hair in two pigtails and looked like a university student on her way to class.