The man with sunglasses had no idea of the effect his words were having, and even if he did, he wouldn't care. The young woman in his arms had red eyes and seemed like she wanted to retort, but she bit her lips and restrained herself. Hermione, on the other hand, was furious at his comments.
"What are you saying? During World War II, the Soviet Union was undoubtedly the country that contributed the most and sacrificed the most. The resistance in a single building here lasted longer than the entire resistance in the entire country of France. The Russians resisted under German fire, fighting for every inch of this land. And now, according to you, all of that is just boasting," Hermione quickly reproached the man with glasses.
The man with sunglasses froze and looked at Hermione in her normal clothes, "English?" He was basing his judgment on Hermione's accent. He took a closer look at Hermione's outfit: cow-colored jacket, fringed scarf, tight jeans, mid-calf black boots, and a youthful face that seemed like that of a regular tourist, although the British were now considered the best in the country, they were still essentially soft.
So, he became defiant. "What do you care? Are you begging in Moscow? Don't meddle in what doesn't concern you!"
He wanted to say more, but he was met with the pupil of a snake. He grimaced in pain, but when he looked, all he saw was a deep black eye.
"FUCK OFF, idiot!" Tom shouted a curse at him. Hermione thought the man wouldn't just stay quiet after hearing those words, but what she didn't expect was that the man simply turned around and walked away without uttering a cruel word. She looked at Tom and realized that he already had his wand in his hand.
"Calm down!" She was scared. "Don't rush, it's not worth it. Don't do anything stupid because of him..."
Only after Hermione's repeated attempts to dissuade him did Tom put away his wand. His intention was to strip the guy naked and throw him into an alley after the petrification spell, and it wasn't his concern whether he survived the autumn wind of Moscow during the spell.
But Hermione interceded for him, so they forgave him this time.
With a wave of Tom's wand, the man with the glasses suddenly broke, causing his pants to fall and him to stumble to the ground.
After a little punishment, Tom looked at the grandmother, who was standing pitifully to the side, and directed some gentle words of consolation towards her.
"Why are you selling them?" Hermione said, still a little incredulous. "These are the honors of you and your husband when you were young."
There was no shine in the grandmother's eyes. "The family hasn't eaten for days, and it would be better to exchange them for loaves of bread than to starve to death." Her words were calm, without any emotion. Perhaps all her emotions had died that Christmas, two years ago.
Hermione was shocked by the words, she couldn't imagine how the family of a veteran from the countryside could be reduced to such a state.
Tom nudged Hermione to take out her purse, wrapped the pounds in a cloth, and handed them to the grandmother. Then he took the basket with the medals.
"I'll take good care of them, I'll never be their owner," Tom promised solemnly.
"Thank you," the grandmother's eyes moistened slightly. Just as she was about to leave, Tom stopped her and handed her a bag of bread, then he and Hermione turned around and left together. Tom took Hermione and walked as fast as he could, as if he was running away from something.
The grandmother walked unsteadily towards her home. Fortunately, there were no mishaps along the way, and the grandmother returned to her home with a bag of bread and a stack of pounds, in a deteriorated Khrushchev apartment building with drafts. This type of matchbox-shaped building was mainly constructed during the Khrushchev era, assigned as social housing for the country's citizens, and they have very evident features of the era and ideology. In those times, living in a building like this was a source of pride. Today, however, they are as hole-ridden and weary as the country.
The old woman entered her house with heavy steps, opening the door. She walked in darkness to her room, where there was no electricity, and approached her bed. She took out a bread and addressed the person in the bed, "Old man, have some bread... I got rid of those things, luckily I met good people and exchanged them for some money, at least we can..."
"I won't eat. I'm not hungry," the man in the bed said with a hoarse voice. The old woman sighed, left the bread on the nightstand, turned around, and exited the bedroom.
...
"What kind of tickets do you want?" The middle-aged plump woman sitting behind the ticket counter asked Tom, "For two people or four? Soft berth or hard berth?"
On the Trans-Siberian train, just like on regular trains, there are compartments with hard berths and soft berths. There are compartments for two people and for four people, and there are even hard open-style seats, but in general, nobody chooses to be in hard seats throughout the journey, as that could truly endanger their lives. Most people who purchase hard seats are locals from the cities along the railway line, as they will disembark halfway, so they can endure it.
"For two people," Hermione decisively chose the soft berth for two people. What other option did she have? She didn't want to spend seven days sleeping on a hard plank, let alone sharing a room with others.
"By the way, is there a place to shower on the train?" Hermione realized a very real problem: Is there no place to shower on the train?
Not showering for seven days and still having to complete the mission? Hermione felt a sudden urge to return to Hogwarts.
"There are basic restroom facilities at the beginning and end of the train, but you must be mentally prepared, the water flow inside is very limited, and most of the time you will have to wait in line. Waiting five or six hours to shower is quite common, so I suggest you bring wet wipes." The seller had a lot of patience with Hermione, and seeing Hermione's expression change, she knew she had achieved her goal: she had already noticed that Hermione's financial situation was not common, and naturally wanted to gain some benefit from her.
"However, you can purchase a luxurious suite on the 'Golden Eagle Express,' which has a private bathroom and even a bathtub." The seller recommended the Golden Eagle to Hermione, one of the most luxurious trains in Europe, and indeed in the world. It could fulfill all her desires, but there was a small problem: it was expensive. Twenty years later, a ticket for the Golden Eagle Express would cost twenty thousand US dollars. Now, it would cost thousands of British pounds.
However, the ticket price didn't shock Tom, who noticed something in the ticket seller's words.