Chapter 4: Trying to Spend Money

Chapter 4

The next morning, very early before dawn.

Su Xiaoqi's door was knocked on.

"Xiaoqi, get up quickly."

She opened her eyes, turned on the light, and looked at the clock on the table. It was only five o'clock.

The village had only one bus going to the city every day.

It normally left at six, taking over two hours to get to the city. Usually it came back at noon. If there were a lot of people, it would make another trip in the afternoon, coming back at six.

People who needed to go out had to go early instead of late.

Usually when she had to go from home to school, Su Xiaoqi felt dead tired, having to get up so early.

But today she was a little excited. The interface was still in front of her, with one thousand dollars on it.

To be honest, she had never gotten so much pocket money since she was little.

Their Gumula Village was located very remotely with poor transportation. The villagers could not earn much from the crops on the mountain and things like that. They either went out to work, but Dad Su was lame and could not find a good job when he went out.

Mom Su was quite tall and good looking, but did not have much education. for new novels

The couple only had one child. They did not have big ambitions, just hoping to support the child to finish college so that the child could be self-reliant and not have to suffer in the countryside like themselves.

Su Xiaoqi read New Concept English Workbook 1 last night. Today she thought about it and took Workbooks 2, 3 and 4 with her too.

Although she was going to be a tutor, she did not have many things to pack. She did not have many clothes. With school being out, she could not wear her school uniform either. She had a few t-shirts which were extremely precious to her. She washed and folded them very carefully. Her shorts were boys' knee-length ones. Usually she just wore t-shirts and shorts, dressed a bit like a little boy. Su Xiaoqi had fair skin, a melon seed face, small eyes with single eyelids, red lips and white teeth. She was slim and tall, resembling her mother, very delicate looking.

After breakfast, she went with Dad to catch the bus.

Dad carried a large burden of winnowing baskets, weighed down by shoulder poles. The road was dark. Dad walked in front, breathing heavily.

She walked behind Dad. Before she would have felt ashamed and embarrassed but now she felt more sad.

Poverty was not wrong, and working hard to earn money was not wrong either. But all this made the just turned seventeen-year-old girl Su Xiaoqi feel awkward and upset.

She looked at the interface in front of her. As they started walking in the morning, the number one thousand went up.

Her heart beat a little faster. This was real, right? It could not be an illusion. It must not be.

When they arrived at the bus stop, because Dad carried a burden of winnowing baskets, he sat in the pickup bed. The front seats were usually left for women, children and the elderly. The men would usually not squeeze in. Of course some shameless ones would.

Su Xiaoqi was good looking and still a young girl, so she naturally sat in the front, squeezed between two older women.

She looked back through the glass at Dad outside. The sky had lightened a little, cool, very windy. Dad huddled in a corner, sitting on a piece of rag, chatting with others. His smile looked a little forced.

Unknowingly she had arrived at the entrance of the biggest mall in the city. To her surprise the doors were not open yet, a group of people waiting outside, eyeing covetously like things were free.

It was over 1500 now. What could she buy?

Seeing most of the people waiting at the entrance were older women.

The city women dressed very nicely too.

Next to her was an old lady wearing vertical striped pants, a white halter top with a pink jacket, even a strand of pearls around her neck. One look and you could tell she was well-off. Wrinkles on her face showed her age, but just looking from behind, she would even think this old lady looked younger and better dressed than her own mom.

At this moment, Su Xiaoqi recalled her mom's clothing, forever those few pieces. Although mom was quite good looking, she only wore those floral shirts from when she got married. Mom rarely came to the city, let alone buy clothes.

She wanted to buy a set of clothes for mom.

Somewhat nice clothes.

It seemed a bit impulsive, but it was what she most wanted to do right now.

When the mall doors opened, she followed the crowd in.

She had come with classmates once before, just went along looking around, not familiar with it. But she subconsciously followed the fashionably dressed old lady.

She saw the old lady take the elevator to the third floor.

The third floor had many women's clothing stores, looking very mature.

Mom was quite tall, about five foot six, not skinny either, around one hundred and twenty pounds. She should buy one size up from herself. She wore size small, so mom could probably fit medium or large.

First time buying adult clothing, and at the mall, she felt a little nervous.

Her expression was still the seldom smiling one she usually had in the village.

She picked a short sleeve knit top with a knit cardigan, tan color. Although it was summer, mornings and nights were cool in the village, so this could be worn.

Just these two pieces together cost six hundred and eighty, way exceeding what she could normally afford. She had not even bought something like this before.

But feeling it in her hand, cool to the touch, she could imagine how mom would look wearing this, straightening her back and laughing.

"I'll buy it."

She took out her card and swiped.

There was no strange sound stopping her. It actually went through smoothly.

At this moment the balance on the interface changed to 985.8.

Carrying the clothes, she felt extra happy. She could even see a girl with a big smile, extremely delighted, in the mirror as she passed by.