Chapter 19

Xiaoqi ran home as fast as she could.

She didn't care about the scenery in front of her.

She also didn't care about the sounds behind her anymore.

After taking the bus for nearly three hours and unexpectedly meeting her old classmate again, Su Xiaoqi gained some new insights.

Casually showing off wealth without a proper reason is absolutely unacceptable.

These aunties, sweet-talking to your face but gossiping behind your back as soon as they've walked a few steps away.

She didn't know where Zhang Juan went to spend money, but her shopping did seem a bit excessive. Still, Zhang Juan had lived abroad to study before, so Xiaoqi knew there was always a bigger world out there and always people better off than you, and being able to afford those things wasn't too outrageous.

It was just that Zhang Juan loved to show off too much.

And it really was difficult to keep smiling: at most Xiaoqi could politely smile, but she couldn't smile sweetly at everyone and greet them affectionately like Zhang Juan did.

After Zhang Juan acted like that, those aunties would still gossip about her behind her back.

So being sweet and gentle to the world doesn't necessarily mean you'll be treated gently in return. Xiaoqi couldn't be like Zhang Juan, but she could maintain her politeness. At the very least this time, she had gained more than usual: except for the driver Da Yong calling her a college student, no one else had mocked her.

She smiled: she had gained enough.

Right on time.

Arriving home, she saw at the door her dad surrounded by a pile of bamboo slats, weaving winnowing baskets, and her mom was also sitting there, the two of them side by side but not too close together lest the bamboo slats hit each other.

"Mom and Dad, I'm back!" Xiaoqi called out loudly.

This startled Dad Su and Mom Su.

"How come you're back? Did something happen? Why didn't you call ahead of time?" Dad Su stood up a bit nervously.

Mom Su also put down the half-finished winnowing basket she was working on.

Xiaoqi walked into the living room to let her mom see her more clearly, before explaining: "Nothing happened, I found a tutoring job and started working yesterday. The parent really likes me and wants to introduce me to new students. I was worried I'd be too busy later to come back home, so I came back today first."

Hearing this, Dad Su and Mom Su both breathed a sigh of relief. But Mom Su immediately added: "You must be starving, I'll go make you something to eat. You didn't say you were coming, we don't have much food at home. Fu, go to the convenience store and see if they have chicken claws: Xiaoqi loves those, buy 1 jin. Don't buy 3 jin, I'll braise them and let her bring some to her auntie in the city tomorrow."

Dad Su stood up to head out, but Xiaoqi stopped him.

"No need, Auntie knew I was coming back and gave me a lot of delicious food, because she was sending some to Third Grandmother anyway so she included extra portions."

Xiaoqi opened her bag: inside were duck, meat, everything was packed in double portions.

Dad Su and Mom Su were a bit surprised.

"How come there's so much stuff this time?" Before it had only been some fruit, and Dad Su and Mom Su had felt a bit embarrassed accepting it when their daughter was already eating at her cousin's place.

"Well, I think it was gifted by a patient, and Auntie wanted to bring some to Third Grandmother, so she split it into two portions."

Hearing Xiaoqi's explanation, Dad Su and Mom Su insisted they didn't want it, saying just one portion for Third Grandmother would be enough, and to bring that over.

Su Xiaoqi: ...This is so difficult...

"Auntie already prepared it in two portions, if you repackage it now, it'll just make Third Grandmother misunderstand: Auntie already bought it, just take it, in the future when I'm better off I'll also be good to Auntie," Xiaoqi made the decision firmly.

This left Dad Su and Mom Su dumbfounded.

It was rare to see their daughter being so decisive and generous, making them feel proud but also heartache: their girl deserved better.

"Then Mom will make you something to eat, eat a little something first, then quickly bring the stuff to your Third Grandmother." Mom Su nimbly went to the kitchen to wash pots and vegetables.

Dad Su started the fire.

Mom Su stir-fried the leftovers from lunch, adding egg, and also cooked a bowl of bok choy soup.

Mom's cooking was much better than Auntie's, and Xiaoqi had been exercising a lot recently, so she finished the entire bowl and also drank all the soup.

After wiping her mouth and rinsing, she got up to carry the things.

"I was carrying quite heavy earlier, should your dad go with you?" Mom Su suggested.

"No need, I can carry it myself, I carried it all the way back myself before." Without further explanation, Xiaoqi picked it up and left.

Third Grandmother's house was in the middle of the village. Xiaoqi hurried over, saw that Third Grandmother was quite healthy, helping her daughter-in-law take care of her grandson. Xiaoqi put down the things and left without staying long, just saying it was from Auntie.

Third Grandmother was still a bit surprised: she knew her own daughter well, stubborn as a mule ever since the divorce and unwilling to come back. How could she have thought to buy food for her mom now?

She'd give her daughter a call later and ask, she should be at work now.

Xiaoqi was quite fond of Third Grandmother, hale and cheerful with a constant smile that made people feel good. But staying longer meant more lies, so she simply left first.

Arriving home, she saw Dad helping Mom clean up the ingredients: he had gone to the convenience store for chicken claws after all and was trimming their little toenails.

Seeing her parents wearing the slippers she bought, Xiaoqi smiled broadly. "Mom, how come you're not wearing the clothes I bought you?"

"That nice fabric, too wasteful to wear doing chores. At the end of the month, your big cousin is getting married, we'll be going for the wedding banquet, I'll wear it then." Mom Su said with a smile.

Xiaoqi took out the things she bought for Dad from her schoolbag.

Dad Su looked at the items in front of him and was stunned for quite a while.

"Daughter bought this for me?"

His hands holding the scissors even trembled a little.

Worried he might cut the new clothes with the scissors, he quickly put them down.

After washing his hands again, he finally dared to touch the clothes.

Seeing there were also leather shoes, Dad Su's face stiffened a bit, from delight to displeasure.

"Where did you get so much money? Don't lie to your dad, these leather shoes aren't cheap, they're real leather."

"Dad, what are you thinking! I wouldn't dare do anything bad even if you gave me a hundred guts. I went to tutor and the parent is really nice, she pays me 100 yuan per hour, I taught for 2 hours so I got 200 yuan. She also introduced me to a few students, some even gave a deposit, altogether I collected over 800 yuan, so I wanted to buy some things for you."

Su Xiaoqi sighed inwardly, one lie really was destined to need countless more lies to cover it up. Lying really was too tiring.

"Is that parent male or female?" Dad Su still couldn't help asking one more question. Having experienced ups and downs in life, they had heard all kinds of good and bad things, and absolutely didn't want their child to stray for a bit of money.

"My student is a second-year middle school girl. Her parents divorced so she lives with her mom, it's just the two of them at home." This wasn't a lie, so Xiaoqi answered smoothly.

"Then you should teach her well, orphans and widows have it hard too." Right after saying this, he still couldn't help lecturing her for spending money lavishly: tuition was due soon, if she didn't save up, they wouldn't be able to pay next time, otherwise he wouldn't wear the clothes even if she bought them.

Yet he still stroked the clothes and pants and shoes over and over, asking if they could be returned.

And for the earrings Xiaoqi bought Mom, she could only say they were gold-plated, bought at a small shop for a few tens of yuan. She knew that even so, her mom would cherish them dearly.

Mom Su put them on right away, touching them left and right, extremely happy.

That night, Dad Su deliberately took a bath and changed into all the new clothes, the pants fit perfectly, and with the leather shoes, he looked a good 7 or 8 years younger all of a sudden.

Beaming with satisfaction, he could hardly wait to go out and show off immediately. But he looked in the mirror for a bit, then took all the clothes and shoes off and changed back into his regular clothes.

"Dad, how come you're not wearing them? Don't you like how they look? We can exchange if the size is wrong, but they can't be returned."

Xiaoqi had cut off the tags but kept them.

"No need to wear such nice stuff everyday, like your mom said, your big cousin is getting married at the end of the month and we'll be going to the banquet, I'll wear it then."

After changing, Dad Su went back to the living room to weave winnowing baskets.

Xiaoqi also sat in the living room, as she still had a bamboo weaving skill bonus card to give to her dad. The main purpose of this trip was for him to use it.

"Activate the Platinum Bamboo Weaving Skill Bonus Card for Su Youfu. Su Youfu's bamboo weaving skill level is Basic+, after using the skill card it will be Expert+."