“Xiaohe, Xiaogu—this is my younger brother. You can call him Uncle too. He looks a bit young, but he’s been out of college for two years.”
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes immediately filled with admiration—he was a college graduate! Their brigade had never produced a college student before.
Her voice was especially loud as she greeted him. “Hello, Uncle!”
Yuan Fei flinched—this kid sure had a set of lungs!
He replied awkwardly, “Hello—you too!”
“Hahahahaha… Stop goofing around, you two!” Chen Fang was laughing so hard tears were forming—it really was amusing.
“Xiao Fei, go wash your face. We’re about to have dinner. Now that you’ve quit your job, you should get some good rest and build up your health.
You’re still young, but you’ve got all sorts of health problems from overworking.”
“Okay.” Yuan Fei agreed with a smile.
Because of the age gap, his big brother and sister-in-law were almost like parents to him.
He was still quite obedient.
“Aunt Fang, we’ll be going too. We still want to buy a few things—if we stay any longer, we won’t have time.”
Lin Xiaohe quickly said her goodbyes—there was still plenty to buy.
“Alright, I won’t keep you. Make sure that money’s safe.”
“Hehe, don’t worry—it won’t get lost.”
Leaving the grain and oil shop, the two headed to the supermarket.
“Sis, what are we buying at the supermarket?”
“Shampoo, and the soap Sister Wu Zhiqing wanted. We’ll see what else we can find.”
With money in their pockets, they could talk big.
Lin Xiaohe felt like she was floating as she walked.
“Hehe, Sis—I want to eat braised pork! I heard the educated youth talk about it once, and I’ve been drooling ever since.
We’ve got money now—can we make some braised pork?”
“We could, but I don’t know how.” Aunt Fang had just given them 800 yuan—they had plenty of cash. If it was just braised pork, sure! But she didn’t know how to make it.
She only knew how to make simple stir-fried dishes. Braised pork was too advanced.
“True…” Xiaogu clicked her tongue in disappointment. “Never mind—we’ll wait until Mom’s better.”
Lin Xiaohe tucked this away in her mind, planning to ask around about how to make it later.
They wandered around the supermarket before finally finding the shampoo aisle—normally, they wouldn’t even glance at it. Walking past, you could smell the strong fragrances—clearly not cheap.
“What are you two looking for?”
Seeing them stop to look, a salesperson immediately came over to pitch.
“We want something for washing hair—cheap and in large quantities.”
Lin Xiaohe had no problem stating what they needed.
She’d also noticed something strange—back when she only had a few dozen yuan, saying things like this would’ve made her blush for ages.
Now that she had more money, she could say it naturally, without a trace of embarrassment.
Hearing that, the salesperson’s enthusiasm dropped by half—people like this didn’t need a sales pitch, and there was no commission anyway.
“You can look at these ones on the bottom shelf—they’re pretty good. Old domestic brands, cheap, with decent reputations.
But I’d still recommend these—you get what you pay for, and there’s a reason they cost more…”
And so she launched into a pitch for the products she wanted to sell.
Lin Xiaohe let the words go in one ear and out the other, keeping her eyes on the cheap, large-volume options.
Seeing that she wasn’t interested, the salesperson stopped talking and leaned against the shelf.
“Sis, read them for me—I can’t read. Don’t just look for yourself.”
Lin Xiaohe scratched her head—did she know that many characters herself?
“I can’t read either. How about we just pick the one that looks the biggest and cheapest?”
There was no choice—they suffered from being uneducated.
“Okay.” Xiaogu couldn’t make sense of any of it either, so she had no objections.
“Xia Xia, what are you doing? Just standing there—help them out!”
Another salesperson walked over.
“These ones are all really good—old domestic brands, the kind we used when we were kids.
Very trustworthy. These Bee & Flower ones are great for being cheap and large-volume—and Bee & Flower is a well-known classic brand.”
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes lit up—she’d heard of this brand before!
Xiaoxuan’s family had it!
She’d heard that you just squeeze a little onto your hair, rub it in, and it makes lots of lather—washes really clean. After washing, your hair wasn’t dry and straw-like at all.
No hesitation—she grabbed a big bottle.
It looked different from Xiaoxuan’s—theirs came in a tube like toothpaste, while this one was round—but it was the same stuff.
Oh—and the soap Sister Wu Zhiqing wanted!
She almost forgot again.
She turned to the salesperson. “Auntie, we also want a bar of soap. Where’s that?”
“Walk straight down this aisle—it’s at the very end.”
The middle-aged lady pointed warmly—she was a shampoo and body wash promoter and couldn’t leave her section, or she’d have shown them herself.
“Thanks, Auntie!”
They couldn’t tell much from the pile of soaps, so they just picked the cheapest one.
Since they were already there, might as well buy a few other things—otherwise, the trip was wasted.
“Sis, what else are we getting?” Xiaogu noticed her sister wasn’t heading to checkout, so she knew there was more.
“I don’t know—let’s browse and see what catches our eye.” Lin Xiaohe shook her head. There wasn’t anything specific she needed.
Xiaogu suddenly remembered something. “Oh—Yuya Jie asked us to bring her some snacks, right? Let’s see what we can get.”
“Good idea—let’s look around.”
They actually found some—across the aisle, which meant crossing the entire supermarket.
Even though they were all sealed packages, they could smell a spicy, savory aroma.
“Sis, it smells so good!” Xiaogu felt her mouth watering—how could it be that fragrant?
“Let’s buy a little.”
“Maybe not—it feels kind of expensive. One pack costs a few yuan.”
Xiaogu winced at the price—one pack cost as much as half a jin of meat.
“There’s a snack shop across from the supermarket—it’s cheaper and has more variety.”
Yuan Fei was holding two packs of boneless chicken feet. He hadn’t planned to say anything, but seeing the two kids look so tempted yet pitiful, he spoke up.
“It’s you, Uncle!” Lin Xiaohe greeted him warmly. “Thanks for the tip—we’ll go check it out.”
They didn’t linger in the supermarket—they paid and rushed out.
After crossing the street and searching for a while, they found the shop. It was packed—there was a line at the checkout.
“Sis, there are so many people!”
“If there are lots of people, it can’t be expensive. Let’s grab a basket.” Seeing the crowd reassured Lin Xiaohe.
She picked up a basket and started browsing.
The very first shelf made her eyes go wide—it was all candy, every kind imaginable.
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