Chapter 41: The Bank Is Such a Good Guy

“Mom, can I buy a peach cake?”

“Buy it.”

“Auntie, please get me a package of peach cakes.”

“Mom, can I also get some Great White Rabbit candies? I promised to bring candy for Dad.”

“Buy it.”

“Auntie, please get me a can of Great White Rabbit candies.”

“Mom, I want this outfit and hat.”

“Buy it.”

“Auntie, let me try it on.”

Su Ai swept through the entire store, buying whatever her son wanted and whatever she wanted to eat.

But her shopping style seemed like a joke, and a salesclerk with a condescending attitude was immediately displeased.

“You’re buying so much; do you have the money…”

Before she finished, Su Ai slapped three hundred-yuan bills on the counter.

“Whatever my son picks, he can try it on.”

Su Ai didn’t like petty arguments; money could solve everything.

The salesclerk’s face froze for a moment, then twisted into a smile.

“Okay, I’ll get you the clothes right away.”

Su Ai bought several outfits for herself as well.

At that time, there weren’t many clothing styles or colors; the choices were limited.

But even with those limited colors, Su Ai’s good figure made everything look beautiful on her.

She had been reborn in February, right after the New Year; it was now March.

The weather was getting warmer every day, and the mall was selling spring clothes.

She first chose a floral shirt, paired with dark green suit pants and a long-sleeved shirt a capable and sharp businesswoman.

Then a red long-sleeved long dress, bright and generous.

A blue shirt, paired with a scarf, and white pants.

Denim suits, which were just becoming popular at that time.

And a well-tailored black cheongsam with dark patterns.

Finally, Su Ai was tired of trying on clothes and directly said: “This, this, this…”

“Wrap them up according to the sizes I mentioned.”

Finally, Su Ai’s finger stopped on a more gentle floral long dress, which she picked out.

“Take this one too.”

After buying women’s clothing, she went to the men’s section.

Using her own aesthetic, she chose in the same way: “This, this, this…”

At that time, shirts and straight-leg pants were the most popular styles black, white, and floral shirts paired with jeans, black and white pants.

Two suits, long thin windbreakers, sweaters, and sweatshirts.

In the end, Su Ai walked ahead, and the salesclerk carried a pile of clothes behind her.

Plus the few sets she bought for Lele, Su Ai spent over 700 yuan just on clothes.

Her bicycle couldn’t carry them all.

“I need to buy other things; go outside and find someone with a cart to help me carry the goods.”

“This is a tip.” Su Ai directly gave her one yuan.

The salesclerk happily went to find someone.

Su Ai went to buy some other things.

By this time, cloth coupons, food coupons, and other basic coupons had been abolished.

So, you only needed money to buy things.

Setting up stalls and doing business were also encouraged.

However, the events of the previous few years left a deep impression, so few people dared to do business.

Therefore, only a small number of people became wealthy.

But because the country’s industry wasn’t very developed, and various technologies were blocked, coupons for industrial products hadn’t been abolished.

You could buy a lot of clothes, but if you wanted to buy a radio, a television, or a bicycle, you needed coupons.

The prices in the black market were much higher without coupons.

Su Ai didn’t have coupons, so she only bought some basic necessities.

After spending over a thousand yuan at the department store, the purchases were piled onto a cart, and after paying the cart fee, she had them sent home.

She then took Lele to the bank.

What for?

To deposit money.

“Comrade, can you repeat how much you’re depositing?”

“Ten thousand yuan.”

Su Ai slapped the backpack containing the money on the table.

“I know that when someone becomes a ‘ten-thousand-yuan household,’ you’ll beat gongs and drums and send a big red flower to their home. I don’t have time today; send someone tomorrow.”

The bank staff were stunned. This was a county-level city.

Although they saw people depositing money every day, and the bank had a lot of money, and some entrepreneurs’ accounts went through them, so they handled a lot of money, this was different from the concept of an ordinary person having ten thousand yuan.

“Comrade, we need to count the money first.”

“Count it.”

Su Ai sat down in the lobby with her son.

Lele looked around curiously.

“Mom, why are we giving them the money?”

“We’re not giving it to them; we’re depositing it.”

“Can’t we keep it at home? Why deposit it here?”

Su Ai gave her son a fruit leather snack to chew on slowly.

“We get interest if we deposit it here.”

“What’s interest?”

“It’s like if Mom deposits one yuan here, after a year, they’ll give Mom two yuan. Of course, that’s just an example; they’ll give a bit more, but not as much as one yuan becoming two.”

Lele already had some concept of money.

Hearing about one yuan becoming two, he became interested.

“If it’s not two yuan, how much is it?”

Su Ai asked a staff member and learned that the current interest rate for a one-year fixed deposit was 6.5%.

She was astonished.

In the following decades, after various interest rate adjustments, the interest rate would be only one or two percent.

The current interest rate of 6.5% was an unimaginable number for someone who hadn’t lived through this era.

“If we deposit ten thousand yuan for a year, we can get 650 yuan in interest.”

“Wow!” Lele could only count to ten; ten thousand was an astronomical number for him, and so was 650.

He knew that 650 yuan could buy a lot of things.

“Mom, the bank is such a good guy.”

A good guy? Su Ai smiled.

“But why do they give us money?”

“Do they have some kind of magic? They take our money, and poof, they make more money?” The child was very curious.

Su Ai and the staff member counting the money both chuckled.

“No.”

“A bank is actually a kind of business.”

“Business?”

“A business that gives money to others? How do they make money?”

Su Ai was happy that her son was curious and didn’t try to mislead him: “When money goes to the bank, the bank uses it. For example, some people deposit money in the bank, and some people borrow money from the bank.”

“If someone borrows money from the bank, they also have to pay interest to the bank, and the interest on loans is higher than the interest on deposits.”

“For example, if you deposit ten thousand yuan, the bank gives you 650, but the borrower has to give the bank 750.”

“The extra hundred yuan goes to the bank.”

“The bank keeps it safe for you. You have a passbook, and you can also withdraw money in other places. Carrying that much money is inconvenient, but withdrawing money is convenient, and there’s a handling fee for withdrawing money.”

“These are the bank’s ways of making money; of course, they also invest the money.”

“But this is too complicated; when you’re older, Mom will tell you about investment.”

Loans and handling fees are small amounts.

The real support for banks is various investments.