Chapter 9

Gu Qinghuan left the hospital and immediately rode her bike to the department store. Her home was poor and bare; there was nothing there, so she had to buy some things.

The department store mainly sold bicycles, watches, sewing machines, radios, clocks, clothes, fabric, rubber shoes, pencils, fountain pens, paper, stationery, toys, and more.

She definitely needed to buy a bicycle, but not right now. It would stand out too much.

Moreover, the department store required tickets, and she didn’t have any bicycle tickets. She could get a high-quality imitation from the vending machine later.

As for the watch, the original owner had one in the past, but it was taken by her stepmother’s daughter.

It wasn’t essential, but a clock was still necessary for the house. She could get one from the vending machine as well, a cheap one that cost ninety-nine cents with free shipping.

The sewing machine also required tickets, but unfortunately, she didn’t have any.

Once the house was settled, she had to get one. Winter was coming soon, and they would need to make clothes and quilts for the whole family. She couldn’t rely on hand-sewing; it would take months to finish.

In her past life, she had learned to use a sewing machine from her grandmother. When she was young, her grandmother made all of her clothes. She had learned by watching and could also make clothes.

At first, she posted videos online of herself designing and making clothes, gaining a small fanbase. She never expected that during one live stream, where the food she was eating looked so tempting, it would go viral. Later, she switched to being a food blogger.

She shook her head and refocused her thoughts.

Gu Qinghuan walked directly to the children’s clothing counter. Based on the sizes of the two children, she selected a suitable set of autumn clothes for each of them.

The rags they wore couldn’t even be called clothes. She didn’t have time to make new ones today, so she would buy them each a set to wear for now.

The clothing styles these days were indeed nothing special, and the most common colors in the store were green, blue, black, and gray.

Other colors were hard to find. It wasn’t that they couldn’t be worn, but few people bought bright colors like white, pink, or yellow for children because they didn’t last long and were hard to wash.

Gu Qinghuan chose two blue outfits and paired them with black pants. Although the colors weren’t ideal, the quality was good, and the fabric felt solid.

The two sets of clothes cost four yuan in total. Children’s clothes didn’t require much fabric, so they were relatively inexpensive.

As for the Madman, she decided to leave it for now. His situation wasn’t really suited for normal clothes.

After shopping, she went next door and picked up two pairs of cloth shoes with multi-layered soles.

Carrying her newly bought items, Gu Qinghuan arrived at the local produce shop, which mainly sold iron pots, bowls, chopsticks, and wooden furniture.

There were four people in the household. After thinking for a moment, Gu Qinghuan only picked up four sets of bowls and chopsticks.

Her final stop was the grain store. She chose some cheap cornmeal, black flour, and brown rice—healthy coarse grains that she used to enjoy. She didn’t buy much, just ten pounds of each.

To be honest, the coarse grains were incredibly cheap these days. All of this only cost her ninety cents.

Of course, buying these was just for show. Eating them occasionally was fine, but she couldn’t possibly eat them every day.

For white rice and refined flour, she would place an order from the vending machine.

On her way back, she passed by a grocery store. She glanced inside, where they sold meat, eggs, fish, fruits, and spices. There were already these kinds of things at the villa, so she decided to skip buying them for now.

After completing her rounds, she guessed it was almost 3 p.m. Gu Qinghuan neatly bundled the things she bought onto the back seat of the bike and pedaled hard to return home.

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“Big Brother, the white flour meat buns smell so good. When Stepmother comes back, I’m going to give her all the sweet fruits I picked today.” Bei Bei said, licking the lingering fragrance off her fingers.

In her heart, the sweet fruits were the best things she could offer.

Da Bao didn’t speak. He sat alone on the doorstep, his deep eyes sadly gazing toward the door.

It was already afternoon, and their Stepmother still hadn’t come back.

Perhaps she found them too much of a burden and had already left.

That would be fine too. Someone as wonderful as her shouldn’t be dragged down by them.

In fact, Da Bao had heard about Gu Qinghuan long before. The children in the village all said that she was the most beautiful girl in Xu Family Village, and many men wanted to marry her.

This morning, when he went out, Da Bao had overheard Er Laizi talking to someone, saying how foolish Gu Qinghuan was for selling herself to the Madman as a wife. He had added: “If I had known, I would’ve smashed my pots and sold iron to buy her—just one hundred yuan for such a beautiful wife. What a bargain!”

For some reason, when Da Bao heard this, a surge of anger welled up inside him.

Like a young bull, he rushed forward and knocked Er Laizi to the ground, only to end up getting dragged and lectured by Er Laizi.

Perhaps it was because of the fragrant bowl of white porridge from the night before. He had already started to think of her as one of their own.

“Big Brother, I don’t think our stepmother is as bad as Er Dan and Goudan say. She’s even better than Grandma. At least she gives us food to eat. From now on, I’ll work hard and eat less, so our stepmother will stay with us, right?” Bei Bei was small, but she had her own sense of judgment.

Da Bao gave a bitter smile and rubbed his little sister’s messy hair. He didn’t have the answer that she wanted to hear, afraid that if she had hope, it would only lead to more disappointment.

He knew full well that Gu Qinghuan had some goodwill toward them, but how long could that goodwill last in the face of their harsh reality?

In the past, his Grandpa and Grandma had treated them decently, but once his Dad fell ill, everything changed, and now they were in this dire situation.

At such a young age, he had already learned the cruelty of human nature. He was truly scared.

They had struggled in a dark, hopeless life for so long that any sudden warmth felt like a godsend.

But would this “God” continue to bless them?

He didn’t know.

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As soon as Gu Qinghuan entered Xu Family Village, she ran into the “Xu Family Village Information Team.” a few chatty women who were gossiping while grinding the mill.

Seeing the subject of their gossip approach, Qian Caihua quickly raised her hand to greet her: “Huai’an’s family is back! What are you doing, carrying all these big and small bundles?”

When Gu Qinghuan heard “Huai’an’s family.” she was momentarily confused. She sensed their unfriendly tone and, realizing their intentions, didn’t bother to put on a friendly face.

“The house is missing everything, so I went to buy some daily necessities. You ladies, please keep busy.” Gu Qinghuan said as she prepared to leave, but the women couldn’t help but stare hungrily at the bundles tied to the back of her bicycle.

Qian Caihua even reached out to touch them.

“Did you buy rice?” she asked, her eyes widening. “My goodness, these city youths don’t know how to live. With the way you’re spending, a hundred yuan wouldn’t last you more than a few days.”

“It’s brown rice and black cornmeal. The house has no grain at all. I can’t just live on air.” Gu Qinghuan responded, opening the bag to show her.

Indeed, it was black cornmeal and brown rice.

“I’m telling you, Huai’an, with the money you just got, you’d better spend it wisely. Things aren’t like they were when you were a youth worker.” Qian Caihua hinted, meaning that while before she only had to earn enough for herself, now she had to feed three more mouths.

Gu Qinghuan could no longer tolerate it. Rolling her eyes, she snapped back: “Caihua, are you suggesting I shouldn’t spend money to buy food? Should I just bring my whole family to your house to eat?”

Qian Caihua’s face immediately darkened. “I didn’t mean that.”

Wang Xiaohua, who had been grinding the mill, was surprised and asked: “Huai’an, didn’t your mother-in-law say she gave you three hundred pounds of grain? That should be enough to last until next spring. Why are you still out buying grain?”

“When did my mother-in-law say that? I haven’t seen a single grain of rice at home!” Gu Qinghuan’s eyes immediately sharpened, seizing the opportunity.

“She said it this morning! She said she personally brought it to you. Didn’t you get it?” Wang Xiaohua replied.

Realizing that the Branch Secretary’s wife had lied, the women eagerly turned their attention to her, excited to watch the drama unfold.

Gu Qinghuan slapped her thigh. “I swear, my house is cleaner than a rat hole right now. There’s no grain! I have to go ask my mother-in-law for some!”

After saying that, she hopped on her bike and left. The women, no longer interested in working, quickly packed up to follow her. A mother-in-law-daughter-in-law battle? Who wouldn’t want to watch?

This worked perfectly for Gu Qinghuan. Today, she was determined to get at least two liang of meat from Liu Guifang, that shameless old woman.