pjbooks Chapter 11 Big Shopping Spree
Chapter 11 Big Shopping Spree
Who is it?
"Sister, it's me."
"Xiao Chuan, come in quickly, have you sold out? Have you eaten yet?"
"Sold out, sold out! I promised you a turtle, so I'm bringing it over for you."
Lin Hongmei gave Lin Chuan a half-smile: "Alright, you sit down first, I'll go get you the money."
Lin Chuan put down the bag, smiled shyly, and scratched his head:
"No need, sister. If it weren't for my brother-in-law saying I could still sell things there, I wouldn't know where to sell the things I catch next time. I caught this turtle myself, it's not worth much."
"No, that won't do. One thing at a time. You sit down first, and we'll eat here later."
"No, sister, I have something to do. I have to go back. It takes three or four hours to get to the village."
After saying that, Lin Chuan didn't wait for Lin Hongmei to speak, and turned and ran with Lin Feng.
"Brother, we've only been here for two hours, not three or four."
"Why don't you go back and ride it? What do you think?"
"Hey, bro, why did her tone seem a bit quieter after you said you were giving her a turtle?"
"I've found it," Lin Chuan gave Lin Feng an approving look before continuing:
"Think about it, her husband is a policeman, and he seems to be a high-ranking one. People must come to him with gifts and ask for favors. When she heard that we were bringing gifts, she was naturally alarmed."
"That's like giving it away for free."
"It's not free. Besides the turtle, there are also pheasants and snakes inside. I deliberately didn't mention that, and even told her it takes us three or four hours to get to the county town, and besides, I didn't ask her for any favors."
This is like a country boy coming to the city, afraid of having no one to rely on if trouble comes his way. He's found a kind older sister and genuinely wants to depend on her. Don't worry, as long as it's not illegal, she'll side with us a little when things happen in the future.
"Brother, you are really, really ugly."
"screw you."
...
After parking the car at the department store, Lin Chuan led Lin Feng inside.
"Brother, are we really going to buy it here? I heard things here are expensive and you can't bargain. Why don't we go buy it outside?"
"Do you know how to bargain outside?"
"Uh, no."
"That settles it. Those prices outside vary from person to person, and you might end up paying more than here, plus the quality might not be good. Let's go in."
Lin Chuan pulled Lin Feng straight to the clothing section. Most of the clothes there were solid colors, and the colors were rather dark. There were no clothes with patterns, let alone highlights or gradients. The main selling point was that they were neat and durable.
The only bright colors were in the children's section, where there were some floral dresses. Lin Chuan picked out two sets, one pale yellow and one light blue, for nine yuan each.
I picked out a light pink top and a pair of brown pants. The top cost eight yuan and the pants cost six yuan, so I spent 32 yuan in one go.
"Brother, let's buy quite a bit." Lin Feng gently tugged at Lin Chuan.
"Don't you want to buy anything for Xiaoxue?"
"No, I am, I am,"
"Alright, money is meant to be spent, otherwise what's the point of making money?"
Lin Chuan went and bought his mother two shirts and two pairs of pants, spending 56 yuan.
Then came the men's clothing section, two outfits for 50 yuan, Lin Feng hesitated and stammered:
"Brother, is this for me?"
"Otherwise what?"
"Brother, I have clothes to wear, you can buy some for yourself."
Lin Chuan glanced at Lin Feng. His shirt was a light brown short-sleeved shirt with a loose collar and patches on his navel and left shoulder. The edges of the patches were faded from washing. His pants had even more patches.
Lin Chuan's own clothes only had one very small patch. He usually took good care of his clothes, and after wearing them, he would give them to Lin Feng to wear.
"I'll buy it next time. If I spend too much money at once, my mom will nag me when I get home."
Despite saying that, Lin Chuan still spent quite a bit. He bought four pairs of Warrior sneakers, two for his younger sister, one for Lin Feng, and one for his mother. He also bought each of them a pair of Liberation shoes, spending a total of 36 yuan.
They went to buy socks, five pairs for each person, including Lin Chuan himself. These days, it's very common for socks to be patched; not to mention socks, even underwear can be patched.
I bought two pairs of underwear for myself and Lin Feng, and with socks, it cost more than forty yuan. Socks were more expensive back then than in later years; cotton socks cost two yuan a pair, and only children's socks were a little cheaper.
"Brother, that's enough, that's enough, we can't spend any more."
"I promised to buy candy for Xiaoxue, I can't lie to her."
"Then, go buy a little more, but don't buy too much."
Snacks aren't expensive. Fruit candy is 50 cents a pound, let's get ten pounds. Crisp candy is 1 yuan a pound, let's get five pounds. Biscuits are 1.5 yuan a pound, let's get five pounds too. Apples are only 30 cents a pound, let's get ten pounds.
As he wandered around, Lin Chuan spotted some soda, the kind in glass bottles that sells orange soda. It cost 1.5 cents a bottle, and if you returned the empty bottle, you'd get 5 cents back. He decided to buy ten of those.
In the end, the cost of several dozen kilograms of the food was only 22 yuan.
Lin Feng, carrying his things, followed behind Lin Chuan with a troubled expression. His older brother was spending money and he couldn't control him, so he was having a really tough time.
Lin Chuan glanced around and felt he had almost bought everything, but there was still one thing he hadn't bought. He headed towards the electronics section, but Lin Feng grabbed his arm.
"Brother, you're not going to buy a TV, are you? If we do, Mom will kill us with her anger."
"A TV? I'd like to buy one, but I don't have enough money. I just want to buy an alarm clock; it's inconvenient if I don't have time."
The alarm clock cost 12 yuan each, was about the size of a palm, and was wind-up. When Lin Chuan saw the flashlight, he remembered that his flashlight at home seemed to be out of power, so he bought four size D batteries, which cost him four yuan.
Under Lin Feng's anxious gaze, Lin Chuan strolled around the electronics section. The 28-inch laptop was 240, the 17-inch black and white TV was 570, and the 21-inch color TV was 2150.
Lin Chuan also saw a refrigerator, which was something he needed to buy. The weather wasn't too hot yet, but by August or September, even if he put the meat in the well, it wouldn't last more than three days.
You can't put all your hopes on hunting. No matter how accurate your slingshot is, it's all for nothing if you can't find any prey.
If we want to have meat at every meal, we need to buy a refrigerator, but we don't have enough money right now. A refrigerator costs 1100.
"Let's go, we've bought almost everything. Let's put the things away and go eat."
Lin Feng didn't dare to go out to eat. He calculated his expenses for the day and found that he had spent 255 yuan, which made him lose his appetite completely.
Lin Chuan couldn't persuade him otherwise, so he went and bought ten meat buns for 3 mao each. He originally planned to eat five each, but Lin Feng only ate three and then stopped.
After eating three, Lin Chuan felt no longer hungry, so he simply stopped eating and took the remaining four back to give two to each of his mother and younger sister.
Back on the way back, Lin Feng remained seated in the front row, glancing back every now and then, as if afraid of dropping something.
Lin Chuan almost rode his bicycle into a ditch, and Lin Feng only calmed down after being slapped by him, though he still muttered something from time to time:
"Hey bro, slow down! Watch what's behind you, don't drop anything, and don't let the soda get smashed."
The midday wind carried the heat of early summer, but the two brothers felt nothing of it.
Riding the wind, I sped home.