Chapter 95: Earning Money is for a Good Life (Bonus Chapter)
She looked at the saleswoman, opened her mouth to explain, but then felt that, as Bai Naihan said, some things only became more confusing with explanation. She simply said, “He’s not my husband.”
She didn’t say anything else.
The saleswoman knew she had misunderstood their relationship and felt a bit awkward. She didn’t say much after that.
Especially after hearing the child, who looked like a New Year doll, call this young woman “Mom” and the man in the wheelchair “Uncle,” she felt even more embarrassed.
Yun Qinghuan was alright, perhaps having developed a thick skin in this short day.
When the man saw the clothes she had picked out, his eyes also lit up, but then he shook his head. “Sister-in-law, you don’t need to buy them for me, right? This looks expensive.”
Whether it was the cut or the fabric, it stood out among the pile of clothes.
Yun Qinghuan disagreed. “If we like it, we’ll buy it. It’s not like we buy clothes every day. We can afford to buy a set occasionally. Besides, didn’t I say I’d buy something for everyone in the family today? What’s it matter if you’re the only one missing out?”
It made it seem like she was excluding him.
Hearing Yun Qinghuan say this, the man finally nodded. “Then thank you, Sister-in-law. If you don’t have enough money, I’ll contribute.”
“You don’t need to contribute. I said I’d pay for it.”
Yun Qinghuan waved her hand and asked the saleswoman how much the outfit cost.
The saleswoman was concise this time. “The short-sleeved shirt is four yuan, the pants are six yuan. It requires three cloth coupons.”
She didn’t say a single extra word.
Yun Qinghuan nodded. It was a bit expensive. A set of clothes cost ten yuan, and the gǎofèi she had worked so hard to earn couldn’t buy many clothes at all.
Moreover, this was domestically produced pure cotton clothing, which was relatively cheap. If she bought the clothes imported from Hong Kong next to it, they would probably be even more expensive.
She picked and chose, finally selecting a dark green short-sleeved shirt for herself and a pair of apricot-white straight-leg pants. Picking for An’an was even simpler. He was like a monkey all day, easily getting his clothes dirty, so she didn’t choose light-colored clothes. At this time, dark green clothes were very popular with children because wearing them made them look like heroes fighting in the army.
So, Yun Qinghuan picked out a whole set of dark green short-sleeved shorts and a short-sleeved shirt similar to a small military uniform for him, making the child so happy that he hugged the clothes and wouldn’t let go.
As for Liu Yuzhi, it was even simpler. Yun Qinghuan chose a pair of dark blue long pants and a gray short-sleeved shirt. The style was quite nice, the kind of clothes that people Liu Yuzhi’s age often wore in this era.
She felt it would suit Liu Yuzhi well.
Liu Yuzhi had probably gotten used to a frugal life over the years. Her clothes weren’t good, almost all of them had patches, just some with more patches and some with fewer.
Buying four sets of clothes cost a total of 35 yuan and 8 cloth coupons. It was indeed not cheap. Her savings, which had barely reached a hundred yuan, instantly dropped to just a few dozen.
But holding these brand-new clothes, her heart was filled with satisfaction.
After buying the clothes, Yun Qinghuan bought several feet of fabric. Because she bought a lot of clothes and didn’t haggle like other people, she was very straightforward. The saleswoman had a good impression of her. In addition, she had misunderstood her relationship with Bai Naihan earlier, so the saleswoman felt a bit guilty. After all, a woman’s reputation was very important in this era. If she had encountered someone unreasonable, she might have argued with the saleswoman.
Therefore, seeing that Yun Qinghuan wanted to buy fabric, the saleswoman directly said, “Comrade, I have some slightly flawed fabric here. It doesn’t require cloth coupons, and the price is cheaper than normal fabric. Although it’s flawed, it’s no different from good fabric. Would you like to take a look?”
If it were someone else, the saleswoman wouldn’t have said anything. Those small pieces of flawed fabric could be internally consumed.
Yun Qinghuan’s eyes lit up when she heard this. “I’ll take a look.”
The saleswoman cautiously looked around. Seeing that there was no one, she took out a few rolls of fabric from under the counter.
The fabric was indeed very good, and there were light green and light blue fabrics that Yun Qinghuan liked.
It was difficult for her to buy ready-made clothes that fit well and that she liked. Thinking that the villagers all bought fabric and made their own clothes, she planned to buy some fabric and pay someone to make clothes when she returned.
Seeing these fabrics now, she was really happy. She had been worried that the remaining cloth coupons probably wouldn’t buy much fabric, but now she could buy more, as such opportunities were rare.
Knowing that the saleswoman was specially selling these to her, she specially took two milk candies for her to eat before leaving.
Seeing that Yun Qinghuan was giving her milk candy, the saleswoman was also very happy and waved at Yun Qinghuan. “Comrade, come buy more next time!”
After buying clothes and fabric, Yun Qinghuan went straight to the place selling watches. She still hadn’t learned how people in this era told time. She couldn’t figure out how they could know the time just by looking at the sun. Living without knowing the time felt a bit muddled, and Yun Qinghuan found it a bit unbearable.
After receiving her gaofei this time, she wanted to buy a watch.
But when she arrived, she realized she had been rash.
Watches in this era were much more expensive than clothes! The cheapest watch cost seventy or eighty yuan!
And the styles were very ugly. She really couldn’t stand them.
Thinking of the money in her hand, she could only reluctantly buy a clock. Clocks were still cheap, requiring one industrial coupon and another ten yuan. This didn’t even include the cost of batteries. Yun Qinghuan bought two extra batteries to avoid having to come back to buy more when they ran out. The total cost came to eleven yuan.
In addition, she bought soap. In this era, there was Shanghai sulfur soap, and she bought several bars. Otherwise, she always felt like she wasn’t cleaning properly when she only used water to wash during showers.
Seeing the snow cream, remembering that she only had a little bit left, she paused and reluctantly bought two boxes. One box cost five yuan, which was really not cheap.
But Yun Qinghuan was a girl after all, and even though this era was somewhat difficult, she definitely still loved beauty. Besides, although it was a bit expensive, it wasn’t like she couldn’t afford it.
She bought two boxes, planning to use one herself and give one to Liu Yuzhi.
Every woman loved beauty, and what’s more, snow cream not only made the skin better, but also helped a lot with chapped faces in winter.
Finally, Yun Qinghuan also bought crisp peach cookies and malted milk powder, and a jin [about 500g] of milk candy.
After buying all these things, she had actually spent eighty yuan.
She suddenly felt that money really didn’t go far and felt a bit heartbroken. But thinking that the original purpose of earning money was to live a good life, if she was reluctant to spend it and still lived a miserable life, then the meaning of earning money would be lost.
Thinking of this, she felt a little better.
Right across the street was a bookstore. She remembered her promise to the child to reward him. An’an had said he wanted comic books. In addition, the paper she used for writing was almost used up and she needed to buy some, so she went to the bookstore next door with the child.
Bai Naihan stopped at the bookstore entrance but didn’t go in. Yun Qinghuan looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
“I remembered I still have something to buy. You guys go to the bookstore first, and I’ll come find you later.”
Yun Qinghuan blinked, not knowing what he wanted to buy, but she didn’t ask further. She just said, “Then don’t make us wait too long. We haven’t had lunch yet.”
“Okay.”
♥ If you like or appreciate my work, please do ♥
Xoxo 🤍💜🤍
