Chapter 385
Guaizai felt a bit guilty. Knowing Xie Xiaoyu loved dried fruit, he offered to go buy some from West Street for him, and take Liuliu for a stroll while they were at it. When they'd first come to Hezhou, Guaizai had gone shopping with Feng momo, so he already knew where everything was sold.
The two little ones held hands, unafraid even without an adult accompanying them. They went into a shop, bought the dried fruit, and as they came out the door, they saw a crowd gathered at the cloth shop next door. Eavesdropping, they heard that there was still quite a bit of fabric left over from the summer season, and it was now being sold at a discount.
It was last year's stock, and the patterns were already out of style—but the quality of the fabric was good. The shop normally sold expensive goods, frequented mostly by the ladies and misses of wealthy households. Now that the shop assistant was calling out at the door, common folk came in to have a look. The fabric was good quality, and they didn't care whether the patterns were fashionable or not—that was something fine ladies worried about, not them. But when they asked the price, it was eight taels and two hundred copper coins per chi (13 inches)—and that was already marked down.
Never mind.
The crowd shuffled back out again.
The shop assistant didn't try to stop them. If they didn't want to buy, so be it—if the ladies from wealthy households wouldn't wear it, the women from ordinary households would. It would sell eventually.
When Guaizai heard it was on sale, his eyes lit up. He thought for a moment, then took Liuliu's hand and led him into the cloth shop.
The young shop assistant saw two children walk in—one in so-so fabric, the other dressed in dusty, drab clothes. Neither looked like they had much money, so he didn't bother with them much. He didn't even say, "What would you like to see, honored guests?"—just busied himself with other things off to the side.
Guaizai didn't mind. He handed the dried fruit to Liuliu to hold, stood on his tiptoes, and started looking around. Fearing his hands might be dirty, he wiped them on his own clothes before touching the fabric.
The fabric was indeed good—soft to the touch. He could buy some for Uncle Yu and Uncle Yang to wear, and also for the older brothers and sisters from Shunan. They'd returned a few days ago, and those older brothers and sisters had come along with just small bundles of belongings.
Back then, they had followed Fang Zichen back with nothing but the clothes on their backs, afraid that spending too much might upset him and make him send them away. When Zhao Ger bought fabric for them, they kept insisting it wasn't necessary, so Zhao Ger, not wanting them to feel burdened, didn't buy any more—since they had enough clothes for rotation. They worked at the paper mill, and Zhao Ger gave them wages, but on their days off, they stayed at home and didn't dare venture into town, so they didn't have many clothes.
In the summer heat, it wasn't too bad, but in winter, washing took forever to dry. They only had three sets of undergarments each, so after bathing, they couldn't leave the laundry overnight—even if it was drizzling, they'd have to run down to the river to wash them. Xiao Feng often saw them drying their clothes by the kitchen fire, and when caught, they'd look utterly embarrassed. Later, Xiao Feng had Guaizai accompany him to town to buy some fabric for making undergarments.
So Guaizai knew about it.
Normally, one could never find fabric this good at such a price! And on top of that, it was discounted—what a rare opportunity! Only a fool would pass up a deal like that. As long as it was comfortable and looked decent, that was all that mattered. And with the New Year just around the corner, his dad had said they needed to stock up on supplies for the household. Guaizai browsed through a few colors, picked out several bolts with care, and then called over the shop assistant: "Uncle, Guaizai wants to buy these."
"Huh?" The shop assistant thought he was being messed with. "You really want them?"
"Mm! I want all these bolts." Guaizai told him to wrap them up.
The shop assistant didn't move and asked suspiciously, "Do you have the money?"
No point in wrapping them up if it was all for nothing.
"I do! Hew could—" Before he could finish, Liuliu poked him. "It's how."
"Oh, right, right, how." Guaizai pulled open his little pouch and took out a banknote.
One hundred taels!!
He'd gotten this as a reward from Fang Zichen for the bandit suppression last time. Guaizai had grown smarter by now and wasn't so easily fooled. When Fang Zichen had rewarded him a hundred taels for the canal-digging project earlier, he'd promised to split it evenly. But then Fang Zichen tried to coax him into handing over the banknote by offering five copper coins for the remaining fifty taels. Guaizai didn't fall for it and guarded his banknote tightly:
"Father, don't be like that! If Guaizai doesn't have his own private savings, then later I'll end up just like you—scared of my fulang, bossed around completely. If you kick the bucket, how will Guaizai buy you a coffin and burn you paper money?"
Fang Zichen had wanted to smack him right then and there.
What a good son he had—already thinking so far ahead. He was only in his twenties, and his son was already worrying about him dying without a coffin. He didn't know whether to feel touched or heartbroken.
Guaizai had thrown his arms around his neck and rubbed their faces together, saying affectionately that he loved his father the most. Fang Zichen pinched his soft little bottom and stopped trying to take it from him.
The child was growing up day by day. It wasn't right for him not to have some cash on him.
He already had two bank cards in his pocket at age three — how impressive would that be when he walked around?
Now, seeing that hundred-tael note, the shop assistant's heart trembled. Even the customers browsing fabric nearby gasped at Guaizai's extravagance. In Hezhou City, aside from a few great households, what child could afford to throw money around like this? A hundred taels at once—if someone tried to buy a bowl of noodles at a street stall with that, they probably wouldn't even get any change back.
The shop assistant looked Guaizai up and down again. His face was no longer swollen—now it was still round as a steamed bun, with rosy little lips, big eyes, fair and tender skin, and a little topknot on his head. He looked absolutely adorable. The shop assistant had sharp eyes, though, and had clearly spotted another banknote inside that little pouch—a one-hundred-and-fifty-tael note!
He had to be some young master.
But the shop assistant knew all the young masters from the big households in the city, and he'd never seen this one before.
The clothes the child was wearing—he couldn't tell what kind of fabric it was—and he wasn't wearing any expensive jade pendants either.
But he couldn't afford to offend him.
Anyone with money was a big shot.
The shop assistant's attitude instantly changed. He became respectful and beaming: "Please wait a moment, Young Master. This humble one will wrap these up for you right away—"
"Hold on. I want these bolts of fabric."
A voice cut in abruptly. Guaizai looked up at the speaker—a young married woman he'd never seen before: "Auntie, Guaizai bought these. If you want to buy some, there's more over there."
There was indeed more, but those patterns were too flashy and garish, with too many colors mixed together. They looked a bit messy at first glance—none of them were as nice as the bolts Guaizai had chosen. He had a good eye!
"I want these," the young woman said.
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