In the large department store, she purchased lipsticks and cosmetics unavailable in Jinsong for her mother, as well as the latest style of plush gloves and beautiful hats from Beijing.
Since she had measured her parents’ shoulder widths and leg lengths before setting off, she headed straight for the clothing section of the store. For her mother, she bought fashionable sweaters and coats that are all the rage among Beijing ladies, as well as a checked long skirt with tassels and a pair of low-heeled, genuine leather knee-high boots.
Venturing into the men’s clothing section, she bought her father a super cool long coat, which would surely make him look like Chow Yun-Fat from “Shanghai Bund” when worn. Paired with a scarf, he would definitely be the most stylish small business owner in the Fuyun Building.
She also picked out a pair of genuine leather gloves, a pair of anti-glare sunglasses for riding motorcycles, and a high-quality corduroy pants in red-brown. Wearing these with patent leather shoes would make him look dashing and handsome.
In the leather goods section, she bought a warm brown-red genuine leather crossbody bag for her mother and an underarm bag that every small business owner must have for her father.
She joyfully tried on several backpacks, opting away from pink and towards gray or black, each one cooler than the last. Eventually, she chose a large, cool gray and black backpack, stuffing it with all the large and small bags she had bought, and slung it over her shoulder.
The small backpack she had brought was already packed and had to be carried on her elbow.
Next, she headed straight to the electronics section, purchasing a brand-new Nokia phone for her father and a stylish, modern Dibit tablet phone for her mother.
Whenever she moved on from a section, the sales ladies would gather together and whisper:
“Ah, what’s up with that young girl? Did her parents give her so much money to spend?”
“Yeah, she spends so freely! How much money does she have?”
“Ah, when I was that young, my parents wouldn’t even show money in front of me, afraid I’d spend it recklessly. Her parents must really trust her.”
“The young girl is quite filial, buying everything for her parents. She didn’t even buy much for herself.”
“Maybe it’s something her parents asked her to do?”
“Ah… I’m really envious. I wonder what it feels like to shop so freely.”
“Hmm… It must feel really good…”
“Sss… You guys are making me jealous.”
In fact, they didn’t know that Hua Jie wasn’t spending her parents’ money, but her own earnings!
From selling her paintings!
As she continued shopping, Hua Jie accumulated so many packages that passersby couldn’t help but glance at her.
A young girl, buying so much, spending so much money – it was a rare sight in that era.
In a time when most people earned around one or two thousand a month, spending thousands at a time was quite a thrill.
Hua Jie really couldn’t carry any more, so she had no choice but to go down to the first floor of the building to find a luggage storage service and store her purchases.
One locker wasn’t enough; it took eight lockers to accommodate all her items.
The lockers were simply too small.
In this era, Wangfujing was still the most bustling area in Beijing, frequented by the capital’s most fashionable and wealthy people.
Initially, the saleswomen looked down on Hua Jie, thinking she was just a little girl who couldn’t possibly buy much.
But by evening, it was well-known throughout the highest building in Wangfujing that there was a little girl who was strangely wealthy and was madly shopping.
As a result, other young women who entered the department store that day received an unusually warm welcome.
College girls who came to browse after school and feast their eyes on the fashion were greeted as soon as they stepped into a clothing store. The sales aunts suddenly approached with smiling faces, eagerly asking in a voice sweet enough to make you float:
“What would you like to buy, young lady?”
“Come, take a look at this, it’s our most popular style this year!”
“…” The girl, who often visited, knew these saleswomen were usually lazy. They could tell she was a student without a job and probably didn’t have much money to spend, so they typically didn’t bother much with her.
What was happening today?
Why was everyone being so enthusiastically hospitable?
It was kind of scary…
…
Indeed, Hua Jie was a bit carried away with her spending spree; the feeling of spending money was just too exhilarating.
Moreover, logistics in different parts of the country weren’t as developed as they would be in the future, and Jinsong was a backward northern town, so many items were simply not available there.
She couldn’t help herself and ended up buying a bit too much.
After going downstairs to store her purchases once again, she continued to shop merrily.
Munching on delicious snacks, sipping tasty drinks, she found a bit of the joy of shopping from the future.
Now that she had money, and considering the particularly low prices of this era, most items costing a few hundred yuan were considered expensive.
She shopped all afternoon and didn’t even spend ten thousand yuan, unlike in the future, where one could easily spend a hundred thousand yuan in such a high-end mall.
Her parents might scold her for buying so much, but just thinking about them using these items, wearing these clothes, she felt happy.
Money is not just saved, it’s earned.
She didn’t want to become a miser. Every stage of life is important; if you miss this age, later you might not have the opportunity to enjoy or wear what you want.
So, at this stage, she also wanted to invest some money in improving her family’s quality of life.
Of course, little saver Hua Jie still loved to save money and intended to keep the bulk of it, so her spending was not as reckless and uncontrolled as the saleswomen thought.
Her bank account currently held 130,000 yuan: 120,000 yuan from selling paintings to Teacher Qiu Yuan, plus 10,000 yuan of pocket money she brought from home.
This morning, she withdrew 20,000 yuan from the bank, and it looked like she wouldn’t be able to spend it all.
She expected to save 100,000 yuan this year. Ten years later, she wondered if that would be enough to buy a courtyard house in Beijing.
Around five o’clock, she called Shen Teacher’s hotel room to let him know she wouldn’t be back for dinner and would return to the hotel later.
For dinner, she chose an old Beijing restaurant and enjoyed authentic local stir-fry with classic Beijing zhajiang noodles.
After a satisfying meal, she embarked on one last shopping spree.
At school, she had secretly noted the brand and size of the jacket Shen Mo left on his chair and had measured the shoulders, chest, and waist.
Knowing now that he had grown to 185 cm tall, with a shoe size of 43—
She had almost all the data she needed to style him.
At Teacher Shen’s house, she had also noted his shoe size, 42.
The evening was dedicated to gifts for Teacher Shen and his son; she bought Jordan-branded sports shoes for Shen Mo and a pair of very soft, comfortable casual leather shoes for Teacher Shen.
She also bought herself a pair of pure white sports shoes and two sets of sportswear.
On her way to the food section, she picked up a dress and some hair accessories.
In the food section, she bought fine tea for her teacher and father and lots of high-quality instant coffee for herself.
Next semester, not only would Shen Mo have milk tea to drink, but he’d also enjoy milk coffee.
And with the hazelnuts from her home ground into a dry paste, he could even enjoy a hazelnut latte.
Shop, shop, shop!
Boxed curry for making beef curry and chicken curry!
Beijing pastries, one box of each type! Huh? Is that all? I’ll take everything!
Cashmere scarves! One for each person! One of every color for me!
Bedding sets in this style, that style, and this color, one set each!
Don’t worry, I have the money!
Buy! Buy, buy, buy!
Living two lifetimes, this was Hua Jie’s first time shopping so freely, almost to the point of frenzy.
She ate a Dairy Queen ice cream that wouldn’t fall even if turned upside down, happily shopping around. By around 9 p.m., she felt she had bought everything possible, signaling the end of her trip.
Tears streaming down her face, the feeling of having money was truly wonderful, sob, sob, sob.
…
Preparing to return, Hua Jie suddenly stopped outside a store window.
A plastic mannequin wore a set of gray-blue clothes that looked ordinary, but with her artist’s imagination, Hua Jie envisioned Shen Mo in them.
It was a Zhongshan suit, with a stiff mandarin collar, structured shoulders that added style, and a row of simple gray buttons that looked cool.
The outfit was less rigid than the Zhongshan suits worn by middle-aged men, slightly looser, and if worn with a white shirt underneath, left unbuttoned at the chest, it would look very cool and chic.
Buttoning one or two buttons wouldn’t look too old-fashioned, and would also showcase a perfect physique.
The trousers of the Zhongshan suit were looser and very stretchy, comfortable enough that Shen Mo could even play basketball in them.
Paired with black sneakers or relatively casual sports shoes, it would look extremely handsome!
Just thinking about it, Hua Jie felt like she was swooning.
Without hesitation, she entered the store, bought a Zhongshan suit in Shen Mo’s size, and then went to find a matching pair of black sneakers.
After paying for this purchase, she felt content.
Her desire to shop was completely satisfied, and it seemed she had bought everything she wanted and could buy.
When she went downstairs to collect her items, Hua Jie was stunned.
There was just too much stuff; she couldn’t possibly carry it all back to the hotel, let alone take it on a plane and train back home.
In the end, Hua Jie had to find the building manager on the first floor to discuss a solution. The manager helped arrange a large truck that was headed north for a long-distance trip.
Hua Jie had to dig into her wallet again to pay the driver to make a detour to Jinsong and deliver her purchases to her home.
Although it cost her extra for transportation, it freed her hands for the return journey, as she only carried a few small items that were inconvenient for the truck to transport.
After returning to the hotel, she updated her teacher before heading into the bathroom for a shower.
The next morning, Hua Jie checked out and went downstairs with everyone, ready to head to the airport.
To her surprise, Zhang Daye, who hadn’t been staying at the hotel, came to see her off.
He even gave her several bags of local specialties, including a whole bag of super soft and delicious pea cakes.
Hua Jie was completely caught off guard; she wasn’t particularly close to Zhang Daye, and they had barely spoken during the past few days.
They were just second and third place respectively.
Before she could say anything, the overly ‘lively’ Qian Chong voiced his displeasure first:
“Hey! Why does only she get something?”
“If you want to eat, buy it yourself. We’re all from Beijing, what are you acting like a foreigner for? Asking me for local specialties? You know what’s good in Beijing better than I do, right?” Zhang Daye scoffed and then waved goodbye to Hua Jie before walking away.
“Thank you, I—” Hua Jie was a bit embarrassed, didn’t want to accept it, but also felt refusing would be too disrespectful.
“I really like your paintings, consider this a farewell gift from a fan. See you at the exhibition after New Year!” Zhang Daye smiled, waved again, bowed to Shen Jiaru, and then ran off.
“Let’s just consider it a good deed,” Shen Jiaru said with a smile, glancing at Hua Jie.
“…” Hua Jie weighed the gifts, saw that the other three students didn’t receive anything, and blushed with embarrassment, “Should we share?”
“You eat it yourself!” Qian Chong’s mouth twisted as if he wanted to throw the words over his shoulder as he walked away.
A hero does not eat what comes without effort; he was not interested in Zhang Daye’s cheap gifts.
Zhao Xiaolei came up from behind and took a package of pea cakes from the bag Hua Jie was carrying, “Thanks.”
He helped her load the items into the car.
As everyone boarded the vehicle, Hua Jie was about to step into the car when the hotel doorman suddenly ran over and handed her a bag: