Xu Nian’an brought up the idea at the dinner table.
Father Xu chuckled and reached out to pat her head. “You really are aiming too high, aren’t you? Even a cheap refrigerator costs several hundred yuan.And an electric tricycle costs more than five thousand. Our college graduate is even planning to go to Yangcheng to buy clothes—what, are you going to ride that electric tricycle all the way there?”
Xu Nian’an turned sideways, puffed out her cheeks, and ignored him.
Everyone at the table burst out laughing.
“Little sister, I heard our factory is planning to phase out a few tricycles soon,” her second sister-in-law, Yuan Meiling, said. “Some people from my workshop went to check them out and said they’re still in pretty good shape. The factory’s had good profits this year and bought new ones. If you don’t mind secondhand, why not buy one to use for now?”
Yuan Meiling also worked at the machinery factory and remembered hearing coworkers talk about it recently.
No coupons required, and much cheaper than new ones. If they were bicycles, they would’ve already been snapped up.
Hearing this, both brothers’ eyes lit up.“I didn’t know about that—then let’s get one of those,” one of them said immediately.
Yuan Meiling shot her husband an amused glance. “When we women workers gather together, we hear all kinds of news. You just go to work, wait to get off work, and come home to eat—when do you ever pay attention to these things?”
The children in the house giggled nonstop.
Xu Nian’an opened her mouth, about to suggest buying a new one for a smoother ride, but quickly shut up when she caught her eldest brother’s look.
“Comrade Xu Nian’an, you don’t get a vote on this,” he said. “You’re not the one riding it anyway. I’ll go take a look at the factory tomorrow. If it works, we’ll buy one.”
It would also save An’an some money. She spent money far too freely—if they let her spend as she pleased, who knew whether she’d even have enough left for the trip to Yangcheng?
Of course, he wasn’t going to say that out loud and dampen her enthusiasm.
After lunch, Xu Nian’an slung her beloved little bag over her shoulder and headed out to meet her best friend, Li Yingying.
Her sister-in-law had thoughtfully packed some biscuits and two bottles of soda in her bag.
Xu Nian’an felt like a child being sent off to kindergarten by her parents.
She even went back to her room to grab a few small trinkets the original owner had bought in Ning Province, planning to give them to Li Yingying, before heading out.
The two had agreed to meet at the entrance of the largest supply and marketing cooperative in the city.
When Xu Nian’an arrived, Li Yingying was already waiting. People were coming and going, and Li Yingying spotted Xu Nian’an immediately—she practically glowed in the crowd.
Standing on tiptoe, she waved enthusiastically, praising her own taste yet again in her heart. After all, her friends were always this good-looking.
Back in their school days, whenever she went out with Xu Nian’an, plenty of people would sneak glances at them, which greatly satisfied Li Yingying’s little sense of pride.
“Thirsty? I brought you something to drink,” Xu Nian’an said with a smile, wiping the sweat from her forehead and handing over a bottle of soda.
“Why do I feel like you’ve lost weight?” Li Yingying frowned as she looked at her. “Did your in-laws bully you? I’ll go stand up for you!”
She had married two years earlier than Xu Nian’an and knew very well that life with in-laws was rarely as comfortable as at one’s parents’ home.
Back then, she had strongly opposed Xu Nian’an marrying into the countryside. The two had even argued over it. After the wedding, Xu Nian’an had no phone in the village, and they gradually lost contact.
Li Yingying had thought Xu Nian’an no longer wanted to be friends. So when she got her call yesterday, she cleared her entire schedule today just to accompany her.
“You should’ve listened to me and married my brother. With my family’s situation, who would dare bully you?”
Li Yingying kept chattering on, scolding her affectionately. Only then did Xu Nian’an remember they had argued about this not long ago.
To save her ears, Xu Nian’an quickly grabbed Li Yingying’s hand.“Yingying, I didn’t come today just to shop—I actually have something to ask you about. Oh right, I also brought you something.”
The gifts the original owner had bought for her friend were finally being given.
Li Yingying had only been angry because she worried Xu Nian’an wasn’t doing well. Seeing that Xu Nian’an still remembered to bring her gifts, all her anger melted away.
Seeing how much thinner her friend was only made her feel more distressed.
She immediately linked arms with Xu Nian’an like before. “Go on, what do you need?”
She was practically hoping Xu Nian’an would ask her to go beat up her in-laws.
Unfortunately, Xu Nian’an only told her about her recent plans to become a self-employed business owner.
Besides shopping for clothes today, she also wanted to memorize prices at the supply and marketing cooperative, so she’d have a sense of market rates.
After hearing everything, Li Yingying waved her hand dismissively.“My aunt supplies goods to the cooperative. If you need anything, just go directly to my cousin.”
Xu Nian’an felt even more grateful. She hadn’t expected Li Yingying could even handle suppliers.
She hugged Li Yingying and acted coquettish.“Yingying, you’re my lifesaver! How lucky must I be to have a friend as amazing as you?”
Li Yingying practically floated with pride. “It’s nothing, nothing. Come on—I’ll take you to my cousin right now.”
She had barely taken two steps when Xu Nian’an pulled her back.“No rush. Let’s walk around first—I want to buy some clothes.”
The original owner loved dresses; her wardrobe was full of them. Xu Nian’an found them inconvenient and wanted to buy some pants instead.
There was also her sister-in-law, Lu Xiulian. She’d been cooking and washing clothes for her lately. She hadn’t even been willing to accept the fabric Xu Nian’an gave her last time—so she decided to buy her a dress instead.
Xu Nian’an planned to keep Lu Xiulian helping with the river snails and pay her wages. She knew herself well—she was good with words, but if she had to do all the work herself, she’d exhaust herself to death.
She carefully picked out a blue dress for Lu Xiulian.
Behind her, Li Yingying leaned forward and whispered dramatically into her ear,“Didn’t you just say you weren’t buying dresses? And this isn’t even your size. Are you hiding another best friend from me?”
Xu Nian’an reached out and patted Li Yingying’s head.“Yingying, no matter how many people I meet in the future, you’ll always be my primary best friend.”
She really was worth befriending. After spending several hours together, Xu Nian’an genuinely liked Li Yingying.
“Primary best friend? What’s that?” Li Yingying asked proudly. “Some new term you learned in college?”
“It means you’re the most important one.”
Pleasing Li Yingying was as easy as drinking water.
Xu Nian’an bought two dresses and gave one to Li Yingying.
Thinking of her in-laws’ patched clothes, she also bought several bolts of breathable fabric for them to make their own clothes.
Then she thought again—since she was already buying for everyone, she also bought some for Lu Chengzu and Cao Yanhua. It would be useful later for baby clothes.
Though Madam Lu was quite annoying, once things got busy, everyone would still need to help her collect river snails, and household labor would require her coordination.
So she bought some fabric for the two elderly as well.
Fortunately, fabric was cheap—everything together cost just over eight yuan.
Lu Xiulian’s dress alone cost more than four yuan.
By the time they left, Xu Nian’an was already hugging a big pile of fabric in her arms.