Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn
Chapter 174 - 10: Her Special Talent

Chapter 174: Chapter 10: Her Special Talent

As the new school term approached, the end-of-summer sales at the department store were bustling, but luckily today was not a weekend, so the clientele consisted mainly of housewives shopping for clothes with their children. It was rare to see someone of Zhuo Feng’s age, accompanying a niece who looked about fifteen or sixteen, shopping for clothes.

Zhuo Feng was tall, over 1.7 meters, and although there were clothes she used to wear that she regretted getting too old for, having a blossoming niece instantly gave her the desire to dress up Xiao Xian like a doll. She had previously been a model at school, so she had a good eye for style.

"Denim pleated skirt paired with a chiffon short-sleeve white blouse gives both a student vibe and elegance. And these overalls shorts, middle-schoolers love them. Let’s also buy a few coats for autumn," Zhuo Feng picked out clothes relentlessly, and in less than two hours, she had bought five big bags of clothes and pants for Xiao Xian.

"And shoes. Oh right, we also need to buy a backpack and stationery. After we finish on this floor, let’s go check out the sports brands on the fourth floor. Kids these days love using Nike or Adidas backpacks." Xiao Xian responded, touched by the gesture. In fact, while they were picking clothes earlier, her aunt had her eye on several items but Zhuo Feng didn’t buy them for herself. Both aunt and niece were slim, fair-skinned, with long legs and big eyes, a blend of southern elegance and northern grace, looking very much like models when they walked together, making any outfit they tried on look good.

They had already spent nearly two thousand yuan on clothes, and Xiao Xian really wanted to use the money in her account, but couldn’t explain where all that money had come from, out of the blue, to Zhuo Feng.

Last night, sitting in the car, Xiao Xian remembered the items her grandfather had given her before he left. She hadn’t paid much attention to the Party Constitution, and she hadn’t looked much at the red passbook either, just handed it over to Zhuo Feng and her husband.

Zhuo Feng had immediately returned the passbook, telling her to keep it well.

Zhuo Feng didn’t explain in detail why she didn’t keep the passbook, just said lightly, "That’s someone else’s money. I don’t want to use unclear money. Xiao Xian, we should live a clean and honest life. Accept what we should, and don’t take even a penny that we shouldn’t."

The exact amount of money Zhu Shi Jun, who had been a factory manager and official, had embezzled over the years was unknown, and Zhuo Feng didn’t want to delve into how much was in that passbook. She just wanted to rely on her and her husband’s ability to raise Xiao Xian well, to ensure she didn’t follow the same path as her older brother and sister-in-law.

"Aunt, I think we have enough clothes, let’s just buy one pair of shoes. I’m quite thrifty with shoes, I can’t even wear out a pair in a year, why don’t we go back to the Converse store we saw at the start and just buy a pair of sneakers?" While trying on a pair of white Nike sports shoes, Xiao Xian checked the price, which was 599, too expensive. It was almost half a month’s salary for an ordinary worker.

"The sneakers you’re wearing look good, did you like the board shoes we saw earlier? Let’s get those as well. Xiao Xian, you’re ten years old. Since you were six, I haven’t bought you any birthday presents. Let’s consider this as making up for the past four years’ worth of birthday gifts." Xiao Xian was born in May, and her birthday this year had already passed. Zhuo Feng still had some money, as her family background in Wenzhou was quite good. When she married, the money her parents gave her for a house was something Feng Xing absolutely refused to accept, so it had just been saved.

Using a portion now to buy clothes and accessories for her niece didn’t seem an excessive gesture.

Zhuo Feng didn’t tell Xiao Xian that city kids were different from village kids; wearing the same shoes and clothes every day could be subject for ridicule. She didn’t want Xiao Xian to be looked down upon at school because of her clothes.

After buying the clothes and shoes, Zhuo Feng took Xiao Xian to get all the stationery and a backpack, filling up the trunk of the taxi by the end of the morning. Lunch was settled at a food stand below the old apartment, where Xiao Xian discovered Zhuo Feng couldn’t cook. It seemed that at home, it was usually Feng Xing who did the cooking. Feng Xing had lunch at his workplace, and before Xiao Xian arrived, Zhuo Feng would usually settle for some egg-fried rice or a bowl of noodles from a local stall.

Xiao Xian took a bite of an egg, "Aunt, why do Beijing’s eggs taste so bad, and also..." Xiao Xian hesitated to say the rest. When she brushed her teeth last night, the first sip of water she took made her spit it out immediately; the water tasted odd, neither salty nor plain.

"It’s an earthy taste, right? That’s how city people manage. You’ll get used to it. The eggs are feed-fed, and the water comes from underground. Those eggs labeled ’home-grown’ are expensive. If you can’t get used to the eggs, try eating the ribs, and the fried tree-shoots here are quite tasty too." Zhuo Feng reminisced about the days in Ge Village, Sister-in-law Lian’s cooking was good, and so were the ingredients. If it wasn’t for the heat and bumpy roads, she would have liked to bring that basket of eggs given by the villagers back to Beijing. There are supermarkets everywhere in Beijing, but they still can’t compare to the natural food she ate in the Southwest Mountain Area.