Xia Minmin arrived at school very early on Sunday afternoon.
Gu Fei would come to school early on Sunday afternoons to play basketball. Gu Fei was very tall; while most students at the school were only about 1.6 to 1.7 meters tall, he was already 1.85 meters tall.
Xia Minmin found Gu Fei at the basketball court. During Gu Fei's halftime break, she said, "Gu Fei, Teacher Lu asked us to go buy something."
The other players playing ball nearby made a lot of strange noises.
"Oh, the teacher only arranged for the two of you to go shopping."
What's this called?
"Just the two of us."
"Gu Fei, you're quite the ladies' man."
Gu Fei stood up and, jokingly, kicked his companion, "How can you have such dirty thoughts? This is Xia Minmin, our class monitor. She's not even eight years old yet."
Gu Fei wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel from his gym bag, then tidied up the items that were outside and put them back into the gym bag.
"Let's go shopping! Did Teacher Lu tell us what to buy?"
When Gu Fei walked next to Xia Minmin, Xia Minmin couldn't help but move two steps to the side; Gu Fei's height was too intimidating.
Seeing this, Gu Fei became somewhat angry. "Why are you making your class monitor lose face by walking with me?"
"You don't understand. You're so tall. When I walk next to you, I have to look up to talk to you. If I stay a little further away from you, my neck won't get tired."
Gu Fei looked at Xia Minmin, who was short and small; you couldn't tell from her appearance that she wasn't even eight years old yet. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't have come in second place.
"Okay, whatever makes you happy! Didn't you say what Teacher Lu wanted us to buy?"
"I asked us to buy external medicines, glucose, 100 kilograms of oranges, and some snacks."
"A hundred pounds of oranges? I need to hurry back to the bike shed and push my bicycle up there."
After saying that, Gu Fei hurriedly turned around and rode his bicycle back to school.
"Squad leader, get on the bus and I'll give you a ride. After we buy the oranges, we'll push them back."
Have you ever given someone a ride? Won't you make me fall off?
Seeing that Xia Minmin was somewhat reluctant, "Squad leader, don't worry! I'm an experienced driver. I've carried people heavier than you, let alone a little chick like you."
After receiving a clear answer from Gu Fei, Xia Minmin didn't hesitate and climbed onto her bicycle.
Gu Fei rode his bicycle with Xia Minmin on the back. "Class monitor, I'm not familiar with this area. I heard you and Tang Meng mention that you live around here. Do you know where I can buy medicine?"
Xia Minmin gave a rough description of the location; it wasn't far, about a ten-minute bike ride, and there was a farmers' market nearby.
The pharmacy owner sat lazily in a chair behind the counter watching TV. When Xia Minmin and her friend came in, the owner didn't even look up, his eyes still glued to the TV.
Gu Fei patted the counter. "Boss, I want to buy something."
The pharmacy owner then looked up, his tone not very friendly, "What do you want!"
"Hello boss, we'd like to buy Yunnan Baiyao (a traditional Chinese medicine), iodine, cotton swabs, and glucose!"
The pharmacy owner was quick; he found the medicines, piled them on the counter, told them the price, and then turned his eyes back to the TV.
Xia Minmin counted out the corresponding amount of money and handed it to the shop owner. "Here's the money, please give us a receipt."
The pharmacy owner muttered, "It's such a hassle to ask for a receipt for such a small amount of stuff."
After hearing the boss's complaints, Gu Fei clenched his fist and slammed it on the counter.
The boss then realized that there was a tall, burly man next to him, and dared not say anything more. He wrote out the receipt and handed it to Xia Minmin.
Gu Fei looked grim as he left the pharmacy. "What's wrong with the owner of this pharmacy? We came here to do business with him, to give him money, but it's like we're begging and being treated badly."
"Maybe we went in at the wrong time; the boss's TV drama should have reached its climax. I've bought medicine from him a few times before, and he's always been very nice to me."
The farmers' market was just a few steps away, so they stopped riding their bikes and chose to walk there. There were many elderly people selling oranges along the street.
Xia Minmin asked about prices as she walked, and saw bright orange tangerines emitting an enticing aroma.
Xia Minmin stopped at the stall that had the best-looking oranges and asked, "Boss, can I try some of your oranges? Are they sweet?"
The shopkeeper picked out an orange for Xia Xia and Minmin and handed it to her, saying, "Try it, I guarantee it'll be sweet. If it's not sweet, you don't have to pay."
Xia Minmin took the orange, cut it in half, ate one half herself, and handed the other half to Gu Fei.
It's really quite good, very sweet and juicy.
Xia Minmin asked, "How much is it per pound? If it's cheap, we'll buy more!"
"Little girl, this year's orange harvest is so abundant that they're worthless. They're only a dime a pound, but ten dollars can buy a hundred pounds."
Xia Minmin had expected oranges to be cheap, but she didn't expect them to be this cheap.
Gu Fei seemed to be buying fruit for the first time as well, and he was shocked by the price.
"Boss, please pack 100 jin for us. Choose the larger ones, and don't give us any bad fruit."
"You can rest assured. If any are bad, just bring them to me for a replacement. I sell oranges here every day."
The oranges were packed and weighed in fertilizer bags. "Ten yuan."
"Could you please give us a receipt?"
"We don't have a receipt."
The orange vendor didn't have a receipt, so Xia Minmin had to take out a pen and notebook from her schoolbag. "Boss, just write me a note. I need to give this to my teacher, otherwise she won't reimburse me."
"Are you two teachers running errands?"
Seeing that the boss had misunderstood, Xia Minmin quickly explained, "No, our school is having a sports meet in a couple of days, and the teacher asked us to prepare some food and drinks."
"Okay, I'll add a few more for you." After saying that, the boss stuffed more than a dozen oranges into the woven bag.
With the boss's help, a woven bag of oranges was placed on the back seat of Gu Fei's car.
"Thank you, boss. We'll be going now."
Gu Fei pushed the cart in front, while Xia Minmin helped hold the woven bags.
Is there anything else you want to buy?
"Buy some more cookies and candies and that should be enough."
"You'll go in and buy them by yourself. The oranges on the bike are too heavy; I'm worried the bike might tip over."
Passing by a snack wholesale store, Xia Minmin went in, bought a large bag of snacks, and then hurriedly came out.
"It's getting late, let's hurry back to school, otherwise we'll miss our evening self-study session."
Xia Minmin and Gu Fei quickened their pace and hurried towards the school.
Gu Fei said at the school gate, "Xia Minmin, go to the classroom later and ask two male classmates to come to the bike shed to help me carry the oranges. You don't need to come back. The oranges are to be placed in Teacher Lu's office, right?"
"Well, Ms. Lu is worried that we might finish eating before the sports meet, so I'll be going now."
Xia Minmin carried a bag of snacks and medicine and jogged back to the classroom, the snack bags making a constant clattering sound as they bumped against each other.
Xia Minmin called down two boys who were usually close to Gu Fei to help, while she herself took the things she had bought and went to Teacher Lu's office.
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