Chapter 14 Buying a Bellyband
Ji Zheng walked into a shop selling clothes and fabrics.
The store was not big and there were no customers inside. There was only a woman, who was either a waitress or the boss, who was behind the counter with her head down, doing something unknown.
Seeing Ji Zheng coming in, he immediately came up to him with a warm smile on his face, "Sir, what do you want to buy? We have everything here, cloth, ready-made clothes, shoes and socks, purses..."
Listening to the woman's introduction, Ji Zheng felt a little headache and interrupted her repeatedly: "I want to see the shoes."
"Okay, okay, the shoes are here, come and take a look, sir." The woman smiled unchanged and led Ji Zheng to the left.
Rows of shoes came into view, but it was obvious at a glance that the shoes were very rough in both style and fabric, and most of them were dark in color.
"Sir, our shoes are very sturdy and durable, and the price is not expensive. This pair is only five cents." The woman picked up a pair of shoes and continued to introduce them, "You can buy them with confidence. I dare say that our shoes are the cheapest in this town."
Five cents a pair was indeed cheap; the tea he just drank was enough to buy two pairs.
Ji Zheng didn't say anything. He took the shoes from the woman's hand and found that the soles of the shoes were very hard and the fabric on the uppers was very rough, even a little prickly.
Ji Zheng immediately gave up the idea of buying the shoes. "The soles are too hard. Do you have softer ones?"
Hearing this, the woman looked at Ji Zheng again. She had been running this shop for several years and had developed an eye for judging the customer's taste and serving them the right dishes.
The way this man is dressed doesn't look like he is rich, otherwise he wouldn't have led people to look at such cheap and unprofitable shoes.
Now seeing that this person looks down on these shoes, could it be that I made a wrong assumption?
Regardless of whether it was a mistake in my judgment or not, I couldn't turn away business that came to me. Regardless of whether the person in front of me could afford it or not, if he wanted to see it, I would let him see it.
The woman concealed her thoughts and smiled, "Yes, yes, yes, of course, come this way."
As he said that, he went to the other side and took out several pairs of soft-soled shoes from above.
This pair of shoes looked better than the previous ones, but Ji Zheng was still a little dissatisfied. He felt that the soles were not soft enough. "Is there any softer than this?"
The woman paused, then said, "Yes, yes, it's this price..."
Although the words were not finished, the meaning was very clear.
Ji Zheng was not bothered, after all, his own clothes made him look shabby.
"Let me take a look first." Ji Zheng said.
"Okay!" the woman responded, turned and walked to the counter, then bent over and fiddled for a while, then came out with several pairs of shoes of different colors.
At first glance, you can tell that these shoes are more than ten times better than the previous ones.
Ji Zheng picked up a pair of shoes. Both the sole and the upper were very soft.
"Sir, these shoes are the softest in my store. They are made entirely of cotton, without any hemp mixed in. Take a look and see if you like them." The woman introduced them with a smile, "Even the soles are made of several layers of cotton, so they are guaranteed to be soft and won't rub your feet."
Ji Zheng was very satisfied, "How much is it?"
"This is twenty cents a pair." Fearing that Ji Zheng might think it was too expensive, he continued, "Don't worry, you will only make money at this price for our shoes. We use only the best cotton fabrics."
It is true that cheap products are not good, and good products are not cheap.
In fact, if Ji Zheng were to wear them himself, with his current financial resources he would definitely buy them for five cents a pair, but he was planning to buy them for Ji Hean.
He had noticed a long time ago that Ji and An's shoes were in a terrible state of disrepair. Not to mention the patches on the uppers, even the soles were worn down to only a thin layer.
It made him very sad, but at that time he was very short of money.
"Just this style, get me a pair of this size and pack them up." Ji Zheng pointed at a pair of cyan shoes with cloud patterns on the sides and used his other hand to measure the length of Ji Hean's feet.
Ever since he had the idea of buying shoes for Ji He'an, Ji Zheng measured the size of Ji He'an's feet while he was sleeping.
When the woman saw the size Ji Zheng pointed out, she knew at a glance that this was not Ji Zheng's shoe size.
It turns out that he didn't buy it for himself, so it seems that he bought it for his family.
"Okay, wait a moment." The woman responded with a smile, and quickly found the shoes of suitable size, packed them up and handed them to Ji Zheng.
Ji Zheng took the shoes and was about to pay when he caught a glimpse of a piece of sky blue cloth with dark patterns.
At first glance, it is very suitable for Ji Hean, and these words suddenly popped up in my mind.
The woman also had good taste. When she saw Ji Zheng's eyes, she immediately walked over, picked up the cloth and introduced it to Ji Zheng: "Sir, you have good taste. This cloth is also pure cotton. These colors and patterns are newly imported from the county this year. I am the only one in the whole town that has it. If you like it, I can give you a discount."
Ji Zheng really liked it. The color of the cloth was neither too bright nor too dull, and the pattern on it matched the cloth very well.
He could imagine what Ji Hean would look like wearing clothes made of this cloth; they would definitely look really good.
Now, after hearing the woman's introduction, he couldn't help but ask, "How much does this cloth cost?"
The woman saw that there was something interesting going on, and smiled until the wrinkles on her eyes grew a few more. "It was originally one foot and twenty-two cents. If you want, how about I give you one foot and twenty cents?"
Ji Zheng counted the money in his pocket, thought for a moment, stretched out his hand to measure Ji Hean's height at his neck and asked, "How many feet of cloth would it take for a boy this tall to make a set of clothes?"
As a woman in the cloth business, she was naturally very familiar with the length of cloth required for a person's height. After looking at Ji Zheng's height, she could tell at a glance, "It's about a little over six feet."
A pair of over six feet would cost one hundred and twenty coins. He currently had 117 coins left after paying for the shoes.
Tsk, it’s not enough, so damn poor.
Ji Zheng looked at the cloth reluctantly for several times, then decided to buy it next time. "Sorry, I don't have enough money today. Maybe next time."
The woman was not annoyed and put the cloth back with a smile, "Okay, I'll keep it for you."
Ji Zheng counted out twenty copper coins and gave them to the woman.
"Welcome to come again next time." The woman put away the copper plate with a smile on her face.
Ji Zheng didn't say anything. He felt like he had forgotten something when he went out. He remembered that he wanted to buy more than just shoes, but he couldn't remember what he wanted to buy.
After walking a long way, he slapped his forehead. He remembered that he wanted to buy a bellyband for Ji Hean.
Although it was only seen that time, Ji Hean's bellyband was obviously too small and couldn't even cover her waist.
Thinking of this, the beautiful scenery that he saw that night appeared clearly in Ji Hean's mind again, and his two ears began to turn red and hot.
Feeling that something in himself was beginning to stir, Ji Zheng quickly recited the Party's core ideology several times in his mind.
After calming down, Ji Zheng turned back.
When the woman saw Ji Zheng coming back, she thought that Ji Zheng had dropped something here.
"Sir, why are you back again?" the woman asked with a smile.
Thinking about what he was going to buy, Ji Zheng felt a little embarrassed, and a rare blush appeared on his face.
"I want to see some underwear." Ji Zheng didn't say bellyband directly, but chose a more euphemistic name.
Underwear? The woman wondered, "But underwear?"
"No, no, it's more close-fitting." Ji Zheng felt it was a bit embarrassing to say this to a girl, even though the girl looked to be in her 40s or 50s.
After hearing this and seeing Ji Zheng's expression, the woman immediately understood, "But the bellyband?"
Although it is a question, the tone is that of a statement.
Ji Zheng nodded repeatedly, then thought of something and added, "It should be softer, with better fabric."
There was a flash of surprise in the woman's eyes. She had run the shop for so many years, but this was the first man who came to buy a bellyband.
Although this man doesn't have much money, he is surprisingly good to his wife.
Putting aside her thoughts, the woman took out a few bellybands and placed them on the counter. "Take a look. Which one do you want?"
Ji Zheng didn't understand either, so he asked, "Can you introduce it to me?"
"Yes, yes." The woman answered twice.
Then I slowly started to introduce them to Ji Zheng, from cotton to silk.
Ji Zheng fell in love with the silky one at first sight. He touched it and found it smooth and soft, perfect as underwear.
"How much is this price?" Ji Zheng pointed at Si Si and asked.
"Fifty-five cents. If you want, how about fifty cents?" The woman said with a smile. Fearing that Ji Zheng didn't have money, she pointed to the smaller one next to her and said, "Actually, this one isn't even that..."
Before he could finish his words, Ji Zheng interrupted him and said, "Please give me two."
"Okay, okay." The woman's smile deepened. "What size do you want? What color?"
Ji Zheng thought for a moment and said, "Red. As for how big it is..." He gestured to Ji Hean's height and said, "It's this tall. You can take it as you see fit."
Looking at the height that Ji Zheng gestured out, the woman was startled. It seemed that the boy he was talking about was a little boy.
Thinking of the soft-soled shoes that Ji Zheng bought and the cloth he wanted to buy, the woman sighed in her heart. She didn't expect that he would be so good to a little girl like Shuang.
This man's twins are also very lucky.
Although he was thinking about something, he did not hesitate and quickly wrapped two bellybands.
Ji Zheng gave the money and went to the other side of the street to buy two meat buns and four vegetarian buns for five cents.
He ate three vegetarian buns and put the rest in his pocket to bring back for Ji and An.
After buying all these things, Ji Zheng suddenly became penniless.
When I arrived at the town exit, I found a oxcart that was passing by, gave a penny, and waited for the ride home.
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