After dinner, worried that she might have trouble carrying food, A Lei didn't drive home immediately. Instead, he took her hand and strolled around the streets. Changdi is Guangzhou's Bund, and it was very lively.
Qin Xiaoyu craned her neck in front of the clock tower for a long time, making A Lei dizzy.
"So many traditional Chinese characters! Luckily I recognize them. What about you? You're so lazy when it comes to Chinese." Qin Xiaoyu casually teased A Lei.
"My tutor is an old gentleman who has been studying abroad and has never come back, so I learned traditional Chinese characters first," A Lei said modestly. Qin Xiaoyu had just satisfied her little vanity when she was deflated again.
After strolling around for a while, Qin Xiaoyu was still not satisfied. She noticed that Guangzhou's nights were more lively than other places. Probably because of the better climate; who would want to stay home on such a beautiful night? Unlike Northeast China, where it's often minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius—only a fool would go out.
At her insistence, A Lei drove the car to the underground shopping mall, where there were still shops open at night and many vendors.
Qin Xiaoyu struggled to communicate with the stall owners. Many of the vendors spoke Cantonese, which was much harder to understand than Cheng Fuxing's modified Cantonese, and she quickly gave up.
"This shirt is too big for you. If you want it more, come early and I'll bring you a new size." Qin Xiaoyu was dizzy from the vendor's words.
“She said this dress is too big for you. If you want it, come back tomorrow and she’ll bring you a new size,” A Lei translated for her.
"You can speak Cantonese?" Qin Xiaoyu looked at A Lei with newfound respect.
“These are all essential skills to learn,” Are said casually.
"Your childhood must have been very pitiful, right?" Qin Xiaoyu looked at him with pity.
"It's alright, I only need to learn four foreign languages. I can understand Shanghainese, and I need to be able to understand and speak Cantonese. Horse riding is my favorite, so I don't find it troublesome. I'm so-so about piano lessons, I stopped taking dance lessons when I was twelve, and painting is just a hobby; I can't even finish one painting a year. I took tennis lessons for a while, but I gave them up after I became obsessed with rugby. I learned surfing on vacation..." While A Lei was still fiddling with his fingers, Qin Xiaoyu had already gasped a few times.
"Okay, okay, I understand." She gently patted A Lei's hand, trying to keep smiling.
Why don't people like this feel tired? Learning so much stuff must be so stressful.
Qin Xiaoyu suddenly noticed that the clothes on a stall looked familiar. She had just gone over to take a look when a girl of about ten years old stood out from behind the stall.
"Ten yuan." She spoke in Mandarin, and Qin Xiaoyu instantly felt a sense of familiarity.
Are there any other colors?
"Yes, I'll have your mom find it for you when she gets back," the girl said, pointing. Qin Xiaoyu saw Sister Su and another older girl, each carrying an enamel mug, approaching.
Sister Su recognized Qin Xiaoyu at a glance and gave her a shy smile.
The little girl took the enamel mug from her hand; it contained steaming hot fish ball noodles. The two girls placed the noodles on small round stools and sat around it to eat.
"Mom, come and eat." The older girl held up a pair of chopsticks.
"Sister Su, you eat. I'm just looking around," Qin Xiaoyu said hurriedly. She had wanted to chat with Sister Su a bit more, but she didn't want to disturb her meal.
Just then, a whirlwind suddenly swept in from one side of the market, and some vendors quickly pushed their stalls and ran. Afraid that someone would bump into Qin Xiaoyu, A Lei quickly pulled her aside to protect her.
The three Su sisters also sprang into action, abandoning their noodles and pushing their stall to catch up with the crowd.
They were running so fast that the car jolted, and a round, burlap sack slid off.
The pursuers had arrived, and Sister Su dared not turn back to retrieve it, so she could only grit her teeth and run forward. The little girl turned back.
Someone spotted the snakeskin bag and rushed over.
Qin Xiaoyu crawled out of A Lei's arms and grabbed the snakeskin bag.
“This is mine, I bought it, what do you want with it!” Her fluent Mandarin left the visitor speechless.
Qin Xiaoyu noticed the red armbands on their sleeves with the word "Management" written on them, and knew they were there to check for unlicensed vendors. She decided to secure the goods first.
The vendors ran too fast; those who didn't run were all innocent. The management officers all turned back and kept an eye on Qin Xiaoyu's package.
"I saw it! It fell off the car!" someone, always eager for drama, remarked.
"Who said that! I bought it!" Qin Xiaoyu glared at her fiercely.
"You say you can't do it? Take a look at this!" The manager didn't believe him and reached out to snatch it away.
"Come on, come on, this is my cousin from the mainland, you know what I mean, she's buying a lot of clothes to take back and share. She doesn't have any clothes to wear in the mainland, so she bought a bit too much." Ah Lei came over and stopped the manager.
The manager was skeptical, so Aray had no choice but to weigh the Cherokee key in his hand.
These people are snobbish; they could tell that A Lei had connections. They weren't giving up and just left, muttering to themselves.
"Alright, a bag of tattered clothes isn't worth much. Let's go for a drink, it's so late and we're still not off work, are you trying to kill us?" Ah Lei took out ten yuan and stuffed it into the leader's hand. He waved his hand, and the others left dejectedly.
Qin Xiaoyu tried to drag it, but the snakeskin bag was incredibly heavy. She could only ask A Lei for help. A Lei sighed helplessly and came over to lift it. The little girl, who had been watching from the shadows, panicked when she saw this and grabbed the bag tightly, preventing them from taking it away.
"This is ours, give it back to me!" The little girl was almost crying.
"Don't worry, your mother has gone far away, right? She won't dare to come back tonight. Can you lead the way and deliver the things to your house?" Qin Xiaoyu asked softly.
“I can’t bring strangers home,” the little girl shook her head.
"Do you know Ye Qiu? Fatty Hong?"
The little girl nodded.
"And Huo Jinghong, we're both from Renmin Road. Your mother knows me, so don't worry."
After Qin Xiaoyu's explanation, the little girl finally believed her. Following her directions, A Lei wandered around until they reached a residential area.
Most of the buildings here are two- or three-story self-built rental houses. Because they are self-built, they are crammed together wherever there is space, and some buildings are almost touching. As for sunlight, even ventilation has become a problem.
There was still some distance to the little girl's house, and Are's Cherokee couldn't make it up the hill. He had no choice but to park the car under a tree, carry the burlap sack, and follow them uphill.
"Ahhh, I've finally met my match," A Lei suddenly remarked. Qin Xiaoyu turned around, looked at him, and laughed.
"You're so handsome! You look so handsome even while carrying a snakeskin bag." Qin Xiaoyu's words made A Lei's heart flutter with joy.
They drove off quickly; Sister Su and her younger sister hadn't returned yet. The little girl's name was Xiao Zhen; she was Sister Su's second daughter. After her divorce, Sister Su lived alone with her two children in a rented apartment.
As soon as they reached the door, a huge rat scurried out of the doorway, and Qin Xiaoyu's scream echoed throughout the alley.
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