Chapter 43. Surprise
Ruan Tang's mother has always adhered to the life principle that letting others make money means she suffers a loss. She has spent most of her life fighting wits and courage with this business world just to save a few dollars.
She remembered when she was in college, one year just after the winter break, the temperature suddenly dropped and it snowed heavily. Ruan Tang asked her mother to send her a down jacket, but her mother said the express fee would be more than 20 yuan. It was only a few steps from the dormitory to the teaching building every day, so she should walk faster and not run around outdoors, as the temperature would rise in two days.
Almost everyone around her put on their down jackets again, but she was the only one walking around the campus in a thin woolen jacket. During the practical class, her hands were shaking so much that she couldn't find the vein when holding the needle. Later, she caught a cold, and it was the boy who was pursuing her at the time who bought her medicine.
But such a woman who was so thrifty actually sent a cold chain express of more than ten kilograms of fresh food across provinces.
Ruan Tang unwrapped layer after layer of bubble wrap, opened the foam box, and took out the ice pack. The smell of spicy and sour dried radish instantly filled the entire shop. There were also semi-fried spare ribs, smoked beef, hand-stuffed sausages, etc., basically all the things that Feng Xue had praised as delicious when he visited her house last time.
As people get older, they become more naive in some aspects, such as taking other people's polite words as their true feelings.
However, Ruan Tang felt that naiveté was only one aspect of the story. More importantly, her mother was doing her best to please the so-called "rich son-in-law" in her own opinion.
Ruan Tang added three tubes of aromatherapy oil to the diffuser stone, then gritted her teeth and hurriedly moved the big box to the back kitchen. Before she had time to catch her breath, she received a call from her mother.
"Tangtang, did you receive the express delivery?"
"Why are you going through all this trouble? It's not hard enough." Looking at the big box on the ground, she felt distressed for no reason.
"Hey, didn't Xiao Feng say it was delicious when he came last time? It's not a big deal."
"We haven't even started yet, and you're already rushing in and throwing money at us."
"How can you talk like that? Xiao Feng has a good job, a good education, can make money, and he's also very handsome. You're almost thirty, where can you find a man like him? Of course, Mom has to win him over for you, and you have to learn to be more virtuous. You can't be like before and can't tell the difference between soy sauce, vinegar, and soy sauce. They say that to capture a man's heart, you have to capture his stomach first."
Ruan Tang sneered, thinking that you talk a lot, but you were abandoned by the man a long time ago. However, she knew that she must never say this out loud, so she just sneered and said jokingly: Look at how you praise him to the sky, but I am just an old leftover woman who can't do anything and has nothing left to eat. I am not worthy of him at all, and I have to rely on you to do all these to bribe him, right?
In reality, she knew this was supposed to be a happy occasion for everyone. Her mother felt she had contributed to finding a good home for her daughter, Feng Xue felt she was recognized by her elders, and she should be happy that she had finally satisfied her mother after all these years. But she felt upset and aggrieved, not only because her mother recognized Feng Xue after she had packaged her, but also because her mother had become unlike herself, spending money and effort to please a younger person, as if through these foods she was saying, "Please accept this daughter who is about to be the treasure."
She had made up countless lies over the years, but in the end, it seemed that the only people she had deceived were herself and her mother back home.
Feng Xue came in from outside, and Ruan Tang hurriedly gave him a few instructions before hanging up the phone.
Seeing Ruan Tang's face was not very good, he deliberately sniffed and asked in surprise: "What is this? It smells so good."
Ruan Tang waved her hand and said: This is the dowry my mother gave me.
She keenly noticed that Feng Xue's eyes dodged for a moment, and she squatted down to look at the food in the foam box, and her heart sank again.
"Just kidding," she said lazily, yawning, "My mom said these are my favorites. I saw you liked them last time, so I made some extra. Why are you here at this hour?"
Feng Xue stood up, his eyes still on the ingredients in the foam box, and said: I was worried that you would always eat those vegetable leaves, so I thought it was almost time to come back and cook for you.
"That's perfect. After dinner, take me to the pawn shop."
"What are you going there for?"
"Selling off my property, I realized I've fallen completely into poverty since I opened this shop. Now I'm finally at the point where I have to live off my savings to support the shop."
Feng Xue put the vacuum-packed food into the freezer and said, "I've looked at the account books. Actually, a lot of unnecessary things can be saved to reduce costs. For example, there's really no need to purchase those sets of coffee cups so frequently..."
"Okay, okay." Although she knew he was giving reasonable advice out of rationality, she had just received education on women's virtues from her mother, and she could not listen to a word of these business strategies. "Put the ribs back in the pot, I'll wait for you outside." After she said that, she quickly turned around and slipped away.
As she sat on the back of Feng Xue's motorcycle, clutching the Chanel, Ruan Tang suddenly remembered a customer wearing a 200-yuan replica Gi hoodie who had once said that luxury goods depend on how they're used. "If you carry a 30,000-yuan bag on the subway, it'll look like a fake." She suddenly felt a sympathetic connection. If this precious bag had a mind, it would probably despise her current "degradation." With this thought, she hugged the bag tighter, cherishing her final moments with it.
Feng Xue parked the car at the door and asked her if she wanted to go in with him. Ruan Tang looked him up and down, shook her head and said forget it, then went in with her bag.
Nowadays, everyone is a self-media person. Ruan Tang walked in and saw that there was a camera next to the appraiser.
She asked if it was possible not to record the video, and the appraiser repeatedly assured her that they were only filming the appraisal process, and would blur the customer's name and change their voice later, and would never disclose the customer's personal privacy.
Because she was in a hurry to record the transaction and fill the gap in her credit card account, she didn't ask any more questions.
As a result, when the shop was closing at night, Ruan Tang saw the appraiser updated the Douyin, the title of which was: The limited edition Chanel of the 90s beauty shop owner
Looking at the partially coded picture on the homepage of the video, she spent three minutes telling herself to stay calm. When she was about to click on the video, she suddenly received a WeChat message from Feng Xue, asking her to close the store and go to his house, as he had prepared a gift for her.
Gift?
Ruan Tang quickly searched her mind, but couldn't think of any special day today.
She thought again, when she went to the pawn shop today, Feng Xue was waiting outside. Could it be that he... bought the bag for her?
Apart from this hypothesis, she could not think of any other possibility.
Thinking of this, she instantly forgave the appraiser and prepared to call a car to go to Feng Xue's house.
While waiting for the bus, Ruan Tang suddenly remembered what he said at noon about increasing revenue and reducing expenditure. She canceled the order in a good mood and walked towards the subway station.
It was rush hour right now, and she was caught in the crowd and unconsciously quickened her pace as she surged forward. She was squeezed into the carriage without even touching the ground, and her hair got caught on the zipper of a man's backpack, but none of this affected her good mood.
When she arrived at Feng Xue's door, Ruan Tang sprayed some perfume again, took out some powder to touch up her makeup, and even practiced her surprised expression in front of the mirror.
"Dangdangdang~" As soon as the door opened, Feng Xue eagerly held a box in front of her, like a little boy waiting for praise.
Later, whenever Ruan Tang thought of this scene, she felt that there might never have been a more forced smile in her life.
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