ITBBS Chapter 23

The next day, Shen Yao was woken from her sleep by the alarm clock. Perhaps because she hadn’t been home for several days, she felt a bit dazed when she first opened her eyes. After taking a moment to gather herself, she got up to wash up.

After exercising in the courtyard for an hour, she started cleaning the room and the yard. Having been away for days, she really wasn’t used to the mess.

Shen Yao piled the things she had bought from the department store onto her bed and began sorting them into categories. She certainly couldn’t use this much herself. She would go ask Auntie later if they wanted to pick out some essential household items.

Looking at the large pile of sorted items, she realized she had bought quite a lot. If Auntie and the others saw this, they would surely scold her for being wasteful.

Speaking of the devil, and the devil comes. No sooner had she thought about it she heard several voices outside.

“Yao Yao, Yao Yao!” Shen Qiu dashed in from outside the courtyard. The young girl, already pretty, looked even more attractive with her innocent and pure smile.

Shen Yao saw Shen Qiu leading the way, followed by three little ones. She smiled happily. “Sister Xiao Qiu, did you eat candy this early in the morning? You’re this happy?”

“Aunty Yao Yao, Aunty, we’re here too!” Hu Zi, Tie Dan, and Ya Ya all tugged at Shen Yao’s clothes, calling out sweetly.

“Yao Yao, you’re back.”

Xu Dani then walked into the courtyard. Her old bones couldn’t compare to her daughter’s. That girl had disappeared in the blink of an eye, as if something were chasing her.

Xu Dani felt her daughter was hopeless. Such a big girl, still unable to change her reckless habits. Who would ever be able to manage her?

“Auntie, come in and sit down.” Shen Yao walked over, took Xu Dani’s arm, and had her sit on a stool in the main room.

She made each person a cup of sugar water, then went into her room and brought out a plate of candies and peanuts, placing it on the table. “Auntie, Sister Xiao Qiu, help yourselves.”

Shen Yao pointed to the snacks on the table and said to the three little ones, “Hu Zi, Tie Dan, Ya Ya, you can grab some sweets.”

Hu Zi first looked at his grandmother and aunt. Seeing his aunt hold up two fingers, he took six pieces of candy and gave two to each of the others. Grandma and Auntie had said that one should not be greedy.

Seeing the secret signals between Hu Zi and Shen Qiu, Shen Yao found it both amusing and touching. Did they have to be so clear even about a few pieces of candy?

However, it also showed that the Shen family had taught their children well. At seven years old, the child understood how to be polite and modest and knew not to be greedy.

If it were other children, they would probably stuff as much as they could into their own pockets. Some children, when visiting others’ homes, even ran inside and rummaged through everything, trying to claim anything tasty or fun they saw as their own. Shen Yao really disliked such children.

So it had to be said that the Shen family’s character was good, and they were worthy of her sincere friendship. She teased Shen Qiu, “Sister Xiao Qiu, are you done with your secret signals?”

“Yao Yao, you can’t spoil them. If they get used to it, what will happen when they come running here every day?”

Xu Dani didn’t want her family to develop bad habits. Many people in the village favored sons over daughters, coddling the boys until they ran wild, stealing and taking other people’s things, while the girls lived miserably.

She could never do such a thing. In her family, boys and girls were treated the same. Besides, she was a woman herself.

“Exactly. Yao Yao, you can’t spoil them. You gave them candy just yesterday. You can’t do that again today.”

Shen Qiu fully agreed with her mother. With a single greedy thought, a person could become insatiable.

“Auntie, don’t worry. It’s not like I have snacks to give out every day.”

Xu Dani thought about how this girl squandered money and began to worry about her future. “Yao Yao, you need to be careful with your money. You still have to go to school. What will you do if you run out of money in the future?”

Shen Yao knew what Xu Dani wanted to say. It was probably because of the gifts from yesterday. Then she thought about the large pile of things she still had on her bed and started to get anxious.

“Ahem! Auntie, I bought some things in the city. They’re in my room. Why don’t you take a look and see if there’s anything you need? You can pick some things to take back.” Shen Yao then pulled Shen Qiu and the others into the room.

“Oh my goodness!”

“Oh my heavens!”

Xu Dani and Shen Qiu exclaimed in surprise at the same time, their eyes wide open as they stared at the huge pile of things. This was no small amount. They suspected the girl had cleaned out the entire department store.

Xu Dani took a long while to calm down. She turned to look at Shen Yao, who had run off to stand in a corner. The clever girl knew she would get scolded and had hidden herself well.

“You clever girl, is this what you call some things? I just told you to be careful with your money, and you give your aunt such a big shock.”

Xu Dani pointed at Shen Yao from a distance. So she did know how to be afraid. This girl seemed to want to fly to the heavens.

Shen Qiu finally snapped out of it too. She couldn’t believe Yao Yao was such a spendthrift. Boo hoo~ her heart ached so much. What could she do? Did this girl squander all her money?

“Yao Yao, why did you buy so many things? How much did this cost? Just looking at it makes my heart bleed.”

Shen Yao couldn’t help but laugh at Shen Qiu’s words. She had just been caught up in buying everything in sight and ended up using up all her ration tickets. She hadn’t realized there would be so much.

She rubbed the tip of her nose, looking at the pained expressions on the other two’s faces. Well, she just wanted to indulge in a shopping spree of this era, and she accidentally went a little overboard.

“Auntie, Sister Xiao Qiu, all my ration tickets were about to expire. If I didn’t use them, they would have gone to waste. What a shame that would have been. Besides, I thought you might need some things too, so I bought them all together.”

What else could Xu Dani say? The things were already bought. Could she return them? “You silly girl, don’t do this again.”

“Mom, don’t worry. When Yao Yao and I go to school, I’ll make sure she doesn’t spend money recklessly.” Shen Qiu patted her chest in assurance.

Shen Yao felt a flock of crows fly over her head. She had dug a hole for herself and then personally climbed into it.

“Auntie, pick out some things you need to take back. I can’t use this many myself.”

Xu Dani thought it over. Taking some things back would be fine, but she would have to pay the girl for them. She didn’t want free things. “Alright, I’ll pick out some things, but you have to charge me the original price. Otherwise, I won’t take anything.”

Shen Yao shared the same idea. She joked, “Auntie, I definitely won’t overcharge you.”