Chapter 94: Changing Life ④
When Nie Qiu returned home, Nie Aifang was sitting on the sofa, staring blankly at a photograph. Nie Qiu walked over and saw the photo in Nie Aifang’s hand. The photo showed a man and a woman. The woman was clearly Nie Aifang in her youth, tall and slender, with two braids hanging by her ears, wearing a white shirt tucked into the bell-bottom pants popular in that era, cinched high at the waist. It was a typical 1980s fashion.
The man was similarly dressed, with a side-parted hairstyle. He wore a knitwear shirt tucked into suit pants, also cinched at the waist. Both were smiling, appearing very happy and joyful. The background was the steps of a photography studio from that era, with a backdrop and a white European-style chair holding a flower basket.
The photograph was very old, made of thick paper, as there was no plastic.
Honestly, Nie Qiu had photos like this too. She didn’t often get photographed, but everyone took pictures at the photo studio for elementary and middle school graduations. Regardless of whether classmates disliked her, at the moment of parting, they all put aside their reservations and took photos seriously as souvenirs.
Photos from that time were not made of plastic and weren’t particularly clear. The colors were very vivid, yet they held a unique memory and flavor.
Nie Aifang saw Nie Qiu and smiled, saying, “Look, this is your Dad.” She gently touched the face of the person in the photo. Nie Aifang smiled tenderly.
Nie Qiu also smiled, looking at the people in the photo with Nie Aifang.
“Shall I sing a song for you?” Nie Aifang asked, looking at Nie Qiu with a smile.
“Okay.”
“When you left, the autumn leaves were red,
Falling leaves drifted in the air.
After you left, I collected the fallen leaves,
Each one carrying my deep longing.
When winter arrived with heavy snow,
My heart never froze.
How many times did I call your name,
How many times did I gaze at the vast sky.
I even blamed heaven, earth, and you for breaking your promise,
Why did we meet so briefly and part so quickly?
From then on, I let down the autumn moon and spring breeze.
How can a thousand words express deep affection…” The singing held longing and sadness, but no regret. Perhaps, this is what it means to love someone.
In high school, Nie Qiu also really liked this song. The lines, “I even blamed heaven, earth, and you for breaking your promise, why did we meet so briefly and part so quickly?” and “How can a thousand words express deep affection…” contained love and helplessness that deeply moved Nie Qiu. She had also fantasized about having such a passionate, deep, and even sorrowful love. She had also wondered if she had truly loved Yang Zihao. If she had, why didn’t she feel the same longing and affection that Nie Aifang had for Nie Qiu’s father? If she hadn’t loved him, what did that fleeting heartbeat mean?
Nie Aifang stood up and put the photo away. “You stay home and do your homework! Mom is going to set up her stall.”
Nie Qiu composed herself and nodded at Nie Aifang. “Okay, Mom. Be careful on your way. Be careful when you’re barbecuing, don’t burn yourself again.”
Nie Aifang smiled and nodded. “When you finish your homework, wash the dishes and get some rest.” After speaking, Nie Aifang went to the kitchen, gathered the materials and tools she had prepared earlier, along with the honeycomb briquette stove, carrying some and shouldering others, and walked out of the house.
Nie Qiu watched Nie Aifang’s hunched back as she carried the materials and tools away. She took a deep breath, sat on a stool, and continued doing her homework. Just wait a little longer, just a little longer, and Nie Aifang wouldn’t have to be so tired anymore.
One thousand five hundred… one thousand five hundred…
These numbers kept swirling in Nie Qiu’s mind, making it impossible to concentrate. Nie Qiu put down her pen and lay on the sofa. The paper bag from the gift Nie Aiwen had bought her made a crisp rustling sound as she pressed down on it.
Wait… Balerena? That international brand? Nie Qiu’s eyes lit up. She opened the paper bag and took out the box inside. It was clearly a shoe box. Nie Qiu opened it, and the pair of shoes inside made her eyes shine.
Such beautiful princess shoes! Flat, princess-style shoes with a rounded toe, their surface made of sequins. The front was adorned with a pastoral-style rope knot bow tie, looking elegant and refined, yet retaining a girlish playfulness and cuteness.
“So beautiful.” Having seen many brands, Nie Qiu couldn’t help but marvel at these beautiful shoes. Nie Aiwen truly spared no expense for them. Shoes like these would cost at least three to four thousand at the lowest. Balerena’s craftsmanship was entirely handmade, with no compromises on quality or design, which had established Mascro’s brand status for high-end women’s footwear.
These shoes must be at least three thousand yuan, right? Nie Qiu looked at the princess shoes in the box with some excitement. She took the shoes out of the shoe box, touching and admiring them, completely captivated.
After looking for a long time, Nie Qiu put the shoes back into the shoe box, composed herself, and prepared to do her homework.
But as soon as she touched her pen, she saw the words “one thousand five hundred” written on her notebook. She looked at the Balerena box, memorized the shoe’s style number, design, color, and size, then closed her notebook and workbook, stood up, took money from her schoolbag, and rushed out of the house.
She really liked these shoes, very much. But… she needed money now. She needed money to rent a vegetable stall so that Nie Aifang wouldn’t have to work so late every night. Nie Aifang could wake up and sleep at regular times every day.
She thought of online shopping, which was all the rage now. Yes! She would sell these shoes online!
After leaving her room, Nie Qiu’s first priority was to find an internet cafe. In a big city, you need an ID card to use an internet cafe. Finding a small, unlicensed internet cafe wasn’t easy, so Nie Qiu searched for over half an hour before finally finding one.
Nie Qiu had seen her tutoring class teacher go to unlicensed internet cafes to find students and knew some tricks for finding them. She knew that in some remote residential areas, there were small general stores. Stores that advertised “top up game currency” often had small rooms inside with a few computers.
Nie Qiu entered the internet cafe, handed the money to the shop owner, and directly told him, “One hour.”
As if it were a code, the owner understood, took Nie Qiu’s ten yuan, and said without looking up, “Machine number eight, password is five eights.”
Nie Qiu knew that after paying ten yuan, she would get change back when she left. She lifted a curtain inside the shop, revealing over a dozen computers flickering in the darkness. Several boys were intensely playing games, their shouts and curses rising and falling. Two seven or eight-year-old boys were also playing a gun game.
Nie Qiu frowned, feeling a bit uncomfortable, but she couldn’t control these people. She walked directly to machine number eight, turned on the host, and entered the password as the shop owner had instructed, then began operating the computer.
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