Chapter 81: Summer and Such ③
“What does that matter? I can swim, I can float!” Huang Yan said with a smile, then looked at Nie Qiu, “Nie Qiu, what about you? Can you swim? If not, I can teach you.”
Nie Qiu nodded, “I can swim, but… Huang Yan, shall we go buy swimsuits after school?”
Given the personality of the previous Nie Qiu, Nie Qiu didn’t think she would buy a swimsuit. She still had over thirty yuan on her, and she should be able to buy a swimsuit at a street stall. She really didn’t want to go swimming in her regular clothes.
“Okay, okay! I bought my swimsuits when I was in the first year of junior high. Let’s go buy swimsuits after school.” Huang Yan agreed with a smile. Hearing the school bell ring, she smiled and said, “You must remember! Don’t forget!” After speaking, she returned to her seat.
Peng Yu Yang smiled and looked at Nie Qiu, asking, “What? Am I not included?”
“Speaking of which, Peng Yu Yang, I want to borrow fifty yuan from you.” Nie Qiu knew that it would be very easy for Peng Yu Yang to come up with fifty yuan. After she had made plans with Huang Yan, she realized that Huang Yan only had a small amount of pocket money each day. If she were to buy a swimsuit, she might use money she had saved for a long time. For so long, it had always been her seeking Huang Yan out. Although Huang Yan was a bit noisy, she made Nie Qiu feel less lonely during her campus life, unlike in her previous life, where everyone kept their distance from her.
She thought, should she give Huang Yan a gift? At least… it could express her feelings, express her gratitude.
Peng Yu Yang smiled, took out his wallet from his purse, pulled out a fifty yuan bill, and handed it to Nie Qiu with a smile, saying, “Here you go. Remember to include me after school.”
“Okay.” Nie Qiu took it and smiled, “Thanks.”
After school, the three of them went to the market together. Peng Yu Yang looked around. To be honest, he didn’t often go to this kind of market. Usually, when his mom bought him clothes and pants, she would take him to the commercial street, not to a noisy market like this. Shops were lined up one after another, and the shop assistants were more enthusiastic than each other. The goods were dazzling. Although the decoration wasn’t as good as the shops on the commercial street, the things inside seemed pretty much the same.
Nie Qiu and Huang Yan headed straight for the shops selling underwear, underpants, autumn clothes, and autumn trousers. Usually, there were very few shops in the market that specialized in swimming equipment, so swimsuits were sold in these kinds of shops.
As for Peng Yu Yang, as soon as he stepped into the shop with Nie Qiu and Huang Yan and saw all sorts of bras, he involuntarily stepped back, eventually retreating to the doorway of the shop. His face suddenly turned a little red. “You guys choose first, I’ll wait outside.”
Huang Yan poked her head out and asked doubtfully, “Hey, aren’t you buying anything?”
“No, I have some at home,” Peng Yu Yang said, lowering his head somewhat awkwardly.
Nie Qiu covered her mouth and secretly laughed. She pulled Huang Yan over and whispered a few words in Huang Yan’s ear, and then both of them covered their mouths and giggled. Hearing their laughter, Peng Yu Yang couldn’t help but turn to look at Nie Qiu and Huang Yan, “What are you laughing at?”
“Peng Yu Yang, do you have wet dreams at night?” Huang Yan asked with a straight face, trying to suppress her laughter.
Peng Yu Yang’s face turned bright red. “You, you’re crazy!”
Huang Yan knew she had gone too far. It was just a joke, and it was fine to say it. She didn’t take Peng Yu Yang’s scolding to heart and even laughed with Nie Qiu again.
Finally, Peng Yu Yang stood across the street from the shop. Huang Yan chose a pink dress-like swimsuit and asked the boss lady who was following them, “Boss lady, how much is this swimsuit?”
“This one! Sixty-eight,” the boss lady said indifferently after glancing at it.
Upon hearing this, Huang Yan quickly hung the swimsuit back. Nie Qiu chose a tight, one-piece, deep purple swimsuit. Seeing Huang Yan hang it back, she quickly asked, “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”
Huang Yan frowned, “I like it, I really do, but it’s just too expensive, sixty-eight!”
“Little girls, I’m giving you this price because I see you’re students. I wouldn’t give this price to others!” the boss lady quickly said. “I see you both want to buy, right? How about this, fifty each, consider it me selling you one each. What do you say?”
Nie Qiu shook her head and put down the swimsuit in her hand. “Boss lady, we are sincerely buying, but you are not sincerely selling. There’s nothing we can do. Huang Yan, let’s go!” With that, she pulled Huang Yan to leave.
Huang Yan looked back at the swimsuit she had put down with some reluctance and followed Nie Qiu.
“Little girls, tell me, what price can you accept? Let’s see if we can reach an agreement. Honestly, at this price, I can only earn a little bit,” the boss lady called out to Nie Qiu and Huang Yan, asking with a smile.
Nie Qiu thought for a moment, “Fifty yuan for two.” She wasn’t actually good at bargaining, but she knew that the floral short-sleeved shirts and shorts that Nie Aifang wore were only ten yuan each, and they were also bought in the market. Unlike the shops on the commercial street, the cost price of these items was low, the shop rent was cheap, and the decoration wasn’t great. So Nie Qiu tried to give a price.
“Little girls, I really can’t make much profit. How about this, we each give a little. Thirty-eight each, seventy yuan for two. What do you say?” the boss lady pretended to be in a difficult situation and proposed.
Nie Qiu frowned, “Fifty for two, we don’t have much money.”
“Fifty, I won’t sell,” the boss lady shook her head.
Nie Qiu pulled Huang Yan, who was about to agree, and walked out of the shop. Peng Yu Yang saw Nie Qiu and Huang Yan come out and quickly walked over from the other side of the street. “Leaving? Bought it?”
Nie Qiu shook her head, “Let’s go! We’ll check out the next shop.”
“Little girls, hey, hey, hey… Come here, come here. Fifty it is, I’ll sell it to you.” The boss lady walked out of the shop and called out to Nie Qiu and the others, saying with a distressed expression, “I see this little girl in the yellow clothes really likes this swimsuit. I’ll sell it to you cheap, consider it advertising for me. Next time you have any sisters who want to buy any small clothes or bras, you can introduce them to buy from me.”
Nie Qiu smiled and nodded, “Alright, pack it up for me! If I have classmates who want to buy things, I’ll definitely introduce them to you.”
The boss lady smiled and packed the swimsuits into plastic bags for Nie Qiu. There were two bags. Nie Qiu took them, handed one to Huang Yan, took money from her purse, and handed it to the boss lady.
The boss lady asked with a smile, “Are you paying together or separately?”
Nie Qiu smiled and said, “Together.”
Huang Yan happily took the bag Nie Qiu handed her. Just as she was about to get her money, she heard Nie Qiu’s words and nodded, thinking that fifty yuan would be easier to pay, and it wouldn’t be troublesome for the boss lady to make change.
After paying, the three of them left. Huang Yan smiled and said to Nie Qiu, “Nie Qiu, you’re really good at bargaining. I’m not good at it at all. I always get ripped off by others. By the way, I’ll give you the money. Oh, right, I also want to treat you to ice cream and a milkshake, since you saved me half the money!” Huang Yan handed the swimsuit in her hand to Nie Qiu and prepared to take money from her schoolbag.
Nie Qiu held Huang Yan’s hand and smiled, “You should treat me to ice cream, but you don’t need to give me the money. Consider it a gift from me to you.”
“A gift?” Huang Yan looked at Nie Qiu blankly.
Nie Qiu smiled and nodded, “We’re friends, right?”
“Of course we’re friends!” Huang Yan nodded. “But I haven’t given you anything, I…”
“Of course you’ve given me something,” Nie Qiu interrupted Huang Yan with a smile. “What you’ve given me is much more precious than this…”
