Xu Nian’an and Xu Nianhua, the brother and sister, carefully chose and bought a color TV from Ningbei. They brought it back to South City on Pei Yicheng’s delivery truck and thought up many ways to prevent it from getting damaged.
It was only after the TV arrived safely in South City that the siblings could finally relax.
"Big brother, this color TV, it was bought by both me and my sister as a gift from us both," Xu Nian’an happily spoke to Xu Nianji over the phone, and at the same time, he shared the news about sending money home.
After hanging up the phone, Xu Nianji was still in disbelief.
His younger siblings were truly accomplished. While others needed to ask their families for living expenses and food money when they went to school, his siblings were actually sending money back home.
Especially the amount of money Xu Nian’an sent back had given Xu Nianji quite a shock.
When Xu Nian’an first wanted to open a store, Xu Nianji only thought about supporting his younger brother. He never expected that the business would actually make money.
"Second brother, do you think big brother was dumbfounded when he received the money?" Xu Nianhua imagined such a scene and couldn’t help but chuckle lightly.
"Definitely dumbfounded. Big brother must have thought I was just messing around," Xu Nian’an said with a face full of pride. The boutique had been open for just over three months and had already broken even. From now on, it was all profit.
Feeling delighted, Xu Nian’an also bought snacks for Xu Nianhua, and it was not until he dropped her off at the school gate that Xu Nianhua began to worry about the two big bags of snacks she was carrying.
"Second brother, with so much food, I won’t even need to eat meals," Xu Nianhua said as she looked at the two bags full of her second brother’s love.
"That’s okay, share it with your classmates," Xu Nian’an said, remembering the English competition was coming up soon. He cautioned, "Little sister, although the competition is important, your health is more important. Don’t stay up late tonight."
Seeing that Xu Nian’an was about to go on and on, Xu Nianhua quickly interjected, "Second brother, I just remembered, I need to hurry back to the dorm. You should head back to school too, bye."
With that, Xu Nianhua, carrying two large bags, ran towards her dorm.
Racing all the way to the dormitory, Xu Nianhua felt like her hands weren’t her own anymore.
Chang Hui was the first to notice Xu Nianhua and quickly came up to help carry the bags, saying, "Nianhua, are you okay? Have some water."
Chang Hui handed over Xu Nianhua’s water bottle.
After taking a big gulp of water, Xu Nianhua felt much better and said, "These are snacks my second brother bought for me. Let’s all share."
"How come I don’t have such a great second brother?"
Fei Jiayi said with envy. She too had an older brother, but he was busy with his own things and hardly took care of her.
"Me too, why don’t I have such a nice brother?" Ding Guo, being an elder sister with only younger brothers, could hardly hide her envy.
"It’s okay, we will buy our own when we earn money," Xu Nianhua consoled them.
"Come on, what do you all like to eat?"
Xu Nianhua passed the candy to Fei Jiayi, who loved sweets more than anyone else in the dorm.
The dormitory quickly became lively.
The English competition arrived as scheduled and nearly the whole foreign languages department signed up. Regardless of whether they made it to the finals, it was at least a chance for practice.
The purpose of the competition was to enhance everyone’s interest in learning English. At the same time, it served to check the students’ learning progress and to practice their speaking skills—you can’t just understand English; you have to be able to speak it, and speak it confidently.