Finally, the Ruanlin family made a decision and purchased a Simmons mattress and a carved bedside table, spending nearly three hundred.
However, they couldn’t take these items home just yet. Fearing that the good stuff might be sold to someone else, the Ruanlins paid a deposit and decided to have them delivered once the doors and windows of their new house were all installed.
As they were leaving, the enthusiastic salesperson saw them to the door, while the one who had previously refused to come forward to serve them turned green with regret.
Ruanlin’s matriarch gazed at the floor full of desirable items, wishing she could take everything back for Jiaojiao but was limited by the small amount of cash she had on hand, and the valuables she had hidden away couldn’t be readily accessed. Reluctantly, she left.
Descending to the first floor and ready to leave the furniture store, they ran into someone they knew.
"Hey, Jianguo." From a distance, Lu Zhiwei called out to Ruan Jianguo from in front of a cabinet, with Lu Xian standing beside him.
"Zhiwei," Ruan Jianguo said in surprise, "What brings you here?"
"A friend is throwing a party, so I came to pick something out. How about you? Are you and the auntie here to choose some furniture?" Lu Zhiwei smiled and greeted the Ruanlins, and upon seeing Jiaojiao, he reached out to pet her little head, "Jiaojiao, don’t you remember Uncle?"
"..." Jiaojiao felt miserable. Why did she always run into acquaintances here?
"Come on, child, say hello." Ruan Jianguo glanced at Jiaojiao.
Jiaojiao felt it was even more impolite to shout with her hand over her mouth, so reluctantly, in a particularly quiet voice, she murmured, "Uncle Lu, Brother Lu."
"What happened to your teeth, little sister?" Lu Xian immediately noticed something was amiss with Jiaojiao and asked out of curiosity.
This was the worst possible moment for such a question. Couldn’t he just pretend he hadn’t seen anything?!
Jiaojiao looked at Lu Xian with indignation and refused to open her mouth again, while Ruan Jianguo laughed heartily, "It’s nothing serious, just losing her baby teeth."
"You lose your front teeth too?" Lu Xian pressed on salting the wound.
"..." Jiaojiao, sorry, but she couldn’t respond to that comment.
Perhaps sensing Jiaojiao’s discomfort, Lu Zhiwei patted his son’s head, signaling him not to dwell on the subject and turned instead to ask Ruan Jianguo what he had bought. After learning about the price and that they hadn’t been overcharged, he changed the topic of the conversation.
While Ruan Jianguo and Lu Zhiwei were chatting, Lu Xian took a gold foil-wrapped candy from his pocket and offered it to Jiaojiao, "This is for you, little sister. It’s really tasty. It’s the chocolate candy I told you about last time."
Lu Xian, who grew up in a wealthy family, was generous by nature and fond of his younger cousin Jiaojiao, so he graciously grabbed a handful of candies from his pocket and handed them to her.
Noticing a little boy standing beside her, although his gaze wasn’t too friendly, he still offered a small portion, "Do you want some?"
Xiu Xi naturally declined. He even wanted to knock away the ones offered to Jiaojiao, but he didn’t dare, fearing that Jiaojiao might get angry. He could only watch resentfully and aggrieved as Jiaojiao accepted the candies and even sweetly thanked that annoying male!
Watching Jiaojiao unwrap the candy to reveal the dark beans inside, Xiu Xi glared, convinced that the shabby-looking sweets couldn’t taste good!
"Xiu brother, try this." Jiaojiao, well aware of the little antagonist’s contrariness, held out the first piece of chocolate to Xiu Xi’s mouth.
He ate it with a scrunched-up face. Hmm... bitter... surely not good... The furrowed brow loosened as he smacked his lips, grudgingly admitting that the lackluster candy beans were actually alright.