Li Qing was generous. He had Qi Qingyao and her entourage take a carriage to the town.
Jiang Yeqian carried the children down from the carriage. The children tilted their heads curiously when they realized that they were not in the village. Dabao asked, “Mother, where are we going now?”
“Are we going back to the village?” Erniu asked.
Xiaobao was most concerned about…
“We must first pay off the money we owe the village chief, Mother…”
Qi Qingyao laughed so much she was almost out of breath.
Xiaobao was most concerned about their debts!
“We have money, there’s no need to fear.” Qi Qingyao ruffled Xiaobao’s hair. She looked at the clothing the children were wearing, and then at herself. Li Qing had bought it all for them. They were just ordinary clothing with passable quality. Now what she had to do was…
“Let’s go. We’re going to the clothing shops here first to buy some nice clothes, and then we’ll buy 200 catty of rice and bring them back home to the village as a gift for the village chief and the others. After that, we’ll rent another carriage and return, rich and proud!”
Erniu thought about her mother’s words. “Mother, let’s go to the jewelry shop too so that you can buy some beautiful jewelry for yourself too.”
Erniu was young, but she had seen some women in the village wear some cheap hairpins on their heads. They might not be expensive, but they were pretty. Her mother had nothing of the sort, and went about her day looking plain. Erniu felt that her mother should wear pretty things too.
“Hahaha, Erniu sure knows a lot!” Qi Qingyao laughed.
Si Jin and Jiang Yeqian tagged behind them, silent.
Many passers-by on the street looked at them curiously, for they were too good-looking and too eye-catching.
The group entered a clothing shop. The shopkeeper was tidying the shop’s accounts behind the counter. When he looked up, he was shocked by the masks that covered Jiang Yeqian and Si Jin’s faces. He was about to shoo them out when his eyes fell on Qi Qingyao’s beautiful, pure face, and he resisted the urge to drive them out of the shop.
Qi Qingyao did not know the internal turmoil going on in the shopkeeper’s mind. She asked casually, “Shopkeeper, do you have any clothing for children?”
“Are you buying clothes for these children, miss?” The shopkeeper looked at the cute and pretty children behind Qi Qingyao.
Qi Qingyao replied with an affirmative nod.
“Judging from their height, I should have some clothes that fit them. Please wait a while.”
The shopkeeper entered the back of the shop, rummaged for a while in the storeroom, and emerged with about a dozen children’s outfits for Qi Qingyao to choose from.
The children were extremely excited when they heard Mother was going to buy clothes for them. They could not stop touching the clothes with their tiny hands. Dabao said, “This silk feels so different from the rough fabric we’re used to. It’s so smooth!”
“It shines too!” Erniu’s eyes were watery.
Qi Qingyao felt that the clothes were ordinary. She pursed her lips. “The consumption level in the town is only average, so there’s no better material here. When we go to Qingzhou City — it’s a big city — we’ll buy clothes made from the best fabric! We’ll buy a big mansion too!”
The corner of the shopkeeper’s lips twitched as he heard Qi Qingyao’s words.
The children clapped their hands excitedly.
They headed to the changing room to try on their new clothes. After that, the children walked out of the room, and Qi Qingyao said, “With these outfits, the three of you look like children from noble families.”
Si Jin squatted down and helped Xiaobao tidy the buttons on his clothes.
Jiang Yeqian helped the slightly clumsy Erniu with her braid.
Qi Qingyao smoothed out Dabao’s hair.
The shopkeeper was thinking, ‘This customer uttered boastful words, but… can she really afford this? Not to mention Bull-head and Horse-face behind her! This is really, really strange!’