When Xiao Qi went out for a run, Su Simei called everyone from downstairs to visit her house.
She received waves of compliments.
She felt quite proud.
Since her divorce, she had been feeling very insecure and living a messy life, becoming increasingly overweight.
Her daughter and she weren't close, and they only contacted each other when her daughter needed money. Apart from that, her daughter never took the initiative to reach out to her. But today, her room was tidied up and transformed, and Su Simei felt like she had returned to her younger days.
Back then, she loved tidying up and dressing up. Her own room was always neat and organized. However, after her divorce, when she started working at the hospital, she didn't like staying in the dormitory. It was dark and everything was just scattered around. Moreover, everyone downstairs had their own families, while she was alone. Most of the time, she preferred to stay in the ward, which was spacious and lively, with its white walls and many people.
But when she saw the room rearranged by Xiao Qi, Su Simei sat inside alone for a while. The entire room was clean and beautiful, except for her reflection in the mirror. She had elephant-like legs, a flushed face, and messy, greasy hair. Sitting in the room, she felt a bit out of place.
Through the mirror, she seemed to see herself at the age of nineteen. She had dark hair, two big braids, and a flushed face. But her skin was delicate, and she had big, bright eyes. At that time, the TV series "My Fair Princess" was very popular, and some people even said she looked like Xiaoyanzi, with her long, slender legs. Little did she know that over twenty years had passed, and she had ended up like this.
Tears fell unconsciously, and in those tears, she saw her past self. Wiping away the tears, she still saw her current self, overweight and ugly.
She wanted to lose weight, she wanted to change herself.
During the summer vacation, living with her niece Xiao Qi for this period of time, Su Simei had deep feelings.
This child was truly hardworking and studious, never wasting a single moment.
Before, she would only come over to eat and then leave. They didn't spend much time together. But now, living together every day, she suddenly felt different.
Even a young girl like her niece was so disciplined. When learning to swim, she was better than herself, but she still obediently practiced the basic movements, showing great patience.
In her own life, Su Simei had thought that it would be this way, with no expectations. But in reality, she was still under forty, thirty-eight years old. If she continued like this, drifting through life in a daze, she would have to go on like this for decades.
Su Simei felt that this shouldn't be the case.
Looking at the desk, next to the stack of English books, there was a pickling jar. If it was cleaned, it could be turned into a beautiful vase. Wasn't she stronger than a pickling jar?
Just because she had been divorced once, did that mean she couldn't show her face?
The more Su Simei thought about it, the more she felt that she should change, that she couldn't continue like this.
Xiao Qi didn't know that by tidying up a room, she had sparked a tremendous change in her aunt's mindset.
During dinner, her aunt even asked her about swimming.
"My coach recommended that I join the swimming team, Auntie. Next time you want to swim, just make an appointment with my coach in advance. Since you've added her on WeChat, once you learn, you can go swimming whenever you have free time," Xiao Qi thought swimming was a great exercise for weight loss. Auntie was overweight, and activities like running might hurt her knees. Last time they saw Auntie swim, she did really well.
Su Simei nodded.
"Alright, from now on, I can free up two hours after work to go there."
Xiao Qi thought Auntie wanted to learn so they could swim together, so they didn't think much of it.
After dinner, Auntie returned to the hospital room, and Xiao Qi washed the dishes. Meanwhile, her phone kept ringing.
After finishing, she opened her phone and found that it was her student, Liang Jiajia, contacting her.
"Teacher, my classmate wants to attend the lesson with me. Can they pay the same fee?"
Su Xiao Qi was naturally willing since they would be attending the lesson together, and it wouldn't require more of her time. In reality, during the lessons, Liang Jiajia often did exercises and readings.
However, it depended on whether Mrs. Liang agreed since she was the one paying for it.
"My mom said it's fine. She's happy for me to study with my classmates," Liang Jiajia replied, along with a bunch of emojis like "kisses" and such.
Actually, her main intention wasn't to send those emojis. She noticed that her English class was on Tuesday and Thursday, and she realized she had been missing her English lessons for several days, which made her miss it a lot.
She wasn't even happy when she went out to play over the weekend, so she wanted to contact Teacher Xiao Qi and ask what she was doing.
"Tomorrow? Tomorrow morning, I have to go to the gym to practice swimming. In the afternoon, I'm going to the library, and in the evening, I'll go for a run," Xiao Qi thought for a moment, and that's how she planned her day for tomorrow. She sent the message.
Liang Jiajia was excited to hear that her teacher could swim. She had a big smile on her face.
"Teacher, can I go swimming with you tomorrow? My mom also got me a gym membership, and I've been there several times."
Xiao Qi was going to practice in the morning, but the swimming pool was big, so it was fine for her student to go. Besides, Liang Jiajia was Xiao Qi's first student, so she cared about her.
She agreed and set a time for tomorrow morning.
At 7:30 a.m.
Xiao Qi wanted to go early to practice, so she would have some time to rest by noon and it wouldn't affect her afternoon study.
Liang Jiajia frowned when she heard 7:30 a.m. During the summer vacation, she hadn't woken up before 9 a.m., but it was Teacher Xiao Qi, so she happily agreed.
She closed WeChat and immediately jumped up.
"Mom, Mom, let's go shopping."
Liang Yinghua was watching TV and didn't expect her daughter to want to go shopping with her. She wondered what whim she had this time.
"Teacher Xiao Qi is going to the swimming pool at the gym tomorrow, and I told her that I want to go too. I made an appointment to go together, so can you take me to buy a few swimsuits?" Liang Jiajia had many swimsuits at home, but it had been a long time since she went swimming, and her family never had to consider the cost. They had the money to be indulgent, so she wanted to buy new ones.
Liang Yinghua had a good impression of their family tutor, so when she heard that her daughter wanted to spend time with her, she agreed.
She changed her clothes, put on some lipstick, and went downstairs to drive her daughter out.
Liang Yinghua was meticulous. In addition to the few swimsuits chosen by her daughter, she also picked out one for Xiao Qi.
The little girl was slim, so it seemed like she could fit into a size small.
The price was not cheap either. The swimsuit she chose cost over 800 yuan.
Liang Jiajia didn't care about the price. She just picked what she liked and bought it. She hadn't even gone swimming yet, but she had already spent over 4,000 yuan on equipment. Liang Yinghua shook her head, realizing that she was doing well in business; otherwise, with her daughter's spendthrift behavior, she didn't know how things would turn out when she grew up.
Xiao Qi started practicing swimming, but she hadn't bought a swimsuit for herself yet.
After dinner, she copied English for two more hours and went to bed early, unaware that someone had prepared a gift for her.
