On Friday when there was no home tutoring and no other things scheduled, Xiao Qi had packed her day full.
In the morning she went swimming, then the library. In the afternoon she would go to Auntie's dorm to practice writing characters and copy texts, tutor at the school next door, and go running.
When she woke up early Saturday morning, Xiao Qi saw that the amount of money displayed on the interface had reached over 90,000 yuan. If she walked 30,000 steps today she would break 100,000!
She felt a little overwhelmed and felt that with her current spending level, she didn't know how she could ever spend it all.
She was a bit excited as vague ideas began budding in her mind. She had been thinking about it for a while but still felt uncertain. Hmm...she wanted to buy a house. She had thought about it before - whether to renovate her parents' house back in her hometown or buy a house here in the city. Over the past period she considered more and felt that renovating the house back in the village would be a bit too showy since she wouldn't have a good explanation for where the money came from. Seeing how confident her dad was, he would probably scrape enough money together first to replace the windows and install glass.
As for herself, she could buy a small house in Lvshan City. She really liked the area near No.1 Middle School - it was convenient no matter where you wanted to go. If she could buy a little house, it would also be easy to rent out. No.1 Middle School had elementary through high school, the best schools in Lvshan. There would definitely be a lot parents looking to rent nearby to send their kids to those schools. Xiao Qi didn't have a concept yet of school district housing, she just felt it was a nice area.
However this was just an idea for now. She had never made such a big purchase before and didn't know how to go about it, plus she wasn't 18 yet this year so wasn't sure if she could buy property.
Her birthday was in December, so she wouldn't turn 18 until the end of December.
As Xiao Qi got up in the morning to make breakfast, she recited English texts from memory. Youngest Uncle had called Auntie last night and said he would come over this morning first. Xiao Qi figured Youngest Uncle probably hadn't eaten yet, so she should make extra breakfast.
She steamed three pork buns and three red bean buns, plus three eggs, prepared radish dried goods and pickled bamboo shoots, and stir-fried some flowering cabbage, and cooked congee.
Youngest Uncle wouldn't get here until after 8.
She had Auntie eat first while she waited for Youngest Uncle herself.
From what mom said, originally grandma wanted Second Uncle to come, but she was worried Second Uncle was too sly and would take advantage of Uncle's son. So in the end she called over Third Uncle.
Actually Xiao Qi felt it was a bit strange - grandma had made such a big deal about going to Uncle's son's wedding, apparently giving 1,500 yuan cash, and adding another 500 yuan of her own private money. She had made a fuss for a long time gathering the 2,000 yuan red envelope. But in the end, she had sent the two youngest junior family members to attend.
Auntie was a warm and generous person. Whenever anyone from their hometown came out, if they didn't have a place to stay they would almost all come over.
Youngest Uncle had come before too so he knew the way.
By the time Youngest Uncle arrived, Xiao Qi had already eaten. The food was still hot.
Youngest Uncle didn't stand on ceremony and sat down to eat right away either.
Xiao Qi was quite fond of her youngest uncle. He was tall and slender with single eyelids, looking a lot like Chen Xiaochun who played a gangster in Young and Dangerous. His personality also seemed similar - straightforward and hardworking, but he didn't seem too clever.
Xiao Qi's dad had three brothers. Their names were all quite rustic - her dad was Su Youfu, second uncle Su Youcai, and youngest uncle Su Youqian.
Whether youngest uncle would have money in the future was unknown, but right now he had no money. He also had no education, just doing odd jobs back in Gumula Village. He had come out to do migrant work for a couple years but wasn't used to it, so went back. He was still unmarried.
Nowadays, young people back in the village wouldn't be able to find a marriage match if they didn't come out to work - few girls were willing to marry someone who stayed in the village, unless it was someone they were already dating themselves.
Youngest Uncle ate swiftly like a whirlwind, finishing quickly, even letting out a loud burp.
Only then did he feel a tinge of regret.
"There's a wedding banquet at noon. I shouldn't have eaten so fully, such a waste." Su Youqian felt a little regretful.
"No worries. City wedding banquets usually don't start early. The bride and groom still have to give speeches and such. It'd be pretty good if we can start eating by 12," Xiao Qi said with a laugh.
When Xiao Qi was little she often went up the mountains with Youngest Uncle to pick bayberries, persimmons, silkworm pupa fungus, wild strawberries, passionfruit, etc. Although she had come out to go to school now, she still felt very close to him.
Auntie Su Simei also came down briefly, but she was truly busy in the mornings, so couldn't stay long or the head nurse would scold her badly.
"Little Qian, you're looking quite spirited today - a fine young fellow."
Upon being labeled a "fine young fellow", the 28 year old lifelong bachelor from Gumula Village, Youngest Uncle Su Youqian, blushed. Well, he was so dark you couldn't see it anyways.
Xiao Qi couldn't help smiling again, but was glared at by Auntie right away.
"It's outrageous your grandma is sending a young girl like you to drink at a banquet. You can't wear that - why don't you change into a dress?"
Su Xiaoqi: ......
Even when scolding her niece, Auntie was still intimate and affectionate, showing it was a little different.
She thought about how Auntie had bought her dresses, and it was true she probably rarely wore them. She swam and ran every day, which made dresses inconvenient. Under Auntie's gaze she still went to change though.
Youngest Uncle had just been focused on eating earlier and hadn't paid much attention to his niece. He was still holding a teacup drinking tea when his niece came out from the other room wearing a dress. Su Youqian did a spit take, spraying tea everywhere.
"Xiao Qi, you've really gone through a dramatic change from a young girl to a woman now that you're 18! When you were little you were dark and skinny with a dirty snot nose. Do you remember when you were in 2nd grade and I tried to cut your hair? My clippers weren't sharp and I ended up shaving you bald, aiya! I wouldn't have imagined you would look like this now. Tsk tsk, in another few years you might become the most beautiful girl in Gumula Village, even prettier than Old Cheng's daughter who married to America."
Originally Xiao Qi already felt a little awkward wearing a dress, though it was at least a long dress which was slightly better. But hearing Youngest Uncle's words, she wasn't nervous anymore and instead recalled her foolish younger self. It seemed like there was a time she had gotten shaved bald...that time Youngest Uncle had wanted to learn hairdressing it seemed, so he bought some clippers to practice on her...
As for Old Cheng's daughter who married to America, she was said to be the most beautiful girl ever from Gumula Village. Xiao Qi had seen her as a child. She was quite pretty indeed, seemed super sophisticated and different from everyone else, graceful like the actress Gong Li, with fine brows and eyes. But people from the village were envious to her face yet gossiped behind her back, saying she had become a mistress to some tycoon. After all that was how it tended to go in the village - anyone super pretty or rich had idle rumors spread about them. Judging by success, Old Cheng's daughter was likely the most accomplished person from Gumula Village, which hadn't produced much talent.
Seeing Xiao Qi had changed into a dress, Youngest Uncle couldn't sit still. "Your grandma called me to go early to help out. I better get going."
As expected, honest foolish Youngest Uncle. Xiao Qi had no choice but to go along with him.
She felt like going to a wedding banquet would waste half the day. She'd have to move her swim to evening instead.
Going so early, Youngest Uncle would probably get called on to run errands and help out with chores. Xiao Qi had gone to Uncle's place before with dad, and her general impression was so-so because dad had a limp yet uncle made him help fix the toilet, drains, change lightbulbs and the like.
She had heard Uncle's son had opened some kind of dry cleaning shop and acted like a successful boss, but she vaguely recalled he was quite old, maybe 5 or 6 years older than Youngest Uncle? She also heard it was his second marriage or something, but she hadn't paid too much attention, just catching it in passing when mom was gossiping.
Auntie looked quite proud seeing her dressed up niece, also telling her to go early.
Xiao Qi thought bringing a book to a wedding would look pretentious so didn't do it, plus her phone was fully charged - she could listen to English with headphones on sitting in a corner. Her friend Jiajia had also been strongly recommending she watch TikTok, which she still hadn't gotten around to.
