dkrc Chapter 34: Buying Books
Chapter 34: Buying Books
Seeing that Huang Xiaochuan agreed, Qin Yu smiled happily, and then specially instructed, "Wait here for me for a while, I'll go and urge Yangyang, she always dawdles when she goes out."
After saying that, he went to the family compound to call Ren Yangyang.
As soon as Qin Yu left, Huang Xiaochuan snapped at Yu Wei: "Haven't you ever had a cold drink before? You took her polite remark seriously?"
Unexpectedly, Yu Wei had a perfectly good reason: "I originally wanted to go to the bookstore to see if 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils' had arrived yet. I've always wanted to buy a set."
When Yu Wei brought this up, Huang Xiaochuan remembered it too. Nowadays, most people who want to read martial arts novels can just rent them from a bookstore, since buying books is a considerable expense. But Yu Wei just wouldn't have it; he insisted on buying them.
His idea is to buy and collect all of Jin Yong's martial arts novels and read them all, starting with "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". He has already bought five sets of Jin Yong's books.
A genuine set of Jin Yong's martial arts novels costs at least several tens of yuan, so the fact that Yu Wei was able to buy five sets with the allowance his parents gave him shows how much they spoiled him.
Thinking of this, Huang Xiaochuan lost his temper, but he still advised, "There's no rush to buy books. You can buy them after you start working. Besides, you can't be studying with martial arts novels in class when you go to university, can you?"
"I'm just going to take a look. If they have it, I'll buy it. If not, we can buy it when we get to Shanghai. The bookstores in Shanghai should have a wider variety of books than here, so it might not be as difficult to find them."
Huang Xiaochuan had to admit that Yu Wei's analysis made sense. Shanghai was one of the top cities in the country, with far more resources than Qingjiang, a small city. Buying all fifteen of Jin Yong's martial arts novels shouldn't be a problem.
Just as the two were talking, Qin Yu came out of the family compound with Ren Yangyang.
Upon seeing Huang Xiaochuan and Yu Wei, Ren Yangyang feigned surprise and asked, "Oh my, isn't this Huang? You've been missing for so long, what have you been up to?"
Then he teased Yu Wei, "We meet again! Yu Wei, it seems fate has brought us together from afar!"
Yu Wei's face flushed bright red instantly; this girl was really fierce.
"Yangyang...!" Qin Yu awkwardly tugged at her best friend, then explained to Huang Xiaochuan and Yu Wei, "Don't mind her, she was just joking with you."
Huang Xiaochuan didn't take the little girl's tricks to heart at all; he waved his hand dismissively to indicate that it was nothing.
Then she glanced at Yu Wei, and seeing his monkey-like face made her furious. The girl was just joking with you, and look at you, such a coward. You were peeping at a girl's thighs in the swimming pool, and you even used teaching someone to swim as an excuse to grope her. Where did your guts go? You have a lot of lustful thoughts, but not much courage.
Huang Xiaochuan didn't know what methods Yu Wei's wife used in her past life to tame this philandering rascal so well, so he was too embarrassed to ask his brother's wife about her husband-taming secrets. Ask Yu Wei? It would be pointless; he wouldn't tell him even if you beat him to death.
Suddenly, Huang Xiaochuan noticed a problem: neither of the two girls seemed to be riding bicycles. Could it be that they planned to walk all the way to Xinhua Bookstore? Although the bookstore was on Dongheng Street and not too far away, even if it wasn't too hot today, they would definitely be covered in sweat by the time they got there. Riding a bicycle would definitely be much better than walking.
While Huang Xiaochuan was still wondering how the group would leave, Ren Yangyang took the initiative to make arrangements.
"Huang Xiaochuan, you ride with Qin Yu on your bike; Yu Wei, you ride with me on your bike. Let's go!"
Huang Xiaochuan was stunned. What's going on? At worst, I'll let you two ride my bicycle, and I'll have Yu Wei take you around. I haven't even said anything yet, and you've already made arrangements for me?
No way! I won't tolerate that habit of hers.
Huang Xiaochuan coughed twice and said, "Well, how about you two girls ride one bike? I'll give you my bike, and I'll ride with Yu Wei."
Ren Yangyang looked at Huang Xiaochuan as if he were an idiot, then said, "Huang Xiaochuan, look at the size of your bicycles! They're 28-inch, okay? You want us to ride them? Do you want to see us make a fool of ourselves?"
Huang Xiaochuan blushed, thinking, "Damn! I forgot, these two girls are only 1.6 meters tall. Making them ride a men's 28-inch bicycle is really asking too much of them. Either of them can't even touch the ground with their feet while sitting on the seat. Are they supposed to ride with their legs down? That would be so inappropriate. They're both grown women; they can't afford to lose face like that!"
Huang Xiaochuan smiled awkwardly, speechless for a moment.
Ren Yangyang grabbed the dazed Yu Wei's shoulder and jumped onto the back of Yu Wei's bicycle, urging, "Come on! Do you guys like staying outside in this heat? Aren't you hot?"
Qin Yu just smiled and looked at Huang Xiaochuan. Since things had come to this point, Huang Xiaochuan took a step onto the bicycle and called out through gritted teeth, "Squad leader, get on!"
Upon hearing this, Qin Yu sat on the back of Huang Xiaochuan's bicycle with a bright smile, carefully holding onto Huang Xiaochuan's clothes with both hands.
Yu Wei was still staring blankly at Huang Xiaochuan, which made Huang Xiaochuan so angry that he cursed, "Damn it, are you leaving or not?" He was really not happy if he didn't scold him. This whole thing was caused by this kid.
Huang Xiaochuan and Yu Wei rode their bicycles side by side toward Xinhua Bookstore. Ren Yangyang, sitting on the back of Yu Wei's bicycle, winked slyly at Qin Yu, who responded with a reproachful smile.
The Xinhua Bookstore wasn't far from Qinggao, less than a kilometer away. It was just two hundred meters past an intersection. Once they arrived at the bookstore, the two girls went to look for books. Huang Xiaochuan accompanied Yu Wei to ask the clerk if they had "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils".
"Auntie, do you have 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils'?" Yu Wei asked a young female shop assistant in her twenties who was sitting there reading a book.
Perhaps it was because of Yu Wei's appearance, but the female shop assistant, who was initially about to get angry when someone called her "auntie," actually started teasing him after seeing his face: "Little brother, you can tell from my appearance that I'm not much older than you, right? Calling me 'auntie' isn't appropriate, is it?"
Huang Xiaochuan nudged Yu Wei in the back with his elbow, and Yu Wei finally realized what was happening: "Sorry, my eyesight is bad, I mistook you for someone else. Sister, do you have 'Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils'?"
The young female shop assistant smiled happily when she heard Yu Wei call her "sister".
She then went even further: "Little brother, I'm really sorry, we don't have that set of books. How about I recommend 'Jin Ping Mei' to you?"
Huang Xiaochuan's eyes widened, thinking to himself, "Damn, how come young women these days are so fierce? None of them are easy to deal with."
Sure enough, Yu Wei's face turned bright red after being teased, and he quickly waved his hand and said, "Then I'll go look at something else."
After saying that, he abandoned Huang Xiaochuan and fled in panic. Huang Xiaochuan stared speechlessly at Yu Wei's retreating figure, clicking his tongue and shaking his head as he followed. Behind him came the unrestrained laughter of the female shop assistant.
Huang Xiaochuan saw a few books and a cookbook that looked good. Since he was already there, he bought them and asked the bookstore clerk to tie them up with paper twine so they would be easy to carry.
Yu Wei wandered around for a long time but couldn't find any books he liked, making a wasted trip. He thought he should go to the bookstores in Shanghai after he got there.
More than half an hour later, both girls had bought the books they wanted. After paying, Qin Yu said to Huang Xiaochuan, "We're all done buying. Let's go. I'll treat you to some cold drinks at the grocery store."