Was she worried about me?
Xiao Qitang felt a rush of warmth in his chest, but all he said was, “I’m fine. I slept for two hours on the plane.”
Zhao Xin, the traitorous little sister that she was, immediately added fuel to the fire.
“My cousin’s getting old. Old people have trouble sleeping.”
Xiao Qitang gritted his teeth and said, one word at a time, “Zhao. Xin!”
Zhao Xin stuck out her tongue at him, then smugly hid behind Zhu Liuyue, peeking out from beside her head.
“What are you going to do? Hit me? You can’t even reach me.”
Xiao Qitang’s chest heaved with anger.
But there was nothing he could do about it!
She was his own little cousin, so he had to put up with her.
“Have some chocolate to tide you over.” Zhu Liuyue took a piece of chocolate from the pocket of her trench coat and handed it to him.
Xiao Qitang was instantly flattered. He had eaten a simple in-flight meal on the plane, but he still accepted the chocolate when he saw it.
After thanking her, he happily unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth.
His mouth was sweet, and his heart was even sweeter.
At that moment, inspiration came pouring out of him. He even felt like writing a song.
But for now, their top priority was buying clothes for the children.
Xiao Qitang walked ahead with practiced familiarity, winding through the pickled-food section and the general-goods section before successfully reaching the wholesale clothing area.
Zhao Xin asked curiously, “Cousin, how did you know about this place? I can’t believe there’s actually a clothing market hidden away in a corner like this.”
Xiao Qitang glanced back at Zhu Liuyue, then waved his hand with exaggerated nonchalance.
“When I was young and stupid, I had a falling-out with my parents and ran away from home, planning to build a business from scratch.
“I only had a few hundred yuan on me. I figured I’d start a small business, and while I was staying at a hotel, I heard someone say that clothes were cheap here wholesale.
“So I thought I’d buy some clothes and sell them at the night market, making a little profit on the difference. Maybe I’d become a clothing tycoon someday!”
Xiao Qitang had been afflicted with a bit of adolescent chuunibyo in his younger days.
This was the first time Zhao Xin had heard the story, and she eagerly pressed on. “So what happened? How much money did you make?”
Xiao Qitang let out a long sigh.
“If I’d actually made any money, would I be a singer and songwriter now?”
“Back then, I spent several hundred yuan on wholesale clothes, but I couldn’t sell even one piece at the night market. I was stuck with the entire lot, and I didn’t even have enough money to stay at the hotel anymore. So I had no choice but to slink back home and admit defeat.”
If his fans ever learned about this embarrassing incident, they would probably have to thank all those cold-hearted passersby at the night market. If not a single one of them had bought anything, Xiao Qitang would never have been forced to slink home. And after reaching adulthood, he might not have gone through a second rebellious phase and entered the entertainment industry instead.
Zhao Xin guessed, “Your taste must have been terrible. The clothes you bought were probably hideous.”
Xiao Qitang did not argue.
Most of the clothing in the wholesale area was for women, and there was very little children’s clothing.
After searching around, they finally found three shops.
The fabric quality was good, but every shop insisted on a minimum order of two hundred pieces.
Zhao Xin was just about to explain that the clothes were for children in impoverished mountain regions when Zhu Liuyue nudged her, signaling that she should let Xiao Qitang handle it.
Xiao Qitang put on an imposing air. “Only two hundred pieces? Shopkeeper, are you looking down on us? We’ll take two thousand!”
The proprietress’s face lit up.
This was a big order!
“Of course, of course.”
Xiao Qitang frowned. “Of course what? Your price is way too high. How much did you say each piece was again?”
“Eighty yuan,” the proprietress replied.
“Twenty,” Xiao Qitang countered.
Zhao Xin was utterly stunned. Was this really how her cousin negotiated? She was afraid the proprietress was about to start cursing at any moment.
The proprietress sucked in a sharp breath.
“Young man, twenty yuan wouldn’t even cover my wholesale cost.” She looked at the two girls standing nearby.
Zhao Xin’s eyes darted around. She clearly wasn’t easy to fool.
Zhu Liuyue, on the other hand, stood there with a gentle smile. At a glance, she looked like someone who might be too softhearted to haggle.
So the proprietress shifted her target and addressed Zhu Liuyue.
“Are you really serious about buying? If you are, young lady, I’ll give it to you for seventy-five yuan a piece. That’s the absolute lowest price. I don’t normally offer it, but you look so kind.”
Zhu Liuyue smiled. “We’re serious about buying.”
The proprietress thought the deal was about to close, but Xiao Qitang was getting anxious. The price was obviously inflated.
The next moment, Zhu Liuyue said, “Twenty-five.”
The proprietress’s smile disappeared.
Xiao Qitang jumped up excitedly and chimed in, “That’s right! Twenty-five. If you won’t accept that, we’re leaving.”
The proprietress hesitated. “Honestly, you people are something else. I won’t make a cent at that price. How about seventy? That’s already my bottom line.”
“Twenty-five,” Zhu Liuyue repeated.
“Goodness, young lady, you really know how to bargain. Sixty, then. How’s that?”
Zhu Liuyue turned to look at Xiao Qitang and Zhao Xin.
“Let’s go. We’ll check the other shops.”
They had barely taken a few steps out of the shop when the proprietress called out anxiously from behind them.
“All right, all right! Twenty-five it is! Come back!”
The three of them chose five styles for boys and five styles for girls, then gave the proprietress the required sizes.
“Two thousand pieces will take some time,” the proprietress said. “I’ll have to place an order with the factory.”
Xiao Qitang smiled innocently. “Two hundred pieces.”
The proprietress: “...!!! You said two thousand!”
“How else were we supposed to haggle?”
The proprietress felt as though her heart were bleeding. Still, two hundred pieces was not a small order, so she resigned herself to filling out the paperwork.
“Make sure you come back and do business with me next time.”
“Don’t worry, we will.”
Before leaving, the three of them confirmed the shipping date and delivery address with the proprietress once more.
Zhao Xin happened to mention that they were doing charity work, and that all the clothes were being purchased for children in impoverished mountain villages.
The proprietress’s glum expression changed at once.
“Oh, they’re for a rural elementary school? That’s a wonderful thing you’re doing. You should’ve said so earlier! If I’d known, I would’ve given you a cheaper price.”
Zhao Xin asked innocently, “Would you have given them to us for twenty-one yuan each?”
The proprietress laughed awkwardly without answering.
Inwardly, she thought, I would’ve quoted you fifty. My cost is barely ten yuan a piece.
After buying the clothes, Xiao Qitang suggested that they also get the children matching socks, shoes, and hats.
Those items might seem minor and scattered, but they were all necessities.
Zhao Xin was brimming with enthusiasm.
Perhaps she was simply too happy, because after walking only a few steps, she missed a step and fell hard onto the ground.
The skin on her knee was scraped raw and bleeding. The abrasion looked rather serious.
Xiao Qitang called Zhao Wen and asked him to take his little cousin to the hospital, only to learn that the unreliable man had flown off to an island for a vacation and could not make it back anytime soon.
Zhao Xin first complained about her useless cousin, then said, “It’s fine. I only scraped my knee. I’ll just put some medicine on it.”
Zhu Liuyue took out her phone.
“Zhao Wen isn’t available. I’ll ask Zhu Qi. His medical university is nearby.”
Zhao Xin had been insisting that she was fine, but the moment she heard that, she quietly stopped talking. She rubbed the skin around the wound and said in a small voice,
“It does seem to hurt a little.”
Both Zhu Liuyue and Xiao Qitang knew exactly what Zhao Xin was up to.
