Chapter 26p1
Just like with the Rubik’s cubes, expired snacks were something Wei Maomao had never heard Cheng Tingyan mention in her previous life.
But unlike the amazement she had felt earlier, this time, Wei Maomao was filled with bitterness, a bone-chilling coldness enveloping her.
Expired food, Wei Maomao was no stranger to it, one could even say she was very familiar with it.
In her previous life, to pay off her debts as quickly as possible, Wei Maomao had eaten not only expired food but also food that was past its expiration date. Of course, for her health, she ate less of the latter, usually those that had just passed their expiration date. Those were much cheaper than already cheap expired food, almost like getting them for free. What she ate more often was expired food, cheap, cost-effective, and safe. As long as she calculated the time properly, it was no different from regular food, and if she encountered a sale, she could use even more coupons.
Wei Maomao had spent a long time in her previous life meticulously budgeting even when buying expired food. She didn’t think much of it at the time, after all, every penny saved was real money, reducing the pressure of her debt.
But now, the six-year-old Cheng Tingyan was standing before her, saying things like “one-yuan teddy bear biscuits, if they’re close to their expiration date, you can get a ten or twenty-cent discount,” and “I know a store that often has snacks close to their expiration date”… Wei Maomao felt like a nerve in her brain had snapped.
The problem wasn’t with the expired food itself. It was why the six-year-old Cheng Tingyan knew these things so well!
Wei Maomao was not okay.
Unlike Wei Maomao’s anger at seeing the truth, the viewers in the live broadcast room were mostly surprised, and then confused.
“A six-year-old knowing snack prices, knowing about buy-ten-get-one-free lollipop deals, I can understand, but why does she even know how to get cheap expired snacks?”
“Maybe that small store did a promotion for expired snacks to sell them, and Yan Yan found out?”
“Hard to say, usually small stores don’t pay much attention to expiration dates, Yan Yan just said ‘find those close to their expiration date’ and then ‘ask’ the store owner for a ten or twenty-cent discount, I don’t think it’s a store promotion, it seems like Yan Yan needs to actively search for them and then bargain with the store owner.”
“That’s amazing, Yan Yan is the number one thrifty housekeeper.”
“Wait! Are you guys focusing on the wrong thing? Isn’t the real question why Yan Yan is specifically buying expired snacks? And it takes time and effort to search and bargain just to save ten or twenty cents!”
“I just bought a box of expired snacks online yesterday, hahaha, but that’s because I just started working and I’m a bit poor, but I have a sweet tooth, buying expired food is quite good. But Yan Yan shouldn’t be poor, right? Being this frugal is a bit…”
“Right, the problem isn’t with expired snacks, it’s why Yan Yan, who clearly isn’t poor, is working so hard to save ten or twenty cents?”
“She’s only six, her family probably controls her allowance, right? Maybe they don’t want her to eat too many snacks? If she has a craving, she might want to spend less money to buy more snacks?”
“Although… but… I still feel like something’s not right. Cheng Feiying has filmed so many movies, he has so much money. Even if he controls her allowance, he could still give her a few dozen yuan a week? A hundred? My nephew, from an ordinary family, also gets fifty yuan a week. He can eat teddy bear biscuits until he’s full every day even without a discount.”
“Children from wealthy families don’t really eat those cheap snacks. Look at Shen Zilin, he doesn’t even know the price of lollipops… Spending five yuan on a fifty-cent lollipop.”
…
When Cheng Tingyan mentioned expired snacks, the voices in the live broadcast room were mostly puzzled, with all sorts of speculation arising.
So when Cheng Tingyan, who had just been talking about buying expired food, said she wanted to buy Wei Maomao 100 yuan worth of popcorn, the viewers thought they finally knew the truth.
“I knew it, children from acting families wouldn’t be raised so frugally, even eating teddy bear biscuits, they have to consider buying expired ones to save a few cents.”
“Hahaha, buying 100 yuan popcorn without hesitation, it seems Yan Yan isn’t short of money, she’s just stingy!”
“The thrifty Yan Yan, spending a fortune for the little chubby bunny, hahaha, I was about to write a comment criticizing Cheng Feiying for not giving her enough allowance, thankfully I didn’t post it, otherwise I would have wronged him.”
“The program team doesn’t allow them to bring money or phones, I wonder where Yan Yan hid the money, it can’t be in her shoes like Wen Dongyu, hahaha!”
“Someone save Shen Zilin, hahaha, when he found out that Wen Dongyu’s one yuan was dug out of his shoe, his face turned pale.”
“That’s impossible, our Yan Yan’s feet can’t be smelly!”
…
The moment Cheng Tingyan said she wanted to buy popcorn for Wei Maomao, the seriousness and gloom that were beginning to settle in the live broadcast room instantly dissipated, replaced by laughter and amusement.
However, the amusement belonged to the viewers, not to Wei Maomao.
Lingering on her lips was the familiar scent of jasmine… carrying a hint of gentle warmth, it slightly dispelled the coldness around Wei Maomao, then plunged her heart into deeper bitterness.
Wei Maomao glanced at the handkerchief in Cheng Tingyan’s hand, closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were filled with innocent curiosity.
“Yan Yan will take Wen Dongdong to the small store, Maomao wants to go too.” Wei Maomao counted on her fingers and looked at Cheng Tingyan. “Do you often go there?” As if, poor enough to eat expired food, too poor to eat expired food often, right? Wei Maomao knew that Cheng Tingyan wouldn’t be a glutton in the future, so she wouldn’t have been unrestrained in her childhood either.
As expected, Cheng Tingyan shook her head.
“It’s a bit far, I go…” Cheng Tingyan hesitated, swallowing back the words about going to her mother’s house and changing her answer to, “About once a month.”
“Are there many delicious things in the store?” Wei Maomao asked again.
“A lot.” Cheng Tingyan nodded.
“Then…” Wei Maomao seemed to want to continue asking.
“It’s so cheap there! You only go once every thirty days! So you can eat a lot, a lot, a lot each time!” Wen Dongyu interrupted, holding up the one yuan coin in his hand. “My dad says I’m five years old this year, and he gives me five yuan every day! My birthday is coming soon, and I’ll have six yuan every day! Yan Yan is already six years old, so she can buy… um, thirty six yuans worth of stuff! Wow!”
“No…” Cheng Tingyan said awkwardly.
“Yan Yan, do you buy that many teddy bear biscuits?” Wei Maomao tried to keep her expression purely curious, not like Wen Dongyu’s astonished envy.
“Not that many.” Cheng Tingyan was much more patient with Wei Maomao, and her answer was more detailed. “I’ll buy two bags of teddy bear biscuits, two bags of shrimp crackers, and sometimes if there are lollipops close to their expiration date, I’ll buy two more lollipops.” Then she would take them to eat with her mother.
“That’s not even enough for me to eat in one go.” Wen Dongyu shook his head. “Girls eat so little.”
“What do you know, Yan Yan is spending money responsibly. We should learn to manage our own finances from a young age and not waste money. This way, when we grow up, we’ll have saved a lot of money, and we can start our first investment!” Shen Zilin pulled the gluttonous Wen Dongyu away, squeezed to the front, looked at Cheng Tingyan, and said, “Nice to meet you, you’re the first friend I’ve met who knows how to save money from a young age!”
Cheng Tingyan: “…”
She didn’t know whether to refute “responsibly,” “save money,” or “friend” first…
“I’ve saved all my lucky money and allowance since I was young, and now I have four million five hundred and sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight yuan. It should have been four million five hundred and seventy thousand, but I sometimes want to eat snacks…” Shen Zilin scratched his head a little embarrassedly and looked at Cheng Tingyan again. “Unlike you, I can’t earn money from filming variety shows and commercials since I was young, my money is all given to me by my elders. Although I might not have as much as you, I have studied financial management and investment. I hope we can invest together when we grow up.”
“Me too, me too!” Wen Dongyu squeezed forward from behind. “I have five yuan every day! Oh, soon to be six!”
Shen Zilin pushed him back. “No, your money is too little, and you always think about eating. You don’t meet my criteria for a partner.”
“One month, thirty six yuans…” Cheng Tingyan said with difficulty, “Is that still too little?”
“A lot?” Shen Zilin was stunned.
“I…” Although she was a little embarrassed, Cheng Tingyan still decided to tell the truth and dispel the unrealistic expectation on Shen Zilin’s face. “I only have thirty-one yuan and seventy-five cents, which should be less than thirty six yuans, right?”
“Thirty-one yuan and seventy-five cents every month?” Wei Maomao asked weakly.
“…” Cheng Tingyan looked at the little chubby bunny and said honestly, “In total.”
“Impossible!” Shen Zilin was shocked, and then a little hurt. “Yan Yan, are you lying to me because you don’t want to invest with me…”
“I’m not lying to you.” Although Cheng Tingyan didn’t want to interact too much with other children, Shen Zilin’s expression when he talked about cooperation was really sincere, otherwise she wouldn’t have overcome her embarrassment and revealed the amount of money she had.
Shen Zilin felt a bit discouraged, he had finally found a friend who also knew how to save money from a young age, but it wasn’t for saving, it was because she was poor?
“But Yan Yan… isn’t one hundred bigger than thirty-one?” Wen Dongyu struggled to squeeze forward between the low table and Shen Zilin. “You just said you wanted to buy popcorn for Yan Yan, that popcorn says 100.”
“Right, you can afford 100 yuan popcorn, how could you only have thirty-one yuan and seventy-five cents!” Shen Zilin caught the loophole, moved to the left to make some space for the struggling Wen Dongyu to squeeze in, and looked at Cheng Tingyan, hurt. “You lied to me!”
“I didn’t lie to you…” Cheng Tingyan reached back and touched something. As she moved, her originally tied ponytail loosened, and her hair fell softly over her shoulders.
“Mommy said we can’t bring money to the filming. If we encounter a situation where we have to spend money, we can use this to exchange for money, it can be exchanged for four hundred yuan.” Cheng Tingyan gently removed a small gold flower from her fabric hair tie.
Shen Zilin: “…”
“It seems to be gold.” Wen Jiangyue, who had been quietly watching, came over and asked with interest, “Can I touch it?”
Cheng Tingyan nodded.
Wen Jiangyue picked up the small gold flower and weighed it lightly in her hand. “It’s very small and heavy, it should be gold. If it’s still gold after being burned with fire, then it definitely is. Gold costs over 400 yuan per gram now.”
“Wen Jiangyue, you know so much too!” Wen Dongyu looked at her with admiration.
“My dad likes these things.” Wen Jiangyue smiled sheepishly, putting the small gold flower back in Cheng Tingyan’s hand. Then she asked in confusion, “Your mom saying ‘when you have to spend money’ doesn’t mean when you want to buy popcorn, right…”
“Mommy was afraid that I would get lost and wouldn’t have money to take a taxi to find the police.” Cheng Tingyan’s voice became a bit weaker, but she continued with some determination, “But Mommy also told me to judge for myself when it’s necessary to spend money, and I think it is now.”
With that, Cheng Tingyan looked at Wei Maomao, the little chubby bunny had lowered her head at some point, all she could see was a messy head of hair.
“Let’s exchange for 100 yuan worth of popcorn first, and you see if it’s enough to eat?” Cheng Tingyan gently tugged at the little chubby paw in her hand.
The little chubby bunny didn’t speak, and her little chubby paw didn’t respond either.
Cheng Tingyan felt something was wrong, she looked down carefully, and saw suspicious… water droplets on the brown ground in front of the little chubby bunny’s toes?
“Maomao?” Cheng Tingyan squatted down and, as expected, met a tear-stained little face. “Why are you crying? Are you hungry?”
“I’m not hungry!”
Leave a Reply to orinj Cancel reply