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Tao Yan was holding the clothes and about to pay when Huo Baichuan stopped him. "Can you stop being so stiff and dull all the time?"

Before transmigrating, it had been three-piece suits. After transmigrating, it was still suits and white dress shirts. Didn't he get tired of dressing the same way for decades?

"A sixteen-year-old boy should be a little more energetic." Huo Baichuan stuffed several floral shirts he had picked out into Tao Yan's arms. "Here, I chose these especially for you. Try them on."

Tao Yan stared expressionlessly at the completely transformed Huo Baichuan before him—buzz cut, floral shirt, baggy shorts, flip-flops. Hanging from his shirt collar was a pair of especially exaggerated sunglasses that nearly covered most of his face.

He looked even more like a bad guy now!

Imagining himself in a similar outfit, Tao Yan's mouth twitched. "I'd better not."

"How can you not?" Huo Baichuan flashed a wide white grin and shoved Tao Yan into the changing room without giving him a choice. "Brothers share hardship and fortune. We bear difficulties together and enjoy blessings together..."

And embarrass ourselves together, Tao Yan silently added.

In the end, unable to withstand Huo Baichuan's relentless pestering, Tao Yan still picked out a sky-blue floral shirt and changed out of his old clothes.

After that, the two bought shoes and underwear. Passing through the children's section, Huo Baichuan thought of the children at the orphanage and bought them plenty of little toys, such as dolls and toy trains. Naturally, he also mischievously picked up several sets of workbooks as gifts for everyone.

Tao Yan selected several large bottles of hand cream and the most fashionable cold cream of the day for the old director and the volunteer aunties.

After leaving the mall laden with bags, they returned to the electronics street and bought the cassette player Huo Baichuan had been longing for, along with several boxes of tapes. Copying the trendy young men on the street, Huo Baichuan slung the cassette player over his shoulder, put on his sunglasses, stepped into his flip-flops, and strutted down the street like he owned the world.

Trailing two meters behind him, Tao Yan carefully picked out two sets of tools necessary for assembling computers, along with a toolbox. When they passed Xinhua Bookstore, Tao Yan went inside to ask whether they had English listening tapes for elementary school students. Unfortunately, elementary school students in this era had not begun learning English yet.

Huo Baichuan secretly watched Tao Yan and felt that this man was simply terrifying.

Only after they had bought nearly everything did the two take a taxi back to the orphanage.

Huo Baichuan finally got to ride in the Alto he had been thinking about all afternoon. After getting a feel for the car's performance, he leaned close to Tao Yan, gave a soft scoff, and whispered, "It's terrible."

Hearing Huo Baichuan's complaint, Tao Yan did not even lift his eyelids. It was perfectly normal for a rich second-generation kid who played with supercars to look down on an Alto's performance.

By the time they returned to the orphanage, it was already past six in the evening. The volunteer aunties had finished preparing dinner. Seeing Huo Baichuan and Tao Yan return in brand-new outfits and loaded with bags, they froze. "Why did you buy so much?"

"Where did you get the money?"

"Why are you dressed like this? You look like bad guys!"

Huo Baichuan chuckled. "Of course we earned it! We went out to make money, didn't we?"

Aunt Zhao clicked her tongue inwardly. "How much did you make to be able to spend like this?"

Huo Baichuan smiled without answering in detail. Tao Yan handed over the hand cream and cold cream they had bought for the old director and the volunteer aunties. The recipients of the gifts immediately went still.

"This, this..." The old director and several aunties looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"How can we accept things from you?" The old director's eyes reddened as she said, her gaze moist, "It isn't easy for you two children to earn a little pocket money. We're adults—"

"Please accept them," Tao Yan said gently. "We bought them especially for you."

"Why buy these?" Aunt Zhao wiped her eyes and muttered, "Old weathered women like us have no use for such fancy things. They'll only go to waste."

"How could they go to waste? My mom said that women should live brilliantly and beautifully no matter their age." Huo Baichuan grinned. "This is nothing. Once we make big money, we'll get every one of you a set of the finest skincare products in the world."

After saying that, Huo Baichuan felt a little awkward as he looked at the aunties with reddened eyes. He quickly grabbed the bags and ran over to the children. "We prepared gifts for you too."

"Wow!" The children who had been watching from the side immediately squealed excitedly.

Although they did not know why these two big brothers had come to the orphanage, the children clearly liked Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan very much. Ever since the two had appeared at the orphanage, they had eaten fragrant braised pork knuckle, sweet-and-sour liangpi, and especially delicious fried potatoes. Now, the two had even bought them such beautiful dolls and fun toys.

"Thank you, Brother Tao! Thank you, Brother Baichuan!" The children held their unopened toys and workbooks as they shouted their thanks.

Huo Baichuan placed the cassette player he had carried all the way in the dormitory where the four disabled children lived. Smiling, he rubbed their heads and said gently, "You may not be able to see or speak, but your ears can still hear sounds. When you're bored in the future, you can listen to more radio broadcasts and tapes. Once your eyes and voices are healed, maybe you can even become big singers!"

The children curled up on their beds, their numb faces turned toward the source of his voice. After a long while, they finally nodded faintly.

Unfortunately, Huo Baichuan and Tao Yan did not see it. The two had already turned and headed downstairs to the cafeteria.

Dinner was stir-fried dried tofu with green peppers, stir-fried shredded potatoes with celery, chicken frames stewed with potatoes, and tomatoes tossed with sugar. The dishes were rather plain, but Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan had been busy all day and did not care. Each served himself a large bowl of rice. Tao Yan checked the time and said, "We'll go to the tax bureau tomorrow morning."

Huo Baichuan nodded, shoveling rice into his mouth as he said, "We also need to go to the commerce bureau."