"Riiing-!"
At last, the bell rang to mark the end of the final exam.
The corridor instantly erupted in relieved whoops.
"Ah, freedom!"
"What did you pick for the last multiple-choice question in math? I picked C."
"I'm doomed, I'm doomed. I picked A. I changed my answer three times. I should've left it alone. I want to die!"
Back in the classroom, everyone was frantically comparing answers.
The moment Xu Suiran saw Pu Yu, she launched herself at her like a koala, clinging to her and wailing, "Yu! Help! What did you pick for the last multiple-choice question in math?"
Pu Yu smiled. "I worked it out as C, but I'm not necessarily right."
Xu Suiran looked devastated. "Huh? I'm doomed. I rolled my eraser like a die and got A. Heaven's so cruel to me-"
A girl beside them leaned over. "I picked B."
Another boy said, "I guessed D."
Four people, four answers. They stared at one another, then all laughed.
"Oh, forget it, forget it. The exams are over anyway." Xu Suiran was an optimist whose troubles never lasted more than three seconds. "The important thing now is the National Day holiday!"
"Yu, what are your plans for the break? Let's go into the county town!"
Pu Yu thought for a moment, then said softly, "Grandma recently got a new batch of pillowcases. I want to stay home and help her with the work, and review some math and physics while I'm at it."
"Goodness, you work way too hard..." Xu Suiran sighed.
She tugged Pu Yu's sleeve back and forth, wheedling, "We have three whole days off. Spare just one for me, pleeease. I heard a new Xinhua Bookstore opened on the pedestrian street. They have lots of pretty notebooks."
Pu Yu hesitated.
Apart from school and her little town, she had never been anywhere else.
Looking into Xu Suiran's hopeful eyes, Pu Yu finally nodded. "Then I'll ask Grandma when I get home. If she agrees, I'll go."
"Yay! Great!" Xu Suiran cheered. "Then let's go on the second. I'll catch up on sleep at home on the first, and come get you on the morning of the second."
October 1.
The first day of the National Day holiday.
Pu Yu got up early, helped her grandmother sweep the courtyard and wash clothes, then went to the market to buy fresh, inexpensive vegetables.
That afternoon, Li Suhua took on a last-minute clothes-mending job.
Pu Yu helped beside her, threading needles and pressing the clothes with a heated ceramic block.
"You're going into the county town tomorrow?" Li Suhua asked without looking up as she worked the sewing machine's treadle.
"Yes, with Suisui."
"Be careful on the way. It'll be crowded there." Li Suhua stopped, took fifty yuan from her pocket, and held it out to Pu Yu.
Pu Yu hurriedly waved her hands. "No, Grandma, I have money..."
"What money?" Li Suhua insisted on pressing it into her hand. "You have to make that little bit of living money last until the end of term. If you need something for school, buy it."
Clutching the fifty yuan, Pu Yu felt a sting in her nose. "Thank you, Grandma."
"No need to thank me."
"The more I lend you, the more extortionate interest I get to charge."
With that, the old woman started working the treadle again.
Pu Yu couldn't help smiling, knowing her grandmother always had a sharp tongue and a soft heart.
She would never have the heart to collect it.
But Pu Yu had to pay this money back.
Early on the morning of October 2.
The bus from Whitebank Town to the county town was packed with holiday travelers.
Pu Yu and Xu Suiran found two window seats near the back and sat down.
Outside, the familiar white walls and gray-green roof tiles gradually gave way to open fields.
Xu Suiran was excited the whole way, chattering about which snack shops in the county town had good food and which milk tea shops had good drinks.
Forty minutes later.
The bus pulled into the county's bus station.
Compared with quiet, aging Whitebank Town, the county town was clearly much livelier.
Its streets were wide and busy with cars and pedestrians, with red lanterns and national flags hanging everywhere.
Knowing the way well, Xu Suiran led Pu Yu through several streets to a newly opened bookstore.
"Look! Xinhua Bookstore!"
The bookstore was bustling with people.
Almost all of them were parents bringing their children to buy study guides.
A "National Day Specials" poster was also displayed by the entrance.
The two girls browsed for nearly an hour. Xu Suiran bought two romance magazines, a pretty diary, and an unbelievably stylish pencil case with a combination lock, while Pu Yu chose nothing.
She had initially picked up a copy of "Common College Entrance Exam Physics Question Types Explained."
But when she turned to the price at the back, it was thirty-eight yuan.
Pu Yu quietly put it back. With that money, she would be better off swallowing her embarrassment and asking her deskmate a few more questions, then buying him breakfast a few more times.
That would definitely be better value than this thirty-eight-yuan book.
It wasn't until they reached the checkout.
Only then did Xu Suiran notice that Pu Yu's hands were empty.
"Huh? Where's that physics guide you had?"
"I didn't think I'd need it, so I put it back."
Xu Suiran didn't believe her and turned to go get it, but Pu Yu stopped her.
"I really don't need it." She smiled helplessly, then hurriedly changed the subject. "I want to buy a secondhand cassette player to listen to English. Is there somewhere nearby that sells them?"
That really was what Pu Yu wanted.
She had no phone, no MP3 player, and no language-learning recorder.
Although her English grades were among the best, her spoken English and pronunciation were terrible.
At City No. 1 High School, what she dreaded most in every English class was standing up to read the text aloud, because her pronunciation was the least standard and the most "country" in the class.
"Yes, there is!"
"There's an electronics market nearby, with lots of pretty secondhand cassette players!"
After paying, Xu Suiran took her to have steaming bowls of beef rice noodles by the roadside, then bought two cups of bubble tea before they headed to the electronics market.
She had made up her mind.
No matter how much that cassette player cost.
As long as Pu Yu liked it, she would pay, grab it, and run. Hmph!
The electronics market buzzed with voices.
Densely packed stalls were covered with all kinds of electronics.
MP3 players, language-learning recorders, game consoles, record players-the selection was dazzling.
Xu Suiran pulled Pu Yu to a stop in front of a small stall selling secondhand audio and video equipment.
"Sir, how much is this Sony cassette player?"
The seller was a fat man wearing a gold chain. When he saw the two high school girls, still looking so young, something flickered in his eyes, and he greeted them enthusiastically:
"You've got a good eye, young lady. This has an original mechanism imported from Japan. The sound quality is excellent, and it's not expensive either. Just a hundred and fifty!"
"A hundred and fifty?" Xu Suiran frowned. "That expensive? Can you make it cheaper?"
"Oh, this is quality stuff. I'm already taking a loss selling it to you for a hundred and fifty."
As he spoke, the seller picked up the cassette player and casually pressed play.
Fairly clear music came through the earphones.
"Have a listen. That sound quality-no static, right?"
Xu Suiran listened for a moment. It really did sound pretty good, and she was tempted.
It was just so expensive.
A hundred and fifty would wipe out all the living money she had secretly saved.
"Sir, we're students. Couldn't you lower the price a little?"
The seller's eyes shifted as he sized up the two girls, conceding a little to gain the upper hand:
"Then what's your offer?"
Xu Suiran thought for a moment and held up two fingers. "Eighty!"
"Oh, come on, that's way too steep a cut." The seller waved his hands repeatedly. "I paid more than eighty for this thing. A hundred and twenty, and that's my lowest!"
Pu Yu frowned and moved to put the cassette player back.
It was too expensive.
Her grandmother earned only a little over ten yuan for a whole day at the sewing machine.
Besides, she had already settled into the English-learning environment at Town Middle School. Whether her pronunciation was standard wasn't so important anymore.
"Don'tcha rush!" Xu Suiran winked at her, unconsciously slipping into dialect, then turned back to the seller. "How about eighty-eight? Such a lucky number, sir-prosperity all the way!"
The seller put on a troubled expression, hesitated for a few seconds, then suddenly slapped his thigh.
"Deal! You've got a way with words, young lady. Eighty-eight it is!"
Now it was Xu Suiran's turn to freeze.
She had thought they would have to go back and forth a few more times.
She hadn't expected him to agree so readily.
A surge of regret washed over her. Oh no, I didn't bargain low enough.
But she had already said it, and eighty-eight really was an auspicious number.
"Then..." She gritted her teeth and prepared to take out her wallet.
"Suisui, you can't do this." Pu Yu firmly caught her hand. "I can't accept something this expensive from you."
Xu Suiran wouldn't listen at all. "You wouldn't buy the physics guide, and now you don't want the cassette player either. Why do you always shortchange yourself like this? When you have money later, you can buy me something else. Isn't that the same thing?"
The seller was shrewd. Seeing a chance, he immediately fanned the flames. "That's right, young lady. Life's short. The sooner you buy it, the sooner you enjoy it. This cassette player really is worth it!"
"Exactly!" Swayed by his words, Xu Suiran nodded in wholehearted agreement and prepared to take the money out of her little purse.
But just as her fingers touched the bills-
A hand with sharply defined knuckles suddenly reached between them and deftly plucked the silver cassette player from Pu Yu's hands.
"Even twenty would be too much for this thing."
A low, cool voice sounded behind them.
Before you continue