When Shen Moxi woke up, she was momentarily confused. She rubbed her eyes and sat up groggily, looking around without finding Song Qi.
She scratched her head. "Where did that guy go instead of resting?"
Throwing back the covers, she got out of bed, put on her clothes and shoes, and opened the door. "Song Qi?"
Downstairs, Song Qi had been engrossed in watching something. Hearing Shen Moxi call him, he closed the tablet and put it away. "I'm on the first floor."
Shen Moxi combed through her hair with her fingers and tied it up with a hair tie before heading downstairs. Seeing him, she asked, "You didn't rest?"
"No, I wasn't sleepy, so I watched some more of last night's drama." Song Qi nodded. Seeing that she had just woken up, he handed her the cup of water on the counter. "Have some water."
Shen Moxi took it and had a sip. "What time is it? My brothers still aren't here."
Song Qi shook his head. "I don't know." Putting the tablet in his storage space had thrown its clock off again. Time flowed differently inside his space than it did outside.
"My scatterbrain! I forgot to buy a wall clock for the shop, and I didn't buy any watches either." Shen Moxi smacked her forehead.
Sitting down in a chair, she selected a plain wall clock from the system. After buying it and putting in batteries, she took out the alarm clock from before to check the time, adjusted the wall clock, and handed it to Song Qi. "Here, hang it on the wall behind the checkout counter."
Song Qi took it, went to the small storage room beside them to find a nail and a hammer, then brought over a chair and got to work.
Shen Moxi started browsing watches in the system again. After looking through them, she settled on five Shanghai watches: two women's models and three men's.
These watches were not the best, but even one cost around 130 yuan at the department store, nearly two months' wages for an ordinary worker.
Although she really wanted to buy Rolex watches for Song Qi and the others, Rolex watches were outrageously expensive at this time. Even the most basic model cost nearly nine hundred yuan. If she actually bought them, she figured Shen Tao and Shen Yuan probably wouldn't wear them or even accept them. Their hearts would bleed.
After making the purchase, Shen Moxi kept thinking about reselling appliances. Perhaps once the clothing shop was running steadily, she could have Shen Tao ask around? See whether he had made any reliable friends during his years of working who could do it.
Radios, watches, bicycles, sewing machines, washing machines, refrigerators, electric fans, and televisions-these eight types of appliances were things only wealthy households, or even those nouveau riche families, would be willing to spend money on. But although they had money, ration coupons and foreign exchange certificates were hard to obtain. With money but no coupons, they still couldn't buy anything and could only stare helplessly.
That was why Shen Moxi wanted to make another haul while appliance coupons had yet to be abolished and quickly build up some wealth. But this was also very dangerous. If they were discovered, the consequences would be especially serious.
So this had to be done by someone she trusted one hundred percent. She would leave it until everything was settled; when the time came, it would need careful planning.
Once Song Qi finished and put away the tools, Shen Moxi took one of the men's watches, set the time, and put it on his wrist. "This will make checking the time easier."
Song Qi looked at the watch on his wrist, its hands moving slowly. "How amazing. Girl, I have to say, your world really is incredible. Although you don't live as long as we do and can't use spells or cultivate immortality, you're better than us at everything else."
Shen Moxi put on her own watch too and raised her chin proudly. "Of course. Hua Country is the strongest."
While the others had yet to arrive, Shen Moxi bought some snacks, food, and drinks from the system and put them in the large drawers at the bottom of the cabinet for the little one to enjoy when he came.
"Let's go outside and look. It's already five. Why aren't they here yet?" Shen Moxi had grown too restless to sit still.
"All right." Song Qi nodded and stood up. "Are you planning to eat out tonight?"
"Yes, let's eat out tonight. This will be our first time treating my sister-in-law and the others to a meal, too." Shen Moxi slung her shoulder bag over herself, took some money out of her space, and put it inside, along with the other three watches.
The two had just stepped outside when they heard Shen Yuan's booming voice. "Little sis! Little sis, we're here!"
Shen Moxi looked up and saw Shen Tao with Wang Xiaoxia, while Shen Yuan had Xiao Xuan sitting on a little seat fitted to the front crossbar of his bicycle.
The two smiled and went to meet them. "Big Brother, Sister-in-law, Second Brother, you're here! Song Qi and I were just coming out to see why you hadn't arrived yet."
"Getting this little seat made for Xiao Xuan took some time. I had an old blacksmith in the village make it." Shen Yuan stroked Xiao Xuan's little head.
"It looks very nice. It'll be more convenient and safer to take a child along, too." Shen Moxi reached out to lift Xiao Xuan from the seat and kissed his little cheek.
The two men stopped their bicycles, and Shen Tao looked around. "Little sis, where will we put our bicycles from now on? Leaving them outside isn't safe."
Shen Moxi looked up with a smile. "Big Brother, have you forgotten? During the renovations, didn't I ask you to have them add a little door beside here?"
Shen Tao scratched his head. "They did add another door, but what does that have to do with this?"
"That little door opens into a small storeroom for tools and things. We can just put the bicycles inside." Carrying Xiao Xuan, Shen Moxi went over to the far side, where a small door had been painted the same color as the wall. It was hard to spot without looking carefully.
"But is that safe? What if someone picks the lock and steals them?" Shen Yuan shook his head.
"Haven't you noticed how unusual this keyhole is? It's not some big padlock. I'll paint a landscape here and hide the keyhole in it." Shen Moxi raised her eyebrows.
Song Qi gave her a thumbs-up. "You're so clever, girl. That way, such a tiny keyhole will be hard to spot, and no one will come close to examine the painting."
Shen Tao and Shen Yuan nodded and each gave her a thumbs-up too. "Our little sister is so clever. Just what you'd expect from a university student."
Their praise left Shen Moxi rather embarrassed. "Let's go eat first. We'll go to a restaurant. Starting tomorrow, who knows whether we'll have time for a proper meal?"
"We can just make do with something here. Eating at a restaurant is too expensive," Wang Xiaoxia said, pained at the expense.
"Sister-in-law, this is your little sister's first time treating you to a meal. You can't turn me down! Just this once. If we really get busy later, we might not even have time to eat." Shen Moxi handed Xiao Xuan to her.
"But... it'll cost so much." Wang Xiaoxia looked at Shen Tao, hoping he would talk his little sister out of it.
Shen Tao waved a hand. "Let's listen to Little Sis. We're all here to help her, so we'll do as she says. Working hard from now on will be the greatest help we can give her."
Hearing Shen Tao say that, Wang Xiaoxia stopped fretting over it.
Shen Moxi took out her key and opened the little door. "Big Brother, let's put the bicycles inside first."
Song Qi wheeled their bicycle in first, with Shen Tao and Shen Yuan following to put theirs inside. It was a little cramped, but fortunately, they all fit.
"Let's go. We'll go to the same place as before. The food there was pretty good." Shen Moxi closed the door and linked arms with Wang Xiaoxia, smiling.
They walked to the restaurant, and along the way, Shen Moxi played with Xiao Xuan. The little bundle of joy had the whole family roaring with laughter.
Walking silently beside them, Song Qi watched Shen Moxi's loving expression, and something stirred in his heart. Wasn't it time he consummated their marriage too? Could his girl give him a few fair, chubby little babies in the future? Neither of them was bad-looking, so their children ought to be very good-looking, right?
Imagining those soft little bundles calling him "Daddy" and his girl "Mommy" made his whole heart melt.