Buying a Phone

There was no computer at home, which made it hard to communicate with her young pen pal. Lin Er wandered around for a while, then took out the newspaper exercises to do when she got bored.

As she worked, it suddenly occurred to her: why didn't she buy a cell phone?

She couldn't afford a computer, but surely she could afford a cell phone!

She hadn't thought of it before because there was only a landline at home. She'd forgotten that cell phones were no longer something only a few people could afford.

Besides, all the phones she saw had buttons, and she still thought of button phones as seniors' phones that could only make and receive calls.

Now that she'd figured it out, Lin Er counted her money: 4,032 yuan and 60 fen.

Her big shopping trip had left her with only a little over three thousand, but she'd learned to pick up money since then.

Not counting the two hundred and some yuan on the first day, she'd picked up ten or twenty, sometimes several dozen yuan each day after that, and had only just passed four thousand.

Four thousand yuan would be enough to buy a decent phone even twenty years from now, wouldn't it?

She wondered whether there was any translation software available now. Even if there wasn't, she could add people as friends or ask someone on Tieba. Internet users were genuinely generous with one another these days.

With a plan in mind, Lin Er moved fast.

Lin Huihui wouldn't be back until dinnertime at the earliest, and it looked like Grandma and Grandpa would be at it until midnight today. She had plenty of time to ride her broom to the city and back.

There were no smartphones for sale in town, or she wouldn't have taken so long to think of it.

She hadn't spent enough time looking around the city before. She'd gone straight to her destination every time and never visited the main shopping street. Otherwise, the bright white lights of the phone shops would have reminded her without her having to think of it.

She cast the spell on herself, took to the air on her broom, and headed straight for the city.

She'd also tested this on Lin Huihui. The Disillusionment Charm wasn't as useless as she'd thought. A chameleon took time to change color in a new place, but magic didn't.

When she flew through the air, people on the ground saw the sky where she was. When she flew among the treetops, they saw leaves rustling in the wind.

Still, she couldn't be too bold. There were too many surveillance cameras. Thermal imaging wasn't common yet, but there were plenty of infrared cameras. She could only fool the eyes, not light.

So the effect didn't work on cameras.

She avoided houses all the way, worried that some wealthy family might have installed surveillance cameras on an old country house even in these times. She also had to stay away from highways, since there was no telling where a camera might be hidden.

Finally, once she reached the outskirts of the city, she had to walk or put up with motion sickness and wait for a passing bus.

It was still early, and the buses hadn't stopped running yet.

She knew her way around the city well enough now. Instead of ducking through alleys, she went straight to East Street.

The sun hadn't set yet, and the shops hadn't turned on their lights, but people were coming and going on the street. It was clearly a bustling place.

Lin Er walked briskly until she saw a phone display case through a glass wall.

She stepped back a few paces and looked at the sign above the storefront. It was Samsung.

The name sounded familiar. She'd probably used one before.

No one paid Lin Er any attention when she went in. As long as she didn't touch things, they wouldn't throw her out as a child making trouble.

Phones still ran on 2G networks at this time, and they were all designed to be very small. Someone was choosing a phone when she went in. It looked like it had a full touchscreen, but you had to operate it with a fingernail or the stylus that came with the phone.

She'd used one before. If she remembered correctly, she'd get one her dad had stopped using next year. By the time it was in her hands, the lower right corner of the screen was covered in fingernail marks from turning pages while reading novels.

Lin Er edged closer and listened for a bit. The man had clearly done a lot of research and was being especially careful with his choice. The salesperson couldn't answer many of his questions.

He wasn't nitpicking, though. When the salesperson couldn't answer, he examined the phone himself, and no one stopped him. In the end, he settled on a black phone.

Lin Er didn't hesitate for a second. As soon as the man finished negotiating the price, she chimed in, "Two phones! Give us a better price. Come on, a little cheaper, and my big brother and I will take two right now!"

A child's words weren't very convincing, so Lin Er took out her money right away.

The man raised an eyebrow with interest and turned to the salesperson.

"That's right, we're buying two. Give us a better price, or throw in some little gifts. They even give you pots and kitchenware when you top up your phone credit!"

He didn't mention accessories, since he'd already negotiated for all of those.

A spare battery, a universal charger, earphones, and a USB drive.

The salesperson was almost visibly upset, and in the end, a woman in a suit came over to handle it. She looked like the owner.

She was very generous, giving each of them a rice cooker and a set of plates.

Once outside, the man glanced at Lin Er, whose fingers were moving quickly and skillfully over her phone, and asked rather rudely, "Kid, you didn't steal your family's money from selling grain, did you?"

Lin Er hadn't expected him to be so rude. She stared at him wide-eyed, then rolled her eyes.

"No, I stole the money for my little brother's excess-birth fine!"

The man let out a "Huh," gave her a couple of looks, and left with his things without saying anything else.

Lin Er pursed her lips, feeling a little regretful. She seemed to have been a bit too aggressive.

She'd just benefited from his bargaining, after all.

But after walking a few steps, the man turned back, for whatever reason, and said something else.

"Why don't you sell me your phone and take the money back home? At your age, you should be focusing on your studies. Don't act out against your family!"

Lin Er didn't know whether she was laughing out of anger or amusement. She looked at him helplessly.

"Big brother, this is my own pocket money. By the way, you seem to know a lot. Is there any software that can translate English now?"

The man clicked his tongue and looked at her a couple more times, but didn't object to being called that.

"Google, I guess. It's not much use, but it should be fine for a few words. Or you could ask on Tieba. There are plenty of experts there, and it'll be easier if you pay. Oh, and mobile data is really expensive, so watch how much you use."

Lin Er looked at her phone, then at the man. Finally, she rummaged through her backpack and stuffed the half portion of spicy river snails she'd saved that afternoon into his hands.

"Thanks, brother. Take these home to eat with a drink. They're good for snacking on while watching TV, too. They're homemade and super clean!"

She'd consider it a thank-you.

Having given him the food, Lin Er ran off toward the park without waiting for him to refuse. People around here loved to go back and forth over gifts, and it sounded like an argument once they got started.

Lin Er had disliked it since she was little. She hated that drawn-out business of thanking each other back and forth, or giving someone something and then having to see the look of disdain on their face.

If she left, she wouldn't have to see it. She'd expressed her thanks, and if the other person didn't like the gift, they could throw it away after she left. How nice was that?

The man called after her twice, but Lin Er didn't stop, so he had to ask from a distance.

"You called me brother three times. You could at least tell me your name, little sister!"

Putting on an act, Lin Er didn't look back. She just waved a hand. "Big brother, I'm Xiao Er, your second sister. Forgot already?"

The man hadn't expected the kid to be so funny. Suddenly, he felt this place wasn't so bad after all. His phone had been stolen as soon as he got off the train, but maybe it had been the work of someone from out of town!

A place that could raise such a generous girl couldn't have bad people.

Besides, this place was known for its workers going elsewhere and getting into violent fights. He hadn't heard that it had lots of scammers and thieves, so it had to be the poor security on the train!

Having reached his conclusion, the man switched on his phone and walked toward a nearby hotel as he made a call.

The snails smelled pretty good. He wouldn't get to have them with a drink now, but they wouldn't be bad with some TV.

The kid sure knew how to eat!