89: Chapter 89 Shopping

Zhou Min was stunned for a moment.

She quickly reacted and repeatedly agreed, starting to organize the contract.

Su Xiaoxi stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, her hand resting on the glass, looking at the loquat tree in the yard; her lips curled up unconsciously.

She had already begun to think that a chair could be placed under the tree, and sitting there in the afternoon should be very comfortable.

Something could be planted along the wall; the trumpet creepers were already beautiful, but a pot of mint could be added to the corner to pick a couple of leaves while cooking...

"Do you like this yard?" Jiang Chen's voice suddenly came from behind.

Su Xiaoxi turned around and found that he had walked up to her at some unknown point.

She nodded, not hiding the light in her eyes.

Jiang Chen glanced at her, said nothing, and turned to sign the contract.

Zhou Min spread out the contract on the coffee table in the living room; Jiang Chen sat down, flipped to the last page, and signed his name directly.

The rent was paid annually, one hundred and two thousand a year, plus the deposit, totaling one hundred and eleven thousand seven hundred.

When transferring the money via mobile banking, his expression still didn't change, as if he were paying a small sum.

Su Xiaoxi stood by the side, looking at the string of numbers and doing the math in her head.

This was more than two years' worth of her salary back in her hometown.

Yet, from the moment Jiang Chen made the decision to the completion of the payment, the entire process took no more than fifteen minutes.

After Zhou Min confirmed receipt of the payment, her smile was more sincere than ever before.

She handed the keys, the access card, and the yard gate key ring to Jiang Chen, then gave a few more instructions regarding the property management and the neighbors.

Before leaving, she glanced at Su Xiaoxi again with a look that suggested "you're really lucky" and then bid them farewell with a smile.

The moment the door closed, the house suddenly became quiet.

Su Xiaoxi stood in the middle of the living room as sunlight poured in from the floor-to-ceiling window, making the entire space bright and warm.

The shadows of the trumpet creepers in the yard were cast on the floor, swaying gently with the breeze like a living painting.

This was her first home in Jiang Cheng.

Although technically it wasn't a "home," and although Jiang Chen paid the rent, and although her only reason for living here was because Jiang Chen told her to.

But at this moment, standing in this house with a yard, Su Xiaoxi felt a part of her heart soften.

She turned her head and saw Jiang Chen standing by the shoe cabinet in the entryway, looking down at his phone, likely replying to messages.

The way he stood there fit the house surprisingly well.

It wasn't the kind of fit that "blended into the background," but rather...

Because he was there, the house felt complete.

"Brother Chen," she called out.

Jiang Chen looked up.

"Thank you," she said, her voice not loud, but very sincere.

Jiang Chen looked at her for two seconds, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly—not quite a smile, but not his usual expressionless face either.

"Let's go, let's buy some things."

There was a large supermarket near the residential complex; Jiang Chen parked the car in the underground garage and took Su Xiaoxi directly to the household goods section on the third floor via the elevator.

Su Xiaoxi had visited supermarkets in her hometown, but those were the kind of one-story large supermarkets in the county town where the floors were always a bit sticky and the shelves were piled with various knock-off brands.

The supermarket in front of her was completely different.

Just the aisles between the shelves were wide enough for three shopping carts to move side-by-side.

The lights overhead were a warm white, making the products look as if they had a filter applied, and the air was filled with a faint scent of incense.

Su Xiaoxi followed behind him, her eyes not knowing where to look, finding everything fresh and new.

When they reached the home section, Jiang Chen stopped.

"See what's missing," he said.

Su Xiaoxi was stunned for a moment, looking at the dazzling array of shelves around her, and poked her head out from beside the shopping cart somewhat blankly: "Are we... are we buying everything?"

Jiang Chen glanced at her, a hint of helplessness and amusement in his gaze.

"Whatever you want to buy," he said.

Su Xiaoxi gave an "oh" and pushed the shopping cart forward slowly.

She walked to the bedding section, stopped to look for a few seconds, and then continued walking.

She walked to the towel section, stopped to touch the bath towels neatly folded on the shelf, looked at the price tag, and then continued walking.

She walked to the slipper section, squatted down to pick up a pair of pink cotton slippers, looked them over repeatedly, put them back, picked up a gray pair, and put them back again.

Jiang Chen leaned against a nearby shelf with his hands in his pockets.

He watched her weave carefully between the shelves like a little bunny let into an unfamiliar garden, picking up everything to look at for a long time before putting it back.

"Have you picked everything out?" After about ten minutes, he finally spoke.

Su Xiaoxi held a pair of light blue cotton slippers and hesitated: "Is this pair okay?"

Jiang Chen took a look but didn't comment.

Su Xiaoxi put the slippers into the shopping cart, a small, satisfied smile appearing on her face as if she had accomplished something great.

Then she started agonizing over a toothbrush.

Soft bristles or hard bristles? A large brush head or a small one?

She held two toothbrushes in front of her eyes, one in each hand, her brow furrowed as if she were solving a complex math problem.

Jiang Chen walked over, took one from her hand, and put it back on the shelf.

"This one," he said in a tone that brooked no argument.

Su Xiaoxi looked at the one he had chosen.

Soft bristles, a moderate brush head size, and the price was more than double the one she had picked herself.

She said nothing, put the toothbrush into the shopping cart, the tips of her ears turning slightly red.

From then on, the style of the shopping trip changed.

Jiang Chen began to lead the shopping.

He walked in front, and Su Xiaoxi pushed the shopping cart behind him.

He would stop at every section he reached, casually picking up several items and putting them in the cart; his movements were so fast that Su Xiaoxi didn't even have time to check the prices.

In the cookware section, he picked up a set of pots—three pots of different sizes stacked together, with black bodies and wooden handles, looking very expensive.

In the tableware section, he picked up four sets of bowls and plates—pure white bone china without any patterns, but the texture was so good that Su Xiaoxi didn't even dare to touch them with force.

In the bedding section, he directly had the sales assistant get a four-piece set.

Gray and made of pure cotton; the assistant mentioned something about the thread count of the long-staple cotton, which Su Xiaoxi didn't understand, but she felt it secretly, and it was as soft as a cloud.

In the toiletries section, he took two bath towels, two hand towels, and two face towels, all in dark gray, similar to the color of the bedding.

He also picked up shampoo, body wash, conditioner, and a bottle of body lotion of a brand Su Xiaoxi didn't recognize but with a very high-end bottle design.

The shopping cart went from being empty to being completely full; Su Xiaoxi found it increasingly difficult to push, simply keeping her head down and trying her best to steer the cart forward.

When they passed the snack section, her pace slowed down a bit.