Transmigrated as the Husband of a Vicious Villainess - Chapter 17

“Eat up, don’t just space out.”

Seeing Wen Miao not opening her mouth, Ji Baiqing nudged her.

Wen Miao took a tiny bite, and instantly her cheeks flushed bright red from the spice; tears were even forced out of her eyes. Her eyes shimmered with crystalline light as she struggled to swallow the mouthful. “This is way too spicy.”

Ji Baiqing looked at her rosy face and rubbed the tip of her nose. “I did put a bit too much chili oil, but it tastes alright to me.” Seeing Wen Miao glare at her, she hurriedly poured her a glass of cold water.

Wen Miao only finished half of her braised noodles. Since Ji Baiqing had a large appetite, she didn’t hesitate to polish off the remaining half. Having witnessed too many of her boundary-crossing actions, Wen Miao was already feeling numb to it.

Once she finished eating, Wen Miao urged her, “Let’s go, let’s head to the supply and marketing cooperative and have a look.”

The first floor of the cooperative held daily necessities, while the second floor sold ready-made clothes and fabrics. After asking a salesperson for directions, Wen Miao pulled Ji Baiqing toward the second floor.

Looking at the rows of mostly drab, greyish clothes, Wen Miao furrowed her brows in dissatisfaction. Ji Baiqing watched her with a smile, thinking that women of any era were the same—passionate about buying clothes. She was too, except she was poor. Thinking of this, Ji Baiqing suddenly couldn’t smile anymore.

Wen Miao circled the stacks of clothes, eventually picking out a few pieces and holding them up against Ji Baiqing to check the size. When she draped a long black skirt against her waist, Ji Baiqing finally reacted. “Wen Miao, you aren’t buying these for me, are you?”

Wen Miao shot her a “who else?” look and went back to browsing.

Ji Baiqing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, though her heart felt a bit soft. “Alright, no need to buy for me. I have enough clothes.”

She reached out to stop Wen Miao from picking more, but as if on cue, the floral shirt she was wearing let out a creak—the fabric under her armpit split open.

Ji Baiqing and Wen Miao both stared at her underarm simultaneously. Looking at the torn fabric, her lips twitched. “This… the clothes are getting a bit tight.” Over the past year, her frame had filled out a bit.

Wen Miao mimicked Ji Baiqing’s usual habit and pinched her cheek. “Alright, be good. It’s just a few clothes.”

Perhaps it was because her voice was too gentle, or perhaps because the sudden accident was too embarrassing, but Ji Baiqing stood frozen in place.

Wen Miao picked out black and white short-sleeved shirts, a half-skirt, a pair of black trousers, and a black-and-white diagonal plaid dress. Finally, ignoring Ji Baiqing’s protests, she even bought her a pair of shiny women’s leather shoes.

Thinking of how He Xiangyue and the others usually wore straw sandals, Wen Miao picked out a pair of trendy crystal sandals for He Xiangyue and a pair of black slippers for Ji Wei; Ji Baiqing remembered all their sizes.

Seeing the great beauty in high spirits, Ji Baiqing sighed and stopped trying to dissuade her. Secretly, however, she was feeling quite smug. The netizens were right: having a “sugar mommy” best friend was an incredible experience.

However, ready-made clothes were expensive—around ten yuan each. Everything added up to about fifty yuan. Wen Miao also picked out several pieces of fine cotton cloth: two meters each of white, black, and red. When they went to pay, the total was seventy-two yuan and fifty cents, plus the corresponding cloth coupons.

Wen Miao gave Ji Baiqing a look, and Ji Baiqing fished out eight ten-yuan bills (Great Unity bills) from her worn-out satchel and counted out the cloth coupons for the salesperson. Seeing them buy so much in one go, both the salesperson and the other customers gasped. Amidst the sounds of indrawn breath, Ji Baiqing silently clutched her satchel tight. Mustn’t let any pickpockets target us.

After paying, Ji Baiqing asked the salesperson to use a storeroom to change into her new clothes. The black short-sleeved shirt made her aura seem even more cool and aloof, making her skin look ivory white.

When she came out, Wen Miao looked at her and nodded, praising, “It looks great; it suits you very well.”

Ji Baiqing felt uncharacteristically shy. “It’s because you have good taste.”

Wen Miao didn’t argue; she did feel her taste was quite decent.

After buying the clothes, it was time to get the items they had listed last night. Ji Baiqing led Wen Miao to start buying the things on the list. They bought a thermos and a bottle of soy sauce. Once they had everything, Ji Baiqing wanted to pay, but Wen Miao grabbed her wrist.

“Wait, let’s buy one more thing.”

Ji Baiqing was confused. “Is there something we missed?”

Wen Miao signaled for her to follow. After walking further in, Ji Baiqing saw a crowd surrounding the “28-inch bicycle” (Flying Pigeon style) and her lips twitched. “…You aren’t planning to buy a bicycle, are you?”

Wen Miao didn’t reply but carefully looked over the black bicycle. This thing was huge—it could carry a family of three. She was particularly satisfied that the back seat was leather, so she wouldn’t have to worry about it hurting her bottom. Only then did she find the time to answer Ji Baiqing: “Don’t you think taking the ox cart is very inconvenient? Besides, the smell on the cart is terrible.”

Ji Baiqing waved her hand, giving up the struggle. “Buy it if you want. You’re beautiful, so you’re right.”

Wen Miao glared at her and grumbled, “Talking nonsense again.”

In the end, they bought the bicycle. Most of the other items were finished, too. Since there were too many things, they left them temporarily at the cooperative, asking the salesperson to watch over them. The sales staff in Xining Town actually had quite a good attitude.

Pushing the bicycle out of the cooperative, Ji Baiqing frowned, feeling like she had forgotten something. Suddenly, she saw a bicycle with a strip of meat hanging from it ring its bell as it zipped past. She smacked her forehead. “Meat! I forgot to buy meat!”

A moment later, Ji Baiqing and Wen Miao stood facing each other, supporting the bicycle.

Ji Baiqing: “Why did you buy this if you don’t know how to ride a bike?”

Wen Miao was silent for a while. “…I thought you would know how.”

In her previous life, when Ji Baiqing was at her poorest, she walked everywhere. Later, after saving some money from part-time jobs, she bought an electric scooter. She could ride a scooter, but she had never learned how to ride a bicycle!

Ultimately, she gave in and pushed the bike into an alley, saying helplessly, “I’ll try to learn first.”

Fortunately, riding a bike is mostly about balance. After gliding it a few times, she felt she had more or less figured it out. She braced her long legs against the ground and signaled for Wen Miao to get on. Wen Miao climbed onto the back seat easily, gripping the back edge of the seat.

“Let’s go, hold on tight!”

Ji Baiqing pedaled wobbly toward the food station. Several times, Wen Miao was nearly swerved off, and eventually, Ji Baiqing felt too embarrassed. “Wen Miao, hold onto my waist. It’ll be steadier that way.”

Hearing this, Wen Miao hesitated for a moment before slowly reaching out to wrap her arms around Ji Baiqing’s waist. The warmth of Ji Baiqing’s skin transferred to her through the thin fabric. Wen Miao unconsciously brushed her hand against her waist and abdomen, thinking: So, thin.

Being touched like that, Ji Baiqing couldn’t hold it together. The handlebars gave a violent jerk as she gritted her teeth:

“Wen Miao, don’t touch me. It’s ticklish.”

“…” Wen Miao’s face instantly turned impossibly red. She hurriedly let go of the woman’s waist and nearly fell off the bike again.

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