DLRC – Chapter 24 Shopping Maniac

Although it might cost a bit, saving money wasn’t something she could afford to prioritize right now. Life as a single woman raising a child wasn’t easy—if money could solve a problem, there was no need to be overly self-reliant. That’s how Yu Wei saw it.

The saleswoman immediately understood what was going on. So, she’s a divorced woman… and with a kid in tow, no wonder no one came to help her despite buying so many things. Tsk tsk.

She thought about it. It was a weekday, and the store wasn’t particularly busy. The woman seemed sincere enough, and besides—why turn down easy money?

“How about this,” the saleswoman paused for two seconds before lowering her voice, “you go ahead and pick what you need. Set everything aside in one place. When I get off for lunch around noon, I’ll call my younger brother over to help you carry it.”

Yu Wei’s eyes lit up. She quickly agreed, “That would be great. Thank you so much.”

The saleswoman waved her hand. “No big deal. We’ve got a little cart at home. I’ll have my brother help push it all over for you.”

Yu Wei thanked her again and began selecting daily necessities.

The department store had a wide range of products. While it couldn’t compare to modern stores of the future, it already met all the needs of daily life. But as for a refined lifestyle… well, that was still out of reach for now.

She had a little bit of money on hand, but only a little. There were so many expenses ahead for her and her son. She couldn’t live like she did before the time travel—where she only needed to feed herself and didn’t worry about anyone else.

When her son got older, he’d need schooling, and higher education too. There’d be all sorts of miscellaneous costs. Especially after she finished settling into the new home, she needed to start thinking seriously about what kind of work she could do.

Of course, that was all for later. First things first—pick the necessities.

Daily items were cheap—mostly just a few cents here and there—but once you bought enough of them, it added up. At checkout, the total came to nearly thirty yuan!

That was roughly half a month’s salary for an average working-class person.

Looking at the mountain of bags piling up at the counter, Yu Wei sighed to herself: Some habits are hard to break—once a shopping maniac, always a shopping maniac.

The burden of daily life suddenly felt heavy on her shoulders.

Then she remembered she still had over two hundred yuan left in savings. The heartache eased a little.

“Comrade, when do you get off work?” she asked.

The saleswoman glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. “I get off at noon, to go home for lunch.”

Yu Wei looked at the time too—it was only 10:30. Still early.

“All right, I’ll go browse somewhere else for now.”

The saleswoman nodded silently and turned to serve the next customer.

Lucheng wasn’t a particularly big city—probably comparable to a second- or third-tier city by future standards—and the department store wasn’t huge either. But it had two floors.

The second floor was the clothing section. Plenty of outfits were on display, neatly categorized into summer, autumn, and winter wear.

It was the end of August, and the weather was still scorching. Even once September arrived, the so-called “autumn tiger” heat wave would rage on for at least another month.

So realistically, she and her son would need some well-fitting summer clothes, and autumn clothes too. As for winter clothing, October or November would be a better time to buy—who knew, maybe new and better designs would be available by then.

Yu Wei held her little boy’s hand as they walked through the narrow aisles. At this hour, there were more people coming and going than before. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying her any attention, Yu Wei turned slightly and took out her phone for a quick look.

She’d thought the mundane nature of shopping would tank her livestream’s viewership—but to her surprise, her viewers were having fun entertaining themselves:

【If I time-traveled to this era, I wouldn’t even know how to survive.】

【I miss the old days, but I definitely don’t want to go back.】

【Same here.】

【No home delivery? This shut-in girl is out.】

【And these clothes are sooo frumpy! This pretty girl’s about to sob in the bathroom…】

Yu Wei scrolled through the comments as she led the little one along the aisle, her mood visibly improving.

Even though everyone seemed to be goofing off, having viewers and comments was the biggest encouragement for her. People were still sending her gifts from time to time too. That gave her a sense of confidence—so much so that she didn’t even blink when it came time to spend money.

After China’s economic reforms in the ’80s, the fashion scene blossomed with diversity.

Although most kids in average households still wore handmade clothes, there were now a lot more options in terms of materials and styles.

Ready-made clothes were appearing in more and more stores, and unlike a decade ago—when everything was just black, gray, or blue—there was now a colorful variety, especially for children. The vibrant hues added a splash of joy to their childhood.

Yu Wei walked through the section feeling pretty satisfied. The clothes weren’t as frumpy as she’d feared. Clearly, the original host of this body had just been negligent—dressing her son in coarse white cotton garments that looked incredibly plain and dull.

But now, practicality was her top priority. Making money wasn’t easy, so she chose only pure cotton or soft-fabric clothes for the little one. These materials weren’t too expensive yet, and the quality was even better than the “pure cotton” stuff from the future.

Yu Hui held his mom’s hand as they reached a section filled with rows of hanging clothes—shirts in one area, pants in another, and a separate rack just for kids’ clothes.

The little guy was dazzled by all the colors. He couldn’t help but reach out his tiny hand to touch one item—then quickly and carefully let go again.

This was the first time he had come to such a lively place. It was colorful everywhere, and there were many children like him. Some were led by their mothers, and others came with both parents.

He looked up at his mother. Today, he had come with her.

Right now, she was seriously picking out clothes. She saw something on the rack, took it down, and held it up against his upper body to measure.

“Our Huihui is so good-looking—he’ll look even more adorable in this outfit!”

Yu Wei held the piece of clothing against Yu Hui. She had just asked the sales assistant, who told her that the clothes here couldn’t be tried on, except for outerwear.

She slipped a small jacket onto Yu Hui’s tiny frame. The little guy was only wearing a white undershirt, and the fabric had been washed so many times it had become fuzzy. Just looking at it made Yu Wei want to throw it away.

She thought to herself: I’m tossing this as soon as we get home! Such an eyesore.

Don’t be fooled by how skinny and small Yu Hui was—his soft, pinkish face really made up for it. Once he put on that light blue jacket, his whole vibe changed. He looked like a handsome little boy, and most importantly, he looked full of energy. The blue glow reflected on his rosy cheeks, making him look especially adorable.

Children are naturally soft-skinned and fair, and when they’re cute on top of that, it’s only natural that they attract attention—several sales assistants were already drawn to them.

And honestly, when the mother and son had walked in earlier, their plain clothes hadn’t made anyone look twice. But now, taking a proper look, one had to admit—they really stood out.

“Your child looks just like one of those little stars on TV!” said a young sales assistant, probably in her early twenties. At that age, it was natural to love pretty things. The moment she saw Yu Hui’s face up close, she couldn’t help wanting to look longer.

And once she did, the compliments just kept coming.

Yu Wei smiled at her and tugged down the hem of her son’s jacket. The woman, her face full of admiration, added, “I’ve been in Luzhou for years, and I’ve never seen a child as sweet as yours!”

“Thank you.” Who wouldn’t be happy when someone compliments their child?

“Are you buying a jacket for him? We have a lot more styles here. If you’ve brought enough money, feel free to have a look.”

She led Yu Wei and little Huihui to the other side of the display. The children’s clothes here were clearly more professionally arranged—light and thick, light-colored and dark-colored garments were all neatly categorized.

“These are all newly arrived imports from Hong Kong. The prices are generally one or two times higher than the ones on the other side, but the fabric and design are on a different level.”

The sales assistant explained enthusiastically. She was new to the job, and new staff usually had better attitudes than the seasoned ones. Plus, being young and not yet jaded by society, she hadn’t developed that slick, world-weary air. Her interaction with Yu Wei was unexpectedly pleasant.

In contrast, the other sales assistants mostly acted with arrogance. After all, this was a state-run department store, not a private business. In private shops, most owners ran the business themselves and treated customers well. Who would dare speak rudely to customers and still expect to stay in business?

So even in the 1980s, customer service in state-run stores hadn’t changed much.

Yu Wei glanced over rows of brightly colored children’s clothes. She had initially planned to save money, but now she was tempted. After all, what woman doesn’t like dressing up her child—especially one as pretty as hers?

Okay fine, the main thing was that her son was just too good-looking. It felt like a waste not to dress him up properly.

She suddenly remembered that she was a streamer, someone who had to appear on camera. She had already decided she would dress well for her viewers, so…

“All right then.” Yu Wei smiled at the sales assistant and picked out a few outfits that would suit Yu Hui’s size—tops and bottoms both.

“Please pack these up for me. Do you have any Hong Kong imports in my size? And shoes—there are shoes, right?”

In the 1980s, imported clothing from Hong Kong, especially women’s wear, had great designs. The retro fashion trend that took off in later years basically started from these styles.

Yu Wei had once followed that trend too, wearing retro outfits for a while. And honestly, they had the right vibe and looked good.

Now that she looked much younger, wearing those clothes might look even better on her.

“We have them, all of them.” The young sales assistant didn’t smile much but had a decent attitude. Following her, Yu Wei felt her shopping desire increase significantly.

At the women’s section, none of the clothes hanging on the racks caught her eye—until the assistant took her to the Hong Kong imports section. Yu Wei’s eyes immediately lit up.

Nice. Really nice. So many classic pieces! A lot of the popular modern styles were based on these timeless designs. You could wear them a hundred times and still not get tired of them. Yu Wei felt she had truly come to the right place.

She took a liking to a few dresses—a bright yellow one, a retro red one, and a royal blue one. All of them were long dresses that suited her height of about 1.65 meters.

It was a pity she couldn’t try them on. But just feeling the fabric told her the quality was excellent—worth buying.

Soon, her inner shopaholic was unleashed. She bought two long dresses, two jackets, two pairs of wide-leg pants, and a pair of slim-fit jeans.

With her slim figure and fair skin, the satin jacket she tried on really brightened her complexion. It amazed the sales assistant so much that after Yu Wei took it off, she immediately picked one up for herself.

“So pretty—really pretty! I’m getting one too!” Even though the imported jacket was expensive, it was undeniably beautiful.

Yu Wei chuckled. Clearly, this sales assistant was still inexperienced, probably came from a good family too. That kind of personality was rather endearing.

After the assistant packed everything up, Yu Wei also picked out a white blouse and a casual top from the regular section, then headed to the shoe area, where men’s, women’s, and children’s shoes were all displayed together.

Since she had already splurged on imported clothes, she chose the most affordable and basic shoes—classic white sneakers.

These white sneakers were practically universal. Whether paired with skirts or casual wear, they were always a safe bet.

Yu Wei bought two pairs—one pure white pair of sneakers, and one thin-soled pair with floral prints.

She also picked out two pairs for her son. But since it was for Yu Hui, of course she had to ask if he liked them. She held up a pair and asked, “Huihui, do you like these shoes?”

Yu Hui was looking around, but when he heard her, he turned to look. Upon seeing the little white shoes in her hand, he nodded obediently.

However… his eyes couldn’t help but drift toward another pair: deep blue sneakers with little bears printed on them.