HLM – Chapter 30 Shopping with a Beauty

As he entered the supermarket, Wang Bo pushed a whole line of shopping carts. A stock clerk came over and smiled, “Sir, are you sure you need that many carts?”

Wang Bo replied, “Buddy, I’m sure. I’m planning to spend at least twenty grand.”

The clerk shrugged. “Well then, happy shopping,” he said before walking off—but not without glancing back curiously, clearly doubting Wang Bo could fill a dozen carts with groceries.

Old Wang decided to show these New Zealand hillbillies the awe-inspiring power of a Chinese auntie on a shopping spree: Toilet paper? Tissues? Sketch paper? Yep—into the cart.

Soda water? Coke? Sprite? Bottled water? Also yes—into the cart.

Bread? Pizza? Sandwiches? Nope, he planned to buy rice and a rice cooker to make his own meals.

Eggs? Meat? Veggies? Absolutely—but those required a big freezer and refrigerator first. Price didn’t matter as long as they had large capacity. He also needed an oven, grill, microwave, and breadmaker—the whole package.

The appliances were too large for shopping carts, but because he was buying in bulk, the supermarket provided a delivery guy—though only to help load the goods onto the rented truck. Labor in New Zealand is expensive, so they generally don’t offer home delivery, especially since the castle was 50–60 km away.

He filled up four or five carts with daily necessities and was about to keep going when someone tapped his shoulder and asked, “Goodness, are you planning to clean this place out?”

Wang Bo turned around and laughed. What a coincidence—it was Eva.

She was still dressed in a white blouse and pencil skirt, her golden ponytail swaying behind her, with a few playful strands framing her cheeks. Her white blouse curved dramatically at the chest, and her pencil skirt perfectly outlined her slim waist and shapely hips.

Sadly, although she still wore her signature gold-rimmed glasses, she didn’t have on the sheer stockings that made Old Wang’s knees weak. So today, she wasn’t quite the “meat-stocking glasses girl” of his dreams.

“Hey, what a coincidence,” Wang Bo greeted with a smile. He then apologized for last time. “Sorry about Sunday. I really didn’t mean to upset the kids. I just tend to speak without thinking sometimes.”

Eva curled her red lips into a trademark sweet smile. “Don’t apologize, Wang. You didn’t do anything wrong. I overreacted. You see, I know I’m not bad-looking, and some guys like to use mental illness as an excuse to get close to me. But they go too far, making exaggerated displays in front of the children, and that harms them.”

Wang Bo shrugged, liking her even more now that he’d seen her reasonable side.

Eva’s basket only had some chips and nuts. She was curious why Wang Bo was buying so much.

He explained his situation—that he had accepted the Sunset Territory, which was now being turned into a proper town, but since it was still completely bare, he needed to stock up on supplies in town.

Upon hearing this, Eva said, “Sounds like you could use some help. If you’re buying everything for your place from scratch, that’ll take forever. Come on, let me help.”

“Thanks so much.” Wang Bo was genuinely delighted. Truth be told, it was a pain shopping for everything alone.

Eva smiled sweetly, pushing a cart to help him pick out vegetables.

When she found out it was Wang Bo’s first time at Pak’nSave, she gave him a tour as she selected produce. “There are generally two types of price tags here. The yellow ones are regular prices. The red-background ones mark discounted sale items.”

She then pointed to some large hanging signs at the start of certain aisles. “These are the biggest promotions—usually the lowest prices. Don’t miss them.”

Wang Bo suddenly realized—he’d noticed the different tags before but hadn’t known what they meant. Now that he did, he rushed over to sweep up the sale items.

As for what exactly he swept up? Who cared. The castle had nothing in it, so whatever he bought would be useful.

But when Eva looked into his cart, her expression grew increasingly shocked. Finally, she couldn’t hold it in and pointed, “Do you really need this many condoms? And… lubricant?”

Wang Bo looked down and almost twisted his face off—somehow he had swept up a pile of Durex, Jissbon, and Okamoto condoms, all top international brands.

“I thought they were gum,” he said with an awkward laugh. “They really look like chewing gum packaging back home.”

He quickly put them all back—though after a moment’s thought, he snuck two boxes into his pocket while Eva wasn’t looking. You never know when you’ll need them.

They shopped around the store for over two hours, finally covering all the essentials. Wang Bo headed to the checkout.

Pak’nSave employed very few cashiers to cut labor costs, and since most customers had full carts, the checkout process was slow.

As Wang Bo waited in the long line, a mother and daughter suddenly cut in front of him. He immediately got annoyed. “Hey, ladies, please line up properly, OK?”

They ignored him. The mother wore a blank expression, and the teenage daughter was absorbed in her phone.

Eva noticed their cart was nearly empty, so she motioned to Wang Bo not to get upset and said to them, “Hi, if you feel the line is too slow, you could try the EC lane. It might save you some time.”

EC stood for Express Checkout—a self-service system for small purchases, like toll booths back in China. Many big supermarkets in New Zealand had EC stations where customers could scan and pay by themselves.

Great for small hauls—not so great for massive shopping trips.

Upon hearing this, the mother and daughter turned around. The plump mother gave Eva a cold look, and the teenage girl, about 14 or 15, sneered, “I don’t care about saving time. Stop pretending to be nice—we all know you just want to kick us out and check out faster. You think being pretty means the world owes you? Bitch.”

You’re the ones cutting in line—how is that us trying to rush you out?

Wang Bo’s face darkened. He turned to the mother. “Don’t you think your daughter’s words are out of line? Shouldn’t you teach her to be more polite?”

The mother snorted and muttered under her breath, “Yellow monkey, huh.”

The disdain on her face was crystal clear.

Eva bit her lip in anger, wanting to argue, but Wang Bo remained calm. He pulled her back and shook his head. Then, while pretending to rearrange his cart, he quietly slipped a box of Durex into the girl’s shoulder bag.

When it was finally the mother-daughter pair’s turn, they purposely stalled, asking endless questions to delay Wang Bo and Eva. It wasn’t until the cashier snapped at them that they reluctantly left.

But as they reached the store’s entrance, the anti-theft scanner let out a piercing beep. A security guard came over. The mother angrily claimed it was a faulty machine and refused to be searched.

But the guard insisted—and found the box of condoms in the daughter’s bag.

“This wasn’t paid for,” he said with a shrug. “Looks like the machine was working just fine.”

The mother exploded. “Why the hell did you sneak that in, huh?!”

Wang Bo shrugged and said to Eva, “Girls in New Zealand sure mature early.”

Eva instantly understood what had happened. “You’re terrible,” she said—but then burst into laughter.