Chapter 62: List

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: List

They took Grandpa Mo’s car home.

Originally, they had planned to call a cab, but Grandpa Mo stopped them. He insisted on giving them a ride, claiming the roads weren’t safe. Grandma Wen couldn’t talk him out of it and eventually gave in. They dropped Hua Buwan off at her supermarket first before taking Grandma Wen home. Watching their departing figures, Hua Buwan took three seconds to silently mourn for Grandpa Feng.

It was still early, and the sky hadn’t completely darkened yet. Hua Buwan locked the supermarket doors, hid in the bathroom, and let out a loud shout. "Ah!"

Yelling it out made her feel entirely refreshed. Now that she had money, her heart was finally at ease. All the grievances she had suffered in the past seemed to wash away, because she would no longer care about those judging gazes or harsh words.

Her family was poor when she was a child. The clothes she wore were all hand-me-downs from her older cousins. Her parents favored boys over girls, so as long as she had something to wear, they never bought her anything new. It was only during the New Year that her maternal grandparents would buy her new clothes. She would wear that new outfit all day long, cherishing it so much that she was terrified of getting it dirty or wrinkled. Ever since she was little, she had always envied the kids who constantly had new clothes to wear.

At school, her parents never gave her any allowance. Whenever the recess bell rang, her classmates would swarm the campus store to buy snacks. The cheapest shrimp crackers cost only fifty cents, while the more expensive cream puffs were a dollar fifty. She couldn’t even afford the shrimp crackers. Whenever she saw a kid buying cream puffs, she couldn’t help but think to herself that their family must be incredibly rich. Because of this, Hua Buwan grew up with a deep sense of inferiority.

As a result, she devoted most of her time to studying. After all, it was her only way out. Study music? Study art? Sorry, her parents couldn’t afford it, nor would they ever pay for her to learn such things. She couldn’t afford musical instruments, nor could she afford all that paint and drawing paper. She simply wasn’t worthy.

Thinking about everything from her past, Hua Buwan’s eyes welled up with tears. She raised a hand to wipe them away, slowly walked over to the counter, and sat down. Taking out a small notebook, she began to plan out her finances. Her family background meant she didn’t have much worldly experience or a mind for investments, and she was very self-aware of this fact. She figured she would just spend the money practically, based entirely on her own needs.

Spending List:

1. Buy houses (a large villa and a spacious flat in the city center).

She still had to look after the supermarket most of the time, but if she had any free time, she could invite a few friends over to have fun. It had been a long time since her college roommates had gathered together, so she could definitely arrange a meetup! A large villa and a spacious flat—they could take their pick.

2. Buy cars (wait until getting a driver’s license first).

She could buy two: an expensive one to enjoy driving, and a cheaper one for daily commuting, which would save her a lot of unnecessary trouble in certain situations.

3. Deposit a chunk of money across several banks for added security and collect monthly interest.

She couldn’t just spend it all.

4. Sign up for classes to learn the things she couldn’t learn before, the things she liked, to enrich her spiritual life.

There were so many things she wanted to learn: calligraphy, painting, musical instruments, dancing, billiards... Perhaps because she had spent her entire childhood watching others learn, she had developed a deep yearning for it and always wanted to give it a try. As for whether she would actually enjoy them, she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

5. Buy more houses? Become the most beautiful landlady in Lingnan? (Pending further research).

Hua Buwan thought about what would happen if she encountered terrible tenants who trashed the rooms and refused to pay rent, or what if one of her properties accidentally became a murder house... She started to hesitate about becoming a landlady. She already had more than enough money for her retirement and didn’t want to invite that kind of trouble.

6. Ask netizens online for advice? "Waiting online, very urgent"?

By the time she finished writing her list, her stomach let out a loud GRUMBLE.

Just then, the sensor at the back door chimed. "Welcome."

The mouthwatering aroma of roasted meat wafted into her nose.

Roast chicken?!