Chapter 41

Su Xiaoqi woke up at three o'clock after a long sleep. It felt as if she had passed out. She had been physically active lately.

Upon waking up, her whole body was sore and she felt lazy, not wanting to get out of bed. However, going back to sleep didn't feel comfortable either. She was drenched in sweat, even the back of her head was damp.

She got up and went outside to the water basin to wash her face, which helped her fully wake up.

Since she didn't feel like going to the bookstore or the library in the afternoon, and it was neither early nor late, she decided to tidy up her aunt's dormitory. The walls were dark and greasy. Usually, she was the one sleeping there, while her aunt mostly stayed in the hospital ward, only coming back for a nap occasionally.

Su Xiaoqi was an impulsive person. Once she thought of doing something, she wanted to do it right away.

After washing her face, without applying any sunscreen or anything like that—summer and putting stuff on her face made it greasy, and it would smudge once she started sweating—she simply put on a duckbill cap. It was given to her during her sophomore year, on the school's centennial anniversary. The cap had the school's name, "Yizhong," written in red.

With the cap on, Su Xiaoqi went to the three stationery stores near the school gate. She remembered that they had special paper for sticking on walls, and many boarding students used posters or other things to decorate their walls.

But when she arrived, only one of the stores was open. It had a small door, and there were no lights inside.

The other two stores were closed. Probably not much business during the summer vacation.

Su Xiaoqi knocked on the door, and a young man with sleepy eyes poked his head out.

"Do you have any wallpaper for sale?" she asked.

The young man rubbed his eyes and saw that it was a little girl wearing a particularly silly little red cap, but she looked delicate. He quickly nodded and said yes.

While on the phone, he said, "Hello, Mom, Mom, where did you put that stack of wallpaper for sticking on walls? What? The one Dad said nobody wanted to burn? The attic? Oh, got it."

Su Xiaoqi: ...

The young man hung up the phone and smiled kindly at Su Xiaoqi.

"Just wait a moment, I'll get it for you right away."

Then he climbed up a small ladder and came down with a big pile of wallpaper.

The outer layer was gray and yellowed, and the corners were curling up. But after removing the outermost sheet, a creamy white wallpaper with some dark patterns showed, it looked quite textured. Su Xiaoqi estimated the size of her aunt's dormitory and the size of the wallpaper. Each sheet seemed to be about one square meter. She roughly calculated that she would probably need the whole stack to cover it completely.

"How much are these?" she asked.

"How many sheets do you want?"

They almost spoke at the same time. The young man looked surprised and said, "You want all of them? Let me ask."

He made another call to his mom, "Mom, Mom, how much for the wallpaper? Not per sheet, all of it. Oh, oh, can the customer get a discount? Oh, okay..."

After hanging up, he looked up and smiled at Su Xiaoqi.

"My mom said if you take all of them, it's 198 yuan at the lowest, no less."

Su Xiaoqi didn't know the exact price, but she felt that the stores near the school gate shouldn't be too overpriced. She nodded and was about to pay.

"Where do you live? I can deliver it to you later. This stack of wallpaper is quite heavy, several tens of kilograms." The young man asked.

Su Xiaoqi glanced at the stack of papers and shook her head, saying, "No need, thank you, young man. I can handle it myself."

As she spoke, she wrapped the papers with the outermost layer, which had a string on it. She lifted it up and carried the large stack of papers away.

It looked as light as a bundle of cotton.

The young man rubbed his shoulder, pretending to be strong when he took the papers, looking puzzled as he watched the young girl effortlessly enter the hospital gate.

Su Xiaoqi returned to her aunt's dormitory, first fetching a bucket of water and wiping the walls with a clean cloth. Since she needed to go in and out, she removed the door curtain and took it to wash while pouring the water.

Lin Min's mother passed by and glanced a few times, but she didn't say anything and hurriedly left.

The basement was quiet in the evening, and her aunt was busy upstairs.

After wiping the entire wall, Su Xiaoqi started pasting the wallpaper. She had never done this before but knew that there was a transparent film behind the wallpaper that could be peeled off and stuck on.

Su Xiaoqi cleared the things near the door and started pasting there. The first piece was a bit crooked, and the second piece was slightly better, aligning reluctantly with the first one. Well, it was also crooked, but it didn't matter if the bottom corner of the wall could be folded a bit.

The task seemed simple, but it wasn't easy when actually doing it. Su Xiaoqi was drenched in sweat after pasting one side of the wall. She kept climbing up and down, bending over, and patting the wallpaper.

However, the effect was already quite good, and the room seemed to be brighter.

There was a bed in her aunt's dormitory with a large cabinet at the foot of it. She didn't know where it came from, but it was one of those red wooden cabinets that had already started to peel, yet it had a quaint charm with magpie carvings on the cabinet doors.

Across from the bed was a long table by the window.

Su Xiaoqi was glad that she had some strength now; otherwise, it would have been really difficult to paste all the wallpaper. The wardrobe wasn't big, but it was extremely heavy.

She moved the wardrobe by herself, pasted the wallpaper, moved the bed, pasted the wallpaper, moved the table, pasted the wallpaper. At first, the pasting was crooked and uneven, with gaps or excessive overlapping. As she progressed, she became skilled at seamlessly joining the pieces. However, it was indeed a tiring job, and the small bun on the back of her head was drenched in sweat.

Labor was still quite hard, but when everything was pasted, Su Xiaoqi pushed the bed, wardrobe, and table back into place and tidied up the scattered items, placing them in cardboard boxes. Because there were so many papers, she also pasted two paper strips.

The room suddenly became bright, like a newly decorated one. She even pasted the ceiling. The basement room wasn't tall, so she could step on the table to do it. The whole room was covered in creamy white wallpaper with a gentle tone. The old wardrobe appeared gentle as well.

Su Xiaoqi also lifted the glass on the table and padded it with wallpaper, making it look brighter and fresher.

After finishing everything, Su Xiaoqi lay on the bed, too tired to move. She took deep breaths, feeling exhausted but still happy.

For less than two hundred yuan, she was able to transform the dark basement into something like this, and she felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Auntie would definitely love it.

The door curtain was a fiery phoenix red, made of the kind of fabric popular in the 1980s for wedding decorations. She didn't know where Auntie had gotten it from.

Xiao Qi had just taken it down and washed it. It should be dry by now. She got up again and went outside to collect the curtain fabric hanging under the tree. After washing it once, it wasn't as bright red, but it also didn't have any dark stains. It looked fresh and clean. Once she hung it back up and opened the window, there would be a bit of airflow between the door and the window.

Xiao Qi also cleaned the small jar that Dad had taken down, which was originally used to ferment pickled vegetables. The pickled vegetables had long been eaten, and the empty jar was placed under the table.

She didn't go out to buy flowers this time, so she casually broke off two branches from the dense trees in the yard.

She filled the jar with water, inserted the branches, and placed it on the table. The creamy white walls, the creamy white table, and the old black clay jar with two lush green branches sticking out of it.

The wind blew in through the window with the red window sill, causing the leaves to tremble slightly.

The branches cast shadows, imprinting them on the table and the wall.

In this moment, Xiao Qi felt that everything in front of her looked amazing. The whole room seemed grand and stylish.

Unable to resist, she took out her phone and snapped a photo.

The phone displayed a picture-like image.

White walls, black jar, green trees, and shadows.

Xiao Qi, who was not accustomed to posting on social media, shared this picture for the first time.

Not knowing how to caption it, she only posted the image alone.

It was a bit sentimental, but also beautiful.

"The host independently completed the renovation of the living space, improving her living environment, which is beneficial for enhancing study efficiency. As a reward, the host is granted a Silver Photography Card. The host's current photography skill level is basic, but with the card, it will be elevated to entry-level. Would you like to use it?"

Hearing the familiar mechanical voice, although she didn't know what it was for, Xiao Qi calmly nodded, "Yes, I would like to use it."