Chapter 68

Xiao Qi plunged her head into the swimming pool.

She opened her eyes.

She blew a few bubbles.

The world underwater was blue.

Sunlight streamed down from the transparent roof overhead, the water shimmering.

Xiao Qi swam freely, like a fish in the water.

Only now did the jumbled thoughts finally drain completely from her mind.

The splash of water in the pool washed them away without a trace.

Her hometown, Grandet's grandmother, her unpleasant relatives, the unfairness...everything slowly faded.

Exercise didn't just strengthen the body, it broadened the mind.

Because when Xiao Qi was truly immersed in running or swimming, exhausted as she was, she had no thought left to dwell on those things. And later when she did think back on them, she realized they were such small, tiny things, they wouldn't impact the next decades of her life at all, not really even the present.

After swimming back and forth vigorously for a few laps, the Teacher finally came over.

She had Xiao Qi keep swimming so she could observe her. After watching for a while, she finally said, "There's a qualifying round tomorrow, a more formal one. If you maintain the level you showed today, you'll be fine."

Xiao Qi nodded.

Tomorrow was the 11th, the last solar term of the summer. The formal competition was on the 20th.

"Any issues? Did you watch the competition videos I gave you?"

"No issues. Yes, I watched them."

Now when Xiao Qi cooked or took breaks or went to the bathroom, she would open the videos of swimming competitions that Teacher sent and watch.

"Good. Don't be nervous. Just perform at your normal level and there's no need to worry. Come in the morning tomorrow. The qualifying rounds in the morning should finish pretty quickly. After a bit more practice, remember to come get the gear and uniform for the competition from me."

After the Teacher finished speaking, someone else called her away. She was quite busy in the afternoons.

So Xiao Qi practiced on her own. She swam vigorously and happily. She couldn't quite feel the other improvements herself, but her endurance really was much better. In the past she would be exhausted and ready to get out after 10 laps, barely able to lift her arms and legs. By that point she just wanted to lie down by the poolside. However, the Teacher had strictly instructed that even when tired from swimming, she couldn't lie down but had to do stretches.

Only after stretching could she rest.

Gradually she went from 12 laps to 15 laps. Now after swimming 20 laps, Xiao Qi still felt like she hadn't completely exhausted herself and could keep going a bit more.

But she didn't push herself further since she had the qualifying competition tomorrow. She couldn't overdo practice.

As Xiao Qi was learning to swim, she kept summarizing her experiences.

Her goal was to improve quickly with a limited training period, then place well in the competitions.

She didn't dare wish for first place, but second or third should be possible.

So the regular training wasn't quite enough.

She felt she was making progress because her smartwatch calculated her pace and times.

But she didn't have it today so it was a bit inconvenient.

She also benefitted from all the recent running she did, which seemed to help her swimming as well.

In addition, she would analyze videos of top swimmers in competitions. In the end, she felt the key was still having excellent form. That was actually the most effortless approach.

After practice, Xiao Qi went to get the gear Teacher was providing competitors for tomorrow’s qualifying round, including a swimsuit, towel, and bag - all with the three flower logo.

The swimsuit was red with black edges. Across the chest were three small silly-looking flowers.

She bid the Teacher goodbye and left, but didn't go straight home. Instead she went to the mall because she wanted to buy a watch, one she could wear to time herself while swimming underwater.

Not having gone into watch stores before, she didn't realize how expensive watches were.

The watch Xiao Qi had been wearing only cost 30 RMB. She'd worn it for two years already. She had just intended to buy something similar, waterproof so she could check her times while swimming.

As soon as she expressed this requirement, the watches the salesperson showed her instantly jumped in price, seemingly all over 1,000 RMB.

Xiao Qi took a strained glance at the interface in front of her eyes. She slowly counted the digits - ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands...all the way to 100,000.

She had been walking all morning and swimming all afternoon. Her step count for the day had already reached 30,000, and her money count exceeded 100,000 for the first time.

Sometimes she truly wanted to spend not a cent, just watching the number steadily rise, which gave her a great sense of satisfaction.

At times like this, Xiao Qi understood Grandet's personality a bit better. Saving money really was a pleasurable thing. Seeing the totals increase seemed to put her in a good mood.

But she also realized that if she didn't do anything herself, the rate of increase was extremely slow. Initially she got 1,000 RMB per day from the progress system. Now it was 15,000 RMB per day. For the system to upgrade she had to continually push herself to improve, but she didn't seem to have figured out exactly what triggered increases. Because Xiao Qi had tried helping others at times and seen no feedback from the system.

Without a word, Xiao Qi followed the salesperson around looking at watches. The store's salespeople wore full black suits and leather shoes despite the summer heat with the air conditioning on full blast inside. Xiao Qi had worn a skirt today, also new. As she walked around with the salesperson, she could see her reflection everywhere in the store's large, bright mirrors.

She looked tidy for once instead of sloppy, not at all outclassed by the other's professional attire.

The saleswoman was very attentive, smiling widely, her lips a bright red that contrasted sharply with her very white, straight teeth.

She looked quite beautiful with that huge smile.

"This watch is simple and understated, very suitable for students like you to wear. What do you think?" The saleswoman held out a silver watch resting lightly on a black velvet box, encased in her white gloved hands.

On her slender, fair wrist beneath the store lighting, the silver watch gave off a dazzling brilliance.

It matched her hand perfectly and looked very attractive.

"This is a Longines watch with a white mother-of-pearl dial. It displays the date and is mechanical, so it has lifetime warranty coverage without needing batteries. It's waterproof to 15 meters deep." The saleswoman enthusiastically introduced it from the side.

Xiao Qi quite liked it. The price tag was right on the watch. She had assumed it would be 1-2,000 RMB at least, but when she looked closely she realized she was far too naive, short by a zero.

This watch cost over 16,000 RMB!

In that moment Xiao Qi hesitated, wondering whether to buy it or not.

The saleswoman continued persuading her, "The watch band is stainless steel so it won't break. If you flip it over you can see the inner workings. You can wear it your whole life. And if you don't like it someday, you could always gift it to someone else to enjoy for just as long."

Amortized over a whole lifetime, the price didn't seem too unreasonable.

But Xiao Qi still hesitated a bit.

In the mirror across the counter stood a 17-year old girl in a white dress, graceful and pleasing. She held up her wrist with a hint of bright color upon it.

The watch suited her outfit today very well.

Yet she didn't buy it, because at that moment the girl seemed to see her elementary school classmate Juan Zhang through the mirror. She had a lovely bag on her arm and pretty high heels on her feet, laughing together with some fellow villagers and inviting them to her home. At that time Juan Zhang looked so beautiful, young and vibrant, fashionably dressed, brimming with confidence.

But soon after, all sorts of gossip spread through the village about her.

Xiao Qi set the watch back down to look for another option.

"This one's too expensive. I just want something waterproof I can wear swimming, it doesn't need to be so nice. Something more cost-effective with decent quality that I can check the time on is fine," she calmly replied.

The saleswoman's smile didn't waver as she returned that exquisite Longines watch and led Xiao Qi over to another counter. She brought out another watch for her consideration.

This watch looked much cooler with a larger dial and rubber strap. It had lots of buttons around the edge and could display the time along with acting as a stopwatch for timing. A thin gold rim encircled it with gold lettering that gave off a modern robotic vibe.

Xiao Qi saw it cost 1,500 RMB and relaxed, even finding it amusing now that watches costing 1,000 seemed cheap when before that sum used to seem expensive. Clearly her sense of money had inflated quite a bit.

In the end Xiao Qi purchased that casual CASIO electronic watch which clashed somewhat with the feminine dress she had on. While her watch was sportier, her dress looked elegant and ladylike. However, Xiao Qi usually dressed casually so she felt the watch suited her better, having more functions and being waterproof for timing her swims although she probably wouldn't wear it her whole life. When she became truly wealthy someday, she could always buy herself another watch.

Still she felt quite grateful to the saleswoman for introducing her to the Longines brand, something she'd never known about before when it came to watches. It might not be the most expensive but she imagined one day she would certainly buy a Longines for herself.

Xiao Qi put on her newly purchased watch as she walked out of the watch store. The moment she stepped out of the shop, the mechanical sound rang in her ear, "Host has made reasonable consumption purchases, choosing things currently most suitable for herself. This establishes the correct concept of consumption and rewards the host with a 20-day doubled learning efficiency buff."