After strolling around the upper floors, when it came time to check out, her overflowing shopping basket still managed to attract many curious looks.
Some found it amusing, thinking it odd that someone would buy so many snacks for a child out of season, believing the parent was really spoiling the child. They couldn't help but give her an extra glance or two, and whenever their gazes met Su Shu's, they would smile politely. Su Shu usually responded with a polite smile of her own.
However, not everyone shared this view.
Waiting in line is already a test of patience for the average person. Some have more patience, some are slightly more irritable. Already annoyed by waiting, upon seeing the mountainous purchases in Su Shu's cart and not knowing when their turn would come, they couldn't help but make sarcastic comments.
"The stomachs of children today are so weak, nothing like how robust we were in our day, especially since it's a little girl. All children have sweet tooths and want everything, but parents shouldn't indulge them like this. Snacks are no good, all sugar and fried foods, how can eating so much of that be healthy?" After speaking, they even sighed and concluded, "These young parents today know how to have kids but not how to raise them. Children aren't pets, you can't just spoil them like that, right?"
Not content with just their own thoughts, they even tried to involve the elderly lady standing in line next to them.
The woman standing behind her, although she also disapproved of Su Shu buying so many snacks for her child, upheld the principle of not meddling in others' affairs and quietly waited in line.
Unexpectedly, she was suddenly dragged into the "trouble," much to her dismay, and she pursed her lips without joining in the previous speaker's complaints.
An old woman like her wouldn't interfere in young people's business, but you, neither young nor old wife, why are you so troublesome? Speaking of "our time," who shares your time? I was born during the war against Japan.
Meeting a cold shoulder, the young woman glanced unhappily at the old lady before turning back to stare at the cart of goods that seemed to take forever to check out.
"Mommy, I want to eat that too!"
Suddenly, the son standing next to the woman pointed at a set of nut gift boxes in the cashier's hand and expressed his longing.
"Eat, eat, eat! Eat your farts! That stuff is dirty and ridiculously expensive, what's it gonna do, make you smarter or taller? Always wanting to eat crap, why don't you focus on studying, try to get me a few more points on your tests!" She wasn't satisfied with just words and even twisted the boy's ear a couple of times.
This made many people around frown slightly.
The woman murmured behind them, not too loudly or softly. If it were someone else, they might have turned around and snapped back at her. Not only did the people around covertly watch Su Shu's reaction, but even the cashier scanning items was sneaking glances at her.
As for Su Shu, she remained completely unruffled, like nothing was happening, ignoring the noise behind her, her expression calm as she took out the items from her basket one by one.
Occasionally, she would ask Xiao'ai, "Do you want this too?"
Xiao'ai's attention seemed to be drawn by the woman behind them, tilting her head slightly and gazing back with shining eyes.
After mocking for a while and seeing no reaction from the concerned party, the woman turned around and met Xiao'ai's gaze, and for some reason, she suddenly flared up in anger. A little kid dared look at her with that kind of eyes, huh.
"What are you looking at! The junk food's made you stupid," she snapped coldly.
Ignoring her, the child dared to look down on her too, what nerve!
Buy, buy, buy, buying so much, not afraid of stuffing yourself to death!
Just when everyone thought Su Shu was too meek to tangle with the shrewish woman, a bag of potato chips smacked the woman's face with a "smack," loud enough to quiet everyone within a few meters.
The cashier holding the barcode scanner froze too, uh, should they still ring her up?