I Tied Up the Travel Check-In System - Chapter 15

Hahahaha, over 700 gold coins!

Tang Siqi was exhausted, but her heart was overflowing with joy. If she weren’t surrounded by so many people, she would have screamed.

She could finally take home the graphics tablet she’d always dreamed of!

Tang Siqi practically trotted all the way to the nearest mall on Nanjing Road. She didn’t want to waste a moment longer; she couldn’t rest until she bought the tablet and held it in her arms.

As she trotted, she remembered to redeem it in her system.

Meanwhile…

over a hundred kilometers away, Tang Ruiqing watched someone’s step count on WeChat Sports climb. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, panting, and reluctantly gave his daughter a thumbs-up before heading home.

He’d been late sending his wife off to join a tour group, and he’d never expected his usually homebody daughter to have another outburst. She’d already walked 25,000 steps, and the number was still rising.

Tang Ruiqing thought, “Hmph, I’ll start early tomorrow. I don’t believe I can’t fix you.”

Tang Siqi, completely clueless, went to the store of her favorite graphics tablet and tried it out. Ah… it was the silky smooth feeling she’d been wanting!

The feel, the pressure sensitivity, the responsiveness—it was exactly what she’d been dreaming of!

Her previous tablet had cost just over a hundred yuan, a used one from Xianyu. Jumping from a hundred yuan price point to two thousand and eighty yuan felt like a complete upgrade.

“This is our new tablet. It’s incredibly powerful. You can even customize shortcuts like the eraser, copy and paste, and undo. Many professional artists use this tablet.”

With an enchanted smile on her face, Tang Siqi finally said, “Okay, I’ll take this one. Please give me the invoice.”

The clerk’s smile was incredibly attentive. She hadn’t expected to get another order so soon, even before the end of the day! Another chance to boost her sales for the day.

The clerk became even more enthusiastic and gave her some pen refills as a small gift.

Tang Siqi was overjoyed. You know, these refills are consumables, and some of the free ones are quite expensive, costing ten yuan each.

Although it wasn’t much, it could save her some money.

Tang Siqi went home happily with the shopping bags.

Xu Qianning had just put her son to sleep and glanced at the clock with some worry. She was about to call Tang Siqi when she opened the door and came back.

“Qianning, look what I bought?”

“What?”

Xu Qianning took the takeaway box, a puzzled look on her face. “Dumplings?”

Tang Siqi nodded. “Well, I went to Wusongkou for something today and passed by a Baoshan dumpling shop. It’s very popular, with a long line. You can cook some for Luo Junbao tomorrow morning.”

Xu Qianning nodded, putting the dumplings in the refrigerator and saying, “Then I’ll save some for you too.”

“No, this is for you guys. You don’t have to prepare anything for me tomorrow morning. I might have to go out and check in.”

Xu Qianning said, “Oh,” and couldn’t help but ask, “Siqi, what have you been busy with lately? Why do I feel like you’re always out and about? Even Junbao is curious.”

Tang Siqi smiled and said, “My work lately requires me to go out a lot. I have to check in some delicious and fun places in Shanghai, and then I have to come back to write reviews and draw some pictures.”

Xu Qianning understood and no longer worried.

No wonder Tang Siqi always brought back delicious food. Maybe it was part of her job.

“Don’t work too hard, get some rest early. I’m going to bed first.” Although Xu Qianning was a micro-business owner, she couldn’t stay up too late because she had to take care of her son and go stocking up in the morning.

Tang Siqi returned to her room, feeling elated as she replaced her new tablet with her new one. She couldn’t bear to throw away her old one.

She pulled out her phone, opened Xianyu, took a photo, and listed it there for 20 yuan, though shipping wasn’t included.

Even though it was cheap, at least she could pass it on to someone who needed it.

After switching to her new tablet, Tang Siqi couldn’t resist the urge to start drawing the glutinous rice balls from the Baoshan Tangyuan Shop.

The cute, round, cartoon-style illustrations were easy to create, and she finished in less than half an hour.

She also wrote reviews of her trip to the Wusongkou Lighthouse and the Baoshan Tangyuan Shop before turning off the lights and heading to bed.

Tang Siqi slept until ten in the morning.

After waking, she dozed off for a while longer, staying in bed until eleven.

Ah… sleeping in feels so good!

Tang Siqi checked her remaining health bar. She only had 93 hours left, meaning she could do nothing for the next three or four days without worrying about her life.

So cool!

So, she didn’t have to punch in today, since she already had the tablet.

Tang Siqi stretched before slowly getting out of bed. If she got up late, she didn’t feel the need to go out.

If she didn’t want to go out, she wouldn’t even bother washing her face.

She collapsed on the sofa, turned on the TV, and habitually pulled out her phone to order takeout. What should she eat today?

She searched through her favorite restaurants, but couldn’t find anything she wanted.

But she was starting to feel hungry…

Tang Siqi sighed. All those days of punching in outside had really spoiled her palate.

Looking at the same old takeout, she had no appetite at all…

Tang Siqi sighed to the heavens. Was this the saying, “It’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality?”

It’s outrageous that such a poor thing like her would actually say something like that.

Tang Siqi reluctantly washed her face again, tidied herself up a bit, and prepared to go out.

Her phone rang. She opened it and saw a message from someone on Xianyu.

“I want this tablet. Can we trade in person? I’m also in Huangpu District.”

“Sure,”

Tang Siqi sent her location.

The other party quickly replied, “Then let’s go to the Xiaolongbao shop and pay on delivery.”

Tang Siqi: “…Okay.”

She looked at the location and was surprised to find that the place they were meeting up for was the Xiaolongbao shop downstairs from her. What a coincidence! She was actually planning to go there for dumplings too; she hadn’t been able to stop by since her last visit.

Wow!

The Xiaolongbao shop was bustling today. It was a breakfast place, and it was almost lunchtime, but there were still so many people in line.

As Tang Siqi was waiting in line, the buyer arrived. She was a very cute girl dressed like a student.

“Hello, you’re waiting in line too! Haha, this bun shop is really good!” the girl laughed.

“Have you been here before?” Tang Siqi asked.

“No, but I saw a review post last night where the poster highly recommended this bun shop, so I decided to give it a try.”

Tang Siqi: “…”

She hadn’t expected to run into someone from the review forum on Xianyu.

Of course… she didn’t want to be exposed.

The two lined up, bought their buns, and sat down to eat and chat.

The girl said as she ate, “Actually, this post is what inspired me to learn painting.”

Tang Siqi: “Huh? What did you say?”

The girl didn’t rush to answer, but ate a bun first.

“Wow, delicious! These buns are amazing! They’re just like the post said, the broth is so rich!”

Tang Siqi couldn’t help but smile. This girl was so cute! How would she react if she knew she was attracted to this post?

The girl then said, “This poster is really amazing! She often tries all kinds of delicious food in Shanghai and paints them into artwork, posting them online. I think it’s not just about painting that’s fun, but also about being able to try so many delicious and exciting things. This kind of life is really interesting! So I want to learn painting too. One day, I can become an artist and live a free life like the poster. How wonderful it would be.”

Tang Siqi blushed at the compliment. She thought about her life before…

she was just a lowly artist who stayed at home all day. Life wasn’t as exciting as she said.

Staying home used to be fun, too. It just wasn’t as healthy as going out so often now.

“You sold your drawing tablet? Don’t you want to draw anymore?” the girl asked, realizing she’d been chatting too much with the posters on Dianping.com and worried she’d be boring them.

Tang Siqi smiled. “No, I’ll keep drawing. I bought a new one, so this one’s gone.”

“Great! You must be quite good then. If I have any drawing questions, can I still contact you?”

Tang Siqi nodded. “Sure, just send me any questions.”

They added each other on WeChat. After Tang Siqi finished her steamed dumplings, she took a walk around People’s Square and headed home.

There weren’t many sales in the Gold Coin Mall today, so Tang Siqi felt comfortable staying home.

She’d just bought her drawing tablet yesterday, and she was still in the thick of it, so naturally, she didn’t want to go anywhere. She just wanted to get used to it .

Her long-pending plan to practice her basics was finally on the agenda.

Doumi had previously sent her a set of video tutorials on drawing on a tablet. Tang Siqi opened the tutorial and followed along, meticulously practicing from the very basics of line drawing and pen control.

She also sent the video tutorial to a girl she’d just met today, Le Keke.

Le Keke got her tablet and immediately went back home to research it. She was confused and debating whether to ask the woman she’d met today when she suddenly realized she’d contacted her.

Siqi: “Keke, this is the basic tutorial a friend sent me. You can follow the steps and practice on your own.”

Le Keke: “Ahhhh, sister, you’re so kind! I need this! I’ll go check it out and start practicing soon! Thank you, muah!”

Keke’s initiative astounded Tang Siqi. She’d just bought the tablet and started practicing?

Just as she was about to put her phone down, she received another message.

Le Keke: “Siqi, I know a great mutton restaurant in Pudong. How about we go together this morning? They’re open in the mornings. 】

Tang Siqi was a little hesitant. Going to Pudong for breakfast… seems a bit far.

Le Keke: [It’s really delicious! It is said that this mutton has been rated as an intangible cultural heritage! It must not be missed! 】

Siqi: [Okay, I’ll go! What time tomorrow morning? 】

Le Keke: [Six o’clock in the morning, I’ll pick you up downstairs of your house, and we’ll take a car together. 】

Siqi: [……]

Six o’clock in the morning, this is too hard!

Le Keke: [It must be early. They open at 3:30. We are already late. If we are any later, they may be gone. ]

Tang Siqi hesitated for a moment, but still couldn’t resist the temptation of delicious food.

Siqi: [Okay! Six o’clock is six o’clock. ]