As it turned out, Shi Xiaolei's worries were unfounded.
It wasn't because Pepper, the wealthy woman, was there, and Bayonetta would unceremoniously let her pay, not needing to use Shi Xiaolei's card.
Nor was it because it was already five o'clock in the afternoon when they arrived at the campsite, leaving not much time for shopping, so Bayonetta didn't have time to display her extravagant spending.
It was purely because there was nowhere to spend money—the closest settlement to the campsite was a small town called Clearfield. Although it was a county seat, the town's scale was equivalent to a town in China.
Coupled with the fact that everyone in America has a car… if residents of the small town wanted to buy nice clothes, they would definitely choose to drive to a larger city nearby, trying to have more options.
Without a market, naturally, no businesses would come here to open stores. In the small town, only one larger supermarket had a clothing section; there wasn't even a dedicated clothing store.
Even if Bayonetta wanted to spend more money, if there was nothing to buy, where would she spend it?
Sure enough, after more than an hour of browsing, when she returned around 6:30, Bayonetta had only bought two outfits in total. There were no designer brands, let alone so-called runway pieces or limited editions. All in all, she only swiped a little over three thousand US dollars from Shi Xiaolei.
At that price, according to the consumption level in the small town, it was already considered quite exaggerated.
However, putting the cheapness aside, it didn't mean that Bayonetta didn't look good after changing into them.
After all, Bayonetta is 1.8 meters tall, and her long legs are in no way inferior to international supermodels. Combined with her precise and unique aesthetic taste, no matter what kind of clothes she gets her hands on, she can effortlessly transform them into the most suitable style for herself.
"Wow~~, I can't believe this is just a two-hundred-dollar outfit," Pepper exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief, looking at Bayonetta, who had just changed and emerged from the tent.
The outfit she wore before was woven from witch's hair, which could be dismissed but not taken off. So, to avoid revealing any flaws and arousing suspicion from Pepper and the supermarket staff, Bayonetta used the excuse that 'the supermarket's changing room was too small, and there were no facilities for me to alter clothes,' deliberately waiting until they returned to the campsite before changing into her new clothes.
The originally slightly rustic top, with just a few seams and one or two buckles added, was transformed by Bayonetta into a stylish outfit full of design. The same went for the jeans on her lower body: two small rips were cut out, perfectly revealing two small patches of skin on her legs… the originally slightly dull tone, instead, better highlighted those two small white patches. Coupled with the slender leg shape, these jeans instantly became much more fashionable.
It really did look good. If this outfit were in New York, displayed in a high-end boutique, it would cost at least eight or nine thousand, even tens of thousands.
"Very simple alterations." Satisfied with her results and quite pleased with Pepper's compliments, Bayonetta put one hand on her hip, gracefully turned around, striking a pose like a magazine cover model, and blew a kiss to Shi Xiaolei, who had just come over: "My dear, what do you think?"
"Hmm?" He was holding a hammer for driving tent stakes, helping Stark set up his tent.
Suddenly hearing the call from behind, he turned his head and saw Bayonetta's new look. Along with that, he also received her flying kiss.
"Uh, uh," Shi Xiaolei's face flushed slightly, a little flustered: "It's very good."
After Shi Xiaolei's previous explanation, Stark knew that he had no intention of pursuing Bayonetta, but he had forgotten to inform Pepper along the way… "What a blockhead." Hearing Bayonetta call Shi Xiaolei 'my dear,' she instinctively assumed they were flirting. So, seeing Shi Xiaolei's reaction now, Pepper couldn't help but complain from the side: "Rock,
Be honest, OK? This is America; being too reserved won't get you a girl."
"Uh~."
"Bayonetta, ignore him." Before Shi Xiaolei could explain, Pepper had already moved on to the next step—feeling it necessary to ease the awkwardness between the two, and also wanting Bayonetta to help her with her own style, Pepper quickly walked up to Bayonetta, grabbed her arm, and pulled her towards the van: "I brought a few clothes that I don't usually wear, and I was planning to just throw them away after this trip. Come and help me look; maybe there's an undiscovered treasure…"
In a blink of an eye, the two women had walked away.
What else could he say? Shi Xiaolei shook his head, withdrew his gaze, and prepared to return to the work of 'setting up camp.'
"Xiaolei, Xiaolei, when are we eating?" Just then, the little girl Connie came over again.
She was holding a lollipop given by Bayonetta, but that thing wasn't filling. It was already past six in the afternoon, Connie's usual dinner time, so it was no wonder the little girl came to ask.
"I'll make it right away, after I help Stark set up this tent…" As he spoke, he patted the little girl's head. Suddenly, Shi Xiaolei's eyes lit up, and he handed the hammer to her: "Connie, why don't you help too? I'm telling you, setting up a tent is a lot of fun."
"Really?" Blinking, Connie became interested and happily raised her small hand: "I want to help~!"
"Come, I'll teach you." Taking Connie forward two steps, Shi Xiaolei squatted down at one corner of the tent, first demonstrating by raising the hammer and tapping it twice for the little girl, then handed the hammer to Connie: "Here, like I just did, aim for this stake."
"Oh~."
The big one and the small one were having a lot of fun. Seeing this, 2B turned around and opened the food box that had been set aside temporarily: "Rock, what are we eating tonight? I'll start preparing the ingredients now."
"What did you all bring?" Just then, Rhode, who had finished the procedures at the campsite management office, returned.
As he asked, he peered into the box. Discovering a bag of pre-skewered meat, Rhode's eyes unconsciously showed a hint of anticipation: "These are the lamb skewers I had last time, right? Let's just make these."
"Alright, lamb skewers it is." Hearing Rhode's request, Shi Xiaolei made his choice accordingly: "Sylvia, also take out that bag of shrimp tails. I'll stir-fry some spicy crawfish later."
He felt that barbecue and spicy crawfish went together, so he specifically had someone get a bag imported from China. When preparing these ingredients, Shi Xiaolei simply made arrangements according to his own preferences, without thinking too much.
But to the others… "Crawfish? What's that?"
"It's Procambarus clarkii."
"Huh? Procambarus clarkii? No way, can that thing be eaten?" Rhode's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief.
The other two also stopped what they were doing.
Poking his head out from the other side of the tent, Stark seriously protested to Shi Xiaolei: "Hey, buddy, that stuff has excessive heavy metals. I don't want to get poisoned."
"…If anyone else said it, fine, but coming from you." Shi Xiaolei rolled his eyes in exasperation, pointing to the light on Stark's chest: "With that thing on you, how can you have the nerve to say that?"