Chapter 8

“You… I have clothes. I don’t need any.” Li Qian stepped back, startled.

Liu Xun couldn’t help laughing at her guarded expression. “I’m joking. Look how scared you are. But now that you’re working for me, you’re one of my people. You can’t look too shabby, understand?”

He knew he couldn’t rush the pencil skirt and didn’t press her. He’d been thinking of the video he’d seen in his previous life. By then Li Qian was an associate professor at Qing University. At an academic forum livestreamed across the country, she’d worn a tailored pencil skirt, skin-tone stockings, and heels as she calmly dismantled the challenges of several senior professors, leaving them speechless. She’d been radiant, poised, and confident.

If only she’d wear that in front of him…

He brought himself back to the present. Looking at her T-shirt, stiff from repeated washing, he softened his tone. “Come on. We’ll get you a few decent things here in the university district. Call them work clothes. Look at this style—it’s years old, isn’t it?”

Li Qian lowered her head and said nothing for a moment. In the dorm, when Wu Kai had shown off his four-hundred-yuan Adidas shoes, she’d understood the implication perfectly. She’d grown used to it. From middle school through high school and now college, girls in her class and even her dorm had found ways to display their supposed superiority: casually mentioning the price of a handbag or the restaurant they’d visited over the weekend.

People her age seemed never to worry about making a living. They only had to coax their parents a little to get whatever bright, attractive things they wanted. For her, every yuan already had a destination: the endless bottles of medicine on her mother’s bedside table, the lifeline keeping her mother’s heart beating.

She’d never thought of buying herself decent clothes. Spending her limited money on appearances was a luxury. She had long stripped away her material desires, carrying her dignity inside rather than wearing it on her back.

In the end, perhaps out of consideration for Liu Xun, she accepted the idea of “work clothes.”

They went to West Street, then the busiest part of the university district. Inexpensive clothing stores, snack stalls, and accessory shops crowded both sides of the noisy street. Liu Xun led her into a brightly decorated women’s fashion shop.

Li Qian hesitated at the door. She’d never been inside a store like this. The mannequins in the glass window wore sharply cut clothes that gleamed softly under the lights. She looked down at her stiff T-shirt and unconsciously gripped its hem.

Liu Xun glanced back and tilted his chin toward the interior without a word. An associate approached and asked what style they wanted. Liu Xun pointed to Li Qian. “Let her choose.”

After hesitating, Li Qian entered and browsed the racks. She took a long time before settling on an off-white T-shirt and black straight-leg trousers.

Watching the fitting room, the associate struck up a conversation. “Sir, your girlfriend has a wonderful figure. Those two pieces will really suit her.”

Liu Xun made a noncommittal sound. A moment later, the curtain opened and Li Qian emerged without her mask. The off-white T-shirt fit close to her body, its neckline revealing her delicate collarbones. The straight black trousers made her already long legs look even more elegant. She looked like a picture from another time: clean and composed, beautiful without trying to draw attention.

The associate was ready with her usual compliments, but when she saw Li Qian, her eyes went wide and her mouth opened and closed without finding the words.

Nearby, another girl had been admiring her new dress in the mirror. She turned and caught sight of Li Qian, then froze. She looked at Li Qian’s reflection, then down at her own dress, and suddenly lost all interest in it.

She spun around, grabbed her boyfriend by the ear, and hissed, “What are you staring at? We’re leaving!”

He stumbled after her, aggrieved. “I wasn’t looking…”

“Wasn’t looking? Your eyes were practically falling out!” She dragged him out without looking back.

Liu Xun was surprised too, though the sight of Li Qian standing before the mirror with her shoulders tense, afraid to move, made him want to laugh.

“Try some more.”

She tried on several outfits. Most people had to compare pieces to find the one that suited them best, but Li Qian seemed made for clothes. Everything fit her figure perfectly, making her look more striking than the models on billboards.

She was still a young woman in her second year of college. However much she usually denied herself, she liked pretty clothes. Liu Xun could see her pleasure whenever she looked at her transformed reflection: the corners of her mouth would lift, only for her to catch herself, suppress the smile, and put her cool expression back on.

She turned before the mirror, looking from one outfit to another as if trying to decide. Before she could speak, Liu Xun told the associate, “Pack up everything she tried on. Clothes and shoes.”

Li Qian whipped around. “Weren’t we only buying one?”

“Card, please.”

The associate blinked, then raised her voice. “Of course! Just a moment, sir!”

Li Qian seized his sleeve, alarmed. “Are you crazy? How much will all these clothes cost?”

“Work clothes. It’s normal to have several changes.”

“But…”

“No buts.” Liu Xun patted the back of her hand.

“Six pieces of clothing, three pairs of trousers, and one pair of shoes,” the associate said. “After the discount and rounding down, that’s fifteen hundred yuan.”

Li Qian sucked in a breath. Her part-time job at COCO paid eight hundred a month, plus a five-hundred-yuan raise because she attracted customers. Fifteen hundred was more than she made in a month.

“Card.” Liu Xun handed it over before she could react. The terminal beeped and a receipt emerged. The associate quickly folded the clothes into several neat paper bags and handed them to him with a beaming smile. “Here you are, sir. Thank you!”

He took the bags and turned to Li Qian, who stood motionless. “Let’s go.”

Her head buzzed, and her eyes reddened. After a moment’s hesitation, she gritted her teeth and said stubbornly, “I’ll work another half month for you!”

Liu Xun shrugged. “If you like.”