After eating, Shen Mochen urged Xia Qingrou to go pay the bill. Xia Qingrou gave Shen Mochen a resentful look but still went unwillingly.
Leaving the restaurant, the afternoon sun was perfect, coinciding with the end of Late Spring and the beginning of Early Sumr, the most comfortable season of the year.
A warm breeze blew by, occasionally carrying a few tufts of willow cotton.
"Let's go buy you a set of clothes," Xia Qingrou said, squinting her eyes and stretching her body.
"Just pick any set," Shen Mochen said nonchalantly.
"How can I just pick any set!" Xia Qingrou protested and hailed a taxi, "Driver, to Qingyao Square, thank you."
Shen Mochen was dragged along, grumbling, "Qingyao Square is quite far, there are many clothing stores nearby."
Xia Qingrou replied casually, "Is that so? I'm not familiar with your Yu Huai City, I just know Qingyao Square is quite famous."
"You've never been to the city center? So, do you usually go straight back to the Capital for holidays?"
"That's way too far. From here to my house is a long journey; three or four days would be gone just traveling back and forth. When I have holidays, I usually follow others. Sotis it's with Yuncui, sotis with Yanyan or Xuexue. They take wherever they want to play, and I just tag along without a care."
Shen Mochen was slightly taken aback, her life seed like that of soone who moves from one family's al to another.
Suddenly, he rembered that his world as a child was very small, consisting only of the slums and so remote streets around. Then one day, he and Yin Caiyu had an adventure, dodging fares and taking the subway all the way to the city center.
Tall buildings filled his sight, cars on the streets flowing like an endless stream.
They seed like ants lost in an imnse forest of steel, craning their necks to look up at the unreachable heights.
At that ti, he realized that, even though he was a resident of Yu Huai City, he had never truly known the city. He felt lonely and afraid.
He held tightly onto Yin Caiyu and Yin Huailian's hands, the fear of this unknown world gripping him.
"Do you not feel lonely being alone in Yu Huai?" Shen Mochen asked subconsciously.
Xia Qingrou paused, looking at him with a weird expression, "Why are you asking this?"
It seed she didn't really want to answer.
So Shen Mochen didn't ask any further. He had heard from Cai Yuncui that Xia Qingrou was the person who took the least amount of breaks from the team; she always volunteered to stay behind.
At Qingyao Square, Xia Qingrou hooked her arm through Shen Mochen's and was about to start selecting clothes for him, but Shen Mochen, rembering the fear of being dominated by eighteen clothing stores that morning, quickly said, "Let's make this quick, it doesn't matter what I wear anyway."
"Cut it out, such vanity. I wouldn't even dare say that!"
Xia Qingrou scoffed and flipped her hair a bit, not really planning to visit many stores.
Of course, the main reason was that she was not picking clothes for herself, so anything decent would do. Besides, in her eyes, Shen Mochen was indeed nothing more than a clothes rack.
The two entered the clothing store area; Shen Mochen sat on a seat on the periphery, "Just go and look, call over when you find sothing appropriate."
"Why are you so lazy!" Xia Qingrou glared at him and pulled Shen Mochen to his feet.
"It's not laziness, it just seems unnecessary," Shen Mochen remained unmoved.
Xia Qingrou, aside from her superpower, was just a normal girl and naturally couldn't move him; she finally gave up, huffing in frustration.
Shen Mochen sat on the bench, surveying the surroundings. He had just been here last month, with Yin Caiyu. Now revisiting the place, he suddenly rembered the lines, "Last year this day at this gate, faces and peach blossoms reflected each other's red; faces unknown where they've gone, peach blossoms still smile at the spring breeze."
Thinking of her, going to her town. Her place remains, but she is gone.
Shen Mochen got up and bought a bottle of drink from a nearby vending machine, gulping it down in one go.
"Co here, I've picked out clothes for you." A text ssage from Xia Qingrou popped up on his phone, along with the na of the store.
Shen Mochen glanced over, recalling the last ti he visited when the store clerk had profusely praised him and his companion as a perfect match, as if made by heaven.
Less than a month had passed, and the person by his side had already changed, leaving him to wonder what the other party might be thinking.
A trace of an inexplicable bitter smile curled up on the corner of Shen Mochen's mouth, but it was fleeting.
"Why did you take so long to co!" Xia Qingrou stamped her foot when she saw Shen Mochen arriving later than expected, her tone slightly reproachful, and pointed at a white evening gown with a shirt, "Go, try it on and see."
Shen Mochen glanced at several startled clerks, said nothing, and headed straight into the changing room.
"I rember his last visit; it wasn't with this girl, right?"
"Yeah, the girl last ti had a flatter chest."
"He's handso alright, but such a player!"
"A player he may be, but how I wish I could sleep with him!"
"Get real, look at the beauties he's with, he probably doesn't even give a second glance to an average person."
"That's why I like players, gives a chance to sleep with him!"
"You're badass, just don't catch a disease..."
A pair of clerks, with nothing better to do, chatted quietly in the distance.
Dressed in the evening gown, Shen Mochen stepped out to look in the mirror, only then realizing that this was the style that Yin Caiyu had liked.
An identical set was hanging in the closet at ho.
"Not bad at all, I knew it would suit you!"
Xia Qingrou ca over, smugly adjusting Shen Mochen's collar and stuffing the cross inside his shirt, feeling slightly more comfortable.
"Why would I need a suit now?" Shen Mochen suddenly murmured.
Xia Qingrou was taken aback. There was no one else around, but it seed Shen Mochen wasn't talking to her; it was more like he was talking to himself, or perhaps to soone who wasn't there.
"You don't like it? But it's so expensive." Xia Qingrou whined, "Spending money and not even pleasing you..."
Wearing the white evening gown, Shen Mochen left the fashion store with Xia Qingrou constantly glancing at him. The more she looked, the more she thought he was incredibly handso and probably great in bed... wondering which woman would get him in the future!
"Oh, I totally forgot!"
Halfway through, Xia Qingrou looked down at the butterfly tattoo on her shoulder blade and hurried into a nearby restroom. When she ca out, the butterfly was gone, replaced by a red, rubbed-raw patch of skin.
"Your tattoo is fake!" Shen Mochen was sowhat surprised.
"It's a tattoo sticker, you're so clueless!" Xia Qingrou rolled her eyes at Shen Mochen and then couldn't help but marvel, "If she saw this on , she'd certainly tattle, ugh, that gossip..."
Shen Mochen appeared puzzled, then heard Xia Qingrou say, "Don't tell anyone that my tattoo is fake, okay?"
Shen Mochen raised his eyebrows: "Like who?"
"Just Yanyan and them, don't tell anyone. They all think it's real!"
"What does it matter if you have a tattoo or not? There's no need to lie, right?"
"Just don't worry about it, keep it a secret for ... And this dress is a gift from , it cost quite a bit!" Xia Qingrou poked Shen Mochen's waist, "When you see that stinky woman tonight, you better make a good impression."
"Do you have a bad relationship with your older sister?" Shen Mochen looked at her curiously.
"Not at all!" Xia Qingrou's face instantly showed disgust, grinding her teeth in anger, "She's the one I hate the most. Always using her smarts to bully since we were young, always liking to snitch, and always trying to grab things from ! Tonight, we absolutely must knock down her arrogant attitude!"
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