Buying a jacket was an excuse Xu Ye had come up with on the spot.
Trying to take Chen Qingqing out for fun right now wouldn’t have worked — she wasn’t in the mood. Shopping for clothes at least counted as a legitimate reason.
Inside the mall, the first floor held a handful of luxury boutiques, while the second was mostly domestic clothing brands.
Even with over a million yuan sitting in his brokerage account, Xu Ye still hadn’t picked up any habit of throwing money around. Everything he was wearing, added together, came to under five hundred yuan, and the most expensive thing on his body was the pair of shoes on his feet — which Chen Qingqing had bought for him.
The two of them rode the escalator to the second floor and soon turned into a domestic down-jacket brand store.
Bosideng — a household name. [TL: 波司登, China’s largest and best-known domestic down-jacket brand] The prices at this point were still fairly reasonable, but in the years to come the brand’s jackets would only get pricier — a decade on, the average would climb past a thousand yuan, with any random pick running one to two thousand.
Xu Ye walked in and flipped idly through a few tags — some priced at four or five hundred, some at eight or nine hundred, though the tag price usually ran a bit higher than the actual sale price. He had Chen Qingqing help him pick out a jacket.
The store had plenty of styles. Xu Ye wasn’t particular about clothes — as long as it wasn’t skinny jeans, loafers, or anything with garish patterns, he was fine.
Chen Qingqing ignored the sales associate’s pitch, gave the store a quick scan, then pointed at a long black down jacket on the wall. “That one.”
“You have great taste, miss — this is a new arrival that just came in…”
The associate rattled off a whole spiel that both Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing tuned out entirely, both of them well aware that no matter which one they’d picked, the associate would’ve said the same thing.
The long jacket Chen Qingqing had chosen was about as basic as it got — a brand logo at the chest, its one selling point a detachable hood. Xu Ye took off his coat and tried it on right there.
“Perfect fit — you look amazing in this one, sir, you’re a total clothes hanger, let me tell you—”
“How much?”
“There’s a promotion on right now, this one’s only 699.”
Xu Ye asked, “Does this style come in white?”
The associate looked puzzled. “You like white?” Generally speaking, very few guys wore white down jackets.
Xu Ye explained, “Not for me. I want to get one for my girlfriend too.”
“Yes, yes, we do!”
Hearing that Xu Ye wanted a second one, the associate hurried off to dig through the back stockroom.
Once she’d left, Chen Qingqing tilted her head up. “I never said I wanted a jacket.”
“I know. But I want to buy you one.”
“Why?”
Xu Ye smiled. “Same style — I wear the black, you wear the white — and we’re basically wearing matching couple outfits.”
Chen Qingqing finally caught on. She was about to say something when the sound of footsteps behind her made her swallow it back down.
“This is a size M, should fit your girlfriend just right.”
The associate handed the white jacket to Chen Qingqing. She shot Xu Ye a glare but, in the end, obediently went to the fitting room to change.
When she came out, she walked over to the mirror to look herself over — and Xu Ye squeezed in beside her.
The two people in the mirror made a remarkably matched pair. Chen Qingqing quickly tried to push Xu Ye away, but with her frail little arms she was no match for him. Xu Ye caught her hand and stood in front of the mirror grinning like an idiot. “Let’s just wear them out — you help me bag up my old clothes.”
“No problem.”
“Cash or scan to pay?”
“Scan.”
“Thank you, come again, sir~”
Out of the clothing store, Chen Qingqing walked beside Xu Ye, muttering under her breath. “You never check with me first — you’re too much.”
“This counts as too much?”
“Yes!”
Xu Ye grinned. “If your dad hadn’t shown up, I’ve got way more ‘too much’ where that came from.”
A flush crept across Chen Qingqing’s cheeks. She stopped and raised a foot to stomp on him. Quick on his feet, Xu Ye stepped back half a pace. Undeterred, she went for his other foot — and he backed that one off half a pace too.
“You’re not allowed to dodge!” she warned, red-faced, in a commanding tone.
Xu Ye immediately threw up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I won’t dodge, I won’t dodge.”
While he was talking, Chen Qingqing seized the moment to stomp on him — but unlike last time, she’d gotten the force right, and with just ordinary flats on, it didn’t hurt him at all.
Xu Ye, however, deliberately put on a great show of pain, yowling loudly.
“Quit faking, I didn’t even use any force.”
“Heh heh. So what are we doing now?”
“Back to the dorm.”
“But I have to head back at noon.”
“Then I’ll go back to the dorm too.”
“I’ll come with you — it’s not like I haven’t been up there before.”
“The dorm auntie’s on duty today.”
“If I get caught, I’ll just say you snuck me up.”
“You’re shameless~”
“I am shameless. But can you please not walk so fast.”
“…”
“Your shoelace is untied.”
Chen Qingqing assumed Xu Ye was tricking her, so she didn’t look down — until Xu Ye caught up, crouched in front of her, and started tying her shoelace, and only then did she realize he wasn’t lying this time.
On a Sunday, the mall was full of people coming and going. Many who saw the scene cast envious looks their way. A young married couple passing by caught sight of Xu Ye crouched on the ground tying Chen Qingqing’s shoelace, and the wife balled up a fist, gave her husband a punch, and said, thick with jealousy, “Look at that!“
The husband wore a pained expression. “Can you please stop — our kid’s already in primary school.”
Listening to the couple’s exchange, Chen Qingqing’s heart went fluttering all over again.
Out of the mall, Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing walked back to the hotel first. Xu Ye gathered up his things, checked out, and headed back to school with her.
The dorm auntie actually wasn’t there. When Xu Ye snuck upstairs after Chen Qingqing to the dorm, Jiang Yu and the others were in the middle of singing Sheng Sheng Man together.
Seeing Xu Ye arrive, Zhang Ruowei said quickly, “Xu Ye, perfect timing — what instrument do you think we should add to this song?”
Xu Ye started coaching them.
The four of them all had good vocal instruments, and each had an instrument she was good at — Chen Qingqing played guitar, Shen Xinyi played pipa, Jiang Yu played violin, and Zhang Ruowei, besides piano, could also play the xiao. [TL: 箫, a vertical end-blown Chinese bamboo flute with a mellow, breathy tone]
Xu Ye offered a few suggestions, sang along a few times, and after the last run-through, all four of them felt settled.
Xu Ye ate lunch with them in the cafeteria at noon.
On the way over, Chen Qingqing had still been saying “the second I get back to the dorm I’m taking this jacket off, I am not wearing matching outfits with you” — yet all the way through lunch, she was still wearing the same-style down jacket as Xu Ye.
“Master, see you next week~”
“See you next week.”
After lunch, Xu Ye had to head back to school.
The three roommates went back to the dorm first, and Chen Qingqing walked Xu Ye toward the school gate…
On the way, Xu Ye asked, “Qingqing, let me ask you something.”
“Go ahead.”
“Do you like summer or winter?”
“Used to not like either.”
“And now?”
“Now I like both.”
“What about me?”
“Also li—”
She caught herself before the word “like” was fully out, jerked her head to the other side, and mumbled, “Almost fell for your trick again.”
Xu Ye: “I definitely heard you say ‘like.'”
Chen Qingqing: “I did not.”
Xu Ye: “Either way, I like you.”
Chen Qingqing: “You already said that.”
Xu Ye: “Every time I see you, I want to say it one more time.”
Thump~
Thump~
Thump~
(End of Chapter 131)