Chapter 11

***

“There’s no one else here. You’ve seen me in my underwear while in university, so you don’t count.” Xiaoyue handed Yu Dong an apple.

Yu Dong looked at the huge apple being offered and her jaw already felt tired just from seeing it. So she shook her head and sat next to Xiaoyue on the sofa and said: “Hey, when picking a new project, could you maybe find a better one? This TV series was so melodramatic I almost gagged a couple of times while I was dubbing!”

“Ha, that’s why I didn’t dub it myself!” Xiang Xiaoyue gloated.

“You’re going to have to pay me more if the next TV show is as awful as this one.” Yu Dong said, only half-joking.

“Get lost!” Just hearing the title made her want to throw up.

Xiang Xioayue laughed, and after finishing her apple said: “Nevermind. It’s still pretty early, let’s go clothes shopping.”

Yu Dong turned towards a clock, and seeing that it was only 3:00 p.m., nodded happily.

Driving her red BMW, Xiaoyue passed by several shopping malls and Yu Dong couldn’t help but ask: “Miss Xiaoyue, where exactly do you plan on going?”

“I’m taking you to a private boutique.” Xiaoyue said, “Nowadays clothes sold in malls use low quality fabrics, wear it once and it’ll fall apart.”

“OK, I’ll listen to you.” Xiang Xioayue’s taste had always been very reliable, so Yu Dong was rest assured.

“When we get there, find an extra dress to wear for Xinxin’s engagement party next month.”

“Yeah? Why do you look so surprised? Did she not invite you?” Xiang Xiaoyue wondered.

Invite? Yu Dong did recall being invited, but at that time she was so inconsolable from her breakup with Fang Hua. She ended up not attending. Then, 2 years later she heard that Ren Xinxin committed suicide.

Yu Dong hasn’t heard that name in over 7 or 8 years.

“What’s up with that face? I’m asked you something!”

Yu Dong came back to herself and smiled: “Nothing, I was just thinking about the 3 of us. I had the longest lasting relationship, but it ended when I graduated. You had countless boyfriends and is now only left with ex-boyfriends. Xinxin never fell in love during our time in university, but now she’s the first to be married.”

“Then how many boyfriends have you had, do you think?”

“Wait, let me count.” Xiang Xiaoyue pondered for a while and found that she couldn’t remember the exact number.

“Countless.” Yu Dong sneered.

“But how can Xinxin be someone who had never fell in love?” Xiang Xiaoyue said, “She and her fiancee are childhood sweethearts!”

“What? Then in the 4 years of university, why haven’t I seen Xinxin’s fiancee once?” Yu Dong was confused.

“I guess she didn’t want to talk about such things while we were in school. Anyway, it’s useless to think about such things now that we’ve graduated. We’ll just have to see when we go to the engagement party next month.” Xiang Xiaoyue looked ahead and slowed down when she saw the boutique.

“The designer is quite well-known in China, and occasionally works for a few third-tier stars.” Xiang Xioayue brought Yu Dong to a red villa.

Yu Dong admired the surrounding scenery while she walked, the villa had a pretty garden layout.

“What’s the matter?” Yu Dong was puzzled and turned her head, only to find two other people inside. It seems that the boutique already has a few guests, one of them being Yu Dong’s ex-boyfriend Fang Hua.

“Let’s just come back some other time!” Xiaoyue suddenly said.

“Come on, what are you saying? Why should we be the ones to leave?” Yu Dong said indifferently as she strode in.

“Yu Dong?” The first one that noticed Yu Dong wasn’t Fang Hua, but another man. Yu Dong had no idea who he was.

Fang Hua heard Lei Zhen call out and turned his head, seeing Yu Dong. His face immediately turned ugly.

“What’s wrong with your face? You look constipated.” She hasn’t done anything yet he dares to show such a face.

“Haha!”

“Pffft!”

Lei Zhen and Xiang Xiaoyue laughed at the same time.

“I haven’t seen you in a while and you already mastered the ‘mother-in-law scolding’ posture?” Yu Dong praised him.

“Hahaha!!” Xiang Xiaoyue laughed wildly and had to support herself with Yu Dong’s shoulder. Li Zhen stood awkwardly, desperately trying to hold his laughter in.

Yu Dong completely ignored Fang Hua. Instead, she turned towards Xiang Xiaoyue and said:”What have you been eating? So heavy!”

Fang Hua was angry at Yu Dong’s attitude and wanted to say something, but Li Zhen caught him and advised: “Don’t make a scene, Sister Enna is here.”

Fang Hua could only endure, staying silent.

“Are you clothe’s shopping too?” Li Zhen asked the girls with a smile.

“Yes!” Xiang Xiaoyue and the man apparently knew each other. “I heard you were on TV?”

“Yeah, I fortunately managed to get a role!” Li Zheng stayed modest, then turned towards the silent Yu Dong, complimenting her, “I haven’t seen you in a while, you’ve become  beautiful Yu Dong.”

Yu Dong thought hard, but couldn’t remember this person. He was probably just one of the scum man’s friends anyway so Yu Dong didn’t hold back: “Thank you, but I have to warn you, the man next to you is a total scam. You don’t need to buy him gifts, your money would be better spent buying clothes for yourself.”

“What are you talking about? When do I spend other people’s money?” Fang Hua angrily said, “Didn’t I pay you back when we broke up?”

“Oh? I thought the 10,000 yuan was a break up fee?” Yu Dong said without an ounce of embarrassment.

“You…” Whether it was paying Yu Dong back or a break up fee, neither sounded very good.

Lei Zheng could see that Yu Dong was far better at cornering Fang Hua, so he had to pull the person aside, then rush to placate Yu Dong: “Nevermind us, we’ll be sitting on that side, why don’t you two go ahead and look at the clothes?”

“Haha! Look at his stupid look!” Xiang Xiaoyue said gleefully.

At this moment, the shop assistant came up to them and politely asked the 2 girls what kind of clothes they needed.

“Where are all your new designs?” Xiaoyue was familiar with the process.

“Come with me please!” The pretty clerk guided the 2 girls to a showroom on the other side of the room and said, “These mannequins are wearing our new designs, if you want to try them on directly, there are changing rooms over there, no need to ask an assistant.”

“That’s Li Enna, the evening host of the City TV station.” Xiaoyue suddenly said.

“The woman who just left?” Yu Dong nodded and continued, “No wonder. She looked classy.”

“You’re being stupid! Think a little,” said Xiang Xiaoyue. “Fang Hua and that woman work at the same TV station. I heard that Li Enna’s partner was recently arrested for taking drugs. It also looks like the station’s looking for new people.”

“You mean she’s thinking of making Fang Hua her new partner?” Yu Dong said, “But there are people who think Fang Hua’s IQ is so minuscule, he would probably fumble hosting the weather forecast!”

“You’re too venomous!” Xiaoyue couldn’t help but take a second to pity that scum.

“Hurry and try on your clothes!” Yu Dong couldn’t tell her that she had been reborn and couldn’t remember ever seeing Fang Hua on TV with Li Enna.

“That dress looks good on you!”

Yu Dong saw that it was Li Enna who complimented her, so she nodded and politely said, “Thank you, your clothes fit you too!”

Fang Hua looked at Yu Dong with dumbfounded eyes. Could it be that he never actually noticed how pretty Yu Dong was?

Yu Dong simply smiled and said nothing. Next to him Fang Hua also thought she looked nice, but didn’t dare say anything. He was afraid Yu Dong would insult him in front of Sister Enna.

“Dong Dong, do I look better with this, or this rose-patterned one?” Xiang Xiaoyue opened the curtain, holding a skirt against her waist for comparison.

“The rose one!” Yu Dong said.

“It’s not too loud?” Xiang Xiaoyue hesitated a little. The large roses on the skirt were lovely, but she was afraid she would be overshadowed by the pattern.

“No!” Yu Dong said, “Your beauty won’t  be beaten by that skirt.”

“Alright, I’ll try it again!” Yu Dong’s taste in fashion was completely untrustworthy to Xiang Xiaoyue, but recently her aesthetics improved a lot, so she decided to try it.

Two men were wide-eyed and Li Enna couldn’t help but say: “She was right, this makes you look gorgeous!”

Xiang Xiaoyue was very satisfied and rushed towards Yu Dong to say. “I’ll buy this one then!”

The clerk came over after hearing this and asked, “Would you like to wear this now or pack it up?”

“I’ll wear it out!” After talking Xiaoyue asked Yu Dong, “Are you getting that dress?”

Yu Dong nodded and said, “Help me pay for this, just deduct what I owe from my comission fees.”

Xiang Xiaoyue agreed and handed her card directly to the clerk.

“Please ring me up too! Wrap up all the clothes I tried!” Li Enna also handed her card to the clerk and turned to Fang Hua and Lai Zhen to say, “The clothes in this boutique are really nice, thank you for bringing me.”

At the jewelry case, Xiang Xiaoyue whispered to Yu Dong, “Look they’re totally sucking up to her.”

Ever since they got here Yu Dong had done nothing but demean Fang Hua at every opportunity, but when she saw this she said nothing. Instead, she simply smiled and picked up a pair of earrings, trying them on and asking her friend, “Does this look good?”

“Yeah, matches your dress!” Xiang Xiaoyue looked at her for a while before commenting, “A necklace would complete the whole outfit though.”

The clerk came back at this time and passed the 3 girls their bags. Li Enna took her bag and rushed to leave, nodding towards the 2 girls as she left.

They originally planned to go to have dinner together, but when they were halfway to their drive, Xiaoyue was summoned by her mother and could only abandon Yu Dong on the roadside.

Yu Dong oriented herself and realized that she was quite close to the hospital Xia Feng worked in. She thought about the past couple of days, with Xia Feng doing day shifts. Everyday when she went out to work, Xia Feng would just be returning home. When she would wake up in the afternoon, Xia Feng would have already left for the hospital. It’s already been several days since they actually sat down together.

[ Are you busy? ]

Yu Dong waited for a while, but a reply never came. She thought he must be quite busy. Yu Dong looked around and went to a roadside tea shop to order a cup of milk tea and leisurely waited for a reply.

About 20 minutes later, Xia Feng responded.

[ Just finished! ]

[ Do you want to have dinner together? I’m outside your hospital ….]

Yu Dong glanced around and spotted a western restaurant across the street. She then typed:

[ There’s a good western restaurant nearby, we could eat steak! ]

[ Go ahead and eat, there’s too many things going on in the hospital that I’m afraid I’d have to run back halfway through our meal. ]

Yu Dong sipped her milk tea and thought for a bit before replying back:

[ Well, actually, I forgot to bring money! ]

[ Wait for me there! ]

This time, Xia Feng’s reply was instantaneous.

Hospital

Shao Yifan noticed Xia Feng had taken off his white coat and was about to go out. Surprised, he said:”Are you going back?”

“No, Yu Dong’s eating at the restaurant across the street outside and forgot to bring money. I’m going to go down and help her settle the bill.” Xia Feng explained.

“Oh!”

Suddenly a petite nurse knocked on their office door and said, “Dr. Xia, the Director wanted to speak with you!”

“Alright!” Xia Feng promised to come, but suddenly remembered Yu Dong and became conflicted.

“Then I’ll call Yu Dong first!”

“Why call, don’t you just need to hand her some money? I’ll go for you!” Shao Yifan felt like such a loyal friend as he said these words.

Entering the restaurant, Shao Yifan felt that this girl looked more beautiful every time he sees her. Today, she was wearing a bright and refined dress. He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart that Xia Feng was quite lucky to have picked up such a girl to be his wife. Not only was she gentle and filial, but also looked like she had a good temperament.

“Hello, I’m Xia Feng’s colleague and friend, Shao Yifan! We’ve met before?”

Shao Yifan had already seen Yu Dong several times before. After all, Yu Dong had visited mother Xia everyday.

“Xia Feng’s busy. He asked me to come and help you settle the bill instead.” Shao Yifan said.

“Too many patients?”

“No, the Director just asked for him to talk about something.” Shao Yifan said, “He was worried about you, so I volunteered to help him contact you. Have you finished eating? Should we ask for the bill now?”

Yu Dong looked at Shao Yifan and gave him a slightly bitter smile.

“No, just help me pay for the table and drinks!” She handed the waiter 100 yuan.

Shao Yifan blinked and looked at waiter’s hands. Suddenly he was very confused: “You…you have money.”

***

It’s so hard trying to woo a clueless husband