CH 9.1

Chen Ying leads Mi Xi inside the shopping mall and is showing her shoes when the phone rings again. Mi Xi is not at all curious about Chen Ying answering the phone now. 

Chen Ying points to the shoes and tells her, “Look at them yourself. Go try it if you like any.” He looks at the phone: it’s Secretary Lu Ya calling. 

Lu Ya informs him that Yongkai’s Wang Bing has chosen seven o’clock in the western restaurant of Regal Hotel. 

Chen Ying smiles and tells her, “Book a private room at the Caesars Club for me at ten o’clock in the evening, then contact the other party and tell him that seven o’clock is too serious a time—it won’t be easy to talk. I’ll see him at Caesars at ten o’clock in the evening. Give him the private box number, and text me when you’re done booking.” The secretary agrees. 

Chen Ying is satisfied now. Asking the other party to book the time and place first is just so they can book a later and more expensive place than him. This kind of thing can not only overwhelm the other party, but also make the other party feel that he, Chen Ying, is a dissolute son of a noble house, and when he speaks like this, that he has no scruples.

After Chen Ying hangs up the phone, he finds that Mi Xi is still standing there. “What’s the matter, why don’t you look at the shoes?”

“They all look ugly,” Mi Xi whispers. She looked at them seriously earlier, but she really feels they are ugly and weird, so she can’t bear to look at them anymore.

Chen Ying looks down at the shoes on her feet. “What about this pair then?”

“At that time, I had no choice but this one.” Mi Xi feels that her answer is quite reasonable. She really had no choice but to wear it at the time. Now that she has worn it, she doesn’t mind if she continues to wear it.

Chen Ying looks back up at her face. Mi Xi raises her head too, and looks back at him, a serious look on her small face.

“Does that mean that there are too many choices now, and your disgust for them is overwhelming?”

Mi Xi frowns, thinks about what he means, and shakes her head. Uncle is doing it for her own good, and spending money on shoes is also for her, so it’s not good to discredit him too much. “How about… I take a closer look at it.”

“Take a good look,” Chen Ying waves his hand, imitating her tone, and leads Mi Xi to walk around the shoe area. 

Mi Xi frowns more and more, serious and embarrassed. Anyway, they are all equally ugly, so it is even more difficult to choose. The two shopping guides on the side watch her carefully, and Chen Ying folds his arms and looks at her too. Really, that small posture, it’s not that of someone who came to buy shoes but like someone who came to check work.

After waiting for a long time, Mi Xi still can’t make a decision. She doesn’t even do such things as stretching out her finger and saying, ‘How about I try this?’. 

Chen Ying looks at his watch, exhales, and walks over. “You know, that Mr. 2238 said that I am the most suitable person to take care of you, and now I think I know why.” 

Mi Xi blinks her eyes—they haven’t recovered yet from the pain of looking at shoes. 

“It’s because I like to help others make decisions.” After Chen Ying finishes speaking, he reaches out and takes the flat heels he’s been looking at from the shoe rack to the side, hands them to the saleslady, and points to Mi Xi. “Please help her get her size.”

He doesn’t look at the price at all. This kind of customer ah—the saleslady likes them very much. She happily leads Mi Xi to sit down, looks at her feet, and chooses the shoe size for her to try. 

Mi Xi stares at the shoes, then back up at Chen Ying.

“Put them on first,” Chen Ying says. 

After wearing it, Mi Xi stands up and takes two steps.

“Get this pair.” Too easy, and anything else is just a waste of time. Chen Ying quickly points to another pair of running shoes, and then asks the saleslady to bring a pair of slippers worn at home. The saleslady quickly brings them all together. 

Under Chen Ying’s stare, Mi Xi tries on the running shoes, too. They fit well and are comfortable to walk on, and so, although they are ugly, Mi Xi has no objections.

“Swipe the card and pack them all. You don’t need to change the pair on her feet.” Chen Ying is very satisfied: this is called shopping—how very refreshing.

Wearing new shoes and carrying two shoe boxes, Mi Xi follows Chen Ying to continue shopping. Walking upstairs to the branded clothing area, Chen Ying doesn’t ask her anymore. He quickly glances at each shop, leads her to the brand of clothes suitable for her age, points his finger, and asks, “Do they look ugly too?”

Mi Xi examines them carefully, then nods seriously. They’re not even as pleasing to the eyes as the one she’s used to wearing now.

“Okay, you don’t need to express your opinion,” Chen Ying says. Mi Xi is quite obedient: she really doesn’t express an opinion. In fact, she doesn’t speak at all.

Chen Ying brings her a piece of clothing—a dress, this time. After thinking about it, he looks at the neckline and then at the hem of the skirt. He tentatively hands it to Mi Xi for a look. 

Mi Xi shakes her head firmly. “Not wearing it.”

“Okay.” Chen Ying puts the clothes back—he knew it would be like that. He beckons to the saleslady and points to Mi Xi. “Please help her choose some clothes that can cover her whole body.” 

The saleslady is taken aback when she hears that, but Mi Xi nods vigorously.

Clothes that can cover the whole body are actually not easy to find. Low necklines are in fashion, and the shops are transitioning to summer clothes for the season. Most of the offerings are thin fabrics with half sleeves. In the end, they only found a set of casual, long-sleeved clothes from this brand. 

While Mi Xi is off to try on the clothes, Chen Ying receives a call from Cheng Jiangyi. 

“Chen Ying, how is my family’s little Mi Xi doing with you?”

“If she belongs to your family, take her away quickly.”

“Alas, Providence cannot be violated. Xiaopei and I are also very sad to hand her over to you.”

“Heart disease is difficult to treat. Please seek medical attention as soon as possible.”

“What are you doing now?” Cheng Jiangyi, it seems, couldn’t hear the sarcasm and provocation at all.

“Helping her buy outfits at the mall.”

“Well, that sounds very sweet.”

“Very sweet indeed,” Chen Ying sneers again. “I have traveled the rivers and lakes for many years in order to hone this ability of mine to deal with difficult choices.”

Cheng Jiangyi laughs—and suddenly remembers something. “By the way, let me share my experience: please pay attention to her underwear and aunt’s towel.”1

Damn it! Chen Ying spits out a few foul words fluently. He completely forgot that such a thing could happen at all. He would have thrown Mi Xi to Cheng Jiangyi, or to Chen Fei, or even to his parents, had he realized this earlier. No, he’d known about it earlier, but he simply hadn’t had time to process things. He’d been temporarily soft-hearted, and he hadn’t been willing to use an easy but rude way of dealing with things.

Cheng Jiangyi doesn’t smile this time, instead he says quickly, “Don’t worry, I will help you, just wait a moment.

Chen Ying thinks he’s not in a hurry, he’s just irritable. Then he hears Cheng Jiangyi shouting in the background: “Xiaopei, Xiaopei, tell Chen Ying what size underwear Mi Xi wears. And how do you buy your aunt’s towels.”

F*ck. F*ck. F*ck. Chen Ying continues to swear in his heart, but he doesn’t swear out loud because Su Xiaopei is already on the other end of the phone. Su Xiaopei still hasn’t recovered from her sickness, and her clogged, nasal voice is very heavy. She talks about Mi Xi’s size, and some details to pay attention to when buying things, such as materials, and says that she taught Mi Xi how to wear them last night.

Taught her how to wear it, then why didn’t you just take care of it all? Didn’t you say you would arrange everything for her? And he, a big man, obviously only needs to provide the house and take care of the meals, right? Chen Ying really wants to ask Su Xiaopei that, but she is a sick patient, and she is seriously telling him about girls’ underwear.

Chen Ying’s head is about to smoke. Damn it, why is he now reduced to discussing women’s products with his friend’s wife on the phone?

While talking, Mi Xi comes out wearing the casual set; she looks a little uncomfortable. Chen Ying feels that he can’t give her a chance to waver at all, so he says to the saleslady, “That’s it,” and hands over the card. 

Then he says to the phone, “Okay, okay, I see, let’s do this first: if I encounter difficulties or have something I don’t understand, I will call you.” Just as he was about to hang up, Cheng Jiangyi snatches the phone and says that Su Xiaopei wants to talk to Mi Xi on the phone.

Chen Ying hands the phone to Mi Xi. “Su Xiaopei, your Aunt Su, wants to talk to you.”

Mi Xi takes the phone curiously, not knowing how to fiddle with it. Chen Ying grabs the phone back and orients her, pushing her hand to her ear. At that point, Mi Xi hears Su Xiaopei’s voice saying, “Hello”. Mi Xi forgets for a moment that her hand has been touched by a man and replies excitedly, “Auntie, it’s me!”

She looks up at Chen Ying, her eyes shining brightly, excitedly pointing to the phone. Chen Ying nods agreeably—he knew, he knew that little box could talk.

Su Xiaopei asks Mi Xi how her day is going, whether she is used to living in Chen Ying’s house, and what she has eaten. When Chen Ying heard Mi Xi happily answer that both breakfast and lunch were steamed dumplings, Chen Ying can’t help but rub his face: it wasn’t that he abused her, he really didn’t!

The saleslady brings over the bank card and shopping receipt. Chen Ying thanks her, touches Mi Xi’s arm, and signals her to follow him. Mi Xi is immersed in the excitement of the first phone call, and once again ignores the physical touch.

Chen Ying leads Mi Xi who is still talking on the phone and finds another brand that looks quite suitable. As usual, he points to Mi Xi and tells the saleslady that he wants clothes for her that could cover the whole body. The saleslady goes off to search, and Chen Ying hears Mi Xi answer, “Uncle is talking half the time.” 

Chen Ying’s face turns green: how can he be a chatterbox? He is obviously a simple and capable man.

Mi Xi goes on to say, “He’s not talking to me; it’s this small box. Yes, it’s this mobile phone.”

Chen Ying’s face is dark, it’s as if she’s complaining about him.

The saleslady comes out with two sets of long-sleeved blouses with trousers and asks if these would work? Chen Ying looks at the neckline and the color matching, shakes his head, and says they will take another look. 

He motions for Mi Xi to follow him, and it’s at this moment that he realizes that she hadn’t taken the bag of the shoes that they bought earlier. He sighs, goes back to the store where they bought the clothes, and takes the bag of shoes. Mi Xi is still talking on the phone, and walks ahead of him. 

Chen Ying follows her with the shoeboxes and takes a look at the situation: Miss Mi Xi is really a big name ah! He, Second Young Master Chen, never helps women carry bags, okay?

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Annnd we got a shopping arc! Huzzah!!

FOOTNOTE:

1Considering that ‘aunt’s visit’ is used euphemistically for menstruation, I presume the ‘aunt’s towel’ here refers to menstrual pads lmao.