On the day of the holiday, Lin Jianqing originally didn’t plan on going out.
He had even arranged his day to be very simple: sleep in until naturally waking up in the morning, eat something casual at noon, visit his mother at the hospital in the afternoon, and come back in the evening to finish his homework.
This plan sounded unexciting, even a bit boring, but to Lin Jianqing, boredom was the rarest thing. After all, his life recently had been exciting enough — exciting to the point of shortening his lifespan.
But around eight in the morning, just as Lin Jianqing opened his eyes and hadn’t fully crawled out of his drowsiness, his phone vibrated.
He groggily reached for it, and after seeing the message on the screen, he remained silent for a long time.
It was from Shen Huaixue.
“Come down at ten. Change into the clothes I’m sending you. Do your own makeup.”
Lin Jianqing stared at this sentence, feeling like his brain was being forcibly booted up.
Looking at the photo on his phone, and having to do his own makeup.
‘She’s really inhuman,’ Lin Jianqing grumbled internally. But he had already expected last night before bed that Shen Huaixue would call him out.
He sat on the bed for a long time to recover, then finally replied with one line.
“It’s a holiday today.”
Shen Huaixue replied quickly.
“I know.”
Lin Jianqing looked at those three words, slowly inhaled, and slowly exhaled.
“Since you know, then why are you still calling me out?”
“Precisely because it’s a holiday.”
“So?”
“So as your financial backer, I’m calling you out to keep me company. Do you have any reason to refuse?”
Lin Jianqing: “…”
Lin Jianqing had nothing to say — after all, Shen Huaixue held the truth in her hands.
But… did this align with the basic survival rights and interests of a modern college student?
Lin Jianqing felt it didn’t, so he carefully asked, “Can I not go? I originally wanted to go to the hospital today, then I have to finish my homework, and I already had enough trouble yesterday because of that form of yours. I really don’t feel like being arranged by you again today.”
This time, Shen Huaixue replied after a few seconds.
“You can’t.”
Lin Jianqing stared at the screen, his expression gradually going numb.
He placed his phone facedown on the bed, sat there for a while, and finally resigned himself to getting out of bed to wash up.
The dorm was empty, which was the only thing to be thankful for today, because yesterday he heard them mention something about a superpower competition in Linzhou City today.
His roommate had left early. There was no one in the dorm, so he didn’t have to worry about dragging the suitcase full of women’s clothing out from under the bed right under his roommate’s nose.
When he unzipped the suitcase, Lin Jianqing looked at the clothes inside, his feelings still complicated.
It wasn’t the first time he had worn them, but every time he saw them quietly lying in his suitcase, he still felt an absurd sense of dread.
Lin Jianqing took out the clothes, handling them very carefully.
It wasn’t that he had any sentimental attachment to this outfit; it was mainly that it looked very expensive — so expensive that he worried even a little too much force would cost him his mental stability for the next two weeks.
After all, if Shen Huaixue found out he’d damaged the clothes, she would definitely use it as an excuse to torment his spirit.
Changing clothes, fixing his hair, then sitting in front of the mirror to do makeup.
What was somewhat frightening was that he still remembered these steps now.
How to apply foundation, how to handle the eye corners, not making the lip color too strong, even which areas needed slight contouring — he remembered them all.
Lin Jianqing looked at his reflection in the mirror and suddenly felt life was hard to judge.
How long had it been?
He had evolved from “What is this thing?” to “This step should probably be like this.”
In the mirror, the young man’s features were softened by makeup, his skin looked clean, the originally slightly pale complexion was lightly covered, and his lip color was much more natural.
The women’s clothing itself wasn’t exaggerated, but on him, it magnified his delicate, almost pretty aura.
Lin Jianqing stared at the mirror for a few seconds, then finally looked away.
Can’t look…
If he kept looking, he was afraid he’d get used to it.
No wait, it was still too cute.
Before ten, he went downstairs.
Lin Jianqing kept his head down the whole way, trying to avoid anyone near the dorm building.
Luckily, the campus wasn’t that busy on a holiday morning; most people were still in the half-dead stage in bed, and no one was free enough to stare at him deliberately.
A black business car was parked outside the school gate.
Shen Huaixue leaned against the car, today not wearing that sharp professional attire from the company, but a light-colored long coat paired with a black skirt. Her long hair fell loose behind her shoulders, and she looked excessively refined.
As soon as Lin Jianqing approached, her gaze fell on him.
From his face, to his clothes, to his shoes.
She looked slowly, as if admiring.
Lin Jianqing felt uncomfortable under her gaze and couldn’t help frowning. “Have you looked enough?”
Shen Huaixue seemed to snap back to reality, and the corner of her lips lifted slightly.
“Not yet, but get in the car first. The makeup today is good — at least the eye corner isn’t crooked, and the lip color isn’t like last time… if you could make your voice a little more feminine, I might actually consider marrying you.”
Lin Jianqing’s face stiffened.
“Get lost!”
Shen Huaixue smiled and opened the car door for him.
“So I’m praising you for improving quickly. You really do have a feminine charm. If I train you a bit, you might actually fall into feminization.”
Lin Jianqing glanced at her and decided to shut up.
The car stopped at the city center mall.
The mall was crowded on the weekend. Bright light streamed through the glass doors, and the air was mixed with the scent of perfume, coffee, and desserts.
As soon as Lin Jianqing got out of the car and saw this familiar yet dangerous scene, a bad feeling instantly rose in his heart.
More clothes again?
Arriving at the mall, Lin Jianqing already sensed something was off. Here, nothing good could possibly happen.
Walking beside Shen Huaixue, he couldn’t help asking, “Are you buying clothes again today?”
“Mm.”
“For me?”
Shen Huaixue stopped walking, looked at him, and a smile slowly surfaced.
“Lin Jianqing, are you already starting to project yourself?”
Lin Jianqing immediately realized he had said the wrong thing. He expressionlessly looked away.
“No… no.”
Shen Huaixue chuckled softly. After entering a women’s clothing store, she casually picked up a dark-colored skirt and held it up in front of herself.
“Don’t worry, today I’m buying for myself. If you really want me to pick something for you, I don’t mind taking a look on the side.”
“Not at all.”
“Rejecting so quickly?”
Lin Jianqing didn’t want to respond.
He stood to the side, watching Shen Huaixue bring the dress to the mirror, then turn to him and ask, “How’s this one?”
Lin Jianqing took a look.
To be honest, he really didn’t have any knowledge about women’s clothing.
He used to not even be able to distinguish the styles of girls’ skirts.
Now asking him to give Shen Huaixue advice was a bit of a stretch. But Shen Huaixue was looking at him with an expression that clearly said “you better answer seriously.”
Otherwise… you know the drill, hmph. Shen Huaixue’s face clearly carried a threatening implication.