Chapter 38

Commercial street.

A skilled salesperson was enthusiastically promoting their product to Ji Mingfei. Chu Yue, holding June, sat in the nearby rest area, her fingers flying across the phone screen, occasionally flashing a smile at Ji Mingfei in response.

Why are you following her? Following her is one thing, but why are you liking her posts? It's so obvious, even I can tell something's wrong.

After sending the message, Chu Yue opened Ji Mingfei's profile on social media again and found that all of her previous posts were gone, except for a photo of her marriage certificate.

"How about this one?" Ji Mingfei asked Chu Yue, who was sitting on the sofa, pointing to the navy blue suit in the sales clerk's hand.

"Oh, it's pretty good. Have you tried it on? If you like it, just pack it up!" Chu Yue's tone was too perfunctory, and she didn't even look at the style of the clothes carefully.

Ji Mingfei grinned and turned to the sales clerk, saying, "I'll try this one first."

"Please wait a moment, I'll get you a larger size."

Ji Mingfei sighed inwardly, "A size too big... I used to always wear one size fits all."

The sales staff at this store were so attentive, they practically wanted to follow Ji Mingfei into the fitting room and help her get dressed. Ji Mingfei politely declined several times before finally managing to put on her clothes herself.

Ji Mingfei came out of the fitting room and saw that Chu Yue was still playing on her phone. She walked over to her in ill-fitting high heels.

Hearing the rhythmic tapping sound stop in front of her, Chu Yue put down her phone and looked up, slowly moving her gaze from the familiar calf down to Ji Mingfei's face.

Chu Yue shook her head seriously, "It's not pretty." She got up and walked past Ji Mingfei, leading the sales clerk through the dazzling array of goods on the shelves. Every time Chu Yue pointed to something, the sales clerk would quickly take it down and carry it, and soon they would return home fully loaded.

"Go try it!"

The sales clerk, carrying overly heavy clothes in both hands, swayed slightly.

"..."

For the next hour, Chu Yue drank the store's cheap instant coffee while holding June and admiring Ji Mingfei's "Miracle Nikki" style outfit transformation.

Generally speaking, there aren't many colors to choose from for work uniforms. In the workplace, it's mostly dark colors, and choosing a bluish shade is considered a bold move.

The only uniform Chu Yue picked out for Ji Mingfei was pure black; the rest were like a rainbow of colors, covered in every shade of red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple. One of them was white; you'd think she was going to participate in an international election.

"You don't really want me to go to the company dressed like this, do you...?" Ji Mingfei tugged at his fuchsia suit, his entire face twitching.

"Is there a problem? I go to the company like this every day." Chu Yue even specifically looked up the company's rules and regulations regarding clothing; it's formal attire, and there are no color requirements.

"No way! I'll be stared at like this." Ji Mingfei turned around and went back to the fitting room to change, putting on the only dark-colored formal suit. The suit was perfect in every way, except for the "large lace flowers" on the shoulders, which looked like she was going to a masquerade ball. Ji Mingfei tried to take them off for a long time but couldn't.

"How much is this dress?" Ji Mingfei asked the sales clerk casually as he stood in front of the mirror.

"You have excellent taste. This dress is one of our newly released styles, priced at 18,800. Aren't you considering any other clothes? Your alpha can help you take a look."

"..."

Did I just hallucinate?

Chu Yue walked over carrying two dark-colored formal suits she had just picked out and said, "If you don't like bright colors, try these two on. You need to have something to change into."

Ji Mingfei blinked frantically and deliberately mouthed to the saleswoman, "Let's go," behind her back.

"Okay, I'll help you." Chu Yue smiled, put her arm around Ji Mingfei's waist, and they went into the fitting room together.

Ji Mingfei stared at her with wide eyes until the fitting room door closed, then she said in a low voice, "I said, let's go to another store."

"Why change? This one you're wearing looks great. Come on, try this one on! They may look similar, but that's how formal wear is. If you don't differentiate them by color, you'll look the same every day."

Ji Mingfei knew without even trying it on that dress wouldn't be cheap. How much does she earn in a month? Who gave her the courage to go to a store with prices like that to buy clothes?

"No need to try it on, it's too expensive." Ji Mingfei had just unbuttoned one button when he pushed Chu Yue towards the door. "I need to change my clothes, you should go out now."

While gripping the doorknob, Chu Yue also had to protect Liu Yue in her arms, saying, "I'll buy it for you, it won't cost much."

"I don't want to spend your money, I can buy it myself. Don't worry about it!"

"Are you being so calculating with me again? Before, when I bought things for June, you kept insisting on paying me back. Now you won't even accept my gifts. Are we still family?"

“It’s perfectly reasonable for you to buy things for the kids, but I don’t need to. I don’t want people to think that my standard of living has suddenly improved after I got married. The workplace is a battlefield, full of constant conflict. It wouldn’t be worth it to let something like this affect my work.”

"It's not that exaggerated..."

Before Chu Yue could finish speaking, Ji Mingfei pushed the mother and daughter out together. The sales clerk waiting outside and Chu Yue, who had been kicked out, exchanged an awkward smile.

After leaving the store, Ji Mingfei suggested that they first buy a gift for Chu Yue's parents, since they didn't know the couple's preferences and Chu Yue's suggestion was indispensable.

“At their age, life is already about low material desires. I don’t know what they like. Maybe I should make a phone call and ask.”

Chu Yue found a bench to sit down, dialed her mother's number, and it rang for a long time before being answered.

"Mom, what do you and Dad like? I'll buy it for you when I get home tonight."

"..." Ji Mingfei, who was standing to the side, was stunned by the family's straightforward way of communicating.

Chu's mother rejected Chu Yue's sporadic filial piety, saying, "I don't want anything. Are you coming home for dinner tonight? What are you going to eat? I'll prepare it for you."

"What do you want to eat tonight?" Chu Yue turned around and asked Ji Mingfei directly.

"..."

It seems you're just a messenger.

"Is Xiao Ji coming back too?" Mrs. Chu's ears always seem to work exceptionally well at times like this. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? The house is a mess and hasn't been cleaned yet. I'll have your dad go to the supermarket to buy some good food later. Where are you now? When are you coming back?"

"We're shopping! We need to get back before dinner. If you have any gifts for us, hurry up and prepare them. We'll go buy a few sacks first, so we don't run out of things to take with us tonight."

"You've been spouting nonsense all day! Alright, you guys have fun, go home early."

Chu Yue hung up the phone and said to Ji Mingfei, "My mom said you don't need to buy anything. If you think it looks bad to go empty-handed, just buy a fruit basket when you pass by a store later."

"Do your family members always ask directly when they give you gifts? I thought you had to ask indirectly first..." This was very different from Ji Mingfei's understanding.

"How can I know what she likes if I don't ask? If I buy something and she doesn't want it, I have to return it. If I can't return it, I have to deal with it myself. Asking directly is the most efficient way."

Although Ji Mingfei couldn't do what Chu Yue did, what she said seemed to make a lot of sense.

"And you? What do you want? Jewelry, a car, a house... Oh right, we haven't bought a ring yet! Do you prefer gold or diamond? Let's go to the jewelry store and take a look."

Ji Mingfei was speechless. This wasn't a gift; it was practically a division of assets. Just how much money did this woman have? She was so extravagant!

The jewelry city is a magnificent place. Upon entering, the first thing that catches the eye is a rockery made of gold ingots. Further inside, there are various super-large decorations with "diamond" as their theme, which glitter under the dazzling lights.

"Welcome! What would you two like to see?" The well-trained sales clerks observed the customers in front of them discreetly, as they had children with them and it was not appropriate to make assumptions about their needs.

Chu Yue, holding June in her arms, sat on a chair in front of the counter and said, "Wedding ring."

Ji Mingfei looked at the jewelry displayed in the glass cabinet; it was truly dazzling.

"Do you two prefer diamonds or platinum?"

Chu Yue looked up at Ji Mingfei, clearly wanting her to make the decision.

“…I’m fine with anything.” Ji Mingfei had never thought about choosing a ring before, and was extremely nervous when suddenly asked for her opinion.

Chu Yue knew she wouldn't get any results from asking. She noticed that Ji Mingfei seemed to have some difficulty making choices when it came to buying things. He would either stammer and back down or hesitate and be unable to make up his mind.

"Show us any nice styles you have," Chu Yue said bluntly to the shop assistant.

While the sales assistant was choosing a ring, Chu Yue propped her head up and explained to Ji Mingfei, "Ordinary diamonds don't hold their value unless they reach a certain carat size. Platinum and gold are both rare metals, but platinum has lower liquidity and is not as good as gold in terms of value retention and liquidity."

Ji Mingfei listened attentively. She had just thought the woman was wasteful, but wasn't she actually quite shrewd? She had even thought about how much money she would recover if she needed to sell her assets in the future.

Ji Mingfei remembered a saying: "Antiques in prosperous times, gold in chaotic times." Although the country is peaceful and prosperous now, there's no guarantee that Chu Yue's spending habits won't wipe out their fortune one day. It's better to keep some valuable jewelry for emergencies.

"Then let's buy gold."

The shop assistant was holding a black velvet jewelry box containing five or six pairs of rings. When she heard that Ji Mingfei wanted a gold ring, her expression turned somewhat unpleasant.

"A gold ring might make a young person look a bit mature. Would you two like to try it on first? You can only tell if you like a ring by wearing it."

Ji Mingfei was still thinking about gold as a store of value when she turned to Chu Yue and said, "Why don't we just buy gold bars? I remember that jewelry has a processing fee, which is slightly higher than the normal gold price."

Shop assistant: "..."

Are you two here to make fun of me?

"I also like gold bars... How are you going to wear a gold bar ring?" Chu Yue almost got sidetracked by her.

"Then keep it simple, preferably a uniform circle without any intricate patterns. I need to wear June, and it's inconvenient to have anything cumbersome on my hands," Ji Mingfei continued to suggest.

Chu Yue nodded in agreement. Seeing that the couple had made up their minds, the shop assistant went to find three more simple gold wedding rings.

Chu Yue picked up a ring and put it on her ring finger. "I thought it would make me look old! It looks alright."

“Mine is a little small…” Ji Mingfei’s ring could only be worn up to her knuckles.

"Try this one on me." Chu Yue took off her ring and put it on Ji Mingfei's hand. "Hmm... it's still a little small."

"If the size is not right, we can customize it."

Chu Yue put all three rings on her fingers and asked Ji Mingfei, "Which one do you like?"

Ji Mingfei looked at it from left to right several times and said, "The one in the middle."

Chu Yue turned to the shop assistant and asked, "How long does it take to customize something?"

About a week.

"Then come back next week to pick it up."

The shop assistant measured their fingers. After paying, Chu Yue put the receipt in her pocket to avoid Ji Mingfei having to tell her to split the bill again later.