Chapter 50. Zhu Mingyue swallowed hard, but didn't stop her...

Zhu Mingyue swallowed hard, but didn't stop him. She watched helplessly as this tall man squeezed in front of the children to buy candied hawthorns.

He bought two, but since he didn't like them, he gave them all to Zhu Mingyue.

The candied hawthorn skewers were sturdy enough; even if Zhu Mingyue loved them, one skewer was enough. He kept the last skewer clutched in his hand.

Afterwards, the two strolled around and bought some nice fabrics. Li Zhengyang wanted his mother to make him two outfits to wear next spring, but Zhu Mingyue wasn't doing that. He was a little embarrassed to say it, but he just wanted to secretly cut out underwear for himself when he got back.

The people here all wear something similar to a calf-nose trouser underneath, and it's so long that even when you put it on, it still gives you the illusion of being naked.

He only had one pair of proper underwear, which he changed and washed so often that it was almost worn out. Although he got used to wearing that kind of underwear for a long time, he would occasionally miss the comforting feeling of being wrapped in short underwear.

Li Zhengyang, unaware of his purpose in buying the fabric, urged him to give it to his mother to make clothes, praising her for making the best clothes in the village.

Zhu Mingyue was speechless. No matter how good the clothes his mother made were, he couldn't possibly ask her to make his underwear, could he?

To shut Li Zhengyang up, he turned around and went to the clothing store next to the fabric store.

It contains both men's and women's clothing, and there are many different styles.

As soon as Zhu Mingyue entered, she took a liking to a neat and fitted dark-colored cloud-patterned brocade robe.

For some reason, seeing this outfit immediately brought Xie Pei's face to mind. Below that were the broad shoulders and narrow waist that he envied, the slender waist that always seemed to contain strength. He felt that no one was more suited to this outfit than Xie Pei.

Buy it, I have to buy it! He immediately had this thought: buy it and let Xie Pei wear it for him to see. Even though he didn't have such a good figure, it would be good to feast his eyes on it!

"Shopkeeper, how much is this dress?"

The shopkeeper was seeing off a customer when he turned around and said with a beaming smile, "This gentleman has a good eye for quality. This is the only one of its kind in our shop. I brought it from the capital two months ago. If you want it, I'll sell it to you for two taels and five hundred coins."

"So expensive?" Before Zhu Mingyue could react, Li Zhengyang exclaimed in surprise, "No matter how beautiful the clothes are, they are still made of fabric. How can they be so expensive?"

The shopkeeper, without any displeasure, chuckled and said, "Not all fabrics are the same. For example, the fabric you're holding is of inferior quality. It might seem decent to us ordinary folks, but you'll definitely see the difference when you compare it to the fabric of this garment. Moreover, the tailoring is different from the other clothes; this one is more refined."

Zhu Mingyue sensed the difference the moment she touched it; it was indeed high-quality fabric. However…

"Shopkeeper, how about one tael and five hundred coins?"

“How can you bargain like that?” the shopkeeper said, both amused and exasperated. “You’re trying to cut my price by an ounce right off the bat! No way!” He waved his hand dismissively.

Zhu Mingyue wasn't good at bargaining. He glanced at Li Zhengyang halfway through and found that the guy was even more confused than him. He was still in shock at how the clothes cost more than two taels of silver. So he braced himself and tried to salvage the situation: "How about one tael for seven hundred coins?" he tried to suggest.

"No, no!" The shopkeeper shook his head again.

Zhu Mingyue genuinely wanted to buy it, but his expected price for the garment was under two taels. It wasn't that he thought Xie Pei didn't deserve to wear something more expensive; he simply felt that if the garment was over two taels, it wouldn't be worth it.

He continued to persuade him, "Shopkeeper, no matter how high the price you set for these clothes, what good will it do if no one wants to buy them?"

The shopkeeper, with his short, thick neck, straightened up and said, "Who says no one wants to buy it? Plenty of people come in and immediately take a liking to this garment." He personally went to the capital to pick out this item, and he heard it was the most popular among the sons of military families in the capital.

“Oh,” Zhu Mingyue raised an eyebrow and asked casually, “Then why hasn’t it been sold yet, even after two months?”

His words were like a knife to the shopkeeper's heart, leaving him in so much pain that he couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.

This garment certainly stands out in his tailor shop. Every time, many men come to inquire about the price. Some are immediately stopped by the price, while others have plenty of money but can't fit into it, or even if they could, it wouldn't look good on them. As a result, it's become difficult to sell, and now it's practically the shop's prized possession.

Finally, someone was willing to buy, but they immediately asked for hundreds or even thousands of coins. Considering that he had spent a lot of money to buy the goods, he really had no way to express his bitterness.

He clutched his chest and stammered for a long time, unable to speak. When he looked up and saw the young boy staring at him expectantly, he felt a pang of pity.

He pondered for a moment and discussed with Zhu Mingyue, "How about two ounces?"

Seeing that he had relented, Zhu Mingyue pressed her advantage: "One tael and eight hundred coins."

The shopkeeper wanted to say no, he could simply stop selling it and display it in the shop to attract customers, but "no..."

Zhu Mingyue glanced around and interrupted him: "One tael is worth nine hundred coins. I also need to buy a cotton robe and other clothes. If you agree, I'll buy them here as well."

“But then again,” the shopkeeper’s smile returned, “selling to someone as fortunate as you, a discount is no problem.” One tael and nine hundred coins wouldn’t yield much profit after deducting costs, but since the other party promised to buy other clothes from his shop, it was acceptable.

He loudly ordered someone to wrap up the dark brocade robe, then his eyes darted around before he began to introduce the cotton robe to Zhu Mingyue.

He was shrewd, always trying to get Zhu Mingyue to buy expensive things, trying to squeeze more money out of her. But Zhu Mingyue didn't fall for his tricks. She didn't care about the style of the cotton robe, since it wouldn't look good no matter how she wore it. As long as it was thick and warm, that was enough.

Seeing this, Li Zhengyang also bought one, costing a little over two hundred coins, which took him several days' wages. His mother was sensitive to the cold, and the cotton robe at home was bought many years ago and was no longer very warm. Buying a new one would make his mother more comfortable in the winter.

After buying the cotton robe, the shopkeeper grabbed Zhu Mingyue's arm, preventing her from leaving, and mysteriously pulled out a long dress made of bright red light gauze.

"How about it?" He had a sly look on his face, and it was obvious that he didn't have any good intentions.

Zhu Mingyue: "..." Not very good.

Li Zhengyang, oblivious to everything else, exclaimed, "Beautiful!"

"This gentleman has a good eye," the innkeeper said, about to launch into another long and boastful speech.

Zhu Mingyue quickly stopped him: "Shopkeeper, we've already bought a cotton-padded coat. There are no women in the family, so I'm sorry I really can't buy this one."

"Hehe!" The shopkeeper's smile was a bit ingratiating this time. Zhu Mingyue had a feeling that he was about to say something outrageous, and she felt a chill run down her spine. Sure enough, the next second he said, "I'll give this to you for free. I only have one small request."

Zhu Mingyue felt her blood rushing to her head and just wanted him to stop begging; he would never agree, even if it meant death.

"This is a new batch of good stuff I recently brought from the Western Regions. It looks nice, but the style is a bit different from what we have here. I figured that young ladies usually don't understand this kind of novel style when they see it for the first time, so they might not want to buy it. I thought I'd have you wear it out. If anyone asks, just say it's a piece from Fuyunji."

Zhu Mingyue gritted her teeth: "Shopkeeper, I'm a man, do you think this is appropriate?"

"It's suitable!" the shopkeeper said hastily. "Why wouldn't it be suitable?" What he didn't say was that when he first saw Zhu Mingyue before she entered, he almost mistook her for a beautiful young lady from some wealthy family. He wondered which family had hidden their daughter so well that he had never seen her before.

It wasn't until the person got closer that he realized something was wrong. Zhu Mingyue was just pretty, and her figure wasn't as muscular as the man next to her, but she wasn't completely androgynous; he could still tell she was a man.

Even so, the shopkeeper couldn't help but have his own ulterior motives. So what if he's a man? As long as he can make the clothes look the way he wants, that's all that matters.

The more resolutely Zhu Mingyue refused, the more unwilling the shopkeeper became to let her go. This time, he swallowed his pride and begged Zhu Mingyue, "I won't let you wear it for free. This dress is very elaborate and costs more than an ounce. If you get a dress for free, you can give it to the girl you marry in the future. How prestigious would that be!"

Zhu Mingyue: "..."

Thank you! The grass on his cheap husband's grave is already three feet high, what kind of young woman would he marry?

Li Zhengyang couldn't help but burst out laughing, which earned him a cold glare.

Zhu Mingyue: "Look how happy he is! Let him wear it! He's not married yet, so he'll probably be overjoyed."

The shopkeeper actually held the clothes up to Li Zhengyang, and his face instantly scrunched up.

He thought for a long time but couldn't bring himself to say anything hurtful, so he could only awkwardly say, "Red really does make you look darker."

This bright red color would be a disaster on a dark-skinned, burly man, but on someone like Zhu Mingyue with flawless skin, it would easily make her look even more beautiful and charming.

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Author's Note: Here's an extra chapter. My dear readers, do you want to see Mingyue wearing a little dress?