Chapter 8 Eight

Chapter Summary: What should be seen, and what shouldn't be seen, all...

That night, feeling guilty, Yao Ye went up to the fifth floor. There were a few spare clothes she had kept in the locker. She grabbed a hoodie, quickly changed, and then carefully folded Li Fengjian's jacket, putting it in a paper bag.

Yao Ye was unusually absent-minded tonight. She sat at the front desk, resting her chin on her hands, staring blankly into space for a long time. It wasn't until two takeout bags were gently placed on the counter that the words "Kazamado" on the bags startled her so much that she almost jumped up.

Her mind went blank, her heart pounded like a drum, and her eyes slowly rose, quickly meeting his gaze as if struck by lightning.

Li Fengjian looked at her, then at her clothes, and after a long while said, "This is what your sister ordered by calling the shop: five cups of plum green tea."

Busy Yao Qin ran out of the classroom, grabbed the takeout, and left. Then she turned back and instructed, "Yao Ye, pay for it. Put it on the art class's tab."

So Yao Ye lowered her head to pay, and even after paying, she kept her head down like an ostrich, as if afraid of making eye contact with Li Fengjian again. Li Fengjian took the money, but refused to leave. He leaned gently against the counter and asked her in a low, helpless voice,

"So, you're angry with me again? What can I do this time to get your forgiveness? Although I really feel wronged, it was indeed you..."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" Yao Ye snapped, her eyes widening in exasperation as she looked up at him, baring her teeth! The area was full of art teachers and parents waiting for their children to finish class; how could she tolerate his nonsense? She, Yao Ye, still had a sense of shame, you know!

She grabbed the paper bag from the side, threw it into his arms, and said with a stern face, "I've given you back your clothes. We're even now. You can leave now!"

"What? This time I don't need to buy anything to win your forgiveness?" Li Fengjian said.

"Please, I didn't actually ask you to buy me a bag last time!"

"But this time, I really want to buy you something."

"What, what does that mean?" Yao Ye asked, confused.

Li Fengjian sighed, "...I'll go with you to buy some clothes, I'll pay for it, consider it compensation...Your wardrobe isn't full of shirts of this quality, is it?" How can I be at ease with that?

Of course, he ultimately couldn't bring himself to say that last sentence.

………………

Because she had a theory class early the next morning, Yao Ye went back to her university dormitory after get off work.

Su Yan was the only one left in the dorm tonight. Seeing Yao Ye enter, she was about to gossip about Su Yan's 'considerate boyfriend'. Yao Ye, however, suddenly had a brilliant idea and preemptively changed the subject.

"By the way, Su Yan, did you wear that Korean-style shirt we bought together for 29.9 yuan with free shipping last time? The quality is terrible! Look at it!"

After saying that, she unzipped her hoodie, revealing a shirt underneath that was missing two buttons.

Seeing this, Su Yan was quickly led over. She hurriedly rummaged through the wardrobe and pulled out her own dress. "I haven't worn this before. Are the buttons sewn on so badly? Let me see... Oh dear, it's really wobbly. It looks like I have to reinforce them all before I can wear it, otherwise it'll be so embarrassing."

"Exactly! I'm so embarrassed today!" Yao Ye thought to herself, then leaned closer and said, "How can I reinforce it? Can you teach me? This shirt is a nice style, and it's really slimming! If I can mend it, I'd like to keep wearing it."

"It's very simple, just sew the button area together with thread. If you don't know how to sew, I can help you," Su Yan said generously.

"Okay, okay." Yao Ye nodded gratefully.

"Let me see the condition of your garment. Is the button that fell off still there?"

"Yes, I put it in my pocket." With that, Yao Ye took a button out of her pants pocket.

But the observant Su Yan said, "Is there only one? Yao Ye, you're missing two buttons here, where's the other one?"

"Oh, really?" The careless Yao Ye touched her chest and looked at herself in the mirror. She was indeed missing two! Back then at Kazamado, in the chaos of war, she only picked up one from the ground and ran away.

Su Yan pointed to her chest and said, "The design of this button is very special. It would definitely not look good if you used other buttons to patch it up. Where did it break? Can you find it again?" As she spoke, she suddenly smiled mischievously, "Oh my, Yao Ye, I didn't know you had such a great figure!"

"Oh, really..." Yao Ye was taken aback and subconsciously looked into the mirror again.

"Yeah, yeah, what style of lingerie are you wearing today? It looks amazing!" Su Yan laughed gossipily. "Could it be that you have a boyfriend now, and you're paying more attention to your appearance? By the way, why don't you tell your roommates about your boyfriend..."

Seeing that Su Yan was about to steer the conversation towards gossip again, Yao Ye nervously swallowed hard. Luckily, Su Yan suddenly received a phone call, and then, beaming with joy, began changing her clothes, speaking into the phone...

"Hmph, I'll give you one last chance! If there's a next time, I will never forgive you! Wait a minute, I'll be leaving soon!"

It turned out to be a call from Su Yan's boyfriend asking her to get back together. As Su Yan hurriedly left for her date, the dormitory returned to quiet, leaving only Yao Ye standing absentmindedly in front of the dressing mirror.

She looked and looked, even unconsciously tilting her chin up, puffing out her chest, and posing in front of the mirror with her hands on her hips. Just as she was admiring herself, a thought popped into her head: "Ah, so this is what Li Fengjian saw today. No wonder he had that expression. Hehe, my figure does seem pretty good, doesn't it? This push-up bra that my sister dragged me to buy to get a coupon is really effective..."

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait...

One second she was smug, the next she was ashamed of her wild thoughts.

Yao Ye, what are you thinking?! You didn't mean to show it to him, it was all an accident, just an accident!

Just as she was taking a deep breath while holding her flushed cheeks, Su Yan's WeChat message came through on her phone: "I might not be back tonight! By the way, if you can find the buttons, I'll mend your shirt."

Yao Ye frowned slightly. Where was that missing button? The answer was obvious.

………………

The next day was Saturday.

Yao Ye arrived at Kazamado early, intending to interrogate him about the whereabouts of the button in a confrontational tone. However, when Li Fengjian, who was making tea, turned around, met her gaze, and silently walked in front of her, staring at her with an intensely focused look, Yao Ye's face instantly turned bright red, her mind went blank, and all the lines and tones she had prepared the night before vanished into thin air.

Scenes from yesterday kept flashing through her mind.

Oh my god, she remembered! This man had actually told her, "If you're going to watch, you should go somewhere where no one's around!" What did he mean? Did he want to watch it a second time?

As she was lost in her own thoughts, Li Fengjian suddenly spoke first.

He raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "I see."

"What???" Yao Ye exclaimed in shock, instinctively clutching her chest and stammering, "What...what did you see?"

Yao Ye's excitement made Li Fengjian excited as well. His eyes widened. "I saw your designer necklace! Isn't that what you wanted me to see yesterday? I looked at it very carefully just now!"

Oh... so that's what he meant... Yao Ye breathed a sigh of relief.

Today she wore a conventional round-neck top, and her exquisite designer necklace was still subtly visible between her collarbones. She frowned and scoffed, "...Hmph, you actually dare to bring up yesterday. What you should have seen, you didn't see; what you shouldn't have seen..."

"I saw it all."

"Shut up!!!"

"You started this conversation yourself, didn't you!"

“Okay, okay…” Yao Ye took a deep breath, remembering the purpose of coming to Kazamado, and asked him, “What else did you see?”

Li Fengjian was taken aback. Although he said, "Actually, I didn't see it very clearly. After all, it happened so suddenly that I wasn't prepared at all. I only saw the general outline..." his face revealed a look of deep thought.

Yao Ye immediately blushed and corrected herself, "What I meant was! Did you see the button I dropped here!"

"Buttons?"

“Yes, buttons. Two buttons were torn off my shirt, but I only picked one up yesterday.” Yao Ye looked at the spotless floor again and again. “So, what about the other one? Did you find it?”

“No,” Li Fengjian blurted out. “They broke apart so quickly that I didn’t even notice what they looked like.”

Yao Ye's face burned even hotter. This topic was just too suffocating. She simply crouched down and looked through the gap in the bar counter, muttering to herself, "Where could it have fallen..."

Hearing Li Fengjian say again, "With clothes of this quality, do you really intend to sew the buttons back on and keep wearing them?"

“Of course!” Yao Ye replied without hesitation. “This shirt is cheap, but it’s very slimming. You can look three pounds lighter without even having to lose weight. My roommate said he could sew it up for me, so why waste the time? It would be a problem if only one button was missing.”

Li Fengjian was silent for a moment before saying calmly, "Didn't I say I'd buy you new clothes as compensation?"

Yao Ye paused for a moment, then straightened up. "I already said yesterday: forget it, it's not necessary."

Li Fengjian raised his eyebrows and said in an unyielding tone, "You said yesterday that it wasn't necessary, but I didn't agree. I insist on compensation, so..." He paused, "There's no better time than today, let's do it during the art class's lunch break."

"But I..."

"I'll be waiting for you in the women's clothing section on the third floor."

"Oh..." She stared at him blankly, and for some reason, she agreed as if possessed.

………………

During lunch break, some of the teachers at Tulip School went to the basement to eat, while others sat in the classroom waiting for their takeout. Sister Yao Qin was doing accounts in the office, while Yao Ye secretly took the escalator down from the fifth floor. As soon as she got to the third floor, she saw Li Fengjian waiting in front of the women's clothing section.

They were silent for a moment, simply walking side by side. Yao Ye instinctively wanted to turn into a budget clothing store, after all, her torn shirt only cost 29.9 yuan. But Li Fengjian pulled her by the sleeve and led her into another store, claiming that...

"I think this store's style suits you better."

Yao Ye took a closer look and realized that the style of the clothes suited her, but the price was clearly not right. The store's prices, often several hundred to several thousand yuan, were simply unaffordable for a low-income female college student like Yao Ye.

The more expensive the clothing store, the more attentive the service. As soon as Yao Ye was pulled in by Li Fengjian, two shop assistants surrounded them with spring-like smiles. When they heard Li Fengjian say, "I want to see women's shirts," they stuffed all the latest styles of the season into Yao Ye's arms.

After being haphazardly ushered into the fitting room, Yao Ye glanced at the price tag on the collar and then clicked her tongue in amazement, muttering to herself, "Wow, a plain white shirt costs 688, and it doesn't look much different from my 29.9... Hmph, let Li Fengjian pull someone in to try it on without even looking at the price. Hehe, I'll enjoy watching your dumbfounded expression when you pay later..."

That being said, when Yao Yezhen changed her clothes and stood in front of the fitting room mirror, listening to the shop assistants' flattering remarks, she still couldn't bear to let Mr. Li spend money on her, after all, he had once said that Kazamado's profit margins were meager. So, she pretended to speak in front of the mirror,

"It doesn't look that great... it's just so-so, right..."

As she spoke, she winked at Li Fengjian, secretly gestured the number '688' with her finger, and then quietly shook her head.

The shop assistant next to her got anxious and started showering her with compliments, "Oh my, it's not just average at all! Young lady, you have such a great figure, this white shirt may look simple, but it really accentuates your figure!"

Upon hearing the words "good figure," Yao Ye couldn't help but secretly smile smugly, only to suddenly notice Li Fengjian nodding in agreement. She glared at him fiercely, her eyes screaming, "Why are you nodding like that?!"

Li Fengjian immediately stopped, just silently looking at her without saying a word.

Another salesperson launched into a barrage of sales pitches, "This young lady looks so young, she must be a college student! She'll need this kind of white shirt for internship interviews, it's so versatile! Our brand pays the most attention to detail, the workmanship is completely different from those cheap shirts that cost twenty or thirty yuan! Our cut is great, the fabric is crisp, and there's a row of concealed buttons between the metal buttons, making it fastened securely and preventing any wardrobe malfunctions..."

Before the shop assistant could finish speaking, Li Fengjian immediately made a decision, "Then I'll take this one."

Yao Ye was taken aback. "Huh?"

Upon hearing this, the shop assistant beamed with joy, "We're having a promotion right now, buy one get one half price."

"Then take two."

Yao Ye was even more stunned, "Huh?"

………………

Later, those two white shirts were indeed used for Yao Ye's internship and job interviews. But the original anti-exposure design was later criticized by Li Fengjian for having too many buttons, which he found troublesome... Well, that's a story for another time.

…………

As Yao Ye walked out of the clothing store, she looked at the clothes worth over a thousand yuan in her handbag and felt a little dazed. Li Fengjian paid so quickly that in no time, the shop assistant happily packed the shirt and stuffed it into her hands.

"Li Fengjian..." As the two walked toward the escalator, Yao Ye couldn't help but call out to him.

Li Fengjian turned around, "What's wrong?"

"Isn't this... a bit too expensive? The one I broke was only 29.9 yuan with free shipping... and..." And ultimately, she tore it herself. How did things develop to this point?

How did her relationship with Li Fengjian develop step by step to where it is today?

Li Fengjian simply shrugged and said calmly, "It's alright, not too expensive. Let's go, your lunch break is almost over."

That's true. Yao Ye quickened her pace, but as she passed a women's lingerie store, her gaze was drawn to the advertising sign at the store entrance.

"Aili Lingerie, new styles are now available, members enjoy a 20% discount for early adopters."

This was the lingerie store where her older sister, Yao Qin, had dragged Yao Ye along to buy things in order to get a coupon. Yao Ye couldn't help but glance at it a few more times before suddenly remembering that Li Fengjian was right beside her. So she quickly looked away and headed straight for the escalator.

………………