Feng Nian looked slightly embarrassed and said, "I'll just wear the skirt I wore last semester. I had it altered at the shop, so it should be fine."
To cover up her embarrassment, she added, "My figure hasn't changed much lately, so I'll just wear last year's clothes to save myself the trouble of thinking about what to wear."
Knowing about Feng Nian's family troubles, the group tacitly kept quiet about it at school. They simply canceled their usual dormitory dinners and quietly put away the more expensive brand-name clothes and skincare products in their dorm rooms.
Actually, at first glance, it's not noticeable that the family backgrounds of the students in Ruan Chen's dormitory are any different.
Previously, Huan Shiqing and Leng Yueqiu were used to having a restaurant deliver meals on a monthly basis, while Leng Yueqiu had her family's nanny deliver meals prepared by a nutritionist three times a day. After the incident at Feng Nian's home, they both started eating the nine-yuan boxed meals at the cafeteria.
Ruan Chen was unaware of all this at first; she was simply used to maintaining the same lifestyle as those around her.
Although Ruan Chen wouldn't bother checking up on her roommates, after living there for a while, she still received a detailed report that thoroughly investigated her three roommates.
Ruan Chen glanced at it casually.
Therefore, she knew very well where this inexplicable awkward atmosphere came from.
"Hey, I did some research on sewing and clothing design for a while before. Do you want me to help you process some samples?" Ruan Chen said half-jokingly. "I think the designs are pretty good."
Huan Shiqing and Leng Yueqiu immediately understood Ruan Chen's meaning.
The "sample" that Ruan Chen mentioned was probably just a polite way of saying something, a pretext to resolve Feng Nian's awkward situation.
There's an unwritten rule in their art department that the costumes for each performance cannot be repeated. It's not about vanity, but rather for the sake of different performance themes and different stage effects.
Feng Nian wore the same dress she wore at the end of last semester to today's midterm performance. Although her instructor wouldn't say anything on the surface, she would definitely deduct points from her performance score privately, which would affect Feng Nian's scholarship application.
But Feng Nian really had to be very careful with every penny she had, and she didn't have any extra money to rent a dress.
Ruan Chen is helping her.
Before they knew about the relationship between Ruan Chen and Ruan Luo, although they didn't know Ruan Chen's family background, they could guess that he came from a wealthy and noble family. "Ruan" is not a common surname, and they also wondered if it was related to the Ruan Group.
However, Ruan Chen's past records are very clean, and there is no indication that he has any connection with the Ruan Group.
“Okay, let’s go take a look,” Huan Shiqing agreed first. “But let me make this clear: if it’s not good, I’ll hold you accountable.”
“Me too,” Leng Yueqiu understood and raised her hand, “Chenchen, I don’t want it if it doesn’t fit.”
These two were just trying to save face for Feng Nian, they said that on purpose.
Feng Nian nodded, "Then let's go take a look. Thank you, Ruan Chen."
But she didn't dare say whether she wanted it or not.
Ruan Chen led them to her small apartment. As they went upstairs, they happened to pass by the Ye family's housekeeping team.
That's right, the Ye family's housekeeping team.
Ruan Chen herself didn't care, but Ruan Luo didn't want to expose her relationship with the Ye family.
Ruan Chen's belongings are all kept at the Ye family's villa. All her documents, manuscripts, clothes, and paintings are piled up there. Before coming here, Ruan Chen called the Ye family and asked their servants to bring over a batch of dresses that she had designed but hadn't yet been released to the market.
Those were the new winter products she prepared for Yan's original design brand, but she left in a hurry and didn't send the samples to the headquarters. She designed a set herself and left it in the studio. Later, Ye Huanhuan packed it up and took it back to the villa, where it was placed in a crystal display case that cost more than that new winter dress.
Ruan Chen's small apartment has been cleaned and maintained by professionals for many years. When you walk in, it is bright and clean, and you can't tell that no one has lived there for many years.
But Feng Nian sniffed, "Strange, why does it smell like no one has lived here for a long time?"
Ruan Chen's heart skipped a beat. "You can smell that?"
“It feels like no one has lived here for years,” Feng Nian said. “Although it’s very clean, the room smells stale.”
Ruan Chen realized that she had discovered Feng Nian's talent.
She didn't continue the topic, and led the group to the walk-in closet, opening the cabinet door.
The group remained silent for a moment.
"Chenchen, the sample..." Leng Yueqiu felt that even if Ruan Chen meant well and wanted to help Feng Nian, her lies were somewhat half-hearted.
Huan Shiqing couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "These dresses... look more expensive than this apartment."
That's true. Ruan Chen's apartment used to be worth something, but now it's just an old, run-down place that has depreciated quite a bit. When the group went upstairs just now, they were thinking how low-key Ruan Chen was, that the movie star's sister lived in a place like this.
Feng Nian: "Chenchen...you actually bought this, right?"
Her words expressed the feelings of several people.
These dresses are luxuriously made, with large areas of dazzling embroidery and exquisite lace; they couldn't possibly have been made by one person.
This was created by Ruan Chen's studio at the time.
“I set up a studio for fun before. I did the original designs, and the staff did the sewing,” Ruan Chen explained. “These are really samples. If you don’t believe me, you can take pictures and search for them.”
A moment later, seeing the empty search interface, the group believed Ruan Chen's words.
There is no similar design on the entire internet; it is indeed Ruan Chen's original design.
Ruan Chen took out several dresses, unfolded them, and spread them on the bed—the dresses were all in the same style, with a blue and white color scheme, combining classical and Western aesthetics, with lace and Chinese knot buttons, and a stand-up collar paired with a large skirt, making them unique.
Huan Shiqing and the others took a liking to it at first sight.
Huan Shiqing majored in pipa, Leng Yueqiu majored in classical dance, and Feng Nian was a pianist. They all had the temperament of oriental beauties, which matched this series of clothes very well.
"Sister Chen...it must have cost a lot, right?" Feng Nian knew that this dress would greatly enhance her solo performance and she fell in love with it at first sight, but she still asked cautiously.
"Actually, I wanted you guys to help me try it on," Ruan Chen lied without hesitation. "I want to do fashion design after graduation, but I don't know if it's feasible. You can wear it for the mid-term performance, just to test the waters for me—given our relationship, you wouldn't ask me for money, would you?"
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The group returned to school each carrying their boxes of formal wear, and Feng Nian offered to treat everyone to a meal.
Ruan Chen knew that she wanted to repay a favor.
She also knew that owing favors was unpleasant, and it wouldn't be good for Feng Nian to always remember it.
"How about the noodle shop at the South Gate?" Ruan Chen rubbed her stomach. "I want to eat beef noodles."
"Hey," Huan Shiqing noticed a limousine parked at the entrance, "isn't that the car that was outside the auditorium today?"
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