On a Stormy Night, the Campus Belle Knocked on My Door Seeking Shelter
Chapter 18: Appraised, A Perfect Figure

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Appraised, A Perfect Figure

The tailor shop’s wooden door was ajar. A brass bell on the doorframe, stirred by the wind, chimed along with a French chanson flowing from a phonograph, weaving a lazy tune.

Su Yuqing’s gaze swept across the bolts of fabric artfully displayed in the window, stacked what looked like three or four stories high. She unconsciously fiddled with Chen Mo’s cuff. "This place... it looks so expensive."

"The owner is an old classmate of my mom’s. She mostly caters to students, so it’s not expensive. Relax." Chen Mo pushed the door open without batting an eye, and the wooden floorboards let out a soft creak.

Garments hanging inside the shop swayed gently in the breeze, and the air was filled with the scent of ironed cotton. A woman in tortoiseshell glasses looked up from behind the counter. Her gaze paused for a moment on their clasped hands, and her eyes crinkled as she smiled. "Oh, my, what a beautiful girl. Is Momo bringing his girlfriend to pick out some clothes?"

The tips of Su Yuqing’s ears instantly burned bright red, and her fingertips unconsciously twisted the hem of Chen Mo’s shirt.

Chen Mo felt the faint tremor through his shirt. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he gently released her hand and said with a smile, "Aunt Lin, with the new season coming up, could you help her find a few new outfits..."

After a pause, Chen Mo leaned in closer and added in a low voice, "She’ll need a few sets of undergarments, too. They need to be 100% cotton."

"Got it!" Lin Yuwei smiled, grabbing a soft measuring tape. She led Su Yuqing behind a dressing curtain that only concealed her from the neck down. Seeing that she could still see Chen Mo, Su Yuqing felt as though she were completely exposed to his gaze. Overcome with shyness, she practically tried to shrink into a nearby rack of linen dresses.

Seeing her reaction, Chen Mo tactfully retreated to a rattan chair by the window. He sat down and lowered his gaze, absentmindedly flipping through a book of fabric swatches.

He appeared to be reading, but in truth, he had already caught every word of the girl’s flustered, faint protests: "Um, I really don’t need the lace..."

"Listen to your Auntie. We women need to please ourselves, too. Don’t you think you’d look beautiful in this style? Don’t worry about what other people think. Besides, it’s underwear; no one else is going to see it anyway. You should pick what you like with your own eyes, and not let the opinions of tasteless people take away your right to choose what makes you feel beautiful."

After Lin Yuwei’s pep talk, Su Yuqing wasn’t as resistant as before. Compared to the plain styles, she did actually prefer the lace ones. It was just that this particular design was a little too revealing, which made her blush just looking at it.

"First, ask yourself if you like it. Second, let me tell you, this set will absolutely drive that boy Momo wild. You like it, and the boy you like will love it—isn’t that killing two birds with one stone?"

Su Yuqing opened her mouth, intending to clarify their relationship, but the words felt sealed shut, as if by a thousand layers of glue. In the end, she couldn’t manage a single word of explanation. "This kind is fine, then."

"Alrighty! I’ll get you seven sets, so you two can keep things fresh every day," Lin Yuwei said with a smile.

Su Yuqing was mortified.

With the underwear sorted out, Lin Yuwei started picking out outfits for Su Yuqing. The dressing curtain opened and closed, and Chen Mo saw Lin Yuwei duck back inside holding a pale yellow dress and a light blue blouse.

Leaning against the wall, Chen Mo counted the motes of light filtering through the gaps in the curtain. When he heard the rustle of fabric, a thin sheen of sweat suddenly formed on the back of his neck.

’He was already imagining what Su Yuqing would look like in that outfit.’

The curtain was pulled open with a SWISH just as he was staring blankly at a sewing machine in the corner.

"Does it look strange?" Su Yuqing asked, tugging at her skirt hem and doing a little half-spin. The ends of her hair brushed against the ribbon tied into a bow at her collarbone.

The morning light enveloped her in a translucent, honey-colored glow. The cotton skirt flared out in an arc, like a blossoming lily of the valley.

Chen Mo’s Adam’s apple bobbed hard. He suddenly stood up, reached out, and straightened her blouse collar. "Your second button is done wrong."

His fingertips unintentionally brushed against the skin on the side of her neck, and they both froze.

At that very moment, the phonograph jumped to the chorus of "La Vie en Rose." Chen Mo snatched his hand back as if he’d been shocked. He turned, grabbed a woven straw hat from a shelf, and set it on her head. "This’ll go with it. For sun protection."

Su Yuqing shyly lowered her head. Just then, Lin Yuwei said with a laugh, "Looks like you’re both satisfied. Now, try this one on."

A short while later, the moment the curtain was pulled open again, the young man’s Adam’s apple bobbed hard. In the morning light, the ramie fabric was almost translucent. The pale pink skin of Su Yuqing’s collarbone was faintly visible, and the looped button at her waist rose and fell with each breath, like a butterfly poised to take flight.

Most critically, the thin blouse was just sheer enough to reveal the faint outline of a pale pink lace bra underneath. Chen Mo stared, not even blinking.

Su Yuqing quickly tried on a few more outfits. It had to be said, Lin Yuwei’s taste was impeccable; every single ensemble left both Chen Mo and Su Yuqing satisfied.

"Alright, alright, Aunt Lin, no more outfits. You’re going to max out your nephew’s card," Chen Mo said, quickly stopping her when he saw she was getting carried away with dressing up Su Yuqing like a model.

"What are you worried about? It’s not like I’m desperate for the money. Just have your mom reimburse you later. If she knew you were spending money on her future daughter-in-law, she’d be over the moon."

"Don’t go spouting nonsense to her. It’s not even close to being a sure thing yet."

"Oh? Playing it all innocent, are we? I thought you two would have already sealed the deal by now." Lin Yuwei gave him a look that said, ’And you expect me to believe that?’

Chen Mo forced a smile. "I’m serious. Please don’t say anything to my mom, or I won’t come back to give you my business next time."

"Alright, alright. Since you’re spending so much here at your Auntie’s shop, I’ll keep your secret. And I’ll give you everything for ten percent of the price."

"Everyone says selling clothes is profitable, but I never knew it was *this* profitable," Chen Mo couldn’t help but marvel. "You can even knock it down to ten percent of the price."

"Oh, so you think that’s too cheap? Fine, I’ll charge you more," Lin Yuwei said, rolling her eyes at him.

"No, no, no! Aunt Lin, you’re the best! You promised ten percent, you can’t go back on your word," Chen Mo quickly said with a placating smile. "I’ll treat you to dinner next time."

"That’s more like it."

At checkout, Lin Yuwei wrapped the folded underwear separately in brown paper. She winked at Chen Mo, leaned close to his ear, and whispered with a doting grin, "Your little girlfriend’s figure... Aunt Lin has personally appraised it for you. Absolutely top-tier. You’re a lucky kid."

The young man choked, pulling out the credit card his dad had left him. In his peripheral vision, he saw Su Yuqing standing on her tiptoes, studying a lace-trimmed nightgown by the window. The straw hat in her hair was tilted, revealing a small, cinnabar-red mole on her earlobe. She looked so beautifully young and vibrant in the warm light.

For a fleeting moment, an image flashed before Chen Mo’s eyes again: the photograph of Su Yuqing’s tragic death, her body drenched by a torrential downpour.

He clenched his fists, swearing a silent oath. ’In this life, I will never let that happen again. As long as I’m alive, I will protect this beautiful moment before me.’