83: Buying clothes - Part 1 (Bonus chapter)

On the other end, 1:00 PM.

Jiang Ye lowered his head to scroll through WeChat, then looked up at the bustling mall in front of him, feeling extremely conflicted.

Yaoyao hadn't had such a 'symptom flare-up' in days with this kind of screen-spamming, and he could barely understand it when it happened occasionally. After all, the aftermath of 'hanging up while sleeping' was a skyrocketing clinginess.

But this Ye Cheng... Jiang Ye tilted his head to glance at the woman beside him, who was excitedly rubbing her hands together, and fell into deep self-doubt.

A few days ago when he transferred the money, did he press the confirm button and enter an amount of 100,000, or did he miss a few zeros and only transfer 100?

Otherwise, how could he explain this sister taking 100,000 yuan in 'clothing allowance' and dragging him straight to—Wuai Market?

Jiang Ye looked at the familiar large signboard, and his memory was instantly pulled back several years.

The last time he stepped in here was when Comrade Xu Man, his mom, dragged him here by force.

He still vividly remembered how his mom and a big sister selling wool sweaters, over a ten-yuan price difference, went from 'your fabric isn't good' to 'my son looks like a little old man in it' to 'sister, look how many times I've bought from you,' engaging in a fierce fifteen-minute battle. It ended with a price that satisfied both parties, and they instantly became as close as long-lost sisters, exchanging parenting tips for a long time.

Is this place really capable of creating the 'face' for a Christmas Eve party?

'Hey! What's with that look of 'unhappy' and 'want to go home' on your face?'

Ye Cheng put her hands on her hips and jabbed him with her elbow in annoyance: 'But you said it yourself—today, you'll listen to me! What, trying to back out?'

Jiang Ye twitched the corner of his mouth: 'Xiao Ye, listening to you is right, I did promise. But...'

He pointed at the eye-catching large characters on the building—Wuai Clothing City, his tone full of disbelief:

'You plan to get me a set of 'face' here that can dominate the Christmas Eve scene?'

Ye Cheng saw his constipated expression and calmly crossed her arms: 'What do you know! With clothes, three parts depend on the logo, seven parts depend on the vibe! If the vibe is on point, even if you're wearing big shorts, people will think it's a Balenciaga skirt!'

Jiang Ye didn't speak, giving her a sidelong glance. The meaning in his eyes was clear: Get lost, are you trying to run off with my 100,000 yuan?

Ye Cheng was amused by his look, rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, and decided to let the facts speak.

She patted her down jacket: 'Come on, test you. Look at what I'm wearing, what brand is it?'

Jiang Ye glanced at the prominent '√' on her sleeve and said uncertainly: 'Nike?'

'Nonono~'

Ye Cheng shook her index finger proudly and reached into her collar to pull out the tag: 'The secret's in here, look...'

She originally wanted to flip out the tag hidden in her collar to prove that this '√' was not that '√'.

But the man beside her coughed, very naturally leaned in, and peered down her slightly open collar, muttering:

'Is the logo inside? Hurry up and pull it out, I'm curious.'

Ye Cheng froze, took a step back, and covered her collar, both embarrassed and angry:

'Jiang Ye! Where are you looking?!'

Jiang Ye smacked his lips innocently: 'Looking at the logo, what else? You're wearing a sweater inside, all covered up, what else could I see? Seriously, you have no balance, yet you still set a password, who are you guarding against?'

Ye Cheng: '...'

She glared angrily at his bastard logic: 'What's perverted isn't whether you saw anything! It's your attempt to look! And! Who has no balance?! I'm a C! C, okay?! I've got plenty of material!'

Jiang Ye blinked. He lacked an intuitive sense of the specific scale of a C-cup and didn't feel much.

'Alright, alright, you're a C, awesome, awesome, my apologies. So what mysterious logo do you want to show me?'

Ye Cheng's temple twitched. She took a deep breath, then another, and finally decided to complete this 'lesson.'

She loosened her collar a bit and used her fingers to flip out the soft care label inside: 'Here! Look closely yourself!'

Jiang Ye leaned in closer and focused.

The care label clearly had four letters embroidered: Nike.

'Isn't this just Nike? Are you messing with me?'

Ye Cheng snorted proudly: 'Told you your eyesight's bad and you don't believe it! Look at the last letter again!'

Jiang Ye squinted, stared at the 'e' for several seconds, and finally exclaimed 'Holy shit!'

The last letter was round, with the stroke ends slightly curled inward. It wasn't an 'e' at all—it was actually a stylized ' 巳' character!

Without knowing the answer, you couldn't tell at all!

'Knockoff phones are just awesome!' Jiang Ye couldn't help but give a thumbs-up, sincerely admiring it.

Ye Cheng, seeing he'd finally spotted the key point, relaxed a bit and straightened her collar:

'Hmph, the authentic one costs over 1,600, mine was only 160! For a Christmas Eve party, you only wear it once. Isn't it wasteful to buy those things costing thousands or tens of thousands? Listen to me, as long as the clothes have good cut, decent texture, and the right vibe, people will naturally imagine the price~'

Jiang Ye listened and gritted his teeth.

The logic seemed sound, but... I transferred you 100,000 yuan! 100,000!

And you plan to dress us up with a few hundred yuan worth of gear? Wouldn't the cashback return rate be a total loss?

But he couldn't directly say 'Buy me expensive stuff,' so he had to hint indirectly:

'But Xiao Ye, your theory is based on the premise of 'having good vibes.' You're a youthful, invincible beauty—you'd look good even without clothes. I'm just an ordinary guy; I probably can't pull off the 'make people imagine the price' texture you're talking about, right?'

'Relax, relax!'

Ye Cheng clearly had a plan and patted his arm:

'I've got it all planned out! Basics like innerwear and pants, we'll handle here, picking ones with better texture! Finally, we'll match you with a nice watch to add the finishing touch! The whole set will definitely be awesome!'

Hearing 'watch,' Jiang Ye finally felt a bit better.

With watches, any decent brand, even a slightly better one, starts at five figures. The cashback wouldn't be a loss.

But... the plan to spend the full 100,000 for cashback and smoothly push this woman down on Christmas Eve was completely ruined.

Damn!

These past few days, to boost 'combat power,' I've been doing squats and leg exercises every day—all for nothing!

'Hey, stop being picky!'

Ye Cheng saw his expression changing and directly grabbed his arm, dragging him into the market: 'I buy my own clothes here too! And you promised to listen to me all day today! No backing out!'