Chapter 62: Time to Try on the Costumes!
After using some paper to clean up quickly, the two sat facing each other again. The blood under Cheng Fei’s nose had been replaced by long strips of tissue paper. The sight was honestly hard not to laugh at.
Smack!
Enough was enough. Gao Ming slammed his hand onto the table like a judge hitting a wooden block, then forced his face to stay serious.
The tissue really was a little too long, almost like long nose hair hanging down from his nostrils. After cutting it shorter, most of it was finally hidden inside the nose.
“Good enough now?”
With her nose stuffed, Cheng Fei’s voice sounded strange. Gao Ming did not answer directly and only coughed awkwardly.
“If you have some wise advice, please say it. I’m listening carefully.”
Cheng Fei rolled her eyes, sat up straight, and became serious.
“Old Gao, answer one question first, okay?”
Old... Gao?
That nickname really sounded old-fashioned.
Gao Ming’s eyelids twitched a little before he softly replied,
“Go ahead.”
“When you chose this path back then, besides being pressured by your parents, was there any other outside reason?”
Gao Ming blinked in confusion.
“What?”
“Let me put it another way. Is there still some woman you can’t forget even now?”
Gao Ming narrowed his eyes again.
“For example?”
“Your first love!”
This time Gao Ming did not get angry. He simply held his head with one hand and rubbed his neck with the other, like he already knew this question was coming.
Already annoyed enough, yet Cheng Fei kept talking proudly.
“Looking at the current situation, the two of us having a child ourselves is basically impossible. But we can find another way! If there’s someone from your past you still can’t forget and you don’t want to approach her directly, I can help reconnect you two and win her heart back for you. You can date for a while and rebuild the relationship, then secretly keep her hidden away, have a big healthy son, and register the child under my name.”
Gao Ming’s eyelids twitched.
What a perfect planner she was.
“And what about you?” he asked. “What happens to your stomach? You can’t stay flat the whole time and suddenly appear ten months later with a seven- or eight-pound baby.”
“They don’t live with us anyway. Most of the time they’re either traveling or planning another trip. That makes it easy. I’ll just fake it! With modern technology, making it look real is no problem as long as we’re careful.”
After Cheng Fei finished speaking, Gao Ming still stayed in the same position without moving at all besides breathing. After staring at her for a long time, he finally spoke.
“Forget the fact that people would notice the truth the moment you lift your clothes. Have you thought about one thing?”
Since she could not see his expression clearly, Cheng Fei could only judge from his words.
Oh! So there really was someone...
Bah! Of course there was. What man didn’t have a dream woman he could only hold hands with, kiss, or sleep with in his imagination? The important thing was that Gao Ming finally showed some reaction.
“There’s an old saying,” Cheng Fei said while clenching her teeth. “As long as you swing the hoe well enough, no corner can’t be dug into.”
The words sounded a little shameless, but it was still better than having a baby growing inside her stomach.
People were selfish after all. Protecting yourself always came first.
Suddenly, Gao Ming stood up and leaned his face directly in front of Cheng Fei’s. His expression was more serious than she had ever seen before.
Cheng Fei was genuinely shocked and instinctively curled up.
A stray cat hiding beside a trash can during a storm, that was exactly what she looked like now.
“I’ll make this clear right now,” Gao Ming said seriously. “There is not even half a first love I can’t forget! And let me ask again, can’t I simply focus on studying and business? Do I absolutely need some emotional love story in my life?”
“O-okay... okay! It’s just... a little...” Cheng Fei stuttered.
“What?”
“Not perfect, that’s all...”
From the past until now, everyone always said things like this to him. Gao Ming was speechless. He no longer even wanted to argue against such common thinking.
Ding.
A notification flashed at the lower right corner of the computer screen.
Gao Ming moved the mouse over. After seeing who sent the message, the notification sound suddenly felt as pleasant as spring water dripping inside a cave.
In the afternoon, the bright sun quietly hid behind the clouds.
Today’s main focus was no longer Gao Ming and Cheng Fei, but the two dazzling sets of armor, the elegant flowing Hanfu clothing, and the unsharpened horizontal saber.
Cheng Fei had little interest in the wide-sleeved robes. Instead, she kept circling around the two suits of armor in front of her.
Under the lights, the armor shone brightly. Even though the saber had not been sharpened yet, it still gave off a cold and deadly feeling.
Cheng Fei looked at one particularly special suit with two shiny chest mirrors attached to it. She reached out and touched it.
“Is this Iron Pagoda armor or infantry armor?”
“This style is Tang armor.”
“Oh! Tang armor and a horizontal saber. So you’re not planning to make a fictional world? You want to set the story in the Tang Dynasty? The An Lushan Rebellion? Or the late Tang warlord period?”
“You really do love chaos,” Gao Ming said while moving Cheng Fei’s hand away and replacing it with his own.
“Chaotic times create heroes!”
She continued, “Tch, look how stingy he is. It’s made of hard metal, was touching it going to break it? He acts disgusted with me, but isn’t he touching it himself like some dirty old man?”
Gao Ming gave her a look that clearly mean, think about it yourself.
The ringing of a phone broke the quiet atmosphere inside the garage.
As a supporting character, Zheng Qi finally arrived. Since school had not started yet, she was still on vacation. She had been bored at home, and after hearing there were Hanfu outfits here, she hurried over immediately.
Ye Dong and Zhou Lin were still busy and would probably arrive later. Unable to resist anymore, the two main actors decided to first try on the costumes and see if they fit.
About half an hour later, Cheng Fei walked out from the corner wearing her custom-made armor.
With every step she took, the armor plates clinked together sharply.
The sound was clear and pleasant, almost heavenly, yet at the same time it filled people with heroic spirit.
She looked incredibly cool and still very beautiful.
But...
After all, the armor was made from stainless steel plates connected together, and the leather lining inside was not light either. Even after trying to reduce the weight as much as possible, it still weighed more than ten kilograms. And that did not even include the heavy horizontal saber hanging at her waist.
Normally, Cheng Fei barely exercised outside of running errands. Wearing such heavy and hot armor...
Well, you could imagine the result.
Under everyone’s admiring eyes, Cheng Fei finally could not handle the weight on her shoulders or the heat anymore. She staggered over to a broken chair nearby and dropped onto it with a loud thump. Taking off the helmet and removing the saber from her waist, she panted heavily for air.
Sigh...
There was only one step between looking cool and completely embarrassing yourself. Cheng Fei’s instant collapse perfectly showed the second result.
The outfit really was handsome, but the price of looking cool was just too “heavy.”
“Ahem. If you don’t wear the inner layer, it should feel a little better,” Gao Ming reminded her.
“I think even without it, she’d still struggle...” Zheng Qi muttered while holding Cheng Fei’s helmet.
Yeah! Exactly!
But things had already reached this point, so what else could she do?
If she suddenly backed out now, with Gao Ming’s personality, he would probably force her to sign some humiliating unfair agreement, then secretly give her money later when he felt guilty about it late at night.
It was more than humiliation!
So even if this was a hard bone to chew through, she had to bite through it even if it broke her teeth!
Bai Xi stayed silent, secretly thankful she had not accepted a role in a moment of excitement. Though honestly, she also wanted a chance to show herself off.
Compared to the heavy masculine armor, the elegant and beautiful Hanfu outfits nearby attracted Bai Xi much more.
“Feifei, take a break first. Go try the others.”
Large drops of sweat rolled down Cheng Fei’s chin one after another. For the sake of her own life, she definitely could not keep wearing this armor for now. Maybe it would be fine during winter.
Still, although the Hanfu outfits looked beautiful, putting them on seemed just as complicated as the armor.
Hey!
She almost forgot, wasn’t Teacher Bai here today?
Maybe Bai Xi was not a hardcore fan... or maybe the right term was “casual Hanfu wearer.” Anyway, she had experience with these clothes in daily life. For her, it was not difficult at all.
“Okay! Help me up first.”
Teacher Bai usually acted proudly above everyone else. Besides her parents, she had never needed to take care of others before. Zheng Qi stood nearby secretly laughing.
Bai Xi ground her teeth and grabbed Cheng Fei’s arm, wanting to use force, but Cheng Fei’s armor made her look like a turtle shell. There was nowhere good to grab.
Cheng Fei felt extremely satisfied inside.
Just as she was feeling proud, Bai Xi suddenly leaned closer and whispered,
“Your man is right here. I’ll save some face for you. Don’t think I forgot what you said that day about causing trouble during the wedding night.”
“Oh really? Then come on~!”
Her charming face looked calm on the surface, but hidden underneath was cold hostility. The slight curl at the corner of her mouth carried a bit of disdain. With only a tiny expression change, she instantly looked like a dark villain after turning evil.
If there had been dramatic background music at that moment, she really would have looked like a proper final boss.
“Wow!”
“Whoa!”
“Teacher Bai, it’s truly a huge loss that you’re not acting in this!”
Gao Ming raised a thumbs-up.
Bai Xi immediately withdrew her expression and returned to normal, once again becoming the gentle and friendly teacher everyone knew.
“Time does not permit it, Your Highness Prince Jin. Please forgive me.”
After speaking, she casually performed a perfectly proper traditional greeting.
Gao Ming responded with a respectful fist salute.
‘Why the heck did this become a roleplay?!’
Cheng Fei and Zheng Qi squeezed those words out through clenched teeth. Their positions were completely different, but their intentions matched perfectly.
Because both time and money were tight, they could not afford to go too extravagant.
Each character in the drama had three different outfits. The female characters alone had more than thirty accessories. Hairpins, flower ornaments, hanging decorations, and all kinds of jewelry.
When real gold and silver were thrown around, the effect naturally sounded impressive.
Cheng Fei was pressed into a chair and treated like a doll by the two women behind her. One outfit after another was tried on her.
By nighttime, they had taken almost two gigabytes of photos. Only after Bai Xi and the others completely ran out of energy did they finally spare her.
“Let’s head back.”
“We’re leaving!”
Cheng Fei weakly waved her hand.
“Bye... see you...”
When she turned her head, the two women’s laughter was so loud she could hear it clearly even from far away.
They were ruthless. Her whole body felt like it was falling apart.
“Bye, we’re heading home.”
“Drive carefully! And don’t scrape anyone else’s car again!” Zheng Qi deliberately walked farther away and teased loudly.
Watching Zheng Qi flee like she was escaping, Bai Xi realized it was already too late to drag her back and teach her a lesson. She could only glare angrily.
“Zheng Big Butt, you crow-mouth! Just you wait!”
“Come catch me~!”
Seriously...
Hearing that familiar tone, Bai Xi started thinking that the biggest reason Cheng Fei had changed so much was probably because of this carefree crazy woman’s influence.
Sigh... let them fool around then.
Still, all this chaos really was much more fun than before.
Sometimes, change was not necessarily a bad thing.
Bai Xi stretched her body with her hands behind her back. She had enjoyed herself today, but she was also completely exhausted.
Just as she reached her car, she sensed another vehicle approaching. With a screech, the car stopped behind her.
Bai Xi instinctively turned around and saw the car window roll down.
“Good evening, Teacher Bai.”