Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Yang Ming Li Wan (1)

Before Yu Manyi truly earned enough money to spend without worry, she had never saved any proper amount of money. Later, when reflecting on this predicament, she realized it was because she simply loved buying clothes too much.

The desire to purchase stemmed from her most beautiful age, when she could only endure the embarrassment of having two clothes to rotate. Later, when her situation improved, she could only buy leftover fabric from the tailor's shop and cut it into her own designs at home.

This embarrassing situation eased slightly when she started receiving a salary from the Commercial Press, and then completely broke her vow when deciding to accompany Song Qi to visit his aunt—she took out a large sum of money and went to a famous tailor's shop to have a qipao made to measure.

Shanghai was, without a doubt, the most fashion-conscious city Yu Manyi had ever seen in her life. She remembered that on the first day she arrived, the most popular qipao style was still the loose-sleeved one, which reached around the calf. Women were accustomed to wearing a silk scarf around their neck, with the sleeve cuffs slightly flared and hanging at the elbow. If it were a bit longer, it would drape like waves down to the wrist.

However, within less than a year, this style of qipao was already outdated among women. The tailor recommended a style that reached the top of the feet, with a curving waistline, a design made famous by a movie star.

Speaking of which, when Yu Manyi first arrived in Shanghai, the new hairstyles worn by several old women were also made popular by this same movie star.

Because the qipao's length reached the feet and had three buttons fastening the high collar, the silhouette of this qipao made the figure appear especially long and slim. This qipao may sound more conservative, but in reality, it was not.

Compared to all her previous clothes, the sleeves of this qipao were too short, so short that they could almost be called sleeveless. The sleeves were so short that Yu Manyi kept waving her hands—

Her Western-style dress didn’t reveal as much arm as this qipao did. If the women of the Yu family saw these exposed arms, they’d be scared out of their wits and probably faint right away.

"Can you not be so outdated?" When Yu Manyi was talking to the tailor, Song Qi, who had been sitting quietly next to her reading the newspaper, suddenly put the paper down, incredulously.

"Where am I outdated?" Yu Manyi felt confused by his words. "With this much arm exposed, how could I dare to lift my hand higher?"

"Sorry, I misspoke—can you not be so feudal? You’re even suggesting adding length to the sleeves of the qipao. You’re making me feel so defeated."

"What’s there to be defeated about?""This semi-feudal, semi-colonial life, when will it end?" Song Qi put down the newspaper and, in anger, left the room.

Yu Manyi watched his figure disappear through the door, then sneered and turned back to the tailor, continuing:

"Don’t mind him. The sleeves should still be like last year's big sleeves, the kind that go to the elbow. The length should be the one we just tried, trailing on the floor to the feet... Uncle, is this really outdated?"

The tailor, holding a measuring tape, tried to placate her: "People wear clothes, not the other way around. With Miss Yu’s beauty and figure, no matter what she wears, she’ll look like a movie star."

Such emotional intelligence! Compared to the shop owner in Shaoxing, this was worlds apart. The comforting words made her feel utterly at ease. Yu Manyi turned her head and glanced at the mirror—

She was wearing a soft satin qipao in smoky blue, with a standing collar that cinched in. She wore a matching string of beads around her neck. Who was she, really?

A business-minded person is always ready to make a deal. As Yu Manyi was observing, the shopkeeper brought over a snow-colored coat and draped it over her qipao, asking: "The weather's turning cooler, Miss Yu, would you like to add something to match?"

Clothes truly were a bottomless pit. Yu Manyi declined gently: "I’ll buy it later. For today, I'll just order this qipao."

The two of them were both no pushovers. Because of that one sleeve, they had managed to argue from the tailoring to the payment. When it came time to pay, Song Qi, still debating with her, pulled out the money from his wallet—the same wallet that Yu Manyi had given him.

However, the next second, she pushed him aside, took out her own money, and handed it to the counter, unwilling to back down: "How could I let Mr. Song pay for such an outdated piece of clothing?"

"Oh, Miss Yu, you’re really generous," Song Qi, blocked by her body from reaching the counter, could only speak, "Then, please clear my IOU as well. I dreamt last night that you wrote down an astronomical figure, and even selling myself couldn’t pay it back."

"Mr. Song is too modest about his own appearance. I think fifty bucks would still be enough. That IOU is only worth fifty, equal to your credit," she said, and with that, she left gracefully, leaving Song Qi and the tailor’s shop owner exchanging glances."Uncle Ping, I've been ordering clothes from you since I was little, so just watch and see,"

"Ah, ah," the shopkeeper waved his hand, "Mr. Song, if you're unhappy because you haven't spent your money, I do have a snow-colored coat here. If you order it now, it'll be just right for winter..."

Song Qi took out his wallet again, and the shopkeeper finally sold the coat.

After all this trouble, by the next weekend, Yu Manyi finally wore the qipao, then sat with You Hong to experiment with makeup on her face. Afterward, she and Song Qi rode in the rickshaw on their way to his aunt’s house.

After coming to Shanghai, she had even grown another two centimeters, and with the shoes she wore, which had a small heel, her height went from only reaching Song Qi’s Adam's apple to now reaching his jaw.

Indeed, when one grows taller, they feel stronger, and their temper flares. The two of them turned their faces away, sitting back-to-back in the rickshaw, not speaking to each other.

The two years they spent were really strange, always quarreling over trivial matters. Whether it was an IOU or the sleeves of her qipao, they couldn't get through a single peaceful day. They held out until they reached the gate of his aunt’s mansion. Then Yu Manyi suddenly spoke:

"If you hate feudalism so much, stay away from me and go get close to those progressive and open-minded girls. I am who I am, and I simply don't like that kind of sleeve."

Her tone carried a bit of grievance, and Song Qi immediately softened, feeling guilty and thinking that maybe he had done something wrong. However, right after that, Yu Manyi added:

"Arguing with me over a sleeve, I see no difference between you and my cousin. Maybe you’re even worse than him."

She actually compared him to that cousin. The guilt Song Qi had just felt vanished in an instant, replaced by a sense of great humiliation. The two continued arguing, so much so that the gatekeeper had to escort them into the garden to wait for Song Qi’s aunt to come out, and they couldn't help but glance back at the commotion.

The two of them, one not yet twenty, wearing a smoky blue, floor-length qipao, though the sleeves were outdated, her figure was perfect, and her elegant aura made the qipao fit her figure, elongating her shape. Her dark eyebrows and eyes were intensely striking, with slightly deep eye sockets and a sharp nose, already beyond a girl's appearance and carried the grace of an adult woman.

The other, just over twenty, had come dressed in a deep gray pinstriped suit made of Melton fabric to meet the elders. He stood half a head taller than the girl beside him, with broad shoulders that filled out the suit well. While his demeanor carried a hint of decadence, his more upright appearance tempered it. With deep eye sockets and high brow bones, his face lacked any frivolous air.

He led the two young, beautiful, and angry individuals into the garden, got them coffee, and went to inform his aunt, who was in the living room talking with two men, planning to let her know that her nephew had arrived with a girl.Yu Manyi’s cousin probably never imagined that his proud overseas degree would become a tool for teasing and playful banter between the two of them. Although Yu Manyi didn’t see it as playful teasing at all, she thought she was speaking very seriously to Song Qi when she said:

“But my cousin studied abroad.”

By this point, Song Qi had already lost his composure several times due to her words, and with this sentence, he lost all pretense of decorum. He immediately retorted, “So what if he studied abroad? He’s the most backward person among all those who’ve returned.”

“Any man who rushes to break off his engagement just because he’s been abroad is backward. Comparing him to me really lowers my status.”

Song Qi was already so infuriated by Yu Manyi that he couldn’t control his words. Yet, the target of his anger was directed at her cousin—proving the point that he could always scold her without ever having to scold her directly.

At that moment, Yu Manyi suddenly decided to stop arguing, just like the many arguments they had had before that ended with no resolution.

She chose to lower her head and drink her coffee, which was so bitter that it made her frown. Song Qi quickly pulled out two coffee candies and tossed them to her. She melted the honeycomb-shaped candy with her tongue, feeling both bitter and sweet spreading through her mouth simultaneously.

“Can you stop making me angry for once?”

Yu Manyi looked up and noticed that Song Qi had turned his face to one side, and somehow, this made her feel a little guilty. Just moments ago, they had been arguing fiercely, and now he suddenly looked like this. Was he acting like she had bullied him too much?

“I… I didn’t…” Yu Manyi was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure whether to walk over and comfort him.

“Hahahahahaha!”

Before she could make a decision, a loud, penetrating laugh suddenly came from behind her—before the person even arrived, their voice had already reached her.

“You arrogant little brat! Finally, you’ve met your match! I’m really feeling vindicated now!”

The voice was so piercing that Yu Manyi gave up on trying to have an emotional conversation with Song Qi. She couldn’t help but turn around and look. As soon as she turned, she sat up straight, instinctively feeling a deep respect, as if a minor witch had encountered a great witch.Song Qi's aunt, famous for her romantic, butterfly-and-swan-style novels, was known for being flirtatious and sentimental, had arrived.