Chapter Ninety-Eight: If You Wear Women's Clothing, I Will Wear Men's Clothing

The moment those words fell, the air went still. The atmosphere seemed strangely delicate, threaded with an embarrassment too faint to name.

Gu Nianshen’s gaze settled on Yin Luize, and a trace of doubt seemed to lie hidden in those deep eyes.

Yin Luize’s smile stiffened on his clean, handsome face. Looking at Gu Nianshen, he suddenly did not know what to say, not even whether he ought to let the smile remain.

“And you are?” At last, Gu Nianshen broke the awkward silence, his low voice drifting through the hush.

Yin Luize looked at him, still wearing that fixed smile. “I’m a classmate of Gu Nianxi. My name is Yin Luize.”

“Hello.” Gu Nianshen gave him a polite smile, then turned and opened the back door for him. “Get in. I’ll take you home.”

After that, he opened the passenger door and motioned for Gu Nianxi to get in.

The car was filled with a faint, elegant fragrance, and soft classical music flowed in the background. Yin Luize sat quietly in the back seat, feeling a little out of place.

He hardly moved at all, his knees pressed together, both hands placed properly on his thighs, looking for all the world like a well-behaved little girl. The streetlights outside fell over him and into his eyes, glimmering with tiny flecks of light.

This was a side of Yin Luize Gu Nianxi had never seen before. She glanced back at him. Was he nervous to this extent?

“Where do you live?” Gu Nianshen started the engine and casually lifted his eyes toward Yin Luize in the rearview mirror.

Yin Luize looked up, and after that brief meeting of eyes, he hurriedly looked away. “Hanfu Yayuan.”

Strange. Why was Gu Nianxi so gentle and easygoing, while her brother felt so difficult to approach? Perhaps Gu Nianshen’s aura was simply too strong. He stood like a towering iceberg; one only had to come close to feel the biting chill.

Gu Nianshen looked away toward the road ahead and asked lightly, “A villa district?”

His tone held no surprise at all; if anything, it sounded more like confirmation.

“Yes.”

Hanfu Yayuan was fairly close to the city center and counted as one of the more upscale residential areas in A City. People without a certain status or means generally could not live there.

Gu Nianxi did not ask further. Gu Nianshen merely turned the car around and took Yin Luize home.

After Yin Luize got out, Gu Nianshen finally spoke again in that distant, quiet voice. “How did you get to know him?”

The sudden question startled Gu Nianxi. For a moment, she seemed not to have collected herself. “Huh?”

“What do his parents do?” Gu Nianshen did not repeat the first question. Instead, he continued.

“He said his parents are in business.” Yin Luize had never gone into detail about his parents’ occupations. He had only said they were in business, just as she had told him her parents ran a company. But what kind of company it was, she had not specified either.

“An ordinary family of merchants couldn’t afford to live in a place like that,” Gu Nianshen remarked casually while driving.

That single line immediately aroused Gu Nianxi’s curiosity. Could Yin Luize be hiding something serious from her, something he had never told her?

Seeing that Gu Nianxi remained silent, Gu Nianshen subconsciously turned his head to look at her. At just the right moment, he met her puzzled eyes. In the next instant, he looked away again, and the corner of his mouth curved upward of its own accord. “I was only saying it offhand. By the way, isn’t your school having its open day this Friday?”

Gu Nianshen’s question instantly lifted Gu Nianxi’s spirits. She sat up at once, eyes bright as she looked at him. “Yes! You have to come.”

“We’ll see,” Gu Nianshen said lightly.

Hearing that, Gu Nianxi could not help but sigh with regret. If he did not go to the open day, how disappointing that would be. The school’s open day only came once a year, and in her first year of high school, Gu Nianshen had not gone because he had been too busy. Gu Nianxi pouted, then leaned back in the seat in disappointment. “The activities are so fun, and you still won’t come.”

At that, Gu Nianshen seemed to grow a little interested. “What activities?”

“We’re holding a charity sale this year, and we’ve got a trump card.”

“Mm?” Gu Nianshen raised his brows with some interest. A trump card sounded rather amusing.

“It’s a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of thing. If you don’t come, that’s your loss,” Gu Nianxi declared with conviction.

And the so-called trump card she spoke of was the major decision everyone had agreed on after discussion and voting: making Wen Yichen wear women’s clothes.

When Wen Yichen learned of it, he collapsed inwardly several times over. Even after he protested, he was brushed off with a single line: the proposal has already been submitted.

For this, the class even pooled money to buy Wen Yichen a magnificent Victorian court dress.

Friday’s open day arrived as promised. When that dress, come rain or shine, appeared before Wen Yichen, his whole face turned green.

“I’m not wearing it.” After throwing out those cold words, Wen Yichen stubbornly flopped down onto his desk.

“Brother Chen, this style was personally chosen for you by Student Xiao Jiang,” Bai Xu said softly in his ear. Warm breath brushed his ear, and his voice carried a hint of something ambiguous that made Wen Yichen shudder all over. The gooseflesh practically fell to the floor.

Even so, Wen Yichen still refused to wear it. Unless Jiang Muting stood before him and begged him, he might perhaps reluctantly agree.

“Wen Yichen, just wear it once,” Jiang Muting’s voice suddenly fell into his ears. Sweet and gentle, it made his heart soften.

“It’s only two or three hours anyway. Just bear with it,” her voice continued beside him.

“Only two or three hours?” Wen Yichen repeated, deliberately stressing the word “only.” The instant his gaze landed on Jiang Muting, his resolve still wavered. The girl before him had watery, luminous eyes, and she looked straight at him, her gaze full of pleading.

In truth, even if it were only two minutes, he would not want to wear such a thing. Yet Jiang Muting’s repeated entreaties made him hesitate.

Seeing that Wen Yichen still had no response, Jiang Muting added, “It’s okay. I’ll wear it with you.”

“Really?” Wen Yichen looked at her in disbelief.

“Mm-hm. You wear the dress, and I’ll wear the men’s suit.”