"Miss, your hanfu is gorgeous — where'd you buy it?"
In the clothing store, before Qiu Wuji had even started shopping, the assistants had her surrounded, questions coming from left and right, the envy in their eyes practically overflowing.
Qiu Wuji looked to Chu Ge as if begging for help — why do people here greet a person by calling her "beauty"? It feels so flippant.
Chu Ge stood with his hands tucked in his sleeves, looking at the ceiling.
I told you it'd be like this... And what are you even asking her for? You ought to know buyer photos versus seller photos better than I do — do you really think you'd look pretty in that?
A pretty person looks pretty in anything. Worn on you lot, it'd just look like some half-baked extra playing a Daoist nun.
"Sir, your girlfriend is really beautiful."
Qiu Wuji: "?"
Chu Ge looked up at the ceiling: "Am I not handsome?"
Shop assistant: "...Mm. You match."
Qiu Wuji: "??"
No matter how you flatter us, I can't afford the expensive stuff anyway. Chu Ge ignored the shop assistant's expectant gaze and pointed at the cheapest rack: "How about trying this one?"
The shop assistant pursed her lips. For a cheapskate like that to land such a beautiful woman — the heavens really were unfair.
Qiu Wuji glanced at the clothes Chu Ge was pointing at.
A white women's short-sleeved blouse, a black short skirt.
She'd seen people dressed that way on the street too; in fact the assistants' current outfits were somewhat similar. Overall it looked fairly proper — at least far more proper than those little camisoles.
It was the office lady from Chu Ge's imagination — pretty much like this. Of course, an OL outfit could be trousers as well; the reason he'd picked a skirt... mm, better not tell her.
She wouldn't understand anyway; she'd probably think this was more proper than the rest.
Sure enough, Qiu Wuji hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and accepted the set, carrying it into the fitting room.
My arms and legs are going to show... but one glance around and the whole world dresses like this. It seems — it seems like no big deal...
Blending into this world, after all...
"Sir, how come your girlfriend blushes just holding the clothes? She's so cute."
The shop assistant's voice drifted in together with Chu Ge's irrepressible snicker. Face burning, Qiu Wuji shut the fitting room door and leaned against the wall, dazed.
Honestly.
So what if I blush holding these weird, come-hither clothes of yours?
And since when am I a girlfriend? What does "girlfriend" even mean, anyway — a female friend? But my gut says that's not right... how could a mere female friend warrant the word "match"? And Chu Ge's expression looked off too!
Like a little fox that got away with a stolen treat...
What kind of Creator God is this? Why is the Creator God of our world such a creep?
Qiu Wuji pouted, and a rosy haze slowly rose from her body.
The light martial robe slowly faded away, and within the mist a flawless body emerged, white as first snow.
Her clothes were an illusion — strictly speaking, she wasn't wearing anything at all... Of course, her illusions were even stronger than physical things: ordinary clothes might be seen through, but as for her illusions, ordinary cultivators could forget about ever seeing through them. So the illusion wasn't shameful; wearing this arm-and-leg-baring stuff was.
Shameful or not, I have to put it on. This is the first step to blending into this world — isn't it?
Qiu Wuji drew a deep breath and slowly finished putting on the new clothes.
There was a mirror in the fitting room. The person in it had flushed pink cheeks, white teeth lightly biting her lower lip, brows and eyes hiding shame and vexation, not even knowing where to put her hands and feet.
She wrenched her head aside and pushed the door open through gritted teeth.
And then she saw Chu Ge's eyes shining, as if lit from within.
Chu Ge was genuinely stunned. He'd never imagined his own xianxia female sect master could walk out in an OL outfit and look this beautiful. Sure enough, a beautiful person looked beautiful in anything.
The outfit was cheap, but it was proper and intellectual, her aura faintly present; with that shame and anger in her eyes, the hint of a warning, it had even more flavor — whichever way you looked at it, she was like some peerless, ice-cold female CEO out of a book, standing right there.
And then...
Chu Ge's gaze landed on her chest.
These summer thin blouses breathe wonderfully... and of course, they see through wonderfully too...
Are you still wearing a chest wrap under there?
And down below? I've never written that. How did the ancients dress down there anyway — I hear they don't wear anything?
Chu Ge nearly bent down to take a look, and he knew very well he'd be beaten to death as a pervert for it. He held it in until he was about to burst.
"She looks amazing!" the shop assistant gasped. "Better than a celebrity!"
Another assistant said, "Miss, your cosplay is really devoted — even your underwear is ancient... How about buying a set of underwear too?"
Underwear... In a flash, the worldview-shattering ad Chu Ge had shown her surfaced in Qiu Wuji's mind. She wanted to say, This Sect Master has no need of that thing, but the words wouldn't come out.
From the assistants' tone, it was the most natural thing in the world, and she was the one acting strange, wasn't she?
She could only shut her mouth and let Chu Ge do the talking.
Chu Ge was saying, "She's single-minded — she says if she's cosplaying ancient costume, then everything has to be ancient... Mm, underwear of course we're buying, and good ones."
The shop assistant gave him a sidelong look. Now you want good ones? Because underwear protects the private parts? Too rough and it chafes, and then it's no good for you to touch, is it?
Chu Ge nodded, as if they understood each other perfectly.
The assistant pursed her lips and looked over that beauty who made her too jealous to speak — damn it, how is even her figure this good? By eye... a C, or a D? Hard to tell, squeezed by that chest wrap.
"What cup size?" the assistant asked.
Qiu Wuji: "?"
Aren't you a clothing store? Why are you asking about cups? I already have a cup...
She looked at Chu Ge for help. Chu Ge's face was blank: "Haven't touched, wouldn't know."
The fact was, he'd never written that, so he didn't know; when he'd written it, he'd copied from the Rhapsody of the Luo River Goddess: "Plump and slender in proper measure, short or tall just right; shoulders as if carved, waist like a twist of white silk."
Which cup was that again? Chu Ge looked up and thought it over. D, probably?
"Bring a D, let's try?"
The assistant asked, "And panties?"
"Openwork lace, normal size," Chu Ge said, as calmly as asking whether to add an egg to the beef noodles.
Qiu Wuji couldn't understand any of it anyway.
The assistant eyed Qiu Wuji with a strange expression; Qiu Wuji stood there quietly without a word. The assistant looked at Chu Ge with something like awe — Humblebragging, huh? Getting all kinky, and you still say you've never touched them?
Once the assistant went to fetch the goods, Qiu Wuji finally tugged at Chu Ge, a little hesitant: "Um... my legs are showing... I'm not used to it. I saw other people wearing socks over theirs — would that be better... You and the shop didn't mention that..."
Chu Ge blinked, and blinked again.
"Mention it! Definitely mention it! How about black?"
"Black seems all right. It looks more serious..."
"Mm, mm-hm! You're absolutely right."
"And boots..."
"Stiletto heels! Ten centimeters, how about that?"
Chu Ge's wallet was empty, and he'd even pulled a little from Huabei; he had the feeling he'd be living on instant noodles for the whole month.
But! Worth it!
However hungry his stomach got, his eyes had eaten their fill and his heart was thoroughly pleased!
Who said beauty can't be eaten as food?
If anyone in the group chat told Chu Ge that again, he'd reach down the internet cable and slap them: "Even if I starve to death, I still want to see a female immortal cultivator standing in front of me in an OL miniskirt and black stockings!"
"I feel like the way you're looking at me is off..." Back home, Qiu Wuji looked at him distrustfully. "You weren't like this before. It feels weird..."
"What's weird about it? Look at the street — lots of people dress like that, don't they? They're just not as pretty as you. Did you see the looks they gave you? Every one of them was so jealous they wanted to swallow you whole."
I think you're the one who wants to swallow me whole.
Qiu Wuji didn't say it. Thinking it over, there really were a lot of people on the street dressed like that; if Chu Ge did have some unspeakable intention, it was probably just a personal preference for this kind of outfit.
She pressed her legs together; the openwork thing underneath still made her feel humiliated. The people of this world were truly strange — was there really that much difference between wearing it and not? And what if someone saw?
But she had to admit that, odd as it looked, it was very comfortable to wear.
It couldn't compare with Cloud-Woven Brocade, that thing of the immortal Dao, but beside mortal goods — even a wealthy household in the mortal world, she feared, had no material this comfortable.
A golden age... truly, those words are right.
Does this count as a first taste of the mortal world?
"So what does 'girlfriend' mean?" Qiu Wuji asked with a blank face.
Chu Ge, still elated, felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. He suddenly wondered — once she knew everything, would he die?