After the three of them had each been trampled by Lu Chenzhou in turn, they stopped bawling and yelling. Coincidentally, it was then that their food was served, and they obediently picked up their chopsticks and started eating.

Cheng Xi sat with Lu Chenzhou to her left and Tian Rou to her right. After a while, when Tian Rou regained her vigor, she stretched a finger out and poked Baldy. “He called you single. Aren’t you going to retaliate?”

She didn’t have the guts to retaliate on her own—Lu Chenzhou’s aura was too intimidating. So, she urged Baldy on instead.

Who could have expected that Baldy would be even more fearful of Lu Chenzhou than her; he caught her hand and, on the surface, said, “He’s speaking the truth to begin with.” His heart, however, was crying out, 

Please stop talking! Boss Lu’s getting a little upset

.

And so, after dinner, the two of them left almost immediately after making an excuse. Baldy said, “Ah, I’m going to go have a smoke.” Tian Rou said, “Oh, I have to make a call.”

But after they left for their smoke and call, they never returned.

Cheng Xi received a text from Tian Rou soon after she disappeared. “Your Mr. Lu’s angry, I hope you’ll be alright.”

Cheng Xi was speechless at how fast her friend had abandoned her.

She raised her head. Lu Chenzhou had finished eating long ago, and he was resting his head in his hand as he gazed at her meaningfully. His stare was so intense it made Cheng Xi’s hair stand on end.

She felt that she should try to extricate herself from this situation, so she tried to chat with him and lighten the gloomy atmosphere around them. “They’re gone now.”

Lu Chenzhou didn’t respond, only continuing to look at her calmly.

Cheng Xi wasn’t someone who would give in that easily. She earnestly continued speaking. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you in advance. Inviting my friends along without asking you was quite impolite of me. However, my thought was that, since it’s the New Year’s, it’d be better to have more people around. That way, there’d be more liveliness and excitement.”

Lu Chenzhou nodded. She didn’t see wrongly—he had indeed nodded, but what he said was, “You’re dressed very beautifully today.” It turns out that while Lu Chenzhou wasn’t actually mad, he did find Baldy’s and Tian Rou’s presence to be somewhat annoying.

So once they were gone, he no longer had any incentive to hold back.

Given the abrupt shift in topic, Cheng Xi became somewhat embarrassed. “……Thanks.”

But Lu Chenzhou remained his usual cool, calm, and collected self. “Your body is very well suited for this kind of dress.” The long dress was close-fitting and had a soft texture, which accentuated her curves and gave her an exquisite quality. “However, the quality of the dress is somewhat poor, and it doesn’t feel very good to touch.”

Cheng Xi’s face went: ⊙▽⊙

She looked at him, her expression 囧 again. Then, she said, somewhat speechlessly, “I’m really sorry.”

Lu Chenzhou stood up. He really had improved, as he even knew to offer her his hand now. He stretched out his hand as he said, “Let’s go.”

Cheng Xi hesitated momentarily, but eventually accepted his hand, stood up dazedly, and asked, “Where to?”

“To buy new clothes.”

Without an opportunity to reject him, Cheng Xi was dragged away on a shopping trip.

The place where they had just eaten was within the heart of the city, and there were all sorts of famous brands and luxury goods retail outlets in the area. Originally, Cheng Xi had been very worried that Lu Chenzhou, with his tyrannical personality, would bring her to one of these extravagantly luxurious stores and buy overpriced clothing. Thankfully, he didn’t even glance at these storefronts; they went to his car and quickly drove away.

Cheng Xi took a deep breath, thinking that, as long as they didn’t shop in this area, then no matter where they went, she would probably be able to afford at least one or two new articles of clothing…… right?

In the end, Lu Chenzhou still brought her to some high-class custom-made boutique. The storefront wasn’t eye-catching, and it didn’t look particularly grand or imposing, but the interior was tastefully elegant.

Lu Chenzhou was a frequent customer here, and the employees treated him very well as soon as he arrived. Not long after they entered, the female boss came out herself, and when she saw Lu Chenzhou dragging Cheng Xi behind him, a glimmer of astonishment crept through her eyes, before being quickly buried. She put on a smile and asked, “This must be your fiancée, Director Lu?”

Lu Chenzhou nodded in affirmation.

Cheng Xi was left speechless by this exchange. 

She felt as if everyone in the world except for her knew that she had been promised to someone. It was a particularly tart and acrid feeling that hit her deep in her stomach.

But Lu Chenzhou had already started talking to the boss, directly asking, “Do you have any dresses?”

“Of course. We’re currently designing some new ones for the spring season.” She glanced over at Cheng Xi and smiled again. “Her stature’s good and her skin’s white. You can tell from a single glance that she’s a good clothes rack—she’ll look good in anything she wears.”

And then the boss led both of them upstairs and had them sit down. Right away, four employees appeared, each one carrying a set of clothes. 

They were all dresses of various styles, running the gamut from long to short, sexy to conservative, and stylish to cute. Cheng Xi didn’t even have time to look through all of them before Lu Chenzhou waved his hands dismissively. “I don’t want anything too complicated, just something like what she’s wearing right now.”

The lady owner inspected Cheng Xi’s dress a bit more carefully and immediately understood. The next few dresses that she brought out were all long, body-hugging dresses. They were made of some sort of soft material and were particularly nice to the touch.

Before Cheng Xi could even speak up, Lu Chenzhou had already picked out a white one and a red one for her.

Since the dresses themselves seemed moderate and proper, and since Cheng Xi could already picture herself wearing them out with a little jacket on a daily basis, she didn’t say anything and went to the dressing room to try them both on.

When she displayed the white one, the female boss praised her looks—“You look just like a good wife and loving mother.” But Lu Chenzhou merely glanced at her coolly.

And when Cheng Xi came out with the red dress on, the lady owner smiled and sighed, “This is just a sample, but it looks as if it were specifically designed for you.”

Lu Chenzhou sat down on the sofa, leaned back, and carefully looked at Cheng Xi with a hand supporting his forehead. It took him quite a while before he finally got up and walked over with his hand held out.

When Cheng Xi saw his outstretched hand, her scalp went numb and she subconsciously tried to shy away, but Lu Chenzhou had already grabbed her waist. However, before she could respond, he let go of her just as quickly, his voice slightly hoarse as he asked “Is it new?”

The boss clearly knew about his habits, and immediately replied, “Yes, it’s brand new. It was just made yesterday, and not even a model has tried it on yet.”

Lu Chenzhou nodded, and then looked at Cheng Xi again. “Will you wear it out?”

……Had he decided to buy it just like that? She hadn’t yet expressed her opinion at all, ok? Unwilling to cave in that easily, she said, “I think that the white one looks prettier.”

Unfortunately, no one listened to her, and the female boss even said, “You do look very pretty in the white one. You can just buy both of them.”

Lu Chenzhou didn’t care about her opinions, and leisurely ordered, “Get them both.”

Cheng Xi was stunned by his decisiveness. 

Custom-made clothes didn’t have any price tags on them, but Cheng Xi could tell just from the material and the design that they wouldn’t be cheap. But even after she prepared herself, her heart still ached when she finally saw their prices: for just two plain dresses, without any diamond inlay, silver threading, or any fanciful embroidery, it actually cost 12,000 yuan, and this was even after the top VIP discount was applied!

Hmm, anything custom-made is definitely high-class, and I rarely indulge myself… I”ll just consider this a treat for herself

, Cheng Xi thought as she comforted herself. When she saw Lu Chenzhou move to pay the bill, she quickly intercepted him and took out her own wallet. “I’ll pay for myself.” And she handed her card over.

The boss looked at Lu Chenzhou, who looked at Cheng Xi.

Cheng Xi said, pretending to be calm, “Both of these dresses look pretty, but I prefer paying for things with my own money.”

Lu Chenzhou put down the pen, and Cheng Xi released a pent up breath. Since the status between the two of them was still unclear, she would feel very stressed about spending his money no matter how wealthy he was.

But before she could breathe out fully, he twisted his head around and said, “Wrap up all of the dresses in the shop.” He then pointed at Cheng Xi. “She’ll pay.”

Cheng Xi made a ⊙▽⊙ face. “……”

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