Chapter 22 — Should she switch back to high heels?
He Xiu immediately began packing up his unfinished lunch and left after he said this. Jian Yan sat there, her soul having yet to return from this great change.
It seems as if I had said something I shouldn"t have. Director He appears furious. Originally, as an average employee, she shouldn"t have brought up these kinds of topics with him, but perhaps because she had been sharing meals with him so delightfully for some time, it had caused her to unwittingly exceed her bounds.
Not only had she exceeded her bounds, it seemed as if she had stepped on a landmine.
He Xiu"s words about Zhao Ying Fang not being his mother were still incessantly spiraling around in Jian Yan"s mind. Apart from shock, her brain was jigsawing together a huge drama of grat.i.tude and grudges among the rich and powerful families.
Only half of her lunchbox had been eaten, but Jian Yan no longer had an appet.i.te. She blankly sat in the dining hall for a while before packing up her lunchbox and returning to the store.
In the evening, Jian Yan"s heart brimmed with absolute apprehension. She was actually not anxious about receiving a sudden letter of dismissal from He Xiu; instead, she was afraid that she had accidentally, with a few casually said words, truly hurt someone.
She unwillingly recalled her past. She knew that scars opened by others hurt tremendously.
Why did she want to speak with him of his family?
Jian Yan was very upset. Even with someone she considered a friend for several years, there were some topics that couldn"t be brought up casually, let alone&h.e.l.lip; She and He Xiu"s relationship was far from reaching that extent.
The site manager had also detected that her complexion was not very good the entire evening and was under the impression that her body was unwell. Yet when the site manager asked her, she didn"t say anything.
With great difficulty, she endured until she was about to get off work. Jian Yan glanced at He Xiu, who was quickly pa.s.sing through each floor of the department store with the respective floor supervisor guiding him around. From start to finish, however, he didn"t enter or even glance in the direction of Fantasy Wardrobe.
In her heart, Jian Yan became even more dispirited. She originally had been hesitant about finding an opportunity to apologize to him, but now it seemed that it wasn"t necessary because he simply didn"t want to speak with her.
After she returned home, she began to draw, thinking that she could temporarily forget this matter with He Xiu. In the end, she finished the Christmas Celebration ill.u.s.tration, but her heart still hadn"t been eased in the slightest. She opened QQ and looked through her friends list. She ended up sending Nan Si a message.
Tang Zhi: 「Great G.o.d Nan Si, are you there?」
Nan Si was usually on in the evening. In the past, when she had sent him a message late at night, he would reply soon after. Today, she waited until it was time for her to sleep, yet Nan Si still hadn"t sent her a message.
She felt that today, she had definitely come across a contrary Mercury.1 Not only had she angered Director He, even Nan Si was ignoring her.
The next day, she was also on the evening shift. In the morning, she once again took the rare chance to dawdle in bed. Lin Zhen had called her, but Jian Yan hadn"t been awake yet. After the phone rang for a good while, she woke up in a daze and accepted the call. "Hey?"
Lin Zhen stared blankly into s.p.a.ce, her phone pressed to her head, before she said, "What wind is blowing today? You actually still haven"t gotten out of bed?"
Jian Yan mumbled to herself and didn"t say anything. Last night, she had not slept well. She had constantly dreamt of Director He chasing her around to kill her.
"Let me tell you; today, I need to see the head of the family."
Jian Yan was still a bit sleepy. Subconsciously, she asked, "See what head of the family?"
Lin Zhen elaborated, "Tang Zheng and I talked about a collaboration. The main point is that we"re going to act as each other"s lover. Tang Zheng and I are currently being pressed to marry, but our circ.u.mstances are still somewhat different. He doesn"t want to marry while I want to marry, it"s just that the matchmaker keeps on introducing me to repulsive people. I think Tang Zheng"s friends are definitely all of excellent quality, like Master He. Together with him, maybe I can soon get a boyfriend!"
Lin Zhen somewhat excitedly finished this long recount and then blurted out into the speaker, "Hey, Jian Yan, are you listening?"
"Ah, I"m here&h.e.l.lip;" Jian Yan dazedly responded. "You said you and Tang Zheng talked about a collaboration&h.e.l.lip;"
"Mhmm. Furthermore, it is relatively safe to collaborate with him, because he is&h.e.l.lip;you understand!"
"Mn&h.e.l.lip;"
"Are you still sleepy?"
"Mn&h.e.l.lip;"
"&h.e.l.lip;" Seldom did Jian Yan oversleep. Lin Zhen felt that she shouldn"t disturb her anymore. "Then you continue sleeping."
Originally, she wanted to ask Jian Yan to consult with her on what clothes to wear today, but it seemed that it was better to rely on herself!
After Jian Yan hung up, she slept again. She only woke up when noon approached. Seeing the time, she jumped in fright. How had she fallen from grace to this extent?!
As she reflected upon herself, she headed to the kitchen to make lunch. By this time, she had a near complete understanding of He Xiu"s tastes. Today, she especially made two dishes He Xiu liked to eat with the intention of apologizing to him as well. After she finished making these dishes, she suddenly recalled that Lin Zhen had called her this morning, right? Did she really call her, or did she dream that Lin Zhen had called her?
Wu&h.e.l.lip; I can ask her later when she is free.
She finished eating lunch and packed up her things, going upstairs to change her clothes. Glancing at her armoire filled with clothes, her lost feeling finally alleviated slightly.
After dressing herself prettily, she once again glanced to see if Nan Si had replied to her message yet.
Still hadn"t——the message she had sent last night was still lying there, lonely.
It was the end of the year, so perhaps he was very busy&h.e.l.lip;
She turned off her computer and grabbed her lunchbox before heading to work.
The Christmas mood in the department store was steadily becoming stronger. Many brands also began to release a batch of seasonal clothing with a primarily red color scheme. There were still a lot of clients coming to buy clothes, so Jian Yan was busy until 5:30PM, where she went to eat in the dining hall as scheduled.
Today, He Xiu was not there. She intentionally ate slowly, waiting until it was near 6:00PM, but He Xiu still didn"t show up. Jian Yan packed her lunchbox and left the dining hall.
Switching with the colleagues who went off to eat dinner, Jian Yan put away her lunchbox and turned round to catch sight of a girl weeping endlessly in Fantasy Wardrobe as she tried to choose clothes.
Jian Yan stared blankly before asking a colleague beside her, "What happened?"
Her colleague said, "What else could have happened? She was broken up with, so she is buying things to quench the anxiety."
Jian Yan: "&h.e.l.lip;"
"This item, this item, this item, wrap them all up for me." The girl inhaled and exhaled through her nose before handing the clothes to a sales a.s.sistant standing to the side.
The sales a.s.sistant held the clothes and smiled at her. "Are you not going to try them on? The clothing style can only be seen when worn on the body."
"No need. All clothes are like that anyway." After the girl finished speaking, she once again strolled around, handing items to the sales a.s.sistant following her. "Wrap this item as well."
Deep within her heart, the sales a.s.sistant felt a little headache. Of course, she naturally wished for the client to buy more, but a person like this who was clearly randomly purchasing clothes, when she calmed down tomorrow, she may come to the mall to cause trouble.
It was not like she hadn"t come across this type of client before, which was why she had this headache.
Jian Yan watched for a moment before choosing a pair of high heels from the counter and walking up to that girl. "Would you like to try these high heels? This year, shoes with chunky heels and thick soles have come back to society"s attention. In each major autumn-winter show, these shoes can be seen. This pair is the latest fashion from biubiu. Not only is the velvet texture very popular this year, the color is also a very neocla.s.sical wine-red."
The girl originally was somewhat upset at this sales a.s.sistant for popping up to sell her something, but upon catching sight of the high heels she held in her hand, she felt that it was indeed very pretty.
Jian Yan took out an item from the clothes she had picked out just now and said to her, "This knitted jacket with wide flowing sleeves you chose is also a fashionable style this year. But flowing sleeves and flared pants all need to use thick-soled high heels to balance them out. Do you want to try?"
The girl thought it over for a moment and sobbed out, "Then, then I"ll try it."
Jian Yan helped her try on the shoes. The sales a.s.sistant that had been following behind the girl placed the clothes on the sofa before quickly leaving and returning with a gla.s.s of warm water and a tissue.
"Drink a bit of water."
She handed over both the gla.s.s of water and the tissue together. The girl"s gaze was fixated on the things she held in her hands for a spell before accepting them. "Thank, thank you."
She used the tissue to wipe her face before drinking the gla.s.s of water. The warm water seemed to alleviate the pain in her heart slightly. Jian Yan helped her put on the shoes. She stood up and smiled at her. "Done. Stand up and walk around to see."
Although this pair of heels was high, because of the waterproof platform and chunky heel, it was not very difficult to walk in. And yet the moment the girl stood up, she felt as if she had become a different person.
"High heels are a very magical existence. It can transform a girl into a woman within a moment." Jian Yan stood beside her and continued, "Not only is it a model"s weapon, it is also one of the sources of confidence for a woman. Even if the height is only a few centimeters, it can still bring about a heavenly difference and other changes. Like the height of a few centimeters, life can also stand at a new elevation."
The girl, who had been sobbing and sniffling, miraculously stopped her tears. As she walked in these high heels, she seemingly began to unwittingly raise her head higher and her chest forward.
"The founder of biubiu once said, "Every woman needs a pair of high heels suited for her. Not only can your high heels bring you into a good mood, it can also allow others to sense your graceful bearing.""
When the girl heard her words, she nodded and said, "Our teacher also said this. "When you look at a person, first look at their shoes." Wearing this kind of high heels, even if I enter a splendorous and majestic major five-star hotel, I will not be even the slightest bit timid."
Jian Yan smiled at her and didn"t say any more. In the end, the girl only bought the high heels and that knitted jacket with wide flowing sleeves before leaving Fantasy Wardrobe. Jian Yan watched, her thoughts stirring. High heels really are magical things. With just a single pair, people can immediately be stronger.
Should she switch back to high heels?
She looked at her own flat-heeled leather shoes and sighed lightly. Perhaps if she switched back to high heels tomorrow, she wouldn"t be so dispirited.
That evening when He Xiu did his patrol, he still deliberately didn"t look in Fantasy Wardrobe"s direction. Yesterday, he hadn"t replied to Jian Yan"s message, and he also hadn"t gone to the dining hall today to eat because he was very vexed, vexed at himself for unexpectedly talking of his past history with Jian Yan so easily.
When Jian Yan had mentioned his parents, he really had become very angry, but he shouldn"t have spoken so irresponsibly, spilling everything&h.e.l.lip;
He Xiu fidgeted, mussing up his hair as he thought of this. He opened the door to the He Mansion and entered.
The light in the drawing room shone brightly, surprising him. Every day, he would return very late from the department store and almost everyone in the mansion would be asleep. Today&h.e.l.lip; He walked over to see. He Chen was sitting in the drawing room, and from his appearance, he seemed to have been waiting for him.
He frowned faintly and acted as if he hadn"t seen him, directly heading upstairs. He Chen called out from behind him, "I was wondering why you would be together with a sales a.s.sistant, but as it turns out, she is a famous manhua artist! What was her name? Tang Zhi?"
He Xiu"s steps faltered slightly. He turned round to look at him.
With a completely deplorable look in his eyes, He Chen chuckled and said, "Don"t look at me like that. I just casually hired a private investigator to look into her. You&h.e.l.lip;"
He didn"t get to finish speaking because He Xiu had already rushed up to him and lifted him up by the collar. "Don"t think that just because I have not dealt with you for so many years, I will never deal with you, got it?"
Author"s Note
My mother"s sister is in pain, so this was posted even later. I apologize QAQ
Astrology: Mercury going the wrong way. In astrology, if Mercury is going the wrong way, the contrary planet will cause memory, cooperation, transportation, communication, and so on to go awry in every matter, causing an individual"s mood to be downcast. ↩