Inside Feiyun Shang’s dressing room.
Yun Mu was struggling to cover himself with his clothes, his face a mixture of despair and helplessness as he looked at the kindly smiling beautiful woman in front of him who was tugging hard at his clothes, his body trembling violently in resistance.
“Miss Shen… what you’re doing… it’s not right…”
“Oh, where’s the wrong in that? Earlier, it was me who changed Qiu Yue’s clothes without issue, but now it’s a problem when I do it for you?”
Shen Zhi said as she reached out her left hand, intending to use both hands at once.
“Don’t be afraid, I won’t do anything. Kids need to be obedient.”
“Of course not! Men and women shouldn’t touch each other. Sister Shen, you—you—you can’t touch Xiao Mu!”
Before the boy could protest, the loud shout of Shangguan Qiu Yue and the heavy knocking on the door came abruptly.
But this didn’t stir any conscience in Shen Zhi; instead, her hands tugged even harder on his clothes.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Xiao Mu, right? Don’t be so shy. Even though Qiu Yue calls me sister, I’m a mother too,”
she said with a smile as she slowly pulled upward.
“At home, I also change my son’s clothes. He’s about seven or eight years younger than you. You don’t have to be embarrassed.”
Hearing this, Yun Mu paused, looking at the young woman before him with some confusion.
She’s a mother at such a young age?
But then again, his own mother was that young and beautiful when he was five.
Unconsciously, his resistance ceased.
“So that’s how it is… If Miss Shen is already a mother, then helping me change clothes might not be so wrong after all.”
He lowered his gaze slightly.
The image of his mother surfaced in his mind, and the hands tightly clutching his clothes became a bit blurry—blurred enough to make him dazed, almost hallucinating.
Unconsciously, in his eyes, this woman took on a role similar to that of a ‘motherly’ figure, which greatly reduced his aversion.
But this change in him startled Shen Zhi.
She hurriedly withdrew her hands and took out a handkerchief from her bosom, bending over to wipe away the tears gathering at the corner of his eyes while apologizing.
“Sorry, Sister Shen just wanted to joke with you, but it seems I went too far. I’m really sorry. I’ll leave right now.”
With that, she smiled and was about to push the door open, but at the moment her hand touched the lock, her arm was grabbed.
When she turned her head, she met the boy’s sincere gaze.
“What’s this…?”
“It’s nothing, Miss Shen. I was just feeling a bit nostalgic earlier. It’s not your fault. So you can help me change; it’s fine.”
“But you’re shy, aren’t you?”
“The clothes are hard to put on, right? It’s no good if it takes too long and they get damaged.”
At this, Shen Zhi’s worried expression instantly turned bright, and her tone became much more cheerful.
“Oh! You’re so cute! Sister really likes you, oh my.”
Rubbing her head as she praised him, the atmosphere relaxed considerably.
Yun Mu didn’t realize that when he was five, his mother was in her twenties.
Now, although Shen Zhi was also in her twenties and a mother, he was already fourteen, so the age gap between them wasn’t really that big.
Besides, the kind of help with changing clothes that outsiders offer is quite different in nature from the relationship between an elder and a younger one in his mind.
Interestingly…
Shangguan Qiu Yue understood all this.
Hearing Yun Mu’s reluctant acceptance, she became even more anxious.
“No! Xiao Mu! You can’t just give in like that! You have me, how can you let another woman see your body?”
She raised her voice, unaware that she was rambling nonsense and oblivious to the crowd gathering outside the shop entrance, watching the commotion.
“What’s going on? Are they catching someone cheating? Such a young girl? Tsk tsk, kids these days… unbelievable.”
“Hey, don’t say that. Maybe they’re just playing house. After all, it’s broad daylight.”
“Hey, that little girl looks kind of familiar…”
The chatter didn’t reach the girl’s ears, but it instantly sobered Shen Zhi, who had been reveling in her small victory.
She let go of the boy’s shirt she had lifted, holding her head and shaking it.
“Sigh, looks like the dressing game won’t work out after all.”
She sighed deeply, then reached up and clicked open the door lock.
At that moment, Shangguan Qiu Yue, who was knocking hard on the door, burst in and stumbled, narrowly falling against Yun Mu.
Shen Zhi glanced down at the two, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips, then clicked the door shut again.
Shortly after, voices could be heard outside as she chased away the onlookers.
“Um… Xiao Mu, she didn’t do anything to you, right?”
The girl propped herself up and looked the little servant over from all sides.
When she saw his clothes were still intact, her body sagged back down.
“Good, you’re fine. You scared me. Xiao Mu, why did you suddenly agree to let her change your clothes?”
“Miss, Miss Shen is a mother. It should be fine, right?”
“What? That makes no sense! Xiao Mu, are you stupid? Just because she’s a mother doesn’t mean she’s not a woman.”
“Well… that’s true, but mothers and non-mothers are still different, right?”
Yun Mu asked in return, feeling a special warmth toward the word ‘mother.’
“What kind of logic is that? You’re just making stuff up…”
The girl lifted her face buried in the boy’s chest, pouting with a hint of resentment and anger.
But when she saw the seriousness in his eyes, she froze for a few seconds before changing her tone.
“Anyway, no means no.”
Saying this, she buried her face back into his chest, her body involuntarily relaxing.
The scent of pine filled the air, causing Yun Mu’s face to flush slightly.
He lowered his gaze to the delicate long hair and reached out to gently stroke it but restrained himself and lowered his hand again.
“Miss Qiu Yue, isn’t this a bit too close?”
“I don’t care! I was so tired of shouting and banging at the door just now. My body is weak, and if you don’t let me rest, don’t you fear I’ll suddenly go and die here?”
“Miss, it’s better not to say such unlucky things.”
“Don’t act all elder-like.”
“…”
Gradually, the surroundings quieted.
The noisy voices outside and Shen Zhi’s shooing all ceased.
Only the bustling crowd far away and the girl’s light breathing could be heard.
Clearer still was the sound of their approaching heartbeats.
Yun Mu knew well he shouldn’t let the girl depend on him so much, but he found it hard to resist the thing called emotion.
To put it awkwardly, it was like “A man’s tears don’t fall lightly, only when sorrow arrives.”
But over the years, all the kindness the girl gave him was something his instincts found impossible to refuse.
About half an incense stick of time passed, and the girl still showed no sign of getting up.
Just as time ticked by, the sound of “knock knock knock” echoed again.
“Two of you, you’re too young to do anything inappropriate, you know?”
He felt another shiver in his arms.
Shangguan Qiu Yue suddenly looked up, reluctantly climbing off the boy and sitting on the nearby chair, poking with a small hand as she coquettishly said,
“Sister Shen, what are you saying? We definitely wouldn’t do that kind of thing!”
Shen Zhi naturally knew it was impossible; after all, they were just kids.
“Oh, such little devils. One is wise beyond their years but timid; the other is bold but naive. Even if they were three or four years older and left alone, I doubt anything would spark between them.”
Of course, that was just this beautiful woman’s personal opinion.
Yun Mu might remain pure-hearted, but would Shangguan Qiu Yue really be timid?
Hard to say, given she had read quite a few stories.
After waiting another ten seconds or so, Shen Zhi slowly spoke again.
“Shall I come in?”
“Y-yes, come in, it’s fine.”
The door opened, revealing the obediently seated girl and the boy sitting cross-legged.
She covered her mouth to laugh softly, casting a glance at Shangguan Qiu Yue’s flushed face.
“Qiu Yue girl, and your little gentleman… no, little servant’s clothes, do you want sister to help change them too?”
“Ugh…”
The girl wanted to refuse but glanced down at her own clothes and remembered the complicated dressing process from earlier.
She bit her lip and nodded.
“Change… change them, but I have to watch to make sure Sister Shen doesn’t do anything bad again.”
Her unexpected remark made Shen Zhi laugh even harder.
“Good, good. Then you watch sister help your little servant change clothes. Sister promises to do nothing~”
The two quickly agreed without caring what Yun Mu thought.
Thus, a very strange scene unfolded in the dressing room—the beautiful woman gently removed the boy’s clothes while the girl sat nearby, sometimes squinting to stare intently, sometimes shyly covering her face but peeking through her fingers.
Later, it even evolved into the girl wanting to help.
But in the end, Yun Mu couldn’t help but call a halt.
Ignoring status or anything else, thinking only “put myself first,” he pushed them out and took a long time to put on his pants properly.
***
“Xiao Mu, I still feel something’s off. Although Sister Shen didn’t touch you just now, I just feel uneasy. What do you think this is about?”
Just outside Feiyun Shang, Shangguan Qiu Yue instinctively linked her arm through Yun Mu’s, asking a soul-stirring question.
She was asking the boy and herself.
“Miss Qiu Yue, I don’t really understand either, but it is strange…”
“Well, since neither of us understands, let’s not worry about it. Overthinking just brings trouble.”
“Mm… so what now?”
“Let’s stroll around a bit more~ There’s still Flower Lanterns to see tonight.”
“Alright, I’ll follow your lead.”
Behind them,
Shen Zhi leaned against the shop pillar, watching the two small figures walk farther away.
She lightly shook her round fan, covering her face with a smile, feeling a kind of satisfaction.
At that moment, a girl in a black Cloak, who had appeared unnoticed, strode into the shop.
She glanced at the clothes inside and then looked back at the beautiful woman.
“Boss, what clothes did those two guests buy earlier? Get me the same sets—men’s clothes like the boy’s, and women’s clothes according to my size.”
“Ah, right away, guest.”
Under the Cloak, a pair of apricot-shaped eyes bloomed like peach blossoms, stunningly beautiful.
Yet faintly, a flash of blood-red light flickered past.