Chapter 13 Details
Friday, May 10.
After a silent night, the early-rising girls busied themselves both inside and outside their rental apartment, preparing breakfast, hanging laundry, cleaning, and tidying up the room. Both were a bit awkward, seemingly avoiding the contentious topic from the early morning hours.
“Room 303, package delivery, there are quite a few boxes, come down to get them yourself!”
Downstairs, a small freight tricycle came to a slow stop, followed by the loud shout of the delivery person.
After exchanging a glance, Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao hurried downstairs. Several boxes of various sizes took two trips to bring into the apartment.
“Hmm? A computer? A small medical temperature-controlled blood storage box? And a phone? This anniversary celebration user reward activity seems a bit extravagant…”
As they opened a few boxes, delicately designed everyday items appeared one by one, all essentials for their future life. But for Jiang Yan, she increasingly found the young man named Zhong Jing to be elusive.
Perhaps these are all included in that expense? Jiang Yan could only reason this way to explain it.
“Clear off the desk in the bedroom; I’ll set up the computer. You put the temperature-controlled storage box in the living room and plug it in. Oh, and this afternoon we’ll go to the telecom business hall to buy a phone card. We’ll go to that underground store tonight.”
Jiang Yan continued her tasks methodically, while Jiang Yao replied softly.
With each modern necessity in place and the apartment tidied up, the two exchanged friendly smiles, reconciling as if nothing had happened.
Soon, they sat side by side at the computer, connecting to broadband internet.
Jiang Yan took charge of the operation while Jiang Yao held both of their identification cards, reading out their personal information.
The process of registering their email progressed slowly, and when a routine greeting email from the system appeared, both clenched their fists, feeling very happy.
The new identity was indeed legitimate!
Immediately after, a series of account registrations unfolded, and Jiang Yao even imagined the sensation of freedom when she could once again surf the internet using her phone.
Once the registrations were finished, Jiang Yan promptly sent a confirmation email to Zhong Jing using her new address.
Within five minutes, a reply arrived, containing just a sly smile emoji but accompanied by a rather sizeable attachment: a video file.
Downloading the attachment with curiosity and clicking to open the video, both girls were momentarily taken aback.
Inside the video was footage of Jiang Yan’s first entry into Zhong Jing’s company; although there was no sound, every action of the girl was clearly visible, edited from various angles and times.
“What does he mean by this? Is it a video of me being secretly filmed?”
Jiang Yao was puzzled, while Jiang Yan frowned slightly.
It seemed that the other party really wasn’t joking; ever since she entered that room, every action had been recorded.
But why send it to me? To flaunt? To warn? Or is it some kind of hint?
After watching the video twice, Jiang Yan stood up in realization, pacing back and forth in the bedroom, while Jiang Yao still wore a confused expression.
The black-haired girl in the video moved with composure; her walking and sitting were calculated, exuding a sense of incongruity and stereotype that contrasted with the youthful grace of her figure.
Though the anatomical features of women’s skeletons naturally result in some visual differences in body language compared to men, many of Jiang Yan’s actions in the footage clearly did not align with the identity of a typical young girl.
The other party was clearly hinting that she was different from ordinary women! Moreover, the mannerisms were visibly awkward.
A few minutes later, Jiang Yan stopped contemplating, her expression turning serious as she pulled Jiang Yao to sit on the edge of the bed.
“Xiao Yao, have you gotten used to things these days?”
Jiang Yan’s grave expression and calm tone gradually created an eerie atmosphere in the room.
“Um… I guess…” Jiang Yao moved her lips a few times, a bit uneasy in her gaze.
Perhaps since that night they had sneaked into the small western-style building in D City, the two had entered a state of deliberate avoidance.
Aside from the bloodthirst problem hanging over them like the sword of Damocles, neither had voiced specific thoughts about their personal changes. When it came to bathing, whether they had examined their own situations further, it remained tacitly unsaid.
Even the outfits they wore had been taken from that small house; apart from frequent washing, they hadn’t changed at all.
“Bro, actually… how should I put this, no one will laugh at my mouth and hands anymore.”
After a few seconds of silence, Jiang Yao turned to look at the dressing mirror on one side of the bedroom, extending her left hand and forcing a smile.
Her delicate, fair face, rosy lips, and the previously noticeable scars from the cleft lip repair surgery now were nowhere to be seen. The hand that had undergone surgery to separate fused fingers had transformed into beautiful, flawless slender fingers.
Following Jiang Yao’s gaze, Jiang Yan also began to notice the details about their clothing: her light blue T-shirt was clean but wrinkled; Jiang Yao’s originally smooth and stunning light golden hair was now a bit disordered at the back of her head, the strands no longer smooth.
Moments later, Jiang Yan struck with resolve, patting Jiang Yao on the back: “Let’s go buy some clothes!”
“Huh? It’s early in the morning, buy clothes? I still want to play computer games…”
“Stop talking nonsense, hurry up!”
“We can shop online!”
“There’s not a single cent in the bank card; how can you shop online?”
“…”
……
……
The streets near the residential area were lively and noisy, with vendors selling breakfast, vegetables, and fruits, all chaotically arranged as old folks came and went.
Unlike the elegant splendor of the downtown CBD, there were no fashionable young men and women strolling around here, nor were there leisurely urban professionals; instead, this place was filled with the earthy atmosphere of daily life.
Perhaps it was a weekday, or maybe online shopping had altered the consumption habits of most young people, making it increasingly difficult for dwindling physical stores to survive.
While places like fruit shops, pastry stores, and noodle shops still had some customers, clothing stores and shoe stores were desolate, with many shops on the brink of closing, plastering clearance sale signs everywhere.
Shirts, pleated skirts, dresses, umbrella skirts, A-line skirts, tank tops, denim skirts…
Chiffon, printed, floral, polka-dot, slit, half skirts…
European, Korean, Chinese, modern, classical, casual, professional…
And that’s just skirts, which already left Jiang Yan and Jiang Yao bewildered, not even tapping into the vast array of options available. However, more than half of what they liked were still denim items: durable and easy to wash.
All were nameless, civilian brands focused on being cheap, ample, and filling, and the multicolored tote bags filled every finger of the two girls. As for quality, who knows?
Gradually, the contents of the tote bags were nearing full capacity. Clothes and shoes… assorted items, even if they were affordable or deeply discounted, had already cost several thousand yuan.
Amid the overly enthusiastic reception and interaction from the shopkeepers, the two finally confirmed their body measurements.
For example: Jiang Yan, height 171 cm, weight 53 kg, tall and elegant; Jiang Yao, height 166 cm, weight 49 kg, pretty and dainty.
After leaving a shoes store with clearance discounts, the shopkeeper behind them wore a particularly bright smile. Jiang Yan walked ahead, unfazed, while Jiang Yao followed behind, looking a bit pale.
“Bro… let’s go to that noodle shop; we haven’t had lunch yet… my feet are about to break.”
Jiang Yao rubbed her stomach, showing a pained expression.
Ahead appeared a beautifully decorated storefront, and Jiang Yan hesitated a moment before trudging over after much inner conflict.
“Bro, what else do we need? Isn’t this enough?”
Jiang Yao, struggling to contain her growing impatience, spoke in an irate tone.
“Underwear!”
Jiang Yan maintained her composure and walked straight into the store.
Pulling out her newly activated phone, she checked the time; it was well past noon, and Jiang Yao felt a wave of fatigue wash over her.
……
At 6 PM, back in the rental apartment.
In the living room, Jiang Yan bit into a piece of bread, scrolling through various trending news on her phone as Jiang Yao emerged from the bedroom, dressed in a shirt dress.
“Clearly, I tried it all on at the store, why do I have to wear it now… wait, why does it feel a bit big?”
Jiang Yao frowned, tugging at certain details of the dress, mumbling to herself.
“Hmm, that light blue one is mine.” Jiang Yan chewed on her bread, her expression calm, “And go change the floral dress inside the white tote bag, that’s also mine.”
“Oh… ah!? Bro, you mean I’ve been trying on your clothes for the past hour?”
Jiang Yao finally snapped back to reality, almost in tears.
Jiang Yan lowered her head slightly, touched her nose to mask her embarrassment: “Forget it, let’s pull everything out, cut off the tags, wash them, and wear them tomorrow. And be mindful of the color differences, or they’ll bleed into each other.”
Countless
tote bags were dumped into a corner, cut tags scattered on the floor, and the sofa piled up into a small mountain of colorful clothing.
Picking up a cute piece of underwear, Jiang Yan’s face reddened slightly, barely noticeable.
It seemed to remind her of a few hours ago, when she had asked a middle-aged female shopkeeper to assist her in trying on while using an injury as an excuse.
Through that experiential observation, Jiang Yan finally understood why, since the day she had taken someone else’s underwear from the small house, she had been feeling uncomfortable around her chest and back: it turned out she hadn’t been wearing the right fit, or even the correct size and style.
“Hey, bro, look at this… am I really bigger than you?”
Jiang Yao held up a lace-heavy piece of underwear and sidled over, deliberately bumping into Jiang Yan with her shoulder, wearing a mysterious expression: “That female shopkeeper said I’m a C cup, and you’re just a B!”
“What, feeling like you’ve finally surpassed me at something? Are you a weirdo?”
Jiang Yan grumpily placed the underwear down and picked up a cute, delicate pair of panties to open the package.
“Bro, can you believe this little fabric costs two or three hundred a set? It’s even more expensive than the combined price of my top and bottoms! And they have all these fancy lace decorations; no one will see them inside, is it really necessary?”
Jiang Yao waved the underwear around in front of her, flipping it over and over again as she felt its texture.
“Well, that’s because… because…”
Jiang Yan turned to look at Jiang Yao, who was becoming increasingly bizarre, and after a long pause, she couldn’t find a “because” to say.
After several seconds, the living room echoed with the carefree laughter of the two girls, warming the atmosphere of the shabby rental apartment significantly.
