Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

After overcoming the hurdle in his heart, Chi Xianqiu slowly let go of his concerns and tried on several cheongsams of different styles before finally choosing the modified aqua blue one.

The cheongsam is very simple in style, without any unnecessary embellishments. The knee-length looks neat, and the waist design is just right, fitting but not tight.

The pure aqua blue was clear and bright, making her already fair complexion even brighter. Her eyebrows and eyes, which were originally only considered delicate, also appeared more beautiful against this color.

"Fangfei..." Chi Xianqiu stood in front of the fitting mirror, gently tugging at the hem of her cheongsam. A blush appeared on her cheeks, and she smiled shyly at Yu Fangfei beside her. "How about this one?"

Yu Fangfei looked her over carefully and nodded with satisfaction: "I think this one suits you very well. It's better than the ones I tried before."

"Then let's go with this one. I'll go change first." Chi Xianqiu smiled and turned to the clerk beside him, saying apologetically, "I'm sorry to bother you with trying on so many pieces."

This is the clerk's daily work, and he didn't find it particularly troublesome. However, seeing that it was already more than half an hour past his usual working time, he naturally hoped to finish early.

So, seeing that Chi Xianqiu had finally made his choice, he breathed a sigh of relief calmly, a sincere professional smile still on his face. "No trouble, this is my job."

She pointed to a few cheongsams piled on a nearby shelf and said, "If you're sure you want this one, I'll put the others away and hang them up."

"Okay, thank you for your help." Chi Xianqiu nodded and walked towards the fitting room while casually asking, "By the way, how much is this dress I'm wearing?"

"You have a good eye," the clerk replied with a smile as she deftly arranged the cheongsams on the shelf. "This one is new from France. It's the only one left in the store. The price is forty yuan."

"Hiss——" Even though she was mentally prepared, Yu Fangfei, who was standing aside, still couldn't help but gasp.

However, she immediately remembered the lesson she had just learned when she almost lost her composure, and in the end she forced herself to hold back and not yell out loudly.

Chi Xianqiu's footsteps paused slightly, but then returned to normal.

Last night she carefully counted the money in the small cloth bag. It was fifty-three yuan and seventy cents in total. Although it was not a lot, it was enough to buy this cheongsam.

Soon, Chi Xianqiu changed back into her own clothes and walked out of the fitting room. She handed the cheongsam she had chosen to the clerk, then took her handbag from Yu Fangfei, took out the heavy small cloth bag from it, and began to carefully count the banknotes and coins inside.

But as he counted, Chi Xianqiu's fingertips began to tremble.

She pursed her lips and counted the money carefully again, somewhat unconvinced. However, no matter how many times she counted, even after she poured all the banknotes and coins in the bag onto the counter and turned the bag upside down, the total amount of money stubbornly remained at thirty yuan and seventy cents, not a penny more.

A sense of panic surged in her heart, and she began to frantically search her handbag, inside and out, searching every corner, but still found nothing.

Seeing her pale face and panic, Yu Fangfei quickly pulled her aside and asked anxiously in a low voice, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Chi Xianqiu raised his head, his face as pale as paper, and his voice trembled slightly, "Money...not enough money."

"How can it not be enough?" Yu Fangfei was surprised. "Didn't you say you counted enough last night?"

"It was enough! I counted it clearly last night; it was fifty-three dollars and seventy cents!" Chi Xianqiu's voice was filled with anxiety. "But now... now it's only thirty dollars and seventy cents! A full twenty dollars less!"

"Twenty yuan?!" Yu Fangfei was also shocked by the number. Her voice couldn't help but rise a little, then quickly lowered, "Did you lose it on the way? Or... did you remember it wrong?"

"Impossible! I remember it very clearly!" Chi Xianqiu retorted subconsciously, but as soon as he said that, his mind suddenly flashed back to the panicked and evasive look that flashed across his sister Chi Xianxia's face when he went out today.

At that time, she just thought that her sister got up early and was not fully awake, or was in a bad mood... But now, putting these fragmented images together, a possibility that made Chi Xianqiu breathe rapidly suddenly emerged in her mind - her sister stole her money.

Thinking of this, Chi Xianqiu's face suddenly turned frighteningly pale, and even her lips lost their color. She bit her tongue hard, forcing herself to calm down, looked at Yu Fangfei, and said in a hoarse voice.

"Fang Fei... do you... do you have any money on you? Can you... lend me some first?"

Yu Fangfei knew the situation was urgent and quickly went to look through her bag.

Her family situation was even worse than Chi Xianqiu's. Usually, her parents would only give her a few cents of pocket money every three to five days. When she went out today, she specifically begged her mother for a long time, saying that she wanted to buy a book that she urgently needed, and her mother made an exception and gave her two dollars.

She took out the two crumpled one-yuan bills and stuffed them into Chi Xianqiu's hand, "This is all I have, it's all here, but..." When she said this, she met Chi Xianqiu's somewhat desperate eyes, and she couldn't say any more.

Even if these two dollars were added, it would still be seven dollars and thirty cents short of forty dollars. For Chi Xianqiu right now, this amount of money was simply a drop in the bucket.

The two were anxiously discussing countermeasures, while on the other side, the clerk who had already packed the clothes saw that the two had strange expressions on their faces, and his eyes quickly swept over the pile of coins scattered on the counter. Then he frowned, and the smile he had been forcing finally collapsed.

These two people came in right when she was about to get off work. Not only did they complain about the prices, they also spent a long time picking and choosing. And in the end, it seemed like they didn't have enough money?!

A nameless anger suddenly rushed into the clerk's heart, making her breathing quicken. She raised her eyebrows and was about to sneer, but was abruptly interrupted by a gentle female voice.

"Put it on my account."

This voice is so familiar! The clerk's heart suddenly jumped, and the anger that was brewing on his face froze instantly.

She subconsciously looked in the direction of the sound, and when she saw the figure not far away, her anger immediately subsided.

Lin Xi, the eldest daughter of the Lin family, who should have left long ago, was now sitting quietly on the velvet sofa in the corner of the store for customers to rest.

Lin Xi's sitting posture was not very straight, it could even be described as lazy.

His entire back was relaxedly sunken into the sofa cushions, one leg elegantly folded over the other, his toes dangling in the air tapping rhythmically to the records in the store. His posture was very much like a lazy cat lying in the garden in the afternoon to bask in the sun.

Her eyelashes were slightly drooped as she admired the brightly colored nail polish on her nails with great interest, as if the embarrassment and anxiety around her had nothing to do with her.

The clerk looked at Lin Xi's nonchalant expression and suspected that he had just had auditory hallucinations. He couldn't help but licked his dry lips and asked tentatively in a low voice.

"Ms. Lin...Ms. Lin? Did you just say...?"

Hearing this, Lin Xi slowly raised her eyelids, stood up unhurriedly under the watchful eyes of the shop assistant, reached out to straighten the non-existent wrinkles on her skirt, then turned her gaze lightly to Chi Xianqiu, who was standing stiffly in front of the counter with a pale face, and Yu Fangfei, who was also at a loss, and raised her chin slightly.

"Well, put this lady's bill on my account."