Inside the fitting room.
Fei Xia looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath.
She glanced down at the somewhat dirty, worn leg coverings on her feet, then at the reflection of the red-haired girl wrapped in the deep gray high-end cloak, radiating a cold, razor-sharp presence.
A strong sense of dissonance surged through her.
“Hey! Can’t you understand human speech? Get out here! Stop playing dead inside!”
The sharp, grating voice outside urged her again, followed by loud banging that shook the door panel.
So noisy.
Fei Xia’s eyes turned icy.
She yanked the fitting room door open.
The heavily made-up clerk standing right outside, hand still raised to keep pounding, jumped in fright.
But the moment she saw the scene before her, a flash of genuine amazement crossed her snobbish eyes.
The twelve-thousand-eight-hundred-yuan Shadow Walker cloak looked as if it had been tailor-made for the girl standing there.
The deep gray fabric showed a premium matte texture under the lights.
The sharply tailored hood half-covered her slightly messy red hair, revealing only a delicate, fair chin and those cold, indifferent eyes.
The outfit that had looked ordinary on the hanger now gave off a battle-hardened, mysterious aura when worn by her.
But the clerk’s gaze quickly scanned downward like a machine, landing on the leg coverings and shoes.
Amazement instantly twisted into even more vicious contempt and mockery.
“Yo, dressing up all fancy like you belong here? Really think you’re somebody?”
The clerk crossed her arms, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Done trying it on yet? This is imported stuff. Can you afford to dirty it? Hurry up and take it off. Don’t smear your broke-ass stink all over it.”
Fei Xia had zero interest in arguing with this foul-mouthed woman. She silently undid the buttons at the collar.
Seeing that Fei Xia wasn’t responding, the clerk assumed she was timid and easy to bully. Her arrogance flared even higher.
To show the VIP guests how dedicated she was—and to vent some inexplicable jealousy—she actually reached out to yank at Fei Xia’s collar herself.
“What are you dawdling for? Need me to help you strip or what? Hand it over!”
The instant those bright-red-nailed fingers were about to touch the cloak—
Fei Xia raised her hand and slapped the clerk’s away with crisp efficiency.
“Back off. I’ll take it off myself.”
“You… you dare push me?!”
The clerk clutched her hand. It didn’t hurt, but the humiliation of being rejected by a broke nobody made her explode.
She lunged forward in a rage, ready to tear at the cloak.
“You broke little—”
“Stop right there!!”
An angry, clear shout rang out from nearby.
An orange figure shot over like a protective little tiger, wind whipping behind her as she planted herself firmly in front of Fei Xia.
“Who gave you permission to lay a hand on my junior?!”
Amber Flowing Light glared, her usual smiling eyes now blazing with fury.
The clerk saw it was the celebrity Amber Flowing Light and her twisted expression instantly flipped into a pitiful victim act.
“Miss Amber! Careful! This broke girl not only tried on clothes without permission, but when I caught her she even pushed and hit me…”
“Stole it?”
Amber Flowing Light didn’t bother hiding her anger. She hooked Fei Xia’s arm possessively and announced at full volume.
“This is my junior! I brought her here to buy these clothes!”
Then Amber Flowing Light shot the heavily made-up clerk a cold glance and suddenly turned toward the corner of the store.
There stood a timid intern who had been too scared to step in and stop the fight.
“Hey! You over there! Yeah, you! Get over here, quick!”
Amber Flowing Light waved her over.
The intern walked up, looking completely lost.
Amber Flowing Light pointed at the cloak on Fei Xia, then at the whole rack of high-end clothes she had picked earlier, and declared in a grand voice:
“This cloak, plus that whole pile over there, and the entire row—everything! No need to wrap them. Just cut off the tags!”
With that, she pulled out a black card, completely ignoring the now deathly-pale clerk, and shoved it into the intern’s hands.
“Go swipe it! This sale is all yours! No password!”
The intern clutched the card like it was a burning ingot of gold, heart exploding with joy.
Thanks to nature’s generosity!!!
The entire store erupted in murmurs.
That was a sale worth tens of thousands. The commission alone would be several thousand at least!
The heavily made-up clerk’s face turned green. She looked as if she had swallowed a fly.
She watched helplessly as the black card that should have been hers landed in someone else’s hands.
The pain of watching a cooked duck fly away hurt worse than two slaps to the face.
“M-Miss Amber… I…”
She tried to salvage the situation and force out a smile.
“Shut up.”
Amber Flowing Light didn’t even glance at her.
“As someone in the service industry, judging people by appearances is the biggest taboo.”
A gentle yet chilling voice delivered the final blow.
Qinghai Starlight walked over slowly, several gift bags for the children in her hands.
She didn’t curse. She simply fixed the clerk with the same cold, camera-ready gaze—except this time there was no smile in it.
“Is this the so-called top-tier service that Star Crown always brags about?”
Qinghai Starlight sighed softly, her tone laced with regret.
“It seems I’ll need to reconsider my endorsement contract for next season. I refuse to let my fans be insulted like this in a store I represent.”
This wasn’t just a slap to the face. This was a knife to the heart, a threat to her entire livelihood.
The clerk’s legs went weak; she nearly dropped to her knees.
Offending these two meant she could forget about her commission—and possibly forget about having a career in this industry at all.
Just as the store manager came rushing out from the back, sweating bullets and ready to kneel and apologize to smooth things over—
Ding—
The glass door was pushed open again.
Two burly men in black suits entered first.
The moment they stood there, their trained, imposing aura made the previously crowded customers fall silent and instinctively step aside, clearing a path.
Then a black-haired girl in perfectly tailored high-end casual wear and sunglasses walked in at a leisurely pace.
The entire store’s atmosphere seemed to drop several degrees.
The girl stopped in the center of the crowd, removed her sunglasses, and casually handed them to the bodyguard behind her.
Her obsidian-black eyes swept across the room and finally landed on the flustered store manager.
“Why is it so noisy?”
Gu Lingyue frowned slightly, her tone lazy yet carrying the natural pressure of someone born into power.
“I just stopped by to check this season’s reports. What kind of circus are you people putting on for me?”
“Y-Young Miss Gu?!”
The manager’s knees truly gave out this time. Cold sweat poured down his face.
The big boss herself had arrived!
“Gu Lingyue?”
Qinghai Starlight looked at her in surprise.
“Yo, Xia… Qinghai.”
Gu Lingyue didn’t put on airs.
She waved instead, glanced at the unpaid gifts in Qinghai Starlight’s hands, and gave a light, friendly laugh.
“I’ve told you so many times—anything you want in my store, just take it and put it on my tab. Why are you still lining up to pay? How are these people handling things?”
Qinghai Starlight shook her head awkwardly.
“It’s too expensive. It doesn’t feel right…”
“Not at all. Your endorsement is the most valuable thing here.”
After the brief, polite exchange, Gu Lingyue’s gaze cut straight through the crowd and locked onto the true protagonist of the little drama.
Fei Xia stood there, silently gripping the hem of her cloak and trying to shrink her presence as much as possible—even wanting to pull the hood lower.
It didn’t work.
Gu Lingyue looked at Fei Xia in the new cloak, the corner of her mouth curving into an amused smile, like a hunter who had just spotted her prey in the trap.
“Long time no see.”
Gu Lingyue walked straight over, ignoring the trembling clerk and even ignoring Amber Flowing Light who stood protectively in front.
She reached out with slender fingers and personally adjusted the collar of Fei Xia’s cloak, the intimate gesture making Amber Flowing Light’s warning bells scream.
“You look pretty sharp in it. Suits you.”
Gu Lingyue leaned close to Fei Xia’s ear, her breath warm and orchid-scented, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear, laced with teasing amusement.
“But I bet you couldn’t bear to buy it yourself, right? What’s this? Hoping a rich lady will keep you?”
Fei Xia froze, about to say something firm in refusal.
“However…”
Gu Lingyue’s fingertips lightly traced along Fei Xia’s collarbone and stopped beside her earlobe. She smirked.
“I’ll give you this cloak. And that clueless clerk? I’ll fire her for you—consider it me venting your anger.”
Her voice dropped to a low, seductive tone.
“In exchange, when we get back to T City, accompany me somewhere. There’s a small problem I need to borrow you for.”
Although reluctance was written all over Fei Xia’s face, her body answered honestly with a nod.
She really did like this cloak. A small favor in return was more than worth it.
Gu Lingyue patted her shoulder in satisfaction, then turned to the heavily made-up clerk who had already collapsed to the floor.
In that instant, every trace of a smile vanished from her face, leaving only icy disgust.
“As for you…”
She waved her hand as if shooing away a fly.
“You no longer need to appear in H City’s service industry. Collect your N+1 severance and get lost.”