The young woman tossed and turned on the bed.
Meanwhile, Huang Xiaoxian peered left and right from beneath the table, seemingly searching for something.
Soon, the tiny green ball’s eyes lit up as it spotted its target.
Scampering on its short legs, it made its way to the windowsill, then with a light hop, it climbed right over.
“Hey, brother, how about we negotiate? Could you spare me a spot?” Huang Xiaoxian asked the spider plant on the windowsill.
Spider plant: “……”
“Alright, since you’re silent, I’ll take that as a yes,” Huang Xiaoxian nodded contentedly. “Truly a good brother indeed.”
Spider plant: “……MMP.”
“I’m coming in!”
With that, it immediately leaped into the flowerpot, burying its lower half into the soil.
“Ah, I’m home! This is what home feels like!” Huang Xiaoxian purred, eyes comfortably squinted.
While the outside world was pleasant, nothing quite compared to the comfort of the soil.
Watching Huang Xiaoxian’s comical antics, Huang Xiu, who had been lying on her side, let out a soft chuckle.
“Be careful, or I’ll mutate it and make you fight it in an octagon cage.”
“Hmph, I’m not scared!”
Though Huang Xiaoxian spoke bravely, they subtly shifted, clearing a little more space for the spider plant.
After their playful banter, Huang Xiu felt a touch of weariness; she rolled onto her back, resting her head on her clasped hands, and fell into a deep contemplation.
The re-examination wouldn’t begin until tomorrow, and checking in this afternoon would take hardly any time at all.
Thus, her day was relatively free.
‘So, what should I do later?’
Go online?
Huang Xiu shook her head.
‘No, the re-examination is tomorrow. What if indulging myself like this causes me to fail?’
Moreover, the mere thought of League of Legends brought Shi Lei’s face, with his lips pressed tight and eyes closed, flashing before her.
It instantly extinguished any desire she had to play games.
‘Perhaps I should just sleep… I didn’t get much rest last night anyway.’
‘That’s it!’
Huang Xiu happily made her decision.
She needed to catch up on sleep; she hadn’t slept well the previous night, having woken up in the middle of it due to the camp’s relocation.
While Huang Xiu had already planned out her next steps, fate, as it often does, had other ideas.
She had been ‘ganked’ by Professor Yuan, that old geezer!
****
“What?! Buy clothes?!”
In the rather luxurious restaurant, a young woman’s voice, tinged with alarm, suddenly rang out.
Huang Xiu frantically shook her head like a rattle-drum, her hands forming emphatic ‘X’s before her chest.
“No, absolutely not, dame (TL Note: A Japanese word meaning ‘no’ or ‘forbidden’), I refuse!”
‘What kind of joke is this?!’
‘Buying clothes! And women’s clothes, no less!’
Even though her current gender was female, she still harbored the unyielding soul of a man.
It felt as mortifying as being forced to cross-dress as a ‘male daughter’ (TL Note: A slang term referring to a feminized male character, often in anime or manga, who cross-dresses or has an effeminate appearance.).
Even before her transformation, she had always detested shopping for clothes, typically buying a few outfits online and rotating through them.
“Ahem, Huang, a little quieter, please!” Yun Ning coughed softly twice, his right hand forming a fist before his mouth.
While he didn’t particularly care for the stares of those around them, Huang Xiu’s sudden high-pitched outburst had indeed startled a few people.
“Huh?”
Only then did a belated Huang Xiu realize their table had become the focal point of the restaurant’s attention.
The neighboring patrons were all watching them.
However, their expressions weren’t those of annoyance or disgust, but rather of curiosity.
A few young women even covered their mouths, giggling.
Huang Xiu possessed a self-adjusting thickness to her skin; in some respects, her brazenness could rival a city wall.
Yet, the current situation was clearly not one of those times.
She uneasily retracted her head like a turtle, her baby-fat cheeks visibly flushing crimson.
“In any case, absolutely not!” Huang Xiu muttered, emphasizing her point once more.
‘Such a purity-corrupting act was absolutely out of the question.’
“Besides, I still have to go register this afternoon! Where would I find the time to buy clothes?” she reasoned, inventing an excuse.
“It’s not that I’m forcing you, or that I personally want to see you in prettier clothes…..”
Professor Yuan, unhurried, cut into his steak.
The restaurant where they were having lunch was a small Western-style eatery Professor Yuan had brought them to.
It only catered to reserved patrons.
The prices were steep, but the taste was exquisite.
The prime-cut steak, imbued with the rich aroma of succulent fat, would explode with flavor in one’s mouth with just a gentle bite.
Raising his right fork, he gestured towards Huang Xiu. “But you also need to consider what you’re wearing, don’t you?”
Upon hearing this, Huang Xiu silently lowered her head.
Due to her height shrinking after her transformation, both her school uniform shirt and pants were ill-fitting, several sizes too large.
Her short-sleeved school shirt hung so loosely that it could practically be pulled down and worn as a dress.
Her shoes, too, were ill-fitting, constantly slipping off, and her socks would invariably slide down her heels as she walked.
Not to mention…
She wasn’t wearing a bra, leaving her chest perpetually ‘in neutral.’
Huang Xiu, in truth, knew all of this, but she refused to confront it, leaving her utterly unable to refute him.
She could only silently lower her head and pretend to be dead.
“If you don’t buy new clothes now, will you never buy any, always wearing this same outfit?” Professor Yuan continued. “Besides, the re-examination is tomorrow; you ought to dress appropriately to leave a good impression on the examiners, wouldn’t you say? It’s the least bit of respect.”
Professor Yuan set down his knife and fork, letting out a sigh.
This child’s predicament was arguably the most severe among all the students he had ever taught.
At such a sensitive age, they had suddenly been forced into a gender change.
This had prevented her from forming a stable gender identity, unable to shift from her previous psychological gender.
It was a terminal illness that only time could cure.
Fortunately, both he and Huang Xiu still had a very long time ahead to slowly address this issue.
Glancing at Yun Ning, who was engrossed in devouring his steak, Huang Xiu lifted her head, declaring stubbornly, “I can buy men’s clothes…”
‘This was her absolute bottom line.’
Compared to a boy wearing women’s clothes, a girl wearing men’s clothes was hardly a big deal.
She could even wear men’s clothing for the rest of her life, and it would be perfectly acceptable.
‘But forcing her into women’s clothes—those sexy or cute skirts, hot pants, and such—’
‘It would be better to just kill her.’
“Fine, men’s clothes it is. We’ll go shopping this afternoon,” Professor Yuan said, clapping his hands together with a pleased expression.
‘Excellent, her stance is softening; this is a good start.’
“As for the registration, I happen to have some business at the jurisdiction bureau, so I’ll report for you as well.”
The registration point was located at the headquarters of the Cloud Province Jurisdiction Bureau.
“Give me your ID card,” he said, extending a hand.
“Alright…” Huang Xiu conceded, knowing that at this point, buying the clothes was inevitable.
She reluctantly handed over her ID card.
“Are all three of us going this afternoon?” Huang Xiu asked again, slicing her steak.
‘How to put this… three grown men.’
‘No, wait, two and a half men and half a woman going shopping, especially for men’s clothes, would be far too strange.’
“Oh, no, Yun Ning and I won’t be joining you. Your senior female student will take you,” Professor Yuan corrected, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “Did you think I was that idle?”
Professor Yuan’s eyes narrowed into a weary, deadpan stare, his face a mask of speechlessness.
Meanwhile, Yun Ning, who had been diligently eating his meal, secretly breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
‘It’s truly a blessing not to have to go along.’
‘He genuinely disliked shopping.’
‘He’d much rather return to the hotel to exercise – their hotel boasted both a gym and a swimming pool.’
‘And going clothes shopping with Junior Huang… just the thought of it made him cringe, imagining how awkward the situation would surely be.’
Hearing Professor Yuan’s words, Huang Xiu quickly denied it.
“Professor Yuan, that’s not what I meant. I was just worried you’d be too tired, seeing how hard you worked last night.”
‘Emotional intelligence, perfectly executed!’