Picking a dress

The next day He Mei was instructed by her mother to go to a boutique for choosing her dress which she would be wearing at her father's birthday party.

He Mei freshened up and stood in front of her wardrobe to choose an outfit to wear. Her eyes skimmed past the clothes Su Ruowan had once insisted "suited her"—all carefully chosen to dim her presence. Now she saw it. He Mei knew now that Su Ruowan did so because she didn't want to be paled in comparison to He Mei while standing beside her.

Still, she had nothing that truly felt like her. So, she chose a middle ground: a plain black top with clean lines, tucked into soft gray trousers. The fit was decent, neither flattering nor unflattering. White sneakers, no jewelry, hair pulled back simply.

Just as He Mei descended to the living room, she saw Su Ruowan waiting for her. Su Ruowan also saw He Mei and was slightly surprised when she saw what He Mei was wearing. Her outfit was not something that Su Ruowan had bought it with her and it neither dulled nor lighted up her presence. This made Su Ruowan very uncomfortable.

'Why is she here? Who called her?' He Mei was puzzled to see Su Ruowan. She hadn't called her as a surge of hatred arose in her heart whenever she saw Su Ruowan.

"Mei Mei, you're here!" He Mei's thoughts were disrupted by Su Ruowan's voice. "Mei Mei, why didn't you call me? I think you didn't want to go shopping, right? Don't worry. Aunt Xia knew that you would resist so she called me."

He Mei now understood what had happened. She sighed. Her mother thought that she was an introvert and didn't like to go out a lot. So, she thought of calling Su Ruowan who would drag He Mei to go shopping. He Mei didn't know what to say. Her mother didn't like Su Ruowan, but to make her more socially active, she didn't hesitate to take Su Ruowan's help. After all, she was He Mei's only friend.

He Mei shook her head helplessly before walking out with Su Ruowan, "Let's go."

Su Ruowan felt that He Mei didn't look happy after seeing her as she always did. However, she ignored this when she thought of how reluctant He Mei was every time they went shopping.

…

In the boutique owned by a famous designer.

"Mei Mei, you will look very beautiful in this dress!" Su Ruowan said while holding a pure black dress in her hands. The dress was nice but it was not meant to be worn by the host of the party.

Also, in her past life, Su Ruowan had made her wear that dress in her father's birthday party, that had made her father disappointed in her. This was because family members avoided black for the birthday parties of their own family as black was worn on funerals. And wearing the color worn on funeral at the birthday party of their own family member was considered inauspicious. This act of hers was condemned by the entire city. Some people said that the heiress of the He Corporation lacked basic sense while the vicious ones said that she wanted to curse her father to death.

Su Ruowan knew that black shouldn't be worn but she wanted He Mei to become the laughing stock of the society, so she had made He Mei wear it.

"Wan Wan, this dress is gorgeous!" He Mei said making Su Ruowan's eyes light up. She knew that this fool would definitely fall in her trap.

"I'll buy it, but I'm not going to wear it at my father's party. My dad wouldn't like it." He Mei said in a direct tone. He Mei's words shocked Su Ruowan. This was the first time that He Mei had rejected her opinion. It had never happened before. Su Ruowan fell deep in thought.

'Was her intuition right? Was there something wrong with He Mei? She could feel that something had changed yesterday also. But what was it? It couldn't be that He Mei had guessed her intentions, right? No, no, He Mei was just a fool.' Su Ruowan comforted herself.

He Mei saw the look on Su Ruowan's face and smirked inwardly, 'Su Ruowan, don't get disappointed so soon. This is just the beginning. There's more to come.'

Su Ruowan collected her emotions and smiled sweetly at He Mei, "Oh okay! We don't want your dad to get disappointed on his special day."

When He Mei saw Su Ruowan's fake smile, she really wanted to punch her. He Mei's hand was itching to do it badly, but she knew that now was not the time. So, instead of wasting her time on Su Ruowan, He Mei started to scan the boutique for a dress that she would like. At this time, a beautiful dress caught her eyes.

An off-shoulder gown in deep midnight blue color with silver embroidery of celestial beings. It was a floor-length gown which complied exactly with the theme of the party "Legend of the immortals".

It was so breathtaking in He Mei's eyes that she wanted to grab it. But just as she was about to do so, somebody abruptly stopped her.

"Hey! Don't you dare touch that dress, it's mine!"