Volume 1, Chapter 29: Take Off Your Dress

"This drop in our school's ranking has a significant impact. Our principal can't even hold his head high when attending meetings at the Education Bureau. And that’s secondary; more importantly, I suspect this student may not have earned her high school entrance exam scores honestly. If this is investigated and reported, both you and the school will face disciplinary action. The risk is simply too great."

At the end of the call, the old classmate asked curiously, "Commander Huo, what is your relationship with this girl? Why are you going to such lengths for her? Is she that blind date from the countryside your family introduced to you?"

Since they had both attended the same primary and middle schools in the military compound, it was no surprise that his old classmate knew about the situation.

Huo Xiaohan held the receiver, saying nothing.

The old classmate continued, "If she’s your intended, then the matter is simple. Just hold the wedding banquet during the summer break. You received a First-Class Merit in the Northwest; as long as she becomes your dependent, she can get into any high school in Beijing."

"She is not my intended. I’ve troubled you." Huo Xiaohan hung up, his brows furrowed tightly.

He had assumed that since she had passed the entrance exam, her grades couldn't be that poor. Who would have thought that not a single high school would be willing to accept her? There were even suspicions of her having someone else take the test for her or cheating. Now, even if they tried to send her back to a high school in her hometown, the school—which had already been looking to dismiss her—would certainly not want her either.

Huo Jianguo had also used his connections, but the response he received was the same as Huo Xiaohan's. The reinstatement of the college entrance exam was intended to cultivate top-tier talent; the country placed great importance on education, and the red line of fraud was absolutely not to be crossed.

Huo Jianguo paced his office with his hands behind his back, brow deeply locked. He had three options: send Su Wan back to her hometown to finish high school, arrange a job for her in Beijing, or...

***

At the Song residence, ever since the date for Song Wenbo’s wedding was set, Su Wan had been accompanying Secretary Yang to the supply and marketing cooperatives and department stores to pick up wedding necessities—double-happiness thermoses, spittoons, dragon-and-phoenix basins, and wedding candies. They had even made several trips to the tailor.

This weekend, Song Wenbo had to be on duty at the hospital. Two months ago, he had entrusted a friend in Hong Kong to buy a birthday gift for his fiancée, Xu Min, but it had gotten stuck there. With Xu Min’s birthday coming up next week, he had no choice but to ask Secretary Yang to buy her a nice dress at the department store.

Secretary Yang didn't have a good grasp of young people’s fashion, and since Su Wan was about the same height as Xu Min, she brought her along to act as a consultant.

The two followed the scissor-style staircase up to the third floor, which housed clothing and footwear. The men’s and women’s apparel were dazzling, especially the women’s clothes, which were bright, vibrant, and quite trendy. Some were high-end goods from Hong Kong, while others were brands from Shanghai.

When Secretary Yang and Su Wan approached a women’s counter, the sales clerk noticed Su Wan’s rustic, rural attire. Despite her pretty face, the clerk turned up her nose in disgust.

"Hey, hey, hey! This fabric is very expensive, don't touch it with your hands," the clerk warned the moment Su Wan stepped forward.

In this era, state-run store clerks were effectively civil servants; they were arrogant and looked down on customers. Because of the shortage of goods, customers often had to endure their attitude. Su Wan ignored her and continued helping Secretary Yang browse.

The clerk turned her head and, seeing a mother and daughter—the mother sporting a "Ke Xiang" hairstyle and wearing a white shirt, the daughter in a polka-dot yellow skirt—approaching the counter, she immediately put on a fawning smile. "Section Chief Li, Teacher Fang, you’re here! The high-end goods from Hong Kong just arrived yesterday, and we were waiting for you to come and try them on."

She pulled out several pieces that were far more stylish than anything else in the shop. The middle-aged woman, addressed as Section Chief Li, looked through them haughtily. She picked out a blue-and-white dress with lace trim and smiled, handing it to her daughter: "Fang Yu, try this on. The young man’s family has a three-generation military history. His father is a high-ranking official in the military region. He became a regiment commander at a young age and has already received a First-Class Merit. He has a limitless future; you must grasp this opportunity."

But Fang Yu was unimpressed. As the youngest daughter, she had been pampered since childhood because of her excellent grades, making her quite spoiled and aloof. "Mom, I’m not doing it. If he’s already a regiment commander, he can’t be that young. He must be ugly, short, and uncultured."

"I’ve already looked into it for you. The commander is only twenty-six. He’s a legitimate graduate of a military academy. He’s remained single only because he was busy executing national missions. He was just transferred back to Beijing. Hurry, go in and try the dress on; let me see." Section Chief Li pushed her daughter toward the fitting room.

Hearing he was a military academy graduate, Fang Yu’s expression softened, though she remained dissatisfied. "Fine, Mom, but I’m telling you now: if his image is too poor, I won’t be interested." She took the dress and entered the fitting room.

Section Chief Li pulled out a puffy-sleeved dress for Fang Yu to try next, feeling these were the only two pieces worth her attention.

Secretary Yang and Su Wan had looked around and noticed the Hong Kong imports the clerk had just brought out. They were very novel, and Secretary Yang felt Xu Min would surely like them. She asked the clerk, "Comrade, could you let me see those clothes?"

The clerk looked at Secretary Yang with impatience. Seeing that the Secretary was dressed professionally and carried the air of an official, she offered a warning: "Comrade, these are for young women. They aren't suitable for you. Look at something else."

"They aren't for me; I’m buying them for my future daughter-in-law."

The clerk looked at Su Wan, who was standing beside Secretary Yang, assuming she was the daughter-in-law. Since she looked like a country girl, the clerk assumed she couldn't be anyone of status. "Wait. Don't you see the young lady in the fitting room needs to try these on? Look at them after she’s finished."

The clerk rolled her eyes and turned back to flatter Section Chief Li’s daughter, praising her beauty and mentioning that she had just been assigned to teach at a prestigious high school. Section Chief Li beamed, clearly pleased. She glanced at Su Wan; even if she was from the countryside, she was quite pretty.

"I don't even want to show her. A country bumpkin, she smells like sweat," the clerk whispered disparagingly into Section Chief Li’s ear. Her son was about to enter middle school, so she naturally wanted to curry favor with the Education Bureau section chief.

Secretary Yang usually had a very good temper. When told to wait, she had intended to be patient, but seeing the clerk whispering disdainfully to another customer—seemingly badmouthing her future daughter-in-law—she couldn't take it anymore.

"Comrade, what is the meaning of this?" Secretary Yang asked indignantly. "We arrived first. You hid the nice, stylish clothes to show other customers, and now you’re making us wait? Bring your manager here right now."

The clerk wasn't intimidated. Instead, she mocked, "Comrade, it's not that I’m hiding them from you on purpose. The cheapest of these Hong Kong goods costs thirty or forty yuan. Can you even afford them?"

"You’re just a clerk behind a counter. Is it your business whether we can afford them or not?" Su Wan, who had previously stayed quiet out of respect for her role as a nanny, finally spoke up. "I suspect you’re hiding these clothes to engage in speculation—using your position as a state-run clerk to sell clothes smuggled from Hong Kong on the side!"

She turned and shouted loudly toward the shop entrance: "Come and see! A state-run store clerk is speculating, brazenly selling smuggled Hong Kong clothes in the department store!"

The clerk turned pale and scrambled over to stop her. "Don't talk nonsense! These were imported into the department store from Hong Kong!"

"If they aren't smuggled, why did you hide them instead of putting them on display? We wanted to see them and you wouldn't let us!" Su Wan continued to shout, "Eating the public’s food while running a smuggling operation! Someone get the police to arrest this person!"

The store had just opened, so it wasn't crowded yet, but Su Wan’s shouting drew a crowd of onlookers. Fearing the police would be called, and terrified that the manager would find out she had hidden the new arrivals to curry favor with Section Chief Li, the clerk panicked.

"Comrade, I was wrong! Look, look at whatever you want!" she pleaded, hastily bringing the other Hong Kong items to Su Wan.

Secretary Yang was surprised; she hadn't expected the gentle-looking Su Wan to be so firm and capable of standing her ground. It was far more effective than arguing with the manager.

"Xiao Wan, take them into the fitting room and try them on. I want to see which one looks best," Secretary Yang said. She had originally only planned to hold the clothes up against Su Wan, but seeing the clerk’s behavior, she changed her mind.

After Fang Yu finished trying on the two dresses, she wasn't satisfied—they didn't fit her figure well. Seeing Su Wan trying on the same batch of clothes, she was immediately annoyed. How could she wear clothes that a "country bumpkin" had tried on? She grabbed Section Chief Li, ready to leave.

"Section Chief Li, Teacher Fang, these clothes are the most popular and fashionable items from Hong Kong. There won't be another set in all of Beijing. I specifically saved these for you, and they haven't been touched by that bumpkin yet," the clerk said, rushing to flatter them.

Section Chief Li didn't want her precious daughter trying on clothes that a bumpkin had worn, but the clothes were indeed beautiful and trendy. To ensure the success of the upcoming blind date, she coaxed Fang Yu to try again.

Fang Yu frowned, unwilling to lower her status. She raised her head proudly. "You told my mother that you’d ensure the newest and best clothes were for me to pick first, and that others could only have them if I didn't want them. Either you kick that bumpkin out, or I’m not buying anything. Hmph."

The clerk, having just narrowly avoided being accused of smuggling, didn't dare provoke Su Wan. Section Chief Li felt her daughter was right—that bumpkin couldn't possibly afford them anyway. "You figure it out yourself," the section chief told the clerk.

When Su Wan emerged from the fitting room in the pale yellow dress, her fair, gentle face looked anything but rustic. Her eyes were firm and confident, her limbs slender, and her proportions excellent. She exuded a classical charm—graceful and elegant, like a model stepping out of a magazine. It was a stunning sight.

Passersby were drawn into the store.

"Xiao Wan, this pale yellow dress looks simple, but it is truly beautiful on you. It makes your waist look slim and your legs look long," Secretary Yang said, highly satisfied. The dress hugged her curves perfectly—elegant, refined, yet playful and gentle. It was a perfect match for the status of her future daughter-in-law.

The onlookers praised the dress, and some even asked if Su Wan would take it off so they could try it. Secretary Yang made her decision on the spot: they were buying the dress.

Fang Yu hadn't expected the dress to look so good on Su Wan. It made her skin look fair and delicate, her neck graceful like a swan’s, and her waistline perfectly toned. Fang Yu was taller than Su Wan, and she was certain it would look even better on her.

"Mom, I want that pale yellow dress!" Fang Yu no longer cared that the "bumpkin" had tried it on—the dress was simply too beautiful. Section Chief Li agreed; wearing this dress to the blind date would surely captivate the young man. She gave the clerk a look.

"Comrade," the clerk said to Secretary Yang, "this dress costs 75 yuan. Will you be buying it?"

75 yuan? That was expensive. A whole suit only cost 50 yuan. Secretary Yang had expected it to be thirty or forty, and she didn't have enough money on her. Su Wan had realized the fabric wasn't ordinary cotton or polyester, but something with elasticity, yet she hadn't expected it to be 75 yuan—three months of her nanny salary.

The clerk knew they couldn't afford it. "If you aren't buying it, take it off so other customers can see it."

"We’ll buy it, but I didn't bring enough money. I’ll go back to get it." Between Secretary Yang and Principal Song’s monthly salaries, they brought in three or four hundred yuan, and their two sons working in other provinces sent money back as well. Seventy-five yuan was no burden for her.

"Clerk, I’ll take this dress," Section Chief Li interrupted, stepping forward and handing a large bill to the clerk.

"Very well, Section Chief Li, I’ll wrap it up for you immediately." The clerk’s smile was wide enough to reach her ears. She turned to Su Wan and said, "Comrade, since you don't have enough money, hurry up and take the dress off."