My Family Raised A Proud Wife

ps are transitioning to summer clothes for the season.
Most of the offerings are thin fabrics with half sleeves.
In the end, they only found a set of casual, long-sleeved clothes from this brand. 

While Mi Xi is off to try on the clothes, Chen Ying receives a call from Cheng Jiangyi. 

“Chen Ying, how is my family’s little Mi Xi doing with you?”

“If she belongs to your family, take her away quickly.”

“Alas, Providence cannot be violated.
Xiaopei and I are also very sad to hand her over to you.”

 “Heart disease is difficult to treat.
Please seek medical attention as soon as possible.”

“What are you doing now?” Cheng Jiangyi, it seems, couldn’t hear the sarcasm and provocation at all.

“Helping her buy outfits at the mall.”

“Well, that sounds very sweet.”

“Very sweet indeed,” Chen Ying sneers again.
“I have traveled the rivers and lakes for many years in order to hone this ability of mine to deal with difficult choices.”

Cheng Jiangyi laughs—and suddenly remembers something.
“By the way, let me share my experience: please pay attention to her underwear and aunt’s towel.”1

Damn it! Chen Ying spits out a few foul words fluently.
He completely forgot that such a thing could happen at all.
He would have thrown Mi Xi to Cheng Jiangyi, or to Chen Fei, or even to his parents, had he realized this earlier.
No, he’d known about it earlier, but he simply hadn’t had time to process things.
He’d been temporarily soft-hearted, and he hadn’t been willing to use an easy but rude way of dealing with things.

Cheng Jiangyi doesn’t smile this time, instead he says quickly, “Don’t worry, I will help you, just wait a moment.

Chen Ying thinks he’s not in a hurry, he’s just irritable.
Then he hears Cheng Jiangyi shouting in the background: “Xiaopei, Xiaopei, tell Chen Ying what size underwear Mi Xi wears.
And how do you buy your aunt’s towels.”

F*ck.
F*ck.
F*ck.
Chen Ying continues to swear in his heart, but he doesn’t swear out loud because Su Xiaopei is already on the other end of the phone.
Su Xiaopei still hasn’t recovered from her sickness, and her clogged, nasal voice is very heavy.
She talks about Mi Xi’s size, and some details to pay attention to when buying things, such as materials, and says that she taught Mi Xi how to wear them last night.

Taught her how to wear it, then why didn’t you just take care of it all? Didn’t you say you would arrange everything for her? And he, a big man, obviously only needs to provide the house and take care of the meals, right? Chen Ying really wants to ask Su Xiaopei that, but she is a sick patient, and she is seriously telling him about girls’ underwear.

Chen Ying’s head is about to smoke.
Damn it, why is he now reduced to discussing women’s products with his friend’s wife on the phone?

While talking, Mi Xi comes out wearing the casual set; she looks a little uncomfortable.
Chen Ying feels that he can’t give her a chance to waver at all, so he says to the saleslady, “That’s it,” and hands over the card. 

Then he says to the phone, “Okay, okay, I see, let’s do this first: if I encounter difficulties or have something I don’t understand, I will call you.” Just as he was about to hang up, Cheng Jiangyi snatches the phone and says that Su Xiaopei wants to talk to Mi Xi on the phone.

Chen Ying hands the phone to Mi Xi.
“Su Xiaopei, your Aunt Su, wants to talk to you.”

Mi Xi takes the phone curiously, not knowing how to fiddle with it.
Chen Ying grabs the phone back and orients her, pushing her hand to her ear.
At that point, Mi Xi hears Su Xiaopei’s voice saying, “Hello”.
Mi Xi forgets for a moment that her hand has been touched by a man and replies excitedly, “Auntie, it’s me!”

She looks up at Chen Ying, her eyes shining brightly, excitedly pointing to the phone.
Chen Ying nods agreeably—he knew, he knew that little box could talk.

Su Xiaopei asks Mi Xi how her day is going, whether she is used to living in Chen Ying’s house, and what she has eaten.
When Chen Ying heard Mi Xi happily answer that both breakfast and lunch were steamed dumplings, Chen Ying can’t help but rub his face: it wasn’t that he abused her, he really didn’t!

The saleslady brings over the bank card and shopping receipt.
Chen Ying thanks her, touches Mi Xi’s arm, and signals her to follow him.
Mi Xi is immersed in the excitement of the first phone call, and once again ignores the physical touch.

Chen Ying leads Mi Xi who is still talking on the phone and finds another brand that looks quite suitable.
As usual, he points to Mi Xi and tells the saleslady that he wants clothes for her that could cover the whole body.
The saleslady goes off to search, and Chen Ying hears Mi Xi answer, “Uncle is talking half the time.” 

Chen Ying’s face turns green: how can he be a chatterbox? He is obviously a simple and capable man.

Mi Xi goes on to say, “He’s not talking to me; it’s this small box.
Yes, it’s this mobile phone.”

Chen Ying’s face is dark, it’s as if she’s complaining about him.

The saleslady comes out with two sets of long-sleeved blouses with trousers and asks if these would work? Chen Ying looks at the neckline and the color matching, shakes his head, and says they will take another look. 

He motions for Mi Xi to follow him, and it’s at this moment that he realizes that she hadn’t taken the bag of the shoes that they bought earlier.
He sighs, goes back to the store where they bought the clothes, and takes the bag of shoes.
Mi Xi is still talking on the phone, and walks ahead of him. 

Chen Ying follows her with the shoeboxes and takes a look at the situation: Miss Mi Xi is really a big name ah! He, Second Young Master Chen, never helps women carry bags, okay?

__________________

Annnd we got a shopping arc! Huzzah!!

FOOTNOTE:

1Considering that ‘aunt’s visit’ is used euphemistically for menstruation, I presume the ‘aunt’s towel’ here refers to menstrual pads lmao.