Tony · Yang — Branded Women’s Boutique in the Tianping Commercial District

I had taken off my mask earlier to eat the lollipop.

But after half an hour of waiting, the lollipop had long since been reduced to just the bare stick. I sat idly in the store, watching the two shopgirls busy themselves—it seemed like business here was pretty decent.

Fei had somehow pulled out a palm-sized English vocabulary card deck and was now fully concentrated beside me in study mode.

Meanwhile, Rinka was like an inexhaustible bundle of energy, darting in and out of the fitting room. In the span of half an hour, she had practically tried on everything the store had to offer. She was still in there changing, though unfortunately, Tony Yang’s designs skewed a bit too mature for her. And due to certain well-known reasons, Rinka gave off a very youthful, borderline middle-schooler vibe—none of the outfits quite suited her.

Growing impatient, I pulled out my phone and checked the time.

“It’s already quarter past four?!”

We were told the samples would arrive before four—and here we were, still empty-handed. I couldn’t help but mutter in frustration. Tony Yang looked even more anxious than I did, pacing behind the counter and nervously rubbing his hands together.

“Sorry for making you all wait this long… I honestly don’t know what happened. Her phone wouldn’t go through either… Ah! She’s here! She’s here!”

He suddenly shouted toward the entrance.

Following his gaze, I saw a short girl bounding in, her bobbed hair bouncing with each step. She looked like a middle schooler, lugging a massive, obviously heavy parcel—presumably the sample outfits we’d been waiting on.

“You hiring child labor now?” I asked dryly.

“She’s my little sister. Cute, right?”

But the girl looked more on the verge of tears than anything cute. Her lips quivered and her eyes were red, ready to spill over at any moment.

Tony Yang finally noticed something was wrong. He rushed forward to take the parcel from her, freeing her hands—at which point she silently began wiping away tears.

He handed her a handkerchief and demanded, “What happened? Did someone bully you?”

Just as she gave a small nod, a man in a leather jacket and face mask strode into the shop. With his pompadour and intimidating glare—those sharp, triple-white eyes—he looked like a straight-up thug.

Tony Yang, completely misunderstanding the situation, immediately went into overprotective big brother mode, grabbed a plastic hanger, and charged.

“Wait! Brother! It’s not him!” the girl cried, but it was too late—

With a swift motion, the masked guy grabbed Tony Yang and slammed him to the floor. The hanger clattered aside.

I stared. That wasn’t just any guy—that was Lü Le!

Still as cold-blooded as ever.

...Pity.

His open jacket revealed a pink T-shirt—specifically, a Lei Meow Meow fan tee, complete with her photo on the front. That shattered his cool, mysterious aura like glass, revealing a full-blown idol otaku underneath.

I hurriedly pulled my mask back on.

Sure, Lei Laohu’s gang had disbanded, but Lü Le was once his right-hand man. They had to still be in contact. Who knows if Lei Meow Meow had spilled the beans that I was actually a guy? Even if she hadn’t, Lü Le’s last memory of me would’ve been as a flat-chested girl—how the hell was I supposed to explain these?

What was I gonna say—“Yo bro, check out my pec gains”?

Yeah, no. Better to play dumb.

Hearing the commotion, Rinka ran out of the changing room.

She took one look at Tony Yang pinned on the floor and the quietly sobbing girl nearby, and even her quick-witted brain froze for a second. Then she exclaimed:
“Wait a second—isn’t that Scarlet-chan?!”

Scarlet-chan. Scarlet Moonlight.

Tony Yang’s little sister… was the same girl who worked as the seamstress at Witch’s Workshop?

I hadn’t recognized her at all. Back at the con, she was wrapped in bandages when she first appeared, then changed into the red magical girl cosplay with a wig on as well. With Rinka’s expert makeup, she looked nothing like she did now.

“Sister Rinka!”

Completely ignoring her brother, who was still being pinned to the ground, Scarlet-chan launched herself into Rinka’s arms—head-first into a rather unforgiving chestplate.

I kind of wanted to comfort her too, but she only knew me as the bespectacled version of myself at the con. Approaching her now might just make me look like a creepy lolicon.

Apparently her head found the armor plating uncomfortable, and she soon stopped rubbing against it, poking her head out to explain.

“I took a shortcut through the alleys, and a bunch of thugs tried to grope me and steal my bag…”

I frowned instinctively.

The dark side of urban glamour, huh?

The back alleys of Tianping were full of unsavory types—from petty criminals to actual organized crime rings. Like that loan shark gang from before. Even Lei Laohu’s old gang had used this area as a hideout, which had frustrated Uncle Lei to no end.

I hazarded a guess. “And this masked guy here saved you?”

“Yeah! Brother Lü was amazing—he took down five guys all by himself!”

I blinked at Lü Le. This guy had more to his sleeve than he looked. He always struck me as the cold, calculating type—like a strategist back when he worked as a spy for Sis Yuanyue. Who knew he could also fight like that?

Then again, if those five thugs were the kind who target middle schoolers, their combat power probably ranked at Tony Yang levels. Bottom of the barrel, even among delinquents.

Once Scarlet-chan had finished explaining, Lü Le finally let Tony Yang go. The latter jumped up, apologizing profusely, but Lü Le didn’t even acknowledge him.

“Stay away from the side streets. That’s gutter rat turf. It’s dangerous.”

He gave Scarlet-chan a warning glance—and then looked right at me. I broke into a cold sweat.

“Nice mask,” he said.

Leaving behind that cryptic line, he turned and walked away without looking back, just like when the Lose Moonlit Bar incident ended—lone wolf to the core.

I nearly had a heart attack. Thought he’d recognized me. But no, he just complimented my mask?

...What is with this guy?

Also, why does he wear a mask all the time, anyway?

“So cool!!” Scarlet-chan shouted once he disappeared from view. “That’s my Dark Knight—he appeared out of nowhere to save me from the enemy ranks!”

Yup, full-blown chuuni mode. Clearly, Lü Le was exactly her type… though “Dark Knight” makes him sound more like a villain.

Tony Yang pulled out a lollipop and stuffed it into her mouth.

“Didn’t expect you to know my sister. Small world, huh?”

“We met at the con. She helped tailor our costumes.”

“She’s got skills, right?”

After chatting for a bit, Tony Yang hoisted the sample bag and waved us over.

“Time’s tight—we still need to photograph all these outfits and get them to the factory. Let’s move.”

Rinka handled the makeup. Tony Yang doubled as the photographer. As the designer, he knew how to bring out each outfit’s best angles, and he even coached me and Fei on posing.

“Miss Chang Lingmeng, you’re too stiff in front of the camera. Don’t stare directly into the lens—try thinking about something else to relax.”

I was feeling nervous. Guess it showed. It’s just my personality—unlike me, Fei’s icy beauty vibe was a total hit.

“Perfect! Miss Huangfu, have you ever considered becoming a professional model?”

Fei shook her head without hesitation.

“No. I want to be a chef.”

Tony Yang blinked. “Huh? A what?”

“Chef.”

“...Hahaha, well, to each their own!”

He laughed awkwardly, clearly baffled. A girl that stunning wanting to work in a kitchen probably struck him as a waste of god-given aesthetics.

Nearby, Rinka and Scarlet-chan were chatting and giggling. One had done the other’s makeup, the other had altered her outfit—seemed like they got along well.

“Why’d you decide to open a boutique here, Mr. Yang?”

My question came out of the blue. He scratched at his long hair, organizing his thoughts.

“My family’s been in tailoring for generations. But these days, the old ways are dying. People just toss torn clothes instead of fixing them, and custom orders are rare. It couldn’t go on like that.”

“My brother studied in the UK,” Scarlet-chan chimed in. “He saw how powerful fashion branding could be.”

She and Rinka joined in on the conversation, clearly interested.

“Makes sense,” Rinka nodded. “If you opened somewhere like the underground shopping street, you’d lose from the start. But competition here must be fierce too.”

“I believe in my designs. You’ve seen how well business is going, right?”

Tony Yang was staging a revolution for his family—forging a future for his tailoring lineage by establishing himself right here.

Then Rinka changed the subject with a grin.

“By the way, ‘Scarlet-chan’ and ‘Tony Yang’—those are aliases, right? Not gonna tell us your real names?”

The siblings immediately flailed their hands in protest, shouting in perfect sync:

“No way! That’s the one thing we won’t reveal!”