According to Xu Ying, there would be many gentlemen and celebrities invited to her and He Chen's engagement banquet. Of course, the parents of both sides would also attend, which meant... meeting the parents.

  Although for He Xiu, Aunt Jiang was closer to him than He Jinglong and Zhao Yingfang, nominally, they were his parents.

  "Uh..." Jian Yan felt a little nervous. "What's the date of the engagement banquet? I'm not sure if I'm working that day."

  He Xiu said, "If you have work, I can also help you adjust your shift."

  Jian Yan: "..."

  That's right.

  He Xiu 静静地 waited for her answer. Jian Yan struggled for a moment, straightened her neck, and said, "Well, I'll go."

  He Xiu let out a sigh of relief and smiled at her, saying, "Then I'll come pick you up at that time."

  "Okay." After saying goodbye to him, Jian Yan opened the car door and got out. Only when she got home did she let out a deep breath. Now, was she in a relationship with He Xiu? But no one had confessed yet!

  She pressed her slightly cool handback against her cheek. Before meeting He Xiu, she really had no expectations of love at all—with such severe misandry, who was she supposed to fall in love with?

  But now, she was actually worrying about the problem of meeting the parents of a male friend.

  Today, He Xiu took her to meet his aunt. Should she also find a day to take him to meet her mother? After all, her mother had seen him last time.

  No, no, no. There hasn't been a confession yet!

  Jian Yan patted her face and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

  She had originally planned to work that night, but now she had no mood to draw. So she nestled in the quilt and surfed the Internet. When she refreshed the Weibo homepage, she found that the official Weibo account of VIOCE had uploaded a video file not long ago. The content was... the New Year's blessings from all members of the studio!

  In addition to Nan Si, VIOCE also had several well-known singers. Although this Weibo post had only been up for a short while, the number of reposts was about to exceed ten thousand. Jian Yan clicked to take a look. Although it was a video, there was no image at all, only some subtitles indicating who was speaking at the moment.

  The BGM used was... that kind of particularly festive music specially for the Spring Festival.

  Jian Yan: "..."

  The comments had also been driven crazy by this mysterious BGM. Everyone left messages one after another, saying that no one could be more hilarious than them under this BGM.

  Fortunately, despite this BGM, the big shots of VIOCE still managed to hold the stage. Especially when Nan Si's voice came out, no one could even hear the BGM anymore.

  "Hello, everyone. I'm Nan Si. I wish you all a happy New Year and happiness every day. In the new year, I hope you all can suddenly become rich, play with your phones less, and go to bed earlier."

  "Pfft." Jian Yan couldn't help laughing out loud. Mr. Nan Si's blessing was really practical.

  The fans in the comments said that if they could sleep with him, they could go to bed at five o'clock.

  Jian Yan: "..."

  The fans were even more straightforward.

  Before going to bed, she went to the cloakroom to look for her evening dress. She had bought an evening dress before and only wore it once when she attended the Comic Association's awards ceremony. But for this kind of evening dress, it was usually only worn once because you couldn't wear the same dress every time you attended an awards ceremony or a banquet. You had to change.

  Jian Yan was a bit hesitant. Evening dresses were very expensive. Her dress wasn't a high-end custom-made one, but it still cost more than one hundred thousand yuan. Remembering how Xu Ying looked down on such a dress worth one or two hundred thousand yuan last time, she decisively put the dress back.

  A high-end custom-made dress from a famous brand cost at least several million yuan. She wasn't unable to afford this money, but it was just not cost-effective because it could only be worn once. If she didn't want to buy it, she could only borrow it from the brand. She had previously cooperated with Bunny, so it should be relatively easy to borrow from them.

  She looked at the time and thought that Lin Zhen should still be up, so she called her. Lin Zhen was still in the studio looking at the author's manuscripts. When she heard the phone ring, she casually picked it up: "Hello."

  "It's me, Jian Yan. Are you still in the studio?"

  "Yes, I still have manuscripts to review. What's the matter so late?"

  "Oh, I'm going to attend a friend's engagement banquet. Can you help me borrow a high-end custom-made dress from Bunny?"

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  Lin Zhen blinked quickly and put down the manuscript in her hand: "Whose engagement banquet is it? How come I don't know about it?"

  Jian Yan's social circle was very small and basically overlapped with hers. However, she hadn't heard of anyone getting engaged.

  "A friend you don't know." Jian Yan was afraid that she would be asked further questions, so she quickly fudged it. "Can you help me borrow it?"

  Often, celebrities would borrow clothes from these famous brands to attend various events, but the brand didn't lend to everyone. Jian Yan was still a little worried.

  "It should be possible to borrow it. After all, we do have a cooperative relationship. But are you sure you want to dress so grandly to attend someone else's engagement banquet? If you're more beautiful than the bride, won't that be embarrassing?"

  "Uh, it seems a bit..." Jian Yan could almost imagine Xu Ying's furious expression. "But if I wear an ordinary evening dress, I'm afraid I'll lose face. So after weighing it up, I think it's better for her to lose face than for me to lose face."

  Lin Zhen: "..."

  "By the way, are you sure it's a friend's engagement banquet? Not an enemy's?"

  Jian Yan said, "The word 'friend' is just a modifier."

  "Oh, I see." Lin Zhen nodded. In that case, she could go all out. "When do you need it? Is it urgent?"

  Jian Yan thought for a moment and said, "The engagement banquet seems to be on the 16th of this month."

  "Okay, I'll ask about it for you in the next two days. But you still have to try the clothes on in person."

  "Okay. Contact me then."

  After making an agreement with Lin Zhen about this matter, Jian Yan finally felt relieved. But what she didn't expect was that before she received Lin Zhen's call, she received a call from He Xiu first.

  "After work tomorrow, come with me to the Bunny specialty store to try on clothes."

  Jian Yan was a bit dazed: "What kind of clothes are we trying on?"

  He Xiu smiled and said, "Of course, it's the evening dress for the engagement banquet. Have you forgotten?"

  "Ah, of course I haven't forgotten. I've already asked Lin Zhen to handle the matter of the evening dress."

  He Xiu's smile deepened a bit when he heard this: "Who is the boss between you and Lin Zhen? I feel like she's more like your assistant."

  Jian Yan: "..."

  "You haven't seen her when she's urging for manuscripts. Once you've experienced it, you'll know how hard it is for the exploited and oppressed working people."

  "Haha." He Xiu laughed out loud. "I invited you to the engagement banquet, so I should be responsible for the clothes you wear. Don't bother President Lin."

  "Um, that's okay. I'll tell her."

  "Okay. Wait for me at the entrance after work. I'll come pick you up."

  "Okay." Jian Yan thought that she wouldn't drive to work tomorrow morning. Last time, when He Xiu picked her up to go to Aunt Jiang's house, her car had been parked in the company overnight.

  After making an agreement with He Xiu, she quickly called Lin Zhen and told her not to borrow the clothes anymore. Lin Zhen didn't ask too many questions either, just saying, "Okay. I'm quite busy these two days and haven't had time to ask yet." Then she asked her, "How long are you going to work at Xingguang Department Store? Didn't you say it was only until after Christmas before?"

  "Oh, Manager He said that there's a shortage of staff recently and asked me to stay until before the Spring Festival. I can also get a holiday bonus."

  Lin Zhen was shocked: "You're a probationary employee, and you can still get a holiday bonus? Is this how President He does business??"

  Jian Yan thought it was only natural: "Yeah. Shouldn't you learn from him?"

  "..." Lin Zhen twitched the corner of her mouth and said to her, "Then can you finish your manuscript? The magazine said they need it before the Spring Festival."

  "Don't worry. The scripts for the small daily stories have all been written, and the posters have also been outlined and are ready to lay down the base color. If it's not in time, I'll ask you to call the assistant again. That's it for now. I'll go back to work."

  The next day after work, she went to a Bunny specialty store with He Xiu. Bunny's store in Xingguang Department Store was the largest in the country, bigger than any other specialty store. But the employees there knew them. If they bought clothes there, it would spread throughout the company the next day.

  So He Xiu specifically took her to buy clothes outside, and she didn't find it strange.

  "Have you already chosen the evening dress?" she asked He Xiu beside her.

  He Xiu nodded and said, "But I'm afraid it won't fit you, so I brought you here to try it on."

  "Oh." Jian Yan didn't say anything more. When they arrived at the specialty store, the clerk greeted them warmly.

  "Hello, Mr. He. The evening dress you requested has been delivered." The beautiful clerk smiled and then her gaze fell on Jian Yan. "Is this lady going to wear it?"

  He Xiu said, "Yes."

  "Okay, please follow me."

  The clerk led them to the second floor. There were no rows of clothes on display on the second floor, but a VIP reception room.

  "This is the one." The clerk pointed to a white evening dress on the mannequin and politely sized up Jian Yan. "This lady should fit into it."

  Jian Yan recognized it at a glance as a high-end custom-made dress from Bunny, and it was also a runway look from this year's fashion week, priced at more than seven million yuan.

  "It's so beautiful." Jian Yan couldn't help exclaiming. The silver sequins and pearls on the chest of this dress were all sewn on by hand. It must have taken a lot of time and effort to make such a dress.

  He Xiu was also very satisfied with the evening dress: "Try it on. You'll look even more beautiful in it."

  The clerk carefully took the dress off the mannequin and led Jian Yan to the fitting room. He Xiu sat in the reception room waiting for her. The clerk also thoughtfully brought him a plate of snacks and a cup of coffee.

  He Xiu flipped through a fashion magazine for a while, and then Jian Yan came out of the fitting room after changing. He Xiu looked up, and his gaze couldn't seem to move away.

  Jian Yan was already beautiful and had a well-proportioned and tall figure. She was born to be a clothes hanger. Although this evening dress was luxuriously designed, the white color made her look very pure and gentle, exuding a bit of an otherworldly aura.

  The corners of He Xiu's mouth slowly curved into a smile, and he said to Jian Yan, "My taste is really right. You look great in this dress."

  Jian Yan herself also liked it very much and kept looking at herself in the mirror. The clerk stood beside her and adjusted the hem of the dress for her again, saying to her, "The sequins and pearls on this evening dress were all sewn on one by one by hand. The silver threads on the white gauze of the hem were also sewn by hand and made into a hidden pattern effect. If you look closely, you'll find that they are in the shape of flowers, looming in the white gauze."

  Jian Yan nodded: "Yeah, its designer is Lewis, and I really like his works."

  He Xiu stood up from the sofa and walked beside her: "If there's anything that doesn't fit, we can ask them to alter it."

  Jian Yan looked up at him: "Alter it? Do you mean you're going to buy it?"

  He Xiu said, "Of course."