After leaving the clothing shop, the three drifted toward a lingerie store, their steps like swallows stitching the dusk.

Tang Coco had swapped into the pale-blue dress and white heels from earlier, sky paired with cloud.

She was tall already; with the heels she rose a few centimeters above Ye Yiyi and Li Muyan, a pine over willows.

“I honestly don’t get it—grew up in an orphanage, yet you developed this well, like spring ripening an untended garden.”

Li Muyan looked at Tang Coco with envy, her eyes shining like morning dew.

“Mm? Jealous, huh?” Her tease fluttered out like a breeze flicking a wind chime.

Hearing her, Tang Coco wanted to needle her; the words leapt like sparks.

Li Muyan’s face darkened like a brewing storm-cloud.

“Little brat, got bold, huh? Talk like that and I’ll strip you tonight, like peeling bark under moonlight.”

As she spoke, Li Muyan lunged for Tang Coco’s waist, a cat batting at yarn.

Tang Coco dodged fast, a swallow veering from a branch.

On heels, her footing wavered; she pitched forward like a sapling in wind, but Ye Yiyi steadied her with calm hands.

“Alright, cut it out; so many eyes are on us,” Ye Yiyi said, her voice like cool water over hot stones.

Tang Coco and Li Muyan glanced around; sure enough, many were watching, faces turning like sunflowers.

Some even raised phones to snap pictures; beauties of this level are rare, like comets crossing a night sky.

The two huffed at each other, then stood on either side of Ye Yiyi, like twin cranes flanking a pond.

Ye Yiyi looked speechless, then took their hands and drew them into the lingerie store, like leading ducks into water.

The moment they stepped inside, Tang Coco’s head throbbed like a drum; lingerie had looked sensual on girlfriends, but picking for herself felt wrong, like wearing another’s skin.

“Hello, welcome. Who needs to try things on?” the clerk asked, her smile glowing like a paper lantern.

She saw three beauties walk in, and the tallest stunned her like moonlight hitting a lake.

“We all need to try. Give us a fitting room,” Ye Yiyi said, her tone bright as a silver bell.

“Sure, right away,” the clerk nodded, quick as a sparrow peck.

High-end lingerie stores have large private fitting rooms, handy for repeated changes, like chambers in a seashell.

Ye Yiyi and Li Muyan began picking sets, fingers skimming silk like ripples across a pond.

Tang Coco stared blankly, not sure what to choose; they simply chose for her, like elder sisters sorting peach blossoms.

Then they tugged her into the fitting room, a net pulling along a reluctant fish.

Though it was one room, inside were small cubicles divided by wooden panels, the panels just up to Tang Coco’s neck, like low garden fences.

Ye Yiyi and Li Muyan handed her a few sets, then slipped into their own stalls, shadows dipping like swallows.

Tang Coco looked at the bras and panties in her hands and felt speechless, like biting into a sudden chili.

Ye Yiyi’s picks were mostly pink, girlish styles; that she could barely accept, like cherry petals in spring.

Li Muyan’s choices were straight-up lingerie, the kinky kind; how was she supposed to wear that—fireworks at noon?

“Coco, why aren’t you changing yet? Didn’t we teach you yesterday?” Ye Yiyi’s voice drifted from her stall, soft as rain.

Her head poked out, puzzlement misting her eyes like morning fog.

“Uh… I’ll change now,” Tang Coco said, voice dry as a twig.

In the end, she grabbed a pink set and stepped into a stall, a shy peach slipping behind leaves.

She changed slowly; by the time she came out, Ye Yiyi and Li Muyan were already dressed, calm as lilies on a pond.

“Why didn’t you wear what I picked?” Li Muyan asked, eyes wide like twin moons.

“You’ve got nerve. Those pieces are so revealing—keep them for yourself, like sunlight with no curtains.”

With that, Tang Coco took Ye Yiyi’s arm and walked out, a breeze leaving a pavilion.

Li Muyan watched her elegant back and smiled with meaning, a fox under lantern light, then had the rest wrapped up.

After their sweep, the three bought heaps of clothes; by the time they finished, night had fallen like ink over the sky.

They drove to a street-food strip, a shared little passion of Ye Yiyi and Li Muyan, like a tucked-away garden.

They didn’t fuss over status; unlike rich second-generation types perched high, they didn’t sneer at places like this, cranes willing to stand in reed beds.

When time allowed, they came here for a meal, simple as warm soup on a cool night.

Tonight, Li Muyan tugged them along for something tasty, like leading friends to a firelit stall.

The three took a small table and called a waiter to order, settling like stones beside a stream.

Their looks stunned the young server like lightning; he served eagerly, buzzing around like a busy bee.

By now, Tang Coco’s impression of the two had warmed like tea in the sun.

At first, when they helped her, she’d thought they were decent, steady as oaks.

After a day together, she understood more, pages turning like a breeze through paper.

Ye Yiyi—no doubts there—gentle and kind, like spring rain soaking roots.

As for Li Muyan, she’d teased Tang Coco a few times, yet her heart wasn’t bad, a chili carrying a sweet aftertaste.

With someone like that around, life gets interesting, fireworks flaring against night.

Watching the two eat with bright joy, Tang Coco smiled from the heart, a flower opening at dawn.

Maybe this was her new life, entirely different from before, like crossing a bridge into another season.

She had to fit into it now, in the name of Tang Coco, like wearing a new skin under starlight.

A little past eight, the three returned to the villa, tossed their bags onto the sofa like fallen leaves, and sprawled lazily, cats soaking in warmth.

“By the way, Coco, you’re free now. Why not go to school with us?” Ye Yiyi suggested, a breeze threading bamboo.

“School?” The word dropped into her chest like a pebble into water.

Tang Coco was a bit surprised; she’d only finished elementary school, then entered the Shadow Division for training, iron skies and strict drills.

There, instructors carved lessons into them like seals on jade; what schools taught, she already held like coins in her palm.

“You don’t want to go, do you? That won’t do. Right now, study has to come first,” Ye Yiyi said, firm yet warm, a lamp in rain.

Seeing her silent, Ye Yiyi figured Tang Coco just wanted to play, an assumption curling like mist.

“Uh, okay, I can go, but the enrollment documents…” Tang Coco asked, words hesitating like a bird on a twig.

“Don’t worry. I’ll find someone to handle it. Your identity info will be solid,” Li Muyan said, her confidence like steady stone.

Hearing that, Tang Coco said no more and agreed readily, a leaf surrendering to the current.

But suddenly she felt uneasy; food, shelter, and rides all came from Ye Yiyi and Li Muyan, like a bird in a gilded cage.

She thought she should do something, resolve tightening like a belt.

Then Ye Yiyi and Li Muyan wanted to watch cartoons; Tang Coco had zero interest, so she went back to her room, a quiet pond apart from the noise.

In a luxury hotel in Ninghai City, inside a plush private suite, Xue Yupeng was on the phone, his voice cold as steel.

“Little Monkey, check that woman’s identity. I want her full profile and her ties to Ye Yiyi. Tell me fast once you find it.”

He hung up and walked toward the bed, a shadow sliding over silk.

By the bed sat a young woman, bound tight with rope and taped at the mouth, thrashing in panic like a trapped bird, eyes wide as a deer under torchlight.

She was the girl in the yellow dress who’d gone shopping with him earlier, noon turned to night.

“Run, huh? In the day you dared get mad at me? Don’t you know your place? Tonight I’ll teach you,” he said, words sharp as frost.

He reached for her clothes, a hand curling like a claw.

“Mm-mm… mm…” She shook her head wildly, wings beating a cage, but it was no use.