Using slender, snow-white hands that were still a little clumsy, I rolled up the black stockings. I didn’t have time to wonder whether these freshly unpacked stockings, still carrying the scent of new clothes, needed washing first. I lifted my tender little foot and slipped it inside.

The soft black stocking stretched around it, taking on the shape of a small foot.

Then I gripped the edge of the stocking with both hands and slowly pulled it up along my long, supple, beautiful leg. First came my calves, their curves beautiful enough for a manga panel. Then my delicate knees. I continued upward until the stocking reached about halfway up my thighs. Only then did I let go, allowing the elastic band at the top to gently hug my thigh.

I lightly stroked the area from my ankles to the middle of my thighs, smoothing out the wrinkles and making sure the stockings fit perfectly against my legs. Then I took out the other stocking and repeated the process.

Once I’d put them both on, I wiggled the toes wrapped in black stockings and confirmed that everything was nearly perfect. Only then did I stand up from the little stool, pick up the plaid skirt beside me, put it on, and pull up the zipper.

It was really… too beautiful.

Wearing only stockings and a plaid skirt, with no top on, I lowered my little head and gazed at my body. A heartfelt thought slipped through my mind.

My chest was simply too large. I could only vaguely see the flat little stomach below, along with the legs sheathed in black stockings.

If I remembered correctly, my shoe size was only around 32 or 33. Even among girls my age, that was exceptionally tiny. Without being shy about it, they could be called “delicate jade feet.” An ordinary adult man could probably wrap one hand completely around my foot.

Even the teddy-bear slippers originally designed for women looked slightly too large on me.

Besides, although I was 163 centimeters tall, my legs made up a large proportion of my height. My features also leaned toward the youthful side. Overall, I looked about fourteen or fifteen, like a middle school student. When I went outside, hardly anyone believed I was a university student.

Xiaoxue, your classmate was right. With such excellent physical advantages, you shouldn’t have despaired, no matter how poor your family was.

You… were far too pessimistic.

You were cute, with a good figure and beautiful skin. You were healthy, too, without any hereditary illnesses. You hardly even caught a cold while growing up. Your body had already lived so well, and yet you…

Well, forget it.

The current me was Bi Xinxue. Saying things like that felt like I was blaming myself.

I picked up the sky-blue T-shirt nearby and put it on. After roughly straightening my skirt and shirt, I walked out of the bathroom.

At the sink outside the bathroom, I untied my ponytail. My long, silky hair fell over my shoulders, carrying a faint fragrance.

My body was excellent in many ways, but after carrying things up and down the stairs and running to the supermarket, I’d still discovered quite a few imperfections.

The first was… although I was beautiful, my stamina was terrible.

That was related to Bi Xinxue’s lifelong dislike of exercise. It had even affected my figure slightly. My calves and thighs were long and slender, with hardly any excess flesh, and their curves were beautiful. But the flesh on both my thighs and calves was extremely soft and weak.

After running up and down for only a short while, I was already feeling tired.

My lower abdomen was the same.

I didn’t have a belly, and my stomach was flat and alluring. But it was obvious that this area had already reached the dangerous edge of being “sub-healthy.” Therefore, once my basic crisis had been resolved, I had to make “working out” my most fundamental daily task.

If possible, I should train until I had visible ab lines and get rid of the extra hidden fat around my stomach.

The same applied to my thighs and calves. I could jog and stretch every day, making the flesh on my legs a little firmer and my flexibility better. That way, my legs would look more attractive in stockings.

Most importantly, my stamina absolutely couldn’t remain this poor.

Now that I was working as a rental girlfriend, what would I do if I ran into some weird middle-aged guy? With stamina this bad, I might not even outrun him.

When I reached my bed, memories of the physical education exam and the “painful” military training at the beginning of university surfaced in my mind.

I had barely passed the physical exam for the college entrance test. On the first day of university military training, I fainted. On the second day, I went to the infirmary again after running 800 meters because my blood sugar had dropped too low. On the third day, I couldn’t even finish ten sit-ups before I became completely unable to move. The instructor punished me separately for half an hour.

After searching under the bed for a while, I pulled out a pair of girls’ uniform shoes. I’d bought them at my high school graduation ceremony, but had barely worn them since.

Because my feet were so small, our homeroom teacher had specially contacted the manufacturer to order them in size 32. Just holding them in my hands, I could clearly tell how tiny the feet of the girl wearing them were supposed to be.

The customer listed as “Liang Zhiming” on the rental order claimed to like “JK girls.” But I was so poor that I couldn’t afford a JK uniform. I could only substitute with a plaid skirt, knee-high stockings, uniform shoes, and a cuter T-shirt.

That was another point that caught my attention.

As I sat on the chair and changed my shoes, I thought about it silently.

The Hualimao rental-girlfriend app had only just begun developing. Competition wasn’t fierce yet. There were only a few pretty girls available for rent, and not many people knew about the app.

So when men placed orders, their requirements were usually just: “The date must be female and not ugly.”

But in the near future, those requirements would definitely expand without limit.

For example: “Someone who can play games with me at an internet café,” “someone who can play basketball,” or “someone who can discuss all kinds of anime with me.”

As for hardcore shut-ins, I didn’t even need to guess. There would definitely be requests like:

“Remember to wear a sailor uniform on our date.”

“I like maids.”

“I’ll cosplay as 486, you cosplay as Rem, and we’ll go to a convention together.”

“I hope she has a loli voice.”

In other words… if I wanted to thrive in this business, then besides properly training my body, I also had to learn all kinds of strange things during this period.

Imitating different voices, playing games, understanding anime character archetypes… I had to study them all.

Besides, I absolutely couldn’t go out wearing nothing but the same black stockings and little skirt every time. I had to prepare more outfits.

JK uniforms, Lolita dresses, even cosplay costumes—I had to learn how to wear and adapt to all of them.

Otherwise, in the not-too-distant future, my advantage of being “cute and well-proportioned” would definitely be diluted by the rental market’s growing demands.

What if you only had school uniforms, but someone else liked mature older-sister types?

What if you could only do a young girl’s voice, but someone else liked loli voices?

What if you only had black stockings, but your customer was a white-stocking fanatic?

“Xiaoxue, are you heading out?”

Perhaps because she saw that I’d changed my clothes and shoes and put on my bag, my classmate Chen Xiaorui asked curiously, “It’s almost dinner time.”

“Yeah, I’m going to my part-time job.”

I smiled and took a small fruit knife from my suitcase. I slipped it into my skirt pocket, then moved my feet slightly inside the girls’ uniform shoes.

“I’ll probably be back around nine-thirty.”

“Wow, you found a part-time job already? Looks like Xiaoxue has really opened up.”

Chen Xiaorui looked pleasantly surprised.

“I’m going out with my boyfriend tonight, too. Want me to bring you something to eat?”

“If there’s anything left, I won’t turn it down.”

I spoke in a playful tone that Bi Xinxue would never normally use. Then I winked at Chen Xiaorui and swung my bag onto my back.

“I’m off.”

“Take care! Don’t let some weird middle-aged guy kidnap you!”

“If there’s a weird middle-aged guy, I’ll eat him!”

After saying goodbye to my roommate, I went down the stairs and left the dormitory.

The girls’ uniform shoes had very short, thick heels. Whenever they struck the hard ground, they made a steady click-clack, click-clack. I could faintly feel the vibrations through the heels of my feet, wrapped in black stockings.

Besides, when I wore a skirt, the space between my legs felt empty as I walked. The strip of exposed skin between the skirt and stockings—the so-called absolute territory—also felt cool.

It was incredibly novel to me.

When I thought about how I would have to live as a girl from now on, and how this feeling might accompany me for the rest of my life, I…

Well, I’d just take things one step at a time.

At least for now, the world was still pretty wonderful.

After leaving the dormitory, I walked along the quiet, tree-lined campus road. I took out my phone and opened the Hualimao app. In the background settings, I checked the option:

“Automatically call the police if the transaction has not been confirmed with the independent password when the rental period ends.”

That was also why I’d arranged to meet Liang Zhiming at Sunflower Plaza.

Five-thirty was when the city was at its busiest.

“Hello.”

It took me about ten minutes to reach the entrance of Sunflower Plaza. I called Liang Zhiming through Hualimao.

“Are you here, sir?”

“Uh… yes, I’m here.”

There was a brief pause on the other end.

“Where are you?”

“Just tell me your location, or send me a location share. You can also describe your most obvious features.”

“No need. I’m outside an eyewear shop called Jingcai beside the entrance to Sunflower Plaza. I’m wearing an orange hoodie. I’ll be easy to spot.”

“Oh…”

I looked around and quickly found the Jingcai eyewear shop Liang Zhiming had mentioned.

“I see you. Please wait a moment.”

After hanging up, I lightly combed my bangs and straightened my little skirt. Then I ran toward the young man with a rapid click-clack of footsteps.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

When I reached him, I raised my phone and compared him briefly with the information on the screen.

“Are you the client from Hualimao?”

“Wow… you…”

The young man was a full head taller than me, with a well-proportioned build. His face was full of shock.

“You… you’re not wearing makeup?”

“No. I was running a little short on time.”

I lowered my head slightly, a little embarrassed. Then, imitating the obedient and adorable girls from anime, I crossed my hands and gave a small bow.

“I’m really sorry.”

“No, no, I’m not blaming you for not wearing makeup. I mean… I mean…”

The young man carefully looked me over for several seconds before turning his face away.

“You’re just too beautiful. I thought… I thought all those photos on the website had been smoothed and beautified…”

“Hm?”

I pretended to look delighted.

“Can I take that as a compliment, sir?”

“Of course.”

He answered almost instantly.

“Seriously. You’re prettier than every girl I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you.”

I put away my phone.

“Then let’s start with the basics. You requested that I call you Zhiming directly, right?”

“Right, right. Just call me Zhiming. I… my ex-girlfriend used to call me that, too.”

“Then you can call me Xiaoxue.”

I glanced at the large clock near the entrance to Sunflower Plaza and cleared my throat. Then I used my gentlest tone.

“There are still nine minutes before the order begins. During those nine minutes, Brother Zhiming, please introduce yourself and tell Xiaoxue how you’d like me to act during the three-hour date.”