In clothing stores near old residential areas like this, the prices are relatively affordable. All kinds of styles are neatly arranged on the shelves.
There's no need to buy clothes in large shopping malls. Ye Shuang knows that those clothes are just purchased for 20 yuan and then marked up to 1,000 yuan and sold at a 10% discount as a gimmick. It's not as cost - effective as these more affordable small shops.
"What do you think of this dress?" Ye Shuang picked up a pure white dress on a hanger and asked. This kind of simple style should suit Bai Yuyou well... But remembering that his aesthetic taste had been denied countless times by his ex - girlfriend, he still asked Bai Yuyou for her opinion.
"What style do you like?"
Bai Yuyou had been looking at the white dress in Ye Shuang's hand and nodded. "The one you chose looks good."
"Good girl." Ye Shuang was suddenly a bit touched. His aesthetic taste surely wasn't bad. There were still people who understood him. A snow - white long - dress, black long straight hair, and a quiet beautiful girl were simply a top - notch combination.
At this moment, the store manager, an aunt who had been chatting and eating melon seeds with another aunt outside, walked over quickly when she noticed Ye Shuang and Bai Yuyou.
"Take a look around. These are all new styles, and we have a full range of sizes."
But the next second, the aunt seemed to have noticed something and kept her eyes on Bai Yuyou. However, the latter didn't notice her strange gaze. Her quiet and beautiful eyes were looking at the clothes in front of her.
Soon, the aunt's gaze landed on Ye Shuang. She lowered her voice and asked, "Who are you to this little girl?"
Ye Shuang was slightly taken aback by this sudden question. First, he glanced at Bai Yuyou, then took a few steps outside.
"Why? Is there something wrong?"
"You haven't answered me yet, young man." The aunt looked at Ye Shuang, and her tone was a bit like interrogating a criminal.
"I'm not really related to her... If I have to say, I'm someone who takes care of her." Seeing that the aunt seemed to know Bai Yuyou, Ye Shuang really couldn't say that he was being supported by her. He just made up an excuse casually.
"Do you know about her?" Ye Shuang asked.
"Young man, you must be from the community, right? Did you come here without learning about what happened to this little girl?" The aunt continued.
Ye Shuang was stunned for a moment but still followed the topic. "I haven't learned in detail. Tell me."
"Alas, that girl is also a poor soul. Because she was mentally abnormal, her mother kept her locked in the attic for eight years..." The aunt stopped halfway through her words.
Just as Ye Shuang was about to ask her to continue, he noticed a softness and warmth approaching from behind. Bai Yuyou appeared behind Ye Shuang, just tilting her head slightly.
"Well, have you found one you like?" Ye Shuang didn't know if Bai Yuyou had heard their conversation just now and immediately changed the subject.
Bai Yuyou was holding the white dress that Ye Shuang had chosen earlier. "This one."
"The fabric of this dress is good. It will be very comfortable to wear." At this time, the aunt also said, "Do you want to try it on? There's a fitting room here."
"Go ahead and try it." Ye Shuang pointed to the fitting room not far away at this time.
Bai Yuyou looked at the black partition and just asked, "Why do I have to go there?"
As soon as she finished speaking, at this moment, the aunt beside Ye Shuang gave him a "see, I told you" look.
But Ye Shuang was very patient. "Didn't I say that you can't let others see you when you change clothes, so you have to go there to change."
Bai Yuyou understood, nodded slightly, and took the clothes to change.
"See? That girl is a bit mentally abnormal." After seeing Bai Yuyou go to change, the aunt continued to talk to Ye Shuang.
"Her mother said that this girl has a violent tendency. She would randomly slash people with a kitchen knife in the middle of the night. It's very scary."
"To prevent her from accidentally hurting others, her mother locked her up."
Ye Shuang then asked, "What about her mother?"
"I don't know. I heard that she couldn't stand the torture of her mentally ill daughter and ran away with another man." The aunt just shrugged slightly. "This happened two years ago, and many people in the neighborhood know about it."
She ran away two years ago... And was locked up for eight years before that?
Ye Shuang's mouth opened slightly. So she was locked up starting from the age of eight?
"Since you're sent here by the community, you should be careful when taking care of this girl. Don't get accidentally hacked to death while you're sleeping." The aunt added.
But Ye Shuang frowned because during his time with Bai Yuyou, the "abnormal" feeling he got from the girl came from her lack of common sense, not from being mentally ill.
Suddenly, Ye Shuang thought of a terrifying possibility.
Could it be...
That her mother locked her daughter up for eight years in the name of mental illness?
She was locked up from the age of eight until sixteen and then her mother disappeared until today, two years later.
No matter which possibility it was, Ye Shuang felt a tightness in his heart, as if a huge stone was pressing on him, making it hard to breathe.
At this moment, the curtain of the fitting room not far away was also pulled open, and Bai Yuyou walked out slowly. The snow - white dress made the girl as elegant as a lotus flower untouched by dust.
"As expected, good - looking people look good in anything." Ye Shuang said when he saw this.
"Indeed. When this little girl grows up a bit more, she'll probably be as good - looking as I was in my youth." The aunt beside him couldn't help but nod.
After Ye Shuang took a look at her buck teeth and a mole with a thick hair growing out of it, he suddenly didn't know where it would be better to start spitting.
"Does it fit well?" Ye Shuang asked when he saw Bai Yuyou coming over.
Although Bai Yuyou didn't quite understand the difference between a dress and a school uniform skirt, she still tugged at the clothes on her chest. "It's a bit tight here..."
As she spoke, she asked, "Can I just take off my underwear? Then it will fit."
"No." Ye Shuang immediately refused, then asked the aunt beside him, "Miss, do you have one size larger?"
"Yes, this one is indeed a bit small. The girl's development is really enviable." The aunt said with a smile, then rummaged through the cabinet and took out a new dress.
After Bai Yuyou changed into it, it fit just right this time.
"Let's buy some pajamas and other things. We'll take this size." Ye Shuang then took Bai Yuyou to pick out some daily - wear clothes.
Just as Ye Shuang thought, Bai Yuyou didn't seem like a mentally ill person at all. She just didn't know anything.
However, Ye Shuang also found that Bai Yuyou didn't even have a mobile phone, lacking an important channel for obtaining information.
Has she been living with just cash all this time?
Ye Shuang thought for a while and always felt that she should have received some help from others. But at this moment, Ye Shuang didn't ask about these things.
After thinking that Bai Yuyou needed a mobile phone, Ye Shuang took her to the mobile phone store where he had bought a phone in the morning.