Su Xing took the dress out of the box.
Xu Tongtong glanced briefly at the dress and scoffed, “You got it from Taobao 9.9 with free shipping, right? It doesn’t have a good texture and it looks even cheaper than your school uniform. Fu Zhi, don’t take this as criticism, but do you not think that you should treat the competition more seriously? Your English is bad, and now you don’t even have a nice dress to wear on stage. Are you not afraid of making a fool of yourself on the stage?”
“Tongtong’s right. Dressing up decently is the most basic form of respect one should have for others on a special occasion such as this one. If you wear that cheap dress of yours on the stage, then you’re basically not respecting the event.”
“That’s what I’m saying!” Xu Tongtong lifted her chin triumphantly when someone backed her up. She glanced at Lu Wanchu, who had put on new clothes and was sitting on a chair wiping her tears. Her eyes rolled around in their sockets as an idea popped into her head. Then, she said, “Wanwan, I remember that you have quite a number of nice dresses at your house. Isn’t that right? Why don’t you ask your family to bring one or two dresses for Fu Zhi? Don’t you think it would be much better than her wearing that rag of hers?”
Fu Zhi leaned against the vanity as she was replying to messages.
When she heard what Xu Tongtong had said, she raised her head to look at her and declined. “That’s not necessary.”
Then, she added calmly, “We wear different sizes of clothes.”
Xu Tongtong was stumped.
Fu Zhi kept reminding Lu Chuwan about her size, and it was getting on her nerves. Her expression was dark as she sat silently on the chair, and she clenched her fists so hard her nails dug into her palms.
“Can you please stop saying that? Wanwan has a standard body shape, but even if you two wear different sizes of clothes, it’s not a big deal at all. We can modify a dress until it fits your body size. It will be much better than you wearing that rag of yours, don’t you think so?” Xu Tongtong soon regained the upper hand in this situation and said with a smile, “I remember that Wanwan donated all the dresses that she wore to competitions to the school. They’re all backstage, and I know where they’ve put them. I’ll go and bring them for you!”
After half a minute, Xu Tongtong took all the dresses out of the closet. Then, she moved on and said with concern, “I know you want to show up on the stage, so here you are. These are all the nice dresses that Wanwan donated to the school. Even though these dresses are old-fashioned, each and every one of them is worth a mint, and they have only been worn a few times!”
All the dresses had been worn by Lu Chuwan before, and if Fu Zhi wore them on the stage, she would definitely make a fool of herself in front of everyone.
Bai Yao knew what Xu Tongtong was planning. A grin was playing around her lips, and she couldn’t wait any longer to see Fu Zhi embarrass herself.
*
Fu Zhi was in a bad mood. A very, very bad mood.
She was really annoyed by Xu Tongtong’s voice.
Her fingers, which gripped tightly her phone, were turning white, and the atmosphere around her was tense.
Just as Xu Wei was about to say something, Xu Tongtong interjected. “If you really like to wear these kind of off-the-rack dresses, please do everyone a favor and wear them in your own home. Please don’t wear them out. They are an eyesore.”
As she was speaking, she went forward and attempted to grab the dress from Su Xing’s arms. Realizing what she was going to do, Su Xing took a step back, and the diamond-studded black envelope fell from her hand.
Xu Tongtong paused in her tracks and looked at the letter. Then, her eyes widened in shock.
When the other girls in the room noticed the changes in Xu Tongtong, they followed her line of sight and looked down. Then, when they saw the name on the envelope, all of them were stunned to their core.
Su Xing unfolded the light yellow dress, which shone brightly under the lights. There was a depiction of China’s civilization on the hemline, and three diamonds were embedded on the collar, doubling as buttons.
Xu Tongtong looked in disbelief at the letter on the floor. She opened her mouth and murmured, “This... This can’t be. How is this even possible?”
The other girls gasped in astonishment when they saw the name Li Luo. “Are you sure this is real? Li Luo is an international chief designer and she only designs dresses for China’s royal family. How is there any chance she would design a dress for Fu Zhi?”
“But take a look at this. Can you see it? This dress glows under the light. It must be made of a special fabric...”