Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 55: Retail Therapy

Chapter 55: Retail Therapy

The carriage pulled up at a high-end store belonging to the Sun family that Madam Yu had recommended to them. The girls and Tricky climbed out.

First Brother held each of the young women by the elbow as they walked down the carriage steps, holding them steady. Sofya smiled sweetly at him, "always the gentleman, Mei Renlong".

He smiled slightly and nodded at her.

The princess swept Meili into the store with all of the confidence of royalty, and the shop assistants responded in kind, rushing to serve them.

Bai Li motioned for two of the guards to wait at the front entrance while the other two covered the rear. He and First Brother entered the store with the young ladies and Tricky, trying, and failing, to look unobtrusive.

"Tricky, sit with First Brother," Meili ordered him, and he reluctantly loped off to sit at the feet of Mei Renlong, who now stood just inside the doors to the shop.

"Here Meili, try this one, and this one," called Sofya, pointing at some beautiful outfits, which the assistants discretely moved into a changing room for Meili.

Because of her face and figure, clothes had never been of interest to Meili, but it did seem like fun to try on outfits with her friend Sofya.

"Bring us your yanbin clips too, please," Sofya requested the young assistant who was following behind them. "We’re looking for something in a blue floral design, preferably hydrangeas if you have them."

"Yes, your highness, very good. I’ll bring out what we have," bowed the woman, scurrying away.

Sofya selected some grasslands’ style outfits for herself, and then dragged Meili into the same changing room.

To the chagrin of the two men, Sofya used them to solicit opinions on their outfits. She brought Meili out in a midnight blue horse face skirt, very high waisted, with a simple white top, which showed off her figure to best effect. She spun the girl around like a doll.

"What do you think, Commander Bai? Do we have a winner with this outfit?"

"Ahem," he coughed, scratching his ear. "Yes, that’s a very fetching outfit on Miss Mei," he said awkwardly.

Sofya had seen his eyes widen in appreciation when Meili appeared, so she already knew it was a hit.

She pushed her friend back inside the changeroom and with the help of the shop assistants, brought Meili out in a stunning pink hanfu dress, embroidered with pink cherry blossoms on the sleeves and skirt, and trimmed with a chocolate colour that paired with the branch design and the very tall, cinched waistband. The dress really did make her look like a fairy descended to earth, and even her brother smiled in delight at how pretty his sister looked.

"Definitely get that one meimei," he approved.

"Really gege? You don’t think it’s a bit too girly for me, do you?"

"No," said Bai Li and First Brother at the same time.

First looked at Bai Li in surprise, and the man turned his head away, scratching the side of his nose.

Next it was Soya’s turn to model some outfits. The first outfit she chose was a traditional grasslands costume in red. Bai Li left this assessment to First Brother, who murmured something polite to the princess, leaving her dissatisfied.

She tried again, coming out in an electric blue grasslands outfit, with a fine gold embroidered pattern, and a matching headscarf with little silver bells on the scallops and a pretty jewelled design that dangled across her forehead. The colour was stunning with her skin tone and light brown hair, and this time it was First Brother’s turn to show his involuntary appreciation for an outfit, as his eyes widened, and his mouth popped open.

’Perfect!’ thought Sofya, this was the one.

The girls wore their new outfits immediately, Sofya in the electric blue dress and Meili in the midnight blue skirt and white top.

"Your highness, here are the yanbin clips you asked to see," the young shop assistant lead the girls to the counter, where there were trays of yanbin-style hair ornaments on display for them.

Sofya stopped at the second tray. "Here they are Meili," she said confidently, picking up a pair of enamel hair ornaments, each of which was a fluffy round hydrangea design in the softest cornflower blue, with silver chains delicately dripping from the blossoms, threaded with pale blue seed pearls that caught the light.

She pushed each pin carefully into Meili’s half-up, half-down hairdo, on each side of her forehead.

"So pretty!" she cried. "Show Commander Bai."

"No, Sofya. If you say they’re pretty, I believe you. We’ll take these too please," Meili told the shop assistant. "I’d like to wear them now."

Feeling very smart in their new clothes, the two girls exited the shop, having made arrangements to have their purchases and their original outfits delivered to their homes.

Sofya took Meili’s arm under hers and they strolled off down the main street, Tricky walking at Meili’s side. First Brother and Bai Li walked a few steps behind them. Two of the guards walked a few metres ahead and the other two brought up the rear.

Meili noticed that they were attracting plenty of attention as people wondered who was important enough to warrant such a large retinue. Folk stopped and openly stared at the two girls. Meili supposed they were as struck by the appearance of the princess in that outfit as her brother had been.

"I wish I could show you all of the best shops Sofya, but unfortunately I’m as new to this street as you are."

"That’s fine Meili, we’ll discover them together. Mei Renlong," she called back, "where are the antiquities shops?"

"Two streets up, to the right princess."

"Let’s go and see what they have," she said to Meili. "I like to collect antique horse statues and jewellery."

They rounded the corner and headed down a narrow side street filled with antiquities shops.