***
(MC POV)
Finishing our pots of tea we decided to head out. Ying'er seemed to have already planned out the day as she immediately started leading me to other locations.
First we found ourselves in a street filled with food vendor stalls. The little tea break we just had did make me feel a pang of hunger and with such a variety of options in front of me I felt the need for a snack. The closest one to the entrance sold grilled meat kebabs from a good few different animals. Another vendor down the line sold fried breads and scallion pancakes.
Once we had our fill and were sated she took me down to another street. There it seemed to be a shopping district.Shops had large windows displaying varying items from miscellaneous little nick nacks and toys to kitchen supplies like woks.
As we walked further downI found the items on display started changing from utilities to articles of clothing, like dresses.
"Darling Look! This dress looks so good! Come on, let's check it out." Spotting one of the dresses in the window displays she hooked onto my left arm and dragged me into the store.
As she asked one of the store handlers I took a look around. There it seemed the entire store was filled with feminine clothing.
With a glance at Ying'er I felt that she might take a while so I might as well browse through the selections. A single look was all it took for me to realize that the store was sectioned almost into a scale. On one side was the most modest and conservative clothes and the other showed more of themselves off and was more provocative in general. Meanwhile the middle had more of a balance between the two as they showed off more of themselves compared to the conservative side, but definitely not enough to fall under that tantalizing side.
Taking another glance at my wife I realized she disappeared from view. Not knowing how much longer they might take I began making a few rounds in each section, starting from the conservative side. Each little section had a mannequin or two wearing a dress and this was mostly what I would look at.
Each dress in the section covered them from their toe to collar. Most skirts of these dresses seemed like they would drag behind the wearer like wedding gowns. Some dresses seemed to be looser than others with flowing fabrics in the wind and others could be like heavy cloths to drape over their bodies just to hide their figure. As I walked around I noticed accessories such as veils to cover them up even further.
In the next section the shoulders were exposed and the skirts were shortened quite drastically or large sections removed, showing off the legs of the person. The dresses accentuated the figure who wore them and gave a certain charm along with it.
The last section was of course the most flashy of the three. The skirts here were short with the longest one not even covering the knees while some didn't even offer a skirt at all. Almost all of them emphasized the assets of a woman and some showed the midriff as well. Overall, these were the most alluring outfits in the entire store.
There was even another section between the middle and flashy side which I just noticed. They contained outfits which looked like bodysuits such as leotards.
There were a few sets of footsteps that entered the shop, but I ignored it to continue viewing the assortment of clothing in the store. But soon I heard a voice which didn't quite seem to ignore me.
"Hey!"
When I turned I saw a trio of women walking towards me. Since I was just looking at clothing I categorized them by clothing as well. They all wore robes which seemed to fit in with the middle section of the store.
"Hello there Big Brother, what brings you here?"
"Are you picking out a dress to buy? How about you let this Sister help you?~"
"Big Brother, why don't you come with us? Let's have fun together!~"
These random encounters with women happened every so often. Almost like an MC randomly seeing thug characters appear as he enters a city for the first time. They appear and disappear just as quickly and usually happen every so often. But people here aren't as stubborn, most of the time.
"I'm sorry ladies, I'm currently waiting for someone. Just don't mind me!" After politely saying so I went back to looking at random clothes.
Though it is quite odd at times that the tropes are flipped occasionally. Usually it's thugs trying to flirt with a beauty, yet currently it's the opposite. In this world if I had to say there's anything different from other cultivation novels I'd have to say that it seems like women are a bit bolder than normal.
If I was in a book and the tropes were switched I bet that Ying'er would come out and beat up these women then have a large bounty placed on her head for killing some subordinates of subordinates of subordinates of some power in the Upper Realm.
What does seem a little novel-like is the fact our realm is a little cut off from the Upper Realm. I heard a rumor long ago about a hidden sect which still has the ability to ascend, since I didn't care for ascending and going from someone who has an easy life to instant hardship like slavery I didn't look.
'Hmm, if this world was a book then the MC could possibly be Xue Jinzi. She kind of fits the model of one doesn't she? Her family heirloom suddenly works one day as she's in a terrible condition, her family's heirloom just happens to be something life changing, she's adopted by some random lonely old master or hot woman to be a disciple, though in this case I don't completely match either of these descriptions, and begins a cultivation journey filled with many ups and downs.
Wait, does that mean something disastrous is going to happen soon to my sect for drama? No, of course not, that only happens in novels. Though I have seen a few people who could easily fit the MC role, maybe they all just have their own stories, stories that I'm not a part of.'
Suddenly a pair of hands appeared on my shoulders. For a split second I thought it was Ying'er sneaking up on me again, but soon another pair appeared on my right shoulder followed by yet another pair on my left. Swiftly turning around and shaking off the sets of hands I found the 3 women standing fairly close to me.
"Please, leave me alone." My tone this time was a little different, more indifferent.
"Big Brother, you don't have to be like that!~ We just want a bit of your time, that's all! Is that too much to give? Your partner's in there changing after all, isn't it a bit lonely to stand around like this?"
"Sister only wants to have a little chat!~"
"Yeah, yeah! Let's just talk!"
Just at that moment the curtains opened.
"Darling!~ Take a look at me! What do you thi- Huh?" As she saw my situation she swiftly walked over between me and the three women before pushing the other women away from me.
"We're husband and wife, get away from him!"
"M-married?!"
"Huh?!"
"He's taken? That's too bad."
The 3 women after being both shoved away and told such news gloomily walked away.
'Honestly, for a moment I thought they would be stubborn and a fight would break out, luckily nothing happened. Perhaps thinking about those novels has gotten to me.'
Ying'er after watching them leave the store turned around towards me with a slightly mad expression.
"What were you doing with them?!"
"I wasn't doing anything with them, they came after me!"
"*Sigh* I know. You need to reject people like that more firmly next time!... Soo what do you think about this dress?" Her expression softened as she resumed what I think is her previous question.
She took a few steps back so I could get a better look.
The whole dress was white, but starting from the bottom the skirt was asymmetrical. The back of the skirt touched and even dragged a bit onto the floor, but as the skirt came to the front it became shorter and shorter reaching just above the knee. She did wear something to cover her legs though which were also white. Going up each of her sleeves weren't connected to the dress exposing her shoulders, but did open up becoming bell sleeves. Atop her mounds an ovular window appeared to gaze into, What I saw though the opening had me fixated for a moment or two.
"Fufu~♥ I can already see through your thoughts from your gaze and I can already tell you like it!~ That's enough for me, I'll buy it!"
..
As we exited the store she didn't change back, instead wearing the dress she showed me out. Her previous outfit could have been considered one of the conservative outfits which hid a bit of her appeal, but now it's almost like she's tempting me. Although it's not like she hasn't been doing so already lately.
"So where to next?" I asked the new attachment on my arm.
"Don't worry, the next place should be the last one. I'm thinking about that new little disciple of yours. I realized I might have been a little too harsh on her. So could you help me choose a gift for her?"
'Oh, how thoughtful of her! She must have realized the bad start she had and now is trying to reconcile.'
"Of course Ying'er I'd be happy to, but I'm afraid I might now be able to help too much."
"Oh, that's alright! Just having you here with me is enough support!"
"So what kind of gift do you want to give her?"
"You'll find out soon!"
After a minute or so of walking we made it to a place which sold storage rings.
"Why don't you just give her one of the ones we have at the sect instead of getting a completely new one?"
"Simple! The ones we have are a bit too plain. We can have a bit more personalization and besides it wouldn't feel very special if we just gave her a generic copy don't you agree?"
"I suppose you're right, let's take a look then. It doesn't have to be a large ring, in fact 3 cubic meters should be good for her."
"Alright, but once we get it I'll deal with it okay? It's supposed to be my gift for her so I'll do the rest afterwards."
"It's all yours. I just want to know what you'll be getting her."
"Alright, let's go and take a look now!"
When we walked into the store there were guards on either side of the main entrance both in and out. An attendant stopped us and asked if we needed any help picking which we declined.
There were large signs directing where storage rings were. They were dictated by size, anything having to do with appearance were just optional decorative expenses.
We headed toward the small section and browsed through the options provided. The cheapest were rings created from iron and instantly we cast that out as an option.
"How about gold or silver? I feel like these two metals would look good."
"Good choices, but since we don't know what she likes, let's just pick silver so we don't waste any time deliberating which one would be better. Oh and let's pick this design to go with it! Plus we should get a blue storage gem to go with her eyes."
She picked up a silver ring with etchings on it, upon closer inspection it seems to resemble flowers and vines.
All of the rings here were empty of the small gem which would turn it from a normal ring to a storage ring. Going up to a counter nearby we had a blue storage gem implanted and paid with some spirit stones, both the gem color and ring costing an additional fee.