The saloon where Rufeng had her appointment turned out to be a vintage-style unisex saloon called 'The Hair Dance'. The owner had a strange preference of having unique decors such as funny-looking scissors, dance shoes of the 60s, disco lights and various irrelevant ornaments on dancing. Xin Li could barely stifle her laughter. But the worst was how the saloon was notorious for the lead hairstylist's creativity in hairstyles. Trust Shaojun to send Rufeng to a place like that. On the other hand, she felt a little better, considering that Rufeng would not overshadow her in terms of beauty. She was developing a small case of envy towards the beauty next to her.

"Hello," said a foreign-looking man, who sported a weird hairstyle, looking like his hair was shooting skywards. He smiled amorously. "Do you have an appointment?"

"Uh, hello," Xin Li responded. She wasn't in the mood to flirt with a stranger. "Uh, I'm here to accompany my friend for her appointment. Her English is a bit weak."

"I can speak Chinese, ni hao ma."

Rufeng ignored the man and sat down squarely on the chair before her. His smartphone rang abruptly, and he began answering the phone chirpily in Tamil. Later, when he started trimming her hair, she shuddered in fear, feeling that she was in his mercy.

She confirmed her disappointment with the reflection in the mirror. Almost years of retaining the length and volume of her hair had reduced it to a short bob that ended just below her neck. She felt inferior due to having less hair and sadly patted what remained of her magnificent silky tresses. What would Lu Jing think of her weird hairdo?

Nan Xi almost fell off the bench he was sitting on outside the saloon where he awaited the girls. "What just happened?"

"The stylist had a creative vibe," Xin Li explained.

Nan Xi shrugged. "Need we pay him for his creativity, then?"

"Shaojun already paid for the haircut online," Xin Li explained. Both of them realised how downcast Rufeng was, and Nan Xi suggested that Xin Li take her for a girl's day out and do some shopping. His reason was due to the upcoming university Gala Night, and she would be accompanying Shaojun and Nan Xi for the festivities. Earlier, Nan Xi had even made up an excuse that she was a faraway cousin of his from some third-world Asian country, and she lived in a very secluded area, almost with no facilities or hygiene.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Nan Xi asked, not realising that how ladies shopped was distinct from how the men did.

"Tsk, tsk," Xin Li teased. "Don't forget that women take an hour at least to finish clothes shopping."

Nan Xi blushed at the fact that she was teasing him, and when she stretched her hand to him, he took it, only to meet with objection from the girl, who reminded him that she needed money to bring Rufeng shopping. Quickly he realised his blunder and placed four hundred dollar bills in her hand.

"You are very generous today, Nan Xi," Xin Li chirped. "Very well, I shall take care of your 'damsel in distress', kind knight."

He was about to respond when he saw a figure that closely resembled Clares. "Hey, I got to go! I just remembered I had something to do!"

Immediately he hurried down the steps leading out of the mall in pursuit of 'Clares'. Ever since she had left him without a goodbye two years ago, he was eager to find out the reason behind her departure, and he could not give up any chance to seek her out!

"What got into him?" Xin Li ranted, turning towards the girl. "Is he normally like this at home?"

"He's very nice, he probably got shy," the silent girl suddenly spoke. "You two would make an excellent match."

Surprised that the silent beauty was beginning to open up, Xin Li replied, "Him? He's my classmate... Shaojun is a completely different story!"

Rufeng was taken aback by this twentieth-century girl who spoke her mind without further thought. "Hmmm... you like Shaojun? What's great about him?"

"I don't know, but we have known each other like forever," Xin Li said to Rufeng. "Are you close to him? Could you put in a few good words for me to him?"

Rufeng pondered on the situation before her. Initially, she had been expecting to match Xin Li and Nan Xi, but he had disappeared unexpectedly, and now, it turned out that she liked Shaojun instead! Was this what the dramas she watched often described as 'love triangle'? She was thrilled at the thought of a drama coming to life, but it then dawned upon her that it would hurt Nan Xi if Xin Li and Shaojun became an item. What could be the best solution, then?

A gust of wind from the standing fans blew across her face, reminding her of her loss, and caused her to forget what she had questioned herself earlier, on the love triangle issue. She thought of Lu Jing, and what he was doing now back in her world. Would she ever get the chance to tell him she liked him?

"Hello, Rufeng," Xin Li waved her hands in front of her face, and Rufeng snapped out of her thoughts.

"What is it?"

"Let's go try on some clothes," Xin Li suggested. Perhaps she could earn some brownie points with Rufeng by helping the girl out with her clothing choices. Now, she was wearing an old shirt of Nan Xi's, and it looked horrendously large and unappealing on her.

Rufeng's eyes widened in horror to see some teenagers dressed in skimpy clothing roaming about the clothing department store, picking out clothes for themselves to try on. She found the rectangular pieces of cloth akin to their undergarments, and it embarrassed her to see the women in the new world dressed that way.

"It's a tube, and mostly worn during summer," Xin Li explained. "Would you like to try one on? It's extremely cool during the hot weather."

She shook her head. She didn't want to feel naked, and she imagined Lu Jing wouldn't like to see her dressed that way, either.

"What about we try on some dresses?" Xin Li suggested, leading her towards a different section of the store. "Perhaps one of these long, flowing dresses will be more suitable for you since you are tall and slender." She pointed Rufeng towards a sheer white dress and then frowned. She suddenly focused on Rufeng's chest, and she realised something was not right. Taking her hand, she led Rufeng to the intimate wear section and picked out a few designs for her.

"Are these clothing too?" Rufeng exclaimed, blushing profusely. Xin Li smiled, thinking that Rufeng was definitely from the countryside and had never worn a brassiere before.

"It's armour for women," she said.

"Armour? Are we going to war?" Rufeng almost shouted. Was the situation with demons here so critical, that Nan Xi's female friend was taking her to buy armour to prepare for war?

"No, that's not what I meant," Xin Li hurriedly explained. "I meant it's how we protect our.. little buns."

"But I've never worn one before!" Rufeng responded in a panic.

"This kind lady will help you," Xin Li said with a courteous smile, beckoning towards an older saleslady. She watched the woman take Rufeng's measurements and entered the changing room with her. Rufeng continued to feel uncomfortable as Xin Li showed her how to put on the brassiere, but she committed to memory quickly the steps that Xin Li had indicated. She didn't want Xin Li to see her without clothing due to the aftermath of harsh training and battling demons. She had a few scars on her body as a result of those battles; while fighting monsters, she could not wear heavy armour due to it inhibiting her demon-slaying skills and abilities, and she had to wear leather armour for swiftness. Hence, Xin Li had to do the demonstration over her own fully-clothed body. She then exited the changing room to allow Rufeng to get changed, heading to the counter to make payment for the purchases.

Next, they returned to the earlier section, and Rufeng picked up the dress she was eyeing earlier. Understanding that Rufeng needed privacy, which indeed she did, Xin Li selected a few dresses for her to try on, none of which were the conservative kind. She judged well that Rufeng was hiding a flawless and curvy figure, which she could accentuate with specific cuttings and patterns. The maximum she could take into the fitting room was five, and she handed Rufeng five 'sexy' dresses to try on, promising that her figure would look too appetising to whom she wanted to impress.

Unlike the changing room earlier which she could lock with a doorknob, the fitting room merely had a curtain that she could pull up and down. There was no security staff to watch for any 'accidents'. She had just tried on the fourth dress when the lace of the dress had come into contact with her brassiere's hook. The dress ended up stuck, and she needed help, but who could go to her assistance? Perhaps, she could call for Xin Li, and make an exception because she couldn't get it to budge without ruining the dress. After much consideration, she managed to pull off the brassiere over her head, but the long dress remained hooked to the brassiere.

Outside the curtain of her room, a familiar voice was calling her name, and she responded.

"I'm here! Could you get Xin Li? I need help."

It was narrow in the walkway just outside the fitting room, and someone bumped into Shaojun unintentionally, resulting in him falling forward and crashing into Rufeng as the curtain came loose. Without realising it, his lips had touched Rufeng's as they had landed on each other unceremoniously.

What was he doing, and what was that warm and fuzzy feeling that was rushing through her body? Rufeng wondered. She was a village girl and had never kissed. Thus it had not occurred that what Shaojun was giving her was an actual kiss!

On the other hand, Shaojun appeared to be enjoying the kiss, despite how he had never shown any interest in Rufeng before. In his confusion, he pulled away, not sure what had gotten into him, but the sight of her half-naked figure was not something he could handle!

What in the heavens had he landed himself into now?

He was in hot soup.