At this time, the mannequin was only wearing simple underwear. Lin Banxia didn't think much of it and went to the guest room as Song Qingluo had said, randomly finding a nightgown.

“Change her into it,” Song Qingluo continued.

Lin Banxia said, “This... is there some significance to this?”

Song Qingluo said, “You’ll know once you change her.”

Lin Banxia had no choice but to comply.

After the dress was on, Song Qingluo placed the Plastic Female Mannequin opposite Ji Leshui, letting the mannequin enter his line of sight.

Ji Leshui, who had been completely still, began to slowly blink his eyes after seeing the mannequin. His facial features then became vivid again, but the action he made with his hands left Lin Banxia stunned. Having come back to life, a happy smile appeared on his face. He reached out, grabbed the hem of the mannequin's dress, carefully rubbed the fabric between his fingers, and sighed, “This is silk, huh. I really want to try it on.”

Lin Banxia: “...”

Song Qingluo: “...”

The atmosphere was silent for a moment before Song Qingluo nonchalantly said to Lin Banxia, “You or me?”

Lin Banxia stammered, “Do, do what?”

Song Qingluo said: “Slap him twice.”

Lin Banxia said: “I’ll do it! I’ll do it!”

Song Qingluo: “...”

Before taking action, Lin Banxia suddenly had a pang of conscience and asked, “Will he wake up after being slapped?”

Song Qingluo said mercilessly, “Just hit him. If two slaps don't work, give him two more.”

Lin Banxia looked at Ji Leshui's infatuated expression and thought, 'Bro, I'm doing this for your own good. It's better for me to hit you than to let a neighbor you barely know defile you, right? Don't blame me!' After thinking this, he delivered two sharp slaps. But unexpectedly, Ji Leshui didn't even look at him, still mesmerized by the clothing on the mannequin, refusing to look away. Seeing this, Lin Banxia quickly delivered several more slaps. It wasn't until the seventh one that the infatuation in Ji Leshui's eyes gradually faded and his reason returned.

Ji Leshui dazedly glanced at the mannequin in front of him, then at Lin Banxia, and said with a tearful voice, “Lin Banxia, why are you hitting me?” As he spoke, he tried to stand up, only to find he was wearing a wedding gown with an incredibly heavy Phoenix Coronet on his head. He was instantly shocked, “Holy crap, not only did you hit me, you played dress-up with me?? You’re such a pervert.”

Lin Banxia: “Have you no shame? Don’t you have any self-awareness about what you look like?”

Ji Leshui: “Then what’s going on??”

Both of them looked at Song Qingluo at the same time.

Song Qingluo spread his hands, indicating his own innocence, then pointed at the mannequin and said, “She did it.”

Ji Leshui said, “Ha, don't try to fool me. She's just a lump of plastic. How could she change my clothes?”

Song Qingluo said, “How do you feel when you see the dress she's wearing now?”

Hearing this, Ji Leshui turned his head to look at the mannequin. After staring for a moment, he said hesitantly, “I want to take her clothes off.”

When Lin Banxia heard this, he thought, 'Ji Leshui, you single dog, you won’t even let a mannequin go, and you lied to me about having a girlfriend.' Just as he was about to curse him out, he heard his good friend shyly add, “It seems like it would suit me well too.”

Lin Banxia: “...”

Song Qingluo said: “See?”

“Huh? What do you mean? You mean whenever I see the clothes on this mannequin, I’ll want to wear them?” Ji Leshui finally understood.

Song Qingluo said: “That’s more or less the meaning.”

Ji Leshui was stunned for a moment, then clapped his hands and said in pleasant surprise, “Then if we put this mannequin in a shopping mall, wouldn’t it make a ton of money?”

Lin Banxia: “...” 'You’re truly a business genius.'

Song Qingluo said: “Yeah, that’s what they thought too.” He patted the mannequin’s head and said faintly, “I bought her from a shopping mall.”

He sat down on the sofa and casually began to tell the story of the mannequin’s origin.

The mannequin first appeared in a newly opened shopping mall. A rather remote clothing store bought this mannequin. At first, the clothing store didn't think much of it, but after a while, they discovered that whenever a customer came, they would invariably take a fancy to the clothes worn by this mannequin. Moreover, if several customers arrived at the store at the same time, they would even argue because they all wanted to buy the same outfit.

After this happened a few times, the store owner discovered a business opportunity and began to dress the mannequin in particularly expensive clothing. If you were to ask what clothes are expensive, it would naturally be wedding dresses. A single set could cost hundreds of thousands or even millions. Selling them set by set, the store owner made a fortune.

But greed is a bottomless pit. The store owner, who was making money hand over fist, was not satisfied. He began to consciously search for all kinds of old wedding dresses. No matter the style, as long as it was put on this mannequin, it would certainly be bought quickly, without exception.

If the story had just continued along this path, perhaps it wouldn’t have been much trouble.

However, one gloomy afternoon, the store owner was in a second-hand clothing store and took a liking to a beautiful, Chinese-style embroidered wedding gown.

Although the wedding gown was in a second-hand store, it looked brand new. The gorgeous embroidery on it was incredibly eye-catching. Even though the store owner was a man, his heart skipped a beat the first time he saw it. He immediately decided to buy it and, while he was at it, asked the owner of the second-hand store about the wedding gown's origin.

The owner of the second-hand store said, “This wedding gown, ah, I got it from the countryside. It’s been preserved very well. It’s said to have been worn by the wife of a landlord. Look at this fabric, this embroidery technique—it’s all top-notch.”

The store owner said, “Oh, then how did it end up in the countryside?”

The owner said, “How would I know? I heard the landlord’s family fell into decline later, so the bride sold the wedding gown.”

The store owner said, “I see.” He carefully inspected the wedding gown and found some black stains on the inside of the sleeve. He touched it with his hand, then sniffed it with his nose, and immediately frowned. “Boss, you’re not being honest. You said the bride sold this wedding gown?”

The owner said, “That’s right.”

The store owner said, “Then why is there blood inside the sleeve?”

The owner was stunned and a little flustered. “Don’t talk nonsense, how could there be blood! If you don’t want to buy it, then don’t! Plenty of other people want it!”

“Plenty of people want it?” the store owner said. “Who else wanted it?”

The owner stammered, unable to speak. The store owner pressed him, even threatening to call the police. Finally, the owner couldn't take it anymore and honestly told the store owner the truth. He said the dress had actually been sold several times, but each time, the buyer would come back to return it. Either the wedding was canceled, or their shop went out of business. It was very strange.

Hearing this story, the store owner instantly perked up. He grabbed the sleeve of the wedding gown, shook it, and said with a grin, “In that case, boss, you have to give me a good price.”

“You still want to buy it even after knowing?” The owner was also a bit surprised.

“Why not? It’s not like I’m going to wear it,” the store owner said nonchalantly, thinking to himself that he had a way to sell it anyway, and since the wedding gown was so exquisite, it could definitely fetch a handsome price.

The author has something to say:

Song Qingluo: What do you do when you see something terrifying?

Ji Leshui: Scream, cry, run wildly.

Lin Banxia: Take... a clothes-drying pole... and poke it?

Song Qingluo: ...

Ji Leshui: ...