Chapter 55#
The Cross-dressing Wife#
Never mind the miraculous cross-dressing skills of the original succubus; is it really that hard for him to just put on a decent makeup that isn’t so “underworldly”?
With his current look, Lin Xiaodong thought crazily, never mind charming some Young Master Gu to get a Good Person Card; he’d probably be treated as a White Ghost and cut down the moment they met!
Seeing this, the system couldn’t help but offer a kind reminder: “Don’t forget, you still have 2,500 reward points. Do you want to use them?”
Lin Xiaodong’s eyes lit up. Right!
He immediately flipped through the mall and was instantly attracted to the skill labeled “One-Click Dress-Up.”
[Skill Name]: One-Click Dress-Up;
[Skill Points]: Full price 500 points, discounted version 100 points;
[Skill Description]: Solve your daily matching and makeup troubles! Makeup will be fine-tuned according to your face shape, features, and skin tone, with no worries about makeup coming off. At the same time, the dress-up function will adjust styles to match today’s makeup;
[Skill Coverage]: Includes but is not limited to modern Japanese/Korean styles, European/American styles, girl group styles, celebrity styles, special holiday styles, classical styles from various countries, etc.;
[Skill Limitations]: 1. If there are fewer than three items of clothing on the body, the user cannot use the dress-up power; 2. Makeup duration is 24 hours, skill cooldown time is three hours.
[Side Effect]: Charm value +10 while using the skill.
Lin Xiaodong was satisfied with all aspects of it, and how was an increase of 10 charm points a side effect?
But he still didn’t quite understand one thing: “Why is there a discounted version, and why is the price difference so big?”
The system explained: “Headquarters is having a promotion. The discounted version was developed by that programmer who crashed headquarters and was eventually taken for sacrifice, but it has already passed the qualification check.”
“…I see,” Lin Xiaodong thought as long as it passed inspection, bugs were all too normal, “Then I’ll take the discounted version!”
“Received. 100 reward points spent to exchange for the [One-Click Dress-Up (Discounted Version)] function.”
After the successful exchange, Lin Xiaodong decided to try it once in his room.
He chose “Republic of China Style” from the options, picked one from hundreds of different styles that suited his current temperament, and clicked one-click dress-up.
In the blink of an eye, it seemed nothing had changed, yet everything had.
Lin Xiaodong tilted his head to look in the mirror. Reflected in it was a graceful “woman” with curly hair, wearing a dark green velvet cheongsam. White hollowed lace adorned the collar and cuffs, perfectly highlighting her slender figure. Two round pearl earrings graced her ears, and combined with retro bright red lips and perky long eyelashes, she embodied both classical coldness and a sense of sexy, mysterious depth.
Looking at her was like suddenly traveling back to the old, extravagant Shanghai, dancing elegantly amidst decadent songs; just a simple turn of the head and a smile was beautiful and alluring, full of charm.
The man and the system stared blankly at the radiant beauty in the mirror for a full ten minutes.
Finally, Lin Xiaodong was the first to react.
He took a deep breath, pulled two hard big mantou out of the chest of the cheongsam, slammed them onto the dressing table with a “bang,” and then slumped into the chair with a long sigh of relief: “Oh man, that was tight.”
System: “……”
From goddess to disillusionment in just one second.
But this experiment also proved that this skill was indeed very useful—at least Lin Xiaodong was very satisfied with it.
Since there was a three-hour cooldown after each use of this skill, he had a servant bring dinner to his room and then reverted to his original appearance. However, that servant still had a dazed and distracted look before leaving; he’d probably be unable to sleep all night.
Dinner was simple: big white mantou with white porridge and pickles, plus a portion of vegetarian meat—not even a scrap of meat could be found.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford it, but Old Master Gu had been a vegetarian and Buddhist for decades, and the food at home was basically vegetarian fare. Lin Xiaodong picked up his chopsticks with a sigh; after just two bites, he couldn’t swallow any more.
He opened a crack in the window, listening to the sound of rain hitting the plantain leaves in the courtyard, and looked at a small crab趴ing by the pond with a face full of sorrow: “System, I want to eat crab.”
The system silently watched the green-shelled crab that was only the size of a bottle cap; one of its legs probably wasn’t even as thick as a toothpick.
“Let it go,” it said earnestly, “it’s just a child.”
Lin Xiaodong was speechless: “…That’s not the kind I meant.”
That night.
He tossed and turned on the strange big bed, unable to sleep. Late into the night, he finally felt a bit drowsy, when he suddenly heard a faint commotion outside.
“What’s going on…” He yawned, rubbing his eyes as he climbed out of bed.
Lin Xiaodong didn’t use the dress-up skill; he just threw on a coat and went out. Fortunately, it was pitch dark, and no one was looking closely.
“Master! Master is gone!”
The housekeeper was kneeling in front of Old Master Gu’s bedroom door, crying with a face full of snot and tears, yet still wailing with full breath: “Master! You didn’t even wait for the Young Master to come back and see you one last time, why did you go?”
“Old Master Gu died!?” Lin Xiaodong was stunned, and his sleepiness instantly cleared.
He frowned; the records said Old Master Gu “passed away on a rainy night,” and it had indeed been raining for most of the night. But while the conditions matched, the timing was off.
Barring accidents, Old Master Gu should have had at least three more days.
And as luck would have it, the last person to see the old man was himself, and then he died that same night… who wouldn’t think more of it?
This was currently his only patron. Lin Xiaodong wrapped his coat tighter. Although it was late summer, he still felt waves of coldness encroaching from all directions.
Using the dim yellow light coming from the bedroom, he cautiously observed his surroundings with his peripheral vision and found that indeed, many restless gazes were falling on him.
While Old Master Gu’s body was barely cold inside, these people were full of thoughts of unspeakable filth…
He curled his lips in a cold smile; the old man had indeed seen through them.
This entire Gu mansion, top to bottom, was rotten.
“Miss, please restrain your grief.” The housekeeper stood up from the ground with a sorrowful face, but a trace of joy couldn’t be suppressed in his bloodshot eyes. “Now that Master is gone and Young Master is far away and out of reach, rest assured, even if I have to risk this old life of mine, I will never let those improper people target you or Master’s inheritance!”
In the eyes of the housekeeper, seemingly overwhelmed and lost due to the sudden major change, the “woman” in front of him had a pair of affectionate eyes shimmering with watery light. Upon hearing his words, the “woman” immediately looked at him gratefully: “Then I’ll have to trouble you! Otherwise, I really don’t know what to do…”
She covered her face with her hand and let out a soft sob.
Seeing this, the housekeeper’s inner desire to protect and machismo instantly swelled rapidly.
He immediately patted his chest and made a vow, not even bothering to feign grief: “Leave it to me!”
The town was not large, and the news of Old Master Gu’s death late at night spread throughout the entire town by the next day.
Although Old Master Gu was usually kind and generous and was a famous philanthropist for a hundred miles around, compared to a dead old man, the townspeople were clearly more interested in the young “widow” in the Gu mansion.
A woman sitting by the stream shelling soybeans said to her sister-in-law as if it were a fact: " I bet a string of coins that this fox spirit will definitely remarry before the three-year mourning period is up!"
The sister-in-law hmphed, rubbing the clothes in her hands vigorously, her tone sour: “Why wait three years? You don’t know the prowess of that kind of woman. If any sturdy fellow passes by, can she hold back? Three months would be too long!”
If their conversation were heard by Lin Xiaodong, he would definitely answer seriously: Auntie, you really know me.
Although he wasn’t a woman, he also liked that sort of thing.
Food and sex are human nature; it’s innate, nothing to be done about it.
Besides the women, the men in town were also discussing the topic of the Gu family miss.
“I heard Ma Xiaoqi was kicked out by the Gu family yesterday,” a man with a bare chest shouted in the tavern at the town entrance. “Brothers, do you think if I go sign up to be the Gu family widow’s driver now, would it still be in time?”
As the words fell, the entire room burst into loud laughter.
“Wang Mazi, you’re too shameless!” someone teased, slapping the table. “Miss Lin has a beauty that could topple cities; would she take a fancy to someone like you with a face full of pockmarks? Why don’t you take a look at yourself in a mirror!”
Another burst of laughter.
Wang Mazi, who was mocked, didn’t get angry; instead, he laughed shamelessly: “Don’t be so sure. Anyway, once the door is closed at night, what can be seen in the pitch black? With my seasoned skills, I’ll guarantee that widow will be in ecstasy!”
“Thud!”
Before the other men could let out their lewd laughter, a loud noise suddenly came from the corner.
Wang Mazi, who hadn’t received any support, had his smile freeze on his face. He turned his head unhappily and shouted: “Who the hell are you, being so tactless?”
A man wearing a black gown raised his eyelids and looked at him coldly.
Wang Mazi choked: “You…”
The black-haired man ignored him, just indifferently put down the teacup in his hand, supported himself on the table to stand up, and walked past Wang Mazi, leaving without a word.
Wang Mazi tried to suppress the trembling sensation in his heart, and just as he wanted to brace himself and roll up his sleeves to go out and find trouble with that man, he was grabbed by his companion beside him: “You… look at that teacup quickly!”
He looked over as instructed.
He saw that the cup in the man’s hand was now perfectly embedded into the surface of the wooden table. The most terrifying thing was that the thin porcelain was actually still intact!
“Who is this person?” he said in horror.
The tavern fell into deathly silence.
Until an elderly storyteller said in a raspy voice: “I think this young man’s features look a bit like Old Master Gu when he was young…”
Everyone looked at each other.
Could it be that this is the legendary Young Master Gu?