CH 8
Baiju took Xiao Yao's hand and pulled him through the store enthusiastically.
When the shop assistant smiled and greeted them, she found that the two people didn’t need a shopping assistant at all. She could only hear the strangely dressed handsome guy wearing sunglasses stupidly uttering one thing after another:
"This one looks good on you."
"Would you like to try that gray one?"
"What is this colour called... Navy blue? It matches your skin tone."
"Is this lambskin? ...ah, the weather is getting warmer, it's too hot to wear this, forget it."
....
The old white dog was very enthusiastic, and Xiao Yao was also very cooperative. He didn't specifically remind Baiju that he should choose clothes for himself, but instead followed what he said with:
"This one suits you better."
"The gray ones suit most people, you should try them too, they’re easy to wear."
"The navy blue style is good, you can try the black one of the same style, which is more stable."
"Yes, the leather ones can be bought in autumn."
....
The shop assistant followed the two not far away, maintaining an awkward but polite smile, and hung the clothes Xiao Yao picked off the shelf one by one over her arms, almost burying herself.
These days, she not only could see handsome guys while working in a men's clothing store, but also saw handsome couples. It was really (lucky) good.
As Baiju wandered around the store, the shop assistant had already accumulated fifteen or sixteen garments in her hands, and specially found a small hanging rack on wheels for them.
He smiled politely at the shop assistant. Seeing that only two or three of the little girls who had been watching them had entered the store, Baiju raised his hand and pushed the sunglasses onto his head, picking up a garment by Xiao Xiao to check the colour.
Clatter.
Two mobile phones fell to the ground.
Baiju tilted his ears and looked up, seeing the two red-faced little girls hurriedly bending over to pick up their mobile phones. They didn't seem to be scared, at least. He was relieved, smiled back and continued to lower his head to look at the clothes.
As he looked, he couldn’t help asking in Xiao Yao’s ear, "Why did you only pick ones for me?"
Xiao Yao glanced at the shop assistant who was stunned in place and the girls who had lost their minds, and subtly shifted, blocking Baiju's face, "Originally, we came here to buy an outfit for you... I'll have the shop assistant get you a pair of leather shoes, put them on and try these."
Baiju was a little embarrassed. He suppressed his voice very quietly, almost touching Xiao Yao's ear, "But I don't know how to wear them..." When he transformed, the clothes were put on him automatically, and he could just alter their shape. It was nothing like putting on and taking off clothes himself.
He was a little embarrassed, but he could only explain himself honestly, "Human clothes are so thin and delicate, what if I accidentally tear them...can you help me?"
Xiao Yao: "..." How can a man say no.
Xiao Yao wanted to think of it purely as a solution to the problem, but the old dog's low voice rang in his ears, and his sturdy body was close to his side, forcing him to concentrate on thinking.
Snow-white hair, smooth skin, half-concealed...If he imagined a torn or tattered shirt, the old white dog giving him another innocent look, with his mouth open to say ‘help me dress’...
Director, I think I’ve come to the wrong studio. I'm afraid your film won't make it past censorship. Goodbye.
into his heart and replayed it three consecutive times. He had a feeling that being the guardian of this demon king was going to send him to an early grave.
He took a deep breath, Xiao Yao could only bite the bullet and beckoned. He asked the shop assistant for some clothes in the same style as Baiju’s, saying that they wanted to try them on together.
Let's just be gay. Xiao Yao felt that it was better to show Baiju how to wear them, than to actually dress Baiju himself.
With the vicissitudes and know-how in the shop assistant's eyes, Xiao Yao pulled Baiju and the clothes rack into a dressing room together and closed the curtain.
It was a small space, not airtight, but it blocked the sights of others. Baiju didn't notice, but Xiao Yao only felt that he was suffering.
Baiju was a clever dog.
After Xiao Yao demonstrated how the buttons should be buttoned, Baiju obediently followed suit and tried them on one by one. After trying on three or four sets, he mastered wearing modern human clothes, such that the clothes were arranged so that every pleat was where it should be.
When Xiao Yao came out of the fitting room after completing the teaching task, he felt that he had ascended a realm.
Fortunately, Baiju was a courteous dog. When Xiao Yao changed his clothes, his eyes never wondered and he only observed the structure of the clothes, avoiding Xiao Yao any additional embarrassment.
Baiju tried seven or eight sets of clothes, and finally walked out wearing a black V-neck shirt and a pair of black slacks.
A silver-gray leather belt around his waist, and bare feet. The belt was added by himself, but the flip-flops were so nondescript that Baiju simply didn't wear them.
Baiju awkwardly raised his hand and grabbed his hair, stepped over the gray woolen rug in the aisle of the fitting room, and asked Xiao Yao who was waiting outside, "Does it look okay?" Would it be okay to go without shoes? Or was it particularly bad?
Xiao Yao looked at the tendons on the back of Baiju's feet, his skin was completely without blemish. He twitched the corners of his mouth, "It looks amazing." Especially suitable to be a model.
Baiju was a little embarrassed by the young human.
He bashfully pulled Xiao Yao's hand, and moved closer to say, "Then let's buy this set I’m wearing."
Since the Demon Management Bureau invited Baiju down the mountain, naturally, there was an allocation of funds for Baiju’s living expenses; but this amount obviously didn’t include the purchase of clothes as the big demon should be able to transform, so Baiju knew very well that when he came out to buy clothes it was on Xiao Yao's silver.
Baiju wanted to go out and about with Xiao Yao, but he didn't want him to spend too much money on him, so naturally he thought it was enough to buy one set.
Xiao Yao raised his eyebrows, feeling a subtle sense of relief, "Everything you tried on has been paid for."
Who made this old white dog fool around all the time, he should make him feel a little guilty once.
Baiju didn't notice any "maliciousness" behind Xiao Yao's actions. He blinked, feeling quite moved.
Very moved, Baiju stretched out his hand and rubbed his little brother into his arms, smiling so much that little flowers could fly out of the end of his eyes, "You'll really buy it for me...? Then I owe you, I'll make money in the future, and then I'll buy you everything you want."
Xiao Yao: ......
I see, this dog is petting me again.
Without giving much weight to Baiju’s words, Xiao Yao asked the shop assistant to pack the clothes and give Baiju a pair of shoes. He took out his mobile phone to check other shops in the mall and planned to take Baiju to go buy a watch and mobile phone.
After a while, the shop assistant delivered the packed bags in addition to two pairs of leather shoes, one large and one small, which were in the style that the store mannequins wore and matched most clothes in the store.
Xiao Yao hesitated for a moment, and realised that what he had just said was "wrap everything he tried on". From this point of view, he didn't actually say that he wouldn't pay.
Smacking his forehead, Xiao Yao laughed. I actually screwed myself over.
The style of clothes in this shop really suited him, so Xiao Yao felt that there was no need to return any of the clothes. He simply settled the bill neatly and took the old white dog to go to other shops.
Carrying big and small bags made it a little difficult to move, so Xiao Yao took Baiju into the next store and sent a message to Hou Jing, the driver monkey spirit, asking him to take away the clothes bags.
The two spent more than two hours walking around in the mall, and Baiju simply wore the black shirt he bought in the first store. The whole dog was more at ease, it felt better than wearing nothing but his own fur coat like before.
The hour hand pointed to 12 o'clock and Baiju's clothes and accessories were almost all purchased. He now had an extra watch on his wrist, and a mobile phone of the same model as Xiao Yao's in his pocket, with a phone card distributed by the Demon Management Bureau inserted in it.
The aroma of the food in the mall became more and more intense. Baiju raised his head and sniffed, and then he swept around Xiao Yao, and touched his stomach quite smoothly, "Are you hungry?"
Xiao Yao was holding his phone to send a message to the monkey, and was caught off guard by Baiju touching his stomach. Goose bumps instantly climbed from his heels to the back of his head, and his abdominal muscles contracted reflexively.
Baiju frowned and rubbed him twice, feeling that the human's belly was even more deflated.
The old white dog then kindly reminded him: "It's time to eat... If you are hungry, don't worry about me, you should eat. It's good to eat on time, otherwise you'll feel sick."
After a pause, Baiju began to reflect deeply again, "I've neglected you again. I should understand more about the work and rest of human beings, so that you won't always need to accommodate me."
Xiao Yao silently put the phone back in his pocket, and took the hand of the old dog from his waist and abdomen as naturally as possible. He diverted his attention, "Yeah, it's time to eat. Bai'ge, take a look around, what do you want to eat?"
Hearing this, Baiju looked up to look at the surrounding restaurants.
Luocheng was located in the south of the Yangtze River. The food was light and the overall taste was sweeter. Because of the rich water network in the south of the Yangtze River, the aquatic products here were quite famous and could be regarded as their specialty.
Baiju recalled that all he ate on the mountain were beasts and birds, and occasionally he also ate fish. But when it came down to it, he had limited cooking skills and basically only ate food raw, occasionally starting fire to cook things until they were well done. These sweet southern delicacies had always been famous, and should be much more delicious than what he used to eat.
Or, should he just try the southern style fish?
Looking around, Baiju looked at the menus, then pointed to a grilled fish shop not far away and asked, "Should we go to eat grilled fish?"
Xiao Yao naturally had no objection, so he led Baiju to the grilled fish shop.
Entering the grilled fish shop, Baiju was enlightened once again. While Xiao Yao ordered the food and waited, Baiju couldn't hide his curiosity and leaned forward to talk to Xiao Yao across the table, "This is modern. Are they grilling the fish? No smoke, no fire? I think they're eating fish from iron plates...Is the fish grilled on the iron plates? Is it hot enough to cook the fish?"
Xiao Yao was shocked by the series of questions. After thinking about it for a moment, he understood Baiju’s reasoning and said, "If you want to eat charcoal grilled fish, we can make it at home next time. The grilled fish we're eating today is at a restaurant. It's grilled and then cooked in an iron pan...after eating the grilled fish, you can add soup to serve it as a hot pot, which is also a modern dish; the recessed place on the table is the stove top, which can be turned on to heat up the grill pan."
Baiju nodded as if he didn't understand, then looked down at the heating pad and pondered. After a while, he silently stretched his hand in front of Xiao Yao, and pulled out a thin blue arc with his fingers, "Is this the electricity?"
Xiao Yao was taken aback, "..."
Baiju's fingers moved flexibly, and the blue arcs came alive and entangled into a small flower, which was thrown by the old white dog and landed on the back of Xiao Yao's hand with a crackle, making him slightly numb with electric shock.
The old white dog had no sense of flirtation at all, and he was simply making observations, "I can't see the light of electricity under the iron plates. I really don't know how you humans did it."
Xiao Yao touched the back of his hand, the residual numbness made him feel a little tired, "...knowledge is power. Bai'ge, should I send you to school?"
The author has something to say:
Old white dog: The little human resents the ink in my stomach. ?:(
I'm going to explain this idiom above, it's actually been used a few times by Baiju but I've translated it into something else because the idiom sounds a bit silly in English. The 'ink in your stomach' refers to the breadth of your vocabulary. Ever heard of 'devouring books'? As you may know ancient China was big on scholarly types, they invented paper and ink very early on and the ability to read and write was directly correlated with education and wealth. It has actually been proven in modern sceince too that the more one reads the larger one's vocabulary typically is. Baiju isn't dumb, per se, but he wasn't a scholar, and he never liked to read, so he has consumed little ink and doesn't have enough words to explain his thoughts properly.
If you're ever trying to learn a language, you should always read books, even if you don't like to read in your mother language. You're vocabluary will grow a lot and even if your skill in the new language is very low and you can't understand much of what you read you should still try it. Humans are very good at pattern recognition, reading will increase exposure to character patterns (even in latin-base letters) and help your brain learn the 'patterns' associated with the new language even without understanding the words.
End of PSA, hahahahaha, sorry, I really like language and brains, they're cool.