The birth of the qipao

On the weekend, Chen Ze slept until noon. After a quick meal, he knocked on his landlady's door. He was there to tutor her daughter and pay her the rent he owed.

"Who is it?" A lovely, mature feminine voice came from inside.

"It's me, Chen Ze."

"Come in!" His landlady, Zhang Lin, wore loungewear, and her hair was still wet. Clearly, she had just taken a shower. Smiling, she welcomed Chen Ze inside.

"Sister Zhang, here's the rent I owe you." Chen Ze handed Zhang Lin a stack of money.

Zhang Lin took it and put it aside without counting it. "Little Brother Chen, are you here to tutor my daughter today?"

"Yes, Sister Zhang. Where is your daughter now?" Chen Ze asked.

"There~ She hasn't woken up yet!" Zhang Lin pursed her lips toward a room and smiled.

"Have a seat, Little Brother Chen. I'll go wake her up." With that, Zhang Lin swayed her hips as she went to wake her daughter.

Embarrassed, Chen Ze turned his head and looked away. Before long, a little girl with messy hair came out.

"Big brother, are you here to tutor me?" the little girl asked curiously, opening her adorable big eyes wide.

"Yes. What's your name, little sister?"

"My name is Zhang Lili. You can call me Lili, big brother," Zhang Lili said.

"All right, Little Lili. Go wash up first. I'll wait for you here." Chen Ze dotingly patted Zhang Lili on the head.

"Okay!" Zhang Lili answered obediently and went to wash up.

At that moment, Zhang Lin came over with a glass of water, swaying her hips and moving gracefully. "If I remember right, Little Brother Chen, you're in your final year of high school, aren't you? Are you busy with your studies?"

"Not too busy!" Chen Ze took the glass and spoke somewhat stiffly. Faced with this charming young woman, Chen Ze didn't know how to act around her.

"The college entrance exam is coming up, and I don't want to hold up your studies. How about this? Tutor Little Li this weekend, and we'll leave it at that. You won't need to come anymore," Zhang Lin said gently in her mature voice.

"How could I possibly accept that? We agreed that you'd lower my rent, Sister, and I'd tutor Little Lili. Now you're telling me I don't have to come anymore. How could I have the face to keep living here?" Chen Ze said anxiously. He was a man of principle, and he always followed through on his promises.

Seeing how anxious Chen Ze was, Zhang Lin burst out laughing. "Don't feel guilty, Little Brother Chen. A few hundred yuan is nothing to me. Your college entrance exam is coming up, so how could I have the face to force you to tutor Little Li? That's settled, then. I've already found a professional tutor for her."

"All right, then! Thank you, Sister Zhang!" Seeing that Zhang Lin was insistent, Chen Ze could hardly say anything else.

Over the two days of the weekend, Chen Ze devoted himself to tutoring his landlady's daughter.

With only a month left until the college entrance exam, Chen Ze had no plans to look for another part-time job. Aside from occasionally rehearsing for the performance and writing his novel, Chen Chen spent the rest of his time cramming this world's history and geography. The other subjects weren't much different from those in his previous life, but besides the differences in historical emperors and famous figures, geographical names were different too.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. The novel Chen Ze had published was successfully signed and began earning money. Because Battle Through the Heavens had such a fresh premise, it became hugely popular as soon as it was published!

The Tomato Novel Platform also gave Chen Ze excellent terms, earning him an average of one hundred yuan per thousand words. For Chen Ze, who was still a new author, that was already a very high rate! He had more than five hundred thousand words stockpiled by now, but the platform only allowed him to publish four chapters a day, so he had only released a little over two hundred thousand words.

Chen Chen did the math. The whole of Battle Through the Heavens was over five million words long, which meant he would earn more than five hundred thousand yuan. He wouldn't have to worry about money again anytime soon!

"I'm finally not a pauper anymore!" Chen Ze suddenly shouted in the classroom, startling the giant loli beside him!

"What are you doing, classmate Chen?" The loli patted her ample, perky curves and gave him a reproachful look.

"Uh! Sorry, sorry. I got a little too excited. Don't take offense, Little Yanxi!" Chen Ze explained awkwardly.

"Oh, right, classmate Chen. My mom really liked the qipao you drew for me last time. She finished making it a couple of days ago. Do you have time to go take a look?"

"Why do you want me to see it?" Chen Chen asked in puzzlement.

"My mom said she was very curious about the person who designed the qipao. She also wanted you to give her some guidance and see if there's anything wrong with the finished product. Oh, and she said she borrowed your idea, so she'll pay you generously for it!" the giant loli said.

"I'll go, I definitely have to go! Let's go after school!" Hearing there was money in it was an unexpected delight. Chen Ze wished he could go right away. After all, who would complain about having too much money?

At that moment, inside a sprawling factory, Chen Ze was examining a qipao made of emerald-green silk.

Standing beside him were the giant loli and her mother, Zheng Minhong, as well as Factory Director Wu, who was in charge of the factory.

"I can't tell how it looks like this. Little Yanxi, try it on so we can see." Looking at the loli's exaggerated waist-to-hip ratio and her enormous chest, Chen Ze suddenly wanted to see what the giant loli looked like in a qipao.

"All right!" The loli took the qipao and went into a changing room. Before long, she came out looking thoroughly bashful.

"Wow!" Chen Ze's eyes lit up! The giant loli had such a fantastic figure. The qipao was a little tight on her, and its slit reached halfway up her thigh. As she walked, she swayed gracefully, revealing a snow-white thigh without a single blemish! Her towering chest quivered slightly with each step. The row of slanted frog buttons across her chest seemed to seal away Victoria's secret, while the low collar revealed a stretch of her snow-white, swanlike neck.

Factory Director Wu and the giant loli's mother, Zheng Minhong, also watched with shining eyes. They all pulled out their phones and started snapping pictures! Chen Ze was no exception, taking one from every angle!

The giant loli was so embarrassed that her face nearly disappeared into her chest, though a hint of delight showed through her shyness. "Class...mate Chen, does it look good?"

"It looks good. It looks absolutely amazing! I had no idea you had such a great figure, Little Yanxi!" Chen Ze said, swallowing.

"But I think it would look even better if you wore high heels, Little Yanxi!" Chen Ze said, stroking his chin.

The other two nodded repeatedly. Zheng Minhong said, "Little Chen is right. Yanxi, go put on some high heels and let's see!"

The giant loli obediently went to put on high heels. Before long, she came back out, prompting everyone to start taking pictures like crazy again!

"The hem of the qipao could be a little longer, and you could add some decorations or patterns on the chest. The waist could be taken in a little more, too. And it seems a little too tight across the chest. Look, Little Yanxi can barely breathe!" Chen Ze pointed here and there at the giant loli, openly taking advantage of her! In this female-dominated world, where women outnumbered men, men really could do whatever they pleased! The other two didn't find anything strange about it at all.

"Mm, Little Chen's thoughts coincide with mine!" Zheng Minhong said. Then she reached out and squeezed Zheng Yanxi's breast. It seemed to have been a little crooked, and she straightened it out, going even further than Chen Ze!

"I'm wondering how to make a men's qipao. It probably wouldn't need to be so loose around the chest. Do you have any good suggestions, Little Chen?" Zheng Minhong asked Chen Ze.

"A men's qipao!" Chen Ze stared at her in shock!

"I don't have any good suggestions for a men's qipao. You can decide for yourself, Auntie Zheng. I'm not an expert in this field, after all." Chen Ze tried hard to picture a man wearing a qipao, then couldn't help shaking his head. The image was too beautiful; he didn't dare imagine it!

"You're too modest, Little Chen. You designed an unprecedented garment like the qipao, one that highlights the figure. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call you a master. But the qipao is only suited to people with good figures, so it does have its limitations," Zheng Minhong said.

"Do you have any other novel ideas, Little Chen?" Zheng Minhong asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do have a few!" Chen Ze said.

"Really? Little Chen, if you have any ideas, just tell me. I promise I won't treat you unfairly! Consider the qipao an idea I'm buying from you. How about I give you a hundred thousand yuan for it? Also, for every new outfit you design that satisfies me, I'll give you another hundred thousand!" Hearing that Chen Ze had several more new designs, Zheng Minhong couldn't help speaking excitedly!

This time, it was Chen Ze's turn to be shocked. He hadn't expected to earn a hundred thousand yuan just by casually bringing over the qipao from his previous life. He had been sitting on a mountain of treasure without even knowing it!

The two wasted no more words. They quickly found paper and a pen and started drawing right there in the office, leaving the giant loli and Factory Director Wu on the sidelines.

Zheng Minhong was straightforward too. Whenever Chen Chen finished drawing a design, she immediately transferred a hundred thousand yuan to Chen Ze's account. Chen Ze racked his brains and drew the styles that had been popular in each of the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties in his previous life. They stayed busy until nightfall, and Chen Ze earned more than 1.2 million yuan in total.

"Let's stop here. I don't have any more good ideas for now!" Chen Ze shook his somewhat aching wrist wearily and spoke to Zheng Minhong, who was clearly still excited beside him.

"All right, Little Chen. If you have any more good ideas next time, you can come find me whenever you like," Zheng Minhong said. Although her company had expanded across several countries, it seemed to have hit a bottleneck in recent years. It hadn't made an inch of progress and had even shown signs of slipping backward. Getting more than a dozen ideas from Chen Ze today was like adding flowers to brocade; the value they would bring was simply immeasurable!

When her daughter had brought her the qipao design drawn by Chen Chen, she had taken one look and been utterly astonished! As the chairwoman of a multinational company, she had deigned to come to this factory and personally make the qipao. She hadn't expected to reap an unexpected reward as well!