Page 7 of He Is My Bride

The next day, Li Ying and Hanjun were at a popular fast-fashion retailer at Columbus Circle. Li Ying had taken a friend along: Anne Lü i .

Li Ying had primed Anne for the shopping spree with the following cover story: ‘Hanjun just really gets turned on when I dress up as a girl!’ He had made sure to say it while Hanjun was present, as he greatly enjoyed his boyfriend’s ensuing fluster.

Anne was a graduate of a major fashion institute and was currently starting her career as a stylist, so she was perfect for the task of transforming Li Ying into a woman.

“And get this,” Li Ying said to Anne from behind the fitting room curtain, “he kind of proposed to me on Monday, but…”

Li Ying could hear Anne gasp outside when he spilled the tea.

“No, wait, he didn’t actually do it!” Li Ying peeked out. “But he revealed to me that he had ordered the ring.”

“But now it’s not a surprise! Is he always this bad at keeping secrets?” Anne asked.

“No, but I was being the drama again, and he wanted to reassure me. He almost showed me a picture of the ring, but I told him not to, at like, the last moment. So, at least the ring itself will still be a surprise.”

“Do you think he got you a real diamond?”

“Anne, you silly girl, do you know what ‘blood diamonds’ are? I hope he didn’t.” Li Ying opened the curtain and revealed his first look. “Ta-dah!”

It was a loose-fitting black sequin V-neck dress, mid-thigh length, and Li Ying thought it would have looked pretty killer on him if it were tighter. “Why is everything so baggy? Is this really my size?”

“Oversized look is in right now. It’s not very flattering on all bodies, but on you it looks like in the magazines. You’ve got a body like a model, I’m jealous.”

Li Ying tightened the dress by pinching from the sides and looked at himself in the mirror, back and front. “Yeah, except I got no amazing boobs like yours.”

With or without boobs, Li Ying thought he looked good in a dress. I think I would make a pretty fine chick if I say so myself.

“So, this kind of dress would go well at any cocktail event.” Anne put on her professional voice and ignored how Li Ying’s meaningless flirting made her cheeks flush, even if it was in a joking manner.

“It’s ‘the little black dress,’ but more glam.

Also, if you want, I can make you this,” Anne drew out the silhouette of Li Ying’s dress with her fingers, “but in a fit you like more, and from a better fabric and—Look, the stitching is coming apart already and it hasn’t even left the shelf.

” Anne leaned down to pick at something on the hem.

“I can make you a better quality dress over a weekend.”

Li Ying looked at his friend like he had found a gold nugget. “Anne, you actually know this stuff!”

She pouted and crossed her arms at her chest. “I have a degree in fashion, you know. I do this for a living.”

“I’m sorry, Anne, the meals are on me today.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Anne rolled her eyes. “A stylist’s gotta eat, too. ”

Li Ying realized he was being sassed at. “I’m not trying to take advantage of you, I just… You’re the only one I could turn to. I really don’t want to explain to my sister what I do in the bedroom. The Qians still don’t even know I have a boyfriend.”

The Qians would never know.

“Why couldn’t a girlfriend want to see her cute boyfriend in a dress and some makeup?” Anne asked.

Li Ying thought about it. “Yeah, why not?”

“Okay, next look, please.”

Hanjun was standing in meditation outside the fitting room, carrying a shopping bag full of makeup they had picked up earlier.

“Are you astral projecting out of here or sum?’” some guy standing nearby quipped. “Man, I wish I could do that. It’s been thirty friggin’ minutes.”

Hanjun opened his eyes fully and acknowledged him with a nod.

“How long your girl been in there?”

Hanjun turned his wrist to check his Vacheron Constantin. “Twenty-six minutes.”

“Condolences, man.”

Not long after, Li Ying and Anne returned from the fitting room with half the clothes they’d gone in with.

“Come, Hanjun.” Li Ying snapped his fingers as he walked past him, and Hanjun followed them to the cashier, taking out his card.

“Good for you,” said the other guy who was still stuck in purgatory.

While they sat down for mall sushi, Li Ying turned to Anne:

“Actually, Anne, I have been deceiving you.”

She looked at Li Ying with suspicion, as she did whenever he started a sentence this wildly. They had known each other since high school, and Anne already knew to be wary of her friend’s antics .

“As you know,” Li Ying solemnly put down his chopsticks, “Hanjun wants to put a ring on it. However, Hanjun’s family back in China are fossils and wouldn’t bless us, so… You following?”

“Not really,” Anne had to admit.

“The plan is to pass me as a woman to the Wus and everyone else in Shanghai.”

“Wait— what? ”

“So that we can marry properly and keep up the facade of a straight couple. This way Hanjun gets to marry who he wants without his family disowning him, his family dynasty gets an heir by surrogacy, and I get Hanjun. Everybody wins.”

Anne stared at him. This was beyond the scope of even Li Ying’s usual crazy ideas.

“ H ow exactly is this going to work?”

“Ah!” Li Ying grinned and pointed at her. “That’s where you come in! I’m gonna have to learn to dress up and do my makeup and hair like a nice, marriageable girl in four months. Then we will travel to Shanghai for Christmas and I will meet the in-laws.”

Anne nodded, fascinated to hear how this crazy plan would pan out. Li Ying continued:

“There’s some paperwork involved, but nothing we can’t handle. If you can help me figure out the optics, the biggest issue will remain getting the Chinese marriage health certificate.”

“In order for a couple to get married, it’s necessary to acquire one from a local hospital that the marriage registration office designates,” Hanjun supplicated.

“Apparently they feel you up pretty intimately in there, so that’s where I could get caught. But,” Li Ying put his hand on Hanjun’s arm and grinned, “Hanjun said not to worry about it.”

Hanjun looked at Anne with intensity the poor girl was unaccustomed to, and she felt a cold shiver run down her spine. Hanjun’s tone was calm but insistent:

“It won’t be anything illegal. ”

“Love,” Li Ying said, “you definitely just made it sound like it’s going to be something illegal.”

Hanjun said nothing.

“So what if you bribe some doctor to say I’ve got the most fertile child-bearing womb in all of China? I bet it happens.” Li Ying watched Hanjun’s face turn an ever-deeper shade of pink.

“What Hanjun can’t bribe is his family,” Li Ying went on, “so it’s up to me to act like a good girl and win them over. I don’t know about the ‘good’ part, but I was hoping you could help with the ‘girl’ part, because we’re gonna have to nail it to make this work.”

Anne was rubbing the bridge of her nose with both hands. “Oh my god…”

“So,” Li Ying grinned, “what do you think?”

“I feel like I’m about to become an accomplice to a heist.”

“Yeah? Isn’t that cool!”

—

Anne came over to their condo to give Li Ying a crash course in makeup artistry.

She deemed they’d have ways to go until Li Ying could reliably do his ‘no-makeup makeup’ for everyday and a proper evening look, and do it all in a way that accentuated the feminine features of his face.

Anne proposed she’d come and help Li Ying every week leading up to their December departure to Shanghai.

“I will give you homework in between, so practice doing your looks and the hairstyles I show you, and send me pictures.”

“Will you grade them?”

“Yes.”

“Sheesh.”

“Pay attention to the eyeliner; what girls spend years perfecting, you have to learn in four months.” Anne guided while curling Li Ying’s hair, fluffing it up in between to create a voluminous, high ponytail.

“You’re lucky you’ve let your hair grow long.

We just have to trim your bangs. I have a hairstylist I can recommend, I’ll make sure she knows what you need.

Also, we have to pluck your brows. And you have to get yourself waxed right before you leave, do your legs, arms, pits, anywhere else you need. ”

Hanjun was drinking tea in the kitchen and staring off into the distance. He hadn’t realized just how much he had asked of Li Ying when he had proposed this plan, but his boyfriend seemed eager to take on the challenge.

“Got it, boss,” Li Ying acknowledged. “Hey, Hanjun, do you want me to get a Brazilian? Do you want me smooth like a little girl?”

“…No.”

“Oh, and a good manicure,” Anne added. “A friend of mine has a salon, she can give you classic French nails. That’s a very ‘marriageable’ look.”

“I didn’t know my nails were getting married. Say, this will all cost a pretty penny, is it really so expensive to be a girl?”

Anne smiled sweetly. “Oh, Li Ying.” She finished his hairdo with a spritz of spray. “You’re ready. Now try on the clothes.”

Li Ying went to change in the bedroom while Anne sat on the couch to wait.

“Miss Lü,” Hanjun said, walking up to her and offering her his card, “please, send me an invoice, and I will compensate fairly for your time today, and for any time you will be spending advising Li Ying in the future. Consider us your clients.”

Anne accepted the card, bemused, but she couldn’t refuse such a formally presented offer, not even to be polite.

Hanjun sat down next to her, waiting for the runway show to begin.

The bedroom door opened, and Li Ying strutted out in the first look: a white mid-thigh knit dress with a turtleneck and long sleeves. It sat close to the body, and Li Ying’s waist was well accentuated in it.

“Ooh!” Anne clasped her hands together. “I like it. That would go well with some ankle booties. Definitely a daytime look for fall.”

“You think so?” Li Ying twirled around, beaming .

With his hair done like that and in their practiced evening look with blush, smoky eyes, mascara, and powder rose lipstick, he could have passed as a tall, athletically framed woman.

Although he was skinny with long, slender limbs and a narrow waist, he also had narrow hips, which emphasized the width of his shoulders.

And of course, his chest was flat as a board.

“Do you like it, Hanjun?” Li Ying kept turning around so Hanjun could see all sides of him.

The man said nothing, but watched keenly. Hanjun had to admit, he did like it. Even if he was gay and Li Ying looked every bit like a woman right now, Hanjun found himself attracted to him regardless.

“Hmm.” Anne eyed Li Ying critically. “We’ll get you padding to give you more feminine hips, that should fix a lot. With that kind of dress, you could also just wear a padded bra to give the appearance of small breasts. Let’s see the V-neck.”

Somehow, Li Ying felt like his body had just been criticized. He went back to the bedroom.

“Would this fool you?” Hanjun asked Anne.

“Not for long, not yet anyway, but I believe with some additional work, no one can tell he’s a man.”

Hanjun nodded.

Li Ying returned in the black sequin dress, fidgeting with the hem. Anne walked right up to him.

“Please excuse me.” Anne grabbed Li Ying’s chest and pushed the slender muscle and skin of his pectorals up and towards each other, creating the daintiest cleavage.

“Ah, Anne! Don’t touch my breasts like that!” Li Ying exclaimed in a high-pitched voice and very much managed to sound like a scandalized young lady, making both Anne and Hanjun blush.

“Shut up,” Anne told him off. “See, if we pad you up and use breast tape here to bring forth what little you have and contour it, you’ll appear to have breasts that are proportionate to your stature and look natural.

You could even go strapless, but I don’t think that would do you favors with your shoulders. ”

“You’re making me insecure about the weirdest things.”

“All part of the experience. Next look.”

They reviewed Li Ying in several looks, from cocktail to casual, and Anne began taking notes and pictures for reference. She would start a file for Li Ying now that it was a proper customership.

Once they were done for the day, Hanjun insisted on getting Anne a taxi and that she should send him the receipt. Anne was starting to suspect Hanjun wasn’t just any trust fund kid. His suit was fully tailored and of excellent fabric and craftsmanship too, not to mention the watch.

In the back of the taxi, Anne whipped out her phone and Hanjun’s business card to do a search on him.

“… What?! ”

“You okay there, miss?” asked the taxi driver. He peered at her from the rearview mirror and saw her covering her mouth in shock, eyes the size of saucers.

“Y-yeah…” Li Ying, are you serious? !

i Since she uses a Western name, Anne Lü's family name is mentioned last.