Han Qingshan could not help but feel stunned by his mother's rather odd answer.
Looking at the dress, the image of Jiang Fengmian popped up within his mind, and suddenly he was wearing the dress.
The sight he had thought would be horrendous suddenly looked so natural in his mind. Thinking like this, he could not help but feel his heartbeat change its pace. As to whether or not it was slowing down or quickening, he was not sure.
He had some strangely mixed emotions growing in his heart, but before he had time to actually investigate what these emotions were, his mother interrupted his train of thoughts.
"Well, have you had dinner yet?" Yan Meilin asked her son, as she lifted her head and looked at him. Her face was gentle and her features strikingly beautiful as she sat in the studio with the setting sun outside the windows, casting its rays of light into the room.
Han Qingshan looked slightly annoyed but he still shook his head, "I have not eaten yet," he answered, and his mother broke into a gentle smile that was like a spring breeze softly caressing the blooming flowers.
Yan Meilin then called for one of the servants and told them to prepare a meal.
It would take some time for the meal to be prepared, so Han Qingshan found a chair to sit down on in the studio.
"I assume Father told you about Jiang Fengmian?" Han Qingshan asked, using his hand to rub his throbbing head. They must have spoken together, for his mother to think about doing something so outrageous as sewing a dress for a man.
Yan Meilin smirked, "He did," she readily admitted, her face showing a faint smile, as she remembered the words her husband had told her earlier that day.
"He must have told you that he is a boy," Han Qingshan continued, slightly annoyed by the fact that he did not dislike the thought of seeing Jiang Fengmian wearing female clothes.
The words that Mrs. Han wanted to say were stuck in her chest, and instead, she started laughing slightly.
"Yes, he did mention the gender of your new friend," she answered with a low chuckle.
At first, she had thought of informing her son about the real gender of his new friend, which was also why she started sewing the dress. But now that Han Qingshan was in front of her, she was actually not willing to spill the beans.
"Your father said that you were quite protective of this new friend of yours, any specific reason why you suddenly like him so much?" Mrs. Yan asked, with curiosity in her voice. She knew her son best, and he was not someone to suddenly open up for someone's friendship, neither was he someone who would protect others unless he truly felt that they were worthy of his friendship.
Han Qingshan had even gone as far as to ask his father for help, just to teach the young miss of the He family a lesson; this was not the normal way that he would behave.
"I am not sure what is going on either," Han Qingshan said honestly. He trusted his family and could be honest with them. He knew that his mother respected his wishes and truly wanted the best for him, so he held nothing back.
"First time I met him, I hit him with my car," he began explaining, "I thought he was seriously hurt and wanted him to go to the hospital, but he declined. His enigmatic behavior was so different from anyone else I have ever met.
"At first I thought I was just curious about the background of a person who dared to talk back at me, even disdained me, so I had Hei Yi investigate him, but all I found out was that he is using a fake ID and that he appeared in the capital when he was nine years old.
"He comes from a somewhat poor family, but his dignity and pride are stronger than even that of the noble-born scions. I became intrigued the more I heard.
"I planned to help him get accepted into Imperial University, but the truth was that he did not need my help. He was able to get accepted with the highest scores since I entered, so it caused a lot of attention from the teachers, and he was allocated a scholarship.
"When I met him again, he was like a small hedgehog with raised hackles, he was so fragile and easy to squash for someone like me, but he is also set on living his own life, living life according to his beliefs.
"I can't really explain it, but life suddenly got interesting. Before it was just business and school, but now I feel that the grey world has colors. I am having fun when I am with him, he is brightening up my day, and I feel like he can understand me like no other."
Han Qingshan got silent as he looked into the air, his eyes filled with splendor, and a happy smile adorned his face, something which was seen very rarely.
Yan Meilin looked at Han Qingshan with complex emotions on her face. She had never really known much about his feelings for Jiang Yingyue, but hearing what he said, were these not signs of early love?
She was slightly worried. If her husband was correct, then Jiang Yingyue was a woman masquerading as a man, but that also meant that she was lying to Han Qingshan.
One of the things that Han Qingshan could not handle was people lying to him, so was their romance going to end before it even started?
She could not approve of this, and she swore to herself that she would work hard to pair the two of them. Her eyes glistened with happiness and cunningness.
"Why don't you invite Jiang Fengmian to come to visit and have a meal with me and your father? We would love to spend some quality time with your new friend and really get to know him."