Although he said no with his mouth, his nephew's gaze was quite honest.
Wu Guodong stood to the side observing Lin Nan trying on shoes, realizing that perhaps he'd always had a girl's psychology, but had never dared express it due to his male identity, constantly suppressing his inner self until recently discovering his condition and having it all burst out at once. Otherwise, he wouldn't have changed so dramatically in such a short time.
Lin Nan was acting similar to when he'd browsed the clothing store last time—trying on men's shoes while occasionally looking up at the nearby high heels display. Wu Guodong couldn't help but feel heartache for Lin Nan.
"If you like them, just buy them." He spoke up to remind him.
"Mm, these shoes are still a bit too big..." Lin Nan sighed regretfully, looking up to ask the clerk: "Do you have shoes one or two sizes smaller?"
"Men's shoes don't come any smaller than this..." The clerk looked helpless. This girl had come in asking for men's shoes, but after trying them on complained they were too big. She suspected Lin Nan was just here to cause trouble.
"Could you check again? Or do you have any more neutral shoes?" Lin Nan also felt he was being somewhat unreasonable.
The clerk reluctantly went to check inventory. Wu Guodong came closer and continued: "If you like high heels, buy a pair and try wearing them."
"Huh?" Lin Nan casually kicked off the trial shoes, placing his white-socked feet directly on his own shoes, then asked with puffed cheeks in dissatisfaction: "Uncle! What kind of uncle constantly tricks his nephew into buying women's clothes and women's shoes?"
He hadn't noticed his puffed cheeks as he explained: "I only look at high heels because I wonder why those girls like wearing such shoes."
"Oh~" Wu Guodong looked at Lin Nan with suspicious eyes.
Lin Nan was too lazy to deal with him. Although he would involuntarily look at women's clothing because of Lilith, the problem was that there were no high heel-style shoes in the other world, so naturally Lilith wouldn't be interested in such things.
But those ordinary women's shoes were quite pretty, mm.
Initially Lin Nan hadn't paid special attention to women's shoes, but after Wu Guodong's words led his thoughts astray, he finally couldn't control himself from looking at those ordinary women's shoes.
Actually, the difference from men's shoes wasn't that great... it was just psychologically resistant.
"Miss, please bring me that pair of women's shoes to try." Lin Nan had taken a liking to a pair of neutral-style shoes.
If they were neutral style, they shouldn't be too conspicuous, right? Wearing them to the dorm, his roommates probably wouldn't react too strongly.
The clerk silently rolled her eyes. If she'd just sold women's shoes from the start, there wouldn't have been so much trouble.
She'd also observed Lin Nan's feet earlier—probably around size 35, but she had to admit that even as a woman, those feet were somewhat exciting to look at.
Buying shoes wasn't particularly eventful. After all, Lin Nan now looked like a girl, and his bone structure was almost no different from a normal girl's. Except psychologically he was resisting women's clothing, women's shoes, and all feminine things, which caused his mood to drop considerably after putting on those shoes.
He never thought there'd come a day when he wouldn't just be forced to wear women's clothing, but would actively wear women's shoes...
But the problem was, size 35 men's shoes would probably only be for children, right?
The more feminine his appearance became, the more Lin Nan cared about these things. Otherwise, he wouldn't have started trying to act as masculine as possible. This was like how ordinary people would deliberately try to hide being short or having physical flaws—wearing height-increasing shoes, using boosters, trying not to expose such things. Lin Nan also didn't want to expose his "defects."
Although his appearance was now no different from a normal girl's, he still felt his current appearance was a defect, and using feminine things gave him the feeling of deliberately exposing his flaws.
Wu Guodong noticed that after buying shoes, Lin Nan had instantly become dejected. He was completely bewildered, not knowing who had offended Lin Nan.
"What's wrong? Isn't buying things supposed to be happy?"
He remembered last time when Lin Nan was shopping, he'd been so happy and cheerful. Why was he unhappy this time?
"I don’t want to wear women's shoes..." Lin Nan said with his head down.
He hadn't expected Lin Nan to be so resistant to these things. After a moment of silence, he tried to comfort him: "It's fine. Put on some women's clothing too, and who could tell you're a man?"
"..."
This sentence seemed to hit Lin Nan's sore spot, making his mood even lower.
Wu Guodong was at a loss, completely unable to understand why Lin Nan's emotional fluctuations could be so extreme. He'd been quite happy when trying on shoes in the store, but had become like this after leaving.
He was even worse than Chen Yao. Having been single for years, let alone dating, he hadn't even spoken to a girl in two months due to work. He certainly couldn't comfort Lin Nan right now.
So he could only tentatively ask: "Want a smoke?"
What kind of uncle tricks his nephew into smoking?
The dejected Lin Nan looked at the women's shoes on his feet. They were quite comfortable, but looked wrong no matter how he viewed them.
"How about a drink? Gaming? Or basketball?" Wu Guodong anxiously circled around the silent Lin Nan, then used his ultimate move: "How about I transfer you some money?"
Lin Nan suddenly broke free from his emotions, looking up at him with bright eyes.
"After your mom borrowed money from me, I don't have much left on me." Seeing this, Wu Guodong was so scared he stepped back two paces, finally probing awkwardly: "Fifty yuan?"
Lin Nan immediately lost interest, lowering his head again to sigh. Seeing he was about to enter depression mode again, Wu Guodong finally couldn't stand it: "Then how about I treat you to a good meal?"
"That works too, we haven't had dinner yet anyway." Lin Nan sighed deeply, glancing at a storefront they were passing, but suddenly stopped.
His mood perked up again: "Uncle, I want to eat at Da Feng Shou!"
Wu Guodong, who had planned to take Lin Nan for fast food, went completely dark.
So only expensive good food can make you happy? Raising you is really expensive.
Wu Guodong looked up at the Da Feng Shou storefront. He'd only been there once last year with colleagues. They spent around seventy or eighty yuan per person, and they still had room to order snacks elsewhere. Obviously much less cost-effective than twenty-yuan fast food that could stuff you.
How did I get bewitched into listening to my sister and bringing Lin Nan over again? Didn't I learn my lesson last time?
He nodded with dead eyes: "Fine, eat less. Your uncle's wallet is a bit flat lately."
However, Lin Nan completely didn't hear the second half of his sentence. Upon hearing the first word, he'd already headed toward the Da Feng Shou storefront.
Fortunately, Da Feng Shou was still reasonably priced for common people. If Lin Nan wanted to eat at some terrifyingly expensive Black Pearl Michelin-star restaurant, he'd really be bleeding money.
He followed behind Lin Nan into the storefront, heartbroken over his wallet.
Who knows how much money Lin Nan will spend these two days... I don't even have a girlfriend yet, so why is my money flowing like water?