Insufficient balance

  For months, Chen Jingyun had no good impression of women's clothing in this era. The women's clothing in the late Qing and early Republic periods was almost devoid of aesthetic appeal. If the Hanfu in the Ming Dynasty was elegant and beautiful, and the cheongsam after 1920 showcased a woman's figure, then throughout the entire Qing Dynasty and even the early Republic period, women's clothing remained in an ugly phase.

  It's just that ugliness is seen too much, and after getting used to it for a long time, Chen Jingyun strongly advised Luo Lian not to wear the old-style big lapel clothes anymore, but to change into Western-style clothes, and even brought out a lot of reasons, saying that he himself was a revolutionary soldier, and as the governor, he had to set an example for the whole province, he no longer wore a horse jacket but wore Western-style clothes and military uniforms, and as Chen Jingyun's woman, her dress also had to follow his lead.

  Although Luo Liao appears to be a weak and timid maid, she is actually quite strong-willed. She often reminds Chen Jingyun not to forget old friends after getting married, and when it comes to Western clothes, she was initially curious but later grew to dislike them, especially the corsets, which made her feel suffocated. She refused to wear Western clothes again, and Chen Jingyun had no choice but to let her be. Occasionally, Luo Liao would have an idea to design her own clothes, but it would only flash through her mind for a moment.

  The last time Chen Jingyun saw Lin Yun, he had a deep impression of her appearance, which was largely due to the late Ming-style dress she wore. Today, seeing her wear that pale green gauze skirt again, he liked even more the sight of Lin Yun wearing Hanfu.

  He didn't expect that Lin Yun, apart from liking Hanfu, was also very interested in Western-style dresses.

  Of course, if Lin Yun was just wearing an ordinary Western-style dress, Chen Jingyun would have been at most slightly curious and would not have shown such a surprised expression that he couldn't speak for half a day. The reason why Chen Jingyun was so surprised was because he saw the purple skirt that Lin Yun was wearing.

  The purple skirt on Lin Yun's body was smooth as silk, with a long hem that extended to her ankles. The hem had lace trim, and the fabric was flat and smooth all the way up to the waist, where it slightly gathered in, accentuating her curvaceous buttocks. As the skirt continued upwards, it flipped over the jade-like peaks of her breasts and stopped abruptly at the chest, leaving only two thin straps that followed the line of her collarbone upwards, exposing a large expanse of skin on her chest. Her fragrant shoulders and powdered arms were as smooth as satin, not allowing even a hint of difference from the lustrous purple silk fabric.

  Honestly speaking, the purple dress on Lin Yun's body would be just an ordinary suspender tube-top dress in the eyes of later generations. However, this is not 2012, but 1911 China, and such a dress was absolutely unimaginable for people of that era. For a moment, Chen Jingyun even suspected that he had suddenly traveled back to modern times again, otherwise how could he explain the woman with a red glow in front of him?

  Or is this woman also from another time?

  Chen Jingyun didn't ask, but he couldn't figure out what was going on in Lin Yun's little brain that could design such epoch-making clothes. It wasn't until then that he understood why Lin Yun said she didn't dare wear these clothes.

  In this era, such styles are still a bit too revealing.

  Chen Jingyun stared at her, his eyes seemed to be burning with fire. Lin Yun's heart was filled with shyness and a small sense of pride. She knew exactly how she looked in this outfit, although she had worn it before, but only in the privacy of her own home, not for others to see, especially not for a man. Even though that man was her fiancé, it still made her cheeks flush with redness.

  At the same time, she was also proud! Not because of this dress, but because of Chen Jingyun's gaze towards her. As a woman, being able to attract the attention of her future husband, she was undoubtedly successful and happy.

  It's just that being stared at by him for a long time is also somewhat embarrassing, and the maid next to him also showed a smile on her face, as if laughing at herself, and immediately took a few steps forward, softly calling out: "Eh..."

  At this time, Chen Jingyun finally came back to his senses from his own illusion, and when he looked at the lovely person in front of him again, he had already thrown away the messy thoughts of crossing over that he had just had.

  "What a beautiful dress!" Chen Jingyun sincerely praised: "The person is even more beautiful!"

  Lin Yun's face also showed a happy expression after hearing this. Just now, looking at his silly appearance, I thought he was stupid! In fact, when facing the floor mirror in the room, Lin Yun already knew how tempting her current appearance was, and she had confidence in her looks.

  "This is my second time wearing it!" Lin Yun walked over, seemingly still feeling a bit awkward, her hand holding the skirt slightly twirling around in a small circle, causing the hem to flutter up. It was only then that Chen Jingyun noticed she wasn't wearing shoes, but instead had on a pair of white socks. Although it was just a fleeting glance, Chen Jingyun could still tell that this woman didn't have bound feet.

  The practice of footbinding was still prevalent decades ago, but with the rise of the Westernization Movement, people gradually recognized its drawbacks. Among ordinary citizens, footbinding slowly became less common, while among official families, it was a mixed bag - some had bound feet, while others did not. The Lin family was relatively open-minded; otherwise, they wouldn't have allowed their beloved daughter to attend a foreign church school. On the other hand, the Chen family, although Mr. Chen himself followed Li Hongzhang in promoting Westernization and even left behind a will for Chen Jingyun to attend a new-style school and study abroad, his two daughters both had bound feet.

  Lin Yun was a woman who loved beauty and flattery, and when Chen Jingyun praised her repeatedly, she was overjoyed and ran back to the inner room, saying she would change into another outfit.

  Lin Yun likes to design clothes, and over the years, she has drawn many designs, which have been made into real objects by her maids and other old women in the mansion. However, since she is confined to the inner chambers, she rarely has the opportunity to wear them for others to see. Moreover, the social atmosphere of this era is still very conservative, so Lin Yun also doesn't dare to wear these clothes out in public. At most, she occasionally wears modified Hanfu to show off. It's always been about wearing for herself, but now that she has Chen Jingyun as an audience, and he's her fiancé, she's not afraid of being embarrassed anymore. Boldly, she changed into seven or eight sets of clothes, some were traditional Hanfu with a flowing style, while others were Western-style dresses, but none of them were like the purple suspender skirt from before.

  Watching Lin Yun change clothes non-stop, Chen Jingyun was also watching with relish, completely forgetting the hardships and fatigue of the past few months. In his spare time, he even asked Lin Yun's maid to bring him a pen and paper, and Chen Jingyun drew out the cheongsam according to the memory in his mind.

  After Lin Yun changed into another set of clothes and came out, Chen Jingyun handed her the painting.

  Lin Yun just glanced at it, and her face turned red again. In her heart, she was thinking that this dress is even more embarrassing than the one I wore before. The slit of the skirt is all the way up to the waist, not to mention that it will expose my legs and calves when I walk, but even if I just move slightly, it will show off everything inside. Finally, she gave Chen Jingyun a nickname: "Big pervert!"

  Heaven and earth are righteous, Chen Jingyun painted this picture just based on his past life memories. In fact, in some Republic of China era films he had seen in his memory, the slits of cheongsam were all extremely high, plus he was not good at painting, accidentally added a stroke, drawing the slit line that should have been at thigh level to the waist area. He indeed did not have any ulterior motives when painting this, it was just that Lin Yun liked designing clothes, so let her create the cheongsam style of 20-30 years later in advance, that's all.

  Of course, he still looks forward to seeing Lin Yun wearing a cheongsam. Cheongsams, especially those after the 1930s, are not something that ordinary women can wear. Only those with good figures and appearances can make them look pleasing to the eye. If the figure is slightly off, it's extremely difficult to pull off wearing a cheongsam. It's the same logic as wearing black stockings - a pair of beautiful legs in black stockings is naturally stunning, but if you swap it out for an elephant-legged woman wearing black stockings with an ultra-short skirt, I reckon there wouldn't be much aesthetic appeal left.

  Lin Yun's figure had already been seen by Chen Jingyun when she wore a purple tube-top dress, which cannot be compared with the supermodels of later generations, but it is an extremely standard figure of an oriental woman. What's more rare is that special temperament on her body, which has a kind of feeling like the Rain Lane women under Dai Lao's pen.

  Such a woman is most suitable for wearing cheongsam.

  Chen Jingyun didn't know that his drawing would be misunderstood. Instead, he continued: "When the time comes, you'll definitely look good wearing it!"

  Lin Yun wanted to scold him as a pervert, but after all, girls' families have thinner faces, and she didn't directly scold him. Instead, she took out a pen and drew two more strokes before handing it to Chen Jingyun: "I think this is better!"

  Chen Jingyun took a look and saw that she had moved the open slit to her thigh area. In an instant, he understood why Lin Yun did so, and his old face also turned red. Just as he was about to explain a few words, he heard someone shouting outside the door: "The lady has returned to the mansion!"

  Chen Jingyun let out a sigh of relief when he heard this, hastily getting up to prepare to go see Mrs. Lin while also avoiding the awkward moment. Lin Yun was also flustered, although she and Chen Jingyun were already engaged, occasionally staying together as long as they didn't do anything too outrageous wouldn't be a problem, but she was after all a girl, with a thin face, if her mother saw her putting on a fashion show for Chen Jingyun in her boudoir, Lin Yun felt that she would lose face and not know how to see people afterwards. She immediately couldn't care about whether Chen Jingyun was a pervert or not, repeatedly urging him: "You should leave quickly!"

  Chen Jingyun smiled instead: "Aren't you going with me to see your mother?"

  Lin Yun shook her head: "You go first"

  Chen Jingyun smiled again, and seeing the anxious look on her face, he didn't delay any further. He got up and left, and as he went out, he could still hear Lin Yun and her little maid hastily picking up the various clothes scattered all over the room. It seemed that she had accidentally bumped into something, and Chen Jingyun heard her soft cry of pain after a slight pause in his footsteps. However, before long, he heard Lin Yun say: "I'm fine, you go quickly!"

  His footsteps rose again, and the smile on his face lingered for a long time without dispersing. The cheerful mood in his heart also continued.

  This woman always makes people feel happy and pleasant.