"Lady Sanniang?" I begin. "Are you sure that this is a good ide-" I'm cut off as a ball on fabric is thrown into my face.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I am so sorry, is your makeup smudged?!" The frantic woman rushes over to hold the dress in one hand and take my face in her other hand. She roughly tilts my face from side to side, examining my makeup. Bao Sanniang sighs in relief.

"Alright you're good," she confirms before unraveling the dress in front of me. "What do you think? Isn't it just adorable?" I cringe internally. It doesn't look bad, there's just the issue that I'm never going to put it on. Not even if my life depended on it.

"She loves it," Xing Cai chimes in after being silent for a short amount of time. Bao Sanniang squeals and begins babbling things about jewelry before rummaging around in her drawers. I whip my head around at Xing Cai, my supposed best friend who basically just signed my death warrant without even batting an eye.

"What was that for?" I hiss at her. She scoffs.

"Maybe next time you should think before blindly kissing hungover men," she retorts. "Now put on the dress. Make Bao Sanniang happy." I grunt in annoyance and hold up the dress in front of me. The dress seems big enough, colored a shimmering, deep jade that is admittedly very gorgeous. The fabric is soft and unidentifiable by me. The collar of the dress runs high with a triangular slit down the middle outlined in black. There aren't any sleeves and as I open to ask Bao Sanniang if there were any sleeves, Xing Cai gestures to a pair of gauzy arm coverings sitting in my lap. The glittery arm adornments have tighter parts signified by black bands which I assume is how they stay on one's arm. The fabric is a lighter shade than the green on the dress. Among closer inspection, the dress has an intricate embroidering of a black dragon curving delicately around the bodice.

"She wants me to wear this?" I mumble to myself.

"Come on, come on! We don't have any time to waste!" Bao Sanniang hands Xing Cai a plethora of gold-encrusted, gem dazzled jewelry, who takes it without a word. Lady Sanniang herds me over to a corner of her chambers where another screen is set up. "Hurry and change!" she commands as I'm pushed in the corner. She slides the screen in front of me. I reluctantly kick off my boots and shimmy out of my casual robes. I grab Bao Sanniang's dress and attempt to squeeze through it from the bottom. After several moments of strained pushing, my head finally comes through the tight collar.

Bao Sanniang throws open the screen door as I finally finish putting it on. She gasps.

"You look fantastic! Oh! You need to look at yourself, you look absolutely stunning I assure you!" Xing Cai assists her as she moves a large panel of glass in front of me. I stare at the woman I see in the mirror. The dress is tight, as Lady Sanniang is smaller than I am, and they define the curve and shape of my body. It only reaches a few inches down my thigh and I can't help but feel self conscious as I try to tug the dress lower on my body. Alas, it goes nowhere. There are two shallow gaps in the dress I didn't notice before, they reside in the torso and skin is visible. I step away from the mirror and Xing Cai sets it down on the wall.

"Lady Sanniang, not to be rude, but I really don't think-"

"Don't be ridiculous, you love it," Xing Cai assures. Bao Sanniang grins as she insists I slide on the arm coverings as she retrieves a pair of rose-resembling earrings. She quickly puts in the earrings and steps back.

"You can put your boots back on, they look fine with the dress," she tells me. I do as she suggests and I quickly run my fingers through my hair, too tired to do anything else. Bao Sanniang jumps up and down excitedly.
"Now there is only one thing left to do now!" She declares. I sigh.
"And what would that be?"
"Show the world your beauty!"
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