After Ming Tang finished changing into this uniform in the cramped dressing room, she actually felt a bit overdressed and stifled by the heat.
Pushing the door open, a rush of fresh air surged in, finally making her feel a little better.
The moment she stepped out of the dressing room, Ming Tang saw clusters of pink and green huddled together, looking like peach blossoms and cherry blossoms quietly blooming at the first touch of spring warmth.
Qi Deng walked over with a miserable look on her face, wrapping her mint-green jacket tightly around herself.
She stood out starkly among the crowd of trainees who were clearly thrilled after changing into their new clothes.
Ming Tang asked with a smile, “What’s with that face?”
“Pink is just too unfriendly to me,” Qi Deng sighed deeply. “It makes me look so dark.”
“No way,” Ming Tang comforted her. “Why don’t you open it up and let me see?”
With an expression akin to a hero marching off to execution, Qi Deng grabbed the lapels of her jacket with both hands and yanked them outward.
At first, Ming Tang affirmed with a serious tone, “It doesn’t make you look dark. Besides, who says you have to have fair skin to look good?”
Then, Ming Tang shifted her tone. “However…”
The spark of hope that had just ignited in Qi Deng’s eyes was instantly doused upon hearing Ming Tang’s pivot. With a “just as I thought” expression, she looked at Ming Tang, waiting for the final verdict.
“However, that gesture of yours might make people mistake you for a pervert.” Ming Tang maintained her serious tone, adding with complete sincerity, “If someone doesn’t look at you from the front, you look exactly like a flasher.”
“Ming Tang!”
Hearing this, Qi Deng no longer cared whether her vest made her look dark or not. A fiercer fire instantly erupted in her eyes as she set out to hunt down this Alpha who had been incredibly annoying ever since they woke up this morning.
The trainees of Class C were practically desensitized to the duo, who were always prone to making sudden fusses.
Amused by Qi Deng’s reaction, Ming Tang let out a laugh, darting left and right to dodge her pursuit.
The wind lifted Ming Tang’s chin-length hair, revealing her profile. A lively smile overflowed from her eyes, which were now curved into crescent moons. The bridge of her nose was as sharp and elegant as a mountain ridge, while the tip of her nose and her cupid’s bow flared slightly upward, looking as exquisite as clear, translucent jade.
“Even though they’re a bit noisy… Ming Tang is really beautiful.”
“Her looks are just so ethereal. Before coming here, I never thought anyone could rival Chi Ling…”
“How can someone manage to be so handsome and beautiful at the same time!”
Amid her carefree running, Ming Tang caught the hushed whispers of some trainees she wasn’t very familiar with. She didn’t forget to look back and smile at them with curved eyes.
Almost instantly, Ming Tang saw one of them raise a hand to clutch her chest, looking thoroughly captivated, as if struck right through the heart.
Is it really that exaggerated!
Ming Tang got distracted for just a split second and was immediately caught red-handed by Qi Deng.
Qi Deng grabbed Ming Tang’s arm, fully intending to carry out her execution, but was abruptly interrupted once again.
It was the same staff member who had brought them to Class C earlier. “Everyone who has changed, please follow me.”
The show’s makeup room was massive, fully capable of accommodating twenty trainees working simultaneously, a fact Ming Tang had already witnessed during the initial evaluation.
Coincidentally, the one doing Ming Tang’s makeup this time was the exact same stylist from that day. She faintly recalled the other stylists calling her “Sister Xi.”
Bearing her past experience in mind, Ming Tang felt a bit reverent and timid facing Sister Xi.
“Sister…” Ming Tang spoke up cautiously, “Can you give me a small side braid later?”
While patting foundation onto Ming Tang’s face with rapid, booming thuds, Sister Xi replied, “Sure.”
Ming Tang’s “thank you” was forced right back into her mouth by the rampaging powder puff. She even felt that the highly elastic pounding on her face might make her skin loose rather than firm.
Because this was a group stage with a unified style, the differences in the trainees’ makeup wouldn’t be drastic. The makeup artists would only make subtle adjustments based on individual facial features, it was hard to provide customized makeup for everyone in such a time-crunched segment.
Looking at herself, who was being powdered into a giant white dough ball that formed a stark contrast with the clear, bright colors of her uniform, Ming Tang grew a bit nervous.
…I’m so worried the makeup artist will take a block of green eyeshadow and smear it all over my eyelids.
Squinting her eyes, Ming Tang saw through the mirror that Sister Xi had picked up an eyeshadow palette. The eyeshadow brush… was actually brushing against the green eyeshadow block!
An alarm immediately went off in Ming Tang’s mind. Her eyes widened. Whatever she feared most was exactly what was coming!
She certainly didn’t want to look like a green eyelidded frog on the grand stage of the theme song MV!
She swallowed nervously twice, her eyes anxiously tracking the eyeshadow brush as it drew closer and closer to her.
“Close your eyes?” Sister Xi looked in confusion at the trainee before her, whose eyes were wide like brass bells.
“Sister Xi, does it really have to be green…?” Ming Tang’s voice trembled as she asked hesitantly.
Sister Xi seemed amused by Ming Tang’s expression: “Yeah, really.”
Ming Tang instantly looked as if she were facing death with equanimity, closing her eyes with absolute resoluteness.
Sister Xi burst out laughing, seemingly seeing through Ming Tang’s anxiety. She said good-naturedly, “Don’t worry, I won’t make you look like a Sad Frog.”
Ming Tang didn’t believe her.
But even if Ming Tang didn’t believe her, there was nothing she could do, this makeup look was clearly a fixed combination.
The fine bristles of the brush swept back and forth across her eyelids, spreading a slight, ticklish sensation.
In Ming Tang’s mind, the unshakeable image was of herself giving her all, singing and dancing with a pair of vibrant green eyes, truly a tragic sight.
“Open your eyes, look up.”
Ming Tang obediently opened her eyes and looked up forcefully. She only felt that the overhead lights were a bit piercing, and a ticklish sensation from the brush bristles came from her lower lash line as well.
Only when the makeup artist signaled that she could return to a level gaze did Ming Tang look into the mirror at herself once more.
Unexpectedly, a soft pink gradient bloomed at the outer corners of her eyes, blending seamlessly with the light, clear green on the front half of her upper eyelids. Silver micro-shimmer brightened the center of her eyes and embellished the inner corners, presenting an incredibly clean and translucent makeup look.
“Believe me now?” Sister Xi smiled, holding a lip brush and signaling for Ming Tang to open her mouth slightly. “If we really turned the makeup for your first mainstream theme song MV into a Sad Frog, our careers would be over right then and there.”
Ming Tang smiled awkwardly, her fingers resting on her thighs gripping her skirt.
Sister Xi took a lock of hair from the right side, nimbly separating it into three strands with her fingers, and quickly wove it into a tight, delicate little braid.
“All done.” Sister Xi leaned forward, reached into her makeup box to grab a handful of items, and opened her palm in front of Ming Tang. “These are the small hair accessories prepared by the production team. Pick one quickly.”
“I’ll take this one then.”
Ming Tang pointed to a tiny, pink satin ribbon bow resting in Sister Xi’s palm, which would perfectly decorate her small braid.
Although Sister Xi told her she could pick freely, the differences between the hairpins were actually minimal, they were all bows. With a casual glance, the only difference was the color, which corresponded to the pink and green of the uniforms.
After Sister Xi fastened the hairpin for her, she said, “You’re good to go.”
Following that, she raised her voice to call the name of the next trainee she was responsible for.
Trainees who had finished their styling could choose to head to the cafeteria first or handle their remaining time on their own. Having been guided by the staff member once before, Ming Tang remembered exactly how to get back to the practice room building.
Qi Deng happened to finish at the same time and nudged her way over. Ming Tang asked, “Heading back to the practice room?”
“Exactly my thoughts.”
While they had come as a large group, they returned in scattered numbers.
The moment they stepped through the main doors of the practice room building, they saw Chi Ling walking at the very front.
Chi Ling also spotted her immediately.
A spark of brightness and a smile instantly surfaced in those otherwise aloof eyes.