My parents had gone to the office, so I brought Yuan Ziyi into their bedroom and turned on the light at my mom’s vanity.
Yuan Ziyi sat down on the white high-legged sofa, her mouth forming an ‘o’ as she looked at the array of cosmetics my mom had.
She said, “Cheng Yueguang, you know, even the paints we use to color ceramics at my family’s shop aren’t this many.”
Having seen my mom’s cosmetics countless times, I wasn’t particularly impressed. I sat on the bed and searched online for makeup tutorials.
I asked her, “Do you know how to do makeup?”
Yuan Ziyi hesitated a bit, “I’ve painted faces on ceramic dolls before, it shouldn’t be too different.”
That made things easier. I put down my phone, rolled up my sleeves, and looked at the bare-faced Yuan Ziyi, “Let’s get started then.”
My mom loved looking good and was enthusiastic about collecting all sorts of cosmetics. I took out everything from her cabinet and, with Yuan Ziyi, tried a bit of each.
I told Yuan Ziyi that makeup would smudge if left on too long, so we’d need to bring a compact powder in a bag for touch-ups later.
Yuan Ziyi looked at me with admiration, “Yueguang, you know so much.”
“Not really,” I replied modestly, “You just learn more if you read a lot.”
We spent nearly two hours tinkering at my mom’s vanity and were quite satisfied with our results.
Looking at Yuan Ziyi in the mirror, now with bright red lips, I nodded, “Not bad, it’s got that look.”
Next, it was time to change clothes. I went to my room to fetch her outfit, then stepped outside to let her change in my mom’s room.
“Yueguang,” Yuan Ziyi called out shyly after changing, awkwardly opening the door, “I think the dress is a bit tight.”
“It’s supposed to be tight, that’s how mermaid dresses are.”
I told her to wait on the sofa while I went to change my own clothes.
As the accompanist, I couldn’t wear anything too flashy to steal Yuan Ziyi’s spotlight, but I also couldn’t dress too plainly and embarrass her. After some consideration in front of the wardrobe, I chose a white shirt with embroidered lace at the chest and paired it with khaki suit shorts.
And a pair of shiny patent leather shoes.
When I came downstairs after changing, Yuan Ziyi’s eyes lit up, “Cheng Yueguang, you look like a little prince.”
Thus began our mutual flattery. I told her, “You look like a princess too.”
Yuan Ziyi wasn’t very good at walking in high heels and needed my support to walk properly.
We carefully made our way out, and at my house’s entrance, we ran into Tang Shi, who was wearing headphones and seemed to be heading home.
Tang Shi was dressed in a hooded T-shirt and sports shorts, with a Bluetooth earphone clipped to his ear, looking like he had just returned from a run.
He first noticed Yuan Ziyi, whom I was supporting, and his expression was as if he’d seen a ghost.
I greeted him and asked if he’d had breakfast. With Aunt Tang not at home and no housekeeper at Tang Shi’s place, I wondered how he managed breakfast.
Tang Shi finally shifted his stiff gaze to me, took out one earphone, and waved a bag in his hand, “Just bought it, have you guys eaten?”
I shook my head, telling him we were in a hurry and had to leave.
Without waiting for Tang Shi’s response, we headed to the roadside to hail a cab.
Yuan Ziyi leaned slightly, whispering in my ear, “Your brother’s expression seemed off.”
After a moment of thought, I confidently told Yuan Ziyi, “It’s definitely because you look so beautiful today, he was stunned.”
The talent show Yuan Ziyi was going to participate in was called ‘Gardenia Star’, a youth-oriented audition program, with a poster featuring a soft pink background and white gardenias floating on it.
We only realized how many people had come to register when we arrived at the venue. I held onto Yuan Ziyi’s hand tightly, afraid we’d be separated by the crowd.
Someone was handing out number tags at the scene. I asked Yuan Ziyi to wait outside while I squeezed in to grab one.
“Number 151,” I put the small slip into my pocket, “Keep an ear out for the loudspeaker calling numbers.”
Though the audition venue was simple, it had all the necessary equipment. When it was number 151’s turn, I went in with Yuan Ziyi and spotted a piano at the edge of the stage.
That was a relief. I let out a breath.
While Yuan Ziyi introduced herself to the judges, I quietly surveyed the surroundings and glanced at today’s judges… huh, wasn’t the bald guy in the middle the one I met at the beach a few days ago!
The bald guy was wearing a long-sleeved shirt today, covering the tattoos on his arms, but his distinctive bald head made him easy to recognize.
He clearly recognized me too, smiling and nodding at me, tapping the pen cap on the papers on the table to signal Yuan Ziyi to start her performance.
Yuan Ziyi’s singing wasn’t great, and with only piano accompaniment, it couldn’t really cover her vocal flaws.
After she finished, two of the judges on stage were already frowning, but the bald guy in the middle seemed thoughtful.
“How about this,” he gestured for Yuan Ziyi to come closer and handed her a small business card, “I think you have potential. Being an idol might not be possible, but if you’re interested in modeling, you can call me.”
He glanced at Yuan Ziyi’s figure. She was tall and broad-shouldered, and the silver mermaid dress hung on her like fish scales half-lifted.
“But your current personal image isn’t great, and your weight is too high. If you want to be a model, you’ll have to endure some hardships. I’ll be here for the auditions for a week, think it over and call me.”
He implied that Yuan Ziyi wasn’t suitable for being an idol, meaning she was passed over in this audition.
I felt a bit down for Yuan Ziyi and sighed softly beside her.
The judge on the right looked at me, “Young man, you play the piano well.”
Well, of course, I’ve been learning since I was a kid.
He asked, “Did you come to accompany your friend? Are you interested in our program…”
“No, no, no,” I quickly shook my head, “I’ll pass.”
The judge looked a bit wistful, and the bald guy patted his shoulder, smiling at me, “What a coincidence that we meet again.”
I gave a dry laugh, “Yeah… well, if there’s nothing else, we’ll be going.”
I helped Yuan Ziyi out of the audition room, and she asked me, “Do you know them?”
“No,” I said, telling her about the chance encounter with the bald guy at the beach, then asked what she planned to do next, if she really wanted to be a model.
Yuan Ziyi scratched her head, looking at the business card in her hand, “I don’t know, I’ll think about it.”
It seemed the bald guy’s words had piqued her interest. After changing out of her clothes at my place, she said she wanted to ask her mom first and asked me to return the clothes for her.
I agreed and told her to be careful on her way home.
As soon as Yuan Ziyi left, I took the bag to find Tang Shi, hoping he’d accompany me to return the clothes.
I was still wearing the outfit from the audition, and Tang Shi sat on the sofa staring at me for a while, making me think I had dirt on my face, so I wiped it several times.
He told me to go home and change first, so I did, putting on something more casual, with a pair of AJs my dad had given me a few days ago.
On the way to return the clothes, I told Tang Shi about what happened at the audition, adding, “You wouldn’t believe it, I was stunned when I saw the bald guy.”
Tang Shi, with an earphone hanging from one ear, lazily followed behind me, “You’re always stunned, even if you saw a dog on the street you’d be stunned, silly.”
We returned the clothes, and on the way back, he asked if I wanted an ice cream cone.
The weather was quite hot, and I thought about how sticky melted ice cream would be, so I shook my head. “I want lemonade,” I said.
There happened to be a tea shop nearby, and Tang Shi turned towards it, “Wait here, I’ll go buy it.”
When my mom came back from the office, she thought the house had been robbed upon seeing her vanity.
After wandering around with Tang Shi and buying a few game discs, we returned home to find my mom sitting on the sofa, calling my dad with a pitiful voice, “Honey, the house was robbed, they took my limited edition cushion! They used my eye cream and ruined my lipstick! I’m calling the police! The police!”
Calling the police?
That didn’t sound good. I quickly stood in front of the sofa and confessed, “Mom, it was me.”
“You?”
My mom’s eyes widened, “Why did you use my cosmetics?”
Of course, I couldn’t sell out Yuan Ziyi, so I just blinked at my mom with a look that said, “Guess why.”
“Oh no, honey…” My mom clutched her phone, her voice trembling, “It was our son who used my cosmetics, my goodness, this is worse than being robbed.”
My dad came home soon after, which quickly turned the situation into one where I was at a disadvantage, sitting with my head down as they both interrogated me.
“Explain,” my mom said, leaning against my dad, her long fingers resting on her forehead, looking as if she couldn’t accept it, “Why did you use my cosmetics?”
How was I supposed to answer that? How would I know why women love cosmetics so much!
Sitting on the single sofa, I tugged at my clothes, thinking for a long time before giving a vague answer, “Because… I like them.”
“Listen to that! That’s your good son!” My mom’s eyes widened, her fists pounding my dad’s chest, “How could this happen! How could our son like women’s cosmetics!”
My dad let her hit him, pinching the bridge of his nose, clearly unsure of what to say.
My mom kept hitting him, “Honey! Do something about your son!”
Though my dad was used to big scenes, he was still stumped by this situation, and after a while, he managed to say, “Well, you keep giving him face cream and bird’s nest soup, who do you think is to blame?”
“Oh my!” My mom clasped her hands to her chest, looking like a distressed damsel, “You’re right, honey, it’s all my fault. But didn’t I sign him up for Taekwondo classes? Boohoo—”
“Alright, alright.” My dad wrapped an arm around her, patting her shoulder soothingly.
The scene in front of me was unexpectedly amusing, and I puffed out my cheeks to swallow back the laughter threatening to escape.
“Yueguang,” my dad called my name seriously, “Don’t touch your mom’s cosmetics again, okay? Some of those limited editions are hard to get, your dad had to queue for hours at the counter to buy them.”
“If you really like them,” my dad paused, offering a compromise, “I can buy you a colorless lip balm.”