Chapter 39: A Feeling of Being a Loser

“The eyebrows should be drawn a little higher!”

Guan Qing’s agate pipe tapped lightly on the dressing table, her voice full of disappointment.
“Your hand is shaking so much.
Where’s the steadiness you had when you were drawing doujinshi?”

The eyebrow pencil in Bai Ling’s hand was trembling, drawing an electrocardiogram on her face.
Looking at the crooked ink mark at the corner of her eye in the mirror, it was as if she were seeing the “Marry me, Qing Lin-sama!” light stick that fans were holding at the comic convention flashing before her eyes.

In the end, she still had to go in cosplay.

‘I’m going to die of social embarrassment this time…’

Her phone suddenly vibrated on the silk tablecloth.
The fan group was in an uproar.

Ye Yuan was loudly announcing in the group that Qing Lin would be making her first offline appearance at the comic convention this weekend, almost starting a fan meeting.

Fortunately, it was a spur-of-the-moment idea.
Otherwise, if the organizers had noticed, they might have actually invited her to be a guest and hold a signing event or something.

This had happened before, but the girl had always refused.

After all, this child was only capable of this much.
She only dared to brag online and in the group, and only dared to talk big to people she knew.
When it came to meeting strangers offline, she was more of a coward than anyone.

Not to mention now that her identity had been turned upside down?

Unless she was in a state of boiling demonic energy, in that state she could be as excited as a madman.

“We’re here!”

The cheerful voice of a girl, accompanied by the sound of the wooden door being pushed open, startled Bai Ling so much that the eyebrow pencil almost slipped out of her hand.

Chengzi jumped over the threshold with a big bag, which contained a cosplay prop sword and some small trinkets.

Su Jiu Li was carrying a garment bag, and Lin Xiao Xia was dragging a suitcase.
The two girls followed Chengzi into the room.

After learning that the girl was going to cosplay at the comic convention this weekend, the three of them had gone to the props master’s place to get the cosplay costume and props.

“This cloisonné bottle must be worth six figures, right?”

Chengzi, who had just put down the bag, was curiously looking at the curio cabinet full of objects.
Her mischievous fingers were about to touch it, but were immediately hit on the back of her hand by Guan Qing’s pipe.

“It’s a fake.”
Guan Qing glanced at the silver bracelet on Chengzi’s wrist without a trace.
“I know a craftsman with good skills.
If you like it, I can give you a few.”

This was a lie.
Not to mention this curio cabinet, the most recent object in the whole shop was from the Republic of China period.

“That would be so embarrassing…”

Chengzi awkwardly withdrew her hand and took out a plain white, gold-embroidered, wide-sleeved garment from the garment bag that Su Jiu Li had brought and held it up to Bai Ling.

“Is this your boss lady? She’s such a beauty… This sash needs to be tightened.
The waist measurement of the snake demon swordswoman is set to 58 centimeters!”

“That props master just happened to have worked on the promotion of ‘Xuanhuang Ji,’ so he had a whole set of the snake demon swordswoman’s cosplay costume on hand.”
Su Jiu Li also shook out the plain white snake tail skirt and came over.
“This eyeliner is drawn… with skill…”

“Cut it out!”
The girl muttered and wiped off the crooked eyeliner with a makeup remover pad.
“This is completely different from drawing.
Why can’t I draw it well?”

“The eyeliner should be drawn along the root of the eyelashes.”
Lin Xiao Xia picked up a mink brush and swept it across the girl’s eyelid.
“Here, let me help you.”

It had to be said that this girl really had some skills.
If there were ranks in makeup, then the girl, who was still a beginner, would be iron, and this girl would at least be a master.

Chengzi was holding a ring light in front, acting as a lamp stand.
Su Jiu Li took out her phone and took a picture of her.

In less than half an hour, Lin Xiao Xia had drawn a makeup on the girl’s face that was almost exactly the same as the snake demon swordswoman in the game.

“Tsk, tsk, I would believe it if you told me this waistline belongs to a real snake demon.”
Chengzi suddenly lifted the hem of the wide-sleeved garment and praised her mischievously.
“Why don’t you consider debuting as a cosplayer?”

“I know a very good photographer,” Su Jiu Li also said, as she was tidying up the metal chain on the girl’s sash.
“Do you want his WeChat? I can send it to you.”

“Mmm, this is indeed the most satisfying makeup I’ve done this year.”

Lin Xiao Xia stuck the last piece of gold foil huadian on her forehead, took half a step back, and looked at her work with satisfaction, her arms crossed.

Hearing this, Bai Ling turned her head to look at the quaint bronze mirror on the dressing table.
The crimson gradient at the corner of the person in the mirror’s eyes was like the bloom of a March peach blossom.
The tear mole was dotted with a pomegranate-seed-like vermilion, and the lip gloss on her rhomboid lips condensed into a dewy glaze.

It was as if her game character had come to life.

‘Holy crap! I’m so pretty!’

‘No, I have to take a selfie and show off!’

Just like every girly boy who cross-dresses for the first time will be amazed by his own beauty, the girl who was putting on makeup for the first time was no exception.

She immediately took out her phone and turned on the selfie mode.
The familiar yet strange person on the screen unconsciously bit her lower lip.
Her pearly teeth left a fleeting tooth mark on her glazed lips, like the fine lines of cracking thin ice in early spring.

But who should she show off to?

Post it on her Moments?

Besides her fans and online friends, her mother was the only one in the girl’s Moments.
If her online friends saw it, she would die of social embarrassment in advance.
If her mother saw it, she would probably buy a ticket and fly back to the country immediately.

Her few roommates were here.
Then…

“Swipe, swipe, swipe!”

A few photos appeared in the chat box with Blind Xu.

“I’m pretty, right!”

‘Of course, I have to send it to Xu Zhi to show off!’

“Was it fun to be a hero?!”
Lu Qingyu’s gloved fingertip poked heavily on the back of Xu Zhi’s neck.
“It’s a good thing Inspector Ai was nearby, otherwise you would have died there, you know?”

In the Lu family’s medical hall, Xu Zhi was hanging his head, being scolded by Lu Qingyu.

This pair of siblings, besides working for the Demon Suppression Division, also ran the medical hall left by their parents.
But now, Lu Qingyu, the older sister, was scolding Xu Zhi so much that he couldn’t lift his head.

“Sis, be gentle!”

Xu Zhi’s tense back hit the iron railing of the hospital bed, and the wound on his side, which had just been stitched, seeped with a light yellow tissue fluid.

“The dressing needs to be changed every three days.
It will take at least a week for you to get better.”
Lu Qingyu’s tweezers held a cotton ball soaked in ointment.
“Don’t be so reckless next time, great Demon Suppression Envoy Xu!”

“Okay, okay!”

The moment the cotton swab touched the wound, the pain made Xu Zhi suck in a breath of cold air.

“Wow! Boss, who beat you up?”
Lu Qingtian suddenly pushed open the grille door.
The young man threw his single-strap shoulder bag onto the rattan medicine basket.
“Is there a demon who can beat you up like this? Did you catch it?”

“No, it’s not even certain if it was a demon.”
Xu Zhi pulled over a pillow and put it behind his waist.
“Go get my phone.”

“Oh!”

Lu Qingtian was sent off to get Xu Zhi’s phone, which was on the counter of the medical hall.

“Come over for dinner tonight.
I’ve stewed…”

Lu Qingyu lowered her head and tidied up the medicine box.
A strand of stray hair fell, covering the surging emotions in her eyes.

“Holy crap! Boss! Who is this beauty?!”
Before Lu Qingyu could finish, Lu Qingtian had already jumped out from behind the counter with his phone.
“Introduce me to her!”

The phone screen was a chat box with a few photos that had popped up.
The girl in the photos had her long, waist-length black hair tied up in a flying fairy bun with a plain white jade hairpin.
The gilt-gold eyeliner at the corners of her eyes was smudged into a phoenix tail feather in the flash of the camera.
The half-arm revealed by the wide-sleeved garment was covered with a gradient scale sticker.

“I’m pretty, right!”

And at the end, there was such a mood-ruining sentence.

“Give it to me!”
Xu Zhi casually grabbed the pillow on the hospital bed and threw it at Lu Qingtian’s head.
“This is my childhood friend.
No, I should say childhood sweetheart.
I’ll bring her over to meet you guys tonight.”

Hearing this, Lu Qingyu’s hand suddenly trembled, and a medicine bottle fell out of the box and shattered on the floor.