Chapter 3

The first commission Li Boxi received after signing a contract with Cheng Ping was a costume shoot for an ancient costume drama.1 Cheng Ping had the role of the second male lead, a swordsman.

Li Boxi arrived fifteen minutes early. Behind him were his two apprentices who also acted as assistants.

Ma Koukou was also named “Coco Ma”; he was a delicate little flower who couldn't resist raising his pinky finger every time he squeezed a pair of chopsticks.

Assistant Yang’s name was “Sam Yang”; she was a girl.

[1] 定妆照 - I don't think there's a specific english equivalent, but it's a specific term for a photoshoot that showcases the actor's characters after they put on makeup/costumes, which takes place before the actual shooting of the film.

Li Boxi’s group came at a bad time, while the agent was losing their temper in the dressing room, "Such an important shooting this is! You were told to arrive at one o'clock in the afternoon, but you only crawled out of bed at twelve! If I didn’t knock on your door, were you just going to bail out on everyone?" 2

[2] 放鸽子 - “let go of white pigeons” - to stand someone up

Cheng Ping remained silent, head lowered as he played with his phone.

Li Boxi was well-known for being tight-lipped in the industry, hence the agent did not shy away from continuing when she saw him enter, massaging between her brows tiredly, “I really…haaa… Xiao-Cheng, Cheng-ge, what do you really want? Do you dislike being an actor in the first place?”

Cheng Ping still did not utter a single word.

The agent walked out, massaging the spot between her brows.

Li Boxi put down his extra large cosmetic bag in front of the mirror and greeted Cheng Ping, "Did you stay up late?"

Cheng Ping raised his head to look at him.

Li Boxi said, "From your eyes and your skin condition, it doesn’t look like you've gotten enough sleep."

Cheng Ping let out a noncommittal “hmph”.

Li Boxi didn’t take it to heart, minding his own business as he spread out his items to prepare for work.

Last time, Ma Koukou had already witnessed his master's eager solicitude towards Cheng Ping. With Li Boxi’s status in jianghu, there were quite a few people from their studio who expressed surprise when he lowered his own value to sign a long-term contract with Cheng Ping. Li Boxi didn't need to bind himself to anyone at all—he was always in such a hurry to rush to another set that his feet practically did not touch the ground. 3

[3] jianghu is often used in wuxia stories to refer to the setting. In the present-day, it can refer to any “circle of interest” like various industries, including the makeup industry.

But Ma Koukou wasn’t surprised; after all, he felt that this matter had a very simple explanation:

His master coveted Cheng Ping’s body.

That was why, after Ma Koukou entered through the door, he tried his best to control his gaze and not glance at Cheng Ping.

To speak truthfully, he also coveted Cheng Ping himself. But he was a sensible little flower, who knew that of all virtues, filial piety came first, and that if there was a good man he must first honour his master.

Li Boxi was asking Cheng Ping, “Do you have lip balm?”

“No.”

So Li Boxi opened a new one, lifted his chin up, and rubbed it on his lips as he said, "You can keep this. Your lips are a little dry."

Ma Koukou's eyes flashed, realising that this matter wasn’t so simple.

He was struck with an idea. He acted as if he was coming to help his master look for the cosmetics, walked up beside the two, and “unintentionally” shoved Li Boxi a few times to push his master closer to Cheng Ping.

What selflessness this was! He was so moved by himself that his soft heart crumbled to bits and all sorts of fluids streamed down his face.

Li Boxi's long hair was tangled and pulled by his movements. Frowning, he turned around and threw a glance at him, “Excuse me.”

Ma Koukou: “…”

Li Boxi helped Cheng Ping do hydration and oil control in the T-zone, then took out a few bottles of tinted cream, blended the yellow and orange tones together, and smeared a little bit under his eyes, "This is the I recommended to you. You can use its contrasting tones as colour correction to remove dark circles."

Cheng Ping had a sullen look on his face. He observed Li Boxi's work for a while out of courtesy, then lowered his eyes to look at his phone. Li Boxi followed his gaze and his heart skipped a beat.

Cheng Ping was watching a game.

Speaking of which, Li Boxi remembered that his Great God’s former team really did have a match today. But after Cheng Ping retired, he no longer had the motivation to follow them, and had no idea how they were doing currently either.

But judging from Cheng Ping's face, it was likely not good.

“X (silently mouthed)! IS THIS PERSON A XX (silently mouthed)!” Cheng Ping suddenly began to yell on mute. His movements were too large, and the makeup primer on Li Boxi's hand smeared off-target.

He snapped out of it, “Sorry.”

“No worries.” Li Boxi was grinning, thinking that it had been a long time since he last saw this scene.

He called to his assistant, “Hand me the foundation.”

Ma Koukou brought two bottles of foundation; the lighter one was the base colour, while the slightly darker one was used to shape the contours. He held the two bottles of foundation against Cheng Ping's left and right cheeks, so that it was more convenient for Li Boxi to compare the shades, and for himself to take advantage of the situation as well.4

Cheng Ping felt the slight touch of his fingers and subconsciously shrank back.

Li Boxi thought in his heart, how can an iron-straight man like the Great God tolerate this kind of thing? He immediately took the foundation and used his gaze to banish Ma Koukou, "Go and buy me a cup of coffee."

Ma Koukou glued himself behind Cheng Ping, refusing to leave, and tried to instruct Assistant Yang with his eyes. Assistant Yang had joined after him, so she was indeed mainly responsible for preparing tea and coffee, but she wasn't stupid and could tell that Li Boxi was trying to get rid of Ma Koukou, hence she refused to budge as well.

The gazes of the three flew and battled with each other. Cheng Ping saw the full ensemble in the mirror.

[4] 揩油 - literally meaning to touch a surface coated in oil so you yourself is stained with oil too, but is a metaphor for taking advantage of something/someone. Here, Coco wants to get close to a hot guy like Cheng Ping.

Finally, Li Boxi couldn't bear it any longer, "You two go together."

Assistant Yang led Ma Koukou away expressionlessly.

Ma Koukou was muddled up in grief and anger, "He’s hogging it all, he wants to hog it all for himself! My chest is filled with a filial piety that can be attested by the heavens and earth, yet he still insists on guarding against me!" 5

”Less theatrics please.” Assistant Yang’s expression was complete indifference.

Assistant Yang was one of the few people who knew Li Boxi’s inside information. The reason was because Li Boxi had tried to date her back then.

Assistant Yang had rejected him back then, “I’m not interested in fooling around with sisters.”

“I’ll tell you a secret.” Li Boxi had just started masquerading as gay, so he was not as resistant to pressure as he was now. Occasionally, he couldn’t hold back from telling the truth to those around him.

However, even if he spoke the truth, others might not necessarily believe it. Assistant Yang in particular was skeptical, "You? Never done it with men? Are you drunk or do you think I'm drunk?"

“Really. Clear as ice, pure as jade.” Li Boxi had said.

Assistant Yang did not believe him at all.

However, now that she had gone through a long period of observation, she ended up believing anyway.

But she still had no interest in Li Boxi’s type, and fortunately Li Boxi did not have cruel hobbies like forcing people either. They were only casually fooling around anyway—if the other party wasn't interested, he would simply give up.

[5] 独吞 - “to swallow it all by oneself”,

天地可鉴 - derived where the full phrase 天地可鉴，日月可表 that means “the heavens and earth can verify, the sun and moon can attest”, used to show someone’s sincerity.

Only Li Boxi and Cheng Ping were left in the dressing room. Li Boxi began to apply the darker foundation, spreading it from the bottom edge of the cheekbones to the spot under the eyes. Cheng Ping's features were relatively three-dimensional to begin with, and considering that this was for a costume drama, Li Boxi didn't put any additional effort into contouring.

“What time did you sleep?” asked Li Boxi.

“Eight o’clock.”

“...Eight o’clock in the morning?”

“Mm-hm.”

Li Boxi looked down at the Great God, a little worried. Although he had only met with him twice, he knew the old Cheng Ping back then so well that he could vaguely feel that there was something wrong with Cheng Ping's current state.

“Wanna talk?”

“Forget it,” said Cheng Ping.

He paused, then added, “Thanks.”

After applying the setting spray, Li Boxi took out a heated eyelash curler. Cheng Ping's eyelashes were so long that it would be a waste of a gift from the heavens if they weren’t given a touch of grooming.6

While grooming the eyelashes, one fell off and stuck itself to the end of Cheng Ping's eye.

[6] 暴殄天物 - four character expression that typically means to waste natural resources recklessly.

Li Boxi was about to grab his brush to sweep it away when he saw Cheng Ping impatiently raising his hand to rub his eye.

How could that be okay? Li Boxi hurriedly intercepted his wrist without caring to grab the brush, then leaned down and gently blew at his eye.

Cheng Ping shivered.

It was right at this moment when the door opened, the two assistants walked in holding coffee, and they were met with this scene head-on.

Ma Koukou: “Tsk.”