Chapter 20

After everything was said and done, Jia Hongjian left Wang Danshui in the living room to put on makeup, while he went to dress himself. He first went to the kitchen sink to shave off the "down" on his face, as he believed the biggest difference between a fifteen-year-old boy and a twenty-five-year-old man with a baby face was that one had soft facial hair while the other had a stubble.

At this age, he used to worry that shaving would make his beard grow coarser, so he always used scissors to trim it. Thinking about it now, it seemed utterly effeminate! He actually quite liked keeping a mustache, using its charm to influence some overly well-behaved young girls.

After shaving, he wet his hair and combed it into a traditional 70-30 part, then applied a bit of mousse to set it. With a more serious and profound expression, he basically looked like a young man who had been out of school and working for a few years.

Next, he changed into a set of clothes his father usually wore to work. A pure cotton white short-sleeved shirt paired with dark blue dress pants, tucking the shirt into the pants and leaving only one button open at the collar for ventilation. Dressed like this, he looked like a thirty-year-old man with a baby face at first glance!

After dressing himself, he walked into the living room and saw Wang Danshui, who was almost bare-faced. "What's wrong? You're putting on makeup. You only put on lipstick, eyeliner, and eyebrow pencil, why didn't you apply powder?" Jia Hongjian asked curiously.

"Is this not enough? Isn't this already quite mature? My mom only dressed up like this when she went to weddings a few years ago," Wang Danshui replied, a bit puzzled.

Hearing this, Jia Hongjian sighed, placing his hands on his waist. He thought that this was probably due to the different makeup philosophies of different eras. In this era, most young girls were still too innocent and didn't know that there was a type of makeup that could cover the face with a layer of powder thicker than a city wall, nor did they know about false eyelashes or eyeshadow.

He looked at the dark red lipstick on Wang Danshui's lips and genuinely felt it was unbearable—this makeup made a fifteen-year-old, delicate, and innocent girl look like a forty-year-old woman, full of an over-the-hill feel.

"Never mind, put the makeup in your small bag and take it off. Can you put your hair up?" Jia Hongjian, having made a decision, looked at the girl's clothes and found that she was wearing a plain long dress, which made her look slightly more mature, but still too young, making her look like a twenty-year-old instead of a sixteen-year-old.

He turned and went to his parents' room, found a set of his mother's clothes from the wardrobe, and threw it to the girl. "Try it on and see if it fits. My mom has a good figure, I think it should fit you. Be quick, and then I'll take you out to buy some more lipstick."

Without waiting for her reaction, he grabbed her hand and led her into his parents' room, then closed the door and left her alone inside. After this series of events, Wang Danshui was still confused about what had happened!

She couldn't understand what was wrong with the makeup she had just put on. Her mother dressed like this, so why couldn't she? And why did Jia Hongjian seem so familiar with women's makeup, as if he had seen countless women put it on?

Of course, Jia Hongjian was familiar with makeup! He had been around many high-quality girls with scores over 85! Since they were high-quality girls, they weren't the type who would put on heavy makeup that made them unrecognizable after removal, but they definitely knew how to find the best makeup methods for their face and image!

Spending a lot of time with high-quality girls who knew how to apply makeup, plus the saying "the pleasure in the bedroom is greater than that of painting eyebrows," Jia Hongjian sometimes even helped them apply makeup himself. Before his rebirth, he often paid attention to makeup tutorials to increase common topics with high-quality girls, as there was no way a beautiful girl wouldn't know what to talk about when it came to makeup.

After changing into the new clothes, she looked at herself in the mirror and felt that she indeed looked more mature than in the clothes she had brought. She didn't expect Jia Hongjian to have such good taste now. Why hadn't she noticed it before?

Thinking about it, she left his parents' bedroom. "Not bad," Jia Hongjian said, throwing a passbook at her, "This is my New Year's money passbook. Keep it for me. We'll go to your place to get your passbook, then withdraw money to buy lipstick and some fake goods."

Two hours later, Wang Danshui stood in front of the mirror in the restroom of Ziyun Shopping Mall on Tian Shan Road in Changning District, unable to believe the woman in the mirror. This woman looked a bit like her, but the long hair tied up at the back, the suit skirt, and the long-sleeved white shirt with lace made her look like a fully bloomed woman in her twenties.

The light and finely shaped eyebrows, the light blue eyeshadow on the eyelids, the light foundation, and the pink lipstick made the woman in the mirror look like a professional, sharp, cold, and untouchable strong woman!

The gold-rimmed glasses on her nose made her look even more intellectual! Seeing the woman in the mirror like a perfect work of art, Wang Danshui hardly dared to believe it was herself! But it was her! It was her, transformed by Jia Hongjian's hands!

When she came out of the restroom, her face was tinged with a light blush, and her eyes were filled with an indescribable joy, as if she had just discovered a new continent on her own. Walking up to Jia Hongjian, she opened her mouth but couldn't say a word for a long time. She wanted to thank him for giving her such a beautiful image, but she also wanted to ask how he had learned all this.

"Not bad, but unfortunately, Maybelline and the like haven't entered our country yet. We'll just have to make do for now," he said, looking at her new image with a somewhat indifferent expression, without any signs of joy, appreciation, or excitement.

This made Wang Danshui even more puzzled. Had Jia Hongjian, who had been her toy since childhood, secretly met many top-quality beauties? Otherwise, how could he know so much about makeup and be so calm? She had been shocked by her new image for a long time!

"Try to talk as little as possible, and keep a serious expression... not serious, but imagine you're your mom, who has seen all kinds of tricks in the world. Your eyes should show a slight disbelief, conveying a 'don't try to fool me' and a 'I don't really care' attitude..." Jia Hongjian instructed her.

This was a characteristic of women over the age of a "big sister" that Jia Hongjian had summarized from his previous life. Young girls always had a particularly innocent look in their eyes, making them seem easy to deceive. But women over the age of a "big sister" would leave a first impression of being sharp and having seen all kinds of men and tricks. So, to pretend to be older, this kind of aura was necessary.

"Okay..." Wang Danshui thought for a long time and nodded, somewhat understanding. She had never known there were so many things to pay attention to. Why did Jia Hongjian know so much? Had he mixed with some professional scammers? Otherwise, how could he know to summarize the characteristics of different age groups? Where had he learned all this?

Jia Hongjian, of course, saw Wang Danshui's confusion but didn't plan to explain. He turned and walked towards the small electronics floor on the second floor. He was a real man! He wouldn't carefully find excuses for himself just because someone was confused. He was above explaining! Anyway, they wouldn't guess that he had come back from a rebirth if he didn't explain.

Wang Danshui hurriedly followed Jia Hongjian. After they went upstairs, she followed him around various brand-name small electronics counters, and when she was about to ask her questions, he stopped.

Jia Hongjian squinted and looked at a row of calculators in the Sony counter. "Salesperson, could you please show me this 100-yuan Sony calculator?" A woman in her thirties, who was chatting with a colleague, first sized up Jia Hongjian and Wang Danshui. After deciding they seemed capable of buying Sony products, she walked over lazily.

After getting the Sony calculator, Jia Hongjian opened the packaging but didn't put in batteries or turn it on. He just looked at it carefully. At this moment, Wang Danshui was full of questions. She could understand the previous questions, but why wasn't he talking about bulk buying and the introduction letter he had mentioned? And he was looking at a Sony! A Japanese Sony! How could Sony products be fake?

But at that moment, Jia Hongjian suddenly returned the calculator to the salesperson and asked indifferently, "Where is your manager? We want to buy a small batch of these Sony calculators."

The salesperson's eyes widened. She was stunned for two seconds, then quickly pointed upstairs with enthusiasm, "On the 7th floor, on the east side. Our office is in room 725, and the department head is surnamed Li."

After thanking her and leaving, the salesperson suddenly decided something and shouted to her colleague, "A Qi, watch the counter for me. I'll go with them to show them the way!" She then ran after Jia Hongjian, "Comrade... you're not familiar with the layout, it's troublesome to find it. I'll take you there."

Jia Hongjian smiled and agreed. Money could make even the most difficult state-owned mall salesperson, who was usually hard to please, become service-oriented...

******

Note: "The pleasure in the bedroom is greater than that of painting eyebrows." This saying comes from Zhang Chang of the Western Han Dynasty, who once held the position of mayor of the capital. While in office, he used to paint his wife's eyebrows every day because she had fallen and injured her eyebrow bone as a child, and a small patch of her eyebrow never grew back. This matter somehow became known to the officials, who mocked Zhang Chang as effeminate, a henpecked husband, and a "pussy." Later, it reached the emperor's ears. The emperor asked Zhang Chang if this was true, and Zhang Chang replied, "The pleasure in the bedroom is greater than that of painting eyebrows..."

In essence, he was saying—there are many more things I have done that are more interesting than painting eyebrows. Why do you only talk about me painting eyebrows and not about the details of what I do with my wife at night? Are you not bored?