Chapter 14 – Pink-haired Chen Er Bai!
Before coming here, Gao Qian had met with the chief editor of this magazine, who had approached her. This was the sudden event she mentioned in the message.
The story is somewhat complex and goes back to a university cultural festival.
University A held a cultural festival, where the chief editor was invited as an outstanding alumnus to give a lecture. Next door to the lecture venue, there was a photography exhibition featuring students’ works.
The chief editor saw a student’s portrait of someone from an old street shop.
In simple terms, the chief editor was captivated by the person’s looks and aura.
It’s unclear where the chief editor got the information, but after many turns, he finally approached her, expressing a desire to collaborate.
The magazine is a well-known fashion publication in the country, one that is practically unattainable at this stage, so it was objectively a good opportunity—generally, it would not be refused.
However, this time it was different; this was someone who had previously turned down a job offered to him for the sake of playing games.
The memory of this person’s past lack of motivation was still fresh in Gao Qian’s mind, and since they had just finished filming, she had anticipated being rejected again.
But after the meeting, she felt this time it should be solid.
Before introducing the shooting plan, she mentioned the magazine’s five-figure offer.
The person sitting across from her looked up: “I accept.”
The voice was crisp and decisive, the gaze resolute as if ready to join a party.
They successfully reached an agreement. Gao Qian then briefly introduced the shooting plan proposed by the magazine.
The theme color for the shoot was pink, tentatively scheduled for mid-month, in the magazine’s own studio.
The stylist and makeup artist were not decided yet, but the chief editor promised to oversee things; with that assurance, the quality would likely be good.
“Additionally, the other side hopes that if you can change your hair color, that would be even better.”
Gao Qian set down her coffee and said, “I won’t interfere; the choice is yours.”
Chen Bai rubbed his hair and asked, “Pink?”
Gao Qian nodded.
Chen Bai lowered his head, quietly contemplating.
Gao Qian remained silent, patiently waiting for his thoughts.
Then she saw him raise his head again, looking serious and earnest: “Excuse me, will I have to pay for the hair dye?”
Gao Qian said no.
“Oh, I see it’s not me.”
The person sitting across from her instantly relaxed, visibly easing, his face lighting up with a brilliant smile: “As long as I’m not paying, any color is fine.”
Gao Qian: “…?”
The point was here.
So this person had been thinking for so long about who would pay.
Chen Bai had never worried about the hair color issue. He understood the working person’s way of dealing with things: as long as the money was right, everything was negotiable.
Thus, the hair change was settled, with the specific timing to be discussed later.
The agent had more work to negotiate, and Chen Bai went back to continue his lock-picking business.
—— He had originally planned to return to his lock-picking business.
What went wrong was that he picked up a promotional flyer at the mall and, having spent time in the mall’s coffee shop, he earned a chance to enter a raffle—a little participation in the mall’s lottery.
His luck with raffles had always been as thin as his finances, but this time he won a discount voucher.
In every sense, it was hard to pass up.
So in the evening, when his good neighbor returned home from filming, he promptly received several sweet red bean paste buns.
“Here’s the thing.”
The person handing over the buns raised his hand, patted Chen Bai’s shoulder, and said solemnly, “I won a hot pot restaurant discount voucher for a two-person meal.”
Xu Sinian glanced at the hand on his shoulder but didn’t say much, only replied, “I’m off on Saturday.”
His good neighbor was quite understanding!
They had already planned to go for a subsidized hair dye on Saturday morning, so Chen Bai arranged to have dinner with his good neighbor in the afternoon.
There was a good chance that the discount voucher, which he won with his lifetime of luck, wouldn’t go to waste. In a great mood, Chen Bai shared two more sweet red bean paste buns with his agreeable neighbor, wishing him a sweet night’s sleep.
After dinner on Saturday, it would likely be late. To ensure he met the streaming duration, he had extended his broadcast by half an hour each day for the past few days. The audience in his stream was puzzled but delighted, determined to see who could stay up longer.
The consequence of extending his stream by half an hour each day meant that it was challenging for him to get up on Saturday morning. He moved sluggishly out of bed, nearly washing up instinctively with his eyes half-closed, his mind in a state of complete fog.
Fortunately, his foggy brain cleared up a bit while getting dressed. Finally, just as he was about to put on a T-shirt that cost 39.9 yuan from the supermarket, he remembered he needed to go out today and quickly changed into a white hooded sweatshirt, grabbing his phone and important discount voucher before heading out.
The styling studio they were heading to was in the city center. Since he wasn’t paying for it himself, Chen Bai didn’t ask any questions and just followed the navigation.
The place was much more upscale than he had imagined, and it wasn’t just him, but also the stylist and the agent. Several people gathered around him to engage in serious discussions.
The hoodie was warm and comfortable, and the seat beneath him was soft. Although he was seriously sleep-deprived, he initially forced himself to listen to their discussion but eventually couldn’t resist and closed his eyes.
Once he closed his eyes, he ended up sleeping through the entire morning and into noon. He woke up a few times in between, cooperating with the professional team, and then continued to sleep. The next time he woke up, all he could hear was the sound of a hairdryer buzzing near his ear.
The warm air kept blowing. Chen Bai half-opened his eyes, his vision blurry, and he could vaguely see a lump of white topped with a lump of pink in the mirror.
When the sound of the hairdryer stopped, a voice from above him laughed, “You’re finally awake?”
Chen Bai realized that the lumps of white and pink were himself.
After closing his eyes again and reopening them, his vision finally cleared. He slightly lifted his gaze and looked at the mirror.
—It looked no different from usual.
He felt there was no difference, but the agent and the studio staff had already taken out their phones and pointed them at him.
He was confused but posed with a peace sign.
The agent told him to put his hand down.
So he lowered his peace sign and glanced at his phone.
It was past noon, and his good neighbor had sent him a message half an hour ago, asking about his workplace and when he would finish. The other party was driving and could pick him up on the way.
Chen Bai lowered his head to reply.
The agent asked him, “Do you have plans this afternoon?”
He looked up and smiled, “Going out with friends for dinner.”
The agent quickly snapped a picture and nodded in satisfaction before putting his phone away.
For the pink-haired guy, rest time was precious, so he left the studio as soon as he finished.
It was close to the designated mall, so he didn’t have his good neighbor pick him up and chose to walk over himself.
Today was Saturday, and the weather was nice, with more people on the streets than usual.
Receiving too many glances along the way, Chen Bai attributed it to the glaring white hoodie under the sun, so he tried to walk under the shade of the trees.
His phone vibrated in his hand, and he looked down to see a new message pop up.
His good neighbor had arrived. He was here but couldn’t find the familiar car. Chen Bai stood in place, looking around before dialing the number.
“Buzz—”
A car quietly stopped under the shade of the trees.
The phone he had set aside rang. Xu Sinian glanced at the contact on the screen and picked it up.
When the call connected, a clear voice immediately came through.
It sounded like the other party was walking while talking, their breath not very steady.
Listening to the voice on the phone, Xu Sinian held the phone in one hand, skillfully unbuckled his seatbelt with the other, lowered his hat, and opened the car door.
“I didn’t see you. Wait, okay, I see you now.”
“Don’t move where you are; I’ll come to you…”
Some people suddenly stopped mid-sentence, but it was even more abrupt than a sudden stop.
Xu Sinian glanced at the side of the road and asked, “Where are you?”
The phone fell silent for a moment, only the slight sound of the wind and the honking of vehicles.
“Right here!”
The voice wasn’t coming from the phone but from one side, clear and clean, reaching his eardrum directly.
Xu Sinian turned his head and followed the direction of the sound, spotting someone running down the stairs from the overpass.
The sunlight was bright, and the short pink hair swept over their brows. The white hoodie’s drawstrings flew up with their hair, vibrant and exuberant.
The wind blew, and the shadows of the trees danced.
Under the shade of the trees, the dark pupils of the person standing by the car moved almost imperceptibly.
The pink-haired individual bounded down the stairs, moving so quickly it seemed like they were about to tumble.
They didn’t fall, but after reaching the bottom, they couldn’t stop their momentum either.
As Xu Sinian watched the figure rushing toward him, the distance between them grew shorter. At less than half a meter away, he could even feel the wind generated by the oncoming person. Xu Sinian reflexively extended his hand.
Then, just before colliding fully, Chen Bai managed to stop himself.
His self-control was impressive, and his brakes were highly efficient.
“…”
Xu Sinian raised his hand slowly and then lowered it again.
Chen Bai took a deep breath, wiped off nonexistent sweat, and expressed his joy at having landed safely, saying, “That was close!”
—
Author’s Note:
That was close! You almost found yourself a boyfriend! (._.)
In the future, there will probably be more colorful-haired characters and versatile, cute babies!
