Chapter 1 - Can I Touch You A Little? (2/2)

Mi Chen took a deep breath, feeling that her old days of admiring him madly as her idol had reversed. “Be professional, Mi Chen. Though you’re only an ordinary makeup artist, you have your own pride.”

At first Mi Chen used the back of her index finger to estimate the depth from Bai’s eyebrow bone to his eyelid and then to measure the width of his forehead and the height of his cheekbones as well. Finally she measured roughly the angle from his eyeball to his chin with a makeup brush. As Fang Chengye said, Bai Yihan’s facial features were perfect and did not need any modification. What she had to do was to enhance such perfection, to display his special sophistication and refinement without any flamboyance. Generally, Mi Chen applied foundation makeup first and after that she began to mix the different color tones on the back of her hand.

Bai Yihan slowly opened his eyes and what he saw was Mi Chen’s devoted expression towards the makeup brush. “Could it be that you’re only gonna paint my face into white porcelain, or give me a lower eyeliner as well?” Bai Yihan just felt that this makeup artist was too quiet and tense, so he felt like warming up the atmosphere for her for a while.

“There’s no need for that. As a male star, your skin condition is great already. You just need to look a tiny bit more light-toned than usual. And some pop fashion like lower eyeliner is nothing but an unfitting redundancy for you.” Mi Chen then raised her brush and said plainly, “Please close your eyes, Mr. Bai.”

Bai Yihan closed his eyes with a smile. Mi Chen’s voice sounded flat. It was a compliment in the eyes of ordinary people. However, Bai Yihan knew that the little girl was very serious when she said this. Feeling the brush rolling on his face, Bai Yihan had a very special feeling of being taken rather seriously. It seemed that his face was the canvas of an oil painting, and Mi Chen was the professional who was dedicated to it.

“Mr. Bai, would you please open your eyes and smile at me?” Mi Chen might ordinarily have shrunk away a little just now, but once she settled in she seemed to have become another person.

Bai Yihan had been used to the solemn tone of Mi Chen. His lips were slightly pressed together. He could see his face reflected in Mi Chen’s eyes. She turned her face slightly, observing him from a variety of angles, and then applied lip tint and finally filled some highlights around his chin.

After more than forty minutes Mi Chen let out a breath and smiled. “Mr. Bai, we’re done.”

“Really? Thank you.”

It never concerned Bai Yihan that his face might be painted grotesquely by others, because even the weakest makeup artist wouldn’t make him ugly.

At the same time, Fang Chengye came back. “The sponsors are assholes! They told me some shit that they dare not go against the Starry Cosmo and Great Waves…”

Fang Chengye suddenly paused, stared at Bai Yian and didn’t speak a word for a long while. “Gee…the makeup skill is so…”

“What’s up?” Bai Yihan turned his face away, saw himself in the mirror and his heart suddenly throbbed. Those lost times of his youth seemed to surge back all of a sudden and no one could stop it.

“Not…not okay?” Mi Chen gulped and felt rather nervous.

“It’s okay. It’s really good. Thanks.”

Bai Yihan turned around with a smile and Fang Chengye covered his chest rather melodramatically and retreated with several steps. “Oh dear! Oh Dear! My heart is gonna jump out of my chest! Your original self is already so flawless and I didn’t expect that this makeup artist could break though the limitations!”

Mi Chen was tidying up the makeup box while chuckling quietly. She took Fang Chengye’s exaggerated praise as appreciation for her work. The tension of entering the dressing room at the beginning gradually subsided and Mi Chen could finally let her breath out.

There was a reminder from the staff outside the door. Bai Yihan should be ready for the stage. He got up, straightened his clothes and taped Mi Chen on her shoulder. “Wait here. Chengye and I will treat you to dinner later.”

Mi Chen smiled more happily, feeling the recognition for all her efforts. She was not so naive to take Bai Yihan’s words seriously. Then the leader of the makeup team called to scold her severely. When the team leader arrived, Mi Chen had to apply makeup hurriedly for a group of backing dancers, and her ears were surrounded by the team leader’s shouting and swearing. The whole public dressing room was in a big mess. Mi Chen was nervous and flustered. The room was being cooled by the air conditioner but Mi Chen’s back was dripping with sweat.

Mi Chen didn’t have a single chance to go to the front of the stage to see the scene of Bai Yihan’s singing. Over at the other side, at the music festival, Hong Yueying, a senior hostess, warmly introduced the mysterious singer to the audience, and after she recited a long list of popular film titles and some international awards, she then blinked and asked, “Can you guess who he is?”

Lin Song, her male co-host, looked down at the auditorium, thinking that what he was going to say was amusing. “Well, maybe he has been away from the domestic audience for a long time, but how come there are no fans holding name boards with his name on it?” Hong Yueying mocked Lin Song in her heart. Even though Bai Yihan’s domestic popularity was not as huge as before, he was still an extraordinary star. Moreover, if anyone domestic wanted to make their way to the international market they had to rely on Bai Yihan to introduce them to those international directors! She had to ease this situation.

“Maybe after tonight, most of our audience will call out his name involuntarily!” By saying this, Hong Yueying only meant to be polite to Bai Yihan and she did not expect that she had already foreseen the truth.

The music was playing slowly. It was a movie theme song from eight years ago but most of the young people in front of the stage hadn’t seen it. Fortunately, the tune had been rearranged with many modern elements and the melody was beautiful, so it was easy for others to remember. Against the light, a figure slowly came out and each step of his bore calmness and elegance filled the hearts of the audience with a touch of curiosity.