Urban Tales of Demons and Spirits
Vol 1 Book of Thunder - Chapter 28 Shopping and Lipstick
Translator: Linc
Editor: Draygan
First Published on Chaleuria.
Chapter 28 Shopping and Lipstick
"Damnit! I just remembered, Shi Yitong and I agreed to accompany Su Xiaoyun shopping tomorrow!"
Halfway there, I stopped so suddenly that Bai, who was standing on my shoulder, almost fell right off.
"What the hell are you doing? I would die if I fell from this height!" Bai jumped around on my shoulders. "What's the problem? You go accompany them to shop first, then we'll go and find that little girl."
"If possible, I don't really want to do that…" I held my forehead, and said with a headache, "How do I explain your existence to them?"
"What's the big deal? Just say I'm your new pet."
"That's what I'm troubled about, okay?! What sort of guy would have such a cute pet?"
"At least you still have some good taste to know that I'm cute!"
"… Are you an idiot?"
"Who're you referring to? Have a taste of my Foshan Shadowless Claw[1]!"
The next day, as agreed, I waited at the school entrance. Shi Yitong was first to arrive, followed shortly by Su Xiaoyun.
"Haa, both of you are so early." Su Xiaoyun jogged over, breathing heavily.
"It's that you're late." I corrected her, smiling. "But we haven't been waiting long, only about five minutes."
"Girls need time to get ready to go out, okay? Unlike you guys, we can't just throw on any old jacket and leave!" Su Xiaojun complained, raising her head. Her eyes suddenly brightened.
"Eh? What's this?! Gu Yu, did you get a new pet?"
"Ah. This…" I twisted my head slightly to look at Bai standing on my shoulder. I mumbled vaguely, "Kind of."
"So cute!" Su Xiaoyun immediately got super excited, reaching out to play with the ferret.
"Ah, don't do that! Careful, he bites —" However, not only did Bai not bite Su Xiaoyun, he actually started making squeaking noises. He let Su Xiaoyun touch his little face with her fingers, not one sign of objection.
This little bastard, shamelessly taking the opportunity to get fresh with a girl! Unable to watch any longer, I spoke up, "Where are we going today?"
"Oh, we're going to Chenghua Road in the city center!" Su Xiaoyun immediately answered, looking very cheerful.
Shi Yitong who was standing to the side made a pained lament, scratched his untidy hair and whispered to me, "Chenghua Road is that commercial street all filled with shopping malls, selling shoes or clothes.
"What? Shi Yitong, do you have something to say to me?" Su Xiaoyun immediately stared down Shi Yitong.
"Nonono, whatever my goddess says is right." Shi Yitong hastily smiled in apology.
"But today, I'm not going to buy clothes or shoes."
Shi Yitong's eyes brightened hopefully.
"I'm going to buy cosmetics!" Su Xiaoyun said, full of confidence.
You could easily see the bright hope in Shi Yitong's eyes immediately extinguished.
"There's no difference at all…" Shi Yitong mumbled brokenly, "Even if my goddess doesn't use makeup, she's still as beautiful as an angel."
My heart dropped with a thump, some bad memories coming back to haunt me. However, Su Xiaoyun was rarely in such a good mood and we did already agree to go with her, so we couldn't back out now.
"Why did you suddenly want to learn how to do your makeup?" I asked her. I remembered that Su Xiaoyun previously never wore any sort of makeup on her face, and I never heard that she even had any makeup skills.
"Ah— As a girl, you should be more conscious about your appearance," Su Xiaoyun said weakly. "I saw all those other girls looking so pretty with their makeup and so I also thought…"
I sighed. "You were inspired by those beauty blogs on Weibo. weren't you?"
"Oh." Su Xiaoyun could only smile awkwardly after being suddenly exposed. "But really, they look so pretty with makeup on. I want to try too!"
Thus, the three of us took a bus into the city center, to Chenghua Road. Even though Yan City was a tiny town, but in the city center, there was still a good number of shops and specialty stores. On the weekends, there was quite a crowd of men and women drawn here for shopping.
"Nope, nope, this one is also a nope…" Su Xiaoyun went from one cosmetics store to the next, but no matter how she looked, she couldn't find that lipstick she really liked, recommended by a particular beauty blogger. In the end, she got so frustrated that she stomped her feet.
"Why don't they have that brand of lipstick? I saved for so long for this!"
Shi Yitong interrupted, "Why not buy it online?"
"Cos I wanted to test the color! That lipstick is over a hundred bucks! What happens if I buy it and it doesn't suit me?"
"It's probably because Yan City is still a small city. The items that those beauty bloggers recommend are all probably considered high-end luxury goods." I looked at the cosmetic store's offerings and finally picked out a peach-colored lipstick, passing it to Su Xiaoyun. "High-end brands aren't the only ones that look pretty. Why not try this one?"
Su Xiaoyun looked at me suspiciously, but still twisted open the lid of the tester and faced the mirror to try it on.
"Wow, you're right. This color looks so good!" Su Xiaoyun exclaimed in surprise, turning to look at me. "I didn't realize you were good at understanding this as well. Color me amazed!"
"Ah no, it's just a coincidence." I scratched my head, laughing. "I just thought that maybe you would pair well with this color."
"This one it is!"
After buying the lipstick, Su Xiaoyun and Shi Yitong headed back. I parted ways with them in front of the shopping mall and readied to go visit the little girl's house that Bai had mentioned.
"Your boss is really working you too hard." Su Xiaoyun said regretfully, "Otherwise, we could hang out a bit more. You should tell him to increase your pay!"
I smiled wryly, waving my hand. "Maybe." Even though I knew in my heart that it wasn't possible.
My phone suddenly vibrated after I crossed the street. I opened it to find a text message.
Wen Jiubo: I've arrived at my destination. No need to worry.
Reading the text, I couldn't help but huff in frustration. That guy didn't even bother to tell me where he was going, but was now texting me to announce his safe arrival? Who would worry about him?
I was going to shove my phone back into my pocket, but on second thought, I figured not returning a text was probably very impolite. I sighed, and ended up replying with one word: Ok.
Just as I was about to put my phone away, it vibrated again.
Wen Jiubo: How's the case going?
Reading those words ignited a sense of burning rage inside me. I typed back rapidly: On the way. You're so annoying.
The response was almost immediate.
Wen Jiubo: The kitten is showing his claws! How scary. I won't ask anymore. Good luck.
I rolled my eyes and was trying to decide if I wanted to reply or not when Bai suddenly piped up next to my ear.
"Oi, Gu Yu. Are you gay?"
His words scared the crap out of me, I almost dropped my phone. After securing my mobile, I glared at the ferret on my shoulder.
"Are you reading my texts?!"
Translator's Notes:
[1] – Foshan Shadowless Claw (Chinese: 佛山无影爪; pinyin: Fóshānwúyǐngzhua; literally 'Buddha mountain no shadow claw') is a play on the well-known Foshan Shadowless Kick (Chinese: 佛山無影腳; pinyin: Fóshānwúyǐngjiǎo). Also known as the No-Shadow Kick or Ghost-Shadow Kick, it is a martial arts kicking technique in the Hung Gar repertoire. It was made famous by Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, who is reputed to have used it to great effect.
Happy Lunar New Year to all our dear readers 🙂 May the Year of the Dog bring you great luck & prosperity (& more danmei~)
About The AuthorLinc. Old enough to know better. Probably. Ridonkulously happy that danmei is very much a thing :D https://twitter.com/fullotrash