At that moment, seeing such a flamboyant gay guy for the first time, Cheng Ping felt a slight sting in his eyes.

Remembering his own ironclad straight persona, Cheng Ping nodded coldly, “Hello, thank you for your hard work today.”

Li Baixi lifted Cheng Ping’s chin, scrutinizing his face, “Your skin is a bit dry, let’s apply a moisturizing mask first.”

With a calm expression, he applied the mask, but his fingers trembled slightly.

The great Cheng Ping had lost weight and looked quite haggard.

Li Baixi, being in the makeup industry, was at the epicenter of gossip. Apart from makeup, all he heard every day was gossip. He had heard over a dozen versions of the story behind Cheng Ping’s retirement.

The most popular version was: he was too good-looking and accidentally caught the eye of his former team captain, leading to his exclusion out of jealousy.

Li Baixi’s heart almost broke.

Was it his fault for being good-looking? No!

Thinking about never hearing those silent curses again made Li Baixi feel as lonely as snow, as if his youth had ended.

He wanted to comfort his idol but couldn’t find the right words that fit his persona. After a long silence, he was working on Cheng Ping’s inner eyeliner, “Look down.”

Their faces were very close, and they could feel each other’s breath.

Cheng Ping was completely rigid.

Li Baixi could very much understand this straight-man-style stiffness. He couldn’t bear to see his idol so awkward and felt he had to come up with a line.

“Mr. Cheng, it seems like you have some dark circles.”

Li Baixi thought: I’m really pretending to be gay perfectly.

Cheng Ping, with his chin held by Li Baixi, felt extremely uncomfortable with his teasing tone. Unable to think of a response that would maintain his straight persona, he could only tell the truth, “I stayed up too much playing games.”

Here it comes! I’m not tired anymore talking about this!

Li Baixi was eager, “Is playing games very tiring?”

Cheng Ping glanced at him silently, with a “you wouldn’t understand even if I told you” look, and said calmly, “A bit.”

He clearly wanted to end the topic there.

But Li Baixi was still eager, “I’ve watched every match where you cursed.”

Cheng Ping: ?

Cheng Ping thought: Did this gay guy actually do his homework to flirt with me?

At that moment, Li Baixi was determined to walk his idol through his career highlights from the beginning. However, after praising a championship match from three years ago, he noticed the staff around them sneaking glances at him with strange expressions.

His persona was somewhat collapsing.

Li Baixi quickly pulled back, “Really impressive, really impressive.”

The last line lacked acting skill and was overly stiff.

The abrupt ending to his praise sounded sarcastic, like trash talk in a match.

Cheng Ping couldn’t hold it anymore.

He hadn’t been sleeping well lately, and his mood was already unstable. Encountering a flamboyant gay man living a life he couldn’t even imagine naturally made him feel repulsed.

Cheng Ping mechanically said, “Thanks for the support.”

Then he saw Li Baixi looking at him hesitantly, “Uh, could you…”

Knowing he would be doing Cheng Ping’s makeup today, Li Baixi had brought a hat in his bag.

It was a commemorative hat from Cheng Ping’s team’s championship years ago, now a rare item since Cheng Ping had retired. He didn’t want to miss the chance to get it signed.

But under the current scrutiny, he considered asking for a plain piece of paper instead to avoid revealing his fanboy nature too much.

While Li Baixi was internally conflicted, Cheng Ping seemed to understand, “You want my WeChat, right?”

Li Baixi: ?

Cheng Ping, both during his esports days and now as a star, often encountered fans seeking to add him on WeChat under various pretexts.

He had long developed a strategy, keeping a work-only WeChat account managed by a team to handle troublesome fans.

Cheng Ping casually took out his phone, “Go ahead.”

Li Baixi was stunned.

He was also slightly displeased.

He just wanted a signed hat.

Knowing the nature of these plastic WeChat accounts, he had no interest. But rejecting now would be disrespectful, so he forced a smile, “Wow, thank you.”

Cheng Ping: ?

Why does he seem so reluctant?

After exchanging WeChat, Cheng Ping put down his phone and inadvertently saw his reflection in the mirror.

Cheng Ping paused for a moment.

Li Baixi remembered his primary task, “This watch brand has a more rigid style, so I slightly enhanced your contouring, emphasizing your brow bones and the jawline here,” he gestured vaguely along Cheng Ping’s face, “These lines. It might seem a bit aged up close, but it should look great on camera.”

Li Baixi spoke nonchalantly.

Cheng Ping, having only been in the acting world for six months, had limited experience with makeup artists. His limited experience allowed him to vaguely sense Li Baixi’s skill but didn’t provide enough of a comparison to realize how exceptional Li Baixi was.

So Cheng Ping remained composed, “Indeed, it looks good.”

Li Baixi didn’t mind. Facing this face, he felt a long-lost itch to work, “Actually, with this blue outfit, we could add some echoing elements to the makeup, like a faint blue eyeliner at the outer corner, making it a bit alluring amidst the rigidity…”

The word “alluring” touched Cheng Ping’s deeply buried insecurities: “No thanks.”

Li Baixi was discouraged again, sighing inwardly.

Forget it, it’s not the first time the idol has been irritable; he’s already been quite polite.

He was still quite tolerant of his slightly younger idol, thinking, why should a straight man trouble another straight man, and smiled.

“Forget I said anything.” Li Baixi promptly packed up and left.

Cheng Ping frowned, watching his receding figure.

Leave right after finishing? Shouldn’t he wait for the brand’s approval?