Starting one day, the young actor noticed that Cheng Ping’s acting was truly improving, with fewer NGs (no good takes) and more impressive performances, gradually overshadowing him. Even more terrifying was the increasing favoritism shown by the big director and the veteran actors towards Cheng Ping.

In response to Cheng Ping’s rise, the young actor’s team adopted two strategies: improving themselves and suppressing their opponent.

After whining and complaining to the famous actor, his Godfather, the actor arranged for a dedicated makeup artist to follow the young actor, ensuring his looks were always on point.

Since then, his looks indeed improved significantly.

Meanwhile, Cheng Ping continued to use the crew’s makeup artist. Although this artist was diligent, being a salaried crew member meant the effort level couldn’t compare to that of a dedicated artist.

The young actor could only wish he could reshoot all the scenes already filmed.

To suppress the opponent, his assistants secretly spread rumors about Cheng Ping and the big director.

Sure enough, Cheng Ping was affected, making mistakes with his lines and movements, and his performance regressed. However, the ultimate goal of this plan was not achieved: the big director’s attitude towards Cheng Ping remained unchanged.

Fortunately, there weren’t many scenes left to shoot. Even if Cheng Ping bounced back, there wouldn’t be much room for him to shine after today.

Today was a significant day for both Cheng Ping and the young actor.

Today, they were shooting the most critical scene of the film—their solo fight scene.

As the right-hand man of the female gang leader, Cheng Ping’s character gradually doubted her motives and turned against her, brandishing his sword. Meanwhile, the young actor’s character, secretly in love with the female leader, loyally eliminated all threats for her.

They fought fiercely in the wilderness, with Cheng Ping getting severely injured but managing to kill the young actor in a counterattack. Cheng Ping silently sought refuge with his righteous senior brother, while the young actor died in the female leader’s arms.

For this scene, both needed battle damage makeup.

The fight scene was shot in two parts: the first part in the morning, depicting the beginning of the fight, and the second part in the afternoon, after applying the battle damage makeup, showing the continuation of the fight while injured.

To achieve the battle damage makeup, the young actor and his team repeatedly instructed the makeup artist to make it tragically beautiful, pale yet pitiful, so that a gif with a filter could make it go viral.

The makeup artist readily agreed, and the team continuously hyped up the young actor, making him both nervous and a bit excited.

After the morning shoot, everyone gathered for lunch. The young actor took out his phone and texted the makeup artist, “I’m almost done eating, are you here yet?”

“On my way, almost there,” the artist replied.

“Make sure to leave plenty of time for the battle damage makeup!”

“Don’t worry, darling, you’ll look fabulous.”

Just as the young actor put down his phone, there was a commotion in the distance, and many people stood up to look. The young actor, puzzled, looked over and heard a girl squeal, “Oh my god, it’s Li Baixi!”

Li Baixi didn’t really want to visit the big director—there was always a risk of exposing his family background.

But since he was the one who got Cheng Ping into the project, and now that there were scandalous rumors about Cheng Ping and the big director, he felt compelled to show concern.

When Li Baixi took Cheng Ping to watch an esports match, he confidently went in disguise, knowing esports fans wouldn’t recognize him.

But visiting a film set was different. People in this industry often dealt with makeup artists, and as a prominent figure, any disguise might fail. If caught, it would seem even more suspicious, like trying to cover something up.

So he decided to embrace his identity and went to the other extreme.

Li Baixi stepped out of his luxury car in sunglasses, flicked his long hair, and gracefully walked towards the crew’s dining area as if a red carpet rolled out from his feet.

His two assistants followed at a respectful distance, not wanting to be in his radiant presence.

The crew went wild, especially the girls.

It was break time, and some bold staff members immediately pulled out paper and pens, running over for an autograph—contractually, they couldn’t ask the actors, but no rule said they couldn’t ask the makeup artist.

Li Baixi smiled at them but didn’t take the pen. Instead, he lifted the paper to his lips and left a crimson lip print.

The crowd cheered, “Oh oh oh oh—”

The big director, who knew his true identity, was speechless.

Li Baixi elegantly approached the dining area, scanned the room but didn’t see Cheng Ping. Smiling, he asked, “Sorry to bother, but where is Cheng Ping?”

He directed his question to the assistant producer at the edge, without giving the big director a glance.

Before arriving, they had agreed via text to meet privately after wrapping up for the day and to act like strangers on set.

The big director hadn’t seen Li Baixi in person for over half a year. The once shy child who clung to his mother’s skirt and called him uncle had grown up and distanced himself, seemingly indifferent to family ties.

Impulsively, the director raised his voice, “He went to the restroom. Who might you be?”

Li Baixi was taken aback and looked at the director, thinking he must be indulging in some drama. Helplessly, he played along, “Ah, Director X, nice to meet you. I’m here to do Cheng Ping’s makeup.”

As soon as Li Baixi said this, the person sitting next to the director moved. He looked closely and recognized the young actor.

Li Baixi glanced at the young actor’s makeup and smiled mysteriously. The young actor felt uneasy under his gaze and suspiciously looked back.

The young actor had heard of Li Baixi but only in passing. Given his status, he hadn’t worked with Li Baixi and only knew him as an eccentric cross-dresser.

The young actor expected Li Baixi to greet him but instead heard him casually ask, “Is Song Yiming here too?”

Song Yiming was the name of Li Baixi’s junior.

This junior was the young actor’s recent on-set makeup artist.

Li Baixi’s presence was overwhelming, and the young actor almost instinctively replied, “He’s almost here…” After speaking, he realized this person’s attitude was off. How did he recognize the makeup artist’s work with just one glance? How was that possible?

At that moment, Cheng Ping returned. Li Baixi cheerfully waved at him.

Cheng Ping was surprised, “What are you doing here?”

“You have battle damage makeup this afternoon, right? I’m here to do it for you.” Li Baixi patted him, “Come on, let’s go to your trailer.”

The young actor watched them walk away, feeling a sense of unease, like something bad was about to happen.

As soon as Li Baixi and Cheng Ping left, the junior arrived.

The young actor took him to the trailer and asked, “Who exactly is this Li Baixi in your industry? He smiled at me so strangely and seemed to recognize your work on me instantly. How is that possible?”

The junior stiffened upon hearing Li Baixi’s name, thought for a moment, and replied, “He’s…my senior, I guess. Why is he here?”

“He’s here to do Cheng Ping’s makeup,” the young actor said irritably.

The junior’s eyebrow twitched, “…They seem pretty close recently. Maybe he’s trying to latch onto someone powerful.”

This was a blatant reversal of the truth: Cheng Ping was arguably at the bottom of Li Baixi’s client list.

But the young actor didn’t think much of it and sneered, “If Cheng Ping thinks he can compete with me now, he’s dreaming.”

Li Baixi’s two assistants spread out their tools on the table: alcohol glue, skin wax, fake blood, matte eyeshadows in red-brown and coffee colors…

“You know how to do special effects makeup?” Cheng Ping asked, surprised.

Li Baixi was cleaning his hands with an alcohol wipe, “I started in film makeup when I entered the industry.”

“Really? Why don’t you do it now?”

“It’s not that I don’t do it, just less often.”

Makeup artists generally follow two main paths: film makeup and fashion makeup.

Those in the film makeup path have solid skills and are versatile but lack a bit of fashion-forward intuition and usually work behind the scenes.

Fashion makeup artists are distinctive, adept at following and even creating trends, typically doing red carpet and magazine makeup, with a stronger personal brand presence.

After hearing this explanation, Cheng Ping nodded, “You seem more suited to fashion makeup.”

“I like both,” Li Baixi smiled, “especially making beautiful people look even better.”

“Oh no,” Ma Koukou (Coco Ma) examined Cheng Ping’s face, looking conflicted, “Oh no, oh no.”

Li Baixi frowned, “What’s wrong? Did I make a mistake?”

“No, your work is too realistic,” Coco Ma said coquettishly, “It looks so painful.”

Li Baixi: “…”

Cheng Ping: “…”

Li Baixi: “Both of you, get out for a bit.”

Assistant Yang: “What did I do?!”

Both assistants were sent away.

Li Baixi carefully applied alcohol glue, “Enough about me, let’s talk about you. I heard the young actor played you?”

“Yeah. He pulled this stunt to make the director suspicious and reduce my screen time. I understand his reasoning.”

“You understand, but you still want to kill him?”

Cheng Ping didn’t reply.

Li Baixi smiled, “The director won’t cut your scenes. Conversely, he won’t cut the young actor’s scenes over this either.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s an adult and won’t get involved in your childish fights.”

Cheng Ping: “?”

“You said you wanted to become stronger. The stronger you get, the more you’ll have to face these things. Today it’s just a young actor, but in the future, various rivals will spread all kinds of rumors about you, and you can’t kill them all.”

Cheng Ping listened, feeling desolate, “So, I’m not suited for this industry…”

“This industry has its perks. Acting skill is the hard currency. Trust me, one day you’ll look at the young actor with a compassionate gaze.”

Cheng Ping pondered this, then suddenly glanced at Li Baixi in the mirror.

Li Baixi sometimes felt very unfamiliar to him.

This didn’t happen often, but when Cheng Ping thought back to Li Baixi’s behavior and style when they first met, there was a subtle sense of dissonance, as if the person in front of him was suddenly playing another role.

“Raise your head a bit.” The junior applied eyeshadow, “Li Baixi is a bit strange, very different from before.”

“How is he different?” The young actor loved gossip.

“He didn’t wear women’s clothing back then.”

The young actor was disappointed, “That’s it? Then he’s really let himself go now.”

The junior didn’t argue, just squinted slightly.

In his opinion, the old Li Baixi was the one who had let himself go, often showing up to class in an esports t-shirt and shorts, standing out among a group of stylish sisters and brother sisters like oil on water.

Back then, Li Baixi seemed very ordinary. Not only was his appearance ordinary, but his makeup was too.

Li Baixi had a solid foundation in fine arts, with a deep understanding of muscle and bone structure. Whether it was a white model, an Asian model, a round face, a square face, big eyes, or small eyes, pure or glamorous, he could handle it all. But relatively, he had almost no personal style.

Once, while eating in the cafeteria, the junior advised Li Baixi, “The market is saturated. To break in, you need a label, label, label!”

“Makeup is different from painting. The customer is the king. Whatever they want, I do. A good makeup artist should be invisible…”

“That’s outdated. What do customers want? They don’t even know. Otherwise, why would they need you? You are the master; you are the soul.”

Li Baixi just smiled without saying anything.

After starting to take jobs, the technically proficient but unambitious Li Baixi mainly took on film assignments, while the ambitious junior dove into the fashion world.

His makeup style was distinctly designed from the start, with bold, wild color choices, like a blooming flower…

“So you’ve never done film makeup?” The young actor asked warily, “Doesn’t that mean you’re not the right choice for battle damage makeup?”

“I practiced specifically for this, don’t worry.”

“I revisited my old class notes and practiced several times on Ma Koukou’s face,” Li Baixi said.

“You’re so dedicated.”

“Acting is important, but looks can’t be neglected. Don’t think of this scene as a competition with the young actor; he’s not worth it.”

“I know.”

“This is a competition between me and my junior.”

“…”

At the beginning of their careers, the junior progressed smoothly, quickly gaining fame with his unique style and talent.

He occasionally heard Li Baixi’s name and knew he was becoming a near top-tier makeup artist. The junior was somewhat surprised but figured Li Baixi’s strong foundation must still appeal to clients.

But he thought Li Baixi had reached his peak. Without style or soul, his fame could never soar. In time, the junior believed he would surpass him…

Then one day, he witnessed the meteoric rise of the cross-dressing Li Baixi.

The junior smiled, “A fraud is a fraud. He can’t beat me.”

The young actor scoffed at the mirror, “He better not, especially today.”