Cheng Ping suddenly pointed ahead. “The hotel is there. You go on.”

Without waiting for Li Baixi’s response, he turned and walked away, his retreating figure suggesting a hasty escape.

Li Baixi stood in place, still processing: Was he jealous? Why? When did it start? What did I do?

This wasn’t good. Not good at all.

A straight man like himself, who hadn’t even considered coming out, had now inadvertently hurt someone else…

Li Baixi walked back to the hotel, feeling heavy-hearted.

The two assistants hadn’t gone to the dinner and had just returned from their own meal, meeting him in the lobby.

Ma Koukou: “Master! What happened? Why are you in such a good mood?”

Li Baixi: “Good mood?”

Ma Koukou: “Aren’t you smiling?”

The unconscious expression on Li Baixi’s face instantly vanished. “You must be seeing things,” he said dismissively.

Li Baixi headed straight to the elevators.

Ma Koukou silently followed, puzzled. “He was smiling, wasn’t he?”

Assistant Yang: “He was.”

Ma Koukou: “So what’s his deal…? Hey! Master! Hold the door!”

Li Baixi ignored them, closing the elevator door before they could get in.

Ma Koukou: “???”

Cheng Ping, lost in thought, returned to the table and finished the rest of the dinner in a daze. He didn’t even remember how he got back to his room.

He took a shower and lay on the bed, his mind filled with images of Li Baixi’s face.

An illusion… It was just an illusion.

He was only paying more attention to Li Baixi because of all the talk from his manager about whether Li Baixi was pursuing him.

There’s something called the suspension bridge effect, right? The adrenaline from their shared near-escape in the bathroom made his heart race from tension.

Hadn’t he vowed to focus on his career and never give himself a chance to get hurt again? Wasn’t one former captain enough?

Speaking of the former captain, hadn’t Li Baixi once stood up for him…

Stop!

Cheng Ping had a sleepless night.

The next morning, wearing a low-brimmed baseball cap, he arrived at the set, feeling irritable. If Li Baixi saw the dark circles under his eyes during makeup, would he overthink?

However, another makeup artist greeted him: “Teacher Li? He’s not staying with the crew. I heard he had to rush to another gig and left early this morning.”

Cheng Ping opened his mouth, trying to ignore the slight emptiness he felt, but ended up feeling even more agitated.

Unaware of Cheng Ping’s reaction, Li Baixi went about his usual routine, rushing to the backstage of a fashion show and throwing himself into work.

“Baixi.” The photographer greeted him during a break.

The photographer had worked with him many times, was skilled, and matched his pace well. They had a good relationship, often bringing each other onto jobs.

Being so familiar, the photographer jumped straight into gossip: “Hasn’t Movie King Zhang always worked with you? Why is he suddenly using your junior?”

Recently, Zhang was filming a movie with his young lover, with the junior handling the makeup. The movie had court elements and a very lavish visual style, which suited the junior perfectly.

Photographer: “He’s even boasting about winning the best makeup and hairstyling award…”

Ma Koukou was fuming, sarcastically saying: “Master, doesn’t this sound like the project you turned down?”

Photographer, surprised: “Why’d you turn it down?”

Li Baixi wasn’t one to gossip behind people’s backs, so he made up a reason: “I’m working on a TV series, and the schedules clashed.”

Photographer: “…Huh?”

Although TV series had started producing high-quality works, they were still naturally seen as a step below movies. Moreover, TV series didn’t have awards specifically for makeup artists.

Even if Li Baixi did a stellar job, it wouldn’t carry the same weight as his junior’s.

Li Baixi didn’t mind, smiling: “Oh, art can’t be measured by worldly standards.”

Photographer: “?”

After the photographer left, Ma Koukou immediately started checking the junior’s social media.

“I usually mute him, almost forgot about this…” Ma Koukou clicked into the junior’s feed and indeed saw a set of makeup photos.

Assistant Yang also leaned in, both making ambiguous sounds of disapproval as they looked.

“What’s up?” Li Baixi also picked up his phone.

Ma Koukou couldn’t find fault with the makeup itself, so he changed his target reluctantly: “Hey, do you think that young actor got more work done?”

Assistant Yang: “Where?”

Ma Koukou: “The nose, seems like he changed the implant. Huh, bringing a fake face and hoping to win an award, Zhang must be blinded by lust.”

Assistant Yang: “He himself seems to have had work done.”

Ma Koukou: “No way? Master, what do you think… Master?”

The two had been discussing for a while without noticing that Li Baixi wasn’t even looking at the junior’s social media.

Li Baixi was watching behind-the-scenes videos from Cheng Ping’s drama on Weibo.

The drama’s official Weibo had been active, posting non-spoiler behind-the-scenes clips since the first day of filming.

Ma Koukou saw Cheng Ping’s face on Li Baixi’s screen and felt a pang of concern.

Li Baixi even rewound and replayed the clip.

Ma Koukou: “Your Majesty, I have something to say, but I’m not sure if I should.”

Li Baixi didn’t look up: “Don’t.”

Ma Koukou: “…”

Li Baixi was watching a behind-the-scenes clip of Cheng Ping “saving the day.”

In the scene, the police suspected someone was using the closed room of the script murder game for illegal transactions. So they secretly adjusted the player list, gathering a group of suspicious players in the same game.

The criteria for suspicion were simple: these players had all signed up to play the game more than once. After experiencing the ending, why would they replay it without a special reason?

One by one, the undercover police ruled out suspects, discovering each player’s reason for replaying.

The young actress who played the unlucky blue peacock had never won any game, so she returned just to enjoy winning once.

In this scene, the police mistook her for a criminal, and in her panicked escape, she ran into the writer.

In the behind-the-scenes clip, the actress ran down the stairs in front of the camera but missed a step and twisted her ankle, about to fall.

Waiting at the bottom to “collide” with her, Cheng Ping reacted quickly, taking a large step forward to catch her steadily.

The actress blushed on the spot, repeatedly thanking him.

Under the video, there were comments from CP shippers, fans trying to clear the actress’s name, and Cheng Ping’s fans criticizing the official account.

Li Baixi, expressionless, watched the clip a second time and hit the repost button.

Ma Koukou: “???”

As a well-known makeup artist, Li Baixi’s Weibo was verified and had a large following due to his looks and cross-dressing style.

His account was usually managed by the studio, posting pictures of projects or staying inactive.

While it made sense to promote the drama, as it was his project, the content he reposted…

“Is Teacher Li shipping this couple too?” Someone commented under Li Baixi’s post.

Ma Koukou: “Your Majesty, I must speak.”

Li Baixi: “Don’t.”

Ma Koukou: “I must insist! Matters of the heart, the pain from love turned to hate, is too draining. You don’t need to self-torment over some guy…”

Li Baixi rolled his eyes.

He had just confirmed one thing: the assistant must have been mistaken; he wasn’t smiling that day.

He was still straight, otherwise, why wouldn’t he feel anything seeing Cheng Ping interact with the actress?

A few days later, another main actor joined the crew.

The other lead—playing the police officer—was a skilled young actor.

To set his makeup, Li Baixi visited the set again.

Li Baixi, taking his first job as styling director, tried to be hands-on with everything. Many designs looked one way on paper but different in reality, so he wanted to observe and handle them himself, quickly gaining experience.

All the scenes for the script murder game were shot indoors, with actors’ complex makeup done in a large nearby makeup room, where mirrors were separated by symbolic dividers.

When Li Baixi entered the makeup room, Cheng Ping hadn’t arrived yet, only the young actor who played the police officer, waiting for him after basic skincare.

The young actor was a proper, talented professional, classically trained, and had steadily acted in mainstream productions. Although he didn’t chase popularity, his good looks and solid skills made him well-liked.

“Your skin’s pretty good,” Li Baixi started with casual small talk.

The young actor smiled without a word, looking slightly aloof.

Li Baixi: “…”

End of conversation.

“Teacher Li!” The assistant director burst in excitedly, “There’s a rough cut from yesterday. The director wants you to see it.”

Hearing the title “Teacher Li,” the young actor gave Li Baixi an intrigued look.

The rough cut had no post-production, but the visual quality was already impressive.

“Your style is really good,” the assistant director praised generously.

Each character in the script murder game had a glamorous yet dark look, matching the mysterious and ominous setting full of traps, perfect for intense deceit and betrayal.

However, some costumes still risked slipping into flamboyant excess.

But

 the theme was a flamboyant European style, so it wasn’t really Li Baixi’s fault.

Li Baixi: “It’s still a bit different from what I imagined.”

“Reality always differs,” the assistant director said, casually using the young actor as an example, “Look at Mr. Lu, handsome as he is, but still not quite the same as your drawing.”

The young actor smiled: “It’s okay, I don’t care about the look.”

Assistant director: “…”

Li Baixi: “?”

Regardless of whether the young actor cared, Li Baixi still had to care.

As he refined the young actor’s face, Cheng Ping entered.

Seeing Li Baixi, Cheng Ping quickly looked away, mumbling a greeting so quietly even he couldn’t hear it: “Morning.”

Li Baixi: “…Morning.”

The young actor didn’t respond at all.

Cheng Ping still had his usual look today, so he didn’t get the privilege of Li Baixi’s personal service, sitting next to a crew makeup artist instead.

He found his gaze drifting uncontrollably towards Li Baixi, forcibly redirecting it to his assistant: “The yogurt you bought this morning was good.”

Assistant: “Yeah? I’ll get more tomorrow.”

Cheng Ping tried to focus on his assistant, making small talk: “What brand?”

Assistant gave the brand.

Cheng Ping: “What flavor?”

Assistant gave the flavor.

Cheng Ping: “How much?”

Assistant: “…Huh?”

Behind Li Baixi, Ma Koukou chuckled, wondering if Cheng Ping was doing a live commercial.

But someone actually asked: “Teacher Cheng, did you get a yogurt endorsement and want to boost sales?”

The young actor spoke up.

The atmosphere turned awkwardly silent. Despite his limited experience, Cheng Ping had enough popularity not to need to boost sales here.

The young actor laughed: “Just a joke.”

Li Baixi barely frowned, about to say something.

“Really? Then I better buy some quickly before it sells out.” A clear voice rang out. The actress playing the blue peacock had entered the makeup room, greeting everyone with a smile.

Li Baixi immediately felt she was sensible and blew her a kiss.

Cheng Ping: “…”

The young actor: “…”

The young actor looked down on Cheng Ping.

His disdain was mixed with some bitterness.

Cheng Ping had dropped out of film school to play games, only to return to acting when his gaming career failed. How did such untrained acting skills land him lead roles? Because of fan support?

The young actor considered him a joke.

Cheng Ping sensed the hostility.

In the past, he would have held onto this and aimed to prove himself.

But today, he couldn’t muster that determination. Today, with Li Baixi on set watching, the pressure felt overwhelming.

He wanted to perform above expectations but instead got overshadowed.

In this scene, continuing from the police chase, the writer thought the police were bullying the blue peacock and angrily confronted them; the police suspected they were accomplices and subtly probed.

The young actor’s years of experience showed, his nuanced expressions textbook-perfect.

Even the actress, who had no lines, was fully in character through her posture and expressions.

By contrast, Cheng Ping was merely frowning, trying to give depth but drawing a blank.

He was overshadowed throughout the scene.

Afterwards, following his assistant out, he glanced at Li Baixi, seemingly casually.

Li Baixi was talking to the director, not looking at him.

Cheng Ping lowered his head and left.

Director: “When will you come next?”

Li Baixi: “…I’m not leaving for now. I have no other engagements, so I can stay on set to oversee some details.”

The director was pleased.

Leaving the set, Ma Koukou immediately asked: “Is it because of Cheng Ping?”

Li Baixi: “Can you stop with the romance talk? I don’t want to be limited to TV dramas. I’m here to learn and improve, got it?”

Assistant Yang chimed in: “Are you aiming for movies?”

Li Baixi: “Depends on the opportunity.”

Ma Koukou: “Great! Movies! Win awards! Outshine your junior!”

Li Baixi: “Yes. Tomorrow, I’ll do Cheng Ping’s makeup.”

Ma Koukou: “? Did Cheng Ping cast a spell on you?”