Chapter 9

Feeling that it was about time, Xu Jin washed off the face mask and looked in the mirror again. Although it didn’t seem like much to outsiders, Xu Jin could feel that her skin was noticeably more hydrated.

Li Ying arrived at this moment. She was off work today, but she hadn’t even gotten up yet when her sister-in-law called and said that her aunt’s work unit had a young man. The guy was handsome and had good character. His parents were both government officials, and his conditions were very good. Her sister-in-law said that her younger sister was also of marriageable age, so she helped set them up and asked Li Ying to go on a blind date.

When Li Ying’s mother heard what her daughter-in-law said, she was clearly very interested. She immediately prepared to take Li Ying to the city to find a barbershop and give her a makeover.

Li Ying’s mother didn’t like the expensive hairstyle her daughter-in-law had taken her to get.

She wanted to go to a barbershop and have them fix it.

Li Ying’s father was also a government official, and her mother was a member of the Women’s Federation. They had two children, Li Ying and her brother. They were financially well-off. As a member of the Women’s Federation, Li Ying’s mother had seen a lot and was open-minded. After all, blind dates were all about first impressions. If a person didn’t pass the looks test, nine out of ten times, they wouldn’t work out.

As long as she could make her daughter more beautiful, even if it cost 68 yuan, she would pay it.

But Li Ying refused, saying that she would leave her hairstyle to Xu Jin. Li Ying’s mother was reluctant. She rarely went to Xu Jin’s small barbershop. She usually went to the county or the city. The customers at that small barbershop were mostly people from the countryside who came to town for the market or students from the school. As for her daughter, she shouldn’t go there to cause trouble. She would waste money, and she would end up looking even uglier.

No matter how much she argued, even threatening to get angry, Li Ying wouldn’t change her mind. Of course, Li Ying’s mother understood why her daughter was like this. It was because of the bond they had from their childhood.

Because their family was well-off, Li Ying was a chubby little girl when she was in elementary school. Her face was already round, and her body was also round. Many children laughed at her, saying she looked like a millstone in a threshing ground.

Li Ying would cry every day when she came home from school. Li Ying’s mother was anxious and worried every day. But the problem was that the other children were also children. No matter how much she communicated with the teachers, it didn’t help. But one day, Li Ying came back and suddenly stopped crying. When she went to school again, she was happy.

Li Ying’s mother asked her what had happened. She learned that a classmate was willing to play with her. This classmate had never laughed at Li Ying. That classmate was Xu Jin.

After that, the two became inseparable. Later, when Xu Jin finished elementary school and didn’t continue her studies, Li Ying cried at home for several days, begging her mother to adopt Xu Jin as their daughter.

At that time, Li Ying’s mother also knew Xu Jin’s background. Because of Li Ying, she went to the Xu family’s house. Xu Jin’s adoptive mother, Wei Lan, wanted Xu Jin to continue her studies, but she had no say in the family. As for Xu Jin’s adoptive father, Xu Hongsheng, he was a scoundrel. He didn’t give her a chance to speak.

Li Ying’s mother still remembered the scene when she walked out of the Xu family’s house, feeling defeated. She saw Xu Jin, thin and pitiful, standing outside the courtyard, looking like she was waiting to be judged. The moment she saw Xu Jin, the girl’s eyes lit up. But when she sighed, her eyes dimmed instantly.

After that, she rarely saw Xu Jin. But her daughter, Li Ying, would often mention Xu Jin. She would say things like, “Xu Jin’s life is so hard,” or “Her adoptive father is a bad person and only knows how to exploit Xu Jin,” or complain, “Why is Xu Jin so stupid? She was forced to stop her studies. Why did she have to use her hard-earned money to support her younger siblings?”

Even her silly daughter couldn’t bear it and asked Xu Jin about it. After getting the answer, Li Ying cried. She asked Xu Jin herself, and Xu Jin told her that she knew how painful it was to want to study but not be able to. She had already gone through that pain, and she wouldn’t let her siblings go through it again. Therefore, even if it meant working herself to death, she would support her siblings’ education.

After Li Ying finished high school and went to college, Li Ying’s mother thought that Li Ying and Xu Jin’s relationship had faded. But now, it was clear that wasn’t the case.

Although Xu Jin was hardworking and determined, hairdressing wasn’t something you could achieve just by working hard. You had to learn and gain experience. If she stayed in their small town and looked at the world from the bottom of a well, how could she develop good skills?

But her daughter was stubborn. Once she made up her mind, nothing could change it. After eating, Li Ying tidied up a little and came to Xu Jin’s place.

“Sit down first,” Xu Jin greeted Li Ying with a smile. “The water will be ready soon.”

“We’re like sisters. You don’t have to worry about me.” Li Ying sat down happily and looked Xu Jin up and down. Her eyes were full of admiration. “Wow, Xiao Jin, you look so beautiful today.”

Xu Jin had put her hair up in a simple bun when she went out today. Although her skin was still rough, her delicate and three-dimensional features were still very eye-catching. Plus, she had changed into new clothes.

The light green blouse made her skin look whiter and made her waist look even smaller. Paired with pencil pants that perfectly showed off her long legs, she looked taller.

“You should dress like this. Look how beautiful you are now.” Li Ying said sincerely.

Xu Jin was the most beautiful girl in their class when they were kids. Li Ying still remembered the first time she saw Xu Jin. Her face was white, her lips were red, and her big eyes were sparkling. She looked like a little fairy from TV.

Li Ying clearly remembered how Zhou Hanxiang cried his eyes out when Xu Jin played a game with everyone and pretended to be someone else’s bride. Xu Jin promised him that she would only be his bride in the future, and only then did Zhou Hanxiang stop crying…

But after she stopped going to school, Xu Jin became thinner and thinner. She always walked with her chest sunken and her head down. She always wore drab clothes, and her face was getting more and more haggard and old because of her hard work…

She hadn’t seen Xu Jin dress up in a long time, and she hadn’t seen her smile so beautifully.

“Xiao Jin, you need to eat more. And don’t work so hard…”

“Okay.” Li Ying had tried to persuade her like this before, but Xu Jin would just smile and say nothing. This was the first time she had agreed so clearly.

Li Ying was even happier:

“That’s right. My mom often tells me that a girl can only be beautiful for a few years. You have to take better care of yourself…”

Xu Jin responded as she picked up the kettle and poured boiling water into the thermos. She wiped her hands and went to Li Ying’s side. She lifted Li Ying’s hair and carefully examined the texture. Just like Li Ying’s baby fat face, which made her want to pinch it, her hair was also soft. After straightening it roughly, it looked like long flowing hair from a distance, but once you got closer, the flaws were completely exposed. It made her face look bigger and her neck shorter.

Li Ying felt a little itchy when Xu Jin lifted her hair. She laughed and dodged back, saying casually:

“It’s okay. Just cut it. I’ll like it no matter what you do.”

Li Ying had been spoiled by her family since she was a child, so she was very simple. She would wholeheartedly be good to anyone she liked. For Xu Jin, her good friend who had protected her in elementary school, Li Ying wanted to give her half of her salary. This time, she came to get her hair done, and she had 100 yuan in her pocket. She had made up her mind that no matter what Xu Jin did with her hair, she would say it looked good and would give her the 100 yuan.

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely cut a beautiful style for you.” Xu Jin nodded with a smile. Her bright eyes sparkled and caught Li Ying’s attention.

“It’s okay if you don’t cut it,” Li Ying stared at Xu Jin’s smiling face, clearly a little dazed. “Well, it’s pretty good to just tie it up like yours.”

“That won’t do,” Xu Jin shook her head.

A bun was also more flattering on girls with smaller faces. She straightened Li Ying’s head and made her look at the mirror in front of her. “What do you think if I cut your hair short?”

She asked this because she remembered that Li Ying had always had long hair. According to Li Ying, her mother liked to braid her hair in various styles, and her father also liked it. So every time Li Ying got her hair cut, she would just trim the ends and keep her long hair, but she had never cut it short.

Xu Jin was also worried that Li Ying would be upset if she cut it short.

But Li Ying didn’t hesitate at all. She nodded:

“Okay.”

Xu Jin wouldn’t harm her. If Xu Jin said short hair looked good, then short hair it was. As for whether it would be ruined, Li Ying wasn’t worried. She could just grow it out again later.

As for the blind date, it wasn’t as important as her good friend. If it failed, she would just let Xu Jin practice.

“Okay, that’s settled then.” Xu Jin rubbed Li Ying’s head. “If you’re sleepy, just sleep. Leave the rest to me… By the way, I’ll dye your hair…”

“Do you want to dye it black again?” Li Ying shook her head.

Li Ying’s hair was originally a little yellowish. She had dyed it black in the provincial capital before, and now her natural hair color was showing at the roots. Before she left, her mother told her not to forget to dye her hair black again.

“No.” Xu Jin said as she gently lifted Li Ying’s scalp and pressed it with warm water. “The black hair dye now doesn’t look natural…”

The colors now were very limited, unlike in the future, where there were so many different kinds. People dyed their hair black, and few people were willing to try other colors. The black hair color was too unnatural, and Li Ying’s skin tone was typical of East Asians. It wasn’t very white, and this straight black color didn’t look good with it.

Fortunately, Xu Jin had a few other colors of hair dye that she had brought back when she went to buy supplies last time.

The best-selling hair dye was black. The other colors hardly sold. When she went to buy it, the owner symbolically charged her a little and gave it to her.

Xu Jin didn’t want it at the time. She was just too soft-spoken and didn’t know how to refuse. Now, she could use it to mix some colors for Li Ying. She had already decided on the color. It was a beautiful, slightly brighter brown. Unlike other hairdressers who only used single-color hair dye, Xu Jin had already mastered the skill of mixing a few basic colors to create the color she wanted to suit her customers.

Considering the current era, brown was the color that people were most likely to accept and the color that would make Li Ying’s skin look the whitest.

After washing her hair, Xu Jin pulled Li Ying back to the mirror.

Xu Jin’s massage felt incredible. Li Ying had almost fallen asleep. Even now, she was sitting in the chair, her eyes still half-closed.

“Sleep if you want to.” Xu Jin pursed her lips. If her barbershop had the kind of reclining chairs they had in the future, Li Ying would have definitely fallen asleep.

But her small shop was too small. It wasn’t suitable for that kind of chair. If she could move to a bigger shop, she could get all the things from the future.

Li Ying hummed in response. As she heard the sound of the scissors “snip, snip” near her ears, she felt a little drowsy. But her mouth was not idle:

“Xiao Jin, you’re so amazing. You don’t even have to think about it?”

Even the barbershops in the provincial capital didn’t have such skilled techniques as Xu Jin.

When the sound of the hairdryer stopped, Xu Jin’s movements also ended. Li Ying opened her eyes slowly, a little sluggishly. She looked at the girl in the mirror and was clearly stunned.

Was this the girl in the mirror, whose face looked almost a size smaller and looked like a doll, really her?