Chapter 58
The autumn rain continued, and after a few gusts of wind, the streets were covered in fallen leaves, rustling under the feet of passersby.
Qu Banqing returned from grocery shopping and went straight to the kitchen. Lunch was usually simple, so he took out a clay pot, stir-fried some pork belly until the oil rendered, and decided to make kimchi and tofu stew.
The steaming red broth bubbled, tender tofu cubes bobbing in it, scallions and chili peppers adding flavor, enough to warm up a damp and chilly body.
“Chicken legs, chicken legs, chicken legs…”
Ning Zhixia helped soak the chicken legs in cold water to remove excess blood, waiting for them to braise, ready to share them with the fox cubs in the evening, and of course, sneak a few for himself beforehand.
“Okay, go play.”
Qu Banqing, seeing that he was still trying to help with the braising liquid, dried his hands on his apron and shooed him away.
His enthusiasm unappreciated, Ning Zhixia pouted and saw a girl by the window, holding a black umbrella and teasing the cats, giggling.
It had been a while since they last met, and Ning Zhixia greeted her happily, “Lu Yaoguang!”
“Hey, Boss Ning!”
Lu Yaoguang looked up, and the inside of her umbrella, printed with five or six smiling men, also turned towards him.
Whoa!
Ning Zhixia murmured, “Your umbrella, it’s so special.”
“Right? I think so too.” Lu Yaoguang, wearing a smoky black Lolita dress, closed her umbrella and entered the shop, saying proudly, “It took me forever to get this!”
She was carrying a stabilizer and her phone, clearly here to film, and Ning Zhixia led her to the workstation.
“What kind of design are you looking for?” Ning Zhixia asked, glancing at her hands and noticing that eight of her nails were already done, only her index fingers bare.
“Hee hee…” Lu Yaoguang set up her stabilizer and explained, “It’s the manicure relay race, I couldn’t find any other nail salons, so I came here to finish it.”
“Okay.”
Ning Zhixia readily agreed.
Lu Yaoguang cheered, then, with a mischievous smile, “Your skills are too good, let’s make it more challenging.”
Ning Zhixia raised an eyebrow, then chuckled, not minding at all, and rolled up his sleeves, ready to work.
The designs on her finished nails were all different, but they shared a common theme of “famous paintings”: water lilies, haystacks, girls in a garden…
Ning Zhixia’s assigned paintings were “Irises” and “The Water Lily Pond,” capturing a master’s style on such a small surface wasn’t easy, but he didn’t say anything, as calm as if he had just drawn a familiar practice question in an exam.
He studied the pictures of the paintings, his gaze sweeping over the mottled colors, then mentally separating them into suitable color palettes. He didn’t look again, his fingers gripping the brush as he mixed the colors on his acrylic palette.
So fast!
Lu Yaoguang was amazed by his speed. She had visited many nail salons, and many manicurists, unwilling to take the risk of messing up, had either politely declined or hesitated for a long time before starting.
Although the designs on each nail were different, there had to be a sense of balance and harmony. Since most of the nails on this hand were of distant, hazy scenes, his irises couldn’t be too prominent.
He applied a pale purple wash like thin clouds over the base coat, then painted two clusters of irises of different heights on the lower left side, with dappled light coming from the right.
The contrasting light and shadow, the distinct brushstrokes, the detailed close-ups and the soft, blended background, the layered colors, the delicate brushstrokes captured the unique charm of the original painting.
“The Water Lily Pond” was also quickly completed, complementing the vases on the other hand, creating a hazy and poetic scene.
Lu Yaoguang was stunned, feeling that the young man hadn’t even exerted himself.
The liner brush, coated in gel, was put aside after the details were finished.
Ning Zhixia applied the top coat, mentally whistling, grateful for the private lessons from his merman teacher and his diligent practice, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to paint so effortlessly.
“Done!”
Amidst Lu Yaoguang’s continuous praise, Ning Zhixia clapped his hands and calmly cleaned his tools.
“You’re too amazing, did you go for training?” Lu Yaoguang admired her nails and sighed, “You’ve improved!”
His progress noticed, Ning Zhixia grinned even wider, saying humbly that it was nothing, then, after seeing her off, excitedly went to brag to Qu Banqing.
The manicure relay race was a trending topic on the platform. Lu Yaoguang, her butt numb from sitting for so long, finally had enough footage, edited it, and posted it.
Her video didn’t show her face, focusing on the manicurists’ work. After the ten-minute video, the comments were filled with discussions, mostly comparing the manicurists’ skills.
“The irises are amazing! The brushstrokes and atmosphere are closest to the original painting!”
“Really, Little Deer, which manicurist was that? The details are perfect, both close-up and from afar!”
“The other designs are also beautiful, why is everyone praising these two, are they shills?”
“Which other design can even compare to the irises, tell me?”
“Indeed, these two were done last, and the composition clearly complements the other nails, otherwise, with so many flashy designs, it would be overwhelming.”
The comment section was filled with arguments, even some of the participating salons pretending to be passersby and praising themselves. Soon, someone created a poll.
The result was unsurprising, Ning Zhixia’s two designs were far ahead, but unexpectedly, a wave of negativity followed.
“Judging by the workstation and the manicurist’s hands… I’m guessing it’s Monster Manicure Shop?”
“The others are all ordinary salons, how can their gel polishes and tools compare to a popular shop that charges exorbitant prices?”
“Isn’t the blogger friends with Ning? The promotion is too obvious.”
“I bet she told him what to paint beforehand, look at how he started painting without even hesitating, such fake acting.”
Even Lu Yaoguang couldn’t stand it anymore. Others might not know, but having experienced the whole process, she could clearly see the difference in skill levels.
After all, her butt, having sat for almost ten hours, was a witness!
Lu Yaoguang: [The two designs with the most votes were indeed done by Mr. Ning, but I made it challenging for him!]
In the newly released clip, Lu Yaoguang took out a set of primary color gel polishes and, with a mischievous smile, pushed it towards the young man.
He only paused for a moment, then, without a word, started mixing the colors.
A row of colors appeared on his palette, the entire acrylic board becoming his canvas. From start to finish, he didn’t mix a single extra color, and he used every color on the palette.
The funniest part was that after he finished, Lu Yaoguang took the unused primary color set and pocketed it, grinning.
“Lol, Little Deer, you’re so thrifty!”
“He’s so efficient!”
“Damn, Mr. Ning’s eyes are more accurate than a color chart!”
“So this is a standard skill for art students! I’m going to ask my art student friend to paint my nails!”
After the video was released, the naysayers disappeared, but the vengeful viewers quickly identified the chain salon that had made the negative comments and blacklisted it.
“Hmph, trying to slander me, it didn’t work!”
Ning Zhixia, wrapped in an orange blanket, spun around triumphantly. The fox cubs, holding flower baskets, chanted, “Gege is so amazing!” and showered him with petals.
While Qu Banqing was still busy in the kitchen, Ning Zhixia, flicking his blanket cape, climbed onto a makeshift throne of cardboard boxes, ready to ascend.
Just as he turned around majestically, Audrow entered, raised an eyebrow, and looked at the scene with a puzzled expression.
Ah!
A wave of embarrassment washed over him, and Ning Zhixia jumped up like his butt was on fire, slipped, and fell forward, landing in Audrow’s arms.
Ning Zhixia clutched his shirt and closed his eyes in mortification.
Ah, so embarrassing…
The young man’s muttering reached his ears, and Audrow couldn’t help but chuckle.
He lifted Ning Zhixia up, spun him around like a cat, put him down, and gently patted his back, echoing his words, “Not embarrassing.”
Embarrassment, for someone thick-skinned, was fleeting. After tidying up the living room, he abandoned Audrow and went to the kitchen.
This was the season for gaining weight, and Ning Zhixia, having satisfied his craving with two chicken legs, slumped lazily onto the sofa, using a few bags of imported fruit candies to bribe the fox cubs into packing gift boxes.
“Get up, you promised to ride the exercise bike today…” Qu Banqing came over and saw him exploiting child labor.
He glanced upstairs at the exercise bike, which had become a clothes rack, and frowned, “How many days has it been?”
“I don’t remember.”
Ning Zhixia cuddled the calico cat and mumbled, “And it’s so boring…”
“I’ll make it less boring if I beat you up.”
Qu Banqing, planning to sell the obstructive contraption online tomorrow, turned on the TV and found a workout video. “Come on, follow along and have some fun.”
He muttered about how troublesome it was to raise a human and pushed him off the sofa like he was herding pigs.
Ning Zhixia reluctantly stood up, and after Qu Banqing left, glanced at the TV, then tossed the remote to Fatty Orange, who, under his owner’s insistent gaze, pressed the pause button with its paw.
Hee hee!
Ning Zhixia patted the kitten’s head with satisfaction, about to carry it upstairs to read comics.
Just then, the door opened and closed, and a pleasant voice sounded.
“I’ll join you.”
Audrow came out of the storage room, a hair tie in his mouth, casually gathering his long hair into a high ponytail.
Ning Zhixia’s eyes widened slightly, he hesitated for a second, then turned back to the workout video and said decisively, “Let’s go.”
To make a piglet run, you had to dangle a cabbage in front of it. Qu Banqing rolled his eyes and went upstairs to give them space.
The rhythmic music played, and Ning Zhixia, listening to the countdown timer, felt like time was moving incredibly slowly, complaining about why humans had two legs, and collapsed onto the sofa, waving a white flag in surrender.
The increasingly intense exercises seemed to pose no challenge to Audrow. Unlike Ning Zhixia, who was exhausted, he was completely refreshed, not even breaking a sweat.
He was wearing a thin workout shirt, doing push-ups, the muscles in his arms taut and defined, his movements smooth and quick, much more aesthetically pleasing than the sweaty muscle man on the screen.
“Tap, tap, tap…”
As he moved, the drawstring of his sweatpants swayed, attracting the kittens, their ears perking up as they playfully tugged on it.
As the hem of his shirt lifted, revealing pale skin and a toned waist, Ning Zhixia quickly averted his gaze, then, feeling his action was too obvious, quickly looked back.
Look! Why not look! I’ve seen your fishtail, what’s there to be shy about!
The longer he watched, the more envious he became of Audrow’s effortless movements.
His eyes darted around, and he mischievously picked up the sleepy calico cat from its bed and stealthily approached Audrow.
He gently placed the cat on Audrow’s back. The cat, enjoying the novel experience of bobbing up and down like a boat on the waves, meowed incessantly.
A fluffy paw playfully patted Audrow’s cheek. He didn’t stop, continuing his push-ups with one hand, and flicked the cat’s head with his other hand.
Ning Zhixia tilted his head and asked eagerly, “Is it heavy, is it heavy?”
Audrow abruptly stopped, blinked, and a smile appeared on his lips: “You can sit on me too.”
“Ugh!”
Ning Zhixia blushed and shook his head frantically.
“Not sitting?”
Audrow’s gaze swept over the young man’s body, and he said with a smile, offering a second option, “You can step on me too.”
Ning Zhixia’s eyes widened, a pink mushroom cloud exploding above his head.
Oh my god! A fish who watched cartoons every day, how could he say such a thing!
