By linking my account to the check-in system, I became a leisurely traveler.

Chapter 93 My Cousin Takes Action: A Straight Man's Makeup Brush! [Bonus Chapter! 6.2 words! Requesting Monthly Tickets!]

on the street.

Although the college entrance examination ended more than a month ago, Lu Xiaolan still exudes a sense of ease.

Dress casually, whatever makes you comfortable.

Xu Liya is much more particular than Lu Xiaolan.

Xu Liya is Lu Xiaolan's classmate.
She wore ripped jeans, a cropped top, and had a few strands of her hair dyed purple. She also had on elaborate makeup and was carrying a small parasol, as if afraid of getting even a little tan.

She walked with a confident stride, while Lu Xiaolan carried her canvas bag, which contained the ballpoint pen she used for the college entrance examination, something she couldn't bear to throw away.

"Lu Xiaolan, can't you walk a little faster? It's so hot!"

Lia turned around and urged her on, her stiletto heels clicking loudly on the ground.

She was never satisfied with her name "Xu Liya" because she felt it was too ordinary and not stylish enough. Her dream was to change her name to Xu Angela in the future.

"Yes, Lady Xu Liya!"

Lu Xiaolan chuckled and jogged a couple of steps to catch up. "But Liya... uh, do you think my cousin would agree? He just quit his job and came back from such a big city..."

"Your cousin is so handsome, smart, and a top student! He already has his own car at 25, it'll be so convenient for him to drive to Chengdu! No problem at all!" Xu Liya said confidently. "Besides, we're not letting him drive for free; I'll treat you to something delicious when we get to Chengdu! And, let me tell you—"

She suddenly lowered her voice and leaned closer to Lu Xiaolan mysteriously. A fragrant scent wafted over, and Lu Xiaolan almost sneezed when she smelled it. "I know an amazing photographer in Chengdu! I'm going there specifically to have him photograph my new role!"

Lu Xiaolan was incredibly curious, her eyes shining. "I've never played this before! Can I participate? Is it fun? Is it expensive? Do you wear brightly colored wigs?"

"Pfft!" Xu Liya couldn't help but laugh out loud, looking at Lu Xiaolan with a "you really are so unsophisticated" gaze. "Lu Xiaolan, this isn't Balala the Fairies!"

"Cosplay is an art; wigs, costumes, props, and makeup are all essential! It's about capturing the soul of the character! It's a bit pricey, but worth it! I'll lend you one of my cosplay outfits sometime, so you can experience kneeling down in awe."

She proudly raised her chin, her few strands of purple hair particularly dazzling in the sunlight.

Lu Xiaolan exclaimed sincerely, "So who are you going to cosplay this time? What clothes are you going to wear? Is that photographer really that good? How much does it cost per shoot? He..."

Xu Liya quickly interrupted her, making a "stop" gesture. "Chatterbox! You'll see when you get there! The key now is to win over your cousin! Li Younan, right? Good-looking academic genius, has a car...tsk, those conditions would be hot commodities even in Binhai City, so why did you come back?"

“I don’t know either,” Lu Xiaolan answered honestly. “My mom said he was tired from work and wanted to come back and rest for a while. His home is in that neighborhood over there, behind that red brick building.” She pointed ahead.

They turned into a small street lined with large sycamore trees, their dense shade making it much cooler.

“Hey,” Lu Xiaolan couldn’t help but start nagging again, “Won’t my cousin think we’re going to be too much trouble? It’s so far to make him drive all the way to Chengdu… and the anime convention tickets aren’t cheap either. My mom only gave me two hundred yuan for pocket money…”

Xu Liya sighed helplessly and poked Lu Xiaolan's forehead with her beautifully manicured fingers: "Lu Xiaolan! Can't you have some ambition?! Comic conventions are a grand event for anime fans! It's where anime comes to life! What's a little money for a ticket! As for your cousin..."

Her eyes lit up. "Just keep being cute and affectionate! Didn't you say he's always been very fond of you since you were little? If that doesn't work, you can say... say you're taking him to Chengdu to clear his head! He just quit his job, he definitely needs to relax! By the way, what does he like? Let's cater to his interests!"

"Uh... he doesn't know how to act cute... he seems to like reading? And playing games?" Lu Xiaolan tried hard to recall.

"Alright, alright, we'll see how things go!" Xu Liya tidied her small handbag and took out a small mirror to check her appearance. "When you see your cousin later, be smart! Whether you can go to Chengdu to meet my amazing photographer depends on your performance!"

As they spoke, they had already arrived at their cousin's building.

Lu Xiaolan looked up at the familiar window on the fifth floor, feeling a little nervous.

……

Since it was an old building belonging to the company and there was no elevator, the two girls slowly climbed up.

Lu Xiaolan was a little better off, but Xu Liya, wearing high heels, couldn't help but complain, "Why does your cousin still live in this kind of old house? It's exhausting."

Lu Xiaolan suddenly became serious and said solemnly, "Don't say this in front of my cousin later. He won't allow anyone to say anything bad about his family."

Xu Liya said nonchalantly, "I was just saying it casually, don't take it so seriously, I still have some emotional intelligence." Then she started talking about photography, "Our cosplay is 30% cosplay and 70% photography. You don't know how hard it is to find a reliable photographer."

Lu Xiaolan then asked, "Is this photographer you mentioned really reliable?"

Xu Liya smiled slightly: "Of course he's reliable. He has submitted his work to major photography competitions. Although he didn't win a prize in the end, the competition he participated in was an international competition. Just being shortlisted is already very impressive."

Lu Xiaolan asked curiously, "Did he make the shortlist?"

Xu Liya shook her head and said seriously, "Getting shortlisted isn't that easy, but it's already impressive that they have the ability to submit their work."

Lu Xiaolan didn't understand either, and blinked: "Really?"

Upon reaching the fifth floor, Lu Xiaolan gently knocked on the door, and Li Younan's voice came from inside: "Is that Xiaolan? Just come in."

Xu Liya quickly tossed her hair and stood obediently. Lu Xiaolan smiled as she watched Xu Liya's actions, then pushed open the door, and the two of them walked into Li Younan's house together.

Lu Xiaolan spotted Li Younan at the living room computer. He was currently researching the prices of some building materials, which was very important.

He smiled and said to Lu Xiaolan, "You're here? Bring your classmate in and have a seat."

Xu Liya followed Lu Xiaolan into the house, looking around curiously, when her gaze was suddenly drawn to the photography certificate on the shoe rack.

She blinked, stopped in her tracks, and couldn't move.

Lu Xiaolan turned around and asked curiously, "What's wrong, Liya?"

Before she could finish speaking, she noticed the photography competition certificate on the shoe rack. Her eyes lit up, and she leaned over to take a closer look. Her cousin's name was clearly written on it.

She pointed to the certificate, then looked at Xu Liya and said, "Xu Liya, this competition is also an international grand prix. Which one is more impressive, this one or the one your expert participated in?"

Xu Liya didn't really understand either. She scanned the QR code below with her phone, and a page popped up. After thinking for a moment, she sent the page to the expert and asked, "Expert, what do you think of the level of this competition?"

To my surprise, that expert replied instantly: "Hey, why are you starting to pay attention to photography competitions? This competition is definitely awesome."

Xu Liya asked, "Is it even better than the competition you participated in?"

The expert replied vaguely, "It's not about the same focus... this leans more towards portrait photography."

Xu Liya narrowed her eyes, didn't reply to the message, and put her phone away.

Lu Xiaolan watched as Xu Liya entered the room and immediately started typing messages on her phone. She asked, "What's wrong?"

Xu Liya shook her head, smiled, and whispered, "It's nothing, let's get down to business."

Li Younan had finished his work by now, so he slowly walked to the refrigerator next to him, took out two bottles of soda, and gave one to Lu Xiaolan and one to Xu Liya.

Lu Xiaolan then introduced her classmates to Li Younan.

Li Younan smiled at the two little girls, and Xu Liya behaved very well and sat down in a very ladylike manner.

Without wasting words, Lu Xiaolan got straight to the point: "Cousin, we've come here to ask you for a favor."

Li Younan chuckled: "Don't make it sound so scary. What do you mean by asking me for a favor? Tell me first."

Lu Xiaolan glanced at Xu Liya, whose eyes held an encouraging look.

Lu Xiaolan then said, "It's like this, cousin, Xu Liya and I want to go to a comic convention in Chengdu tomorrow, at the International Convention Center. We...we'd like to ask you to give us a ride there. Didn't you buy a car?"

As she spoke, Lu Xiaolan's voice weakened, and she lowered her head, only glancing furtively at Li Younan's expression.

Li Younan smiled and said, "Is this what it is? Well, it's not entirely impossible..."

Lu Xiaolan and Xu Liya's expressions immediately lit up. Lu Xiaolan said, "Cousin, you agree?"

Li Younan glanced at her, then tapped her on the head with a serious expression and said, "It's possible... but I have plans to go to Chengdu, specifically to visit a building materials market. Well, how about this, if we go tomorrow, we'll leave early, drop you two off first, and then I'll go to the building materials market, so I can't confirm the return time with you."

It only takes one or two hours to drive from Anchuan County to Chengdu. Li Younan originally planned to go to Chengdu, since it would be more cost-effective to buy some building materials there.

It wouldn't be a problem to give these two little girls a ride along the way.

Seeing that Li Younan agreed so easily, the two girls immediately cheered and jumped for joy, no longer caring about their image.

Xu Liya said sweetly to Li Younan, "Brother Li, you're so nice!" After a pause, she added, "Brother Li, you...you can take photos too?"

Li Younan said nonchalantly, "It's just a casual photo shoot, nothing to brag about."

On the contrary, the more Li Younan said this, the more lofty and sophisticated his image became in Xu Liya's mind.

She thought of the expert she knew, who seemed to want to flaunt his status as a seasoned photographer, but in reality, he was only good at submitting work and hadn't even been shortlisted. She was almost fooled by him.

Unlike Lu Xiaolan's cousin, who is not only handsome but also very humble... Generally speaking, only a humble and handsome older brother would take photos.

Xu Liya said, "Then... Brother Li, could you take some photos of the two of us later?"

Lu Xiaolan gently nudged Xu Liya and said, "Didn't my cousin say he's going to the building materials market? Don't you know that photography master? Let him take pictures for us."

What Xu Liya didn't tell Lu Xiaolan was that the photography master's skill level had already been greatly diminished in her eyes. Also, what she didn't mention was... that guy was charging 2000 yuan; if it were two people, even with a discount, it would still be 3000 yuan.

Xu Liya hesitated for a moment, her mind racing as she carefully considered her words.

Li Younan found it amusing to watch the little girl's eyes darting around, and said, "How about this, we'll see how things go later. I'll take some photos for you before we go."

Xu Liya's face immediately lit up with a smile.

After agreeing on the time and place, the two girls left without lingering, as they needed to make some preparations.

In the afternoon, Li Younan didn't rest; he went to the building materials market in the county town.

You can buy some inexpensive or commonly used building materials here, which saves a lot of trouble.

In addition, Li Younan also went to the hardware store to check out some tools, such as electric drills and hammers, which he could buy to keep on hand.

Some more expensive or large tools, such as saws for cutting wood, can be outsourced or rented out.

Afterwards, Li Younan went through the process again. He planned to complete the entire renovation work within two months. Therefore, the arrival time of the relevant materials and equipment needed to be calculated and planned precisely.

Afterwards, Li Younan locked himself in his room and drew a draft.

Some important data parameters still need to be measured later. When his mother came home from get off work in the evening, Li Younan told her about the trip to Chengdu the next day. His mother only told him to drive carefully and didn't say anything more.

The next day, since it was on his way, Li Younan went to pick up Xu Liya first.

Xu Liya lives in a newly developed residential area in the county town, where housing prices are not cheap.

The young woman was quite punctual. As soon as Li Younan's car pulled up to the building, he saw that she had been waiting there for quite a while.

However, Li Younan couldn't help but freeze when he saw Xu Liya.

To be precise, it was a miniature Daji from the game Honor of Kings standing there.

Li Younan parked the car in front of Xu Liya, then got out, looked her up and down, and said with a smile, "You're a cosplayer?"

Yesterday, these two little girls only said they were going to a comic convention, but they didn't mention they were going to cosplay.

The equipment Xu Liya was wearing looked very valuable, and it was most likely that it could only be handmade.

That fluffy tail looks very high-quality.

Xu Liya's makeup was very heavy, and her eyes were exaggeratedly large, giving her an anime-like appearance.

However, from Li Younan's professional perspective, this makeup was somewhat wasteful and quite rough.

Xu Liya brought a suitcase, which Li Younan helped put in the trunk.

The bed in the trunk was folded up, and the suitcase was placed directly on the large movable drawer, which was quite stable.

Xu Liya obediently got into the car, and as soon as she got in, she said sweetly, "Thank you, Brother Li." She was actually a little surprised, after all, she had seen Li Younan's house yesterday, which was an old house, but this car was very expensive.

Xu Liya is not a naive girl; her uncle bought a second-hand car, which costs more than 40 yuan!

For a moment, Xu Liya looked at Li Younan with even more admiration.

Li Younan was driving towards Lu Xiaolan's house when he suddenly remembered something and asked, "Xiaolan, are you going to get this done too?"

Xu Liya didn't react for a moment, and was stunned for a second: "What?"

Li Younan said, "It's you guys... cosplay."

Xu Liya nodded: "I lent her a set of Zhen Ji's clothes yesterday."

Li Younan's expression turned somewhat strange. He really couldn't imagine what his simple, somewhat rustic cousin would look like in such clothes.

Soon, the car arrived at Lu Xiaolan's building.

Then, Li Younan saw his exceptionally eye-catching cousin.

Li Younan couldn't help but close his eyes slightly and gently rub his temples.

Well... it's a little cringe-worthy.

If you put the clothes of anime characters directly on real people, it would probably give people this kind of feeling... weird.

At this point, the overall effect is balanced entirely by a uniform hairstyle and exaggerated makeup.

So what is Lu Xiaolan's situation now? The clothes fit her quite well, but her hairstyle and makeup were a complete mess, making her look absolutely unattractive.

Xu Liya jumped out of the car, looked Lu Xiaolan up and down, and couldn't help but burst into laughter, laughing so hard that tears were almost coming out. She said, "What... what is this? You can't just wear clothes, you have to put on makeup. Didn't I tell you that yesterday?"

Seeing Xu Liya smiling so happily, Lu Xiaolan felt even more upset. She said in a pitiful voice, "I... I spent the whole morning putting on double eyelid tape... No way, otherwise, I... I'd better just give up and change my clothes back."

Li Younan glanced at the time, shook his head, and said, "It's too late. Let's get in the car first, and we'll figure out how to fix it when we get there."

Xu Liya glanced at Li Younan, thinking that Li Younan meant for her to help Lu Xiaolan with her makeup, so she nodded and said somewhat helplessly, "Never mind, I'll do it for you later."

Lu Xiaolan got into the car with a pout.

Along the way, Xu Liya started sending messages. That amazing photographer kept contacting her; the once aloof photographer suddenly seemed a bit like… someone with psoriasis.

Xu Liya didn't want to talk to that guy anymore, but then she thought that Li Younan couldn't help them with the photography forever, and there was no need to make the relationship so awkward, so she just gave him a perfunctory answer and said that she didn't need his help with the photography this time.

The guy asked her if she thought it was too expensive, and that the price could be negotiated.

Xu Liya was getting impatient and simply said, "We'll talk about it later."

You can't be too definitive about things.

Compared to Xu Liya's excitement and eagerness, Lu Xiaolan was somewhat sad at this moment.

She, who is usually a bit talkative, sat in the passenger seat, gazing at the scenery outside the window, without saying a word.

After a while, she asked Li Younan slowly, "Cousin, do I look really that bad?"

Li Younan spoke frankly: "Yes, it's terrible."

Lu Xiaolan felt like the sky was falling, and sighed sadly again.

Li Younan drove straight to the International Convention and Exhibition Center in one go.

There are three exhibitions being held here at the same time: in addition to the comic convention, there is an international auto show and a minority culture exhibition.

Li Younan drove the car into the underground parking lot.

At this moment, several friends who had made an appointment with Xu Liya sent her a message.

Xu Liya hesitated for a moment before glancing at Lu Xiaolan, because she still needed to do Lu Xiaolan's makeup, but her friends were urging her on, and the photographer was also waiting.

Just as they were caught in a dilemma, Li Younan suddenly smiled and said, "Liya, if you have something to do, you can take care of it now."

Xu Liya paused for a moment: "Then Xiaolan, she..."

Li Younan shook his head: "I'll take care of it."

Xu Liya blinked, not understanding what Li Younan meant by that.

Lu Xiaolan was equally puzzled; she didn't understand what her cousin meant by those words.

Li Younan urged again, "It's okay, go find your friend first, Xiaolan will come to find you later."

Xu Liya hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Okay then." She then said to Lu Xiaolan, "Call me if anything happens later."

Lu Xiaolan nodded.

Xu Liya jumped out of the car, took the props she needed from the trunk, and sped away.

Li Younan looked out the car window and saw that there were already quite a few cosplayers in brightly colored costumes at the exit of the underground parking lot.

Lu Xiaolan stared blankly at Li Younan: "Cousin, what am I going to do?"

Li Younan sighed slightly and held out her hand impatiently: "Give me your makeup bag."

Lu Xiaolan was stunned for a moment, and suddenly an unbelievable thought popped into her mind. She stammered, "Ah, cousin, you, you, you... you're going to do my makeup?"

Li Younan said, "Stop talking nonsense, I'm in a hurry, hurry up."

Lu Xiaolan, looking dazed, handed the makeup bag to Li Younan, muttering, "Cousin...cousin, do you...do you know how to do this? Are you really going to do my makeup? Are you sure you can do it?"

Li Younan interrupted her: "Stop talking so much, or you'll blame yourself if you draw it crooked later."

Lu Xiaolan then obediently shut up, but her eyes were still full of suspicion.

Li Younan was in a hurry, so naturally he couldn't give Lu Xiaolan a very elaborate makeup look.

But if we follow Xu Liya's standards, it would be done in no time.

Li Younan quickly and skillfully began applying makeup to Lu Xiaolan. He took out the cosmetics and brushes from the makeup box one by one, his hands steady and precise, without repeating any steps, basically completing each step in one stroke.

So much so that Li Younan started preparing to apply eye makeup before Lu Xiaolan had even come to her senses.

Li Younan gave a heavy snort: "Close your eyes."

Lu Xiaolan's brain went blank; she simply closed her eyes, and the various kinds of cosmetics on her face slid comfortably across her face.

When she opened her eyes again, Li Younan tossed her two colored contact lenses: "These make it look like the real thing. Your makeup is already pretty exaggerated, so there's no need to make it so delicate."

But in reality, the results were much better than Xu Liya's.

Lu Xiaolan took the contact lenses and blinked: "Do I really have to wear these?"

Li Younan shrugged: "It's fine if we don't wear them. Let's just go downstairs then."

After hesitating for a moment, Lu Xiaolan said, "Wait a minute, I... I don't even know what I look like yet."

She hadn't even had a chance to look in the mirror.

But at this moment, Xu Liya, along with two or three cosplayer friends, had already appeared at the edge of the horizon.

Li Younan pointed out the window: "Your classmates are here."

After saying that, Li Younan jumped out of the car and went over to open the car door for Lu Xiaolan.

Lu Xiaolan got out of the car somewhat reluctantly, awkwardly hiding behind Li Younan.

But just then, Xu Liya saw Lu Xiaolan and was stunned: "Huh?"

------

Another 10,000-word update today! Please vote with your monthly tickets!
(End of this chapter)