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

Chapter 94 The Comic Con Incident: My Cousin's Unexpected Strike [6.2 Thousand Words!]

Is this Lu Xiaolan in front of me?
Lu Xiaolan, my best friend who only ever wore colorless lipstick throughout high school, had to ask herself what BB cream was, and didn't even bother to cover up her huge dark circles from staying up all night studying before the college entrance exam?!

But the person in front of her... Xu Liya could only say... Holy crap!
The impact was even greater than checking college entrance exam scores.

The light blue Zhen Ji dress that Lu Xiaolan was wearing was made by Xu Liya two years ago, so the materials used were naturally not that good, but it actually looked quite high-quality under the dim lighting of the underground parking lot.

But that's not the point! The point is that face!

Xu Liya's eyes widened as she leaned closer to look at Lu Xiaolan.

This is outrageous! Her base makeup is as clean as a freshly peeled hard-boiled egg, evenly applied to her face. There's no cakey makeup, and even her pores look like they've been smoothed out with a single click.

The eye makeup was absolutely stunning—the deep brown eyeliner was as smooth as Dove chocolate, the perfect touch of crimson at the outer corner of the eye was perfectly blended, and a subtle shimmer was cleverly added to the lower eyelid near the inner corner of the eye, making it sparkle when you blink.

Her round eyes, which usually seemed to convey a sense of "clear foolishness," were now strangely etched with the melancholy of a classical beauty.

The shadows on both sides of the nose are applied naturally and three-dimensionally, and the transition below the cheekbones is incredibly soft... The light and shadow on the whole face are so harmonious, it's as if it's been illuminated by a professional studio's soft lighting—clean, sharp, and flawless!
But what about yourself?

Thinking of this, Xu Liya felt a pang of sadness.

This morning... I secretly borrowed my mom's supposedly expensive foundation and spent two hours painstakingly working on this makeup, following a tutorial on Bilibili! I drew and wiped my eyeliner, and thought it looked okay at the time, but now, looking at it in comparison, I realize I barely managed to look presentable.

What's even more disheartening is that... Xu Liya feels that the powder on her nose and forehead is starting to cake, and her eyeliner is also showing signs of smudging...

"Xiao Lan..." Xu Liya's tone was very complicated, "What...what's wrong with your face?"

On Lu Xiaolan's meticulously painted, unbelievably beautiful face, was an expression that Xu Liya recognized... a bewildered and helpless look.

Her eyes were filled with confusion, and she even subconsciously reached out to touch her face, but was afraid of ruining her makeup.

Lu Xiaolan glanced at her cousin subconsciously. Was the makeup really that good...?

Li Younan maintained an indifferent expression, finding everything interesting.

Lu Xiaolan pointed at Li Younan and said, "It was... after you left, my cousin helped me with it."

Li Younan smiled and said, "I just did a quick job. I hope it didn't take up too much of your time?"

Just...did it...anything at all?!
Xu Liya glanced at the not-too-expensive makeup bag, then turned to look at Lu Xiaolan's face, which seemed to have a built-in soft-focus filter, and could only manage a forced smile: "It's...it's pretty good..."

Wait... why does Lu Xiaolan's cousin wear makeup?

It's drawn! And it's so good!
Noticing Xu Liya's glance, Li Younan casually said, "Boys are more sensitive to light and shadow, and their hands are also much more stable. When I was dating, I learned it by just trying it out on my ex-girlfriend's face a few times."

Li Younan spoke nonsense without batting an eye.

But Xu Liya had no doubt whatsoever, she just sighed blankly, "Is this talent!"

She believed it, she truly believed it!

……

Because Li Younan had promised to take some photos for them, he took out his camera bag from the trunk.

Xu Liya introduced her two friends to Li Younan and Lu Xiaolan.

One of them was a very short girl, probably only 48 meters tall, less than 5 meters. She was cosplaying as Anne. Of course, when Li Younan first saw her, he thought she was cosplaying as Little Red Riding Hood, which made the little girl angrily point to her teddy bear.

Li Younan blinked before she understood.

This role actually suits her height quite well.

The other one was a boy with long bangs covering one eye. Li Younan had never seen his clothes and makeup before and couldn't figure out what he was cosplaying.

The boy did mention it, but it was as good as nothing. Li Younan still didn't know; it seemed to be a character from some game.

Li Younan didn't know much about cosplay, but she didn't mean any harm.

They might even feel a bit curious.

Every circle has its negative aspects, but it cannot be denied that some people are simply passionate about it. A circle can only be formed when the majority of people are passionate about it.

Xu Liya led Li Younan and Lu Xiaolan toward the main hall of the convention center. The international convention center covered a large area, and it was quite a long walk.

Xu Liya leaned closer to Li Younan and asked, "Brother Li, have you ever been involved in cosplay before?"

Li Younan smiled and said, "When I was a freshman in college, I had some friends who cosplayed, as well as some senior girls who were a bit older than me. But back then, they mostly cosplayed characters from anime, and mostly popular anime, like Cardcaptor Sakura, One Piece, etc. Basically, most of them were characters I had seen before."

The boy with long bangs next to him chuckled: "Who still cosplays those old-fashioned things these days?"

Li Younan looked over and then said with interest, "Isn't the spirit of cosplay about portraying and showcasing your favorite anime characters? Liking current anime characters... makes you even more impressive?"

Li Younan's calm question startled the boy for a moment, and then he fell silent.

The five of them took the elevator up together, walked through a long corridor, and finally arrived at the anime exhibition hall.

There was a ticket booth at the entrance. Xu Liya jogged over and bought tickets for Li Younan and Lu Xiaolan. Then she jogged back to give the tickets to Li Younan.

Little Annie and the boy with long bangs didn't talk much anymore, only occasionally exchanging a few words with Xu Liya.

At this point, you can already see many cosplayers with unusual outfits wandering around.

Upon entering, a blast of hot air mixed with the noise of people hit me.

The convention center was huge, and under the silver-gray ceiling, it was packed with people.

There were people everywhere, dressed in all sorts of clothes.

A girl with long, ice-blue hair, probably a character, brushed past a person with several fake spider legs stuck on.

On the other side, a person dressed as the little monkey from the Black Mythology brandished a glowing golden cudgel and struck a large screen displaying a map of Chengdu. The map shattered, turning into a pile of glowing golden bird patterns.

People wearing heavy metal wings squeezed past people wearing wide, ancient-style sleeves.

The sound was very mixed.

On the left side of the stage, a very loud Japanese song was playing, while on the right side, someone's phone was blaring out "Yi Jian Mei" (a popular Chinese song).

Suddenly, the music of "Gokuraku Jodo" started playing in the open space in the middle. Several girls in puffy skirts began to spin around, a person dressed as Pikachu mascot jumped along, and an old man with a cane and a white beard, probably Master Roshi, was twisting his waist.

The fan-made section over there was even more crowded, with the smell of freshly printed ink. Long tables on both sides were piled high with shiny badges and extra-thick homemade books.

Someone handed Li Younan a tablet to try out a game. Inside, a boy with a bronze mask was moving around, and the background music sounded like an old-fashioned chime bell with added electronic rhythms.

Li Younan played with it for a couple of seconds before returning it to the other person, and then began to look at the things here with great interest.

In addition, various cosplaying anime characters pose for photos.

Often, a photographer is surrounded by several cosplayers.

Li Younan stopped in his tracks. After all, he still had things to do and couldn't just wander around here and waste time. So he urged, "Xiao Lan, Xu Liya, let me take some pictures of you. I have to leave after that."

Xu Liya and Lu Xiaolan naturally had no objections, and they nodded.

The boy and Annie felt a little awkward.

They were just poor students and couldn't afford to hire a photographer; taking photos wasn't originally part of their plans.

Xu Liya hesitated for a moment and looked at Li Younan, but before she could speak, she heard Li Younan say to the two of them with a smile, "If you don't mind, I can take a few pictures for you."

In this setting, the photographer holds a very high position.

People who frequent the anime and manga community have long since learned to use equipment to distinguish a photographer's skill level.

Li Younan's not-so-small camera bag contained at least two lenses, and the camera he was holding was clearly a high-end model; in short... it was very professional.

The boy with long bangs was a little embarrassed, after all, he had just said something impolite to Li Younan. Now that Li Younan said this, his expression was a little complicated, his eyes were a little evasive, and finally he smiled shyly.

For Li Younan, he naturally wouldn't care about a few slips of the tongue from others. In his view, Xu Liya and his friends were just kids, younger brothers and sisters who had just graduated from high school. There was no need to be so harsh on them.

Li Younan first took a few photos of them with a regular lens, then switched to a telephoto lens to take some photos with a different atmosphere. This process didn't take too long.

After the shoot, everyone gathered around to look at the original photos on Li Younan's camera.

Although Xu Liya doesn't understand photography, she does understand beauty.

She asked Li Younan, "Brother Li, can I hold it and flip through it myself?"

Li Younan said yes.

She sat on the ground with her camera, zoomed in on the photos, and looked at them intently, her smile growing wider.

She looked up again, pointed, and said to Lu Xiaolan, "Xiaolan, you're the prettiest one here. Your makeup is really amazing."

This was Lu Xiaolan's first time wearing anime-style clothing, and she was both nervous and excited. Hearing Xu Liya praise her like that, she chuckled sheepishly.

Annie, standing nearby, kept saying, "Don't forget to send me the photos!"

Xu Liya stood up, returned the camera to Li Younan, and said, "Thank you, Brother Li. I'll treat you to dinner later when you're done with your work."

Li Younan took the camera: "As long as you're satisfied."

Of course, not all cosplayers bring their own photographers. When Li Younan was holding his camera, quite a few unofficial cosplayers, including some stunningly beautiful women, would come up to him and say, "Hey handsome, could you take a picture of us?"

Some beautiful women will even proactively send you their WeChat ID.

Seeing this, Lu Xiaolan's gaze even became somewhat wary.

Li Younan glanced at the time and casually took photos of a few cosplayers.

When the beautiful girls asked him for his WeChat, saying it was so they could receive photos, Li Younan casually pointed to Xu Liya's male friend with long bangs and said, "You can add him. I'll send him the photos and he can send them to you."

The female cosplayers were immediately disappointed upon hearing this.

The boy with long bangs was stunned for a moment, completely overwhelmed by the sudden surprise. He hesitated, fidgeted, and shakily took out his phone and pulled up the QR code.

Xu Liya and Annie both scoffed: "A repressed pervert!"

……

The pleasant time passed quickly.

Just as Li Younan was about to leave, someone called out to Xu Liya.

"Hey, it's Xu Anqila!"

Xu Liya's expression changed slightly as she looked over. A man wearing glasses, with a small mustache, slightly overweight, and not very tall, carrying a camera, excitedly approached.
Xu Anqila... Li Younan felt an indescribable sense of amusement when he heard this name.

Xu Liya whispered to Lu Xiaolan, "That's the photographer I told you about."

Lu Xiaolan was taken aback: "The expert you're talking about?"

Xu Liya snorted: "What kind of expert is he? He's nowhere near as good as your cousin."

The other person had already come over, greeted them warmly, and then picked up their camera, saying, "I couldn't get in touch with you earlier either. Didn't we agree on this before?"

Xu Liya shook her head and forced a smile: "Brother Sun, let's let it go this time."

The photographer, surnamed Sun, frowned. "Forget it?" He suddenly noticed Li Younan beside him and the camera bag Li Younan was carrying, and realized something. He frowned again. "You're not very trustworthy. We clearly agreed on this beforehand. What's the point of me coming all this way?"

He certainly didn't come here because of Xu Liya, but by saying it this way, he could shift the main problem to Xu Liya.

Xu Liya's expression changed: "What do you mean it's settled? Aren't we still negotiating? I didn't settle this with you."

The photographer, surnamed Sun, looked at Li Younan. Because he was short and had his neck slightly tilted back, he said in a somewhat unfriendly tone, "Dude, are you in the same line of work? That's a bit underhanded!"

A strange smile appeared on Li Younan's lips. He wasn't angry, but simply said casually, "Sorry, I didn't mean to steal your business. These two are my sisters. I just stopped by to take a couple of pictures for them while I was back."

After Li Younan said that, the photographer surnamed Sun didn't know what to say. He frowned and snorted disdainfully, "Brother? Is it real or fake?"

Li Younan remained silent, letting the words fall to the ground, and of course, the kind smile on his face disappeared.

He certainly had no obligation to explain anything to this guy; Li Younan just felt it was unnecessary to ruin his mood over such trivial matters.

The photographer, surnamed Sun, felt somewhat embarrassed and annoyed, and wanted to mutter a few more words.

Xu Liya, however, refused to comply.

Previously, Xu Liya was mindful that she might still have dealings with this photographer in the future, so she didn't want to break off relations and maintained restraint and politeness.

But! This guy actually dared to speak rudely to my brother Li!
Li Younan, the kind older brother, went to great lengths to bring me and Lu Xiaolan to the comic convention and even used his superb skills to take beautiful photos of us for free!
The youthful passion unique to high school students surged into their heads.

Xu Liya snorted and said, "What are you pretending for? I'm only being polite by not exposing your lousy skills. To be honest, I just don't think you have the skills, that's why I don't want you to shoot. Do you understand now? Your so-called award didn't even get a shortlisted entry. And you still have the nerve to bring that up? Do you really think we Gen Z youths don't know how to do research?"

The photographer, surnamed Sun, was caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, leaving him momentarily stunned.

The voice was so loud that it immediately drew the attention of many people around.

Little Annie and Long Bangs, who had just received Li Younan's favor, also started to mock him.

Little Annie said, "That's right, that's right. It's our freedom to have whoever takes our photos. It's just that we didn't let you earn that money, right?"

With his long bangs framing his face, he stared at the camera of the photographer surnamed Sun and spit out a sarcastic remark: "What lousy equipment..."

Li Younan blinked. Goodness, the fighting power of these high school students is a bit scary.

More and more people gathered around to watch the spectacle, including the cosplayers who had taken the photos earlier.

Of course, not everyone would directly join the battle to besiege the photographer surnamed Sun, but just looking at him with a mocking gaze was already quite effective.

At this moment, the photographer surnamed Sun was so angry that his face turned red and white, but Xu Liya's words were particularly sharp.

That's the saying: the truth is the sharpest knife.

His boastful resume of award-winning submissions, which actually lacked any real substance, indeed seemed weak and unconvincing.

Xu Liya's words were piercing to the heart.

Just then, Xu Liya wasn't about to let him off the hook. She pulled out the photo of Li Younan's certificate from her phone and shoved it directly at the photographer surnamed Sun's face: "Look at this, proof of my brother's photography skills. Do you think I asked you that question back then? See? Portrait category! Gold Award! What else do you have to say?"

"What's your skill level? What's my brother's skill level? Do you even know what you're capable of?!"

As more and more people gathered, everyone looked in this direction with curiosity.

By this time, most of the onlookers understood what had happened.

The photographer, surnamed Sun, began to sweat, his lips turned pale, and the next moment his legs gave way, and he sat down on the ground with a thud, panting heavily, feeling dizzy and disoriented.

He had never encountered this situation before.

Only then did security personnel arrive and disperse the crowd.

At this moment, the group had arrived at another exhibition area.

Lu Xiaolan whispered, "Liya, you were so fierce just now. But didn't you say that you might have to cross paths with that expert again in the future?"

Xu Liya said nonchalantly, "Three-legged centipedes are hard to find, but two-legged photographers are everywhere. Photographers with cameras around their necks are easy to find, but a skilled photographer like your brother is hard to find."

She smiled shyly and said, "Brother Li, I hope I didn't scare you just now? Don't worry, if that guy with the mustache still dares to talk nonsense, we'll protect you."

Hearing this, Li Younan felt a sense of absurdity, and then said somewhat seriously, "There's no need to lower yourself to the level of that kind of guy, just ignore him."

Little Angela said, "But that would be too unpleasant."

Li Younan smiled and didn't say anything more. He knew that some principles were hard to explain to young people, and saying too much would only sound preachy.

Li Younan was certainly not someone who was afraid of trouble, but he had to admit that there was too much hostility in this society nowadays, and when a real conflict occurred, the one who was happier always suffered the most.

This is neither a form of wishful thinking nor cowardice; rather, it is a philosophy of life that he developed by trying to understand and grasp the main contradictions of things.

However, there's no need to lecture the younger children about this right now, since it's all in the past and it's nothing serious.

Li Younan lingered at the comic convention center for about an hour before he had to leave.

As he was leaving, he told Lu Xiaolan to call him when they were done shopping and he would come pick them up.

Li Younan returned to his car, opened the map navigation, glanced at it, and his gaze inadvertently fell on People's Park.

One of the must-see spots in Chengdu is People's Park. I didn't have time to go today, but I'm not in a hurry. It's very close to my home. I can bring my mom here for a stroll and visit People's Park sometime when I have time.

Li Younan was in a hurry to get to the building materials market. Instead of driving through the city center, he took the ring expressway directly and arrived at the market about an hour and a half later.

Today's task was very clear and specific. Li Younan took the previous list and searched for building materials in the market one by one.

He negotiated prices with the bosses and left his contact information. Some items needed to be shipped immediately, but others weren't urgent. Li Younan simply gave them a rough timeframe and told them to ship gradually, as long as there wouldn't be any material shortages during construction.

Li Younan has made all the plans, so there won't be any problems in this regard.

Although this was Li Younan's first time doing this, he was undoubtedly an expert in the three major skills of renovation—carpentry, masonry, and plumbing.

He can see the basic framework of a house and the wiring at a glance, so he is naturally confident about the renovation.

Only three hours had passed since we finished dealing with things here.

It's not very late yet, but it's well past dinnertime.

Seeing that Lu Xiaolan hadn't called him yet, Li Younan took the initiative to call her.

They were still browsing inside the comic convention when Li Younan went to pick them up, and they decided to find a place in Chengdu to have lunch.

The three of them eventually went into a seafood buffet.

When it came time to pay the bill, Xu Liya insisted on treating everyone herself, and Lu Xiaolan, who was standing next to her, said, "Cousin, just let Xu Liya treat everyone!"

Li Younan tapped each of them on the head and said irritably, "One of you keeps calling me brother but doesn't fulfill her duties as a sister, and the other is really my sister but doesn't stand by my side."

After saying that, he shoved the QR code directly into the cashier's face, saying, "I'm their brother, you're not allowed to take their money!"

The cashier blinked: "Oh...oh..."

Even though she was tapped on the head by a boy she didn't know very well, Xu Liya lowered her head deeply and whispered to Lu Xiaolan, "You're so lucky to have a brother like this!"

(End of this chapter)