The sickly one in F4 was the group's darling.

"They're here! They're here!"

A middle-aged woman emerged from behind the curtain; she was slightly plump, had a round face, and messy hair.

She looked Bai Ci up and down a few times, then her eyes lit up: "Oh my, from St. Andrew's? How interesting!"

"A haircut, on the fifteenth," Bai Ci said.

"I have no money," he added.

The proprietress laughed: "You're such an honest child."

Bai Ci sat down in the creaky old-fashioned barber chair. The fat orange cat in the corner was awakened by the noise and slowly strolled over, rubbing against his trouser leg. Bai Ci froze; he was afraid of cats.

"Don't be afraid, it's even more timid than you." The proprietress laughed as she unfolded the apron.

"...It's quite fat," Bai Ci said softly.

"Of course," the proprietress said without even looking up, "All she does is eat all day, even more than me. My troublesome apprentice spoils her rotten, he secretly feeds her canned food every day, she's like a pig."

"Disciple?" Bai Ci asked casually.

"Don't even mention it," she sighed, her tone a mix of anger and helplessness. "I recently took on an apprentice from the countryside who said he wanted to learn hairdressing, and I thought he seemed honest, so I accepted him. But what happened? He didn't study properly. When customers came, he was reluctant to even wash their hair, and the hair he cut looked like a dog had chewed it. He gave several bad reviews. I said a few words to him, and he ran away."

She pointed to the orange cat, "But we've managed to raise it into a ball."

Bai Ci glanced at the "ball" and silently agreed.

The scissors snipped away, and strands of hair fell one by one.

"Xiao Qi," Bai Ci asked in her mind, "Is fifteen yuan a reasonable price?"

"Two stars for the review, the comment said 'I wanted to call the police after the haircut.'" Xiaoqi's voice was trembling. "But... the proprietress seemed alright?"

Bai Ci decided to take a gamble.

The scissors snipped away, and strands of hair fell onto the apron.

Bai Ci stared at the mirror, watching the hair covering her eyes being cut away little by little, revealing her forehead and brow bone.

"Hey..." The proprietress's hand suddenly stopped.

The scissors hung in mid-air, never falling.

Bai Ci's heart tightened: "Did you mess it up?"

The proprietress didn't say anything; she stared at her face in the mirror, her eyes widening.

"What's wrong?" Bai Ci couldn't help but ask.

"You silly child..." The proprietress's voice changed, "You're just too good-looking!"

Bai Ci: "..."

"I thought you were covering your face because you had a scar or something," the proprietress teased with a laugh. "Turns out you're just afraid you're too good-looking?"

"No," Bai Ci said softly.

"What do you call this? Beauty anxiety?"

Bai Ci didn't know how to respond, and the tips of her ears turned slightly red.

"Xiao Qi," he cried out in his heart, "help."

"What do you mean, 'help'?" Xiaoqi exclaimed excitedly. "She's complimenting your looks! She's complimenting you."

The proprietress smiled, raised the scissors again, and muttered something under her breath:

"No, no, I have to cut it properly, I can't ruin this face. If I mess it up, I won't be able to forgive myself."

She cut even more carefully, tilting her head to look at it, picking up a few strands with the comb to trim them, then stepping back to look, and then getting closer to trim them again, ten times more attentive than before.

As I was cutting, the glass door was pushed open from the outside.

"Sister Li! Sister Li, are you there?"

A middle-aged woman with curly hair leaned halfway in, holding the hand of a little girl with pigtails, about five or six years old, wearing a pink down jacket, with a round face.

"Hey, Sister Wang," the proprietress stopped scissors, "What's wrong?"

"I have to go out for a while, could you please watch over Niu Niu for me? I'll be back in two hours."

"Okay, okay, put it here."

Sister Wang pushed the little girl into the store, smiled at Bai Ci as a greeting, and then turned and left.

As the door closed, a voice drifted in: "Be good, Niu Niu, listen to Aunt Li!"

The little girl stood at the doorway, looking around timidly before her gaze fell on the fat orange cat in the corner.

"Kitty!" Niu Niu's eyes lit up instantly. She ran over, squatted down, and carefully reached out to stroke the orange cat's back. The cat seemed to enjoy the touch, meowed softly, rolled over, and revealed its round belly.

"Wow, it's so fat!" Niu Niu giggled. "It looks like the meatballs Mom makes."

Bai Ci couldn't help but smile slightly.

The proprietress continued cutting hair, glancing at the little girl every now and then.

Niu Niu petted the cat for a while, then suddenly looked up and saw Bai Ci in the mirror. She tilted her head and stared at him for several seconds.

"Big brother," she said in a childish voice.

Bai Ci looked at her.

"You look so good."

The little girl spoke with the seriousness of someone giving an academic presentation.

"Like, like a prince on TV."

Bai Ci was stunned for a moment.

"Pfft..." The proprietress laughed out loud, "Did you hear that? Kids have the best taste."

Bai Ci's ears turned completely red.

"...Thank you." His voice was very soft.

"Bye-bye, Bye-bye, can you hear that?!" Xiao Qi screamed wildly in his mind, "She called you Prince! Prince!!"

"I heard it, I heard it," Bai Ci said helplessly to herself.

"Bai Bai, you're amazing! You've only been out for a short while and someone's already complimenting your looks!" Xiao Qi exclaimed excitedly, almost incoherently. "I have to write this down, I have to write this down!"

"...Why are you memorizing this?"

"What a sense of accomplishment!"

Bai Ci decided to ignore it.

"alright!"

The proprietress took a step back and crossed her arms.

"See? Are you satisfied?"

Bai Ci looked up at the mirror directly in front of her.

He was stunned.

All the stray hairs have disappeared.

The face reflected in the mirror was clean and tidy.

Her eyebrows and eyes were fully visible, with rounded corners that were slightly upturned. Her light brown pupils shone like melted amber under the dim light, almost unreal.

She had a high, straight nose, light pink lips, and skin that was almost translucent, porcelain-like, with a subtle sheen.

So this is what it looks like when your face is shown.

He hardly recognizes himself anymore.

"How is it?" The proprietress stood behind her, her eyes crinkling into slits with a smile. "My skills are no worse than those that cost hundreds of dollars, are they?"

As she untied the cloth, she boasted, "I studied at a hairdressing academy in Nanyu City for five years before coming back to open my own shop. If this alley weren't so remote, I would have raised my prices long ago."

"Beautiful! Beautiful!" Niu Niu clapped her hands from the side.

Startled, the chubby orange cat leaped out of her arms and landed on the counter, its tail swaying slightly as it stared at Bai Ci with its round eyes.

"It looks good," he said, his voice low but earnest.

Xiao Qi suddenly popped up: "Not bad, not bad! Showing your face is the first step out of the original owner's 'hiding and concealing' behavior! It's an effective counterattack!"

Bai Ci smiled slightly.

He turned to the proprietress and asked, "How much?"

"It was agreed, fifteen."

Bai Ci hummed in agreement and took out fifteen coins from his pocket, placing them on the dressing table.

Suddenly, the glass door was violently kicked open from the outside.

A young man with dyed yellow hair swaggered in, followed by two others, the three of them completely blocking the narrow doorway.