TRCT_24

Chapter 24: Drastic Makeover — You tailors need to hire models too?

After the trip to Zhabei, wandering around here and there on the way back, it was nearly three in the afternoon by the time they returned to the shop.

Ji Qingzhou's original plan for the afternoon had been to first make a sample garment from muslin, then do more detailed adjustments on the mannequin.

But the round trip alone had taken over an hour of walking, and during that time he'd also gone to use a public restroom. By the time he got back to the shop, he was honestly too exhausted to do any work. Seeing that it was almost time for his appointment with Luo Mingxuan, he simply decided to give himself a break, taking his teacup and sitting down on the bamboo chair by the doorway, leaning his head back against the door frame, lazily resting in the breeze.

Zhu Renqing, on the other hand, didn't seem tired at all. Seeing that Ji Qingzhou hadn't given him any work to do, he picked up a cloth and started wiping down the wooden table frames.

On one hand, Ji Qingzhou acknowledged that this new employee was a diligent young man, but on the other hand, he felt a bit regretful that there wasn't much work the man could do yet, so he couldn't really help him much, and yet he still had to pay him twenty yuan a month, which really was a loss...

The moment this thought arose in his mind, he immediately despised himself for it: only one day as a boss and already thinking about squeezing his employee for more work, I really am not a good person!

Three o'clock came and went in the time it took to drink a few sips of tea, and Luo Mingxuan still hadn't shown up.

By this point, Zhu Renqing had finished wiping the table and sweeping the floor. Looking at the messy papers and pens on the sewing machine's tabletop, he wanted to tidy them up but was afraid that rearranging things might displease his employer if it disturbed the placement of items.

While he was hesitating over whether to ask his employer's opinion, Ji Qingzhou noticed him standing there blankly and, assuming he was bored with nothing to do, said: "Go take the clothes out of my bag and try them on in the back room."

Zhu Renqing felt puzzled but asked nothing, following his instructions and opening the leather messenger bag sitting on the wooden rack.

He didn't dare rummage through it carefully, and seeing that there were indeed two folded garments inside, he took them both out.

These were the artemisia-green silk shirt and the white-toned casual trousers, the same outfit Ji Qingzhou had worn on his second day after arriving in this world, when he went with Shen Nanqi to Yuxiang to have clothes made.

Since he'd hired a fitting model, Ji Qingzhou couldn't spare the time right now to make clothes for Zhu Renqing, but he wanted to see how promising the man's potential might be.

Thinking that Zhu Renqing was only two centimeters taller than himself, and that this outfit already had a loose, generous cut to begin with, he figured the man would surely be able to wear it. So before heading out that morning, he'd stuffed this outfit into his bag and brought it along.

Zhu Renqing actually had no idea what the job of a 'model' entailed. Hearing this, he naturally assumed that some customer had a similar build to his own, and that his employer wanted him to try on that customer's custom-made clothes to check the fit. So without a word, he took the clothes and went into the back room.

However, after taking off his top, he discovered he'd never worn anything like these clothes before, and for a moment had no idea where to even begin.

Worried that he might handle them too roughly and tear what looked like very expensive garments, he hesitated for a moment, then put his own old cloth shirt back on and came back out.

Hearing his footsteps approaching from behind, Ji Qingzhou assumed he'd already gotten dressed, but when he turned around, the young man looked just as disheveled as before, only with an embarrassed flush now coloring his face.

"What's wrong, don't know how to put it on?"

Zhu Renqing nodded silently, thinking to himself that he really was a blockhead, unable to do anything without his employer having to teach him.

"Then I'll help you."

Ji Qingzhou had long since grown accustomed to helping models dress and adjusting their outfits, and was quite practiced at it.

Seeing that Zhu Renqing didn't refuse, he stood up and set his teacup down on the wooden rack against the wall.

Just as he was about to close the shop door to help his model change clothes, a loud, ringing voice suddenly carried over from a distance.

"Brother Ji, Ji Qingzhou! Haha, sorry, I'm running late!"

Ji Qingzhou turned toward the sound, and saw a figure in a riot of colors running over from the mouth of the alley.

Luo Mingxuan had changed into an outfit today that was even more flamboyant and exaggerated in color than yesterday's.

Over a apricot-yellow lake crepe long robe, he wore a dark purple Ningbo silk riding jacket. The robe's sleeves and hem were trimmed with deep red embroidered edging, and even the surface of his shoes was embroidered with colorful flower patterns.

In short, it was all flash and no focus, and it was honestly hard to tell what he was even going for with this whole outfit.

But the overly gaudy and bright color combination of the outfit was one thing. What really made Ji Qingzhou's vision go dark was his hairstyle.

Actually, Ji Qingzhou had already found yesterday's slicked-down center-part hairstyle ugly enough. He hadn't expected today's hairstyle to somehow be even worse.

Building on the center part, he had divided the slicked-down hair into two sections, combing them out into wave-shaped curves against both sides of his forehead. It was simply unbearable to look at.

Ji Qingzhou could safely say he had never in his life seen such an elaborately crafted ugly hairstyle.

So even though it was rude, he couldn't help asking the moment they met: "Who did your hair for you?"

"Huh? I did it myself!" Luo Mingxuan, thinking he was admiring his skillful handiwork, walked into the shop quite pleased with himself, touching his wave-shaped center-parted bangs in front of the full-length mirror.

"It took me half an hour, and I used half a tin of hair oil to set it. So, isn't it stylish?"

"It's as disgusting as an earthworm flattened on the road on a rainy day."

"Ah—"

Luo Mingxuan turned his head and stared at him in shock, simply unable to believe that such a sharp and stinging assessment could come out of that handsome mouth of his.

Being this rude actually made it hard to even feel angry about it.

"Is it really that disgusting?" Luo Mingxuan checked the mirror again. For someone normally so full of confidence, it was rare for him to feel a flicker of self-doubt.

"It does kind of look like a flattened earthworm."

"What am I going to do, even I can't really stand looking at it myself..."

Off to the side, Zhu Renqing, holding the clothes, nearly burst out laughing.

Ji Qingzhou shook his head wordlessly, took the design sketch out of the table drawer, and handed it to him, saying: "Take a look, see if there are any issues."

Luo Mingxuan was in no mood to look at drawings at this point, and upon taking the sketch just nodded blankly: "No issues, looks great."

Ji Qingzhou didn't dare look closely at his hairstyle, and seeing him sitting dejectedly in front of the sewing machine with the sketch, showing no sign of leaving, he simply went ahead and closed the shop door, turned on the electric light, and started helping Zhu Renqing change clothes.

"Actually it's not that ugly, is it? This morning when I went fishing, my cousin even said this hairstyle of mine was quite novel and distinctive, like the coin-pattern hairstyle of a Kun opera performer!"

Luo Mingxuan had wandered back over to the mirror at some point without anyone noticing.

"It's ugly in a quite distinctive way," Ji Qingzhou replied while adjusting the waistband of Zhu Renqing's trousers.

"Do you really have to put me down like this?" Luo Mingxuan tried to resist this verbal assault: "I think you've been spending too much time with Brother Yuan, your mouth has gotten just as sharp as his."

"If you insist on thinking that way, then there's nothing I can do about it."

"......"

The 'playboy's manual of comebacks' showed its full power in this moment, and Luo Mingxuan racked his brain for a long while without managing to come up with a single effective retort.

He could only turn his face away dejectedly, fixing Ji Qingzhou with a wronged, reproachful gaze, trying to make him feel guilty.

But as he kept looking, his attention gradually drifted over to Zhu Renqing.

At first he had assumed this shabbily dressed young man was just some hand at the shop. But as Ji Qingzhou dressed him in the artemisia-green silk shirt, fitted him into the beautifully draping trousers, buttoned them up, and adjusted the shoulder line and waistline of the clothing, the young man's whole bearing transformed entirely.

Ji Qingzhou undid two buttons at the collar of his shirt, adjusted the angle of the collar's fold, revealing the delicate curve of his collarbone and his long, slender neck.

The shirt's hem was first tucked into the waistband of the trousers. After looking over the overall effect, Ji Qingzhou wasn't quite satisfied, so he reached over and pulled part of it back out, still wasn't satisfied, and so pulled the whole thing back out entirely.

Finally, he undid the buttons at the shirt's cuffs as well. Ji Qingzhou had Zhu Renqing take off his shoes and stand barefoot on the floor, giving instructions step by step:

"Lift your head up, open your shoulders a bit more."

"Stand straight, but not too straight."

"Don't look at me, close your eyes, imagine you're walking through a field at night, with an endless sky of stars stretched out before you."

"You should feel lonely, but you're also free, fearless, looking down on everything."

"No good, your expression is too stiff..."

Ji Qingzhou furrowed his brow slightly, and softened his tone a bit: "Try to recall how you felt, the first time we met."

The first time we met... It was as if a basin of ice water had suddenly been poured over Zhu Renqing's whole body. His pale-colored eyes looked toward Ji Qingzhou, but he couldn't read any deliberate contempt or mockery in the other's eyes, only an attitude of focused attention.

He gradually relaxed, looked away, and emptied his mind.

Back when he was in the cage, he had often gotten through that time by emptying his mind like this...

Luo Mingxuan no longer had any time to spare wondering what exactly this young man's relationship with Ji Qingzhou was.

Watching the man follow Ji Qingzhou's instructions step by step, changing his standing posture and adjusting his facial expression, transforming from that initial stiff, awkward kid who looked like he'd stolen someone else's clothes into a proud, cold, yet somewhat lonely fallen young master, Luo Mingxuan's mouth fell open into an "O" shape.

"How was this done, what just happened?" He couldn't help asking out loud.

But Ji Qingzhou had no time to attend to him. He stepped back a few paces and looked over his model, then sighed inwardly with satisfaction, Zhu Renqing was indeed suited to this style after all.

"That's good, remember this state you're in now," He gave one final reminder.

He hadn't originally wanted to bring up what happened when they first met, for the other man that was truly an unbearable experience.

But without provoking him like this, he found it very difficult to draw out the kind of emotion he wanted from him.

That kind of aloof, untamed quality, close to what poets and artists possessed, an arrogance born of talent, but without the melancholy that so often accompanied them.

What he wanted was the arrogance and unrestrained quality flowing from deep within the man's bones, that worldly-detached, weary-of-life feeling that delivered an even greater visual impact than the beauty of his features or body alone.

A model lacking that sense of story, no matter how much technique he had, was just a professional mannequin, incapable of bringing any inspiration to a designer.

And right now, although Zhu Renqing had found the state, it still wasn't quite enough.

Ji Qingzhou reached out and tousled Zhu Renqing's hair, clicking his tongue in mild dissatisfaction.

Though this messy head of hair did have a certain artistic quality to it, it was ultimately too disorderly.

He glanced at his watch. They'd already lost half an hour anyway, so a bit more wouldn't make much difference.

"Let's go, I'll take you next door to get your hair done."

As he said this, Ji Qingzhou opened the shop door, and was just about to take Zhu Renqing next door when he suddenly remembered there was still someone else in the shop. He turned his head toward Luo Mingxuan and asked: "Do you have something else?"

"You're taking him to get his hair done? Who is he anyway?" Luo Mingxuan asked, puzzled.

"My model."

"A model? You tailors are like painters now, hiring models too?" Luo Mingxuan couldn't quite understand it.

"What's so hard to understand about it, it's the same as those mannequins in shop windows, both are for showing off clothes, except mine is a living one that can move."

Hearing this explanation, Luo Mingxuan felt it actually made a fair bit of sense.

Recalling Ji Qingzhou's almost miraculous ability to transform the young man, he couldn't help asking: "Can I go watch too?"

"Suit yourself," Ji Qingzhou replied indifferently.

He then led the silent Zhu Renqing and the curious Luo Mingxuan into the barbershop next door.

The barbershop's owner, Boss Ge, had just finished with a customer. Ji Qingzhou directly sat Zhu Renqing down in the chair in front of the mirror, and described to Boss Ge the effect he wanted. Worried the man might not understand, he even specially drew a sketch of the hairstyle.

Having run his shop in the concession for so many years, Boss Ge was naturally a skilled barber.

After looking over Ji Qingzhou's sketch, he wore a calm, composed smile and made a gesture indicating no problem, then picked up his comb and scissors and got to work.

After a round of trimming and a perm, Zhu Renqing ended up with a head of fluffy, slightly curled short hair.

It was called 'short' hair, but it wasn't really that short, the longest part reached close to the base of his ears.

Right after the perm the effect was a bit too poofy, almost like an afro, but after Ji Qingzhou personally got hands-on with it, using a comb and a small amount of pomade, it took on that carefully crafted, languid look he'd been going for.

At this stage, the model transformation wasn't really complete either, there were still gaps to fill, like shoes, accessories, and makeup, among other things.

But Ji Qingzhou was just testing Zhu Renqing's potential for now, he hadn't been thinking of turning the man into his marketing tool right away, sending him out to all kinds of public places to promote his clothes.

His business had only just gotten started, and getting this far in the trial was already enough.

Besides, it wasn't early anymore, about time to close up shop and head home.

After paying Boss Ge for the haircut, Ji Qingzhou brought the still-confused Zhu Renqing and Luo Mingxuan back to the shop.

The former's confusion came from not understanding why his employer would spend money to get his hair done. The latter's puzzlement was over how on earth Ji Qingzhou had worked whatever magic he'd worked on Zhu Renqing, how in just two short hours that poor, shabby-looking kid had completely transformed into someone else!

Holding onto the thought of 'if it worked for him, then it'll definitely work for me too,' the moment Luo Mingxuan got back to the shop, he grabbed Ji Qingzhou's wrist with great excitement written all over his face and said: "Big Brother, my own dear Big Brother, I want a makeover too!"

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