Chapter 187: Makeup
Li Mu didn’t have any high hopes for the school’s performances.
But after the opening, she was really surprised.
The singing was done by a music teacher from the next class, and the dance performance had been practiced for several months. Two young intern teachers even performed a difficult dance on stage.
To Li Mu, the way the male teacher lifted the female teacher and they spun through the air looked like something you’d only see on TV.
Most of the student performances were pretty normal. Poetry readings, comedy sketches, short plays, none of them really interested Li Mu.
“Stop watching. You should go get changed,” Wang Ruoyan whispered, nudging Li Mu gently with his shoulder.
That brought Li Mu back to her senses. She checked her phone and suddenly realized that she and Yu Fan would be on stage in just an hour.
Even though the one actually going on stage would be Xiao Jing, she still froze up from nervousness.
“Should I go too?”
“What for? We girls need to do makeup and change clothes, why would you come with us?” Wang Ruoyan looked at him with dislike. “You stay here with Yuanyuan. She’s not in a good mood.”
Lin Yuanyuan was usually cheerful in class, but today she looked distracted and lifeless. Her face was blank and her eyes had no spirit.
Li Mu looked at her with a little worry, but then thought she should probably be worrying about herself instead.
“Wait, I need to put on makeup too!” Yu Fan argued seriously. “I’m going to be on the stage too. It’s rude to go on stage with an oily face, right?”
“Fine, we’ll bring you some face wash when we come back.”
Wang Ruoyan grabbed Li Mu and Chen Li by the hand and stood up from her seat. After walking a couple of steps, she turned back and reminded him, “Keep an eye on our chairs. If we lose them, we won’t have seats for class tomorrow.”
Yu Fan could only sit there helplessly, staring blankly at the few chairs.
Li Mu followed the two girls with her head down, looking like she had no will to live.
This time, she didn’t have to be sneaky. Most of the students were at the sports field watching the performances.
When they got back to the dorm, Chen Li and Wang Ruoyan started getting out their makeup, and Li Mu took out the dress she brought that morning to change into.
But just as she took off her jacket and was about to take off her shirt, she suddenly stopped moving.
“Why are you both staring at me like that…?”
“Don’t you usually go to the shower room to change clothes?” Wang Ruoyan leaned in curiously. “And I’ve never seen what you look like without clothes on!”
“I’m going to the shower room.”
Li Mu pouted and looked down, getting ready to leave.
“Wait, wait, take this skirt!” Chen Li, who was usually slow and calm, suddenly moved fast. She pulled out her pleated skirt and stuffed it into Li Mu’s hands. “Wear the skirt!”
“……”
Why did it feel like these two girls were enjoying her awkwardness a little too much?
She didn’t say no and quietly left the dorm to go to the restroom at the end of the hallway.
For the past month or so, Li Mu still kept the habit of changing into new clothes after taking a shower. Now, she didn’t need to worry about a bunch of boys staring at her anymore, but she still wasn’t used to taking off all her clothes in front of other girls.
It was a way of thinking that she had grown up with, and it wasn’t easy to change it so quickly. She didn’t even dare to look at the other girls changing clothes either.
Wang Ruoyan was always casually running around without clothes in front of her. That girl was pretty, but acted rough like a boy.
Chen Li had set up a curtain hanging down from her top bunk bed. Usually, when she changed clothes, she would open the curtain, hide behind it, get dressed, and then roll it back up and tie it in place.
Li Mu walked into the shower room with her clothes and looked at the skirt in her hands, lost in thought.
Yu Fan clearly liked the idea of her wearing a skirt more than pants...
Chen Li had once said it might be because she always wore pants, which made Yu Fan think she was still more like a guy inside, so he didn’t dare to confess his feelings...
Her face turned red as she pulled the skirt up to her waist.
“You’re a girl now, what’s there to be shy about when wearing a skirt?!”
The problem was, Chen Li was only 160 cm tall, so the pleated skirt was supposed to reach the knees. But on Li Mu, who was 170 cm tall, it became a short skirt.
Half her thighs were showing.
Her legs felt cold from the breeze.
With no expression on her face, Li Mu put on the tight white sweater. Then she looked down at her chest, which was clearly showing through the fitted top.
Usually, her coat and loose clothes would hide it, so it didn’t stand out. But now, the tight sweater really showed off her upper body curves.
“Why do I feel like I look so... flirty…”
She lowered her head, holding the clothes she had taken off, and hurried down the hallway like something was chasing her. She pushed open the door.
“Huh? You really wore the skirt?”
Chen Li looked at her in surprise, then opened the closet and pulled out a pair of thick black stockings. She handed them to Li Mu. “Put these on, or your legs will freeze. You don’t want to get cold and have joint pain when you’re older.”
Li Mu took the stockings, feeling embarrassed, and touched them. They didn’t feel like what she expected.
They were called “stockings,” but they were actually made of cotton and felt more like long regular socks.
“There’s also safety shorts,” Chen Li handed over a pair of short shorts, “so you don’t accidentally show anything.”
Back when she was still a guy, Li Mu used to complain that safety shorts were one of the worst inventions ever.
But now, she was actually happy to wear them.
At least with the shorts on, she didn’t have to worry about the skirt flying up and showing too much.
“Go change behind Chen Li’s curtain,” Wang Ruoyan said. “We’ve already used up a lot of time, we need to start the makeup now.”
Li Mu had learned her makeup skills from Lin Xi, and she was actually better at it than both Wang Ruoyan and Chen Li. But since Wang Ruoyan insisted on helping, and since she was about to sing in front of a big crowd, she figured it was better to look good and not embarrass herself.
Besides, the better she looked, the less likely people would connect the girl “Li Juan” on stage to her real self, Li Mu.
Putting on makeup for girls takes time. A simple everyday look takes about ten minutes, but for something like this, it usually takes at least an hour.
Luckily, with help from her two roommates, it only took about half an hour to finish her look.
She stood in front of the mirror, checking out her appearance.
Her legs were already straight, and the black stockings made them look even slimmer, thin enough to hold with one hand.
The short skirt swayed gently over her thighs, slightly revealing the inner part of her legs. But since she had the safety shorts on underneath, even if the skirt flew up, it was totally fine.
The white tight sweater on top showed off her waist and chest almost perfectly. After using all those makeup products, her usually cold and aloof expression now held a hint of softness and allure, making her seem like a vixen.
“Is this a little too much?” Li Mu asked, feeling unsure.
“Even if it is too much, there’s no time to change it. You and Yu Fan are on stage in ten minutes! Let’s go!”
“Alright then…”