Green Plum IslandCh15 - Maybe I’m Hallucinating

A few days before the rainstopping ceremony, Mr. Zhang tells Grandpa to pass on the message that I should make time over the weekend so they can practise doing my makeup.

Even though I’ve agreed to be the sky maiden, having to put on makeup still makes me feel awkward. The last time I remember wearing makeup was when I had a performance with my elementary school choir. The teacher back then made everyone wear lipstick regardless of their gender, and we all had a gold huadian painted on our foreheads too. When the class photo came out, it looked like a bunch of Buddhas had congregated and reached nirvana together. The photo shined even without having been edited. vWhPEY

When I tell Yan Kongshan I need to take a day off to try on makeup, he doesn’t say much, but Wen Ying is absolutely ecstatic.

“I can’t believe it, Yu Mian, you’re really going to be the sky maiden! Doesn’t that mean we’ll be able to advertise you on our display? You know, stick a poster of you out there saying ‘The Sky Maiden has descended, free photos for all!’. I bet it’d draw more customers.”

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Goosebumps rise on my skin at his words. Just the thought of a blown-up poster of me dressed as a woman stuck outside and everyone milling around me, wanting to take photos as if I’m a mascot of some sort is awkward to the point of suffocation.

“Let’s not…” 6AKLf7

Wen Ying ignores me and continues, “You might even get popular online. Dude, crossdressing content creators are super trendy these days.”

It’s not that I have a problem with crossdressers, but I don’t want to be one myself and really don’t want too many people witnessing me dressed as a woman. Wen Ying’s level of knowledge about crossdressers makes me think he has some kind of special fetish.

Sun Rui plans on walking the streets with him after the rainstopping ceremony–I wonder briefly if this will be yet another story of heartbreak for her. I shudder, thinking of her coming crying to me again.

Wen Ying is still going on when Yan Kongshan comes over and shoves a book into his chest, cutting his fantasising short. “Stop chatting and get back to work.”

SUiTo3

My coworker coughs and rubs his chest. Scrunching his face, he complains, “Shopkeeper, that hurt!”

Yan Kongshan has his back to him, bent at the waist arranging books on the shelf. “Sorry,” he comments nonchalantly.

***

After dinner, the doorbell rings at around seven. 2CbLlc

I rush downstairs, guessing that it’s the makeup artist and afraid that Grandpa didn’t hear the door. By the time I arrive on the landing, Grandpa has already opened the door to a smiling Sun Rui, who pokes her head in and greets him. Standing behind her is a young woman in her twenties with pink hair.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, surprised.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“To bring my cousin over, she’s your makeup artist.” Sun Rui moves aside and introduces me to the woman behind her. “Chu Tong, twenty-six. She’s a set makeup artist, she usually does makeup for celebrities.”

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I greet her, introduce myself, then lead the two of them upstairs. They each came with two large cases; Chu Zhong has a three-layer makeup case that’s about 21 cun across while Sun Rui’s case is so large it resembles a suitcase.

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“Your costume, Sky Maiden Mian Mian,” she replies, grabbing a manga that was on my pillow and plopping onto the floor to flip through the book. C6p9wj

I pray she doesn’t make me lose my page. But when I open my mouth to remind her, she’s already started reading from the beginning so I simply keep my mouth shut.

“Here, take this headband and put your hair back first.” Chu Tong finds a clear space on the ground and opens up her treasure box of makeup. Each layer is filled to the brim with products I don’t recognise. I was concerned earlier that my room would be too dark for makeup application, but that worry is quelled when I’m blinded by the LED lights that line each side of the makeup case.

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I place the rabbit ear headband on my head and sit cross-legged on the ground in front of the case, waiting for Chu Tong’s next orders.

“Let me take a look at your skin…” Gently, she moves my head by the jawline. After peering closeup at my face, she concludes in astonishment, “Your skin is amazing. I was worried you’d have puberty acne or something, but I can’t even see any pores, and your skin is so bright.” uJrqz3

“Right?” Sun Rui pipes up from the nearby mat where she’s been reading intently, her legs swinging back and forth. “Yu Mian’s skin is crazy nice and his eyes are so big and pretty. That’s why I mistook him for a girl when we were kids.”

Chu Tong wets a makeup pad, wipes down my face, then gets started on the complex task before her. “I think I’ll try Tang dynasty makeup on you. This is my first time accepting a job for a traditional-style ceremonial event, so I don’t know how it’ll turn out. Let’s just go with the flow and make adjustments later.”

“I’ll leave it to you.” I don’t know a thing about makeup so I give her the freedom to do whatever she wants.

At first, I make an effort to count all the products she puts on my face, but towards the end, so much makeup is applied one after another that I give up. iKzwgV

After a while, I start searching for things to say and make halfhearted conversation with Chu Tong because it’s hard to stay awake when you have to stay still.

I learn that in the past, they would just find any random girl on the island who knew her way around makeup to work on the sky maiden, but because this year there’s going to be a foreign documentary team recording the event, the county chief decided to be more formal. Mr. Zhang hired Chu Tong because he heard that she was a professional makeup artist on movie sets.

“We’ve gotta show those foreigners what a sky maiden descending from the heavens looks like!” were Mr. Zhang’s exact words.

I can’t decide whether I’m lucky or not. Except… at the very least, it’s not the worst that could happen. After all, if Sun Rui did my makeup, she’d probably make me look like the Buddha again. With that thought, I send a silent thanks to Mr. Zhang for his extra diligence this year. uScsgm

Half an hour passes and the makeup applying has made me so drowsy that I nearly fall asleep. Meanwhile, Sun Rui finishes two volumes of a manga and a plate of fruit that Grandpa brings upstairs.

At last, with one last flick of lip liner, Chu Tong steps away with a satisfied expression on her face. “Xiao Rui, what do you think?” she asks Sun Rui.

Sun Rui looks up from the book she’s reading, about to bite down on the apple slice in her hand. “I think…” Her voice trails off. She’s completely still, as if someone pressed pause on a video. And strangely, her mood index turns into a depressed blue. “What the hell! Why does a stupid man look better than I do with makeup on? This is unfair! Unfair!” she screeches in utter despair, hitting her fists on the ground in a spontaneous tantrum. “I refuse to accept that I can’t even compete with a man! It must be because Chu Tong, your makeup skills are too good!”

I don’t know much about makeup and can’t tell whether it’s good or bad, but the person staring back at me in the mirror is such a stranger that it scares me. nHmPNL

My face is white as paper, with blush that extends to the ends of my eyes, as well as two small red dots in each of my dimples. My mouth is drawn small with lipstick, resembling a crimson butterfly. The more I stare, the more weird it looks, until I finally look away, slightly discomfited.

“I think this has turned out well,” Chu Tong says. She brings out a super long wig from the makeup case and helps me put it on, combing it and bunching it up behind me. “We’re out of time today so this wig will do, but on the actual day, you’ll be wearing a headdress and lots of hair pins. It’ll probably be a little heavy, so you have to prepare yourself.”

Honestly with just this one wig, my scalp is already pulled so tight I can barely think. I can hardly imagine how much worse it’ll get during the actual ceremony.

Inwardly, I curse Mr. Zhang. The foreigners just want something traditional, there’s no need to be so authoritative about it! lBwMjQ

“Ahhhh, just kill me!” Sun Rui is still having a meltdown on the floor. “Yu Mian, why do you suck so much? You’re not my friend anymore! Unless…” Suddenly, she rolls up into a sitting position and continues, “unless you act as my maid of honor when I get married.”

“You’ve gone mad,” I retort, glaring at her.

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Chu Tong rolls her eyes. “Alright, that’s enough. Get his costume out,” she instructs Sun Rui.

Sun Rui pouts, but goes to open the suitcase she was carrying earlier. From it, she retrieves a white costume packed in a protective bag. 28PFXA

I assumed that whenever they mentioned “plummage,” it was simply a traditional way of refering to garments worn by deities, but the costume in Sun Rui’s hands is actual bird plummage. It’s made of three layers: The innermost layer seems like an undergarment layer of traditional Chinese wear; after that is a soft, skin-tight qipao layer. There are no complicated floral designs embroidered on it, just two cranes thread with silver string on the lapels.

The last and outermost layer is also the most flamboyant, made of delicate muslin, with sleeves that nearly hang down to the floor. The entire lower hem of the sleeves are covered in layer after layer of white bird feathers, solid and ethereal. It gives me the feeling that once I don the costume, I will ascend to the heavens and become a celestial being.

I run a hand carefully over the plummage of the costume. It’s soft and pleasant to the touch. “Is this made from real bird feathers?”

“I heard the earliest costume was, but so much time has passed, the original costume wore out a long time ago,” Chu Tong answers. “They made replicas quite a few times using the original style. This one here was made twenty years ago when they switched to using goosefeather. You’re the fourth person to inherit it.” 09bcJs

Suddenly, the costume becomes mythical to me and I start feeling the magnetic pull of tradition inside my heart… which is promptly extinguished when Sun Rui and Chu Tong get to work on tightening the corset around me.

“Seriously… guys, do we have to make it so tight?” I ask, nauseous. “Enough is enough.”

“No way!” Sun Rui exclaims in protest. “The sky maiden’s waist can’t be thicker than mine. Just accept reality!”

Chu Tong grits her teeth, pulling with all her might. “Mr. Liu’s son is shorter than you, he’s just 170 cm. It’s too late to make alterations on the costume, so just bear with it for now…” G Sxra

But that’s easier said than done.

Eventually, one of them kicks me from behind and shoves me over to the window ledge, at which point I find myself leaning over the window so that nearly my entire upper body is hanging outside, the hair from the wig on my head spilling over my shoulders, silky and smooth.

“Help,” I yelp weakly, as I feel myself being yanked simultaneously on both sides.

Right then, a breeze drifts by, messing up my hair and bringing with it a familiar smell of cigarette smoke. It takes me some time to pinpoint the source of the scent, and when I snap my head up to glance into the neighbouring yard, my eyes immediately meet Yan Kongshan’s. He stares at me somewhat dazedly, a cigarette lit between his fingers. nt7uYA

“Hey…,” I call out feebly, swallowing nervously.

We stare at each other for what feels like a millenium but is actually only a few seconds. But the thing is, in those few seconds, Yan Kongshan’s mood index rollercoasters up and down.

At first it’s white and 78, then it drops quickly to 70 and turns grey–quite possibly because my current appearance freaks him out–but after I call out to him and he realises it’s me, it goes back up to 80.

And then– “Yu Mian?” As he speaks, the murky grey colour turns into a bright, conspicuous, impossible-to-not-see… yellow. But in the blink of an eye, when I look again, his mood index has fallen down to 60 and turned into the deep black colour of fear. U25Yod

Great, I think. Sun Rui and Chu Tong have tightened the corset so tightly that I’m hallucinating the fact that Yan Kongshan’s mood index turned yellow for me.

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Translator's Note

Tang dynasty upper class women used to stick gold flakes to their foreheads in elaborate designs. The design is usually some sort of flower.

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36 comments

  1. LMFAO

    Why do I have the impression that YKS noticed his own “yellow” feelings, but after realizing that it was YM he got scared? Lolol

    Thank you for translating! Never thought I would create an acc here to comment

  2. Oho, is YKS having a gay panic? And bc of that he sees his fear? lol Now I can’t wait for the actual ceremony to start >3

    Thx for the ch ٩(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )و

  3. Yan Kongshan must have gotten scared realizing that he actually desires Yu Mian for a second. The alternation of colors must be ‘mixed emotions’ eh.

    Thanks for the chapter <3

  4. you’re not hallucinating~

    also, sorry for my fourteen -year-old-girl-who-heard-half-a-fact-and-ran-with-it-instincts (that’s a tumblr post), but corset? are they perhaps tight-lacing him? it was already mentioned that his height makes him look skinny, so a correctly made corset and other undergarments should be enough to add some shape… i just watch bernadette banner, i don’t know much.

    thanks for the chapter! ♡

  5. its really funny how yellow is the horny colour and husband kun is a bookkeeper

    thanks for the chapter!

  6. Ahhhhh! You made him horny for a sec and now he’s scared that he got horny for you! 😂. You are totally not hallucinating baby boy!

  7. White 78: oh the cute kid, grey 70: oh no he has a girl over, 80: false alarm no girl!, yellow is the one we all know: holy smokes he’s gorgeous, black: fear of gay awakening.

  8. Did he have some sort of heartbreaking love story or sth in the past? He looks like he was reminded of someone he knew when he saw Mian Mian or is it just my imagination?

  9. First it was 78 then it went to 70 and he turned grey when he saw the “girl” (did he think yu mian was banging some girl in his room and he didn’t like it?😂)

    Then he realised it was Yu Mian and quickly became happy..mood index 80 and after that he took in the whole crossdressing Yu Mian and it turned him on so he turned Yellow.

    I think it’s safe to assume that he wasn’t turned on by the beauty of the supposed “girl”. He was actually all hot and bothered by the fact that Yu Mian was dressed as a girl. Quite the fetish Mr. Yan.😉😏

    Soon he became terrified. It wasn’t because he was afraid of being gay, obviously. Most probably because he didn’t wish to lust after the “little boy” who was so young and innocent that made him feel like a pervert.😛

  10. Can’t help doubting that Shan ge has already been long turn yellow for our Mianmian but he’s just too good at controling his mood hehe