Chapter 25: A new look

At this point, I would be a fool not to understand. This man before me is clearly a master of “face changing,” with the magical ability to change people’s faces.

“Do you understand now?” The middle-aged man looked at me with a knowing look and said with a smile.

“I understand,” I said seriously, but I suddenly felt a pain in my face. So I subconsciously said, “You won’t use a knife, will you? Am I not going to be able to change back to my old self?”

The middle-aged man heard my question and a look of disdain flashed across his face. Then he said, “Your Taoist roots are deep and long-standing, and there are many things that have been lost now, but the Chinese still recognize Taoism. So it’s normal that you don’t understand some of the folk arts. After all, you are a Taoist, and folk magic is just a kind of skillful trick for you.”

The expression on the middle-aged man’s face, coupled with his tone, made me extremely embarrassed. Even if he didn’t answer me, I knew how silly my question was.

“I’m sorry,” I stood up and said to the middle-aged man solemnly.

I guess the middle-aged man didn’t expect me to apologize to him. He looked at me in surprise for a long time, and his expression softened. He looked at me with a hint of friendliness in his eyes, and then said to me in a soft tone, “It’s all right. This has nothing to do with you. Our Chinese culture has been passed down for thousands of years, and many magical and useful things have been lost due to some bad habits, such as the practice of passing on the family name to male descendants but not to female descendants. I just inherited the ancient art of makeup, but now it’s not necessarily a respected profession to make someone up. Maybe one day I’ll change careers and do makeup or something.

As he spoke, a wry smile appeared on his face, and he said, “Your beard probably just needs a trim. I’ll help you shape it when the time comes. When I’ve got my tools ready, we’ll get started.”

In the past, I thought that the art of disguise was a magical thing that only appeared in martial arts novels. I even stubbornly thought that the so-called disguise was nothing more than the ancients growing a beard on their faces and painting them with colors, and that it was exaggerated to say that they were changing their appearance.

But when the middle-aged man started to change my appearance, I realized how shallow I was and how little I understood about Chinese culture.

“The most profound art of disguise is actually a transformation from start to finish, which takes a long time. The most important thing is to teach people how to change their temperament. For example, to act like a martial artist, you need to act like a martial artist, and to act like a scholar, you need to act like a scholar. This requires the disguise artist to observe the details of the movements and speech habits of these people, and then teach them to the person being disguised.” When he said this to me, the middle-aged man was mixing some powder, and I didn’t know what it was for.

I didn’t say anything, just listened quietly, and suddenly realized that every craft is worthy of respect.

“But you don’t have to go to all that trouble! After all, you’re not going to be getting in touch with anyone, you’re just going to be meeting people who know you, so I only need to give you a simple makeover.” As he spoke, the middle-aged man put down the powder in his hand and began to build my beard.

“Don’t underestimate the role of hair and beard. Sometimes the combined effect will make people who are familiar with you unable to recognize you at a glance. Of course, it is also very important to try to achieve an effect that conflicts with your usual image. For example, a person with a kind face suddenly grows a mustache, which will greatly change the effect. The middle-aged man was very skilled, and as he spoke, my beard fell to the ground. I looked in the mirror not far away and saw that the beard he was trimming for me was the kind of beard that I often saw on TV, the kind of beard that an elegant middle-aged man would trim.

After finishing my beard, the middle-aged man began to cut my hair. I always keep my hair simple, with a short haircut with bangs in front of my forehead. Under the magical hands of the middle-aged man, my hair became a stable parting. Then he helped me comb it up and handed me a pair of metal flat glasses, saying, “Put them on and let me see?”

I took the glasses and put them on, then looked in the mirror. I looked older in the mirror, and all of a sudden I became the kind of person with a refined temperament that Cheng Xin Ge had. At first glance, I was a little uncomfortable with it being me, but then I got used to it and could still see that it was me.

“This is just the most basic change, giving people a little visual impact. At first glance, you will ignore it, but now you have to make changes in the details.” While talking, he took out a bowl of powder that he had put in a small bowl on the coffee table and mixed it. He didn’t know what he had added to it, and started to work on my hair, eyebrows, and beard, not leaving any of them alone.

Under his magical craftsmanship, my hair color and other things have changed, from pure black to a slightly yellowish color, just like when a person reaches a certain age, their hair naturally isn’t as dark, and there are some gray hairs mixed in with the hair, which is quite natural.

Any barber can change the color of one side of the hair, but to achieve the effect I have now is a real test of craftsmanship. The naturalness is not at all obvious, and the hair, eyebrows, and beard have been changed in color.

“These things that have been changed in color are my secret formula. It doesn’t matter if you wash your hair or wash your face. At least it can last for half a month,” the middle-aged man said.

Time passed by minute by minute, and the middle-aged man carefully did the work of changing my appearance. From his mouth, I learned a lot about changing appearances.

He told me that the difference in appearance between people is determined by the details, just as the distance between the skulls determines the appearance of people, whether they look good or not.

The distance between eyebrows, the distance between eyes, etc. etc. … A person who wants to change his appearance does not necessarily have to use a knife or anything. As long as he makes some small changes, his whole appearance will change drastically.

And you also need to use color to change the light and shadow effects on the face.

He was busy on my face, using special glue and other things to mess around with my face, and then smearing it all over my face. After all this busy work for a few hours, he handed me the mirror and I was shocked.

In the mirror, I had become a middle-aged man with refined features, a pale complexion, and a slightly gloomy expression, but also with a touch of elegance.

At that time, this middle-aged man gave me a technical shock that was beyond description. Even in modern times, many girls have mastered the art of makeup, and they are stunning when they take off their makeup. However, to achieve such a magical technique, you still need to practice well. That is a real makeover.

I looked at myself in the mirror and didn’t know what to say. The most important thing was that it all looked very natural, and it was impossible to tell that my appearance had changed, unless you looked at it with a magnifying glass stuck to my face.

“The stuff I put on your face is all my own special material. If you insist on washing your face or something, it may return to normal in a month or so, but to instantly restore it, you need some potions I’ve concocted.” As he spoke, he handed me a bottle and told me to keep it.

I felt that all this was really amazing, but the middle-aged man said, “The potion is not a magical thing. I am not a fake god. In fact, it is just a chemical reaction, just like the gasoline on the clothes, which can be washed away with something. It is the same effect.”

While he was talking, he came back in and brought out a set of clothes for me. It was a suit, with a matching shirt, tie, and even a briefcase.

“I don’t have time to teach you how to change your temperament, but you can remember to act a little more steadily. Your face and this suit match perfectly, and my work is done,” the middle-aged man said to me.

I took the clothes and looked at the middle-aged man and asked, “Actually, I still don’t know your name.”

“That’s not important. Go take a shower and let me apply some color to your face, neck and hands. Then you can change into the clothes and leave. Here’s some information you might need. The department asked me to pass it on to you.” As he spoke, he handed me a sealed envelope. He then returned to the silence I had seen before, as if he were a stranger.

I took the envelope and didn’t know what to say, but he urged me to take a shower again, so I did as he said.

When I finished showering, changed clothes, and came out, the whole room had become quiet. Looking closely, there were no traces of the middle-aged man left behind, including all of his tools.

I stood in the middle of the room, a little dazed, and realized that this was a true folk hero. How much do I really know about the various cultures that have been passed down in China? I thought that as a Taoist priest, I had a broad perspective, but sometimes I feel like a real frog at the bottom of a well.

After a while, I finally remembered the letter that the middle-aged man had left for me. I quickly picked it up from the coffee table. The letter was sealed and intact, just as the middle-aged man had said. He hadn’t read it.

I opened the letter and found a piece of paper inside, which was the same as the note I had seen before, and it also had an address written on it. Was that where I was going next?

I frowned slightly, not understanding what it meant. In my heart, finding my fellow students in time was the most urgent matter. At least if I found them, I would have a little bit of confidence to fight against that power.

But now… I have a feeling that I am being led by the nose again. I don’t completely trust the department. Just from the few shots that Jiang Yi gave me, I could really die if I wasn’t careful!

So what should I do? Just as I was thinking, there was a knock on the door. I suddenly felt a chill down my spine. What was I afraid of? Who was it?