Push Me Away When I Come, Don't Hold Me Back When I Leave - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Just Looking at Myself in Other Timelines

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“2 hours, just make me look presentable,” Xia Ruoming sat in the chair, narrowing her eyes to rest for a while. In her previous life, she knew this stylist and trusted his skills.

The stylist pinched Xia Ruoming’s face, then carefully examined her, his face darkening: “Are you kidding me, miss? Though you have good features, your skin is terrible. Your hair is so dry, just the treatment alone will take a lot of time. It’s so late now, it’s not appropriate to do makeup, and your eyebrows aren’t even groomed. No matter how busy you are, you should take care of yourself. To give you a makeover would take at least 4-5 hours.”

“It’s fine, just make me look a bit better, even if it’s just makeup. I’ll come back again in the future. I just want to see… what I would look like if things hadn’t developed this way.” Xia Ruoming’s voice was very soft, unclear whether she was talking to the stylist or to herself.

Then she continued leaning back in the chair, narrowing her eyes to rest.

The stylist was stunned for a moment. Although he had never heard such a strange request, coming to a styling salon for makeup in the middle of the night? But a customer’s request is a request, and he couldn’t ask too many questions.

With just that moment of closing her eyes, Xia Ruoming fell asleep in the chair. She really did feel very tired today.

She had no idea how the stylist applied various products to her face.

The truth is, one’s outlook on life can only be rebuilt after it collapses; otherwise, no amount of persuasion from others could wake her up. Before, Xia Ruoming thought that as long as she was completely devoted to Xu Fengwu, she would eventually change her mind. She could say she gave her all to Xu Fengwu, even wearing herself out to the point of exhaustion. Her treatment of herself was close to torture, but she was still obsessively devoted to it. When a strong person breaks down and stays broken for so long, it’s not unrelated to everything they’ve endured all along.

Xia Ruoming was actually very beautiful, and could be considered quite excellent among ordinary people. If she hadn’t focused all her attention on Xu Fengwu, perhaps her fate would have changed long ago. When she was around Xu Fengwu, she would always subconsciously feel inferior to others, especially when faced with her somewhat cold attitude. But once an opportunity is missed, it can’t be regained. She should have woken up as early as the second confession.

By Xu Fengwu’s side, she had become accustomed to being ordinary, but that didn’t mean she was content with being ordinary.

But Xu Fengwu’s harsh words woke her up, if others find you disgusting, why do you still insist on staying by their side and debasing yourself?

In her sleep, Xia Ruoming felt someone patting her shoulder. She mumbled a couple of times before waking up from her dream.

When she opened her eyes and saw herself in the mirror, Xia Ruoming was stunned. Was that really her in the mirror?

No matter how magical makeup is, it’s not a beauty camera filter. If you’re originally a crow, makeup can at most turn you into a dove; wanting to become a phoenix is just a fantasy.

Xia Ruoming’s features were originally very good, otherwise she wouldn’t have had so many pursuers. In the mirror, her previously haggard face had been powdered and now appeared perfectly fair. With the addition of blush, her cheeks had a slight rosy tint, as delicate as peach blossoms. Her enhanced eyelashes appeared longer, and her eyes, outlined with eyeshadow, sparkled like stars. Her hair was tied in a sporty ponytail, with a few loose strands hanging by her ears, swaying gently in the breeze, maintaining beauty while adding a touch of playfulness to her style.

“How is it? Hope it meets your expectations.” The stylist raised an eyebrow, seeming quite pleased with himself.

“Thank you… as expected of Master Pu.” Xia Ruoming directly took out 4 hundred-yuan bills from her wallet and handed them to him. As someone who had been reborn, she naturally knew Pu Mingfei’s rates.

“Hmm? I haven’t even quoted a price, how do you know how much I charge?” Pu Mingfei pondered, then pushed the money back. “Oh… you know that nickname, must be referred by Jiang Ruhua. Since you’re a friend’s friend, I definitely won’t charge you this time.”

Then Pu Mingfei tossed over a small bottle, which the still-processing Xia Ruoming barely managed to catch.

“What’s this?” Xia Ruoming curiously looked at the small bottle covered in English text.

“Estée Lauder Platinum. Your skin is really too damaged, it won’t recover quickly just using cucumber and milk. Although I don’t know what happened to you, and I don’t want to care about these things, but if you want a faster solution, this is clearly the best choice.” Pu Mingfei said while cleaning the table.

“Too expensive… I can’t afford this.” The Estée Lauder Platinum series cost around 1,000 yuan even in 2014, and she didn’t want to waste that much money. Xia Ruoming said softly, then put the small bottle back on the table.

“It’s a gift. I didn’t ask for your money, just take it.” Pu Mingfei showed no intention of taking back the small bottle, continuing to clean the table. “You’ve come here, don’t you know what kind of person I am?”

“A rich second generation who came to open a shop in this trashy area to be a stylist?” Xia Ruoming thought for a moment and unconsciously replied. In her previous life, Jiang Ruhua had told her some things about Pu Mingfei. She had forgotten the specifics and couldn’t recall them now, only vaguely remembering that Pu Mingfei was from a wealthy family.

“Rich second generation?” Pu Mingfei suddenly sneered, “Is that what that girl told you? Let me clarify, I have nothing to do with that family. Alright, I’m closing the shop, you should go now.”

Pu Mingfei raised his chin toward the wall clock, indicating it was already very late and not to delay his closing.

Only then did Xia Ruoming look at the clock, it was already almost 12 o’clock. She had been willful for another evening, but fortunately it wasn’t too late. Her family had already accepted that she would come home late because she used to deliver packages to Xu Fengwu, so Liu Ruoxue probably wouldn’t be furious, but she still needed to hurry home.

Pressing her suddenly aching temple, Xia Ruoming finally left the styling salon with that bottle of essence.

Just as Xia Ruoming was about to ride away, she suddenly caught sight of a shop on this street from the corner of her eye. On a blue background board, “An’s Magic House” was written in artistic font.

She remembered this shop vividly. She had never believed in fortune-telling and such things, but in her previous life she had visited this shop, a tarot card divination shop. At that time, the shop wasn’t located here. She was almost 30 years old then. Initially she didn’t believe it, but later all of the shop owner’s predictions came true, even telling her the time and cause of her death.

Curious, Xia Ruoming abandoned her plan to leave immediately and instead rode her bike to the front of that shop, pushing open the door of the “Magic House.”

“Welcome.” A familiar voice came through, identical to the one in her memory.

What surprised Xia Ruoming was that shop owner An Jinrou’s appearance hadn’t changed at all compared to her memory, as if… her appearance was exactly the same ten years ago as ten years later…

“Have we met before?” An Jinrou saw Xia Ruoming’s expression and couldn’t help but laugh softly.

“Yes, we have met… I even know that your divinations are very accurate.” Xia Ruoming responded with a smile.