Love O2O- Beyond a Beautiful Smile

Chapter 38- Nobody Puts Beauty in a Corner

A/N: For those interested, the title of the previous chapter "Three Matchmakers and Six Proofs" refers to traditional Chinese engagement and wedding  customs. After the proposal is made, a fortune teller will be consulted to determine the compatibility of the couple. Once deemed compatible, there are the Three Matchmakers who present six proofs to the couple. I won't say what those six proofs are, because they're going to be hidden in this chapter (or maybe they'll be blatant and I just want you to think they're hidden???) but I used this custom for the title of the previous chapter to show that the engagement process has been completed and the office has prepared the wedding banquet. There was so much information that I found when researching these chapters that I wanted to acknowledge it, even if I didn't end up including it all in the story.

Once Hao Mei grudgingly agreed to don the silk robes, a mischievous imp settled on his shoulder. If he was being forced to do this, then he'd damn well do it on his own terms. KO was sent out of the office to beg for cosplay supplies from the Art Department and, with the bird well and truly set among the pigeons, Mei thanked the gods for his years of modelling experience. He'd paid attention to the stylists and had once planned to put the skills he'd learned to use cosplaying as his Dreams of Jiangshu avatar. Never mind... they could be used now to pull the reins out of Ban Shan's hands.

By the time KO returned with arms loaded high with art supplies, Mei had rung Bei Wei Wei: her help in the matter, he'd informed her, would take the place of her red packet. When she would have continued to demur, he'd resorted to emotional blackmail;

"When did Old Man You concoct this idea?"

"Ah..."

"Tell me that he didn't have the idea incubating before returning to the office yesterday. Tell me that you didn't know what he was planning before anyone else... and you're off the hook. Completely."

"Ah..."

"You owe me."

"Okay, okay. I'll help."

In the background, Mei could hear Xiao Nai's chuckle.

"Laosan sounds like he has been injected with chicken blood. Tell him he owes me a red packet. A big one." He hung up as Wei Wei started to splutter. He didn't have time to properly curse his brothers... Ban Shan wasn't the only one who could whisper in the dark of the moon. His eldest brother wasn't going to know what hit him.

First on Mei's "to-do" list, was KO. (A/N: get your minds out of the gutter. Did I give you a smut warning? Is this chapter set as private? No? *tisks* Bunch of perverts.)

Logging in to his Galaxy Dreams account, Mei used the image of KO's avatar to guide his work until he had done a passable job at turning KO into a delicate featured Blossom Archer. When Wei Wei arrived, he set her to work fixing the wig that Ban Shan had so "thoughtfully" provided. He also made a mental note to watch his sarcasm- there was no need to completely stoop to Ban Shan's level. Wei Wei had been transfixed at the change in KO, staring at the hacker for a long minute before Mei grew impatient and pushed the wig into her face. It wasn't that the hairstyle looked elaborate- it was that Mei had a tendency to create knots if he so much as looked at long hair. It was up to Wei Wei to set the wig, brush the hair out, and then style it as if the dead straight yet completely out of the eyes locks were a natural occurrence. While Wei Wei worked on KO's hair, Mei worked on his own transformation.

    As he flicked his eyes from the computer screen, on which his Heavenly Healer avatar was smiling at him, to the small mirror he'd found in the bottom of the art supplies box, Mei continued to grumble. He couldn't help wondering why they "just happened" to have a recreation of an avatar's costume when it wasn't from a game the company was designing.