Chapter 6: Beautiful
“Do you have anything you want, Zhiyan?”
Su Xi had been fussing for a while and had changed into a decent outfit. Before she left, she had specially come back to ask for his opinion.
Su Yu was leaning against the pillow and sitting in the corner of the wall. He slowly raised his drooping eyebrows and eyes. The girl had listened to him and had changed into clothes that were warm enough. Even her hair had been tied into a loose and fluffy bun. When she lifted her dark hair, her snow-white neck was exposed to the air. Her delicate earlobes were a faint pink, and she was wearing a string of light pink diamond earrings.
“No… no.”
He shook his head, his arms hanging limply by his sides. A gentle smile covered the dark changes in his eyes. He was praying for something in his heart, his eyes staring straight at the girl’s bright and shining eyes, not daring to show a single bit of fear.
“Alright then. I’ll just buy a little. The clothes haven’t been able to dry these past few days. I should also buy you some clothes to change into. I also need to buy some more…”
Su Xi’s lips were filled with a bright smile. She had been laughing happily since just now. She sat next to Su Yu and carefully calculated the supplies she needed for the next few days with her fingers.
Her beautiful and bright eyes, which were like crystal grapes, were filled with a serious emotion. Even though she knew that this kind of day would be exposed in front of others sooner or later, she was still full of sweet thoughts and wanted to manage these short days well. She felt that her eighteen years of life could not be exchanged for this moment of happiness.
“Then I’m off. Wait for me at home, Zhiyan. I’ve ordered a wheelchair. It’s already downstairs. In the future, you won’t have to be cooped up in the bedroom all the time.”
“Yeah, thanks. It’s actually fine like this.”
“You’re so good, Zhiyan. I’ll make you something delicious tonight.” Su Xi’s face was full of a happy smile. She could hardly believe that things could have developed to this point. It was as if she had fallen into a thick and fragrant honey pot, and the sweet feeling in her heart had spread to every corner of her body through her pores.
Su Yu smiled. He didn’t show any desire for freedom. He erased any emotion in his tone that might arouse the girl’s suspicion. He stared at the girl as she slowly walked to the bedroom door. His heart was beating uncontrollably, and his palms were full of fine sweat.
“By the way… I almost forgot something.”
Su Xi had just taken a step out of the room when she suddenly stopped at the door. She turned her head and walked back. In Su Yu’s surprised gaze, she squatted down and took out a paper express box from under the bed. After a while, a few hard iron chains were held in her hand and placed in front of Su Yu.
“I bought these in case Zhiyan was not obedient. Later I thought I wouldn’t need them. It seems now…”
Su Yu stared at the few chains in the girl’s hand, which had extinguished the few weak flames in his heart. He swallowed his sticky saliva. He curved his gentle eyebrows and eyes and put on a docile posture, saying with a smile, “It’s okay. Just don’t lock it too tightly. I won’t have the strength to run around.”
“Forget it. I believe Zhiyan won’t run around.”
Su Xi put the chains back. She got on the bed, climbed in front of Su Yu, and leaned down, leaving a light kiss on the boy’s gentle and handsome eyes.
“We look like a newly married couple like this, don’t we?”
Su Yu suppressed the tickling on his eyelids and resisted the urge to resist. He sat there without moving, looking at the girl with a docile expression, without any resistance in his silence.
Su Xi was not an impatient person. After a long time, the stone should have been warmed up by her. She playfully ruffled the boy’s thick, smooth black hair and breathed hot air on his red earlobe, saying goodbye softly.
“I’m leaving now. Remember to miss me.”
…
Su Xi didn’t rush to the supermarket to buy the clothes the boy needed to change into. After she left the neighborhood, she took a car to a well-known hair salon nearby.
The hair salon was located in the most prosperous area of the commercial street. The decoration was fashionable and luxurious, and the light layout revealed a trendy style in the details.
She hesitated at the door for a while. Through the window, she could see that the shop was still relatively empty. She had a natural resistance to hair salons. When her hair grew long, she would just use a pair of scissors and follow the instructions in a book to trim it herself.
The hair salon was a place that was both familiar and strange to her. She didn’t know how many times she had peeked at the scene inside through the gaps in the windows, which were covered with fashion advertisements, but she had never walked in. Later, when she could walk into a hair salon openly, she had lost her once-persistent goal.
“Welcome. Do you have an appointment?”
“No… no.” Su Xi shook her head awkwardly, looking around in a flustered and helpless manner.
“Then… do you have any ideas in mind? Do you need a perm or a dye?”
“I…”
Su Xi didn’t understand. She had only seen some of the professional terms the other party was saying in books. She subconsciously took a step back, wanting to turn and leave. But the boy’s gentle and concerned voice suddenly appeared in her ear.
“Your hair is long. You should get it cut.”
She didn’t want to look ugly in front of the boy. This had almost become an obsession that she couldn’t get rid of.
Su Xi stopped in her tracks under the shop assistant’s confused gaze. She turned around, and her soft and sweet voice was filled with a resolute tone. “I want to look a little prettier.”
“Is that all?”
The shop assistant was stunned. The girl in front of her was already very beautiful, and her clothes were also in line with the current fashion trends. Such a beautiful girl was usually confident and flamboyant. But the girl made people feel like a withered flower. She was clearly beautiful enough to be moving if she just held her head high, but she had instead retracted her petals and was humble and timid.
“A few of the appointments are in the afternoon. There’s a teacher who is free now. You can communicate with him if you have any requests.”
The shop assistant obviously thought that Su Xi was a layman who had not had much contact with this area, so she called a more professional hairstylist to communicate with her on the spot.
…
“What hair salon? Don’t you have to pay? Just take a pair of scissors and cut it casually. You can even sell the hair you cut off. You’re such a spendthrift.”
The man’s rough and hoarse voice was as ferocious and terrifying as the squeal of a pig being slaughtered. His face was pockmarked, his pores were large, and his blood-red, wine-soaked nose drooped heavily on his face, taking up a significant amount of space.
“But others… they all call me an ugly monster. They say I’m ugly. I want… I want to be a little prettier.”
“Are you talking back to me?”
A slap landed on her ear with a thunderous sound. She was hit so hard that her head was tilted sideways, and her cheek was visibly swollen, the skin red and swollen and bleeding.
“You’re just like that slut. You’re both money-losing bitches. Why do you dress up so nicely to go out? To let other men look at you? You’re really her biological daughter. A bitch’s daughter is a little bitch.”
She covered her swollen cheek, her lips bitten hard. She didn’t dare to cry out even though it was bleeding. She knew very well that that would only lead to more brutal abuse.
Half of her ear was temporarily deaf, and the man’s hoarse and unpleasant voice gradually became blurry.
Just one slap had extinguished all her innocent fantasies about beauty in her childhood. She had never mentioned going to a hair salon again.
In her simple childhood understanding, beauty and pain were cruelly equated.
…
“Miss, what do you think?”
The hairstylist looked at the girl’s somewhat gloomy expression and thought that he had made a mistake somewhere. He carefully styled the permed and dyed hair and explained the reason for choosing this style.
“You said you’ve never permed your hair before, so your hair quality is really good. It would be a pity to cut it. This kind of slightly curled long hair is very suitable for you, and you won’t be unaccustomed to it.”
“Oh… thank you.”
Su Xi came back to her senses and let go of the nails that were almost digging into her flesh. She looked up at herself in the mirror. Her originally long hair had been cut a little shorter. It was not too exaggerated. It was just slightly curled, which made her straight and thick hair lighter and more suitable for her small face. Her features also appeared more exquisite and three-dimensional.
“If I’m not mistaken, you’d rather have the boy you like to comment, right?”
The hairstylist cleverly caught the still-hesitant emotion in the girl’s eyes. He said with a smile, “He’ll definitely like it. Which boy can refuse such a pretty little girl? You… are very beautiful.”
“I…”
Su Xi’s fair and slender fingers slid down her hair, which was dyed a dark linen gold. She stared blankly at the young and beautiful, cute girl in the mirror and murmured to herself.
“So beautiful…”
