Tick-tock.
One second it's a dark and dilapidated train, the next it's a warm and fragrant dressing room.
The illuminated makeup mirror, the three-tiered makeup box... and most importantly, the mannequins dressed in different ethnicities sitting in front of the mirror all indicate that this is a dressing room, and a communal dressing room at that.
One hour to go.
A casual mini-game called "International Ball".
Please design beautiful and fitting makeup looks for the models based on the poems they recited. Each player selects four models, and all models must be at least "barely satisfactory" to pass the level. (Barely satisfactory: 3 points. Average satisfactory: 5 points. Fairly satisfactory: 7 points. Very satisfactory: 9 points.)
If the model isn't satisfied, well... good luck!
Everyone looked at each other, their faces filled with confusion; even the teacher lost his expression.
"So, it's makeup?" A man in the crowd had a toothache, and a woman in the crowd sighed and was speechless.
What the hell... color language.
Men who don't know how to do makeup were about to despair, but luckily, the next second they discovered that a flat image appeared on the faces of these models, with flat lines outlining the design and options for colors and makeup materials.
It turns out it's just that kind of simple makeup game where you just choose the color, shape, and effect, and then apply it directly.
The men breathed a sigh of relief: "That's alright. As long as our aesthetic sense is correct, we should be able to get a passing grade."
"No," Ren Yifei suddenly spoke up, "the focus is not on makeup, but on the 'International Ball'."
"Haven't you noticed? These people are all wearing their own ethnic costumes: a Ming Dynasty noblewoman in a horse-face skirt, a Yamato Nadeshiko in a plum-dyed kimono, an American beauty in a little black dress... So, what would their poems be?"
The players then noticed that the models were indeed wearing classic or traditional clothing from their own countries. So, could the poems they described be related to their own cultures?
"Is this game testing world literature?" one player said with a bitter face. "I'm a science student, and I don't even understand my own country's literature."
No madness, no life
"It can't be that simple," Ren Yifei thought. He had offended the game administrators so badly that they would throw him into a game where it was so easy to get a passing grade.
Theoretically, this game will be more difficult than the last one, as it only requires makeup based on poems and is a very simple makeup style, which does not meet the fundamental purpose of the game: to kill.
With only one hour allotted, everyone had already chosen their spots, and the models dressed in their national costumes were in high demand.
Ren Yifei was a step too late; he only managed to snag one Chinese model wearing a bird-patterned deep-cut dress, while the rest were all foreign.
They are a Japanese model wearing a striped yukata, a light blonde model wearing an extravagant dress, and a brown-haired model wearing a classic long dress.
"Naru Kamino…" The Showa-era girl in the striped yukata spoke first, and her words immediately evoked the desolate, melancholic feeling often found in old Japanese films.
Ren Yifei wasn't immediately surprised that the other person was speaking Japanese. He explained the sentence in his rudimentary Japanese: Thunder... Eh? Isn't that that?
After saying the whole sentence, the sense of familiarity was so strong, yet he was just one thin layer away from remembering it. Suddenly, it was as if he had lost his memory; he couldn't recall it.
"A faint rumble of thunder... May the wind and rain keep you here for a while... This is 'Raigin Tanka' by Kakimoto no Hitomaro, included in the Manyoshu!"
He doesn't have a deep understanding of Japanese waka poetry, having only studied it briefly once while filming a Sino-Japanese co-production. Therefore, his understanding of this particular tanka (short poem) is also rather superficial.
In his view, this short song is similar in emotion to "The Rooster Crows" in the Book of Songs, Qi Feng.
"The Rooster Crows" expresses the lingering affection and intimacy of a man and woman as their tryst nears its end. "Thunder God's Short Song" also uses the setting to express the hope that the other person will stay, and the sentiment that the speaker will wait for them no matter what.
Although it's a bit inappropriate to say it like that, it really does evoke the feeling of a young woman secretly meeting her sweetheart, yet feeling melancholic about not being able to stay together forever.
Rebelling against worldly conventions, remaining true to one's own emotions and desires, deeply immersed in love, yet saddened by reality.
Therefore, Ren Yifei chose makeup colors that were mostly low in saturation and high in intensity, such as pomegranate skirt color, ochre color, and carmine color. It had a feeling of a flower in its prime beginning to wither.
After selecting the makeup look and clicking "confirm," the model's bare face immediately showed the colors of makeup powder and cream, looking even better than expected. The blush on her face had a kind of alluring beauty reminiscent of the afterglow of a lover's rendezvous.
The model herself seemed to like him very much, and she stood up and bowed slightly to him.
Ren Yifei glanced at his phone. He had just received a score of seven out of ten. The model had given him a fairly satisfactory evaluation, which should be considered a very good score, right?
"Do you speak Japanese? Can you help me?" The man standing next to Ren Yifei was almost in tears. He was the one who had said he was a science student earlier.
The player's first model was American, spoke American English, and even quoted a classic line from an old movie. So, based on his memory, the player got a passing grade of 3 out of 5, saying "I'll barely let you get away with this."
However, he wasn't so lucky the second time. The person was a Japanese woman dressed as a geisha, with cherry blossom hairpins made of silk hanging from her head, and she spoke Japanese, which the player couldn't understand at all.
"San る桜, residual る桜も..."
Ren Yifei listened carefully: "It is a line from the farewell poem of Zen Master Ryokan. 'On the branches, in the air, they will all eventually fall, all are cherry blossoms.'"
"Thank you!" This player was just trying his luck, but he didn't expect Ren Yifei to actually waste his time helping him. His eyes were almost red. "I don't know what to say, buddy. Let's have dinner together sometime, it's on me."
Then he continued to scratch his head at these verses, while cursing the mini-game: making science students do makeup and other tasks based on poems?
In fact, Ren Yifei only knew a little Japanese. Fortunately, he did not choose the model who looked like she was from the Middle East or India.
If they were to speak a word in their native language, Ren Yifei would have no choice but to kneel down... or rather, to guess and scribble something down.
The second model was wearing a classic dress with a Greek-style long skirt.
The characteristic of this type of dress is that it does not emphasize curves, and it forgoes exaggerated petticoats, emphasizing naturalness, harmony, and softness. The model's hairstyle is the same; a simple headband is all it takes to make her look beautiful.
"It's a bit like a dress from the Neoclassical period." It's roughly the kind of dress from the Pride and Prejudice era.
"Soundsleepbynight, studyandease…" The model began to speak, her voice soft and sweet, reciting poetry as if singing, and Ren Yifei listened attentively beside her.
"Sound sleep at night, studying and resting…" He listened and translated as he went through it all.
Although I don't know what poem it is, it sounds like a tranquil and natural pastoral scene, and it matches the model's outfit very well.
"It's Alexander Pope's 'Ode to Seclusion,' which speaks of escaping worldly troubles to live in seclusion in the countryside, devoting oneself to scholarship, and enjoying nature," the science student next door suddenly added, turning around to repay Ren Yifei's previous kindness.
There are actually quite a few people like them who help each other. Some players know makeup, some know history, some know poetry... Their combined efforts, while not guaranteeing a high score, at least point out the path to success.
Finally, Ren Yifei chose the soft colors 'Tongguan', 'Wozo', and 'Meirenji' with low purity, as well as 'Zhucao' and 'Zhuyantuo' which belong to the earth tone family, and only used a full silver vermilion to highlight her lips.
The model, dressed in a classic long dress, stood up and was fairly satisfied with her makeup. In the end, she gave Ren Yifei a score of 7 out of 10.
Meanwhile, the player next to Ren Yifei had already finished his second makeup session. He used a simple and crude cherry blossom color scheme and barely passed the test.
A sudden scream drew the attention of the others.
"What happened?" They looked in the direction of the voice and saw a woman in a long black dress with exquisite and beautiful makeup on her face.
"What is she saying?" The model was speaking Japanese, which the science student next door didn't understand.
"She's singing a mournful song in remembrance of her deceased husband. She's a woman whose husband has just died." Ren Yifei shook his head. The player had given the woman singing the funeral song glamorous makeup, causing the game to fail immediately.
The players watched almost as the glamorous model transformed into a demon, tears of blood streaming down her face, as she sang a song that sounded incredibly eerie at the moment, as she approached the players.
The player's eyes darted around wildly, but his body remained motionless. The mannequin, now a ghost, smiled at the player, then opened its gaping maw and swallowed the player's head.
The headless corpse fell heavily to the ground with a 'thud'.
Twenty-eight minutes have passed, and one person has died. It's so harmonious it doesn't feel like a high-difficulty game.
"Be careful from now on. If the number of deaths is too low, the game will become more difficult." A veteran player muttered to himself, using this method to remind everyone to stay vigilant and not let their guard down.
The closer you get to success, the more frantic your enemies become; the same applies to this game world.
People are becoming more cautious about games. Although the rules of games cannot be changed at will, there are still many loopholes that can be exploited.
Although they haven't played games for very long, they have a deep understanding of the shamelessness and lack of limits in games; they just think of the worst possible outcome.
Ren Yifei was now working with his third model, a light blonde woman wearing an exaggerated theatrical costume and having to stand while getting her makeup done because her petticoat was too big.
Ren Yifei guessed that the poem the model was about to recite might be related to drama, and he was right. The model recited a line from Shakespeare's classic comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream": "When I see your face, the night becomes day."
The passionate love of young people is as fiery as a furnace and as pure as moonlight.
He used many rich and vibrant colors, with high purity, yet the colors were not transparent. The color on the lips was the darkest, like a red cherry dripping with dew on a branch, a red with a hint of transparency.
She should be as youthful and beautiful as a goddess, as her lover praises her.
The model clearly loved the makeup; she gave it the highest score of 9 out of 10, then left satisfied, lifting her skirt.
There was only one model left on the scene, the Chinese girl in the bird-patterned deep-cut dress mentioned before. Her long black hair was loosely tied behind her, and she had a gentle smile on her face.
Ren Yifei let out a soft breath, feeling that he was in control.
This is a local girl, and she's reciting her own country's poetry, so she can't be any more troublesome than a foreign model.
The girl opened her mouth and said: "&#".
Ren Yifei: "...You mean, a dialect?"
Author's Note: Afei: A little game!
Mini-game: Come on, come on, hit me! Can't hit me, hehehe~