Mo Fei sat still beneath the bright vanity lights while the two makeup artists worked around him with quiet concentration. Brushes swept gently over his skin, fingertips adjusted the smallest details, and soft clouds of powder caught the light in the air. When they finally stepped back, the room seemed to pause with them.
Mo Fei slowly lifted his gaze to the mirror.
Then turned his face slightly to the side. Even he had to admit it. He looked outrageously good.
His features were already sharp enough to draw attention on their own, but the new makeup only sharpened everything further, his skin looked flawless, his eyes deeper, his face almost unreal under the glow of the lights.
Beautiful was too ordinary a word for it.
He looked… ethereal.
The two makeup artists standing behind him had gone suspiciously quiet. Their faces were faintly red as they stared at the finished result like artists who had accidentally summoned a celestial being.
"Woah," Mo Fei said at last, openly impressed as he admired himself from another angle. "You two really know your stuff." His lips curved. "I look ethereal"
One of the makeup artists let out a small laugh, trying to maintain her professionalism. "It's the latest makeup kit Xi Beauty just developed," she explained. "You're one of the first models selected to test it."
Mo Fei met her eyes through the mirror and smiled shamelessly. "It would be nothing if it hadn't been applied by you both."
That did it.
One of the girls blushed so hard it almost matched the rouge in her kit. Mo Fei, pleased with the result of both the makeup and the flirting, casually ran a hand through his hair. Then his expression changed. He frowned at the reflection, the red hair still bothered him.
It had looked striking when he first woke up in the hospital, and he could admit that it suited the face well enough, but that wasn't the point.
The color irritated him on principle.
Red was not his color.
The memories left behind by the original body, he had dyed his hair often for different shoots and sometimes even as a disguise when he wanted to avoid attention.
This time, though, the red had been chosen for an especially stupid reason. Because that woman, the one tied to the scandal, had liked the color.
Mo Fei rolled his eyes, absolutely not, this nonsense was going.
He stood from the chair, still grumbling internally about the original body owner's questionable life choices, and followed the two makeup artists back into the main studio.
The set was already prepared with bright white backdrops. Soft, expensive lighting. Cameras positioned from every angle. Stylists moved around with clipboards while the photographer adjusted his lens and glanced up as Mo Fei stepped in.
Then the room seemed to reset itself around him.
Because once Mo Fei stood under the lights, he no longer looked like a scandal-ridden celebrity trying to patch his career back together.
He looked like exactly what he was supposed to be. A star.
Dressed in the promotional styling Xi Beauty had prepared, he moved into position naturally. He didn't need much direction. When the photographer told him to turn, he turned. When asked for a softer gaze, he gave one. When told to smile, he smiled just enough to make the shot feel expensive.
The camera clicked again and again.
And with every flash, Mo Fei seemed to settle more fully into his body.
He posed with ease, lifted with instinct.
Tilted his chin, lowered his gaze, adjusted his mouth, and let the camera chase him instead of the other way around.
The photographer looked increasingly delighted.
Models who could read direction quickly and deliver without fuss were rare.
Models who looked this good while doing it were even rarer. By the time the final shot was done, the photographer lowered his camera and gave him a satisfied thumbs-up.
Soon after, Mo Fei was escorted back to the dressing room to change and remove the makeup.
When he was finished, Louis was already waiting for him outside.
The moment Mo Fei stepped out, Louis looked him over once, then asked in his usual dry tone,
"You don't have any reaction to the makeup, do you?"
Mo Fei blinked, then shook his head. "No. I don't think so."
He looked at Louis with mild surprise. Was that concern? Was Louis actually looking out for him? How touching.
Louis gave a short nod, "You did well," he said. "The Xi Beauty representative was impressed with the shots."
Mo Fei's face brightened immediately. "Have you seen this face? It was nothing. There's nothing I can't do... "
Louis knew Mo Fei was about to start bullshitting again
He sighed, already regretting the compliment, then quickly placed a firm hand on Mo Fei's shoulder and began steering him toward the exit.
"Right, right," he muttered. "Let's go. Move it."
Mo Fei allowed himself to be pushed along, still looking deeply pleased with both himself and the universe. The shoot had gone well. His face had done its job.
And for the first time since waking up in this body, Mo Fei felt something solid settle in his chest.
This life might have started as a mess.
But he was beginning to believe he could really make it his own.
Three days had passed since Mo Fei finished the shoot with Xi Beauty.
The brand wasted no time posting the official campaign photos the very next day, and just as expected, the internet reacted like a house set on fire.
Some people questioned why Xi Beauty would choose to work with a scandal-ridden model like Mo Fei. Others praised the brand for giving him a chance. Still many, as always, simply came to throw stones because the internet had made cruelty a hobby.
The post itself had done very well, over three million likes, thousands of comments, and enough reposts to keep Mo Fei's face circling through people's feeds all day and night.
Unfortunately, a good eighty percent of the comments were still negative.
Mo Fei, however, did not particularly care.
He had long since come to a personal conclusion:
The truth was usually held by the minority.
So now, in the quiet luxury of his apartment, he sat sprawled lazily across the sofa, one leg hanging over the side, his phone in hand as he scrolled through yet another flood of opinions from strangers who had never met him and still somehow felt professionally qualified to hate him.
Mo Fei yawned. The internet is exhausting.
He tossed the phone down beside him and stretched.
Just then his doorbell rang, Mo Fei sat up.
At this hour?
Louis was busy, so it definitely wasn't him.
Aria was still away. And unless Qing Mi had come back to die in his living room, he couldn't immediately think of who it could be.
Mo Fei got up, padded over to the door, and opened it only to be immediately dragged into a crushing hug before he could even process what was happening.
"Feifei!!!" a voice practically wailed into his shoulder.
Mo Fei froze. The person clung to him with terrifying force, arms wrapped tight around his waist like they were determined to fuse with him permanently.
"Wahhhh... I thought I lost you, Feifei!" The stranger hugged him even tighter. "I haven't slept well! I haven't eaten well! Father and Mother wouldn't let me come back quickly and I was stuck doing those stupid shows and, Feifei, I'm so glad you're okay!"
Mo Fei blinked in confusion. Then looked down. The first thing he noticed was how pale the arms around him were. Then the hands, beautiful hands.
Ridiculously beautiful hands. The kind of hands that looked like they belonged in a luxury hand cream advertisement.
Then the person finally lifted his face.
Mo Fei blinked again. Huh?
The face in front of him was so pretty his brain had trouble sorting the details properly.
His skin was fair and smooth, his features delicate enough to make anyone hesitate for a second, and his expression, tearful and panicked, only made him look more fragile.
Was it a woman? No The clothes were masculine. The haircut too. This was definitely a man. A very, very pretty man.
Mo Fei opened his mouth.
"Who... " Before he could finish, the man hugged him again.
"Wahhh! Feifei, don't scare me like that ever again! I really thought you were going to die! I was stuck away and nobody would let me leave and all I could think about was you and... "
"Okay, okay, hold on," Mo Fei said quickly, trying to peel him off with increasing difficulty. "Wait a second."
He finally managed to pull the other man back enough to take a proper look at him.
And then
The memory clicked. Chen Yu, celebrity chef. One of the original body closest friends, he was same age as him. From the wealthy Chen family, the owners of the famous Chen Restaurant, a place so expensive and exclusive that people treated reservations there like a royal title.
Chen Yu was a kind and generous person, an excellent cook too.
He and the original Mo Fei had been close enough to become sworn brothers.
Mo Fei smiled sheepishly. "Chen… Yu…"
Chen Yu's eyes filled with even more tears at the sound of his own name, he looked so emotional that it seemed he might collapse right there on the spot.
He lunged forward again to hug Mo Fei.
Mo Fei threw both hands out like a traffic officer stopping a speeding vehicle. "Wait!"
Chen Yu stopped mid-step, lips trembling.
"I called and texted so many times," he said, tears slipping freely down his cheeks now. "You didn't answer anything. I was so scared when I heard you were hospitalized…"
Mo Fei blinked. Called? Texted? He had seen no such messages.
He immediately looked around for his phone.
Meanwhile, Chen Yu, having clearly decided the apartment was now his emotional territory, walked right inside without waiting for an invitation. Mo Fei turned and watched him.
Now that the initial chaos had settled a little, he could properly take him in. Chen Yu had a small build, almost delicate, but he carried himself with natural confidence. His hair was cut neatly, straight and parted, falling just enough to frame his face without touching his eyes. His skin was as pale as moonlight, and his lips and cheeks held a rosy color that made him look even more refined.
In short, Chen Yu was absurdly pretty.
Mo Fei clicked his tongue internally.
Everyone in this world is ridiculously good-looking. It was honestly starting to feel unfair.
He shut the door behind him and followed Chen Yu into the apartment, still trying to process the sudden arrival of yet another beautiful person attached to the original Mo Fei's life. And somewhere in the back of his mind, one single thought rose above the rest.
He really needed to check that phone.
Chen Yu took one slow look around the apartment, then turned back to Mo Fei with a face full of concern that still hadn't completely faded.
Mo Fei, who was beginning to suspect that everyone in the original owner's life either cried beautifully or caused chaos, frowned in confusion and asked,
"How did you know I was here?"
"Aria told me!" Chen Yu answered immediately, as if that explained everything in the universe. Which, to be fair, in Aria's case, it almost did.
Chen Yu dropped the bag he had been carrying onto the floor without a care in the world.
Then he marched straight up to Mo Fei.
Mo Fei barely had time to blink before
Bam! Chen Yu punched him on the shoulder. Not hard enough to injure him.
Mo Fei squinted in pain. "Ow."
Chen Yu glared at him, eyes still red from crying. "You scared all of us!"
Then he hit his shoulder again, lighter this time but with far more dramatic offense. "Don't ever do something like that again!"
Mo Fei looked at him for a second. Then smiled despite himself. Another person who actually cared whether he lived or died. It was… strange and warmer than he wanted to admit.
Before he could say anything meaningful, Chen Yu suddenly grabbed his hand with both of his.
"You're really okay, right?" he asked, searching his face anxiously. "Right?"
Mo Fei nodded quickly. "Yes. Yes, I'm okay."
Chen Yu stared at him for another heartbeat, as if personally verifying that his soul hadn't cracked open. Then, just as quickly as the tears had come, he wiped them away. "Good!"
And then, without warning "Now let's go. They're waiting." He immediately began dragging Mo Fei toward the door.
Mo Fei stumbled after him. "Huh? Who's waiting?"
Chen Yu didn't answer.
His tears had vanished so fast that Mo Fei briefly wondered if they had been a performance.
The pretty face was now wearing a bright, mischievous smile that screamed trouble.
Mo Fei's instincts began ringing alarms.
"Chen Yu," he said cautiously as he was pulled out of the apartment, "where exactly are we going?"
Still no answer, Chen Yu just dragged him across the hallway. Straight to the apartment opposite his.
Mo Fei eyes widened, No way.