At the guesthouse.
After washing up, Li Jianqun combed her hair in front of a small mirror. Her hair was thick and sleek, requiring careful grooming every day. Once her hair was done, she put on a white button-down shirt and a long white skirt that draped down to her ankles.
She was very fond of white clothes.
Normally, a long skirt was meant to be paired with high heels, but she disliked them. Instead, she took out a pair of vintage-style women’s cloth shoes she had embroidered herself. As an art student, she naturally enjoyed making things with her own hands, held her own views on dressing, and possessed a rather free-spirited temperament.
Her room was proof of that—none too tidy, strewn everywhere with sketches and books.
She went downstairs and ate breakfast at the cafeteria.
Afterward, she headed to a warehouse specifically set aside for storing costumes, which also had a small dressing room and makeup room partitioned inside.
"Good morning, Manager Chen!"
"Morning. Let me introduce you."
Chen Qi was already there. He called He Qing and Tao Huimin over and said, "Only their outfits are left to settle. I had them come in today for a live fitting so we can see the results more clearly. You two, call her Teacher Li!"
"Hello, Teacher Li!"
The two girls greeted her obediently. Li Jianqun waved her hands in embarrassment. "How could I deserve to be called 'Teacher'? Just call me by my name."
"They're younger than you, so they shouldn't just use your name. I've set a rule: all technical posts are addressed as 'Teacher' from now on. It makes things simpler... All right, let's get started!"
Chen Qi picked up one of her design drafts. "I asked for an eerie, alluring beauty. This draft falls far short—it's too dated."
"Dated?"
"It looks like something from twenty years ago, with no sense of freshness. Don't be afraid to break the mold. The bolder, the better."
"But I really can't grasp that feeling. What do you mean by an eerie beauty? How can something be both sacred and seductive?"
"Let me think..."
Chen Qi's eyes darted as an idea struck him. "How about this? The warehouse is right behind us. You pick an outfit for He Qing, and I'll pick one for Tao Huimin. Then we can compare and discuss from there."
"All right, that's a good approach!"
Li Jianqun arched an eyebrow, her competitive spirit as a professional art student piqued.
And so the two stepped into the warehouse, each bringing out a set of garments. Chen Qi possessed countless memories from watching films, his mind stocked with classic imagery from all eras, but he lacked technical design vocabulary and couldn't articulate them properly. Hands-on styling worked much better for him.
Poor He Qing and Tao Huimin were turned into living mannequins, and Chen Qi brought in two makeup artists to assist. Li Jianqun was one of his chosen core crew members, well worth the effort.
After a long stretch of busy work...
Li Jianqun finished first. She styled He Qing according to traditional opera conventions. Since she was portraying a bodhisattva, and the common image of a bodhisattva was well known, she placed a tall piece of white cloth draped over her head.
This white cloth was meant to represent a Buddhist shrine enshrining Amitabha Buddha. To repay Amitabha's prophecy of enlightenment, the Guanyin Bodhisattva carried Him upon her crown.
He Qing now wore this very styling.
When the two of them turned to look at Chen Qi's side, they were startled.
Chen Qi had placed a similar cloth over Tao Huimin, but it was bright crimson, evoking the bridal veil of an ancient wedding. The earrings he chose were equally bold—strands of glass beads cascading from her fair, tender earlobes.
Her makeup was striking and vivid, her eyes glistening like clear autumn pools and her cheeks flushed with the glow of peach blossoms.
Tao Huimin was still young, yet dressed like this, she radiated an unmistakable delicate allure. What made it captivating was how clean and refined her features were; that innate purity contrasted with the seductive styling to create an enchanting tension.
"I don't know the first thing about clothing details, so I'll leave that to you."
"Make the makeup a touch more refined."
"When the time comes, we'll find eight burly, broad-shouldered women to carry a lotus throne, with the two of them standing on it back-to-back..."
Chen Qi dusted the rouge from his hands and asked, "This is the feeling I want. Understand?"
Li Jianqun circled Tao Huimin several times, finding it almost hard to believe. She had plenty of technical skill, but lacked practical experience, which left her constrained and hesitant to push her imagination.
A bodhisattva!
Who would dare style one like this? It was supposed to be like Zuo Dabin—dignified, solemn, and majestic!
Li Jianqun paused in thought for a moment before speaking. "I think I understand the feeling you're after. The red cloth should be soft and light, like a sheer veil masking the face, hinting at what lies beneath.
"You want an eerie, supernatural allure... Can I interpret that as a primal, mysterious, er... sexual attraction?"
She whispered the last words softly.
In this era, people turned pale at the mere mention of sex. Li Jianqun felt a little embarrassed too, though she was far bolder than the general public—she was an artist, after all.
Anyone who dared to venture alone to Beijing in the mid-1980s and go on to spend a lifetime without marrying or having children possessed a core temperament that was anything but frail. Beneath her gentle exterior, she was sharp and fiercely independent.
*Clap!*
Chen Qi clapped his hands, suddenly energized. Talking to smart people was always a pleasure. "Yes, exactly! That's the feeling!"
"Now you're truly making me feel ashamed!" Li Jianqun sighed, shaking her head. "You're clearly an expert pretending not to know anything. It makes me lose confidence in my own work."
"No, no. I just have plenty of wild ideas, but I don't know how to execute them. I can provide the spark, but the actual craft is entirely up to you. Just design along these lines... Oh, right, you have a small role in the movie too. Don't look down on it. Here are your lines and character profile."
Chen Qi pulled a few more sheets of paper from his bag and asked, "Who are you rooming with at the guesthouse right now?"
"I'm staying alone for the moment."
"I see. If you're uncomfortable with anything, just let me know, and I'll arrange a swap. If you run into any difficulties, don't hesitate to speak up. You're part of my crew, and it's my duty to look after everyone. All right, tidy up here and then head to class."
"All right. Goodbye, Manager Chen!"
He Qing and Tao Huimin went off to wash their faces and change clothes, while Li Jianqun looked over the brief script notes: she was to play an ordinary woman of the lower class whose husband fell ill. Lacking the money for medical care, she turned to the Red Lantern for salvation, only to end up shot dead by foreigners...
With just a few strokes, a vivid figure emerged.
*He really is talented!*
In this era, everyone was broke; talent and work units were what truly made a person appealing.
*I hear he's close to Sister Gong Xue. How wonderful...*
Li Jianqun felt a sudden wave of envy. Then she thought of her own boyfriend. The modern buzzword for a clueless "straight guy" did not exist yet, but in her eyes, he was the textbook definition of an emotionally dense man—someone who wouldn't even think to check on her when she was sick, leaving her to take care of him instead.
Still, they had been together for several years and had no immediate plans to split up, leaving her feeling deeply conflicted.
Twenty minutes later.
Li Jianqun arrived at the studio. Li Wenhua was in the middle of a lecture. Seeing her come in, he smiled and said, "Allow me to introduce everyone: this is our costume designer, who will also be playing a role in the film... Let's give her a warm welcome!"
Applause broke out.
Amid the polite clapping, subtle looks crossed everyone's faces as their gazes darted back and forth between her and Gong Xue, as if comparing the two.
Quite simply, they were wearing the exact same outfit!
Both wore white shirts and white skirts. The only difference was that one wore high heels while the other wore cloth shoes.
Li Jianqun stood around 167 centimeters tall, slender and tall with flowing hair, radiating the trendy aura of an artistic youth. Gong Xue was slightly more petite, with more delicate features and the full boost of her celebrity status, practically glowing with stardom.
Gong Xue was taken aback for an instant before waving at once. "Jianqun, come sit over here!"
"Sister Gong Xue!"
Li Jianqun was delighted to see her and hurried over, whispering, "Xiaoying went straight back to Shanghai. She told me to send her regards, and said not to forget her matter, or else she'd tell Mom and Dad."
"Humph! That little girl, daring to threaten me with our parents? I think I'll leave her hanging for a few months!"
Gong Xue knew this was about introducing her younger sister to acting work, so she didn't take the threat seriously. She asked, "What role are you playing?"
"A woman in the Red Lantern. Around a dozen scenes."
"Will you be staying with the crew the entire time?"
"Manager Chen said I probably should."
"That's wonderful! I tried on the clothes you designed for me; they look even better than the ones in the first film..."
The two whispered for a bit, then settled down to listen to the lecture.
The male crew members present were in high spirits. They had never enjoyed such treatment on the first film! Back then, it had been a dozen martial artists gathered together, dripping with sweat and brotherly camaraderie, with Gong Xue as the sole beauty.
The second film had finally seen an upgrade!
Gong Xue, Li Jianqun, He Qing, Tao Huimin—though some were older and some younger, every one of them was a beauty. As the saying went, when men and women worked together, the labor was never tiring!
Chapter 203