Chapter 2: The First Step of Transformation

"Creak~" The sound of a door opening rang out.

Sheng Jiaoyang, who was drying her hair in the bathroom, felt a start. She poked her head out to look toward the door, just in time to see Xu Qing walking in.

"Why are you back already?" Wasn't she supposed to be at work? It wasn't even four in the afternoon yet. Xu Qing had left around one o'clock; even accounting for travel time, she had only worked about two hours.

Hearing her daughter's voice, the heaviness on Xu Qing's face quickly vanished, replaced by a forced smile as she replied, "The boss let us leave early today."

"Oh." Sheng Jiaoyang pulled her head back and continued drying her hair.

Taking this shower had been no easy feat. After researching in the cramped kitchen for quite a while, she had finally found an electric kettle in a hidden corner to boil hot water for use.

The terrible thing was that only after finishing her shower did she realize that this girl, Xu Jiaojiao, didn't own a single piece of skincare product.

"Jiaojiao, didn't you eat lunch?" By this time, Xu Qing had noticed the untouched food sitting on the dining table.

Sheng Jiaoyang hung her towel on the wall, brushed her half-wet bangs aside with her left hand, and stepped out of the bathroom, offering a casual, perfunctory reply: "I didn't have an appetite."

Seeing Sheng Jiaoyang, Xu Qing froze. She felt that the daughter before her was somewhat different from the one she had seen before leaving for work. She studied her with extra scrutiny and suddenly noticed her daughter's clothes: "This outfit of yours..."

"It's an old garment that was altered," Sheng Jiaoyang said, pointing to the scraps of cloth on the floor by the bed.

"Oh, right," Sheng Jiaoyang looked at Xu Qing, "The teacher just called to tell me to come pick up my admission notice. Since you're back early, accompany me to the school."

"The admission notice is out? That's wonderful! Let's go right now then." Hearing about the admission notice, Xu Qing's face lit up with pleasant surprise.

The corners of Sheng Jiaoyang's mouth curled up slightly.

Following Xu Qing through several winding alleys, they arrived at the school's back gate. Sheng Jiaoyang was surprised to find that Xu Jiaojiao's school wasn't actually far from where they lived.

As Xu Qing came to a halt, Sheng Jiaoyang immediately said, "The teacher said he's waiting for us in his office."

Sure enough, Xu Qing led Sheng Jiaoyang toward a certain building.

When they met the teacher who had called Sheng Jiaoyang, he was sitting behind his desk, scrolling through his phone.

"Teacher Jiao," Xu Qing greeted him proactively.

Teacher Jiao looked up, and upon seeing the two of them, a smile spread across his face: "Jiaojiao's mother is here too."

"Thank you for waiting for us here, Teacher."

"It's what I should do. The admission notices for the first batch of voluntary applications have all come in. As her homeroom teacher, the last thing I can do for these children is to hand the notices to them personally."

Xu Qing nodded, her eyes looking expectantly at the admission notices under Teacher Jiao's hand.

Noticing Xu Qing's gaze, Teacher Jiao smiled and handed over Xu Jiaojiao's admission notice, saying, "Jiaojiao performed quite well; she was admitted to F University, the best university in our province."

"However, Jiaojiao," Teacher Jiao looked at Sheng Jiaoyang, "I remember when I asked about your preferences before the Gaokao, you said you wanted to choose a finance-related major. I didn't expect you to be more interested in language majors..."

"The English Department of the School of Foreign Languages?" At this moment, Xu Qing also clearly saw the contents of the admission notice. She looked at Sheng Jiaojiao in shock.

Both the teacher's words and Xu Qing's expression caused Sheng Jiaoyang's eyelid to twitch. Could there be some unknown secret behind the preference the original owner had filled in?

On the way back, Xu Qing finally couldn't help but ask, "Jiaojiao, on the day you filled in your preferences, you told me your first choice was a finance major. How were you admitted to the English Department instead? Did you follow the major allocation?"

"Maybe," Sheng Jiaoyang replied with an air of indifference, "English is also quite good."

"But English is your weakest subject!"

Uh...

Sheng Jiaoyang blinked. Right, she had almost forgotten she was currently playing the role of Xu Jiaojiao.

"Jiaojiao, do you think you should repeat a year? Otherwise, studying will be very difficult," Xu Qing said in a negotiating tone.

"No!" After saying it, Sheng Jiaoyang realized her tone was too harsh. She cleared her throat and softened her voice: "It's fine. I've realized now that an English major is actually quite good. Whether it's going abroad or joining a foreign company, you have to be good at English first, right? Since I was able to successfully get into university, my learning ability must be decent. At worst, I'll just have to spend more time on English later."

To be honest, at first, Sheng Jiaoyang was quite worried that this girl Xu Jiaojiao might have chosen a Chinese Literature major! One had to know that she had lived in Europe with her grandfather since she was ten, and later studied Financial Management to become her grandfather's excellent successor. If she had been admitted to a Chinese major, then she would have had to consider the matter of changing majors.

"You'll have to work even harder in the future, Jiaojiao," Xu Qing said helplessly.

"Mhm." Sheng Jiaoyang brushed aside her somewhat eye-stabbing long bangs, then suddenly stopped.

"Do you have any money on you? I want to get a haircut."

Seeing Sheng Jiaoyang constantly messing with the bangs on her forehead, Xu Qing said, "I'll help you trim them when we get home."

"I want to change my hairstyle. This one is just too tacky; it's hard for me to even find the words to criticize it."

Xu Qing's expression stiffened. Her daughter's hair had been managed by her since she was a child...

"Alright, then let's go to a barbershop." Xu Qing patted her pocket, and upon remembering the money situation, her face filled with worry.

Because of her nearsightedness, Sheng Jiaoyang had to focus more energy on her footsteps, so she didn't notice the change in Xu Qing's expression. Her mind was currently entirely occupied with thinking about what kind of hairstyle would suit her best.

They wound their way back toward the area near the utility payment hall, and directly opposite the bus stop was a barbershop measuring less than 20 square meters.

"Welcome!" As they entered, a tall, thin, "Shamate" style male employee immediately came forward to greet them.

"My daughter wants to change her hairstyle," Xu Qing said.

"Alright, this way please—"

Sheng Jiaoyang surveyed the shop with a critical eye. This was her first time in such a small barbershop; looking at the decor and the various eccentric hairstyles of the employees, she had already given up hope on the barbers' skills.

Seeing the Shamate employee about to lead her to the washing area, Sheng Jiaoyang quickly said, "I just washed my hair, just cut it directly."

"Alright, then please sit here first." The Shamate employee pulled out a hydraulic chair.

Immediately after, another young man with a more decent-looking buzz cut approached. He stood behind Sheng Jiaoyang's chair, observing her through the mirror in front of her, and asked, "What kind of hairstyle do you want to change to?"

"Do you have a pen and paper?" Sheng Jiaoyang asked instead of answering.

The buzz-cut youth found it somewhat baffling, but the customer was king after all, so he turned to call someone to bring a pen and paper to hand to Sheng Jiaojang.

The shop wasn't large, so any movement was noticed by everyone; whether they were there for a haircut or were employees, they all looked over curiously.

Sheng Jiaoyang ignored the gazes of others. She spread the white paper on the dressing table in front of her and began to draw with swift, rhythmic strokes. Amidst her flowing brushwork, the head of a girl with a playful, short, choppy hairstyle emerged vividly on the paper.

The barber standing behind her was already stunned.

The curious employees who had walked over were also dumbfounded.

Even Xu Qing, who was waiting nearby, could not hide the surprise on her face.

"Alright, cut it like this," Sheng Jiaoyang stopped her pen, pointed her slender fingertip at the white paper, and glanced at the barber, "No problem, right?"

The barber snapped out of it, looked at Sheng Jiaoyang in amazement, and said, "No problem! I didn't expect a beauty like you to be an art student."

So much nonsense. Sheng Jiaoyang leaned back against the chair. Seeing that the barber was preoccupied with showing her drawing to others, she urged impatiently, "Please hurry up."

"Alright, right away."

Xu Qing sat beside her, her heart filled with complex emotions. Two days ago, when she received the call saying Jiaojiao was in the emergency room, she felt like her soul had half escaped her body. Although raising her daughter alone all these years had been hard, she felt it was worth it; moreover, Jiaojiao was very driven, and her academic performance had always been excellent. Who would have thought that one day she would hear that her well-behaved and sensible daughter had been hit by a car and sent to the emergency room?

The traffic police had shown her the surveillance video from the accident scene. The responsibility did not lie with the driver. At the time, Jiaojiao had been crying while crossing the road; the driver had slammed on the brakes, and although Jiaojiao was still knocked down, she had no injuries other than a mild concussion from hitting the back of her head on the ground. On the contrary, the driver had run into trouble; it was said that the sudden braking caused excessive cardiac load, leading to a heart attack.

She didn't know what had happened to her daughter that day. She wanted to ask but didn't dare. Whatever could make her daughter so heartbroken and despondent must be a wound that could never be touched again.

Fortunately, Jiaojiao seemed to have become more cheerful because of it... yet, she felt like she understood her less and less.

She didn't know that Jiaojiao was actually so good at drawing. Previously, Jiaojiao had never drawn at home; as soon as she graduated, Jiaojiao had sold all her books, workbooks, and other papers to the scrap collector. Now, there were no traces left of Jiaojiao's studies.

Watching Jiaojiao's appearance slowly change under the barber's scissors, Xu Qing felt a sense of guilt. Because her abilities were limited, she hadn't been able to provide her daughter with good living conditions all these years; to save money, even her hair had been cut by Xu Qing herself.

"Done." The barber's voice interrupted Xu Qing's wandering thoughts.

Sheng Jiaoyang also opened her eyes. What met her gaze in the mirror was a brand-new self—the thinned-out choppy bangs on her forehead highlighted her quite beautiful eyes, and the playful short sideburns left on her cheeks made her small chin appear even more delicate and cute. The entire short hairstyle was playful, lively, and full of a youthful, girlish vibe.

"How is it?" the barber asked expectantly.

"It's alright," Sheng Jiaoyang replied indifferently.

"Beauty, can we take a photo together?"

"No," Sheng Jiaojang glanced at the rather eager barber, "I'm not a celebrity; I don't like taking photos with strangers."

Moreover, she could tell at a glance that the barber wanted to use her portrait for advertising.

"Then can you leave this drawing for us as a souvenir?" the barber asked persistently.

"What are you offering in exchange?"

The barber froze, clearly not expecting that this drawing would require an exchange. However, he quickly reacted: "I won't charge you this time."

"Fine. I'll draw another one, and you can do her hair too," Sheng Jiaoyang pointed at Xu Qing.

"No problem!" the barber agreed readily.

"No, there's no need!" Xu Qing hurriedly waved her hands.

"It's free, why wouldn't we want it?" Sheng Jiaoyang looked at Xu Qing strangely, and without waiting for a response, went back to drawing.

If she had money on her, she would have dragged Xu Qing to a salon to undergo a complete makeover from head to toe long ago. To let such a beautiful foundation be wasted into this "yellow-faced woman" look was truly too much.

Xu Qing's hairstyle was much harder to manage than her own; it required not just trimming but also perming and straightening. The barber had no complaints and worked briskly according to her design, but because of the perming and straightening, it took nearly four hours to finish the hairstyle. Midway through, the barbershop provided them with two fast-food meals.

A hairstyle can truly directly affect a person's appearance and temperament. After changing her hair, Xu Qing seemed to have undergone a complete transformation; she looked like a completely different person compared to her previous ponytail look.

While admiring his masterpiece, the barber praised, "Beauty, with this talent, you could totally be an image designer."

The Shamate employee assisting him couldn't help but chime in: "With this height, the beauty could totally be a model. Look at so-and-so, how well they've done, even more famous than average celebrities."

"That person is a world-class supermodel. There are so many models, how many actually achieve success?" the barber said with a pout.

"But models make money fast! Isn't there a supermodel selection program recruiting contestants recently? The winner gets a million-dollar prize directly. Even if you don't win the championship, the runner-up and third place get prize money too. Many people are signing up now; even my sister went to sign up. Beauty, you could try too; who knows, you might make it to the finals!" The Shamate employee spoke enthusiastically for quite a while.

"My daughter just got into university, F University."

Xu Qing couldn't help but say. She always felt that studying was the only proper way out, especially since her daughter had been admitted to a key university.

The Shamate employee wanted to say more, but after being glared at by the barber, he sheepishly shut his mouth.

"Haha, one can tell just by looking that your daughter will be very successful in the future," the barber said with a laugh.

"Thank you!" Xu Qing's expression softened.

"Let's go." Sheng Jiaoyang stood up.