CHAPTER 172 - A FUN ADVENTURE IS HAIR!
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The next few days were quite busy for all of us. My apprentices and I took care of the farm while Fengying organized the upcoming trip, taking care of all the little details such as the new uniforms, packing cleaning supplies and other essentials, making a schedule for the staff to do all their duties, and even creating a seating plan in which the diners were arranged according to precedence. Deming mobilized his apprentices and sent word to his network of fellow chefs and suppliers to gather the rare ingredients he wanted to use, like bear paws, bird’s nests, abalone, fish maw, rare hams, and so forth.
I kept out of their way and prioritized taking care of the farm. The rice plants proved to be heat-resistant, which was a relief, but the tea plants were suffering from the excessively high temperatures this summer.
Yinuo, who was often seen with an extremely smug and self-satisfied expression on her face, helped me choose the clothing I should pack, though we did get Fengying's input. It was only an overnight trip, so I only had to choose two sets of traveling clothes that were the right mixture of elegance and simplicity.
Today, I decided to add a salon room to the main house to help people prepare for the royal visit because I felt bad that the girls didn’t have access to hairstylists and makeup artists since we lived in the middle of a forest.
I closed the door of a room that we were using as a spare guest bedroom and then used the System to change the room configuration. There was the sound of pots and pans banging, then when it was over I opened the door and we walked into the [Bambi Dream Salon].
The Adventure Incarnate developers hadn’t bought the license to use Barbie, but that didn’t stop them from making the [Bambi Dream Salon] an unsubtle homage to the iconic doll.
“This does not look like a salon.” Scholar Wu looked around the place in bewilderment.
I covered my mouth with a hand to smother a laugh. “The things from my bloodline inheritance tend to be a little… out of this world.”
The entire space was a whimsical explosion of pink, from the bubble-gum colored walls adorned with Bambi doll posters and large mirrors framed in rose quartz crystals, to the plush, cotton-candy seating areas. The chairs were molded into the shape of high-heeled shoes, complete with sparkly rhinestone accents. Overhead, chandeliers dripped with dangling crystals that cast a shimmery glow over the salon.
“It’s very whimsical.” Scholar Wu wandered around the room marveling at a large shelf full of Bambi dolls in various fashion styles such as pink goth, faerie princess, ballerina, superstar diva, biker gal, astronaut, etc. in glass cases.
“Teacher, may I be excused? I don’t want to change my hairstyle,” said Lari.
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Kharli and Mo, of course, looked excited to try out everything. They were already seated on the chairs.
“Can I go first, Teacher?” asked Mo.
“I’d like to go next! Please give me long hair like a princess!” said Kharli.
“Yes, Lari, but are you sure? It should be fun. Girls, wait a sec and let me find the controls.” In the game, there was an interface.
Everyone helped me and we eventually found a plastic book that had pages and pages of hairstyles and hair colors that we could pick. The girls spent half an hour pouring over the book and, since there were so many hairstyles, I let them pick three that they could try today.
“Okay, Mo, sit on a chair and I’ll change your hair into [Cloud Tresses].”
Mo sat on the shoe-shaped chair and I used the numeric keypad on its side to enter the code written in the stylebook. Then I pressed the [Start] button.
There was a soft tinkling sound, like bells chiming, and a large plastic hood dropped down from the ceiling and onto Mo, covering the top, back, and sides of her head while leaving her face uncovered. The hood made a soft series of sounds like chiming bells again and then retracted back to the ceiling.
“Is that a wig?!” asked Kharli. “Your hair is so big!”
I handed Mo a mirror and she smiled at her new hairdo. Soft, wispy strands framed her face while most of it had been pinned up in a frothy, cloud-like updo.
“No, it’s my hair!” Mo laughed and tugged at a curly lock of hair on the side of her face.
“What did it feel like?” asked Scholar Wu.
“I didn’t feel anything,” said Mo.
“My turn, please!” said Kharli.
“Uh, Teacher, I’ll leave now…” Lari stopped short of rolling his eyes since Scholar Wu was with us, but I knew he was bored.
“Okay, you may go. Kharli, sit down and relax.” I inputted the code for [Peony Petals] and we were not disappointed when we saw the result.
“Wow, it’s so fancy! This would take all day to make,” said Kharli. Her hair had been fashioned into an intricate bun surrounded by looped coils resembling peony petals.
“Teacher, may I go and show it to my maid?” asked Kharli.
“Sure, you girls go and ask Madam Fengying if the maids can come and get their hair done, too,” I said. “The more, the merrier!”
After the girls left, I turned to Scholar Wu and wordlessly gestured at the chairs to ask her if she wanted to try it.
“No, thank you. I’m not the adventurous kind,” she said.
Minutes later, Kharli and Mo arrived with Fengying and the maids.
Fengying declined to try the device, but the maids all tested new styles. Most of them picked the more classic or fancy styles, such as elaborate braids, long and wavy hair, or regal updos. They all laughed when I used the salon to give myself a towering blue beehive à la Marge Simpson.
“You could hide a sword in there!” said Scholar Wu.
“Teacher, you won’t be able to go through the doors,” said Kharli.
“I can.” Strolling over to the door, I bent my back as though I was playing a game of limbo and walked through it with my new hairstyle intact. “See!”
Everyone clapped or hooted my performance, and we spent a pleasant day primping ourselves.
At first, the menfolk pretended we were being too frivolous, but they eventually tried it out, too. Yinuo’s twin husbands, Muchen and Yichen, got identical [Sword Prince] hairstyles which featured long topknots with two braids on either side of the head that were also gathered into the ponytail, while the others mostly picked short or spiky hairstyles.
I modeled a bunch of weird styles for Prince Baiyu, who was amused and slightly alarmed when the machine shaved my head bald and tattooed it with a flower and vine pattern. Eventually, I undid all the work the salon had done on my hair and continued using the same long brown hair I had chosen from the Cash Shop.
***
Two days before the trip, we had finished all of our preparations when my plans hit a snag.
“What do you mean we won’t be allowed to go to the mountain?” I asked Prince Baiyu.