Chapter 6 The Inside That Matters

The makeup did well to hide his two black eyes and broken nose.

He fixed the glasses on his face, lamenting on the next few moments to come, and promptly shut the compact mirror.

"Here." He passed it to the woman beside him.

She took it and smirked. "Haven't had enough of yourself, Tian?"

Li Tian grunted and ignored her. She was obviously making fun of him and he was absolutely not going to admit that it was getting to him.

I mean, did he 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 to look like a nerd? Geek? Loser?

It definitely felt like his whole family was laughing at him behind closed doors. He'll definitely show them.

They were parked inside an alleyway, where the hustle and bustle of the city market was occurring right before them not even a few meters away. His job was to walk from point A to point B, buy something on the way, and not get caught. But in the case that he did, Meilin had issued a few undercover security guards in the area for good measure.

"Here, put this in your ear," Meilin handed him an earpiece. She put one in her own ear as well. "I'll be here if you need anything. If there's any chance that you're suspected, tell me IMMEDIATELY."

He looked at the earpiece in his hands and his eyes narrowed. No one could tell what was going through his mind.

"Just put it in, Tian," she chided. "At least for your test runs, you're to have it on at ALL times."

He said nothing and put it on. "Anything else?"

"Keep your attitude in check," she warned which he responded by rolling his eyes. "Also, our people will have red scarves around their necks."

"In 𝘔𝘢𝘺?"

"They're very thin."

Li Tian was rendered speechless. Was his outfit not gaudy enough? Would anyone actually recognize him in it? Did he really need to be babysat like this? He felt very annoyed.

"Whatever. I'm heading out." He opened the door and stepped out of the car.

"See you on the other side."

.....

It was an extremely busy place. People of all ages were walking through the street market, visiting the food stalls, going on dates, or just there to have a good time.

Li Tian didn't understand any of it.

The place felt dirty, cheap, and all the food looked disgusting. He cringed as he walked by each stall. These were some foods that he'd never even seen before, let alone tasted. How someone could eat something that looked like some of the dishes displayed was incomprehensible to him. He reached a more bustling area and started to feel a sense of claustrophobia. There were just too many people clogging up that small walking space, that he felt like his personal space became nonexistent. However, no one else seemed to have the same qualms as he was feeling.

He grimaced but tried focusing on getting to the end of the street instead. As long as he got there, he would have shown everyone that he, Li Tian, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 keep himself from being discovered so easily. There was also the mission he had to do too; buy something.

Honestly, none of the food being sold looked remotely appetizing to him. If he wasn't gagging at the sight of them, he was cringing at the thought of even putting it in his mouth. If he 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 to fail the trial run, this food mission would probably be the reason why.

The hawkers on the street were trying their best to try and hype up their own delectables, some going as far as to directly walk up to people and corner them towards their stalls. Of course, a considerable amount of flowery words were used for tricking the customers as well.

It was easy to get lost within the crowd if one wasn't careful.

Not too far away, Li Tian caught the attention of a middle-aged man who walked closer and unfortunately attempted to gently tap on his shoulder. "Excuse me, youngste-"

"Get your grimey hands off me, you fucker! I don't want your dogshit!" The undercover star pulled his arm away in disgust and barked loudly.

The middle-aged man was shocked, and so were the people surrounding them. Sure there were hawkers yelling around them but none did with such malice. It hadn't even been too long since the star had started his journey but he could already feel himself being on edge.

"I was only trying to tell you that your shoe was untied, young man," the stranger said kindly and pointed down.

Li Tians' gaze followed the finger and indeed, one of the shoes was untied while the other was also already pretty loose.

𝘋𝘢𝘮𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘱 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘦𝘴! he yelled in his mind profusely. That was unmistakably a bad way to start.

Trying to ignore the surprised and confused looks, he lowered his head and quickly left the area.

"Nice going, Tian."

"Shut up." He was glad Meilin couldn't see his face because he was sure it had turned red from the embarrassment.

He didn't feel any better from leaving, after all, with how he was dressed, he bet everyone was still staring at him in ridicule. How was this attire keeping a low profile anyway!? He still had to tie his shoes too. Still standing in the busy street, he bent down to tie them.

Not even a second later, he got bumped into and fell butt first onto the dirty ground. He grunted in pain from the impact, his clothes and palms all sullied from the mud.

"Oof!" the culprit groaned. "Sorry, man. Didn't see ya. What were you doing on the ground in the middle of the street?" he asked skeptically and extended his hand to help the fallen star up.

His temper surely rising, Li Tian smacked the hand away and got up on his own. He growled to the man who ran into him before walking away in fumes.

"Did something happen?" his manager questioned in his ear.

"Nothing."

Li Tian walked and walked, disregarding the direction he was heading, until he reached a more deserted area. He was nowhere near the main street this time. He then proceeded to bend down to redo his undone shoelaces again, with no more chances of getting hit. It was obviously his own fault for trying to tie them in the street but he was new to everything. His common sense was a little wack and it only got better from learning as he went through it.

He cursed under his breath at the catastrophe. He didn't care if Meilin was against it, he was using better shoes next time, even if that meant he had to shred them up to look cheaper than they actually were.

"Young man?" an elderly voice called out to him. It was an old woman, probably in her eighties, sitting at a small stall in the middle of nowhere. She had a kindhearted face with a tinge of worry in her voice. "Are you alright?"

Reigning in his emotions, Li Tian got up from his position and looked at her. He wasn't in the mood to get angry at old women anyway so he answered curtly. "I'm fine."

"You look like you've taken a fall..." she could plainly see the slight cuts on his red palms and the dirty brown stains on both sides of his shirt. His bottom and backside must also be covered in mud. She searched in one of her boxes under the stall and took out a clean white cloth. "Take this, dear. Clean yourself up."

He stared at the spotless cloth and took it from her. Did she not care if it got dirty? "Thank you..."

"No worries, dear, just keep it," she smiled at him. "A handsome young man like yourself shouldn't have to worry about something so insignificant."

"I am very handsome aren't I?" Li Tian replied reflexively as he was wiping himself down. The moment he said it though, he froze as he realized his mistake. 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵.

But when he looked up, all he saw was the old lady laughing amiably at his words. She didn't seem to be offended at all, but rather surprisingly amused.

"You sure are, dear, I wish my grandson was as handsome as you," she joked and winked at him with her wrinkly eyes. "But don't tell him I said that."

The words stunned Li Tian and slowly, a smile grew onto his lips. "Don't worry, old lady, I won't." He grinned at her. The first smile he'd had all day was given to this unknown woman at the corner of the street.

"Please, call me grandmama," she asserted with a twinkle still in her old eyes. "I'm just a young woman with grandchildren."

"Of course, Grandmama" he chuckled. He would cater to the woman as she wanted.

He then peered at the goodies the Grandmama was selling. They absolutely looked nothing special. Even the hawkers with their disgusting looking foods looked more interesting than this.

It was just a round white ball.

He read the description written on the cardboard box. "Grandmama's homemade Pao."

"Would you like to try one, dear?" she broke his thoughts.

"I..."

"Even with those thick glasses on I can tell from your expression that you don't think much of them," she said as a matter of fact. There was no hiding his thoughts from her.

He looked at her apologetically. But this could be an opportunity to buy something for his mission. He took out his wallet to pay for one when he realized, he only had credit cards and a few hundred dollar bills on him. Did she even have enough for the balance in this rundown stall of hers? Well, he didn't need the change anyway. She should be happy for the large tip.

"No need, son," the granma stopped him from handing her his money. She packed one straight from the steamer, ready to eat, and handed it to him. "This is my gift to you."

"You don't want my money?" he eyed her confusedly. What was going on?

"It's fine, dear," she assured him with another warm smile. "Enjoying my pao is payment enough."

He carefully took the 'pao' from her hands and looked at it closely. What was it?

"You've never had a steamed bun, dear?" she asked him curiously.

𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘯? He'd heard of it before but never tried one.

"No, I haven't," he answered honestly.

"Then this is my lucky day," Grandmama grinned adorably. "I get to see the reaction of a handsome young man eating a steamed bun for the first time."

"Uhh..." But what if he didn't like it?

"It's not about what it looks like on the outside, dear," she advised him gently. She looked up into the sky as if reminiscing of her past. "It's the inside that matters in everything, even people. Some of the most beautiful looking dishes will taste horrible. The most majestic creatures will kill you, and the richest people in the world will turn their backs if it's to their benefit..."

At the moment, she looked like a wise old sage, giving him the biggest lessons in life when it came to appearance. It seemed like she had gone through a lot in her long life. It wasn't easy for him to comprehend, and unless he took a bite, the lesson she taught would never reach him.

So he took her word for it and bit into the cloud-like soft outer exterior of that steamy white bun. The moment that rich and succulent spicy meat filling entered his mouth, he felt his body tremble and his whole world beginning to change.

.....