You Get What You Pay For

On his day off, Lu Yao had a meal with his two university roommates.

Zhou Qiang was basically the same as ever. He had already gotten used to working in the community office, and had even gotten himself a girlfriend, Lin Jie. He showed everyone the photos on his phone. She was a very cute girl who liked giving the camera a thumbs-up.

"She works at the funeral home outside the north gate. She's an embalmer, does makeup for dead people and stuff."

As he said this, Zhou Qiang was gnawing on a rib.

Their other roommate, Huang Yibo, gave an "eh." "Good workplace. It's a public institution under the civil affairs department. Stable."

"It's just in a bad location. Too far from downtown."

Zhou Qiang looked frustrated. "It's hard to even get a taxi out there. Didi drivers won't go. A lot of the time, she just stays in the staff dorm."

"Lin Jie has this weird hobby... Lu Yao, I mentioned it to you before."

He sighed. "She likes putting makeup on me, specifically in the middle of the night after I've fallen asleep. She'll put makeup on me, then remove it again. At times like that, she gets really excited, and even blushes."

"I exposed her before, and she said it was to practice her skills. But I mean, she's already a professional, so why does she still need to practice makeup on my face... It feels kind of weird. Exciting, yeah, but also a bit perverted."

"Other than that, ever since I met her, she's rarely smiled. She says it's a professional habit. At work, she absolutely can't smile, or the family members might beat her up. Over time, she just developed this unsmiling expression."

"Anyway, it just feels kind of off."

Lu Yao had no