Chapter 65

"I hadn't realised we don't do military training on campus."

Under the sun, a dozen coaches stood on the main road through Peking University, and the first-years queuing to board pulled their small cases along and discussed the coming fortnight with enthusiasm.

Being the first day of term and being taken off-site, a good many of them were too excited to notice the pitying looks from the older students passing by.

"I know. My friend's term started about when ours did and they say they train on campus. We're going to a base. I wonder what a military base is like." One girl said it with her bag on her back, looking forward to it.

"Li Lan, do you think it'll be the way they're saying? Interesting?" The girl beside her had bright eyes too. A military base. It sounded interesting.

Li Lan remembered what she'd heard the previous year from the students she'd sat lectures with, and sighed. "I couldn't say about interesting. The next couple of weeks won't be pleasant, though."

She'd heard plenty of complaints from students who'd been through it. Tiring, yes — but what nobody could stand was the conditions: dormitories with communal platform beds, ten or twenty to a room, short meals, and worst of all, in that heat, less chance of a wash than you'd get outside.

The girl assumed she meant the training was hard, and only understood once she'd carried her case into the dormitory.

Looking at the eight bunk beds along the two walls, and hearing the female instructor in the middle announce that they had ten minutes each a day to wash, the girls who'd been looking forward to it looked at one another and found the same collapse on every face. Conditions notwithstanding, what had to be done had to be done.

From the second day, the first-years — Li Lan included — discovered the true wickedness of a military training base. The site was large, which meant the parade ground was big enough to hold a great many students, and a parade ground cannot possibly have anything like shade on it, so everybody at the base enjoyed the full benefit of the sunlight.

The reason military training is the common enemy of most girls, beyond the heat and the exhaustion, is that it is extremely good at turning you brown. In Li Lan's memory, at the height of short video, every September before term brought a wave of beauty creators recommending sunscreens to survive it — and no sunscreen, however strong, does much across eight or nine hours of direct sun. There is no defending against it.

Never mind that 2010 was the first year of 3G and the iPhone 4 had only launched in America a couple of months earlier. Most students' phones were for QQ and text messages, and a better one might get you onto your space to steal vegetables — in text, at that.

So the internet was nothing like what it became, and most students entering university at this point had no clear idea about skincare. No idea at all, in fact. Naturally, apart from the odd student who'd happened to bring sunscreen, a great many girls survived the fortnight and, before they could celebrate, discovered with horror that they'd gone the colour of charcoal.

Li Lan came off better, having gone to a counter beforehand and bought several bottles of the strongest sunscreen available. Even so she finished two shades darker than she'd started.

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Back in the campus dormitory, the students who'd complained it was small had nothing more to say. Next to the base, a Peking University four-person room was a luxury five-star hotel.

All four of hers assembled quickly, and having seen each other about during training they weren't entirely strangers. After brief introductions they started unpacking, and since nobody had lived in the room for a fortnight they spent a while cleaning it as well.

"Li Lan, do you want to go to the shopping centre later?" She'd barely finished her own side when the girl opposite asked.

The girl opposite was the only one who'd been in Li Lan's squad, and they'd eaten together and so on; they knew each other reasonably well. Li Lan thought about it briefly and agreed — she had things to buy anyway. "All right."

The girl was delighted. "Good. I've gone so dark, I want to get some sheet masks. You told me which brands were good before and I didn't remember any of it, so you can advise me."

The other two, overhearing, were tempted as well. They'd gone dark too and had no idea what to use to lighten it — and from the sound of things Li Lan knew about this.

They were roommates, after all, so the girl in the bed next to Li Lan's, who had a good many spots, ventured, "Li Lan, Ni Xing — can I come with you? I want to buy some skincare too."

Ni Xing, an outgoing sort, agreed readily. "Of course."

"Xia Yanyan, do you want to come? We might as well all go together." She turned to the girl in the next bed.

Xia Yanyan had wanted to and hadn't liked to ask, and nodded quickly. "Yes — yes, I want to buy a few things too."

Ni Xing was a girl who got things done. "Right. It's eleven now, so let's eat in the canteen and then go and shop."

Not knowing anybody's circumstances this early in term, and not wanting to impose on her roommates, she'd deliberately suggested the canteen rather than eating out.

It was only one o'clock when the four of them reached the shopping centre beside the campus. Three of them were mainly after skincare, so they went straight to the counters, Li Lan's suggestion being that they choose for themselves and ask her when they were stuck.

Except that faced with the toners and lotions and serums, the three of them were dazzled and had no idea which suited them; nor did they entirely follow the sales assistants, who made everything sound suitable.

"I've hardly ever bought from a counter. I use whatever my mother gives me," Ni Xing admitted.

"Me too. At home I used my mother's, and at school whatever was going. This is the first time I've bought any." Xia Yanyan was embarrassed about it.

"I'm all right, because I get spots, so my aunt brings me things for sensitive skin from abroad. I use whatever she brings." Luo Yu knew a little, spots having obliged her to, though only about what she used herself.

Li Lan was surprised. None of the three came from a poor family, and all three knew nothing whatever about skincare. It was normal enough — high school students put their energy into schoolwork, which is why people say girls get better-looking every year at university. They don't actually change. They simply have time to attend to themselves.

Luo Yu looked round and said, pleased, "Oh, I know that one. My aunt's brought me their products. She said a while ago they'd come into the country, so she needn't bring them any more and I can just buy them."

They followed her gaze, and Li Lan found the brand familiar: Keyan.

"They're an old brand in America. My aunt's brought me their things and they're good. Do you want to try them?" On the strength of a name she recognised, Luo Yu recommended it with some confidence.

Li Lan followed her into the Keyan counter and saw, in the middle of the display, a product both strange and familiar. Familiar because it was the calendula toner Keyan had commissioned a few months earlier. Strange because, sure enough, the fresh petals had gone in as the company wanted. And it did look rather good.

She picked up a bottle and read the ingredients. They had changed a good deal. Ingredients are listed in order of quantity, and water came first, meaning water was the largest component; compared with the list handed over to Keyan, the finished product had gained several preservatives near the top. Not harmful. Simply less effective than it had been.

"Ooh, what's this? It looks lovely." Seeing her holding a bottle, Ni Xing was curious.

"Good afternoon. This is our new line from last month, the flagship calendula range. This is the calendula toner — those are all fresh petals inside." The assistant beamed at her.

"Is it? What does it do?" Ni Xing was tempted. If it worked, there'd be no harm in a bottle. She'd never seen a toner with petals in it; the several-thousand-a-bottle SK-something her mother used was only clear liquid.

"This one is for soothing and hydration, and balancing oil and moisture. Now we're into autumn the air is getting drier, and a change of season brings spots on, so this is exactly right." Seeing her waver, the assistant warmed further.

Which tempted her more, and she was about to ask for a bottle when Li Lan stepped up and put a hand on her shoulder. "I think another range might suit you better than that one."