Chapter 649: P-Editing

Arriving at Zhao Zhe's Rental House, the room was in a mess.

Ji Xiang didn't mind; if there wasn't a cleaner tidying up at home every day, he reckoned it wouldn't be much better than Zhao Zhe's place.

"Xiao Ji, I didn't know you were coming, I haven't prepared anything."

"It's quite good." Ji Xiang said, "Zhao Ge, speaking of which, you really should consider it. A man at forty is in his prime, after all."

"Pfft, finding a wife is such a hassle, living by myself is so much more worry-free. Following you, when I'm no longer able to go on, I won't even seek treatment; wouldn't it be great if you just gave me a shot so I could leave peacefully?"

"That's against the law." Ji Xiang calmly refused.

"Hahaha, just joking. You say I should find a younger one, but what would I do when she's in her prime? You say I should find one of a suitable age... forget it, let's not talk about this. Men, you know, we are very loyal."

"Only like 18-year-olds?"

"Ha."

Zhao Zhe turned on the computer.

"Zhao Ge, you're using the computer to connect to your phone? Why not just watch the livestream directly on your phone?"

"Pfft, my eyes are a bit blurry, I can't see clearly." Zhao Zhe said, "When I perform delicate surgeries, I rely on feeling. Speaking of people... I really envy you. You can achieve results when you're just over 20. By the time your body can't keep up, you'll already be among those standing at the very peak. When that time comes, focusing on scientific research would be great."

Ji Xiang smiled, watching as Zhao Zhe nimbly connected and opened the livestream room.

"Look, see, how pretty the girls are nowadays." Zhao Zhe slid the mouse and clicked on a random streamer's picture.

"Emmmm." Ji Xiang pondered.

"Xiao Ji, what do you want to say?" Zhao Zhe was stunned for a moment.

"Zhao Ge, this person is a bit heavily edited." Ji Xiang said.

"Hahaha, who doesn't edit photos? I think it looks fine."

Ji Xiang took the mouse and began to explain to Zhao Zhe.

"Here, the color tone has been adjusted, and the boundary between the inside and outside of the hair is blurry and stiff. It's likely they tried to use a layered blur method to simulate the depth-of-field effect of a camera, but it wasn't done well."

Subsequently, Ji Xiang slid the mouse, skillfully selecting the streamer's eye area and zooming in.

"The size of a human face and the size of facial features vary significantly between individuals. But human pupil size is actually quite consistent; under normal lighting conditions, it is generally about 12mm. Through this, one can calculate the face length, face width, and various proportions of the person in the photo."

"An average person's face width is 12-13 times the pupil diameter; 12 times is the standard ratio, and a few exceptionally beautiful women can reach 11 times."

"The streamer's ratio is 10.6 times, which calculates to a face width of about 12.6cm and a face length of about 18cm. This is a true 'small face, nine-head-body' ratio, which can be considered excellent even among entertainment industry stars."

Zhao Zhe listened, dumbfounded.

Isn't Ji Xiang uninterested in women? How is he so proficient at this? Could he also be the repressed type?

"Although at this step we can be 60% sure the streamer used a slimming function, we still can't rule out that she is naturally beautiful, right Zhao Ge?"

"And then?" Zhao Zhe heard that Ji Xiang's words carried other meanings, so he pressed further.

"The real proof of editing is in the cheekbones."

"Generally speaking, the widest point of an Asian face is at the zygomatic arch, which is the sides of the face under the eye sockets. This bone is convex in Asians. Convex cheekbones are not without benefits; as the load-bearing wall of the face, the cheekbones can support the apple muscles and the soft tissue in the middle of the face."

"But look, the streamer's zygomatic arch position is concave, which is the opposite of the facial bone structure."

"Zhao Ge, have you ever had cosmetic surgery?"

"Why would I do that kind of thing?" Zhao Zhe said casually, but immediately realized that the "do" Ji Xiang mentioned was different from what he understood.

"I'm not a plastic surgery doctor. Speaking of which, when I was taking my second qualification exam, I was torn between choosing plastic surgery or Orthopedics. I've always lacked foresight; I thought Plastic Surgery wasn't a 'serious' department, so I chose Orthopedics, and then I got caught in the centralized procurement."

Zhao Zhe was still rambling, but his words were immediately interrupted by Ji Xiang.

"Even for a zygomatic arch reduction surgery, pushing it to this extent could be considered Medical Malpractice, as it would inevitably be accompanied by severe soft tissue sagging. However, the streamer's apple muscles remain full and high, so it can only be the result of PS liquefaction."

"This counts as a flaw, a flaw that only a professional doctor can see. Ordinary people can only feel that it's a bit strange, but they can't say where."

A professional doctor?

Zhao Zhe was in tears; I'm not a professional doctor, just a handyman.

"Next is the streamer's best feature: the nose. The nasal tip and columella are well-developed, and the 'seagull line' is very beautiful. I am inclined to think it hasn't been edited; it's naturally like this. This kind of nose is simply perfect, very nice."

"But!"

Hearing Ji Xiang say "but," Zhao Zhe didn't know why he felt relieved.

"The light and shadow transition between the streamer's nasal bridge and the radix is a bit unnatural. It's not obvious when zoomed in, but if you shrink the image and look from a distance, or observe from the side of the screen, the shadows on the radix and both sides are too disconnected from the highlight on the nasal bridge. This should be makeup."

"And the makeup isn't very professional; you can see the traces. How should I put it? It's pretty good for an amateur level."

"Furthermore, the highlight on the streamer's nasal bridge is a bit too perfect. It's hard to believe that this effect can be achieved purely by makeup techniques; it's possible that software was used to touch up the makeup. Similarly, the guess about the under-eye puffiness is also that it was deepened by software."

"Plus, the streamer's outer contour isn't smooth enough, and the overall shape leans towards a pentagonal face. Aside from the unevenness caused by photo editing, the corners aren't smooth enough either."

"Simply put, the streamer's facial features are soft, so they need to be matched with a softer contour. But she edited it to be sharp and angular, which is very unsuitable. I feel it wasn't edited by a professional team, but by herself."

"To put it even more simply, this streamer is not professional enough."

Zhao Zhe was speechless; the chatterbox couldn't even get a word in.

Even if he wanted to play the straight man, he didn't know what to say.

"Overall, this is a streamer who is working hard on her own. If she has an agency, it's a small one, the kind of small agency where even the photo editing isn't done perfectly."

"That's about it. Zhao Ge, the streamer you wanted to watch wouldn't be her, would it?"

Zhao Zhe savored it for a dozen seconds, didn't answer the question, but instead asked back, "Xiao Ji, how... do you know so much?"

"Pfft, don't mention it. My mom likes to edit photos. If the photos she takes aren't edited, she feels uncomfortable all over. So, more than ten years ago, when I just started elementary school, I began training my photo editing skills. If we're comparing levels, my photo editing level is higher than my surgery level."

"!!!"

"Actually, my mother is already a 9-point beauty, but women, you know."

Ji Xiang also shrugged helplessly.

"Xiao Ji, you've practiced a dragon-slaying skill. If I had your ability, I would have tricked a wife back home long ago." Zhao Zhe sighed, feeling a bit sad.

(End of chapter)