Expanding the rouge business

"Her Highness the Princess is kind and considerate, and specially instructed the kitchen to prepare this nourishing soup. It was delivered to her early this morning. Your Highness, please drink it while it's hot."

Compared to other aristocratic families, the royal family's population is relatively small. Now that she is Xie Zhuo's wife, her most important task is to continue the royal family's bloodline and add offspring.

However, this was the opinion of everyone in the Prince's Mansion, not Fu Zhi Qiao's own. Fu Zhi Qiao considered herself still young and would never have a child so early. Xie Zhuo was strong and vigorous, so she had taken special precautions.

The soup didn't have any strange taste; it contained ginseng, red dates, and other ingredients that nourish the blood and qi, so drinking it would only be good for the body. Fu Zhi Qiao finished the whole bowl of nourishing soup in front of Granny Zhang, put down the bowl, and although she didn't quite agree with it in her heart, she still pretended to be grateful and smiled, saying, "Thank you for your consideration, Mother."

When Granny Zhang heard that Fu Zhi Qiao also wanted to get pregnant as soon as possible, she was overjoyed and took the empty bowl back to report.

Inside the Yuzhu Pavilion.

"Have you finished drinking?"

“I finished drinking it, and I drank it in front of this servant.”

Zuo Murui nodded in satisfaction, picked up the teacup beside her, stirred the tea leaves floating in the cup, blew on it lightly, took a sip of tea, and said lightly, "She's quite well-behaved."

She longed to have a grandson, but Xie Zhuo had been poisoned, and the imperial physician Gao said he would have difficulty conceiving. For a man, having difficulty conceiving was extremely shameful.

Zuo Murui had to protect Xie Zhuo's pride, so she could only set her sights on Fu Zhiqiao. She couldn't do much with her son, so she thought she should first get her daughter-in-law's health in order to make it easier for her to get pregnant.

Zuo Murui's attitude towards her changed from initial disgust to indifference. Fu Zhi Qiao took it all in stride. In any case, her princess consort didn't give her any random tonics like Zhou Miao Si's mother-in-law, Madam Qin, so she just turned a blind eye.

Not long after Granny Zhang left, Fu Zhi Qiao was in her study thinking about creating new products for Tai Bai Lou.

The premium Taibai wine is used to inflate wine prices. It can only be purchased at Taibai Wine Shop and is not sold in restaurants. Therefore, Taibai Restaurant's current wine menu only includes Taibai wine, Zui Shi Xian wine, and plum wine.

The price of Drunken Poet Immortal wine is very high, and ordinary people simply cannot afford it. Plum wine has a lot of sugar added, so it is not cheap either. People are left with only Taibai wine as their choice.

To maintain the popularity of Taibailou, she must continue to launch new wines.

Although she gained the emperor's favor through alcohol, her main occupation was still selling wine and running a restaurant.

What kind of wine should we sell?

Osmanthus wine? Poria cocos wine? Wine?

Fu Zhiqiao wrote down a bunch of wine names on a piece of paper. Just as she was thinking about how to brew a few new wines, Yinxing came over and knocked on the door to say that Xie Huaiwei had come over.

Fu Zhiqiao paused, put down her pen, and got up to walk into the main hall.

Unlike Zuo Murui's ambiguous attitude towards her, Xie Huaiwei liked her very much and loved to visit her.

"Greetings, sister-in-law!" Xie Huaiwei stood up and bowed to Fu Zhiqiao before sitting back down in her chair, her back ramrod straight and her hands folded on her knees. As the youngest child in the family, she was showered with love and affection, and Xie Huaiwei had been raised to be somewhat mischievous, but she was always well-mannered and polite, a testament to her excellent upbringing.

Fu Zhiqiao winked at Xie Huaiwei: "You don't need to be so formal at home, just relax."

As she spoke, she demonstrated by leaning her slender waist to one side and casually settling back on the soft couch.

Seeing Fu Zhi Qiao's completely ruined image, Yin Xing was devastated.

Xie Huaiwei's lips curled up. She really liked this sister-in-law. There was another reason why she often went to Qinghui Courtyard. Her brother had told her to come and talk to her sister-in-law more often to relieve her boredom.

Xie Huaiwei secretly grumbled to herself. Even if her brother hadn't told her, she would have wanted to come and visit her sister-in-law anyway. However, with her brother's instructions, she no longer had to worry about her mother's disapproval and could come over to play legitimately.

Ginkgo brought over a cup of fresh tea.

Xie Huaiwei subconsciously picked up the teacup and took a sip. Her slender fingers slowly caressed the pattern on the rim of the teacup as she asked curiously, "Why does this tea smell better than others, even though they're all tea?"

Of course, Xie Huaiwei usually drinks the finest pure tea, but Fu Zhiqiao gave her fruit tea today.

"like?"

Xie Huaiwei nodded, blushing.

"I'll have Ginkgo wrap some up for you to take back with you."

Originally, Xie Huaiwei had only come to keep her sister-in-law company and help her relax, but she ended up eating and taking things from her. She felt very embarrassed, and her affection for her sister-in-law deepened.

For a moment, the atmosphere between the two women was quite harmonious.

"Will your sister-in-law still go to Fuyun Pavilion to teach?"

Fu Zhiqiao was taken aback, not expecting Xie Huaiwei to ask this question. She replied, "No, if there's anything you want to learn, just come to me. I guarantee that what I teach you will be something that no one else can do."

Xie Huaiwei's eyes became even more eager upon hearing this.

"By the way, I've developed a new rouge that really complements your skin tone." Since the topic had come up, Fu Zhi Qiao remembered something she had been researching recently, and she planned to try it out at Fu Yun Pavilion.

Although Fuyun Pavilion currently relies mainly on its nourishing soups and drinks for revenue, the ladies who have tried the makeup tutorials at the store are quite fascinated by them.

Not long ago, when she went to inspect the stores in Fuyun Pavilion, Chunlan reported to her that many customers asked why Fuyun Pavilion did not sell rouge. They wanted to create a makeup look as perfect as the tutorial makeup, and naturally wanted to use the same products.

Fu Zhiqiao was enlightened.

For a long time, she had focused all her energy on opening a branch of Taibai Wine Shop, and could be said to have neglected Fuyun Pavilion.

Fuyun Pavilion's initial goal was to help her enter the circle of noble ladies, and then she would use her influence in that circle to gradually expand the reputation of Taibai Wine.

Nowadays, Taibai Wine no longer needs Fuyun Pavilion's help to gain fame, and Fuyun Pavilion itself is thriving. As a result, she rarely interferes in the management of Fuyun Pavilion, and she hasn't even offered makeup classes for a long time.

It's time to come up with some new makeup looks!

Not only in the capital, but throughout the entire Great Wei Dynasty, women only had a few cosmetics: ink, lip rouge, face powder, rouge, and lipstick paper.

No woman is immune to the allure of rouge and face powder. Even with limited variety and high prices, women's passion for rouge remains undiminished. Every time Fu Zhi Qiao passes by a rouge shop, she sees it bustling with people.

Eyeliner, concealer, under-eye concealer, highlighter, contouring... If she could make all these things, the beauty industry would definitely be a huge market in the Great Wei!

After thinking it over for a long time, Fu Zhiqiao decided to try her hand at the beauty industry.

The lip and cheek balm I used on Xie Huaiwei today is the first product she developed. It's still in the testing phase. She personally tried it for a while and thought it was pretty good. She plans to put it in Fuyun Pavilion to see how it goes. If it works well, she will continue to develop other products.

Yinxing took out a brand new small jade box from her dressing case and handed it to Xie Huaiwei.

Xie Huaiwei took it and looked at it. "Huh? Sister-in-law, where should I apply this?"

The rouge commonly found in the Great Wei Dynasty was in powder form; she had never seen this paste-like rouge before.

"This is called a lip and cheek balm. It can be used on both lips and cheeks. You should try it. It contains honey, so it's moisturizing and safe to ingest."

Xie Huaiwei applied a little to her fingertip. After hearing Fu Zhiqiao say that it could be used on both the face and lips, she hesitated for a moment but still chose to put it on her lips. She gently pursed her lips, feeling them moist, and looked at Fu Zhiqiao with a mixture of anticipation and shyness in her eyes, asking, "Sister-in-law, does it look good?"

Xie Zhuo is so stunningly beautiful, how bad could his twin sister be?

Xie Huaiwei has an oval face, delicate eyebrows and phoenix eyes. A touch of rouge on her lips gives a light pink hue, subtle yet not overpowering, which is very suitable for a teenage girl, making her look as delicate and lovely as a peach blossom. Fu Zhiqiao smiled and said, "Beautiful!"

Upon hearing this, Xie Huaiwei subconsciously reached out and touched her face.

Ginkgo cleverly brought over a bronze mirror.

When Xie Huaiwei took a picture, she saw that her lips were as pink as newly blooming cherry blossoms, as delicate as if they were naturally pink, and they even had a faint luster, which made her already beautiful face even more beautiful.

What young girl doesn't love beauty? Xie Huaiwei's cheeks flushed, but her eyes were exceptionally bright. She smiled at Fu Zhiqiao, revealing a set of neat white teeth: "Thank you, sister-in-law!"

They agreed to go shopping together next time, and Xie Huaiwei left as happily as a little bird.

*

Fu Zhi Qiao now spends her days at the Prince's Mansion, except for paying her respects to Zuo Murui in the morning and evening, occasionally having snacks and tea with Xie Huaiwei, and otherwise researching and making cosmetics.

The Prince's mansion has so many wonderful things. The garden is full of all kinds of exotic flowers and plants. She doesn't need to go outside to buy any color she wants. She can find it by taking a stroll in the garden.

However, Fu Zhiqiao avoided the precious flowers and herbs. She chose common safflower, alkanet root, and gardenia to extract pigments, dried them, ground them into powder, and crushed them to extract the flower liquid.

To make her makeup products more professional, she even used the name of the royal palace to find a female artisan who made rouge. Last time, she and Yinxing spent several days researching and making a small jar of the lip and cheek balm. The efficiency of just the two of them was too slow, and they had to find a professional helper.

Fu Zhi Qiao is preparing to make some rouge, and the biggest selling point of her rouge is its color.

Color matching and common color mixing formulas are taught in elementary school textbooks. Red plus yellow equals orange, red plus blue equals purple... Different proportions of colors can create different colors. With just a few basic colors like red, yellow, and blue, she can create dozens of variations.

She had a side hall set up in the east wing, where she spent her days happily engrossed in her work. She believed that these naturally scented face powders, colorful rouge, lipsticks, and eyeshadows would surely captivate the girls of the Great Wei.

The craftsmen knew Fu Zhiqiao's identity, so they basically did whatever Fu Zhiqiao told them to do, without daring to complain in the slightest.

One had a brilliant idea, and the other worked tirelessly; together, they actually managed to create something.

After working for more than ten days, Fu Zhiqiao looked at the table full of results and felt very satisfied. The last time she felt this way was when she brewed Taibai wine.

Since this was my first time making this, I didn't have many powders, eyeshadows, blushes, or lipsticks. There were only one or two of each item, and the table was full mainly because there were so many colors.

Fu Zhiqiao plans to test the waters at Fuyun Pavilion first, and then proceed with mass production to see how the market performs.

When Xie Zhuo returned from his shift and didn't see anyone, he went to the east wing with practiced ease and, sure enough, saw Fu Zhi Qiao.