Chapter 22: Mr. Pomiao, does my makeup look good?

My mind was blank at this moment, and all the questions I was about to ask came flooding back.

She said, "Tonight I was returning to the city from the farm and encountered bandits robbing me on the way. But those people were not just robbing me."

"Are the people from the Chamber of Commerce here to seek revenge on you?" Cheng Xianzhi raised his arms to rest his head, and answered her with his eyes closed.

"How do you know?"

Cheng Xianzhi explained, "The same goes for those who are chasing me. But compared to them, they can only break a leg or an arm to scare others. They are definitely not going to take your life."

Lu Tingwan thought about it and realized that although those people were chasing her relentlessly, they didn't have any knives or guns in their hands, they only had sticks. And the group of people chasing Cheng Xianzhi were obviously going to kill her. The sharp arrow that had grazed her cheek was still in her mind.

She suddenly realized, "If I had known earlier, I would not have mounted your horse. Perhaps I wouldn't have been hunted down and almost fallen into a hunter's trap."

"Do you think you can return to the city with all your limbs intact without riding my horse?"

"Then why is your Excellency outside the city, and who sent those assassins?"

Cheng Xianzhi opened his eyes, the firelight blazing, reflecting his deep pupils. He didn't explain clearly, "In our line of work, it's inevitable to offend people. You don't know who you've offended. In these days of living on the edge of a knife, I can't guess who sent you."

He spoke so solemnly, as if he was used to it and it was commonplace.

Lu Tingwan was confused. "Lord Han is a member of the Imperial Guards, in charge of the Imperial City. If he dared to kill you, wouldn't that be a disrespect for the Imperial authority? Who is so bold as to challenge the Emperor's majesty?"

"Isn't this something Shopkeeper Jiang should be involved in?" Cheng Xianzhi suddenly changed the subject. "Has Shopkeeper Jiang made any progress on the undercurrent between Luo Yunchu and Kong Fan?"

Lu Tingwan fell silent, lowered her eyes, and fiddled with the fire with her hands. Sparks curled around her sleeves, and she rubbed the remaining ashes on her body.

Seeing that she didn't say anything, Cheng Xianzhi understood and stopped making things difficult for her.

After a long silence, she stood up and went outside to wash her hands in the water tank filled with rainwater. At the bottom of the water was the full moon hovering high in the sky. Ripples appeared wherever her fingertips touched the water. She could see herself clearly on the water surface. She had long hair draped over her shoulders, a delicate face with a little baby fat, and she looked bright and charming.

She froze in front of the water tank, then turned around and looked at the people inside, looking a little panicked.

Cheng Xianzhi stared at her and said nonchalantly, "Miss Jiang likes to be clean."

The last shred of hope was shattered, her hands limp and helpless, and she stammered, "When did you..."

Cheng Xianzhi, twirling a stick in his hand, was bored. He kindly explained to her, "When? When did you know you were a girl? Or when did I see your hair down?"

Lu Tingwan was at a loss, rubbing his sleeves with his fingertips, unable to speak.

"Don't worry, I don't have any other intentions towards you."

"You've been like this since you got on the horse," he said, straightening up and getting into a more comfortable position. "From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were a girl."

Lu Tingwan was about to cry when she heard this. Her makeup skills, which she was so proud of, were discovered by someone at a glance? Luo Yunchu had been like this before, and now Han Jinzhang was also like this. What was even more outrageous was that when they first met, she deliberately disguised herself as a beggar.

Lu Tingwan was frustrated and embarrassed, but she heard him teasing her again: "Which young man would wear so much makeup? Besides, when you were flirting with Luo Yunchu, you were obviously acting like a young lady. You didn't act like a man at all."

He doesn't look like a man at all? Lu Tingwan was ashamed and angry when she heard this. She subconsciously lowered her head to check her chest. She had no place to vent her anger and could only endure his ridicule in secret.

"Then why are you still pretending not to know?"

"What does it matter if they're men or women?" Cheng Xianzhi said, "As long as they can be of use to me, their identities are not that important to me."

"But Manager Jiang," Cheng Xianzhi raised his hand to let her in to talk, "why do you present yourself as a man?"

Lu Tingwan hesitated for a moment and said, "Men in business are less likely to be harassed. This world treats women unfairly. I don't agree with this, but if you want to make a name for yourself in Kyoto, make Zhichunli famous, and become the city's leading business, it will be easier for you to do things as a man."

"Just want to do business in Kyoto?" Cheng Xianzhi glanced at her.

Lu Tingwan is naturally not, but Jiang Yanli is.

"What do you think, sir?"

"It's getting late, let's rest," Cheng Xianzhi said without further inquiry. "We'll go down the mountain after dawn tomorrow."

"Going back to the city?" Lu Tingwan only cared about this. There were still many things waiting for her in Zhichunli.

"I have my own plans. If you want to leave, you can go back to the city first." After saying that, Cheng Xianzhi rested his arm on his head, closed his eyes and ignored her.

Lu Tingwan was well aware of the shadow of his identity being exposed. He thought about it all night. The next day, the dawn fell into the temple, and the dazzling light woke up the sleeping people.

The fire was only warm, and the flames had gone out. Cheng Xianzhi stretched his muscles in the yard, thinking about something.

Seeing Lu Tingwan waking up and walking out of the yard, she did not go to him, but walked to the water tank, scooped up a handful of water to wash her face. When she wanted to find a towel to wipe her face, she searched in her arms several times but couldn't find it.

Suddenly a blue handkerchief was handed over. Lu Tingwan looked up and thanked him generously, which was completely different from last night when he learned that his daughter's body was exposed.

"Your mind wanders quickly, so you probably don't have anything bothering you." Cheng Xianzhi looked down at her.

Lu Tingwan smiled and gave a perfunctory "hmm," not caring at all. She folded the handkerchief, placed it in her palm, and handed it back to Cheng Xianzhi, who did not move.

She said to herself, "I have used this handkerchief. If you don't mind, I will wash it and return it to you."

"No, it's just a handkerchief."

Lu Tingwan didn't care. She put the folded handkerchief into her arms, found a relatively smooth branch from the pile of dry firewood, tied up her long hair, and then used the branch to tie her hair again. Then she picked up a small wooden stick from the fire, blew away the ashes on it, and drew two strokes on the back of her hand to test the depth.

Finally, she came to the water tank and carefully drew her eyebrows in front of herself in the water mirror.

Cheng Xianzhi was lost in thought, observing her every move carefully, feeling quite puzzled.

Seeing that Lu Tingwan had found another flower from the corner of the wall, she crushed it and used it as rouge to dye her lips red. She then looked at the water surface twice and was satisfied.

When he looked up, he saw Cheng Xianzhi still standing there, his eyes fixed on him. Lu Ting asked, "Master Han, does my makeup look good?"

Cheng Xianzhi focused his gaze on her outline. The masculine makeup on her face had faded. This was the first time he saw her as a woman, and she looked different from usual.

"While fleeing for his life, Shopkeeper Jiang actually still cared about his appearance?"

Lu Tingwan didn't take it seriously: "Girls put on makeup and wear flowers to please themselves. Since I can't go out now and have nothing to do, I put in the effort to put on makeup to make myself happy. If it makes me happy, then that's the most important thing."

"Even in the face of life and death, is it still like this?" Cheng Xianzhi said disdainfully.

Lu Tingwan tilted her head. "If life and death are already determined, then everything should be based on the heart. My mother taught me how to put on makeup since I was a child. My mother loves beauty. Even in her final moments, she lived beautifully."

Lu Tingwan's thoughts went back to a year ago, when her mother warned her at her sickbed that an ordinary woman's life could be seen at a glance: she would take care of her husband, raise children, and manage the rear house.

If she doesn't want to get married in the future, she doesn't have to marry because of those rules. If she likes to do business, then go for it. Life is long. No matter what difficulties, hardships, or joys you experience, it is your own life. Don't be timid and stop moving forward.

The light fell on the soft outline, and the originally bright little face was covered with a layer of scars, which soon disappeared.

Her vision was blurred by the morning mist covering the mountains, and she spoke to herself, "My mother said that women in this world will eventually marry, bear children for their husband's family, and help raise their children. If they don't want to, then they don't have to marry. But why do women in this world have to marry in the end?"

Cheng Xianzhi paused where he was, without any emotion, just listening.

"My mother and my father were originally engaged. They were childhood sweethearts and had a deep bond. However, due to her poor family background and my father's promising career, he had no choice but to make her his concubine. Out of love, my mother chose to help my father.

"Later, my father married a wife. Her family background was different from my mother's, and my father didn't keep his promises before the marriage. If he loved my mother, why would he be willing to make her a concubine? And why would he marry another woman? He should have been in harmony with his wife and had children."

"My mother had accumulated enough disappointment and didn't want to live by relying on others anymore. Even though she still missed my father, she finally decided to take me south with her in my arms. She made a living by selling flowers and applying makeup."

"My mother named me Yanli because she didn't like separation, and it means to be disgusted with something."

Cheng Xianzhi, who rarely listened attentively, asked, "Shopkeeper Jiang's dislike actually means disdain?"

"That's not the case," Lu Tingwan said, "It's the wild goose. I don't mind separation. It's the most common thing in life. I want to be a wild goose returning south."

"Wild geese?" Cheng Xianzhi smiled faintly. "Wild geese are loyal birds."

Lu Tingwan shook his head. "That's not what I meant. Every autumn, the wild geese that fly north fly south. The ancients called these birds loyal birds. I'm not being loyal to them, but because no matter how far they fly, they will eventually return to their own mountains."

“I just like how free they are.”

"Freedom..." Cheng Xianzhi felt that this word was very far away from him, or even unattainable.

He had never had such delusion.

Lu Tingwan knew he wouldn't understand. "People of your status might not understand. To you, freedom is power, the ability to command an army. But to ordinary people like us, it's pure, as pure as a bowl of porridge and a pile of side dishes. But this bowl of porridge is earned by yourself, not charity, and it is not bound by any constraints."

"Manager Jiang is not a fish in the pond," Cheng Xianzhi said, "but you are in the pond, but you don't want to get your clothes wet. That's too naive."

Lu Tingwan was hit in the heart, but she was not angry, because what Cheng Xianzhi said was an unchangeable fact, and this was her current dilemma.

The temple was silent for a long time. The dew and mist gradually dissipated, and the morning sun broke through, slowly climbing over the high walls.

Cheng Xianzhi looked at the thick fog and seemed to understand something. He couldn't help but ask, "Why do you use burnt charcoal sticks to draw eyebrows?"

Lu Tingwan was stunned. His question was really surprising. Then he smiled and said, "Ordinary people don't have the money to buy expensive stone ink, so they can only use this. When it comes to drawing eyebrows, the eyebrows drawn with snail ink are of course the most beautiful."

Speaking of Luozidai, her eyes lit up with longing, "I used my elder sister's Luozidai once, and that one time, it turned out really beautiful."

"In the future, I can also use my own skills to buy lots of Luozidai and draw all kinds of fashionable eyebrows."

"Most of the snail ink is tribute." Cheng Xianzhi narrowed his eyes, looking deeper.

Lu Tingwan responded quietly and explained, "It's true that Luozidai is a tribute. No matter how expensive it is, as long as you have enough money, there are other ways to get it."

Having said that, Cheng Xianzhi had no intention of delving into it further and didn't think about it any further. "Manager Jiang seems to be completely helpless."

"Yes, since you have no choice, why not do more things to please yourself," Lu Tingwan asked, "Your Excellency is married, right? How could you not know the art of women's makeup?"

Cheng Xianzhi frowned, "How do you know if I'm married?"

"When you came to Zhichunli to talk to me that day, you bought a bottle of rejuvenating cream. Wasn't it to please the lady?"

Cheng Xianzhi was a little embarrassed, and after coughing lightly, he did not deny it.

Lu Tingwan smiled and took the opportunity to ask: "I heard that your Cheng Pushe is also married."

"Master Han, what kind of person is your Minister of the Court?"

Cheng Xianzhi folded his hands over his chest, leaning against the beam with a meaningful smile. Lu Tingwan waited patiently, "Manager Jiang seems to be very interested in our Cheng Pushe?"

"I just heard that Cheng Pushe married the daughter of the Jingdu Zhongshuling family. Miss Gongsun is so beautiful that she captivates everyone. They are a match made in heaven. So, will he buy a rejuvenating cream for his wife?"

Those wide-open almond-shaped eyes spun around, as if pondering some secret. "The hottest summer is almost over, and the farmers' flower fields have recently produced several precious and famous products. The official's wife ordered two loads from me, and there's still some left..."

Cheng Xianzhi looked at her with interest: "Hmm?"