Chapter 11 Chapter 11 Big Duck or Big Goose?
The 16th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign was the most critical period of the Three Feudatories Rebellion.
Battle reports from the front came in frequently, and the candles in the imperial study stayed lit all night long. Countless court ministers took turns waiting outside for an audience, and some were summoned into the palace in the middle of the night to discuss matters.
The tea room originally worked in two shifts, but recently it was changed to three shifts.
Under such circumstances, the emperor was so busy with state affairs that he had no time to favor his concubines.
Therefore, during this period, the emperor mostly rested alone in the Qianqing Palace. Even the several official ladies in the rooms behind the Qianqing Palace were forgotten by him for a while.
I heard that the Empress Dowager from the Cining Palace came here several times.
I heard that during this period, concubines in the harem always sent sweet soup and various nourishing supplements.
I heard that the eldest prince returned to the palace recently, but the emperor didn't even go to see him.
I heard that the Emperor has recently been taking time out of his busy schedule to find a mentor for the Crown Prince.
I heard that several official ladies in the surrounding house have been causing trouble recently and have had three fights in five days.
Li Shuyao lived in the Palace of Heavenly Purity, a place where information flowed the most. Even if she lived a lazy life, there were always countless pieces of news reaching her ears.
When she came, Li Shuyao was a little worried about Qingyao's condition. Would she become haggard because of the emperor's neglect? Would she be bullied by other court ladies?
And that official lady surnamed Zhu, when she went to apologize before, she had already reminded her, both explicitly and implicitly, to be careful with what she eats every day and not to give others the opportunity to poison her. I wonder if Qingyao took her to heart?
All the worries, speculations and other emotions reached their peak the moment she stepped into the East Warm Pavilion.
But when he saw Qingyao and Lingluo's faces, he fell to the bottom with a "pop".
The height difference is probably the distance between Mount Everest and the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.
Li Shuyao walked over, tilted her head and looked at the master and servant's faces for a long time, "What are you two doing..." Why are there red spots on your faces?
Is she putting on Peking Opera makeup?
Although Guo Luoluo Qingyao was disturbed, the curve of her lips remained unchanged, and her clear eyes did not show any trace of being ignored. She was holding a wooden box in her hand, with several cans of colorful rouge and powder scattered in the box.
The fingertips of the five fingers on his right hand were different colors, and he was enthusiastically painting something back and forth on Lingluo's face.
Lingluo, who was treated as a nude model, also had a smile on her face. There was some helplessness in her eyes when she looked at her mistress, but more of it was an unconditional doting look. When she saw Li Shuyao coming, she stood up, knelt down and saluted, and Li Shuyao quickly returned the gesture.
Just as he was about to continue to salute Qingyao, she interrupted him rudely, "Why are we being polite to each other?"
"Come here and sit there." She nodded towards the chair on her left, while her hands kept moving, and she quickly completed the last few strokes on Lingluo's face.
It turned out that animals were painted on Lingluo's face with rouge and powder!
Li Shuyao quickly raised her hands to cover her face. She did not step forward immediately. Instead, she took a few steps back with a look of vigilance in her eyes, refusing to be Qingyao's nude model.
Seeing this, Qingyao picked up a bottle from the box and waved it at her. "Don't dislike it just because it has a strange color. This is tribute from Siam. There are less than five boxes in the entire palace. Apply it on your face and wash it off after two quarters of an hour. Your skin will become incredibly delicate and smooth, just like the finest mutton-fat jade."
But despite her best efforts to promote it, Li Shuyao still rejected it coldly and ruthlessly.
After all, many ingredients in ancient things are mixed up, especially something that works so quickly, there's no doubt it might be mixed with some banned substances...
She just wanted an ordinary face, not a face made of mutton-fat jade.
So Li Shuyao covered her face and took a big step back.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao's expression changed immediately, "Lingluo, catch her!"
Li Shuyao turned and ran.
Over there, Guo Luoluo Qingyao put down the box and followed.
Several people suddenly became chaotic in the east warm room. The soft and beautiful voices of pleas for mercy and threats that seemed real or fake, which were unique to women, were heard outside the house. Nanny Lin and Nanny Gong looked at each other, and their expressions became more and more helpless.
Nanny Lin stood for a moment with her hands hanging down, listening intently to the noise inside. She figured it wouldn't take long for Nanny Gong to stop, so she whispered to Nanny Gong, "I'll just stay here. You go to the Yanxi Palace. Don't start a commotion over there, or it'll disturb the peace of the two old ancestors."
They both thought of what happened half an hour ago, and their hearts suddenly felt heavy.
After a while, Madam Gong nodded with a serious face, "Then I'll go first."
"Go." Nanny Lin waved at her.
At this time, a young eunuch ran over, knelt in front of the two, and reported in a low voice, "Two maids, something terrible has happened. The old master has heard from somewhere that the eldest prince has been 'poisoned' and has already rushed over!"
"What!"
*
On this side, Li Shuyao and Guo Luoluo Qingyao were still unaware of the changes in the harem.
They were like two carefree little girls raised in an ivory tower, arguing over Guo Luoluo Qingyao's "fingering and painting skills".
Guo Luoluo Qingyao insisted that what she painted was a mandarin duck.
After looking in the mirror, Li Shuyao said that it was clearly a big goose, and a black one at that!
Lingluo waited beside the two of them, looked left and right, then hesitated and said, "Isn't this a duck?"
Li Shuyao and Guo Luoluo Qingyao both turned their heads to look at her at the same time.
Lingluo pointed at the corner of Li Shuyao's mouth and said, "This is the duck's webbed feet, and this is the duck's short, flat beak..."
"It's mandarin ducks!" Guo Luoluo Qingyao shouted.
"Nonsense! Where can I find such a duck?" Li Shuyao shouted unhappily.
Lingluo was somewhat helpless. "But judging by its size alone, this can't be a goose. It's not big at all."
"It's obviously a mandarin duck..."
After hearing Lingluo's words, Li Shuyao picked up the mirror and looked at herself carefully a few more times. She pointed to a certain spot on her face and said, "Look at your neck. There's a circle there. Is it a 'swan neck'?"
Lingluo came over to take a look, "It seems to be true..."
"No, no, what you said is wrong! What I drew is clearly mandarin ducks!" Seeing that the two ignored her, Guo Luoluo Qingyao was so angry that she stuffed the lids of all the bottles and jars tightly and threw them back into the box.
Unexpectedly, Li Shuyao and Lingluo immediately "called a truce" at the same time and turned to look at her in unison.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao was a little confused by the two people's gazes, "...What's wrong?"
Li Shuyao looked at her eagerly and asked, "Why don't you paint?"
Lingluo also pursed her lips, "Didn't the young lady promise me before that I would paint for you after you finished painting for me?"
Guo Luoluo Qingyao's face froze, and she blinked guiltily in her watery eyes. She gritted her teeth and tried to argue, "Well, when the emperor gave this to me, he said these bottles were extremely precious..."
"So I should give it to you to use as well!" Li Shuyao was a little angry.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao said with a confident tone, "I was born beautiful, I don't need these acquired things..."
Before she could finish her words, Li Shuyao grabbed her two slender wrists tightly in her palms through her clothes. Li Shuyao sat opposite Guo Luoluo Qingyao, and after controlling her hands, he used his feet to restrain her calves, making her unable to move.
Immediately, he blinked at Lingluo with his smart eyes, "Quick, apply these things to your little master. First, use the bottle of pink to make a base, then use the blue one on top for the sky, and the green one below for the grass..."
Lingluo obeyed and tried to give her own opinion, "Should we draw a few flowers to embellish it?"
Li Shuyao nodded solemnly, looked around at Qingyao's face, raised her chin towards her cheek, and said, "I like jasmine flowers, so let's paint a few white ones there."
Guo Luoluo Qingyao was almost on the verge of tears: "One layer, one layer is enough, don't waste it..."
Li Shuyao glared at her unhappily, "You know what a waste it is! You weren't the one who just painted layer after layer of makeup on our faces?"
Guo Luoluo Qingyao: “QAQ”
Help.
…
They kept making noise in the East Warm Pavilion for more than half an hour.
When the time for the final facial mask came, everyone looked at each other and fell silent.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao tried to regain her dignity as a master. She leaned back and slumped directly onto the chair. "Ah, I have no strength left. Lingluo, go outside and ask someone to bring in some basins of clean water."
Lingluo: “…”
She looked at her master with extremely resentful eyes, then looked at Li Shuyao.
Li Shuyao immediately imitated Guo Luoluo Qingyao, closed her eyes and fell onto the chair.
I silently said to myself: You can’t see me, you can’t see me.
You live in the back rooms, but I still have to stay in the Palace of Heavenly Purity. If people outside see the big duck and goose on my face, will I still have any dignity?
Lingluo was helpless and could only sigh deeply. She covered half of her face with a handkerchief and walked slowly to the front door. She opened it a tiny crack and whispered to Nanny Lin outside, "Nanny, could you please send someone to bring in some basins of clean water?"
Nanny Lin narrowed her eyes and saw the colorful makeup on her face clearly through the crack in the door. She also had a rough idea of the other two people's condition. Had they used up all the tribute the emperor had just given them?
Looking at the thickness of the powder on Lingluo's face, Nanny Lin guessed that even if it wasn't all used up, at least half of it had been used up.
This is a tribute that even Concubine Tong of Chengqian Palace does not have.
But these ignorant little girls used it as paint.
She felt a little helpless and amused. After a while, she suppressed her laughter and asked Lingluo in a gentle voice, "How many basins of water do you want?"
Lingluo counted, "Three... No, six basins!"
She was worried that the basin wouldn't be clean enough.
Nanny Lin understood what was going on and nodded. She then asked, "Do you want me to send someone to the surrounding quarters to get clean clothes for you and Miss Guo Luoluo?"
Lingluo was overjoyed when she heard this: "Thank you so much, Madam! By the way, if you have time, could you bring some clothes for Shuyao as well?"
Nanny Lin treated them as her own juniors, so she responded without hesitation. She quickly waved over a few people and whispered a few instructions.
Lingluo then closed the door contentedly and returned to the house to wait.
Soon, six palace maids each brought in a basin of water. Li Shuyao and the others quickly covered their faces tightly with handkerchiefs.
The palace maid asked, "Miss Guo Luoluo, where should we put this water?"
Guo Luoluo Qingyao replied through the handkerchief: "Just put it on the table."
The palace maid looked around and felt a little embarrassed. "This, I can't let it go."
Guo Luoluo Qingyao thought for a moment, then straightened up a little. The silk handkerchief on her face slipped down, and she quickly covered it with both hands. Then she gave orders to the palace servants in a muffled voice, "Put three basins on the table first, and the rest on the floor. Then close the door and leave. You're not needed here for the time being."
"Yes." The palace maid agreed readily and quickly followed her words and placed several basins of clean water in the corresponding places.
Li Shuyao and the others waited until the sound of the door closing before they lifted the handkerchiefs on their faces and walked to the table impatiently to start washing their faces.
Outside the house, Nanny Lin listened to the noise inside, and a clear smile flashed across her lips.
That's all, just a few kids who like to play around.
What's so great about using tribute as paint? After all, the emperor can afford it.
...It's better than poisoning.
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