The sixteenth year of Kangxi’s reign coincided with the most critical period of The Revolt of the Three Feudatories.
Battle reports from the front lines arrived frequently, the candles in the Imperial Study burned through the night, and countless court officials took turns waiting outside for audiences—some were even summoned to the palace in the dead of night to discuss matters.
The Tea Room staff, originally working in two shifts, had recently switched to three shifts.
Under such circumstances, the Emperor was completely absorbed in state affairs—how could he possibly find time to favor his consorts?
Thus, during this period, the Emperor mostly rested alone in Qianqing Palace, even temporarily forgetting the several Imperial Attendants in the Qianqing Palace Houweifang.
It was said the Empress Dowager from the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility had visited several times.
It was said consorts from the rear palace frequently sent sweet soups and various nourishing tonics during this period.
It was said Da Age had returned to the palace recently, yet the Emperor hadn’t even glanced his way.
It was said the Emperor was squeezing time from his busy schedule to find an enlightenment teacher for the Crown Prince.
It was said the Imperial Attendants in the Enclosure Room had been particularly tumultuous lately, quarreling three times in five days.
Li Shutiao, being in Qianqing Palace—the most well-informed place—couldn’t avoid hearing countless pieces of news even while idling her days away.
When she came, Li Shutiao had been somewhat worried about Qingyao’s condition—would she become haggard from the Emperor’s neglect? Would she be bullied by other Imperial Attendants?
And that Imperial Attendant surnamed Zhu—during her previous apology visit, she had explicitly and implicitly reminded Qingyao to be cautious about daily meals to avoid giving others opportunities to poison her. Had Qingyao taken this to heart?
All her worries and speculations peaked the moment she stepped into the East Pavilion.
Yet upon seeing Qingyao and Lingluo’s faces, they “plummeted” straight to the bottom.
The drop was probably comparable to the distance between Mount Everest and the East African Rift Valley.
Li Shutiao approached, tilting her head as she examined the master and servant’s faces for a long while. “What are you two…” doing? Why are your faces covered in streaks of red and other colors?
Are you applying Peking Opera makeup?
Guo Luoluo Qingyao, whose fun had been interrupted, maintained the curve of her lips. Her clear eyes showed no trace of gloom from being neglected. She still held a wooden box containing several scattered containers of colorful cosmetics.
The pads of her right hand’s five fingers were stained different colors as she enthusiastically painted something on Lingluo’s face.
Lingluo, serving as the human mannequin, also wore a smile. Her gaze toward her mistress held some helplessness but more was boundless indulgence. Seeing Li Shutiao arrive, she first stood up and curtseyed in greeting, which Li Shutiao promptly returned.
Just as Li Shutiao was about to continue with formal greetings for Qingyao, the latter interrupted without any politeness, “What’s with the formalities between us?””
“Come over here and sit there.” She gestured with her lips toward the chair on her left while continuing her work, quickly completing the final strokes on Lingluo’s face.
So she was using cosmetics to paint animals on Lingluo’s face!
Li Shutiao swiftly raised her hands to cover her own face. Instead of stepping forward immediately, she cautiously retreated several steps with wide eyes, refusing to become Qingyao’s next human mannequin.
Qingyao, seeing this, picked up a bottle from the box and waved it at her. “Don’t reject it just because the color looks strange. This is a tribute item from Siam. There are fewer than five boxes in the entire palace. Apply it to your face, wash it off after two ke, and your skin will become incredibly smooth and delicate, just like fine mutton-fat jade.”
But despite her enthusiastic promotion, Li Shutiao coldly and mercilessly refused.
After all, many ancient products contained dubious ingredients, especially those with rapid effects—who knew if they were mixed with some forbidden substances…
She just wanted an ordinary, unremarkable face, not one made of mutton-fat jade.
So Li Shutiao covered her face and took another big step back.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao immediately changed her expression. “Lingluo, grab her!”
Li Shutiao turned and ran.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao put down the box and chased after her.
The East Pavilion instantly descended into chaos, with the soft, clear pleas of the young women and half-serious threats echoing outside. Lin Momo and Gong Momo exchanged glances, their expressions growing increasingly helpless.
Lin Momo stood with her hands at her sides for a moment, listening carefully to the commotion inside. Estimating it wouldn’t settle down anytime soon, she whispered to Gong Momo, “I’ll stay here and keep watch. You go to Yanxi Palace. Make sure nothing stirs up there and disturbs the two elders’ peace later.”
Both recalled what had happened half an hour earlier, and their hearts suddenly felt heavy.
After a pause, Gong Momo nodded with a stern face. “Then I’ll head over now.”
“Go ahead.” Lin Momo waved her off.
Just then, a young eunuch rushed over, knelt before them, and reported in a hushed voice, “Mothers, something terrible has happened! The elders have somehow learned about Da Age’s ‘poisoning’ and are already on their way there!”
“What!”
Meanwhile, Li Shutiao and Guo Luoluo Qingyao remained unaware of the turmoil brewing in the rear palace.
They were like two carefree girls raised in an ivory tower, now bickering over Guo Luoluo Qingyao’s “finger technique and painting skills.”
Guo Luoluo Qingyao insisted she had painted mandarin ducks.
But after looking in the mirror, Li Shutiao declared they were clearly geese—black geese, at that!
Lingluo stood by the two, looking left and right, then hesitantly spoke up, “Isn’t this a duck?”
Li Shutiao and Guo Luoluo Qingyao both turned to look at her.
Lingluo pointed at the corner of Li Shutiao’s mouth. “This is the duck’s webbed foot, and this is its short, flat beak…”
“They’re mandarin ducks!” Guo Luoluo Qingyao cried.
“Nonsense! What kind of duck looks like that?” Li Shutiao also protested unhappily.
Lingluo sighed helplessly. “But judging by the size alone, it can’t be a goose. It’s not big at all.”
“They’re clearly mandarin ducks…”
Hearing Lingluo’s words, Li Shutiao picked up the mirror and examined her face more carefully, pointing at a specific spot. “Then look here at the neck—there’s a ring. Isn’t that a ‘goose neck’?”
Lingluo leaned in for a closer look. “It does seem like it…”
“No, no, you’re both wrong! What I painted were clearly mandarin ducks!” Seeing that they were ignoring her, Guo Luoluo Qingyao grew so angry that she tightly capped all the bottles and jars and threw them back into the box.
To everyone’s surprise, Li Shutiao and Lingluo immediately ceased their “battle,” turning their heads in unison to look at her.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao felt bewildered under their gaze. “…What’s wrong?”
Li Shutiao stared at her intently and asked, “Why aren’t you applying any?”
Lingluo also pouted, “Didn’t you promise me earlier, my lady, that after you finished painting my face, I would get to paint yours?”
Guo Luoluo Qingyao’s expression stiffened. Her moist, glistening eyes blinked guiltily as she stubbornly attempted to justify herself, “Well, when His Majesty bestowed these upon me earlier, he mentioned that these few bottles are particularly precious…”
“All the more reason you should use them too!” Li Shutiao grew somewhat angry.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao declared with unjustified confidence, “I was born beautiful—I don’t need these artificial enhancements…”
Before she could finish speaking, Li Shutiao firmly grasped both of her slender wrists through her clothing. Sitting opposite Guo Luoluo Qingyao, Li Shutiao restrained her hands and then used her feet to pin down her lower legs, rendering her immobile.
Then, with lively eyes, she winked at Lingluo and said, “Quick, apply these things to your lady. Start with that pink bottle as a base, then use the blue one above for the sky, and the green below for the grass…”
Lingluo obediently followed instructions while trying to offer her own suggestion, “Should we add a few flowers as embellishments?”
Li Shutiao nodded solemnly, glanced around Qingyao’s face, and pointed her chin toward the cheeks, saying, “I like jasmine flowers. Paint a few white ones right there.”
Guo Luoluo Qingyao was on the verge of tears: “One layer, one layer is enough, don’t waste it…”
Li Shutiao shot her an exasperated look, “So you do know what waste is? Was it not you who kept applying layer after layer on our faces earlier?”
Guo Luoluo Qingyao: “QAQ”
Help.
…
They continued causing a ruckus like this in the East Pavilion for over half an hour.
When the time finally came to remove the facial applications, the group exchanged glances and simultaneously fell into a somewhat silent state.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao attempted to reclaim her dignity as the mistress by leaning back and collapsing into the armchair: “Ah, I’m exhausted. Lingluo, go outside and have someone bring in a few basins of clean water.”
Lingluo: “…”
She cast an extremely resentful glance at her mistress, then looked at Li Shutiao.
Li Shutiao immediately mimicked Guo Luoluo Qingyao’s posture, closing her eyes and slumping into the chair.
In her heart, she chanted: Don’t see me, don’t see me.
You all live in the Houweifang, but I still have to remain in the Qianqing Palace. If outsiders see these large ducks and geese painted on my face, how could I ever save face?
Lingluo had no choice but to let out a long sigh. Covering half her face with a handkerchief, she dawdled to the main door, opened a narrow crack, and softly requested to Lin Momo outside, “Momo, could you please have someone bring in a few basins of clean water?”
Lin Momo narrowed her eyes and clearly saw the multicolored makeup on Lingluo’s face through the crack. She could roughly guess the state of the other two—had they used up all the tribute items His Majesty had just bestowed?
Looking at the thickness of the makeup on Lingluo’s face, Lin Momo surmised that even if they hadn’t used everything, they had probably gone through more than half.
These were tribute items that even Consort Tong of Chengqian Palace didn’t possess.
She couldn’t help but feel both exasperated and amused that these ignorant young girls had used it as pigment.
Suppressing her laughter after a long moment, she gently asked Lingluo inside, “How many basins of water do you need?”
Lingluo counted on her fingers, “Three… no, six basins!”
She worried one basin wouldn’t be enough to wash thoroughly.
Understanding the situation, Lin Momo nodded and asked, “Shall I send someone to the Enclosure Room to fetch clean clothes for you and Young Mistress Guo Luoluo?”
Overjoyed by this, Lingluo exclaimed, “Thank you so much, Momo! By the way, if you have time, could you also bring clothes for Shutiao?”
Lin Momo regarded them all as her own juniors and naturally agreed. She quickly summoned several servants and gave them quiet instructions.
Satisfied, Lingluo closed the main door and returned inside to wait.
Soon after, six palace servants entered, each carrying a basin of clean water. Li Shutiao and the others immediately covered their faces tightly with handkerchiefs.
A servant asked, “Young Mistress Guo Luoluo, where should we place the water?”
Guo Luoluo Qingyao replied through her handkerchief, “Just put them on the table.”
The servant glanced around and said hesitantly, “But… there isn’t enough space.”
After a moment’s thought, Guo Luoluo Qingyao slightly straightened up, causing the silk handkerchief on her face to slip. She quickly pressed it back with both hands and instructed in a muffled voice, “Place three basins on the table first, put the rest on the floor. Then close the door on your way out – we won’t need your services for now.”
“As you wish,” the servants complied promptly, arranging the water basins as instructed.
Only when they heard the door close did Li Shutiao and the others remove their handkerchiefs and eagerly approach the table to wash their faces.
Outside, Lin Momo listened to the commotion within, a clear smile briefly appearing on her lips.
Well, they’re just a bunch of playful children after all.
What does it matter if they used tribute items as pigment? It’s not like the Emperor can’t afford it.
…At least it’s better than poisoning someone.