Empress’ Game: Make-up Master Chapter 2 - Discovering a New World

She did not know how long she had slept like that. Wu Sheyue suddenly opened her eyes, and a tearing pain from the spot on her chest made her cry out softly.

Cold sweat immediately seeped from her forehead, gathering into droplets and sliding down. She struggled to press her hand to her chest.

Her palm felt a little numb, but she could still feel the damp texture against her chest.

Panting, she looked around. This was… not dead?

Before her were old wooden roof beams. Broken spiderwebs hung clearly above. It looked as if that man had dumped her in some remote old house.

But why… why not let her die in the fire?

Wu Sheyue pressed one hand hard against her chest and used the other to struggle upright.

Right beside her was a wooden box. Her body was terribly weak.

Leaning against the box, she lowered her head and lifted her clothes to examine the wound. But the instant she saw her clothes, she was stunned.

This… was this a costume? Startled, she immediately tugged open her collar. The skin underneath was smooth and tender in a way that was not her own.

The painfully throbbing spot on her chest was not bleeding either. It was an ugly mass of black-blue bruising. Judging by the symptoms, she had probably been kicked hard.

Shock gave Wu Sheyue strength. Enduring the body’s unnatural stiffness, she climbed to her feet.

Only then did she see clearly that she was wearing a very worn-out white ancient-style robe. Then she looked at the wooden box beside her. It was clearly a coffin.

Anxiously, she checked her fingers.

Years of making props and doing makeup had left her nails in terrible shape.

Yet the hands before her were slender, fair, and soft, with neatly rounded nails. There was not even a speck of pigment in the gaps.

An unbelievable but unavoidable thought flashed through her mind: This is not my body.

This body’s limbs were stiff and uncoordinated, clearly lacking exercise.

Although her own abilities had not met the organization’s standards, she was at least stronger than ordinary people.

Wu Sheyue quickly looked around.

This was a crude mourning hall. A lonely memorial tablet had been placed on the table at the head of the coffin – Yin Qiuming.

Although the surrounding furnishings were old and shabby, every object’s details and patterns carried an ancient charm. They were genuine antiques.

Wu Sheyue hurried outside.

Paper money drifted through the dilapidated little courtyard, making it especially desolate and eerie.

She urgently wanted to find a mirror. She wanted to see who she had become.

Just as she was about to walk out, the courtyard gate was suddenly pushed open. A girl with a maid’s double buns walked in. Her face was unfriendly, and even though she had come to a mourning hall, she wore a peach-pink dress.

In her hand, she carried a food box.

When she saw Wu Sheyue, both of them froze for a moment as their eyes met.

Wu Sheyue was still thinking about how to question the first person she had met after arriving in this strange place, but the little maid spoke quickly.

“Oh? Third Miss finally decided to wake up? Perfect. Chuntao brought you food. Eat when you wake up, then go right back to sleep.”
As she spoke, this Chuntao tugged her mouth into a smile, afraid Wu Sheyue might miss the sarcasm.

Third Miss? Wu Sheyue immediately made a judgment about her own identity.

But… this Third Miss seemed to have had quite a miserable ending. Even a maid could bully her?

Wu Sheyue was assessing her situation, but when Chuntao saw her silence, she shook her head and walked inside, her mouth still running.

“Heh. You can sleep that soundly while keeping vigil for your own mother. Some people really have big hearts.”

“What did you say?” Wu Sheyue finally spoke. The dead Yin Qiuming was the mother of this Third Miss?

Chuntao was placing the food box on the coffin lid.
She stopped opening the lid, turned back, and glared with impatience.

“I said, are you annoying or what? Keeping vigil means keeping vigil. Can’t you come over and kneel properly? Don’t tell me you’re going to think of a way to run out and find the Eighth Prince again. The Eighth Prince made it perfectly clear he doesn’t want an ugly freak like you. Madam and Master both said you should stay properly in the mourning hall and stop going out to embarrass everyone. If you cause trouble, it’s us servants who suffer for it. Can’t you be a little decent for once? Forget it. Your brain is too stupid tounderstand anyway. We servants are the ones running around doing everything…”

Good, When Chuntao finished scolding, Wu Sheyue had also picked out the key points. Most importantly, it turned out this body had originally been a fool. At that moment, Wu Sheyue could not describe what she felt. She could only say that it was no wonder this Third Miss had been treated so miserably.

Although she had had nothing to do with this Third Miss before, from now on, she was the Third Miss. Being scolded the moment she woke up made her rather unhappy.

At that moment, Chuntao was angrily slamming a plate of cabbage onto the coffin lid. A lot of cabbage soup spilled out. Then she pulled out a dusty steamed bun and placed it to the side.

“Fine. Eat.”

After saying that, Chuntao did not look at Wu Sheyue again and turned to leave.

“Since someone died, doesn’t it seem a little inappropriate for you to come here wearing pink?” Wu Sheyue’s tone carried a hidden threat.

Chuntao seemed to have heard an outrageous joke.

“Heh. What do you think you are? The Chancellor’s Estate’s Third Miss? Calling you Third Miss is giving Master face, not giving you any. You’re nothing but the child of a low woman. Did you expect the whole world to wear mourning clothes just because your mother died? I already treated you well enough by bringing food over, and you still dare to nitpick me.”

Chuntao did not want to waste more time. She rolled her eyes and prepared to go around Wu Sheyue.

Wu Sheyue lifted an eyebrow, then suddenly raised her leg and kicked Chuntao at the bend of the knee. Without warning, Chuntao dropped to her knees with a thud.

“Ah-!”

Her knees slammed solidly into the hard ground with a dull sound. Chuntao felt sharp pain in her knees, as if she had knelt on stones, and tears immediately burst out.

Then she heard Wu Sheyue say darkly from the side,

“You’re facing the wrong direction, aren’t you?”

(To be continued)