Empress’ Game: Make-up Master Chapter 8

“If I hadn’t made her eat it, she would still have come to make trouble for me.”

“Sigh. Concubine Yin just passed these two days. Those people are afraid of bad luck and don’t come this way. Only Second Miss can’t hold herself back and keeps coming over to stir up trouble…”

Ning’er looked at Wu Sheyue and sighed again.

“Fortunately, Miss, you’ve already recovered.”

Wu Sheyue suddenly thought of a question.

“Do I have many brothers and sisters?”

She hated trouble.

Ning’er swallowed.

“Miss, you have five sisters and three brothers.”

That was a lot.

“I’ll wash up in a while. Take me back to my room.”

“Oh.”

Wu Sheyue continued eating, and Ning’er stared at her in a daze. All afternoon, Ning’er’s heart
had kept repeating: Third Miss is not foolish anymore, Third Miss is not foolish anymore. But
even now, it still felt like a dream. Third Miss was not only no longer foolish; more importantly,
she seemed to have forgotten the past and become another person.

Wu Sheyue suddenly said,
“Stop staring.”

The inside had long since changed. Ning’er’s heart startled, and she withdrew her gaze.

After Wu Sheyue finished eating, Ning’er led her back to her room. Coming out of the mourning hall, there were two side rooms on the left and right.
The room on the left was the former Wu Sheyue’s residence. Although there were many rooms in the courtyard, they were old and poorly maintained, looking shabby and broken. There were not many furnishings inside either. Though clean, everything looked somewhat gray and dusty.

Ning’er consciously went to boil water and carry it into the room. There seemed to be no other
servants in the courtyard, and the quiet was frightening.

Wu Sheyue looked around the room. It had a bed and a table, but no chair. The large wardrobe to one side no longer had doors. She went over and rummaged through it. Inside were only a few folded old garments.

Perhaps Yin Qiuming would not have put important things near her foolish daughter. Seeing that Ning’er had not returned, Wu Sheyue took a candle and went to the room across the way.

The side room there was clearly the room of a virtuous mother. The room was a little larger, and the furniture was also very old. There were two extra chairs. At the head of the bed lay needlework only half finished. On the table was a cup of cold tea, and a book lay face-down beside it… Before the incident, she must have been doing these everyday tasks as usual.

Wu Sheyue felt a little uncomfortable. That discomfort probably did not belong to her. She placed the candle on the table and began searching Yin Qiuming’s room.

Sure enough, she found a small wooden box under the bed. A thin layer of dust covered it.

When she gently opened the box, the first thing she saw was a piece of facial skin shaped like the bridge of a nose.

Cold sweat seeped from Wu Sheyue’s forehead. She was so excited she almost trembled. This was actually a makeup prosthetic. Touching it with her hand, she found that the texture was closer to human skin than silicone. Could it be real human skin?

“Miss?”

Wu Sheyue snapped the box shut. She turned back. Ning’er stood in the doorway holding a water bucket. She must have gone to the other room and found no one, then come here because she saw light.

“I’m looking at Mother’s belongings.”

Ning’er lowered her head. Her eyes turned slightly red.

“Ah, Miss, you… don’t be too sad.

Concubine Yin… perhaps she is more comfortable now that she’s gone.”

“I’ll wash in this room.”

“Yes. Ning’er will carry the water over right away.”

Ning’er was still weak. In the end, Wu Sheyue carried it over with her. Wu Sheyue pushed Ning’er back to keep vigil, leaving herself alone in the room to wash slowly.

She sat in the bathtub. On the chair beside the tub was the small wooden box. She leaned on the edge of the tub and reached out to look through the items inside the box.

The box had four layers. The first layer held some prosthetics. Wu Sheyue carefully separated them by type. There were actually three chins, six noses, one pair of ears, and three full-face pieces of skin.

Sighing in admiration, Wu Sheyue opened the second layer. It contained tweezers, small knives, brushes, and other tools. Although the style was somewhat different from modern versions, she could still tell how to use them.

The third layer was a “rouge” case. The inside was divided into fourteen small compartments holding “rouge” in various colors. It looked a little like a paint palette for gouache.

The fourth layer held what she needed. There were ten identical small porcelain bottles. Only numbers were written on them, labeled in delicate handwriting from Jia through Gui. Wu Sheyue felt that the adhesive and makeup remover must be among them, but Yin Qiuming had probably deliberately not written their names.

She opened every bottle and smelled it. For those she could not identify by smell, she poured a little on her hand and spread it to see. Fortunately, she recognized each one. Jia through Bing were adhesives of three different strengths, and the bottle marked Gui was makeup remover.

After memorizing the contents of every bottle, she put them back and began washing her face with the liquid marked Gui.

Perhaps because she had been unconscious these two days and the prosthetic had been on her face too long, pulling it off hurt a little, but it went smoothly enough. When she completely removed the prosthetic, her face felt fresh, as if it could breathe.

Wu Sheyue also discovered that once the prosthetic touched the makeup remover, its color began to come off. It seemed the birthmark color had also been mixed and painted on. She washed the prosthetic clean and put it back into the box, then got out, dried her body, and changed into clean clothes.

There was not even a mirror in this room. Otherwise, tomorrow she could take the mirror from
Yin Qiuming’s coffin and look at herself. Thinking this, she lay down on the bed fully clothed.

(To be continued)