Chapter 6: The reaction came…

The shopkeeper had already been drowsy from staying up late. Usually, the rouge shop would only be open until sunset, but today that ancestor wouldn’t leave, so she had no choice but to stay up as well.

When footsteps were heard, the shopkeeper suddenly woke up, thinking that Zhu Daren had finished. Flattering words were already on the tip of her tongue: “Your Excellency…” But when she saw it was Gu Yingqing, she closed her mouth again. It was a false alarm; she had thought she could go home.

The shopkeeper collected herself and put on a smile again, politely saying, “Isn’t this our Zhu Daren’s husband? Have you come to pick up Daren to go home? Zhu Daren is so fortunate to have married such a considerate husband.”

Gu Yingqing didn’t answer her. “Where is she?”

The shopkeeper pointed upstairs. Before she could say anything, Gu Yingqing was already walking towards the stairs, his steps as swift as the wind.

Lanfan sprang up, arms outstretched to block Gu Yingqing. “Daren has instructed that without her summons, no one is to disturb her.”

Gu Yingqing said irritably, “Old Madam Zhu sent me. Step aside.”

Although Lanfan was displeased, she could only reluctantly withdraw her hand.

Upstairs, the windows were tightly shut with only one lamp lit. Gu Yingqing’s steps halted. Who was this woman? He looked questioningly at the person wearing strangely cut white outer clothing, blue protective gear on her hands, concentrating on adding liquid to a jar.

It wasn’t just her that was strange, but also the lamp beside her. Its shape was odd, and though it contained a liquid like water, it could still light up, which was strange. The table was full of bottles and jars, all transparent like the lamp, containing unusual things that glowed an odd red in the warm lamplight.

Gu Yingqing watched for a moment. The lamp flickered once, but Zhu Wansheng didn’t even give him a glance. As she bent to pick up something and then straightened, the silver ornaments on her ears swayed, casting long shadows on the wall behind her.

What was this woman doing?

“Your mother wants you to go home,” he said, moving closer. In the light, he could see her expression clearly. It was somewhat different from usual, without the disdain and contempt, but with more concentration.

Zhu Wansheng didn’t respond. She poured some red powder into another container, her movements very light. The powder fell softly in the lamplight, and he wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but a faint fragrance began to waft through the air.

He waited until she paused in changing powders to gently tap the table. “I said…”

Zhu Wansheng’s hand shook, and the powder spilled onto the table, spreading in a fine layer.

She glared at him, furrowing her brow. “I heard, I heard. Don’t disturb me now, can’t you see I’m busy? Can’t you wait?”

This person was so inconsiderate. Couldn’t he see she was doing delicate work? He had to disrupt her. That tap just now had ruined her work again. She hated it most when people chattered beside her while she was experimenting; it easily affected her performance.

Gu Yingqing didn’t speak again, nor did he leave. He just stood there watching her work.

Zhu Wansheng was mixing colors, using the available scarce food colorings to create the red and pink series she wanted, even orange and purple, to enrich the rouge color range.

In the past, these proportions could be easily looked up, with every gram recorded clearly, and one could just add them directly. Now, with limited conditions, after all this tinkering, she had only successfully mixed four colors. More refined ones couldn’t be achieved for now.

Zhu Wansheng wrote on paper: Strawberry red (1g of rouge red with 0.25g of sunset yellow), then put the mixed color into a glass bottle, labeled it, and sealed it for storage.

She took off her lab coat, shook off some of the color powder stuck to it, then folded it neatly and put it back in the plastic packaging bag. She removed her gloves and wrapped all the waste in paper, putting it aside. Taking the most satisfactory orange small bottle from the table, she lightly tossed it up and caught it, saying with satisfaction, “Mere color mixing can’t stump me.”

Actually, she really wanted to be lazy and directly get some color pigment compounds of various colors from the system, but not every pigment is suitable for cosmetics, and she really couldn’t remember the names of so many pigments. Remembering a few major categories was already not bad.

Zhu Wansheng stretched, rubbing her sore neck from bending down for so long. She looked up to meet Gu Yingqing’s evaluating gaze, and thinking of her actions just now, felt a bit embarrassed. “My mother is looking for me?”

Gu Yingqing withdrew his gaze and grunted an affirmative.

“What for?”

“Don’t know.”

He really was a man of few words. Zhu Wansheng shrugged, not asking further.

Downstairs, the shopkeeper and Lanfan seemed to have been waiting for a long time. The shopkeeper approached before Lanfan, “Is Your Excellency finished? I saw you haven’t eaten anything since this afternoon until now. I’ve prepared some dishes for you, would you like to have some?”

Lanfan was about to wave her hand, thinking how could the official possibly want your things, but unexpectedly, Zhu Wansheng nodded very happily and said, “Sure, I’m starving. But let’s talk business first. This is for you.”

Zhu Wansheng handed one of the bottles to the shopkeeper. “I’d like to ask for your help. Try this rouge when you go back tonight or tomorrow morning, then tell me how it feels, if it’s easy to use, what shortcomings it has. It would be best if you could wear it on your face for a whole day tomorrow.”

For cosmetics, it’s important to check for allergies. She had used food-grade materials, so there shouldn’t be any problems, but it was still safer to test it. After all, this was a new world, and no one could be sure. Moreover, she was quite curious about the effects, how long it would last, how long it would take to oxidize…

The shopkeeper seemed a bit confused, looking at the novel item in her hand, hesitating to speak, “Alright… alright, I’ll use it. But, Your Excellency, this is…?”

Seeing the shopkeeper’s nervousness, Zhu Wansheng smiled and said, “You don’t need to feel any pressure. I just want to try it out. If the effect is good, our shop might try selling this in the future.”

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper’s mouth gaped open in surprise. “Sell? Sell this? Our shop has so many rouges already, and this packaging is too simple…”

“The packaging will be changed later. Now it’s just the testing stage. You just need to try it out, don’t worry about anything else.”

The shopkeeper didn’t understand, but still nodded.

After a pause, Zhu Wansheng added, “Don’t touch any of my things upstairs, I’ll come back again tomorrow.”

At these words, the shopkeeper’s eyes dimmed.

This day had exhausted her enough, and just when she thought she had finally sent the ancestor off, how come she was coming back tomorrow?

Zhu Wansheng took out another bottle and handed it to Lanfan. “Lanfan, you use it too, just like I told the shopkeeper, and tell me the situation tomorrow.”

Lanfan held the small glass bottle in one hand as if cradling a treasure, scratching her head shyly, saying, “Your Excellency, is this really for me?”

Zhu Wansheng nodded.

Lanfan carefully tucked the small bottle into her clothes, a smile appearing on her face.

After giving instructions, Zhu Wansheng rubbed her flattened stomach and asked, “So where’s the food?”

The shopkeeper let out an “Oh!” and went behind the counter with a grin to fetch the food. Zhu Wansheng admired her; being able to be a shopkeeper required some skill. Just seconds ago she had been on high alert, and now she could switch to a professional smile.

However, suddenly remembering something, she thought she should eat some sugar…

Oh no, the reaction came…

Zhu Wansheng was about to fall to the ground without warning. Gu Yingqing, standing behind her, was quick to react, grabbing her clothes and pulling her up. But he acted too fast and didn’t control where he grabbed, catching the clothes at the back of her neck, lifting her up like a chick. With the force point on the upper body, her lower limbs could only dangle, looking incredibly ridiculous.

Lanfan instantly became angry, “How can you be so rough with my master? Couldn’t you have supported her or carried her?”

In the urgency of the situation, who could think of so much…

Gu Yingqing was about to let go, but Lanfan was already screaming, “Don’t let go! You dare! My master can’t fall face-first on the ground. Put her down slowly, or carry her.”

Gu Yingqing said irritably, “What exactly do you want?”

Lanfan became even angrier, “The master is your master, what kind of attitude is this? Look, the master’s face is turning red, are you trying to strangle her?”

Gu Yingqing completely lost patience. His hand released, and Zhu Wansheng began a face-down free fall.

Lanfan, no longer concerned with anger, hurriedly went to catch Zhu Wansheng. At the last moment, with a supporting hand, she managed to protect her face, but there was no time to care for the lower limbs, which made intimate contact with the ground.

When the “thud” sounded, the shopkeeper nervously closed her eyes, thinking how painful it must be… Lanfan’s eyes could almost kill with their glare, while Gu Yingqing maintained an indifferent, uninvolved demeanor…

The rumors were indeed true, seeing is believing. No matter how arrogant and domineering Zhu Wansheng was, she couldn’t control her husband Gu. It was indeed so, how exciting.

***

Zhu Wansheng woke up instantly from the pain, feeling lightheaded and weak, with heart palpitations and sweating. These were symptoms of low blood sugar, possibly from hunger or punishment for taking too many things from the system without following the rules to supplement sugar.

But why were her knees in such pain?

Opening her eyes, she saw Lanfan’s agitated face, and saliva droplets constantly falling in the air: “How could you just let go? Do you have no heart? What if the master was seriously hurt? Let’s see how the master punishes you now that she’s awake?”

What are they arguing about now?

Zhu Wansheng said weakly, “Don’t say anything, I just want to eat something. Can’t someone take care of me?”

Zhu Wansheng’s feeble voice awakened the shopkeeper’s working consciousness. She immediately put on a worried expression and brought the food box to her, “Your Excellency, you must be exhausted after a busy day. Eat quickly, then go back and rest well. Take good care of yourself before striving for your career again.”

Rest well, great master, and don’t come back to trouble us tomorrow or in the future.

The moment the aroma entered her nostrils, Zhu Wansheng wanted to stuff several pieces of meat into her mouth right there, but she was still half-lying on the ground. No matter how hungry she was, she couldn’t be so unladylike. She still got up with Lanfan’s support.

“Let’s go to the carriage, I’ll eat in the carriage.”

But Lanfan was unwilling to leave, still not satisfied. She pointed at Gu Yingqing, “Your Excellency, you haven’t questioned him yet.”

She was almost starving to death, how could she have any energy to care about others? So troublesome.

Zhu Wansheng didn’t say much, just hugged the food box and left. After walking a few steps, she turned back and beckoned to Gu Yingqing, “You come too.”

Lanfan gloated behind them, “Hmph, let’s see how the master punishes you in the carriage.”

With the shopkeeper still present, being an outsider, it wasn’t appropriate to act out, but once in the carriage…

In the carriage, Zhu Wansheng was eating the cold food from the box without any distractions, while Gu Yingqing sat opposite her, looking carefree.

Although Lanfan only peeked through the curtain once, her mouth was already wide enough to fit a boiled egg: Something was off, her master was really not herself. Usually, Gu Yingqing would have been scolded by now, how could he be sitting there unscathed?

Gu Yingqing also couldn’t quite figure out Zhu Wansheng today. That fall he caused had elements of both testing and blocking: testing because he needed to confirm whether her cooperative attitude these days was an act.

At the same time, he hoped that fall could end this ill-fated relationship between them, but what did her current starving appearance mean?