Chapter 28: The First Business
Qianqian . , the fastest update of the latest chapter of the reborn little widow of the farmer's gate!
After dinner, Qi Hao did not stay idle, first let the two children go back to the room to sleep, and she herself used a muslin cloth dipped in water to wipe off the dust on the furniture in the shop little by little, and then dismantled the smoke-colored spun yarn and hung it on the partition as a simple curtain.
There is also a screen in the shop, and the screen is inevitably decorated with fine yarn, and when Qi Zhen is busy with work, there are only five fine yarns left.
She poured out the rouge water she had made before from the white porcelain vase and poured it into twenty porcelain vases depicting rain hitting bananas, this kind of porcelain vase with a sudden is more expensive, about fifty wen each, although it is still not very exquisite, but Qi Zhen can't afford to buy such a valuable thing, so she can only make do with it.
There is a small table in the shop, boxy, with holes chiseled out one after another, I heard that before this shop was bought by the Zheng family, it was a gold store, and these holes were used to put some small earrings, rings and other objects.
Qi Zhen tried, she put the porcelain vase into the hole, only to think that the size was just right, so that the table could also come in handy, saving her a sum of money.
When you arrive in the capital, firewood, rice, oil and salt are all money, and the days are not as good as in Dawan Village, if you don't have any money in your hand, you can go to the mountains to pick some wild vegetables to eat, if you are shy in the capital, I am afraid you can only starve to death on the streets.
Finally packed up everything, Qi Hao took a bath with pancreas, and then applied peach blossom dew and newly made peach blossom balm.
For women, the nourishing effect of peach blossoms is far better than osmanthus, so in the past few days after applying peach blossom dew, Qi Zhen not only felt that her skin was fair, but also had some more luster and translucent luster, revealing a hint of pink, which made her look at it and want to pinch and knead it on her body.
On the second day, the carpenter's shop had sent the plaque early in the morning, and helped Qi Zhen hang it on the carved wooden door.
Because the location of the shop is very good, opposite the Babao Building, so a new shop has been opened here, which naturally attracts the attention of many passers-by.
There are female dependents who have finished eating from Babaolou, as soon as they see the words 'Yuyanfang' and smell the faint aroma at the door, they know that this place is selling fat powder, but Yuyanfang has just opened, and there are not many people who come in, and most women even if they walk in, there are few people to buy things.
However, Qi Zhen is not in a hurry, her fat cream is the best in the entire capital, even better than the concubines in the palace, the fragrance of wine is not afraid of deep alleys, there are always people who know the goods in this huge capital.
Sitting in front of the counter, Qi Zhen placed a bronze mirror on the counter and was carefully applying makeup to herself.
When she was in Dawan Village before, because she had to take care of those villagers, Qi Zhen had never dressed up well, and for a woman who loved beauty, she was really suffocated.
Now in the capital, it's different, I'm afraid no one within a radius of a few miles knows who she Qi Zhen is, first put a layer of delicate jade powder on her face, Qi Zhen frowned slightly, pouted her little mouth, and was a little dissatisfied in her heart.
Although the effect of Yurong powder to nourish the skin is very good, but it is mainly applied to the face when you fall asleep at night, if you apply it during the day, it always looks a little heavy, and you are not lazy when you make Yurong powder, and you specially use a mill to grind it over and over again, so that the rice noodles are so fine, otherwise the effect will definitely be worse than now.
Now that the purple jasmine on the West Mountain has bloomed, when the purple jasmine bears seeds, let those people send it over, so that she can make a thin and obedient fat powder, and the effect will definitely be better than the jade powder when it is used for makeup.
In fact, Yurong powder is already good compared to the lead powder commonly used by women in Beijing, at least it does not lose the skin, and the skin and flesh will not be red, swollen and ulcerated after being applied for a long time, but Qi Zhen's requirements for fat powder are too high, and it has reached the point of nitpicking, so she will be anxious to make the best purple jasmine powder.
Qi Zhen did not apply rouge water on her lips this time, but used a little lipstick made of peach petals, the color of this lipstick is not as red as rouge water, but a light and moist pale pink, because the color of Qi Zhen's lip flap is already light, and when you apply a layer of lip, the color will immediately appear, and the pink ones are like newly blooming peach blossoms on the branches, and there is a faint aroma, which makes people want to eat the red lips into their mouths and satisfy their cravings.
After applying the lipstick, Qi Zhen took out the rouge water again, and applied a light layer on the cheeks and eyelids, although the color of the lipstick is fresh and tender, but the texture is a little sticky, if you apply it to the eyelids, it will give birth to small dots, although it is not obvious, but it can still be found under a closer look, so Qi Zhen did not dare to try it.
Just after putting on makeup, three women walked into the shop, led by the woman wearing a azure skirt, the whole person looked a little slender, and the face was coated with a thick layer of fat powder, although the facial features were not bad, but it looked very stiff.
The two women behind her were wearing the green waist skirts of the inferior, and they should not be the main ones.
Qi Zhen walked out from behind the counter and stepped forward directly, looking straight over with moist eyes, with a light smile on his face, revealing a pear vortex.
Zhou Qinghe stared at Qi Zhen's face with burning eyes, his eyes didn't blink, and he spoke after a while:
"The fat powder on your face is not bad, can you take it out for me to see?"
The woman's voice was very delicate, not hurried or slow, it sounded a little elegant, Qi Zhen looked at the movements of this young lady, and found that when she sat in front of the round stool, her feet were close together, and her sitting posture was not picky.
In her previous life, Qi Zhen had been shopping, and naturally knew that people like the woman in front of her were generally young ladies from official eunuchs, and the most important thing in her hands was money.
The smile on her face became a little more sincere, and Qi Hao took out a blue and white porcelain box less than the size of a woman's palm from the hole in the long table, which contained Yurong powder.
"What do you call a girl?"
Zhou Qinghe showed a faint smile on his face and said:
"My surname is Zhou."
"Miss Zhou, if you want to try Yurong powder, you must scrub the fat powder on your face, otherwise you won't be able to see the effect of Yurong powder."
Hearing this, a maid standing behind Zhou Qinghe stopped doing it, raised her eyebrows, and said:
"What kind of mind do you have in this woman, you actually let my young lady take off her makeup outside in broad daylight, it's really unruly!"
"Cui Yao." Zhou Qinghe frowned, his voice was still gentle, but there was a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone.
The maid named Cui Yao has been serving Zhou Qinghe since she was a child, and she can still grasp the emotions of her master, so she was immediately silent and didn't dare to say more.
In fact, it's no wonder that Cui Yao is powerless, although Zhou Qinghe is the young lady of the official eunuch family, but life is not easy, she is the daughter of the family, but her biological mother died in childbirth, and the lady of the first room married by her father has already had her own children, for Zhou Qinghe, who is separated by a layer of belly, it is really difficult to treat it as her own daughter.
What's more, Zhou Qinghe is sixteen this year, and his half-sister Zhou Qingya is fifteen years old, and the two have reached the age of discussing relatives, but at this moment, Zhou Qinghe's face doesn't know what's wrong, it actually peels off so badly, layer by layer of white skin falls off, like a snake molting, it is very scary to look at, and a thick layer of fat powder must be applied to cover the dry molting place and prevent others from discovering it.
All the people in the Zhou Mansion knew her appearance, so the news that the eldest lady of the Zhou family was a faceless girl spread far and wide, and there were originally a few families who wanted to come to the door to ask for marriage, but when they heard this, they all retreated.
Even if it is said that 'marrying a wife should be virtuous', appearance is not the most important thing, but if a woman's appearance is too ugly, the husband's family will lose face.
Who Qi Zhen hadn't seen in his previous life? Naturally, she won't be angry because of a little maid, not to mention, her young lady is still a knowledgeable person, and she is very pleasing to watch.
Zhou Qinghe lowered his head, smiled bitterly, and said:
"I've had a little bit of a problem on my face recently, my skin is constantly molting, it looks very scary, if I take off my makeup, I'm afraid it will scare the proprietress of the hostess."
"How can you be scared? If the girl can trust the little woman, she will show your true appearance in front of the little woman, in addition to the fat powder in my Yuyan Fang, there are many objects to heal the skin, maybe there are suitable ones for the young lady. ”
In fact, Zhou Qinghe is also in a hurry to go to the doctor now, when her face just became like this, she also invited many doctors to come and see, but those doctors shook their heads when they saw her, saying that there was no way, and I don't know if she was bought by her stepmother, or her face was really hopeless.
"That's it, anyway, my face has become like this, it doesn't hurt to show the proprietress it, where is the water?"
Qi Hao stretched out her hand and pointed to the copper basin not far away, and said with a smile:
"Miss, don't worry, the fat powder on your face is too heavy, I'm afraid it will be difficult to wash it off with water directly, first apply a little grease on the face, rub it like this, and then rinse it with water It will be very clean."
Saying that, Qi Zhen took out a small box again, which contained the osmanthus balm paste she made at the beginning, Qi Hao used this thing to even out her face, but now with peach blossom balm, she can't look down on osmanthus balm, she uses this thing to remove makeup on weekdays, and sometimes it is applied on her body or hands, which is very moisturizing.
After listening to Qi Zhen's words, Zhou Qinghe opened the blue and white lid, and suddenly there was a rich fragrance of osmanthus throughout the room, this osmanthus fragrance is not very strong, but it is sweet and soft, and it will not go away for a long time.
Zhou Qinghe is also knowledgeable, so he naturally knows that this is a rare good thing.
I took some grease with my fingers and applied it to my face, and rubbed it gently, the fat powder melted directly like ice and snow met hot oil, and even the eyebrows painted with green daisy on the woman's face gradually disappeared at this moment.
After that, Zhou Qinghe washed his face with warm water, and the maid named Cui Yao took out the Jinpa and carefully wiped the water stains on her face for her young lady.
Qi Zhen's eyes fell on this Miss Zhou's face, and found that what she said was true, this face was really molting, layer after layer, even if it was torn off by hand, the new skin would still fall off quickly.
This degree of dryness is not at all like the appearance of ordinary women when they are dehydrated, but it is more serious, even the cheeks are a little red and swollen, and there are little red bumps on the head, dense, and it looks really terrible.
Although Zhou Qinghe was accustomed to the pitying eyes of others, she couldn't help but be a little gloomy at the moment, she lowered her head and heard the proprietress in front of her speak.
"Miss Zhou, you try this bottle of peach blossom dew first."
Qi Zhen could see at a glance that Zhou Qinghe's face was caused by too much water shortage, although she didn't know what the reason for Zhou Qinghe's lack of water was, but as long as she hydrated, there would be no mistake. The effect of peach blossom fragrance dew on moisturizing the skin is extremely strong, far from being comparable to osmanthus fragrance dew, and it is naturally very suitable for Zhou Qinghe.
Pouring some incense dew on the palm of her hand, Zhou Qinghe gently nodded it on her face, and suddenly there was a tingling sensation in her cheeks, which made her frown.
"Miss, don't be afraid, you will feel pain because your skin is too dry, as long as you take care of it for a while, this stinging sensation will disappear."
Watching Zhou Qinghe finish applying the perfume, Qi Hao took out the grease she had made again.
Although Qi Hao's face sometimes feels dry, it has never reached the level of Zhou Qinghe, and the weather has become hotter and hotter recently, and she only applies a thin layer of grease during the day, which is too heavy and stuffy.
But as soon as Zhou Qinghe applied the peach blossom grease cream to his face, the dry skin absorbed the ointment, and Qi Zhen saw this and said:
"Miss Zhou can apply another layer."
Listening to Qi Zhen's words, Zhou Qinghe felt a sense of trust in her for no reason, after all, although the woman in front of her was just a businessman, her skin was really much better than that of ordinary women, and she looked as white as porcelain and very smooth.
If she can have such a face, then the rumor of 'looking like a face' will be self-defeating.
After applying a thick layer of grease, Zhou Qinghe reached out and stroked his cheeks, only to feel that compared to the usual roughness, it felt much softer today, and I don't know if it was the effect of this ointment.
At this moment, Qi Hao took out the box containing the jade face powder, dipped a little snow white powder without a trace of variegated color in the muslin cloth, and gently pounced on Zhou Qinghe's cheek.
It's also a little strange to say, this jade powder is much lighter and thinner than lead powder, but it is only covered with a slight layer, which covers all the red bumps and peeling places on Zhou Qinghe's face, and it is not as heavy as when lead powder is used.
"Miss!"
Cui Yao exclaimed in surprise, her face full of joy.
Qi Hao hurriedly took the bronze mirror and said with a smile:
"Miss Zhou, are you still satisfied with my Yuyan Fang's things?"
Looking at herself in the bronze mirror, Zhou Qinghe seemed to see her appearance when her appearance was not destroyed, her eyes were slightly red, and she stared at it for a long time, and then she pulled out a smile and asked:
"Boss, if you keep applying this cream and fragrance on my face, can it relieve the symptoms on my face?"
Qi Hao nodded and said:
"Grease and fragrance are things that moisturize the skin, which can naturally alleviate some symptoms, but looking at the appearance of the young lady, is the internal fire too heavy, you have to pay attention to eating, so that the inside and outside can be conditioned together, so that the skin can be kept soft and moisturized."
Hearing Qi Zhen's words, Zhou Qinghe's eyes flashed slightly, but she had eaten something strange in the past few months, and if she thought about it carefully, she just ate that thing, and she started to bleed from her nose for three days, and then her appearance was ruined.
She also said that how could her stepmother be so kind, the best venison was prepared every day and sent to her yard, and now it seems that where is that thing venison, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a life-threatening thing!
"Boss, how do you sell all these things?"
When Qi Zhen heard this, the smile on her face became more sincere, and she said:
"The fragrance and grease are all five taels of silver a bottle, and the jade powder is cheaper, and you will only be charged two taels of silver."
When the little maid named Cui Yao heard this price, her eyes widened and she said:
"The things you sell here are too expensive, twice as expensive as Yanshufang."
Cui Yao's monthly routine is only two taels of silver, and the silver she has saved now is not enough to buy a few bottles of cream, and this boss lady is really too tricky.
Qi Zhen is not annoyed, the things in her Yuyanfang are all good, and they will not be mixed with some lead powder to deceive people, so it is natural for the price to be higher, and when the business of Yuyanfang gets better and better in the future, she may have to increase the price, this little girl is really too ignorant.
Fortunately, Zhou Qinghe didn't think it was very expensive, as long as these things could restore her appearance to the same as before, what if she spent more silver?
Anyway, in order to highlight her virtuous reputation, her good stepmother never deducted her from the money, but she had ten taels more than her half-sister, and now she was just in the right place.
"In that case, I'll bother the proprietress to fill me with a bottle, and if it's good, I'll come again."
Qi Zhen was very confident, if she hadn't seen that this Miss Zhou was from an extraordinary background, she wouldn't have come up with the best peach blossom dew.
Sending Miss Zhou away, Qi Zhen earned twelve taels of silver, this woman in Beijing is more generous than the woman in Dawan Village, in order to be more beautiful, she doesn't care how much silver she sprinkles outside.
After carefully putting away the twelve taels of silver, Qi Zhen saw that there were no other guests in the shop, so he directly closed the shop and went to cook for the two children.
After lunch, Qi Hao asked Lian Boyuan to take a good look at Lian Zhongqi at home, and she took ten taels of silver out of the house and went to West Street, where people often haunt people.
Before going out, Qi Hao didn't forget to put on her hat, after all, if she went to sell a servant woman in her hands, if she showed her face, it would probably not be a good thing.
There was some distance from Yuyanfang in West Street, and Qi Zhen had half an hour before he walked to West Street.
Although it is not as prosperous as East Street, it is still very lively, many large families buy slaves here, Qi Zhen has been here a few times in her previous life, and she also has a familiar person, knowing that the minions in her hands are all trained very honestly, and will not do things outside the inside.
Qi Zhen went directly to find the person's teeth, and soon found the person, looking at the woman's much younger face, Qi Zhen couldn't help but feel some emotion in her heart, and asked:
"Do you have a servant who cooks good food? Don't be too old, about thirty is about the same. ”
Hearing Qi Zhen's words, a trace of hesitation appeared on Ren Yazi's face for a moment, and he said:
"Yes, yes, the servant woman is twenty-eight years old, and I have tasted the food she cooked, and it tastes very good, but she brought a three-year-old boy, which is really troublesome, so it has not been sold."
Qi Hao's heart moved, thinking that the two brothers Lian Boyuan and Lian Zhongqi must have a scholar in the future, if this three-year-old baby can be trained well, the age is just right for Lian Zhongqi to be a scholar, not to mention that the child also stays in the shop, so he is not afraid of his mother's trouble.
"Take me to see it."
Ren Yazi sighed, led Qi Zhen to the side and turned in, and when he raised his eyes, he saw a young woman, holding a small doll in her arms, looking very thin, her cheeks were sunken, and she didn't know how long she hadn't eaten a full meal.
After all, human teeth also want to make money, and being able to ensure that the mother and son did not starve to death is no longer black-hearted.
Qi Hao looked at this woman carefully and found that she was very honest, and she looked like an honest person, and she didn't know what was going on.
"She was sold by her husband because she couldn't give birth to a son, and after selling it to me, she found that she had one in her belly, but she didn't want to return to her husband, and she didn't want to be separated from her son, so I had to keep raising her, but fortunately, this woman's craftsmanship is really good, and I haven't lost money in the past few years."
Qi Hao glanced at the man's bulging belly, knowing that in a few years she would lose a lot of weight, apparently because the woman had been sold.
"How much does this woman cost?"
"Fifteen taels."
Qi Hao frowned slightly, and said, "She also has a son, if I buy her, I will have to raise another child, fifteen taels is too expensive." ”、
What's more, Qi Hao only brought a total of ten taels of silver with him, and he couldn't take out the extra five taels at all.
As soon as she heard that Qi Zhen was willing to buy herself and her son, the woman's gloomy eyes suddenly brightened a little, and she kept kowtowing to Qi Zhen, her face was full of tears, and she cried:
"Madame, buy the slave and maid, and the slave and maid will definitely work hard! Be merciful, Madame! ”
The woman was crying, and she used great strength, only knocked a few times on the ground of the bluestone slab, and a blood mark appeared on her forehead, Qi Zhen hurriedly squatted down to help her, turned her head and said to the person on the side:
"Ten taels, ten taels of silver, I will buy their mother and son, and I will not treat them badly."
People's hearts are long, and Renyazi has been with this mother and son for a few years, and naturally he doesn't want to find an evil lord for them, Qi Zhen seems to be a soft-hearted person, and it shouldn't be so difficult to work under her.
"That's it, even if I lose money, ten taels will be ten taels."