Poison Doctor Roaming the Martial World

Chapter 172 Flower Lip Balm

Knowing that Yang Jianwu was entering the palace today, Puyang Xuan left the General's Mansion early in the morning and went to Suyan Pavilion. Last time, his attempt to give Jianwu lipstick ended in failure. This time, since Jianwu was not here, he could ask Manager Lan for help to make a box of lipstick by hand for Jianwu!

Just then, Manager Lan was in the shop. Upon seeing Puyang Xuan arrive, she immediately greeted him with a smile, "Young Master Puyang is here! Come in quickly. What brings you to Suyan Pavilion today? Oh? Didn't Master come with you?"

Before Puyang Xuan came, he heard that Manager Lan was extremely busy every day, spending seven or eight out of ten days on the road. He was worried that the young maids in the shop wouldn't recognize him and would need to explain for a long time to prove their identity. Now that he has met Manager Lan, it seems that even God is on his side!

"Good morning, Manager Lan! Jianwu is going to the palace with the general today, so I came alone."

Manager Lan slapped his forehead. "Right, right, how could I forget? His Majesty hosted a farewell banquet for the Xipan envoy today! So what brings you to Suyan Pavilion?"

"Ahem~ It's like this!" Pu Yangxuan explained his purpose somewhat embarrassedly, haltingly.

Shopkeeper Lan clapped his hands with delight upon hearing this, "Oh my, Young Master Puyang is so thoughtful! Master's judgment is indeed excellent!"

He then instructed the maidservant beside him to prepare.

"Cui'er, go and tell the backyard to prepare a new set of lipstick-making tools and send them to the private room! Remember, use only the best materials!"

Manager Lan led Puyang Xuan to a private room and briefly explained the process to him on the way. Puyang Xuan wanted to finish the task before Jianwu returned home that evening, so using the available materials would be faster.

"I'll have the maid bring some dried flower petals over. You can choose which flowers you want to use for your lipstick."

"Manager Lan, can't I have freshly picked flowers? I want to do it all myself, I don't want them to go through anyone else's hands..."

Manager Lan covered her mouth with a handkerchief and chuckled, "Of course, that's fine too. However, Su Yan Pavilion doesn't have many varieties of flowers. If you only want one color, that'll be enough!"

Pu Yangxuan was overjoyed. "Thank you for leading the way, Sister Lan!"

Shopkeeper Lan waved his hand and said with a smile, "Oh dear, we can't call you that! We can't call you that! There's a difference in rank, Young Master Puyang, please don't cause us trouble!"

Sword Dance's subordinates knew their place, "Then I'll trouble Manager Lan to lead the way!"

"Master, please!"

The two arrived at the private room, where Manager Lan had several pots of fresh flowers brought over for Puyangxuan to choose from.

Looking at the vibrant colors of the flowers and imagining how they would look on Jianwu's lips, Puyang Xuan's lips curled up. He plucked a few rose petals with his slender fingers, making his fingertips appear even whiter against the backdrop of the petals.

"Hibiscus oil needs to be sealed for at least three months before use. Don't even think about making it yourself, just use what we have in our shop! You can try beeswax, but it needs to be steamed twice, which takes a bit of time..."

"It's alright, I'm not going anywhere today, I'm only going to do this one thing!"

"Hehe, okay, let's start with beeswax then!"

"it is good!"

He took a honeycomb from Manager Lan's hand, looking bewildered. "This is..."

"You didn't make much, just cut a small piece."

"Oh……"

I always thought the beeswax and candlelight that Manager Lan mentioned were similar, but I never imagined it was made from honeycomb. What kind of person came up with that? Sword dance? Incredible!

The maid had already prepared a small stove with a steamer on it, and a flat bowl inside the steamer.

Puyangxuan cut out a small piece of honeycomb, wrapped it in gauze, and placed it in a flat bowl to start steaming.

The autumn air was getting cooler, but one could still feel the warmth by the stove. Manager Lan was worried that his master would blame him if he knew that Young Master Puyang was doing such rough work, so he stepped forward to help, but Puyang Xuan refused. He insisted on doing it himself, which showed his true sincerity.

After two steaming processes, the beeswax is very pure and can be set aside to cool for later use.

While the petals were cooling, Manager Lan began to instruct Puyang Xuan on how to process them. From washing the petals to grinding them into powder and filtering out the juice, Puyang Xuan treated them like precious treasures, doing each step with great care.

“You’ve done a good job, young master. Now you can take some beeswax and put it into the freshly filtered flower juice, then heat and stir it together on the candlestick.”

“Okay.” Puyang Xuan did as instructed, and the beeswax slowly dissolved into the flower juice.

"Young master, please choose a jar for storing lip rouge. These are all newly arrived!"

Puyang Xuan walked to the shelf, where each exquisitely crafted jar was made from materials of varying quality. Some earthenware jars were decorated with gold trim and depicted figures, flowers, and birds; some jade jars looked simple but were indeed made from top-grade jade; and some were even gilded, dazzling the eye...

"What kind of swords do you usually use for sword dance?"

Manager Lan is usually responsible for managing the business outside, and doing makeup for her master should be the job of her head maid.

"You've stumped me! I don't serve my mistress personally, so how would I know what she likes... But in my opinion, as long as the young master chooses it with care, she will like it!"

Puyang Xuan's eyes darted around. "I've got it! Manager Lan, if we don't pour this lip rouge into the jar first, can it be stored?"

Shopkeeper Lan, not understanding what he meant, answered truthfully, "Um... that's fine. Just heat it up again when you pour it later..."

"Then I'll trouble Manager Lan to keep an eye on things here and prevent anyone from touching them. I'm going to Jubaozhai next door!"

"okay!"

Shopkeeper Lan stared blankly as Puyang Xuan left. Why not use the readily available lip rouge jar? Was he supposed to go next door and find an antique jar? That would be way too big…