Chapter 1010: Tangerine Caramel — Shanghai Love (1)

A person can’t change on the spot just because they got nagged a little.

But if, because of that, you can at least stop things from getting worse—if later on, even just once, they suddenly remember what you said—wouldn’t that be enough?

Honestly, what Miss Gongsun needs right now is first to put some distance between herself and her mother, and also to have a bit of rest time that can pull her attention away from the hurt she feels in the moment.

Not some obvious nagging—You’re the child, so you should just yield, isn’t it kind of wrong to try to “beat” your parents, stuff anyone can say.

For that reason—

Let’s go to Shanghai!

Let’s go to Shanghai and get some sea breeze!

But before that?

Starting in the morning, Qing sat Gongsun Yoye down, leaned in close, and stared at her with a serious face.

Qing’s face was the type that was bad for your heart to begin with, and if she shoved it right up in your face, it couldn’t be anything but worse.

Gongsun Yoye couldn’t meet Qing’s serious gaze and dropped her eyes—then her eyes landed on those glossy, shining lips, and without meaning to, she flushed and lowered her head.

“Uh... Miss Seomun? You’re too close......”

“Mm. Hey. Don’t move. I’ve got a blade. Lift your face.”

Qing pressed a finger under Gongsun Yoye’s chin and pushed it up.

So then—

“Gulp.”

What could Gongsun Yoye do except swallow hard with anxious eyes?

Whether she did or not, Qing carefully raised a razor and went SCRITCH-SCRITCH at Gongsun Yoye’s eyebrows.

A shocking fact!

Qing can do makeup too!

And she’s even good at it!

Because this was makeup skill learned through the terrifying pain of the Nuclear Forehead Flick—pain so awful you’d rather shave bone.

It was Ximen Surin’s intent: that she must maintain the dignity of one who represents female martial artists with a refined and elegant appearance, anytime, anywhere.

Of course, Qing doesn’t do it.

Because it’s a hassle......

Once she’s outside, there’s no way for Master to know whether she’s wearing makeup or walking around like a beggar, so she isn’t afraid of the Nuclear Forehead Flick.

And extreme beauty is the kind of thing that looks like makeup even without any.

With skin so pale it was almost transparent, she looked like she’d powdered even if she hadn’t, her lips were always clean, and for some reason they always had a shine, so there was no need for rouge.

And her eyes were so big that if you flicked the back of her head, her eyeballs looked like they might spill forward—so there was no need to use an eyebrow-and-eyeliner pencil to add lines and “make her eyes bigger.”

What is makeup, anyway?

Trim some useless stray brow hairs.

Look at the skin texture and dab on face powder so it becomes a natural white, and if you’re a bit clever, add a little shading based on the bridge of the nose.

For lips, personally, she didn’t like anything too loud, so she held back on color but added a glossy shine.

Draw the eye contour to make the eyes look bigger, and for the cheeks, a soft, peach-blossom flush—like you did, like you didn’t—just a gentle brush as if passing by.

Then even the hair she always had roughly loosened—braid it, part it into left and right channels and coil it, and add sheen with roasted-job’s-tears water and set it in place?

“Ooh. Pretty. She got prettier. Not-damp mommy. Pretty.”

“Uh... the damp part is now a little......”

Jayeo, who’d been watching, let out a shout of admiration.

Because if you had to say it, Gongsun Yoye wasn’t the “pretty” type so much as the “handsome” type of beauty.

Thanks to that, the makeup difficulty itself was low—honestly, Qing hadn’t changed much.

And yet the impression changed completely.

“Okay. Look. Your base is good, so makeup takes well.”

“This... this is...... this is my face?”

Qing confidently held out a mirror, and Gongsun Yoye reacted like, Is this... me?—making Qing feel absurdly smug and proud.

The female martial artist whose stubborn rigidity used to leak out in every direction was gone, and in her place sat a neat, modest beauty with a bright feeling and a shy tinge.

Of course, it was also because in front of Qing alone, Gongsun Yoye tended to lose her original, proud martial-artist presence and turn into a shrinking little creature who carefully watched her only friend’s mood.

And then if you slid in that hair ornament her mother had given her, right by the side of her head—

“Aww, pretty. Let’s go. We have to go do this—go show them the completely changed me.”

“W-wait! That, this... I don’t think something like this is really for me. It won’t even suit me.”

“Come on, it’s just pretty—why not. I’m about to fall for you myself. If you seduce me right now, I’m ready to go down immediately. It suits you perfectly, so don’t worry. Right, Jayeo?”

“Yeah. Not-damp mommy got prettier.”

“Right? Iri. What do you think?”

“Yes. Yes. Yes.”

Seol Iri answered blandly.

Pretty? Yes. Iri? Yes. What do you think? Yes.

Shouldn’t the last one not be “yes”?

Did she glitch?

Anyway, with everyone present agreeing, a three-strikes “pretty” verdict meant she really was pretty—

But Gongsun Yoye stubbornly refused to go out with her freshly made-up face.

Qing kept tugging her, and in the end she finally confessed with difficulty—

“Th-that, before... when I was little......”

Back at the Dragon-Phoenix Assembly, Gongsun Yoye had once snapped at the “phoenixes” who were bonding while giggling together (not that giggling always meant something good).

Female martial artists are still martial artists—aren’t you ashamed to cake your face and giggle like that! In that time, you should swing your sword even once—effort, effooort, put in some!

She’d thrown that brutal jab, and after that, hadn’t she become a loner?

And if a bucket that leaks outside leaks from the inside first, it meant she’d issued the same thunderous scolding to the female martial artists of the Gongsun Gong Clan too.

The difference was that back then, Gongsun Yoye was the future of the clan—so afterward, an absolute ban on makeup and adornment got slapped onto the clan’s female martial artists.

“So if I go out like this......”

Gongsun Yoye lowered her head.

Past Gongsun Yoye had just sniped present Gongsun Yoye—this was exactly why people always had to watch what they said.

But Qing only tilted her head.

So what? Do you have to keep what you said as a kid for life? As time passes, your thinking can change.

The flexible mindset of a master of changing her story!

“Then this is perfect. Honestly, you said the clan’s atmosphere has changed a lot too, right? This is a good chance for Yoye to show them first. Come on, let’s go. Man, you’re pretty. Whose daughter is this, so lovely.”

And so Gongsun Yoye got dragged out, being pulled along by Qing.

Not the “I’m coming because you insist” kind of following—more like she really was dragged, which felt very Gongsun Yoye... or maybe she really was that embarrassed.

But.

At breakfast, when the Madam saw her completely changed daughter, her eyes went wide into a perfect circle.

With only slight exaggeration, her eyeballs looked like they were going to fall out.

“My goodness—ah, lovely. My daughter... seeing you like this, when did you grow up so much?”

Tears even gathered in her eyes—like she couldn’t tell if this was a dream or waking life—and with breakfast forgotten, she stared at Gongsun Yoye like she was enchanted.

“That ornament is so worn now. Back then I thought you’d be truly pretty if you wore it, but now that your face is bright, the ornament is too plain and it just dies. The ornament can’t keep up—because you grew up so beautifully, this mother could die now with no regrets......”

Gongsun Yoye kept eating, pretending not to know with an embarrassed expression, but judging by her attitude, she looked in a pretty good mood.

Family is like that.

A harmonious household, in truth, means someone is accommodating the family—but accommodating family ends up becoming joy for yourself too, doesn’t it?

“Ahem. Um... I’m going to go to Shanghai with Miss Seomun. It’s not for any other business. I just want to see the sea and come back.”

“Shanghai—”

“Yes, sometimes it’s good to see the sea. How about it—will you take the clan’s carriage?”

Gongsun Clan Head Gongsun Daewol was about to answer, but the Madam cut his words clean off and immediately chimed in.

It was practically, Our daughter can do whatever she wants.

“No. I only intend to go quietly.”

“Th—”

“Then. Going quietly is good too. Let’s see—our eldest daughter is going out for a pleasure trip with a friend, shouldn’t we ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) pack her travel money thick?”

“Th—”

“Aiy, this isn’t the time. I’ll ask my Treasurer-General right away. See the sea, eat delicious food, and at this time of year it’s good to take a boat to Zhoushan, too.”

As if she was in such a hurry, the Madam stood up and left right away.

Gongsun Daewol, whose words had been chopped off over and over, went, ahem, and gave an awkward fake cough.

“...Watch your safety.”

“Yes, I understand.”

And so, holding a coin pouch stuffed excessively thick—filled with gold—

Shanghai, Shanghai!

*****

Above the city gate of Shanhai Pass hung a gigantic signboard, and its writing said this:

WORLD’S NUMBER-ONE PASS!

In this era, Shanhai Pass was a super-colossal fortress that could truly claim to be number one under heaven.

The fortress’s perimeter reached a full ten li—so if you walked one lap along the wall of Shanhai Pass, even at an adult man’s brisk walking speed, it would take half a shichen—by Qing’s hometown units, about an hour.

Meanwhile, the wall had to be sturdy, too.

Just in thickness, the wall was two and a half zhang—about the thickness of four grown men lying in a row—so even the artillery of this era couldn’t leave so much as a scratch.

But the height of such a sturdy wall?

The wall’s height was a full five zhang—about the height of a five-story building in Qing’s hometown.

And with the main fortress structure of Shanhai Pass positioned in the dead center of a narrow coastline, the wall extended north and south, completely sealing off the route.

To the north was the starting point where the Great Wall’s main wall began, and to the south it touched the sea.

A fortress that linked mountain and sea—Shanhai Pass.

But.

There wouldn’t be a wall out on the sea, so if they came by boat, what then?

What, the enemy rides boats and bypasses Shanhai Pass?

Then... well, there’s nothing you can do.

You just have to suck your finger and watch.

Shanhai Pass was a fortress built to defend Beijing—the Central Plains capital whose defenses had become geographically vulnerable because the Mongol barbarians’ homeland invasions pushed north to escape the heat.

But the Mongol barbarians can’t ride boats.

I mean, a single Mongol warrior drags around five horses.

Move the men and the horses by ship?

At least up to this era, there’s no way.

Anyway.

Shanhai Pass was the thickest wall protecting Beijing, the Central Plains capital, from the northern nomadic peoples.

In other words, if Shanhai Pass was breached, it meant a broad plain with not a single obstacle opened up like a high-speed road straight to Beijing.

So the grand plan of Suh, the son of Chinggu, actually had a fair bit of persuasive power.

If they could just pass Shanhai Pass, they could charge straight into Beijing and capture the Son of Heaven.

But still—this was Shanhai Pass.

They said the Blood Brothers who operated in the Central Plains had seized Shanhai Pass and left it open, but... did that really make any sense?

The Mongol warriors following Suh were, in truth, still half doubtful and half unconvinced.

That Shanhai Pass—where one super-colossal fortress, three great fortresses, and three smaller fortresses for a total of seven were placed in an organic formation, watching each other and sending reinforcements between fortresses?

And Shanhai Pass doubled as a barracks itself, with more than ten thousand soldiers permanently stationed—this strictest fortress in all the Central Plains?

Still, if the claim that Shanhai Pass had been seized was nothing but a complete lie, they could just turn around and run.

They’d come into the Central Plains anyway—so they could raid cities, fill every horse’s back with loot, and go home.

So if they succeeded in passing Shanhai Pass and capturing the Central Plains king, they’d be heroes of their people—and if they failed, they wouldn’t really lose anything.

For Mongol warriors, a strategic retreat was also simply the obvious choice when things were unfavorable.

With that background, even though he wasn’t even from the Golden Clan, a mere great warrior’s invitation still drew a full ten thousand men.

And so—after days of eating and sleeping on horseback—over there, they could see it: a high wall, stretching across the flat coastal plain like a horizon.

And that gate—beneath the signboard that read WORLD’S NUMBER-ONE PASS—the city gate was left wide open, abandoned.

Even though they’d ridden with beacon fires rising behind them from the cities they’d encountered up to now—

Shanhai Pass stood there with no sign of life at all.