Chapter 1026: The World Is a Kaleidoscope (8)

A day in Shanghai began with teaching Gongsun Yoye how to do makeup.

After the first night of sightseeing in Shanghai had passed, the morning when Gongsun Yoye first tried doing her own makeup turned into a complete catastrophe.

Her face was chalk-white and floating there all by itself from the excessive face powder, her lips looked as if she had smeared herself in blood and torn into raw flesh, and her eyes had been drawn so thickly that she looked like some kind of bear-cat.

A cannibal bear-cat, no less!

It was the kind of face one would dread running into by chance, and what had Jayeo’s reaction been when she actually saw the results of Gongsun Yoye’s first attempt at makeup?

“Eek.”

Jayeo immediately hid behind Qing and trembled all over.

For reference, Jayeo was originally either naturally brave, or else so numbed to fear itself by the horrific experiences of her childhood that it was very rare for her to be frightened by anything, and yet this was clear, unmistakable fear.

In Qing’s opinion, Jayeo had probably glimpsed the faces of those Blood Cult sons of bitches in the bizarre results of Gongsun Yoye’s makeup.

In other words, Gongsun Yoye’s makeup skills were at a level where they reminded people of Blood Cultists who tore people apart and ate them!

Having witnessed the consequences her makeup skills had produced, Gongsun Yoye’s shoulders drooped.

“I guess this sort of thing just doesn’t suit me.”

“No, what are you talking about? Who’s good at it from the start? Everyone learns like this. Here, try again. The important thing is controlling the intensity delicately. It should look like you’re wearing it without looking like you’re wearing it. Yoye, your base face is handsome enough already, so you only need to touch it a little.”

So from morning onward it had been makeup, remove it, makeup, remove it, repeated until the results came out reasonably decent.

During that time, the Magistrate’s son had gotten better once, then collapsed sick again, then gotten better again, and after that the Westerners had visited twice, Qing had gulped down an expensive pearl necklace, and after all that, how many days had it been already?

That special crash course in makeup had continued the entire time Qing had been stuck in Shanghai.

And so now, Gongsun Yoye’s makeup skill had improved, at the very least, to the level of a beginner at makeup.

If one absolutely had to compare it to the realm of a martial artist, it could be said that Gongsun Yoye’s makeup skills had only just entered the realm of second-rate.

She knew nothing of subtle mysteries or principles, but she had at least reached a level where her makeup no longer ruined her natural face.

Though, to be fair, Gongsun Yoye’s natural face was that of a tremendous beauty—no, something closer to a handsome man—so it had been hard for makeup to ruin it in the first place.

“How is it? I think it came out pretty well today.”

“Ooh. You’re getting pretty good now, aren’t you? Hah, disciple, you may now descend the mountain. I have nothing left to teach you.”

At Qing’s teasing, Gongsun Yoye gave a somehow smug yet shy smile.

In truth, it was not really at a level that deserved praise.

Compared to her neck, her face was still far too white, and the strength of the shading was still tilted far too heavily toward strength, so her overall impression looked intense and solemn, like some warrior heading into battle.

Even so, the reason Gongsun Yoye could say for herself that it had come out well was because she had fallen into the trap beginners always fell into: in the language of Qing’s homeland, she was standing atop the Peak of Stupidity.

At this level, it feels like I’m actually pretty good at makeup now?

Come on, makeup’s nothing after all.

The mysteries of makeup lay in making it look as if there were nothing there, while still finding and drawing out the hidden beauty in the face, concealing the parts that stood out too much, and applying it according to the occasion to create innocence, sensuality, frailty, confidence, and all sorts of effects.

Women trained their makeup skills every morning for decades, and yet truly understanding and properly wielding the mysteries of makeup was difficult—that was the tremendous depth makeup possessed.

But what a beginner standing atop the Peak of Stupidity needed was praise and encouragement.

That way, later on, when the Cliff of the Intermediate appeared, she would be able to get through it on faith in herself...

At any rate.

Qing had dreamed of a revolution called automatic internal-power charging, what with having received such an unmistakably suspicious gift, a gift suspicious enough to practically announce its own suspiciousness.

But nothing happened.

What was this? Had it really been a genuine gift?

But then why give it to her? Normally, when a gift arrived, didn’t that mean the giver wanted something? Or else—however hard it might be to understand—had it really been pure goodwill?

Of course, true pure goodwill did exist.

Even the employees at the Seol Family Trading House got restless if they couldn’t shove something into Qing’s hands every time they saw her.

Though, when she thought about that carefully, it was surely influenced by the fact that she was friends with that Seol bastard, and also that the old man was out there acting like he was her father.

Something like, please look kindly on us somehow?

So it was suspicious, but because nothing happened, that only made it more suspicious, and above all, if it really had been genuine goodwill, then swallowing down something this expensive without ceremony would get awkward.

There was no way a necklace decorated with large pearls and diamonds was a cheap item. It did not seem like this era would have knockoffs, either.

The pearls and diamonds were so excessive that it looked terribly tacky, but the times were the times, and it was an old object, so that could not be helped. At this level, would it not be strange if it were [N O V E L I G H T] enshrined in some museum as a treasure?

And so today as well, Qing briefly stopped by the Magistrate’s residence to check whether the Magistrate’s son had developed symptoms again...

But?

*****

“Oh, I did not know you would come this early. I’m ashamed to have kept you.”

“No, I should have sent word ahead before coming. I only hope I’m not interrupting anything...”

Since from early morning onward Jo Ryung had been hard at work on continuing the family line, on making a child, at the news of Qing’s visit he came crashing out in a hurry, hurriedly pulling clothes on as he ran.

“Ah, by any chance, that red-haired-devil woman, or the red-haired-devils, did they ever give you anything? Back then, during that construction work where you ate that giant snake or whatever?”

“Well, that is...”

At that, Jo Ryung trailed off while watching her reaction.

It was as good as a confession that yes, he had received something.

Qing’s eyes flashed.

If Young Master Jo had also received some sort of gift and then had his evil qi build up like that afterward, then surely it meant a witch could use gifts to gain some sort of authority to place curses, or set the target of a curse, or something along those lines.

“I was just wondering. Just in case. Do you think I could borrow it for a bit?”

“Lend it to you... well, um, that is to say...”

“No, it’s not that I’m trying to interrogate you or anything. And I’m not asking you to give it to me. I’ll return it later. I just think I need to take a look at it.”

“That. Um. Well. Hmm.”

Jo Ryung looked quite reluctant.

He hesitated and hemmed and hawed for a long while like that, and then at last, with difficulty, nodded his head and stepped away, saying he would go bring it.

And a little later.

Jo Ryung handed over the gift he had received—

And what popped out was some truly unbelievably dickish object.

A four-legged beast with wings, probably a lion? A bronze ornament with an incongruous head and tail attached to the body, except that the head and tail had both been fashioned in the shape of penises.

By the customs of the Central Plains, it was an extremely embarrassing object for a woman to look at.

That was surely the reason Jo Ryung had seemed so awkward when Qing asked to borrow the gift.

Of course, Qing had no such problem.

Wow! Dick-head! Dick-tail!

What was she even supposed to call this? A dick-beast?

Anyway, it really did look like absolute dick.

“Oh. This is... hmm. Quite precious. In several senses. No, seriously, why would anyone make something like this?”

“Well, they said that in the West it was a charm for praying for fertility...”

“Oh. It definitely does have that kind of vibe.”

“They said it’s a precious relic from about two thousand years ago. A relic from some country called Roma? Or Rome? I heard it’s that spiritually effective because of that.”

At that, Qing’s ears perked up.

Rome was a name Qing knew too. Given her background, it would have been strange if she had not.

Hmm, so Roman people made things like this.

They had apparently been more cheerful people than she had expected.

In truth, this was an amulet called a fascinum, a cast ornament in the shape of an erect phallus, and the people of ancient Rome had worn them as necklaces, hung them in their homes, engraved them into roads and buildings and the like, and used them in everyday life.

Because in primitive antiquity, where population itself was national strength, fertility was the greatest blessing of all, and so it was only natural that the angry phallus, symbol of fertility, would be so widely used.

Of course, Qing did not know any of that anyway.

Thus Qing obtained the phallic beast amulet!

However, seeing this customized gift only made its intent seem all the more suspicious.

A fertility charm for Young Master Jo, who worked hard at making children every single day, to the point that even this morning he had been diligently engaged in the effort.

And for Qing, an expensive ornamental necklace, probably because she had looked like a woman.

There was no better example of tailored gifts than that.

What was more, because they were precious and expensive items, they fit perfectly with the idea that the recipients would not carelessly hand them over to others.

If that girl really was a witch, and if the process of specifying the target for a curse was the gift itself.

But even after receiving the gift, several days had already passed without any sign of anything...

If suspicious evil qi had suddenly started building up, then she could have stormed in on that pretext and beaten the hell out of them.

But right now, she could not do that.

She had suspicions, yes, but no certainty.

What if she beat them down first, and it really had just been a gift?

Then it would turn into, What’s this? You gave me a gift? You’re suspicious. Why are you suspicious? Why did you give me a gift? Why are you giving me something this expensive?!—and then beating them up over that.

If not that, then she needed someone who might know something.

Ah, right. She should ask that missionary gentleman.

The missionary had not concealed his bad feelings toward the Dutch captain from the very way he handled interpretation, so if Qing asked him, he might surprisingly be willing to dig up the truth.

It seemed the problem was the money for building his church, and Qing could help with that part.

*****

First, Qing returned to the inn and showed off the spoils she had acquired.

“Jayeo, look at this, okay?”

“O-oh, oooh.”

With twinkling starlight in her eyes, Jayeo reached out her hand. Children were naturally drawn to this sort of primal shape, after all.

But mercilessly, Qing pulled it away and held it high up.

“Nope, you can’t. It’s dirty. You can only look with your eyes.”

“Hng.”

“Acting cute still won’t work. It’s still dirty.”

Jayeo’s shoulders drooped.

But no meant no. Qing turned her head around with a swish.

“Now then, Yoye, want to see too? Ta-da.”

“Gasp, th-that, how could something so indecent...!”

“Oh, come on, what’s indecent about it? Here, look closely. It’s pretty detailed.”

“I-I don’t know. I know nothing. How, how could...”

Gongsun Yoye’s face turned bright red.

Because, really, this firmly fell into the territory of harassment.

“Here, you look too?”

At that, Seol Iri looked at Qing.

The faint wrinkle drawn between her brows, the slight angle of those brows, and those eyes.

It was the exact expression of someone looking at something utterly pathetic.

At that, Qing clicked her tongue.

This was why children were no good.

If it had been the first- and second-generation disciples of the Priestess Order Temple, or her older sisters, the royal older sisters, they would have burst into giggles at once and gone, My, look at the size of that thing, it really does look like some beast, oh my, what a sturdy little head, and all of them would have been blooming with laughter.

“Ehh. It looks funny, though. Right, Jayeo?”

“Mm. Mm.”

“Well then, how about we stop this and go take a little walk? There’s somewhere I want to go anyway. Since we’re going, should we look at the sea too? Jayeo, shall we go up on the city wall? Want to look at the ships?”

“I wanna go! Jayeo wants to go!”

Jayeo was delighted to go anywhere if Qing suggested it, but lately she had gotten especially interested in looking at ships.

She had barely looked at the sea itself and had instead been unable to take her eyes off the Western sailing ships floating far off in the distance.

Hmm, was the girl trying to become an explorer?

Whatever she did, Qing wanted her to do something she liked, but if she was going to be an explorer, Qing would only feel easy about it if she became at least a master first. Maybe Qing should start making her train seriously in martial arts from now on.

And thus, an outing!

One father, one daughter, two mothers, hand in hand, the happy family set out together into the streets.

At any rate, the destination was the church, so it would not be wrong to say that the whole family was going to church together.

But then.

As the saying went, of course the day you chose to go would be market day.

Whenever you finally made time and left the house with determination to visit a shop you had long had your eye on, that would always be the day it happened to be closed.

The church doors were firmly shut.

“That’s a... a cross.”

“Oh, our Jayeo. What a genius, a genius. You read all that? Daddy’s about to cry.”

It was a typical Central Plains building, yet Jayeo pointed up at the cross rising above it and proudly claimed to know it.

Well, since it looked like the character for ten, a cross was a cross...

Just in case, Qing pounded on the door a few times, but sensed no presence within. There was no way a mere missionary could hide from the sensitive senses of Heavenly Flower Sword, a transcendent master with senses beyond human limits. Looks like he’s not here, then.

So what else could they do.

To the northern wall of Shanghai.

The soldiers, having seen Qing often enough that they recognized her face, respectfully greeted the precious benefactor of the County Magistrate and opened the way for her.

And so they climbed to the top of the wall, and the broad-open scene of the lower Yangtze beyond spread before their eyes.

The vast volume of the lower Yangtze where it met the sea.

Seagulls in the sky, a giant sand island sitting in the distance, and in front of it the tall side profiles of sailing ships anchored in a line...

That was when it happened.

Jayeo, riding on Qing’s shoulders, bent at the waist so that her upside-down head and forehead dropped right into Qing’s field of vision, and said,

“That one, the doors are open. Lots and lots of doors.”

“Hm? What doors?”

“Doors. And circles came out too.”

At that, Qing wondered what doors and what circles the girl was talking about, and watched carefully to figure out what in the world she meant.

Then she let out a small laugh.

“Ah, those aren’t doors, they’re gunports, you know? Hmm? Then again, are gunports doors too? Anyway, those aren’t doors people go in and out of. Those are doors cannons come out of.”

“Ooh. Cannons?”

“Yep. If they’re going to fire cannons, they open the ports like that and shoot.”

“O-oh. Then, are they firing the cannons?”

“Come on, what do you mean fire them right now? They’re probably just doing some major cleani—”

Suddenly, Qing’s words cut off.

Huh. But somehow, it looked like all the muzzles were pointed this way? If it wasn’t cleaning, were they doing some kind of drill? No, but a drill aimed at a city where people lived? No matter how primitive ancient times were, surely not even they would do something that brainless—

Then, the gunports spat fire.