“Mmmmn,” Cui Xi hummed to herself with a brush tucked behind her ear and the tip of her tongue caught between her teeth as she stared down at the paper.

 

Someone sighed from behind her and took the brush. Cold fingers gently brushed her ear.

 

Master’s hands are always so cold…I wonder if he is sick again?

 

“You’re going to get ink on your face,” her Master said, affectionately smacking the top of her head.

 

“Master!” she said scrambling up, grinning. She unabashedly cuddled into his arms.

 

“Eh?” he queried, putting his chin down on the top of her head and slid his arms around her waist.

 

Shameless! Xiao Hei thought to himself with a frown.

 

“What do you think?” she asked, pointing down at the picture, and ignoring the look Xiao Hei gave her Master as he escaped to go elsewhere.

 

The man in question put his chin down onto her shoulder, his cheek next to her cheek. He frowned down at the paper and then his face cleared.

 

“Mmmmn, like this…” he said, taking a fresh sheet and swiping the brush back and forth over the page with quick efficient strokes.

 

“Oh, yes…that’s better. Master’s the best!” she giggled in delight. Taking the sheet, she made sure the ink was dry and then neatly folded the sheet into quarters.

 

“I’ll have to teach you some moves. Would you like that?” he asked.

 

She nodded, big eyes sparkling.

 

“Alright then, go have it made. I will pay for it,” he said indulgently.

 

“Master! You pay for everything. Tu’er can pay…” she pouted.

 

“Be obedient and don’t take it to just any smith…go to…” he started, but she interrupted him.

 

“Imperial armourer Cang Ru Shan takes all my requests: I know what to do. Tu’er will have it done now.”

 

Her Master gave her a sideways glance, elegantly holding his sleeve and taking up a teacup.

 

“Cang Ru Shan may not be the best for this job…it’s a very delicate ring…”

 

“Hah! You’re wrong! Cang Ru Shan makes jewellery for his new wife in his spare time! Hahaha!” she giggled, her eyes turning into crescents as she laughed.

 

Her Master was taken aback for a moment, but then he broke into a smile.

 

“Whatever you wish,” he shrugged good-naturedly. If Cang Ru Shan could complete this task, then this was truly nothing. He would spoil her as much as he could.

 

“Now…are you going to tell me how you managed to meet Cang Ru Shan? He won’t take just any person’s request.”

 

“Yes, but don’t be hasty Master… Xiao Hei!” she called out.

 

He appeared almost instantly in front of her and bowed.

 

She handed the drawing to him along with a small heavy bag that her Master had withdrawn from a sleeve and pressed into her hand. The bag clinked as Xiao Hei took it.

 

Curious, he shook out the sheet of paper and looked at the drawing and it’s notes with intense interest. Cui Xi watched him with a snort, but she said nothing. What a bad servant to be peaking at his Mistress’s things! He listened to her less than ever, but because she knew he was interested in all things related to weapons and martial arts, she did not scold him. She saw that her Master looked annoyed, but she squeezed his hand to distract him and then she shoved a cake into his mouth. Her Master chewed obediently, but his eyes promised punishment later.

 

On the page was drawn a bladed defense ring meant to be worn on the index finger. Two snakes twined their bodies around the finger, one biting the other’s tail as they twisted up, their eyes sparkling with purple amethyst. A single blade formed the sharp diamond shaped head that peaked out over the knuckle.

 

Chuckling, Xiao Hei bowed and stepped out to complete the task.

 

Meanwhile, Cui Xi had called for more tea and snacks, and continued to chat with her Master,  telling him the story of her lively encounter with Cang Ru Shan. Her Master was a gossipy old bird and she knew he would definitely like this story.

 

In summary, Cang Ru Shan was actually quite whipped. He adored his little wife and spoiled her to death.

 

Cui Xi’s face grew animated as she told the story and her Master obligingly listened, the lazy smile never leaving his face.

 

As her Master already knew, she had put out many advertisements in the shop for bridal makeup. Although, most of her work was done for the noble families in the city, it was not limited to this. So, she wasn’t altogether surprised when an older, simply dressed matron had come into her shop with a young woman in tow, however most of the young woman’s face was covered by a veil.

 

Cui Xi could see that the girl, for she was little more than sixteen, had a very good figure and from what she could see of the girl’s face that wasn’t concealed was that she had pleasant features and warm, but shy eyes.

 

The mother explained that they were from the Chen family and that the girl, their eldest daughter, Chen Xiang, was to have her wedding to the imperial armorer, Cang Ru Shan, in about ten days.

 

Cang Ru Shan, the imperial armourer was rich and renowned in the capital for his weapon making skills, but he had managed to fall in love with this unremarkable daughter from the Chen family. Master Chen was a sixth ranked official who worked in the Treasury, and Miss Chen was marrying a bit above her station (Cang Ru Shan status and wealth could be considered equivalent to a second ranked official), but seeing as Cang Ru Shan had himself come from a tradesman background her status didn’t really bother him and he had a great deal of affection for this girl.

 

It really was a classic love story.

 

Apparently, she had been caught in some sort of messy squabble in the street, fell backwards, and just so happened to fall right into the arms of Cang Ru Shan. Her veil had flipped up and her face had been exposed to the eyes of the cheerful, burly armourer. What he saw of that girl’s face had set his heart on fire.

 

This was of course quite a shameful moment for the young miss. Not only had she fallen in an embarrassing manner, but into the arms of a strange rough looking man, and to make things worse, he had seen her ugly and unlikeable face. The young miss of the Chen family had been born with a large red birth mark that went across the left side of face and down over her jaw. Her parents despaired of ever finding her a husband and she had resigned herself to being a maiden aunt who would have to live on her scholarly younger brother’s charity when he became old enough to marry and have his own household.

 

But Master Cang, who was in his early forties and who had devoted most of his life to his craft, was not an ordinary or shallow person. What he saw was a shy pretty girl with soft brown eyes who had a strawberry stain on her cheek. He had never been interested in women, but the sixteen-year old Chen Xiang had with one look turned his world upside down.

 

However, as it had been such an embarrassing situation for the young miss, she had refused to see him when he had come to her family home to call on her after he spent weeks searching to find out her name. The first few times he didn’t leave his name and the Master wasn’t home, but the third time Master Chen was home and nearly died of shock to find the imperial armourer at his front door asking to see the young miss. Things apparently developed from there and the overjoyed parents finally coaxed their daughter into a chaperoned meeting and it just went from there.

 

Her Master ‘pfft’ed with laughter when Cui Xi told him that Master Cang called his little wife ‘Xiao Cao Mei’ or ‘Little Strawberry’ while they were courting and still now in private, which apparently made his new wife flush to the roots of her hair.

 

Taking a quick bite of cake and a sip of tea, Cui Xi went on.

 

At any rate, the young Miss Chen gradually fell in love with the earnest, kind, and cheerful man who came to see her almost every day. She was a quiet girl who didn’t say much, but she finally decided to let him know that she returned his feelings…and she did it in a very unusual way. She gave him a painting.

 

“Wait!” Cui Xi smacked her Master as he rolled on the floor laughing until tears leaked out. “I haven’t finished!” she cried.

 

He smiled up at her, looking gorgeous. For a moment, she wanted to kiss him, but instead she pushed it away and continued with her story.

 

Coming from a scholarly family, Miss Chen had been taught the four classics and was a decent painter. She wasn’t very good with words, and she truly liked Master Cang, but didn’t know how to tell him.

 

When Miss Chen handed Cang Ru Shan the painting, he opened it to look at it, but didn’t react except to say it was very nice.

 

Apparently, she then refused to see him for three weeks until her father had patiently, but with quite a bit of embarrassment explained the sentiments contained in the painting to the famous armourer. The misunderstanding was immediately cleared up and was quickly followed by birth charts, proposal letters, engagement gifts and finally the wedding was only ten days away.

 

Madam Chen had heard about the Cosmetics Goddess and had scraped together a huge sum of money (mostly from money given by Master Cang) to have a miracle worked on Chen Xiang’s face. She wanted the birth mark erased.

 

Cui Xi had agreed, but for half the amount she normally took. She could see that the birthmark was a source of great shame for the young mistress and part of what she did was to make women feel confident and beautiful. So on the tenth day, she did the girl’s wedding make up, concealing the birthmark with some colour corrector and concealer, and also showed her the technique of how to do it and left free products so that she could continue doing so, but she had words for the girl.

 

“What Cang Ru Shan loves about you is not your face. It’s who you are. That birthmark is not you. It’s a part of you, but it doesn’t define your existence or who you are in the future. You can go on using these products to conceal it, but your husband knows your real face and loves you, not the paint. Don’t forget this.”

 

The girl had been quite overwhelmed with emotion probably because no one had ever said something like that to her before and she cried quite a bit, causing Cui Xi to have to do some of her eye make up again.

 

The wedding went quite successfully, but a few days later Cui Xi walked out from a back room to find Cang Ru Shan standing like a giant mountain in her shop. She calmly took him into the back room to allow him to talk as he looked quite out of place amongst the soaps, rouges, and perfumes.

 

“I’ve never seen Cao Mei so happy,” he said. “She…she looked so beautiful on our wedding night, but even without the makeup now, she doesn’t wear the veil around me. Y-You…s-she is different from before. She’s not afraid…and when she looks at me, I can see that she loves me and knows that I love her in return. I’ve come to thank you for that,” he said quite gruffly, trying not to sound emotional. “I don’t think I could have given her that. So, if you need anything from me, I’m quite willing to use my skills.”

 

“That’s not true, your love did the work. I just helped her see it,” Cui Xi smiled, gratified. “But I do need help with some weapon work or fine smithing now and then. Will you allow me to commission you?”

 

“Of course!” he agreed, breaking into a delighted smile.

 

Having gained his promise, Cui Xi shoved him out the door of the shop with a basket of complimentary cosmetic goodies for his wife.

 

“And so, you see Master, your disciple is really awesome right?” she grinned, finishing up her story.

 

“Troublesome,” her Master said in response, but he seemed genuinely pleased. Then he sat up suddenly realizing something: “Did you already know that Chen Xiang was engaged to the armourer?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

 

“Hah!” she laughed. Really, nothing got past her Master! Of course, she had known. In fact, she had found a way to ensure that Madam Chen knew about her ability to conceal scars and birthmarks exactly because she wanted a favour from Cang Ru Shan. Moreover, Chen Xiang had definitely not fallen into Cang Ru Shan’s arms by accident…

 

She could see her Master’s brain churning. Then he looked at her appraisingly. She smirked back at him.

 

“What if it didn’t go the way you planned, you little brat?” he asked, clearly amused.

 

She bit into a cake and leaned her back comfortably against her Master’s chest.

 

“Then there would be other ways to get that ring,” she said nonchalantly, pulling away when he snaked an arm around her. Pushing him back onto his elbows, she stood up.

 

“Tu’er, you are a horrendous tease,” he gritted out, losing a bit of his normal composure. He glared up at her. That girl!

 

She sighed a little, staring down at her Master as he lay sprawled at her feet, robes slightly open revealing a smooth expanse of chest, his lovely silver hair cascading down his shoulders. She could see that she had made him angry, but this only made his eyes glitter exquisitely. What a view!  Her Master was far too gorgeous – combined with his doting it made her head spin and lured her into a false sense of security.

 

Curious, she wondered what would happen if she slept with him. The cake abruptly became a lump in her mouth. She eyed him and pushed down the familiar but useless feeling of lust.

 

Although he doted on her, she still wasn’t sure what he wanted from her. There was no such thing as a free meal. How much could she trust him? She abruptly turned to walk away.

 

“Master, I really need to stop treating you like my lover,” she said quietly, suddenly unhappy. “I tell you far too much of my business.”

 

Turning on heel, she walked away with her feelings in a mess, angry at herself.

 

Anger, astonishment, and resignation flickered through the eyes that stared after her. Then, Zhao Ling Ye calmly rearranged himself and lay flat on his back looking up at the ceiling.

 

He did not move for some time before gathering himself and quietly leaving the pavilion.

 

Xiao Yu had watched this entire exchange from her quiet corner, and she only got up to follow A'Xi when she left, but the look on the face of the man lying on the floor made her uncomfortable. It wasn’t her place to interfere and certainly she wondered what Cui Xi was doing boldly rolling around all day with her Master. He might as well be her lover, even though what they did was limited to light skinship and nothing else. Xiao Yu had never seen it go further than hugs or caresses – that person had not kissed A’Xi on the mouth nor done anything too intimate since that drunken night in the pavilion, but he was obviously holding it back. This terrible tension would explode some day and A’Xi was playing with fire with a man she barely knew. Xiao Yu decided she would write home for advice from father.