Seeing with her own eyes, Huo Qi Lang finally understood why Imperial Consort Xue was universally acknowledged as the greatest beauty in the realm during her lifetime, and why Baozhu had glumly admitted there was only one beauty in her family. It turned out that the one who inherited their mother’s world-toppling beauty was not the daughter, but the son.

She had studied martial arts at Remnant Sun Academy for years, oppressed by several ruthless senior brothers and sisters, with an inhuman master Chen Shigu. For survival, she had long cultivated a smooth and clever adaptability. Though momentarily shocked speechless, she quickly forced down her amazement, feigned composure, stepped forward several paces to the bedside for observation, and the two gazed at each other for a moment.

As she looked, she thought that while disguise techniques had great flexibility and could create any face without an original model, this masterpiece carefully sculpted by Goddess Nüwa herself was something she could never conceive even if she racked her brains. The more she looked, the more entranced she became.

The steward was impatient. Seeing her hesitation, he urgently pressed: “Can it be done?”

Huo Qi Lang pondered briefly and said thoughtfully: “The Prince is thin from illness. If I wear fine clothing, I might be able to mimic him, but I fear I couldn’t fool intimate companions.”

The surroundings fell silent. Li Yuanying said slowly: “You’re planning to have contact with my intimate companions?”

Huo Qi Lang immediately came to her senses, coughed awkwardly, and quickly banished his wives from her mind: “If wearing loose clothing and walking around outside, there would be absolutely no problem.”

The steward and Lady Li showed delight, asking what props she needed. Huo Qi Lang answered: “Economically, a bowl of paste plus a few pinches of pigment would suffice. If pursuing fine effects without regard for expense, I’d need a complete set of cosmetics including rouge, powder, and eyebrow paint.”

Lady Li immediately summoned maidservants Caiqiang and Caiqing to collect cosmetic items from the East Courtyard. No matter whose they belonged to, everything should be brought for inspection, striving for completeness in colors and styles. These two also called five eunuchs to assist, and soon they brought clattering bottles and jars filling a large table.

Lady Li’s personal grooming implements were gold and silver vessels from Persia. Since the Tianbao Rebellion when Tibetans took advantage of the chaos to invade, causing all twelve prefectures of Hexi to fall, the trade routes to the Western Regions had been cut off. These foreign goods could only reach the Tang empire by sea, making them increasingly precious.

However, she was getting old and had no mood for adornment, so her powder colors were limited. Young people’s cosmetic collections were dazzling—turmeric oil, dragon-vanishing powder, rose water and such were all rare goods brought from Chang’an.

Huo Qi Lang thought these were the beloved possessions of the inner quarter ladies and didn’t want to deprive others of what they loved. She kept only several types of white powder and rouge for color mixing, also requesting eyebrow tweezers, cosmetic inkstone, powder brushes, makeup dishes, bronze mirrors and other tools. Everything else she asked to be returned as it was.

Guard Captain Yuan Shaobai watched these people bustling about inside and out, not understanding. He quietly asked Li Chengyin: “What is this about? Wasn’t it said the Princess survived and sent a messenger to report? How is it—are you giving these women’s things because you want to take her as a concubine?”

The steward lowered his voice to answer: “None of that—it’s for a body double.”

This was Huo Qi Lang’s first time obtaining so many high-grade disguise materials, with the world’s foremost beauty as her template. She set up the bronze mirror, rallied her spirits, and worked earnestly in a corner for over an hour, carefully painting a face. Even the eyebrows were plucked hair by hair from fur and inserted with tweezers. Yet she wasn’t entirely satisfied, feeling she hadn’t captured the master’s essence.

But when she bound her chest flat, donned Prince Shao’s clothing and jade crown, and emerged with this new face stripped of haggard color and radiating vitality, the entire main hall seemed illuminated. Li Chengyin and Yuan Shaobai were struck speechless by this supernatural jianghu technique, while Lady Li wept on the spot, wondering in her heart whether he himself could ever recover to such a state.

Li Yuanying lay on the bed, turned his head to glance at Huo Qi, then observed his confidants’ reactions. He didn’t show much emotion, only said wearily in a low voice: “So this is what it looks like…”

Compared to Li Yuanying’s calm, the others were practically surging with emotion, knowing the Princess had sent someone truly useful. During Prince Shao’s serious illness, the entire residence was permeated with despair. Huo Qi Lang’s arrival was like a miraculous life-saving medicine. The question was how long Li Yuanying himself could hold on.

This was a question without an answer. They could only hope his deep feelings for the Princess could support this troubled prince to continue living.

Huo Qi Lang deliberately walked to the bedside, wanting to demonstrate to her employer that her skills were indeed worth the price. But Li Yuanying turned his head away, averting his gaze, and said quietly: “That’s enough. Remove the makeup—that scarred face is easier on the eyes.”

Huo Qi Lang was startled, suddenly realizing that though Prince Shao himself possessed a complete set of men’s grooming implements including combs and fragrant ointments, this golden, jade-filled grand chamber conspicuously lacked even a single mirror, as if he was unwilling to see his own soul-stealing face.

Both the body double and the truth of the Princess’s survival were absolute secrets, known only to Li Yuanying’s closest confidants. Bearing heavy secrets and being somewhat reckless and carefree by nature, Huo Qi Lang was repeatedly instructed by everyone on how to act carefully.

Coming from rough origins and being illiterate, she would reveal herself the moment she spoke—there were many deficiencies in serving as a body double. Living in Prince Shao’s quarters day and night would be perfect for imitating his mannerisms and voice.

After Huo Qi Lang removed her disguise makeup, Lady Li specially called her aside to instruct her on various matters: “Since falling ill, the Prince cannot sleep at night and cannot bear the slightest noise. Not only can’t the night watchmen snore or grind their teeth, but late at night he can’t even tolerate the sounds of others turning over or moving about. That’s why now only you alone keep watch in the room. He won’t call for tea or water service—try to stay as quiet as possible and don’t make him irritated with headaches.”

Huo Qi Lang said: “Please rest assured, Madam. I’ve also practiced some stealth and concealment rooftop skills—I guarantee the Prince won’t notice there’s anyone in the room. What exactly is his illness? Such a beautiful person becoming so haggard.”

Lady Li showed displeasure: “Don’t mention topics of beauty or ugliness in front of the Prince—he detests people commenting on his appearance.”

“How so? He’s obviously so good-looking, yet he doesn’t like it himself?”

A wave of bitterness rose in Lady Li’s heart. If someone had endured constant slander from political enemies since age thirteen or fourteen, being evaluated as “lacking the bearing of a ruler, possessing the appearance that brings disaster to the state,” then suffering groundless suspicion because of this—how could he possibly like his own appearance?

This was fate’s cruel jest. If only Prince Shao resembled the Princess or Prince Anping in having two or three points of similarity to the Emperor, he wouldn’t have fallen to such circumstances and might have long secured the position of heir apparent.

She was unwilling to explain these vexing private matters, only telling Huo Qi Lang: “The Prince suffers from head wind syndrome and some melancholic illness. Therefore, talk with him more about the Princess—even trivial matters, he’s happy to hear.”

Huo Qi Lang immediately agreed, thinking that never mind serving tea and water—helping him dress and bathe would be no problem either, just depending on whether he himself was willing.

Lady Li had people prepare a narrow couch for her night watch rest, but Huo Qi Lang politely declined, claiming she feared being too far to hear the master’s nighttime movements. She could sleep on the foot couch beside his bed. Having practiced martial arts, she could sleep soundly even on tree branches and didn’t care about the quality of bedding.

Lady Li felt somewhat comforted and simply gave her entire set of Persian gold cosmetic implements as a gift.

Prince Shao suffered from serious illness beyond the help of medicine and stone. Whether burning incense and praying for blessings at Minzhong Temple or inviting shamanic doctors to chant spells and exorcise evil, nothing had any effect. They could only hope this wandering knight sent by the Princess might provide some metaphysical assistance.

That night, Huo Qi Lang lay fully clothed on the foot couch beside Prince Shao’s bed, pondering how to achieve her lifelong wish. After all, this person held noble status and wasn’t a target for casual flirtation. Using force even slightly might kill him on his sickbed.

From the xu hour when lights were extinguished until the zi hour watch call came—nearly two full hours had passed. She heard Li Yuanying tossing and turning, never managing to sleep, with occasional light coughing. Lady Li had said he suffered severe insomnia, which was indeed true.

She propped up her arm and raised her head to ask: “Do you want some water?”

Deep silence filled the heavy brocade curtains. If not for Huo Qi Lang’s keen hearing, she might have thought he had just fallen asleep at this moment.

After a very long time, more coughing came from the darkness within the curtains, followed by a faint inquiry:

“Where has she traveled to now?”

Huo Qi Lang was momentarily stunned before understanding he was asking about his sister’s whereabouts.

With sudden comprehension, she answered seriously: “Based on their pace, they should have reached Luoyang by now. Baozhu mentioned once that she left hastily and brought no cosmetics—now she only has a piece of charcoal for drawing eyebrows and wants to buy rouge and powder in Luoyang.”

An astonished voice came: “Only a piece of charcoal?!”

Huo Qi Lang chuckled softly: “That was probably my senior brother being mischievous, deliberately teasing her.”

The curtains fell silent again. Li Yuanying said: “In such wretched poverty, she must often weep along the way.”

Hearing rare emotion in his words, Huo Qi Lang comforted: “This young lady is quite interesting—she cries, yes, but it doesn’t prevent her from galloping freely and killing in all directions.”

Thinking Li Yuanying couldn’t sleep anyway, she simply sat up and recounted the Battle of Jade City as a storyteller’s legendary tale, removing the causes and consequences. Especially the part where Baozhu, after bitter fighting with arrows exhausted and reinforcements gone, used the feng shui arrow from the door lintel’s evil-warding beast to shoot down the rakshasa bird leader—she told it thrillingly.

She concluded: “When I first met her in Xiagui County, she tearfully complained that life had hit rock bottom. I cast a divination for her and told her that when hitting rock bottom, as long as one doesn’t die from the fall, afterward one can only go up—not necessarily a bad thing. Now she’s nicknamed ‘Donkey-Riding Lady’ in jianghu, a rising star of the martial world, a once-in-a-generation mysterious master—truly glorious indeed.”

After hearing this simple saying about “when hitting rock bottom, as long as one doesn’t die, afterward one can only go up,” Li Yuanying fell silent for a long time, then murmured to himself: “When time passes the appointed period, adversity ends and fortune comes…”

Huo Qi Lang couldn’t understand the origin of his words, only sensing his tone had become gentler and seemed less heavy.

After another moment, the breathing within the brocade curtains gradually became calm and steady—he had finally fallen into light sleep.

Author’s Note: “Adversity and fortune are opposites by nature.” —Book of Changes, Mixed Hexagrams “When time passes the appointed period, adversity ends and fortune comes.” —Wu-Yue Chronicles, Biography of Goujian’s Servitude Depression syndrome is a traditional Chinese medicine term referring to psychosomatic illness caused by emotional distress and stagnant qi circulation. Regarding Old Seven’s disguise technique, it appeared in Volume 2’s White Snake Princess—the flower snake disguised as a white snake using only a bowl of white paste.