Chapter 358 - 226 Pei Jing
The Zheng mansion was located in the northwest corner of Anxing Square, covering more than twenty acres with a south-facing entrance. It comprised front, back, east, and west courtyards; the back courtyard housed the female quarters, the east courtyard was occupied by adult sons of the Zheng family, and the front courtyard contained the study and the main hall, among others. The destination for Ran Yan and her companions was the west courtyard.
The entire west courtyard was dedicated to entertaining guests, complete with banquet halls and guest rooms.
The Servant led Ran Pingyu and the others to the west courtyard and then the male guests had to part ways with the ladies.
At a fork in the path, Maids were there to guide Mrs. Luo and the others to the Jifang Pavilion where the women gathered.
Ran Yan initially thought their attire was too lavish but upon standing outside Jifang Pavilion, she felt as though she was entering a sea of flowers. With over a hundred people including masters and maids all in the main hall, everyone had put considerable thought into adorning themselves such that even the most extravagant dress barely stood out.
Jifang Pavilion was divided into many smaller pavilions, similar to a restaurant, with private rooms and a grand hall. Except for a few highly esteemed Ladies who garnered much attention, most people didn’t know each other’s rank but were familiar faces from regularly attending banquets, thus Mrs. Luo sported an appropriately generous smile on her face, nodding and greeting those she recognized.
Throughout the journey, there were as many as twenty-three such acquaintances.
Mrs. Luo led Ran Yan and her two sisters further inside, intending to find a private room to sit down, when a sweet voice called out, "Mrs. Luo!"
Mrs. Luo stopped in her tracks, following the voice to see a young woman around twenty-four or twenty-five years old, dressed in an apricot-colored Luo dress with a tea-yellow Qidi-patterned embroidery, wearing a blue-green lightweight silk shawl, her hair piled high in a cloud-shaped bun, her face painted a pale white, with a hint of rouge lightly brushed on her cheeks, and a small cherry mouth adorned with two red dots at the dimples.
The makeup of the geishas in Japan might very well have originated from this. Ran Yan found it somewhat difficult to accept at first glance, especially when she noticed that many others had painted a stark white layer as well. With people coming and going in the room, perhaps out of etiquette, the sound was not very loud, which gave Ran Yan the illusion of being in a morgue where corpses pretend to be alive.
"Lady Shangguan," Mrs. Luo greeted with a smile, her face full of astonishment and admiration, "Your facial makeup is so exquisite! Who was the skillful artist who did it?"