Poisoning 6
As I stepped out of the guest hall where Zhi Long was staying and headed toward my quarters, Hwa-eun fell into step behind me and asked,
“What exactly are you planning to make for them, So-ryong?”
I had promised to craft whatever they needed, but I hadn’t told anyone inside what that something would be. Part of me wanted to spring a surprise gift on them, and part of me simply felt awkward announcing, right out loud, that I was going to make them lipstick so they could kiss to their hearts’ content.
Things like this were best handed over quietly, with a little wink that said, You know what I mean. Take care of yourselves and enjoy yourselves freely—until your front teeth fall out.
I had considered keeping it secret from Hwa-eun until it was finished, but I was going to need her help, so I decided to tell her. Keeping secrets between the two of us felt wrong somehow anyway.
“Ah. I’m going to make them a rouge with no poison in it that’s actually good for the lips. When it comes to men and women… well, wanting to hold back doesn’t mean you can.”
“Th-that’s true. It… it certainly is something those two need.”
Her cheeks must have been burning; she rubbed the backs of her hands against them as she walked. After a moment she spoke again, voice careful.
“But So-ryong… you know how to make something like that?”
“The rouge, you mean?”
“Yes.”
Did I know how? Not really. I just knew the ingredients, so I figured I could wing it. We had to leave tomorrow or the day after at the latest, so I decided to get started at once.
“More or less. But I’ll need materials. Is there somewhere I can buy medicinal herbs and the like?”
“For herbs you can get them from the Medical Hall inside the Murim Alliance. If you ask Strategist Jegal Hu, he should be willing to release them. After all, it’s for those two. It’s a form of prevention against further poisoning as well…”
Right. It wasn’t a cure, but it was a kind of preventive medicine. Evening had already grown late, yet I decided to go straight to Strategist Jegal Hu and ask permission. As Hwa-eun said, it was medicine for his nephew; surely he would hand over the ingredients.
“You want to use some medicinal ingredients?”
“Yes. How should I put this… I want to make a medicine for the two of them…”
The sun was setting, yet Jegal Hu still sat in the chair of his office, wrestling with a mountain of documents. When I asked for the herbs, the Strategist learned it was for his nephew and cheerfully agreed to write a letter of authorization.
“Medicine? Of course you should make it! I’ll write you a letter—take it to the Medical Hall. Show them the letter and make your request; they’ll give you whatever you need.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Thank me? You’re looking after my nephew—I should be thanking you. Come here a moment.”
Letter in hand, Hwa-eun and I entered the Medical Hall and were greeted by a familiar face: Won Gyu, the physician the Tang Clan had dispatched.
“Young miss? What brings you here?”
“Ah, So-ryong says he wants to make some… some medicine.”
“Young Master So-ryong?”
Won Gyu tilted his head at the idea of me making medicine. I showed him the Strategist’s letter, and the tilt turned into a nod.
“Ah, so it’s medicine needed for Zhi Long. Tell me what you require and I’ll prepare it.”
Let’s see… what goes into lipstick again… The first thing that comes to mind is… Ah! Pearl!
“Do you happen to have any pearl?”
“Pearl?”
“You’re using pearl, So-ryong?”
“Yes, I need some…”
Pearl is the best thing you can put in lipstick. Sparkling lips. What’s not to like?
In my previous life, pearl had been added to all sorts of cosmetics—foundation, lipstick, BB cream, you name it. When it was included you got a faint shimmer people called pearl bright. And if a product contained pearl, it automatically felt luxurious just by saying so. A gift with pearl in it was the best kind of gift.
“We do have some. One moment, please.”
I had heard pearl was used as medicine in the old days, so when I asked, Won Gyu looked briefly surprised before nodding. He disappeared into the back, spoke with someone, and returned carrying an elegant medicine chest.
Click.
Inside lay natural pearls of many colors. I scooped up a generous handful of the brighter ones; Won Gyu’s eyes went round.
“Th-that many?”
“Is it a problem?”
“N-no, not at all.”
“Ah, and a medicine mortar as well, if you please.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
The most important ingredient—pearl—is ready. Next is… Ah, that.
With the base prepared, I asked for one more thing.
“Do you have any earth dragons?”
“Earth dragons?”
“Earth dragons?”
“Yes. I need their oil and powder.”
The earth dragon I meant was not the Zhi Long currently lying in bed, but earthworms. Earthworm oil and extract made excellent moisturizers, which was why I wanted them. In my previous life, earthworms had been used in lipstick for the same reason.
Since I’m making this for Zhi Long, of course it should contain earth dragons.
“Of course we have them. Just a moment.”
A large chest full of dried earthworms appeared at once. Next I requested honey and fragrant herbs.
“I need bee honey and some pleasant-smelling herbs used in scent sachets. What fragrance do people of the Central Plains like best?”
“Hmm… cassia, So-ryong. Women put a lot of it in their sachets. Cassia.”
Is that Hwa-eun’s preference?
She offered the suggestion to my muttered question. I had received basic scent training in the Tang Clan and could identify several fragrances; come to think of it, the faint scent that always clung to Hwa-eun was cassia. I decided to honor her taste. I would make plenty and give her some as well.
Ahem. I want to live a long life too, you know.
“Then dried cassia, please.”
“Honey and cassia… I can’t even begin to guess what kind of medicine this is.”
Soon every ingredient was ready, and I decided to leave the actual preparation to Won Gyu. I could have made it myself, but I still had to go hunt down the most important remaining ingredient. Besides, he would almost certainly do a better job than I would.
“I’ll roughly explain the method. Could you help me prepare it? I’ve never actually made one myself.”
“What? What sort of medicine is this?”
“How should I put it… Ah! That’s it! A plaster ointment!”
Thinking about it, the closest traditional equivalent to lipstick was a medicinal plaster. Won Gyu nodded thoughtfully.
“Ah… if it’s a plaster, the combination starts to make sense. Earth dragons are good for jaundice, promote blood circulation, and detoxify. Pearl powder treats sores on the skin. Honey brings luster to the face, so as a plaster for the skin it fits. Cassia also disperses blood stasis… Perhaps it’s a medicine that works well on bruises? Though Young Master Zhi Long didn’t look bruised… or is it meant to draw poisonous energy out of the body when applied?”
He nodded to himself, spinning an impressively plausible theory. Then something seemed to strike him and he looked up.
“But Young Master So-ryong, didn’t you say this medicine was for Young Master Zhi Long?”
“Yes, and?”
“There’s one small concern…”
What? Did I just randomly mix something toxic?
I wasn’t a physician; I had simply told him to combine whatever came to mind. Apparently a real doctor saw a problem. I waited for him to explain. He scratched his head.
“Honey invigorates the body and… strengthens virility… Ahem… Since they haven’t even held a wedding ceremony yet… and considering what already happened between them… ahem…”
Honey has that kind of effect too!?
It did sound a little risky, but Zhi Long was the sort of man who could handle lizard ingredients for the Water Palace Arts. I decided to trust him. There was nothing else I could use in place of honey. Honey moisturized beautifully and prevented spoilage—perfect for cosmetics. The worst side effect of eating a lot of lipstick would merely be that Strategist Jegal Hu got a great-grandson a little sooner than expected.
“We’ll just have to trust that Zhi Long is a gentleman. Ahem.”
“I-I see. And the method?”
“Ah, right. Roughly like this. First grind the pearl very fine and add earth-dragon powder—eight parts pearl to two parts earth-dragon powder. Then add the oil rendered from well-simmered earth dragons, the honey, and cassia powder, and mix thoroughly. Three parts earth-dragon oil to seven parts honey. The herb powder is only to mask any unpleasant smell and leave a gentle fragrance, so just enough for a subtle scent. Everything must be ground so finely that no grit remains. I’ll go fetch the final ingredient; please prepare the rest. Once I bring it back, we only need to blend it in.”
“Understood. Leave it to me! I’ll stay up all night if I have to and have it ready!”
Leaving the enthusiastic Won Gyu behind, we stepped outside. Hwa-eun asked,
“Is there still something else you need?”
“Yes. The most important ingredient is missing.”
“The most important?”
“The thing that will give the rouge its color.”
“Ah, of course. I was so distracted by the pearl that I forgot.”
I didn’t know the exact modern lipstick formula, but it was obvious that fragrance, moisturizer, and dye would all be needed. Won Gyu would mix and prepare everything else; we still needed the dye.
“Bright red isn’t easy to come by. Do you already have something in mind? It’s the wrong season for safflower, and you won’t use cinnabar, so you must be thinking of something else.”
Of course I was. That particular ingredient had been the very first thing to pop into my head—which was why I had offered to make them rouge in the first place.
“Yes, of course.”
“What is it?”
I smiled at her cautious question.
“The cochineal insect.”
“?”
I’m Fabre, after all. The main ingredient has to be a bug!
One thing this whole incident had taught me was that people here didn’t know about the cochineal insect. The history of its use ran deep, so they probably knew of it in some form, yet they clearly weren’t using it for rouge. Honestly, when you could extract red dye in bulk from cinnabar or safflower, going out to catch cochineal bugs was a lot of work.
“There’s an insect called the cochineal?”
“They might call it something different here.”
The true cochineal was a scale insect whose females lived on cacti in South America, rather like aphids. These little armored bugs produced carminic acid to keep from being eaten, and that acid was the vivid red. The pigment extracted from them was called cochineal. Think of the color of cactus flowers or dragon fruit—that bright crimson. In my previous life cochineal had gone into ham, lipstick, lip balm, candy, jelly… and most commonly the red of strawberry milk. Strawberry milk contained no actual strawberries; it was simply milk mixed with strawberry flavoring and cochineal. In other words, we had all been drinking milk dyed with bug juice.
We really have been drinking bug milk!
But how was I supposed to find a South American insect? Fortunately a related species lived in Southeast Asia as well. The South American one was Dactylopius coccus; the Asian one was called Kerria lacca or Coccus lacca. Both produced red pigment in the females. So I took Hwa-eun with me in the middle of the night to search the Murim Alliance’s rear gardens. Just as dawn began to break we found a tree by the roadside outside the Alliance whose trunk looked as if it were covered in white fur and dying.
We ran over. Lumps dotted the bark. The Asian cochineal lived in colonies; when they clustered they formed blood-red lac nodules on the tree. I pried one free and squeezed—bright red dye streamed out.
Every ingredient for the lipstick was finally in hand. I whooped with delight.
“Found it!”
The next morning, before we set out, I visited the guest hall where Zhi Long was staying. We had spent the whole night making the gift, and Hwa-eun had even tested it herself. The lipstick had turned out beautifully. She seemed to like it too; she still wore it on her lips as she followed me.
I announced myself through the speaking tube and stepped inside. Only Zhi Long and Eumbong were in the room. After a brief greeting I got straight to business.
“Here.”
“What’s this?”
“Open it.”
The container itself was nothing special—just the ordinary kind martial artists used for wound salve. But when the lid came off, Eumbong’s eyes flew wide. She stared at me in astonishment.
“Is this… rouge?”
She looked startled to receive rouge out of the blue. I glanced between her and Zhi Long and explained.
“You both said you’d grant me a favor. I simply couldn’t stand by and watch the two of you in such a pitiful state.”
“A pitiful state?”
“It’s a rouge with no poison whatsoever, good for the body, and even sweet and tasty.”
“…”
“…”
In the sudden silence of the room, only Eumbong’s neck flushed red. I held up two fingers to each of them.
“I’ve saved each of you twice now, so you must help me later.”
They could have kissed without lipstick, of course, but giving a gift like this to a pair of desperate lovers was as good as saving their lives once more.
Well then. Time to go hatch our little Heavenly Silkworms.
My business at the Murim Alliance was finished. Now it was time to hatch our adorable little wrigglers.