Dragon's Origin

Compared to the professional care and maintenance offered here, the royal palace's sprinkling of fresh flowers and fragrant baths was simply weak in comparison.

After bathing, various essential oil SPAs, exfoliation, and skin-softening treatments were performed, taking up the better part of the day. The fatigue from walking around outside had long since vanished without a trace, replaced by unprecedented relaxation and comfort, as well as the pink and smooth skin that made the two imperial concubines exclaim in wonder.

It should be known that the massages and SPAs here were performed by female cultivators who used their spiritual energy to help the honored guests while promoting the discharge of harmful substances. The effects were many times better than those on Earth.

To think that this was the end would be a great joke. When the two concubines were helped to the dedicated beauty chairs, they realized that the so-called meticulous grooming they had their maids do in the palace really needed to be prefixed with "so-called." It was simply children playing house.

Hairstyles and makeup were designed according to face shape, and after moisturizing and nourishing the skin according to its properties, layers of makeup were applied. The beauticians in the salon took care of everything without the need for the honored guests to lift a finger.

Not to mention hair and face, even the fingernails and toenails had countless colors and patterns to choose from, meticulous to the extreme.

Clever concealing, even skin tone, highlighting, eye makeup, lip makeup, even the collarbones were decorated. After a series of procedures, when the two honored guests saw the changes in themselves in the mirror, they all screamed out loud, disregarding etiquette.

It wasn't a scream of fear, but a scream of incomparable surprise. From the moment they entered the beauty salon until now, after a series of services, the two had simply transformed into different people. Exquisite, beautiful, radiant, even they themselves were moved by the sight, and the surprised and envious eyes of the surrounding maids said it all.

What would happen if such exquisite appearances were presented to the Emperor? The two concubines almost simultaneously had this thought, and then, disregarding everything else, hurriedly left the beauty salon and rushed back to the palace.

When two familiar yet incomparably beautiful concubines, one on each side, looked at him with watery eyes, even the Emperor couldn't help but lose control. That night, he disregarded propriety and favored both concubines in succession, and even more excessively, kept both concubines overnight, sharing the same bed.

In the palace, especially among these concubines vying for favor, even the smallest news couldn't be hidden. As soon as the news came out that the two of them had been granted permission by the Emperor to leave the palace for a trip to a place called Runzi Workshop, and had returned with such changes, several of the Emperor's close attendants, who had been bribed, swore that the two concubines had become so pretty and beautiful, even younger, a group of women in the harem immediately turned red-eyed, cursing the shameless vixens while thinking about how to request the Emperor's favor so that they could also leave the palace.

Fortunately, although the Emperor was temporarily infatuated, it was only a momentary indulgence. After one night, the Emperor calmed down, and the advice that Wang Sheng had given him before came to mind.

Eager sellers don't make good business; you have to make people beg you. Therefore, the Emperor wouldn't arrange for the concubines to leave the palace every day, but instead let two out every three days.

Those who were chosen were naturally overjoyed, while those who weren't were naturally anxious and irritated. Those with relatives on the outside immediately tried to send messages out of the palace, asking the people outside to help them find a way.

Basically, at this point, Mei'er and the Empress only needed to maintain production, maintain the operation of the beauty salon, and develop new products, and they wouldn't have to worry about anything else.

For beauty, the concubines in the harem, vying for favor, exhausted all their means and inquired from all sides. Relatives on the outside wanted to enter Runzi Workshop to inquire, but found that men were not allowed to enter at all. Therefore, the mistresses of various families entered Runzi Workshop with missions.

After strolling around, and returning home with all kinds of beautiful makeup, the families of several court officials were also thrown into chaos. If the first wife could go, then could the second wife also go? What about the third concubine? What about close girlfriends and confidantes? Wouldn't it be the greatest pleasure for women to go to Runzi Workshop together?

This time, like a dam that had opened a floodgate, in less than half a month, the surging crowds almost submerged Runzi Workshop.

Within the capital, there were no fewer than two hundred members of the imperial family alone, and no fewer than five hundred court officials above the fifth rank. With an average of five female relatives per family, that's more than three thousand five hundred people. Various wealthy merchants were even more numerous, not to mention the brothels and flower boats, and various famous courtesans. The number of people was in the tens of thousands.

At this time, entering the Runzi Workshop beauty salon required a VIP card. Without a VIP card, one could only stroll around the commercial street outside. Except for the Emperor's harem, anyone else who came here to apply for a VIP card not only needed identification, but also the most direct hard currency—gold coins.

Starting from 100,000 gold coins, this was the bottom line for a fourth-level VIP card, and the higher the level, the more expensive it was. The worst first-level card also required 5,000 gold coins. The first level was for ordinary people, the second and third levels were for the families of officials below the fifth rank. In addition, some top courtesans from large brothels, who received recommendations from more than ten fifth-rank officials, could also get a second-level VIP card, and those who received thirty recommendations could get a third-level VIP card. Really top-tier courtesans, popular Qing倌 (sing-song girls), who received more than fifty recommendations from fifth-rank officials, could even get a fourth-level VIP card.

This was Wang Sheng's special idea for Mei'er, which belonged to a strategy. If the female relatives of officials, especially those above the fifth rank, didn't want to be at the same level as ordinary famous courtesans, then they should let their men pay more gold coins. Anyway, a writing brush from Qiansheng Yuan cost more than 100,000 gold coins, and if they were reluctant to earn some face for their women, then they could only wait for the shrew at home to roar.

Only so many people could accept beauty salon services at the same time, so what about the rest? After the maids and servants learned from those in the beauty salon, they went to the commercial street outside to pick out all kinds of cosmetics and skin care products, and took them home to take care of themselves!

Including the Emperor's concubines, entering the beauty salon to receive services was free, but buying things outside was never said to be free. Those who couldn't get in line could only buy things outside and take care of themselves in the palace, just like ordinary women who couldn't get the services.

Runzi Workshop's products inherited the consistent characteristics of Wang Sheng's products, and were the same as Qiansheng Yuan. Were the things good? Good! Really good! But there was only one thing, one word: expensive!

Don't look at those literati and scholars buying a set of Qiansheng Yuan's items for two million gold coins easily, but don't even think about buying a set of Runzi Workshop's various items for two million gold coins. There were hundreds of kinds of lipsticks alone, each costing a few gold coins for the cheap ones and tens of thousands of gold coins for the expensive ones. Buying a set of lipsticks alone would cost more than two million gold coins.

The vast majority of men, from the Emperor to ordinary people, all had tearful faces as long as there were spendthrift wives at home. Damned Runzi Workshop!