I started as a concubine, and I made the crown prince cry with my delicious food.

A successful afternoon tea instantly elevated Ye An'an's status in the eyes of her girlfriends to the level of "goddess".

Everyone surrounded her, chattering and begging her to share her secrets for making desserts.

Ye An'an looked at their eyes, which were sparkling with admiration, and chuckled inwardly.

Little brat, this is nothing.

That evening, Ye An'an went inside and started causing trouble.

Soon, various strange smells filled the courtyard. One moment it was the smoky smell of burning charcoal, the next it was a strange mixture of some unknown materials, making Fuyun and Yunxiu, who were on night watch, wrinkle their noses.

"What is Your Highness doing?" Yunxiu asked softly.

Fuyun shook her head: "I don't know, but there must be a reason why Her Majesty did it."

Inside the house, Ye An'an was busy at work. She ground the charcoal she had found into powder, added other things to the powder, and ground it repeatedly. She also found some flower petals to extract color. The whole house was filled with bowls and plates of all sizes, like an alchemy room.

She worked until midnight before finally looking at the few small boxes in her hands with satisfaction, yawning, and falling asleep on the bed.

The next morning, the young ladies from various families arrived at the General's Mansion with great excitement.

They were really thinking about what Ye An'an had promised. Yesterday, before leaving, Ye An'an mysteriously said that she would teach them something even more fun today.

The young ladies sat in the flower hall for a while, waiting and waiting, but Ye An'an did not appear for a long time.

"Has Her Majesty not gotten up yet?" someone asked in a low voice.

"It should be soon..."

After another cup of tea's time, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.

Ye An'an was still fast asleep in the room. She had been busy until late last night, and she was so sleepy that she could barely keep her eyes open.

Fuyun hesitated outside the door for a long time, but finally couldn't bear to watch any longer and forced herself to push the door open and go in.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, wake up!"

Ye An'an opened her eyes groggily, her voice still sleepy: "What time is it?"

"It's almost noon, and all the young ladies have been waiting for quite some time."

"What?" Ye An'an sat up with a start, quickly washed up, and went out without even putting on makeup.

As soon as she stepped into the flower hall, she was met with pairs of bright, sparkling eyes staring at her.

Those eyes looked exactly like a pack of wolf cubs waiting for their meal.

Ye An'an was startled and subconsciously took half a step back.

"Sister An'an, you're finally here!" Ye Yunyun was the first to rush over.

"Yes, yes, we've been waiting for so long!"

Ye An'an chuckled dryly and rubbed her temples: "Sorry, I stayed up too late preparing things last night..."

She turned to look at Fuyun and ordered, "Go and bring me all the things I was working on last night."

Fuyun responded and left.

Ye Yunyun curiously leaned closer: "Big sister, what exactly did you prepare last night? The yard smells weird."

Ye An'an blinked, keeping everyone in suspense: "You'll find out soon enough. I guarantee you'll be pleasantly surprised."

Soon, an ordinary-looking wooden box was brought over.

Ye An'an opened the box in front of everyone.

Inside, there were rows and rows of oddly shaped small bottles, jars, and brushes.

All the young ladies, curious, crowded around.

"Big sister, what are all these? Bottles and jars, are they medicine?" Ye Yunyun asked curiously.

These are certainly not medicine.

These are a set of simplified modern cosmetics that Ye An'an concocted herself, using her knowledge of chemistry from her previous life and the convenience of "misbehaving" in the palace during this period.

She picked up a small porcelain bottle and poured out some lotion-like liquid with a light skin tone.

"This is called liquid foundation," she explained. "It's a hundred times better than the rice powder you're using now. Not only does it even out skin tone and cover blemishes, but most importantly, it's lightweight and breathable, and it won't look as unnaturally white as rice powder."

She picked up a small black tube.

"This is called mascara. Use this little brush to brush your eyelashes a few times, and it will make your eyelashes black, long, and curled, like little fans."

She picked up another piece and pressed it into a disc-shaped, pearly powder.

"This is called highlighter. Applying it to the bridge of your nose, brow bone, and cheekbones can instantly make your facial features more three-dimensional."

Also, lipstick, eyeliner, different colors of blush, eyebrow powder...

Ye An'an introduced each item one by one.

All the ladies present were stunned, as if they were listening to gibberish.

They couldn't understand at all what these strange things were for.

"Alright, Third Sister, sit down and don't move." Ye An'an gestured for Ye Jinjin to sit in a chair. "Now, you will witness this miraculous moment."

First, she used a soft, damp cotton cloth to wipe away the thick layer of rice powder, rough eyebrow makeup, and lip makeup from Ye Jinjin's face.

Her bare face was revealed, smooth and delicate, yet somewhat plain.

Then, she began her "god-level operation".

The first step is base makeup.

She squeezed her own ivory-white foundation, the perfect shade for Asian skin tones, onto the back of her hand, and then, using a damp sponge (made of natural sponge), evenly patted it onto Ye Jinjin's face.

Soon, a clear, natural, and flawless base makeup was completed.

"My God! Jinjin, your skin looks so good! Like a peeled egg!" Ye Yunyun exclaimed first.

Ye Jinjin herself couldn't help but pick up a small mirror and look at herself. Instantly, she was stunned.

The person in the mirror has fair and radiant skin that doesn't look fake at all, as if they were born that way.

The second step is the eyebrows and eyes.

Instead of using harsh black ink, Ye An'an used her own homemade brown eyebrow powder to gently fill in Ye Jinjin's natural eyebrow shape. The resulting eyebrows looked natural and had a soft, natural feel.

Next, she did her eye makeup. She used earth-toned eyeshadow (made from pressed mineral powders of different colors) to simply reduce puffiness and deepen her features. Then, she used an ultra-fine eyeliner (a modified charcoal pencil) to draw a thin line along her lash line with a slight upward flick at the outer corner.

Finally, it was time for mascara. She first used a special little tweezer (eyelash curler) to curl Ye Jinjin's eyelashes, and then carefully applied black mascara.

"Alright, Third Sister, take another look."

Ye Jinjin picked up the mirror again.

This time, she gasped in shock.

Is the person in the mirror still her?

Her eyes seemed to instantly become twice as big!

Her curled eyelashes, like tiny fans, fluttered, making her eyes incredibly lively and expressive.

"These...these are my eyes?" she murmured in disbelief.

The third step is contouring and lip makeup.

Ye An'an used highlighter to brighten her nose bridge and apple cheeks, and then lightly swept a dusty rose blush across her cheeks to create a healthy, rosy complexion.

Finally, she didn't draw that petty, small cherry-like mouth anymore. Instead, she used a water-red lipstick made with beeswax and natural pigments to perfectly outline Ye Jinjin's full lips.

"Alright, all done!"

When Ye An'an put down the last lipstick.

The entire pavilion was completely silent.

All the young ladies stared in disbelief at Ye Jinjin, who seemed to have undergone a complete transformation.

It's still the same face, still the same features.

But it's more than ten times more beautiful than before!

It was a bright, grand, and vibrant beauty!

"Am I...am I dreaming?" a young woman murmured.

Ye Jinjin looked in the mirror at herself, at a self that even she found stunning yet unfamiliar, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

She never imagined that she could be so beautiful.