Chapter 32 Chapter 32: Queen Mother's Dressing Table
Long before Europeans and Americans used makeup to show off to the world, our empress dowager had already thoroughly invented many beauty secrets, some of which have not been discovered by others until now!So at that time, I confirmed that every time before the morning court, I followed the queen mother to go to Yi's dressing room to see Yi's make-up in a slow manner, which was really equivalent to taking a "cosmetology" lesson, and it would give us something new every time. This experience will never allow us to stand for half a day in vain; because Mrs. Yi has always been very careful in the process of facial makeup.
Because I am particularly obsessed with the queen mother's makeup skills, whenever I have the opportunity, I always happily go to watch her dress up quietly; she is sitting facing a crescent-shaped dressing table, and I stand behind her.Speaking of Yi's crescent-shaped dressing table, it is worth mentioning: its style was drawn up by the Empress Dowager herself.As for the mirrors on it, although there has never been such a convex mirror as it is now, there are quite a lot of up, down, left, and right sides, and the joints between each side of the glass are very tight because of the exquisite inlay work. If you don't take a closer look, you will mistake it for a whole piece of glass.With such a complete mirror, the Empress Dowager said that she could sit in a chair and see all parts of Yi's upper body without having to stand up or turn her sideways.
Naturally, it took a long time for the Empress Dowager to put on makeup each time; Yibi sat upright first, and then began to put on makeup.
The first thing Yi used was powder.One day, presumably, Elder Yi already knew that I paid much attention to Yi's make-up, so he told me many secrets in detail. The first thing he talked about was the method of making the powder that Yi used.
"To tell you the truth, we can say that there is not a single one of our cosmetics that is not carefully selected!" Yi said slowly: "If it is not the best quality, we will never use it, even they will not use it." Don’t dare to submit it, maybe you’re always feeling weird? According to the custom of ordinary people, women who are already widows should not use any makeup, but we are doing makeup every day. Isn’t it rude? But this is not an example created by me. The ancestors of the previous generation have long been like this. Especially when we are in such a position, the clothes we wear are often very bright; My face is still gray-brown, because if the color of the face and the color of the clothes are too incompatible, it is really very ugly. That's why we have to dress up!"
"Now let's talk about the powder we use: its raw material is actually the same as ordinary powder. It can be made by grinding rice into a fine powder and adding some lead. And from the surface, its color is more unusual. It is pinker and yellower, but in fact, there is a big difference. First, the selection of their raw materials is very fine, not only one kind of rice is used; Rice, in this way, the powder quality can be particularly soft. Second, the grinding procedure is by no means as careless as outside. After the new rice and old rice are sorted out, they have to be ground five or six times with mills of different sizes; Grind it in a coarse stone mill first, grind it clean and then sieve it finely, then pour it into a finer stone mill to grind it, grind it and then sieve it. In this way, the work of grinding and sieving is all done by several experienced The old eunuch was in charge, and it can be said that he was meticulous. The two different types of rice noodles have to be combined with each other after they have been ground finely. Third, the inside of our powder is like the outside, in order not to make it easy to unite into pieces, but also add lead powder inside, but the amount added is very small, just to make it If you don’t get it together, you will get it; what is made outside is often overdone, so that after a year or so, the person who uses it will suffer from lead poisoning, his face will gradually turn green, and even his skin will become rough. It makes people's faces turn black unconsciously; if our faces suddenly turn black during some ceremonies, wouldn't it be a great joke!"
The empress dowager's humor and wit are sometimes very meaningful; imagine a solemn and solemn empress dowager, in front of Yi's officials, suddenly turned into a black face, don't want to kill people with laughter?When I thought about this scene, I was almost about to laugh, but I could only bear it, not daring to laugh; because if I smiled, I would see it in the mirror and maybe force me to explain why it was funny For this reason, how shall I answer this teaching?
Although Yi's powder is so exquisite, Yi uses it very little. It is not like ordinary women who often paint a white face like Cao Cao; One of the "beauty secrets".
"The rouge we use," Yi went on, "is more exquisite than powder: it is made purely from the sap of roses, which is not a rare thing at all. Among the rouge, we use all of them; so our specialty is to select carefully, because not only the color of roses cannot be exactly the same in tens of millions, even the petals on the same flower often have different shades, If the petals of different shades are collected together and mashed into juice, it is difficult to get a bright and uniform color rouge, at least not comparable to a fresh rose with a very normal color. Therefore, After we have gathered many roses, we must examine them one by one, and only pick off the normal-colored petals for use, and discard the rest; able to do..."
When Yi said this, I immediately understood, no wonder I often saw a few eunuchs around a big bamboo basket in a certain side hall, carefully picking rose petals as if searching for some treasure. For making rouge!
"After a considerable number of rose petals of normal color have been picked," the queen mother continued to explain to me with relish, "then they were placed in a clean stone mortar and pounded slowly until the petals became thick. Afterwards, it is filtered through a filter made of fine gauze, so that everything can be completely filtered out and become the clearest flower juice, so it is time to start the most important part of the rouge. …”
There have always been several squares of bright red silk floss on the queen mother's dressing table, which I have known for a long time; at this moment, Yi picked up one at random, and gently cut it off with a pair of small gold scissors. Come in a small piece.
"After the flower sap is made, we use the newly reeled silk of that year (of course it is undyed white silk)" Yi said again: "press it into a square like a moon cake; It depends on the caliber of my rouge tank, so it just fits in. This square of silk floss needs to be soaked in the flower juice for at least five or six days before it can be fully saturated; once they are soaked, take them out one by one After about three or four days, they were completely dry before they could be brought in for us to use. It took a lot of time and effort, but luckily we didn't need them. What a waste, every time I do it, it can be used for five and a half years!"
How does the empress dowager apply rouge?
Yi dipped the small square of red silk cotton that Yi cut off first in a cup of warm water, then took it out and rubbed it gently in the palms of her two hands until Yi felt satisfied, then stopped; because in the past The palms of the young women are always very red, so the queen mother's first step is to paint the palms.I applied it on my palms, and then on my cheeks; at this time, Yike didn't have time to talk to me, so I brought Yi's face very close to the mirror, and applied it with extreme care, hoping that it would not be too thick and not too flowery. Just right for the degree.Finally, the lips are painted, but people in the past never put lipstick on the entire upper and lower lips as people do now, they only put a little rouge on the middle of the lips, which is probably influenced by the "small cherry mouth" of the literati. The influence of an adjective!
After the queen mother had done her facial make-up properly, she asked someone to go out and call the royal barber to come in and give Yi Cheng a value.Naturally, this barber is also a eunuch, but according to my companions, his skill is unique in China, and there is no one who can compare with him, so the Queen Mother also trusts him very much and often praises him.But the barber himself may not be very willing to be worthy of the Queen Mother; the first is because the Queen Mother has a bad temper.Being scolded at every turn made him feel trembling like scratching the itch of a tiger.Sometimes I accidentally brushed the Queen Mother's hair a little too much, or when I brushed it, I hurt her a little, then I can't forgive her, I have to drag it out immediately and beat the palace stick dozens of times, and return it when the stick is finished. You have to come in to pay for it; but this kind of situation is extremely rare after all, even if you brush a little more hair down, he still has a quick way to hide it from the queen mother, and quietly hand it to the maid standing next to him to throw it away .I think the courtesans are willing to help him in this way, so they have to beat him to get some money. Even so, he is still worth it, which is better than being spanked dozens of times for the queen mother to see; The empress dowager may not necessarily be satisfied with the most severe punishment.Maybe there is a bigger disaster!
"Hair is really the most annoying thing, especially when a person is a little older, the black hair turns gray one by one, which is even more hateful!" The queen mother looked at Yi's own hair carefully in the mirror. He turned to me and said, "And people like us in this position can't make them gray. This is not because of our vanity. In fact, we really have to keep our appearance perfect everywhere. Necessity of state; and for this reason we must dye our hair black!"
After Yi said so, I focused on seeing how Yi dyed her hair black.
In a certain drawer of Yi's dressing table, there were several jars hidden in dark black, which seemed to be very gelatinous; the queen mother took out a jar casually, and waited on the barber to clean Yi's long hair. After the hair was loosened and combed carefully, Yi herself took a small brush, dipped some black stuff into the tub, and painted it on.This thing could indeed turn part of the gray hair on Yi's head into black hair, but Yi's scalp was also dyed black.I saw that Yi tried her best to brush her hair very carefully, hoping to only dye her hair black and not to stain her scalp. It is really very pitiful; but the result is still dyed black together.I could see Ey was about to explode.However, Yi has experienced this inevitable result for ten or twenty years, so Yi can finally endure it with all her strength and eliminate this unknown fire.Since Yi's hair began to turn gray one by one, Yi's scalp has never turned gray in the past many years. It is always blackened by the hair cream, and there is no way to save it.
It so happened that four or five years ago, when our family was going to Paris, my mother and some of Ea's old friends tried Western hair dyes, so I decided to introduce them to the world. Queen Mother: I was so enthusiastic at the time that I didn't think that if the hair dye I introduced might not show any good effect, I would inevitably be bored.
"We have sent many people out to search," the Queen Mother happened to sigh to me, "I hope to find a hair dye that will neither damage the hair nor stain the scalp, but so far we have not found it. Maybe it will never be found!"
"The servant can find such a hair dye for the Queen Mother!" I couldn't help but volunteered like this.
After hearing this, Elder Yi smiled slightly.
"You must have seen it in those Western countries? Originally, Westerners are the most ingenious, and the things they invent are often as magical as magic. I seem to have heard people say that they have a lot of hair dyes. The medicine can be dyed into various colors according to people's wishes, I don't know which one you are talking about?"
So I tried my best to explain to her the raw materials, types, and functions of French hair dyes, etc., but my own knowledge of chemistry is really too little, so I couldn't explain it to her very clearly, and she was very confused. If you can forgive me, forget it after hearing it, and don’t go into it too deeply.I was glad that I was still clear about the efficacy of the medicine after applying it, so I explained this point to her, and it turned out that she was very moved.
"The servants will write letters from here to France to order," I finally said, "and let them send the medicines from France; it will take forty or fifty days at the fastest, and the Queen Mother will not mind it." Is it too late?"
"Not too late, not too late, forty or fifty days is such a short moment in a person's life!" The Queen Mother seemed to be able to reply patiently: "If you think their hair dye really has special effects, We would love to give it a try.”
This matter was decided like this, and I was really happy because the Queen Mother had allowed me to contribute to Yi; Send a telegram to Paris, and ask an acquaintance to buy some of the best hair dyes for us, and send it as soon as possible.
When the eunuch returned to the palace, my father asked him to bring me a secret letter, roughly saying:
"Since you have given your permission to the Queen Mother, of course I have to follow you in this matter! But I want to warn you! From now on, when you are in the palace, you must keep in mind two points: first, don't talk too much; Pretend to be versatile in front of people, and think that you know more about everything than others, especially don't be so presumptuous in front of the Queen Mother. Otherwise, I will really worry on your behalf! The French hair dye medicines are so clearly remembered, wouldn’t it be nice if you had forgotten about them earlier! In case those medicines are sent for trial and unfortunately damage the Queen Mother’s hair, I’m afraid the punishment of beheading will be unquestionable. It’s on you! At that time, I won’t have any power to save you, and I can only blame you for taking the blame!”
Of course what my father said was good, but in my mind at that time, my father was really a person of the ancient school, and he dared not be careless about anything.I am not a little worried myself, knowing that my head will not be cut off by Her Majesty, because I am sure that those French hair dyes will not be ineffective.But after a long time, I gradually awakened from my experience, knowing that my actions were indeed tantamount to getting burnt, and that a bad encounter would teach my head to move.
More than forty days later, the hair dye in Paris arrived as scheduled. As soon as I received it, I took those colorful and well-decorated boxes to the Empress Dowager, and in front of her, Opening the box, I took out several bottles of potions, and at the same time I said to Yi:
"Here is a very detailed instruction manual! It tells us how to use it, but we must follow it carelessly..."
"Why do we let those Frenchmen teach us?" The Queen Mother interjected disapprovingly.
I knew that I had mispronounced the word "teaching" just now, so I hurriedly stated that this is just a method, and that various medicines have different usages. It was made, so we have to follow their usage, so the Queen Mother has nothing to say.
"How about letting the slaves translate these usages to Lafayette one by one now," I said to Yi with 12 points of caution, "First, it says: all the hair must be selected together, and then Dry them off..."
"Okay, let's try it as it is!" The queen mother agreed immediately.
So someone went out and came in with a big pot of hot water, and called the barber, but the queen mother didn't want him to do it, she only wanted me to help Yixi; Wouldn't it be bad to hurt the Queen Mother?However, he couldn't resist the order, so he had to work hard.With great difficulty, he washed all the black ointment from Yi Na's hair, and also washed Yi's scalp, and then got a few dry towels to dry her wet hair.It took a lot of work. Fortunately, the old man Yi was eager to try my French hair dye, and he was very excited. The medicine is gone, at this time I am a little worried!Because I suddenly thought of what my father said, I was afraid that if the hair dye really had no effect, the queen mother would inevitably be annoyed; but things have reached this point, even if I want to retract my words It is impossible to teach the Queen Mother not to try this medicine!
I had no choice but to bite the bullet and opened the lid of a potion bottle. The potion inside was as clear as white water, without any black air. I really don't know how to dye people's white hair black. I was almost stunned; looking at the printed instructions again, there were some unambiguous descriptions of its efficacy, so I had to trust it temporarily.I didn't have time to think carefully at the moment, so I used a small brush dipped in the potion and gently brushed it twice on the Queen Mother's gray hair. The queen mother was not as busy as I was, and after a while, Yi went to the dressing table to take a selfie in the mirror, and this photo did not disappoint her, because although her gray hair had not turned black, The white hair has turned gray, but Yi's scalp is as clean as gang!Yi couldn't help being overjoyed, and praised me again and again, and I let go of half of my worries; unexpectedly, the potion was really effective, and after I brushed it on the queen mother again that night, when I woke up the next day, Yi's hair was completely black and smooth. We are generally the same as young people.Elder Yi stood in front of the mirror of the dressing table for a long time before and after, and he straightened his mouth and smiled with joy.
"Ah! It's amazing! We have always heard people say how clever foreigners are, and now it has been confirmed!" Then Yi said to me: "Someone once told me that Westerners have a way of using many things. They returned to the original, I didn’t really believe it at first, but this time they really did it! I can’t imagine that such a thing as clear as water can dye our hair as black as ink without staining our scalp. I really don't know what method it is?"
My father complained that I shouldn't meddle in other people's affairs, but unexpectedly, I managed it perfectly!Naturally, the queen mother couldn't stop praising me, and asked someone to pick out a cheongsam that Yi wore when she was young, and give it to me as a kind of reward I deserve.I took a closer look at the cheongsam that Yi gave me, it was indeed very beautiful, with many orchids embroidered on it; this is because when Elder Yi first entered the palace, Emperor Xianfeng gave Yi the title "Concubine Lan", So when Yi was young, there were a lot of orchids embroidered on her clothes.Later, when Yi became the empress dowager, this kind of orchid-embroidered clothes would naturally no longer be worn, and for fear of offending Yi Suo's childhood reputation, no one hated to embroider orchid patterns on their clothes; Even though I kowtowed to receive the reward that day, I dared not wear it after all, so I had to keep it well, until now, and haven't given it up yet.Calculating the longevity of this cheongsam, it has been at least 80 years so far. However, due to the excellent material and my careful collection, its color and luster have not diminished, and it is still like a piece. The newly made clothes are generally bright.I often think about it: If I had been able to put on my face when I was in the palace, and expressed my envy and desire to the Queen Mother when I had the opportunity, Yi would definitely give me a few more pieces of such valuable old clothes!
"As far as I know, ordinary women," the Queen Mother happened to talk to me about the decoration of women's homes. "It's almost like they don't have the psychology of respecting themselves; they regard decorations as something for others to see, such as what kind of banquet they are going to go to today, what kind of guests will they have, so they are willing to spare no effort to decorate. Everyone who looks at her praises Yimen's beauty; but in ordinary days, knowing that there are no outsiders in the house, she doesn't pay attention to some things, and even doesn't bother to comb her hair. Although the front of a person is usually well-decorated, when he comes back inside, he is still the same, and he will never be lazy because no one sees him. Because I think that if a person can dress neatly and cleanly, and put his clothes on If my face is shaved and looks better, then I must also feel an indescribable joy in my spirit; so I dare say that even if you people have all gone out, I am the only one left in the palace , I still have to pay attention to decoration!"
Naturally, there are quite good reasons for these remarks, but if we close our eyes and think about it, how disgusting it is for a respected old lady like the Queen Mother to try her best to pay attention to decorations!Especially those wrinkles and scars on Yi's forehead, no matter what Yi Yi used to cover them up, they always clearly showed Yi's age.Having said that, when Yi had a good night's sleep and looked at it from a suitable angle under the bright sunlight, apart from these wrinkles, Yi was indeed a very beautiful woman.So Yi's makeup skills are really amazing.As for what kind of things did Yi use to show such a miraculous effect, to effectively hold back the past youth, so that some of it can be retained, and not all of it lost?I can't answer this question; I only know that the Queen Mother has indeed exhausted her mind and planned to fight against human resources and nature.Let me tell you a few things I know first:
Every night, after the old man had dinner at Yi's house, we who attended to Yi always gathered in Yi's side hall, stood in groups, and listened respectfully to Yi's wonderful remarks; Yi himself sat upright. On Zhang Panlong's chair, talking nonsense.At that time, the wrinkles on Yi Na's forehead were always blurred and hard to be seen, because Yi's family had worked very hard to cover them up; But he didn't apply it all over his face casually, but only picked those few wrinkles.Of course, after applying this kind of chicken clear on Yi's face, she absolutely couldn't smile, and even talking was very inconvenient. In the first few nights when I came here, watching Yi speak so carefully, I almost didn't even dare to speak. It was too wide open, and I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Later, I found out that it was because of the chicken ziqing that Yi had put on. I was afraid that the mouth would move too much, and the chicken ziqing film that had formed on Yi's face would be wiped out. It cracked and lost its proper effect. The heavy chicken clear was probably put on after dinner, and wiped off with soap and water until half an hour or forty minutes before Yi went to bed.
The soap used by the queen mother was not very sophisticated, because Yi didn't like to use the things bought from outside, so these soaps were also made by Yi Tedi by sending a few eunuchs.The raw materials they use are rose or jasmine juice, combined with several unknown oils, and frozen into pieces of soap with different styles.The fragrance of these soaps is very strong, but the power of removing dirt and dirt is not very good. Elder Yi does not think it is useless, and is very complacent and uses it forever.I know more about soap than all other foreign products. I can name four or five kinds of Western soaps; I also said that I am happy to use them, but I always say that their fragrance is not as good as Yi's own.Originally, there were dozens of kinds of soaps, but what I like may not necessarily be what the Queen Mother likes, and of course what Yihuan likes is not suitable for me; it's just that I think the goodness of soap lies in its ability to remove dirt and dirt, so why bother every detail? What about its fragrance?But I dare not say this to the Queen Mother again!
About half an hour before the rest, the queen mother washed the chicken eggs with soap and water, and then had to apply another liquid juice, which was also invented by the queen mother herself. Its preparation method is as follows:
The manufacturing procedures are not very complicated, but the set of utensils is very special.The significance of its structure is roughly the same as that of modern distillers. It is all made of copper, and there are three cylinders in a row; a small amount of water and alcohol are placed in the first cylinder, and a not very violent flame is used below. steaming, the vapor formed by the evaporation of alcohol and water is passed through a very thin copper tube and flows into the second cylinder. The second cylinder is filled with many winter flowers. The fire is also lit, and after the soda water flowing from the first cylinder is steamed with these winter flowers for a while, it will naturally evaporate into a kind of water vapor, and this water vapor will flow into another thin copper tube. The water vapor obtained at this time is already the semen of alcohol, water and winterflower, and it is full of a floral fragrance, similar to the perfume essence we are used to, and it is Because it takes a lot of time to cook it, we have to save some in advance so that the Queen Mother can use it every night.This juice is said to be astringent, it can loosen the skin on the part of the Empress Dowager's face that has been tense just now, but it can also prevent those wrinkles from stretching or expanding, and the effect is extremely great ; so the last thing the Queen Mother did every night before going to bed was to apply this flower lotion.
In the morning, as soon as Elder Yi got out of bed, an eunuch would respectfully approach Yi with a bowl of specially boiled fat. It is thinner, and there is also floral dew in the middle, so it is very fragrant; the queen mother used her fingers to gently stir up a little in the pot, and applied it on her palm, letting it melt gradually, before applying it to her face Going up, Jian Li painted it all over her face, but Yi didn't paint carelessly, and was always doing it very carefully.
Applying this kind of fat oil means to eliminate the heavy floral liquid applied last night, so it must be applied all over the face, and you have to wait quietly for ten minutes before using one of the softest towels to wipe the oil off. Wipe it off together, and the next step is to apply powder and rouge.This set of procedures will never change, just like the curriculum prescribed in school.
Her hands are usually anointed with oil, but she is too lazy to do this part of the work by herself, so we, the female officials, have to do it for her; It melted, and then carefully rubbed it on the Empress Dowager's hands.The Empress Dowager's hands are really strange, not only white and greasy, but also extremely soft, not inferior to us young people.After we smeared the oil all over her, we had to wipe it off after a while. This step was really troublesome. It turned out that the queen mother had a very weird temper and forbade us to wipe her with a towel. Gently patted Yi with a towel until it was dry and clean.This is really time-consuming, and requires patience; even in normal times, when Mr. Yi wants to wash his hands, we have to go and take care of it. After washing, we have to pat her dry with a towel in the same way.It is the flower lotion that Yi puts on her face every night, and Yi usually puts it on her hands, and this job is done by the female officer who is on duty that night.
In addition, there are so many ways the queen mother thinks of to achieve beauty!
One of these is to take the powder made from beads every ten days. I have never calculated how many beads the old man Yi needs for each dose of pearl powder. I only know that the beads used to grind the pearl powder are selected Small beads, but generally they are crystal round and embellished, real pearls of great value.The powder that is ground each time is about a small teaspoon.The teaspoon was made of silver, and its shape was different from ordinary ones. It must have been specially made for the Empress Dowager to take pearl powder.This practice of taking pearl powder has been practiced for decades.It has never stopped, and it has almost become a fixed rule; every ten days, almost at the same time, the eunuch who is in charge of grinding pearl powder holds the silver spoon with a piece of yellow silk, Present the ground pearl powder to the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager didn't need to ask any more questions, as soon as she saw this person walking in, she knew it was time to take pearl powder.
The eunuch tremblingly handed the teaspoon of pearl powder to the queen mother, and as soon as the queen mother took it, she stuck out her tongue and poured the powder on it; at that time, the person standing next to us had already given Yi Duan a shake A cup of warm tea, waited for Yi to pour the pearl powder into her mouth, and hurriedly sent the tea over, but Yi didn't take the teacup, just drank a few mouthfuls in our hands, and swallowed the pearl powder hastily.
"The weight of pearl powder is very heavy!" Once, Yi once told me about the function of taking pearl powder. "If you take a little bit of it, it will help us retain our youth. Its efficacy is revealed purely on the skin, and it can make people's skin smooth and shiny forever. Old people can be as beautiful as young people. 2. It’s just that the amount of food to be taken must be less, and there must be a considerable period of time between each time, or the amount of food is too much, or there is no specified time, just every few days Taking it once, not only is it not beneficial to the human body, it is actually very harmful!"
Although Mrs. Yi said so, I am not sure whether the pearl powder really has the effect of retaining the face before we have tested it; even if the Empress Dowager's appearance can be maintained to be lighter and more tender than ordinary old people Some, whether it is indeed the result of taking pearl powder regularly, I can't really prove it.All I know is that the Empress Dowager's habit of taking pearl powder has never stopped until I left the palace, and Yi always seems to be very serious about this matter.
In addition to applying chicken clear every night to prevent the wrinkles on Yi's face from growing or expanding, the Queen Mother also has many methods designed to deal with those wrinkles.There is a very unique one. It turns out that there are two jade sticks about two or three inches long on Yi's dressing table, with gold handles at both ends. Every morning, Yi must use them to put on her face or upper body. Or roll down.This thing is very slippery and cold, and there is no medicinal powder on it. I really don't know what it does, but the Queen Mother always sits patiently in front of the dressing table, rolling it on her face all the time. Incessantly, he looked into the mirror calmly, as if rolling a few times would have immediate effect.I was very surprised to see it. Once when Cou Yi was not around, I had the courage to pick up a jade stick and tried it for a while. Unexpectedly, the Queen Mother happened to walk in. I was very unhappy when I saw it, but Yi's unhappiness was not Because I stole something from the old man, I knew that I had some doubts about the function of Yi's jade stick, so I was not happy.
"This thing is of no use to you!" Yi immediately said seriously: "Young people like you can't use chicken powder, pearl powder, Zhishan, etc.! This kind of jade stick It is extremely unnecessary!"
"Please forgive me, Queen Mother!" I hurriedly kowtowed to Yi, and apologized: "I don't dare to steal things from the Queen Mother, but I just saw that the jade stick is so smooth and cute, I want to try it, but I don't know if it rolls on the skin How comfortable is it? But next time I will definitely not dare!"
Saying so, Yi laughed.
"Since you love it, you can take it!" Elder Yi readily gave me another special favor, so I have another imperial gift worth boasting about in my pocket.However, Yi gave me the jade stick this time, but it was definitely not because I did something good, and I was rewarded for it, and it was not because I was suddenly happy that I got this reward, but because I had already stolen the jade stick. After using it once, Elder Yi hated it and didn't want to use it again.But regardless of it, I finally got another treasure!I hated myself that when I was in the palace, whenever I saw something lovely, I was extremely envious, but I always tried my best to be patient and not show it easily, otherwise during my two and a half years of service, I would be as dedicated as the Queen Mother. I have a good temper for rewarding people, and since Yi pays special attention to me, I will definitely be able to get a lot of things, and there are many valuable treasures among them that I can enjoy endlessly throughout my life!
There is another thing that the Empress Dowager believes can greatly enhance a woman's complexion.I think the reason why the Empress Dowager pays so much attention to Yi's appearance is probably due to the influence of us female officials; because the Empress Dowager has a very bad temper in her life, that is, she only likes to judge people by their appearance.If Yi treats Yi's courtiers like this, then naturally Yi pays more attention to us!Therefore, among the eight of us, there is really none that can be called "ugly". Since the queen mother hangs out with us young and beautiful female officials every day, although there is no jealousy, but in comparison, she is not象使伊觉得自己的容色是太老了，是太憔悴了，于是便不惜千方百计的设法要保留伊那快将去尽的美色。另外一件东西伊所信为具此功效的，但是人的乳汁，因此伊每天总得喝大半茶碗的人乳。
宫里面即没有人生孩子，又不曾养着半个未离哺乳时期的婴儿，每天哪里去弄这些人乳呢？
原来太后也有乳母雇着咧！太后的乳母乃是很谨慎地从那些旗丁的妻子中选进来的。伊们自然都是才生产过的少妇，选的时候非常谨慎；体格，面貌，以及身上洁净不洁净，都是很重要的条件。有时候也许选到了一个特别满意的妇人，伊的面貌又长得极好看，太后就一定要长期的将伊雇用下来，并分外多把些钱给伊，让伊好去另雇一个乳母，喂养伊自己的孩子。可是这种情形是极难得的，通常总是同时雇着两三个，教伊们带着孩子一起住进宫来，每天早上轮流着挤乳出来，给太后服食。这些乳母一进了宫，便也算是太后的侍从的一部分了，并且特别优异地款侍着，吃的东西简真和我们所吃的完全相同。一切用具衣服等，无不力求洁净，真象是伊们进宫来做客人一样；只是每天早上挤乳的时候，太后却还不敢信任伊们，总得在我们中间派一个出去监视着。
不料太后这一种因求驻颜而服食人乳的习惯，结果竟引起了许多偶然进宫来的外人的重大误会：因为宫里既是常用两三个乳母雇用着，而这些乳母又各自随带着伊们的孩子，于是孩子的啼哭声便不时可以在宫内听到了。本来在哺乳期内的孩子，哪里会有什么知识？只知道哭是用以表示各种需求的唯一妙法，而在稍感不适的时候，也只把哭作为声诉；因此无论他们的母亲如何努力于设法止住他们的哭，却仍无结果，连太后那样伟大的威灵，对他们也无所施其技。
就为这样的缘故，以致一般王公大臣，以及命妇贵戚，偶尔走进宫来，很有几次会隐隐约约地听到一阵阵的小儿啼哭之声，更不幸的是他们虽因听到了这种奇怪的声音而心上很觉诧异，但无论怎样，总不敢向太后询问；便是在我们面前，他们也十分谨慎地从不肯轻易道及，于是误会便发生了！他们既那样的讳莫如深，不发一问，而太后和我们也从没有功夫自动的给他们解释，因此这重误会，不但无从解除，简直是久而弥深，甚至当他们隐约听到有小孩啼声的时候，便互相以目示意，仿佛是说“这就是那话儿啊！”要是没有人和他们在一起时，他们还要彼此点一点头，意思就是说：“我们所猜度的果然不曾错啊！”
太后这种服食人乳的习惯，并不是人老年以后才开始的，当伊年纪很轻的时候，就每天要喝这么一大杯了；及至伊的丈夫——咸丰皇帝——死去之后，伊的青春时期却还未曾去尽咧，但伊还继续的喝着人乳，宫内便少不得要养着两三个乳母。恰巧其中有一个乳母特别的钟爱伊的儿子，坚持着要带伊的儿子一起进来，太后瞧伊的模样儿长得很好，乳水又足，便破格应允了（以后就成为一种常例）。这孩子的哭声便一再为外来的人所听到，到致辗转讹传，弄到大家都说太后已和安德海（在李莲英以前的总管太监）私下生了孩子了，真是冤枉到了极点！
到得我进宫去的当儿，事情已过了好多年了，照理说，太后的冤枉早应大白于天下：因为二十多年来，那些从外面偶然走进宫来的人，所听到的哭声，始终是婴孩的哭声，如其真是太后和什么人私生的孩子，难道永远不会长大的吗？而且很有几次是两三个孩子同时在啼哭，他们也未尝没有听见过，就该明白太后一个人决不能同时和人家私生这么许多的孩子！明白了这两点，岂不就可尽除误会了吗？无奈人性总喜“隐善扬恶”，更以太后平日不免常有擅作威福的举动，人家对伊绝少好感，便格外的乐于造谣中伤伊；以致在某一个时期里，太后差不多已给人家说得象唐朝的武则天一样了，这真是很可怜的！
我最初听到这些谣言时，很想尽力代伊辟谣，把伊服食人乳的真相昭告天下，但我再三考虑之下，又觉不妥。因为服食人乳的一种习惯，原是不很平常的，人们听了，也许将分外得意地构成种种谣言出来。记得我进宫后第二日早上，瞧着伊把那么一杯人乳喝下了肚去，心上总觉得有些异样的不安，竟以为太后是一个善于害人的“老妖怪”，伊的喝人乳就等于魔鬼们的喝人血，那个挤乳汁给伊喝的乳母，不久也许就会枯竭而死；但这些恐怖的猜度，后来便渐渐地消灭了。其实除却这事之外，宫内也尽有许多非常特别的事情，只要你处得稍久一些，便自能知道它是无足为害于人，从此发于若素了；可是最初发见的时候，那是的确要使每个人都觉得怪可疑的。
但是取要紧要我们得问一问：服令人乳毕竟能否发生驻颜的功效？依我说，是能够的，谁敢说不能呢！既然一个初出世的婴孩在服食人乳之后，便能渐渐地长成起来，于此便可见人乳确是一种富于滋补的东西；而且我们试看正在哺乳时期的婴儿，它们的肤色总是非常的白润，那末人乳能使一个已入暮年的老妇人的容色重复转为白润，也是大有可能的事。那末我们为什么看到一个老年人在服食人乳就要起那种无谓的疑惧呢？何况这个老年人自己既已确信人乳是足以帮助伊挽住那正在跨着大步走过去的年华的，则在伊服食的时候，心理上必有一种信仰，精神上也必比较愉快；我们都知道凡服食一种我们对它肯有信仰的药饵，奏效往往就分外的灵速，人乳何独不然！