Nan Hua was first confused what kind of items that Old Master Nan meant. But the next day, she came to understand what he actually meant when she saw the stack of items in front of her.
It seemed that the ancient world really has unique method….
"These are all for makeup, Miss." Xiao Yun noticed that Nan Hua was looking, so she smiled awkwardly. "Normally, only those who lived in the Red District would wear this much, but Old Master also kept it for some other uses."
Nan Hua nodded. She had never wore that much makeup in the past since normally, she would simply come and leave after finishing her task. There was no need for her to put up a disguise when she would not even appear in front of anyone.
"This one is a skin's mask. It can hide your countenance and make it different, but this one can only be used one time," Xiao Yun explained.
"Why?"
"That's because when you take off this mask, it'll usually tear. There hasn't been any good material that can be used as mask. Also, it's best if you don't do any exercise that will require you to sweat because you can't sweat when you're using this mask," Xiao Yun warned.
Nan Hua nodded. Asking them to make a very lifelike mask was very difficult. It was already good enough that she could use this one.
It seemed that having too similar face with her twin brother could be troublesome.
"Let me help you wear it, Miss."
"Alright."
In the end, it took more than an incense stick of time for Nan Hua to finish her makeup and everything. By the time she looked at the mirror, she realized that her countenance had changed completely.
If previously, she had the cute and beautiful expression of a young child who will grew to be a peerless beauty, now she looked far more ordinary. In fact, she leaned to be slightly handsome as this face mask made her look like boy more.
Though, in her age, it was quite different to differentiate between boys and girl effectively.
"How is it, Miss?" Xiao Yun asked curiously.
Nan Hua nodded. "It's good."
"That's good." Xiao Yun heaved a sigh of relief. She had worn the mask in the past, so she knew that it might be hard to adapt at first. Not to mention, it would become unbearable as time passed.
"Stay here."
"Yes, Miss."
Nan Hua walked out of her quarter and saw Nan Luo jogged in her direction. The young boy looked stunned when he saw Nan Hua but a smile soon bloomed on his childlike face. "Hua'er! You look so different!"
"Will it be suspicious?"
"No! Not at all! I'm sure that no one will be able to find out that you're actually Hua'er." Nan Luo grinned confidently.
Within the shadow, Hou Lin looked at Nan Luo and felt like dragging this annoying young boy to make sure that he could shut up. Because of their sudden request, he had to protect them in secret without revealing his position in the slightest bit.
It was already difficult enough for him to stay hidden in this residence, what they asked him now was to stay hidden within the shadow while they were on the way. It was more tiring….
"What's your name, now?" Nan Luo asked. He couldn't possibly call her Hua'er when they were outside.
Nan Hua glanced at Nan Luo then replied succinctly, "Nan."
Nan Luo: "…" why are you just using our surname?
But then again, it was not a name that they would find difficult to memorize. That might be the best in case he ended up making a mistake.
"Alright, Nan and Xiao Yan will come with me to the academy today!"
Xiao Yan, who was standing behind Nan Luo, felt a bit conflicted when he saw Nan Hua. Even though the face had changed completely, the eyes that were looking in his direction still belonged to the same person. Just looking at Nan Hua's eyes could give him chills on his back.
It was as if he was facing a person whom he should never offend in his entire life.
They soon departed to the academy.
The academy was big. Even though it was only intended for the males to study, the location was very vast and there were a lot of buildings inside. Nan Luo was very eager as he introduced every single one of them.
"That large building is the library. You can easily find it because it's basically the tallest building here. They somehow managed to make several floors. Oh, we're not allowed to visit the higher floors since it's a place for accomplished scholars and also officials. Some of them even come here from time to time to pay a visit to the library.
That long corridor is connected to several classrooms where we can learn a lot. Hmm, I'll tell you more when we enter inside. I don't think there's any class today, though. In the middle, there's a garden where you can read in peace."
Nan Hua nodded. She had seen the square architecture, so she was not that unfamiliar with what Nan Luo told her. Besides, what she was more in awe was the engravings outside. In the modern world, many ancient buildings had been destroyed, thus only some of them still carried the same engravings and used similar method when building them.
Only in here would she be able to see them no matter where she looked.
"The field is over there. That's the place for us to learn horse riding and archery. I have quite good score for archery but horse riding is still…" Nan Luo felt ashamed when he recalled what his teacher told him when he learned horse riding. His legs were a bit too short, making it a bit difficult for him to control the horse.
While it was not impossible, he kept on angering the horse one way or another… thus he hadn't been successful so far.
"Martial arts?"
"Oh, we're usually training in the hall for martial arts if the field is filled. It's on the back and usually filled with young masters who didn't like to study that much or didn't have much talent." Nan Luo shrugged.
Not everyone could become officials and thus, those who couldn't had to pin their hope somewhere else. Being a soldier and a commander at the battlefield was quite a good thing too.
And most of the commanders on the battlefield did usually come from noble families. They were usually the second or third sons who were incapable to become officials. Most of the first sons were trained to become a scholar and only when they were utterly useless would they be aiming to become a soldier.
The opposite happened in the military family, though.
Nan Family was one of the examples as they hoped for their descendants to become a general rather than officials. It was quite unfortunate that Nan Family nearly failed to have any descendant who followed in this field.
"Do you have any class today?" Nan Hua asked.
Nan Luo shook his head. "We can attend whichever class we want. It's not a big deal since I'm from a military family."
In the past, he did have to attend every single one because Nan Shu Cheng wanted to groom him to become a scholar like him. But after he stayed with Old Master Nan, he chose to focus more on martial arts and military.
He didn't want to stay in the Capital City and be forced to contend with words.
He preferred to use his fist more than his mouth.
"I see."
"Well, there's a history class. I usually attend this one since Grandpa will not let me off if I don't know history." Nan Luo's face scrunched a bit whenever he thought of the punishment he got for skipping this one class.
Nan Hua nodded.
As the carriage stopped, Nan Luo walked out properly with Nan Hua and Xiao Yan behind him. Right now, the childish behavior that he usually posed when he was with Nan Hua had long disappeared.
He was the proper young master of Nan Family.
"First Young Master Nan, it's rare to see you visit the academy," a student greeted with a smile.
Nan Luo nodded. "I have missed a lot of class. Is Teacher Luo teaching today?"
"Yes. Teacher Luo will teach about the military condition during Emperor Xuan's era. It'll be good for you to attend the class today."
"That's good."
Nan Luo usually wanted to skip when they were talking about history of how the officials proposed the methods to increase their wellbeing or when they were talking about the cases. But since it was about military, of course he was very excited.
He wanted to hear more!
The other students talked with him as they headed to the class, but before they entered the room, someone called him from behind.
"First Brother."