CHAPTER 247: WHEN THE LITTLE BLACK DUCK TURNS INTO A SWAN

"Yeah, who is she?" Qin Lan was dumbfounded.

"She looks a bit like Tian Sangsang..."

"But Tian Sangsang couldn’t be this fair, could she? Made of milk?" Uncertain tone.

"But there’s no such stunning beauty living in our hallway."

"But isn’t that Tian Sangsang’s son?"

"So it really is Tian Sangsang?"

"Wow, she... how did she... how did she transform..."

"..."

The familiar yet unfamiliar stunning beauty was holding Tian Sangsang’s son by the hand, slowly descending the staircase. The beauty was truly arresting: her eyes tilted slightly upward with charm, the corners of her lips curved into a faint smile. Her jet-black hair was parted in two, and her skin was porcelain smooth and pearl-like. She was wearing a pale brown mermaid gown with a slender belt at her waist, cinching her figure so delicately it seemed the waist was ungraspable. Tall and elegant, the hem of the gown nearly touched her ankles—it exuded grace and purity. Yet, her facial features were exquisitely striking, creating a contradiction: refined yet stunning!

"Hello, everyone." Tian Sangsang waved at them, flashing a smile with her gleaming white teeth.

The Military Wives were momentarily dazed and then exclaimed in unison: "Do you know us?"

"What are you saying? Of course, I know you. I’m Tian Sangsang." Her bright, large eyes blinked. "This is my son. His leg has recovered. I’m taking him out for a stroll and picking up some things while I’m at it."

The group collectively gasped.

"Sangsang!"

"Tian Sangsang!"

"It really is you!"

"Sangsang, it truly is you!"

"Yes, it’s me."

"Impossible!" Qin Lan let out a sharp scream but quickly realized her lapse of composure. She switched to a puzzled expression and asked, "Sangsang, how come you’ve turned so fair in just a few days?!"

"It hasn’t been a few days. I’ve been working on whitening myself for a long time. Bit by bit, I became fairer. It’s not something accomplished in just a few days. The accumulated results seem effective enough to give you the illusion of rapid change." Tian Sangsang lowered her gaze slightly and smiled shyly.

"Whitening?" Qin Lan asked.

"Yes, whitening."

Ah, women—they are born to love beauty. In this era, cosmetics and skincare products had not yet reached the variety seen in later generations, but most women owned at least one jar of face cream. Among them, a famous brand was "Fragrant Elegance." Now Tian Sangsang had suddenly turned so fair, and their minds were undoubtedly shocked. They had seen Tian Sangsang when her skin was darker, and now with their own eyes, they couldn’t help but get curious about her whitening methods.

The skin, smoother than a peeled boiled egg, bore no freckles, acne, pores, blackheads, oiliness, dryness, coarseness, or dullness. It was hydrated, radiant, and tempting enough to make one want to poke it with a finger or stroke it with their hand. Seriously, even a hundred jars of face cream couldn’t compare! That so-called face cream, which claimed to make skin as clear as snow, couldn’t hold a candle to Tian Sangsang’s results.

"Sangsang, how did you whiten yourself?"

Qin Lan stared incredulously at Tian Sangsang, but when someone asked a question, she perked up her ears to listen.

"Well..." Tian Sangsang deliberately revealed a troubled expression.

The group saw this and panicked; was she reluctant to say?

"Sangsang, just tell us. We really want to know."

"You might not believe it if I say it—but I’ve been using an essential oil over the long term to achieve this fairness."

"There’s such a miraculous essential oil? What brand is it?"

"It’s not a brand—I made it myself."

!!!

Tian Sangsang took out a small bottle of essential oil from her pocket. It was made of glass, with a slender neck and a rounded bottom. Its shape was fluid and refined, with red liquid inside.

She gently raised her hand, holding the rose essential oil near her face, and smiled faintly, speaking softly: "For radiant beauty, use Yan’s Whitening Essence Oil. Yan’s Whitening—it’s truly beautiful, truly white."

This tagline was one Tian Sangsang had casually made up, but it didn’t sound too bad when recited. The important part wasn’t the words; once the business grew, she could always hire a model to shoot an ad. The commercial might feature a fair, gorgeous model holding Yan’s Whitening Essence Oil, reciting the slogan. The model would open the bottle cap, the liquid would evaporate, and rose petals would float out from the bottle. Some petals might transform into a flowing gown, decorating the model’s body. As long as the model looked good, everything would fall into place. After all, looks matter!

It must be said, Tian Sangsang’s impromptu advertisement had quite an impact. A beauty as fair as her stood before them, chanting, "Yan’s Whitening—it’s truly beautiful, truly white."

The Military Wives found their minds fixated on the phrase, endlessly echoing: "Yan’s Whitening—it’s truly beautiful~ truly white~~."

It seemed high-end, and moreover, the bottle itself looked quite expensive.

Tian Sangsang’s plan was to target the luxury market. After all, this era hadn’t yet entered a full-fledged consumer phase. The average living standards of ordinary people were still relatively humble. Rose essential oil, since ancient times, had been considered a premium product. Although her formulation was for whitening, its other features were equally impressive. Being a high-end item, it was naturally tailored for those with extra money to spend.

"Does this really work?"

"You used this to become fairer?"

"Sangsang, you’re amazing—you even figured out how to make this yourself..."

Tian Sangsang chuckled, "My skin was too dark. Since childhood, I’ve wanted to be fair. I wanted it more than anyone else, so I tried to figure things out on my own. This is rose essential oil, a gentle formula. You can add a drop to water when washing your face, morning and night, and it doesn’t just whiten but also repairs the skin. Add a few drops to bathwater, and it not only whitens but relieves fatigue and improves skin texture."

"Does this make you fairer *and* more beautiful?" Qin Lan perked up. Otherwise, how else had Tian Sangsang grown so beautiful???

"No, it cannot do that. Your features are predetermined, and everyone’s natural foundation is different." Tian Sangsang shook her head as she explained, "We cannot change what is innate, but we can nurture what can be controlled. There’s no such thing as an ugly woman—only a lazy one. Even extraordinarily beautiful women, if they don’t dress up, look just so-so. On the other hand, average-looking or slightly attractive people who put effort into styling themselves won’t look much worse. We may lack 99% talent, but we can make up for it with 99% dedication."

At that moment, the Military Wives dared not look down on Tian Sangsang anymore. She shone too brightly; she was no longer someone in the same category as them. Her words—"There’s no such thing as an ugly woman, only a lazy one"—rang so true, no matter how you considered them.

The underlying point was that beauty required investment—both in money and time. Initially, they had thought to ask her where she’d learned the whitening techniques or where she’d bought some miraculous whitening cream so they could try it for themselves. But this was something she had personally made, no less than rose essential oil, a premium product they couldn’t afford. And then thinking back, Tian Sangsang growing roses—she had been cultivating them for her skincare all along!