An ugly girl starts off, then becomes a beauty

The New Year celebrations this year are more lively than last year. Although the etiquette is still in national mourning, the atmosphere is not as solemn as last year. From the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the nine markets in the city have been open to traffic. In front of the felt tents of every merchant, a peach wood board with the inscription of Shentu and Yulei is hung to ward off evil spirits. On Changting Avenue, there are even Sogdians selling colorful glass products with a variety of styles. In the arena two streets ahead, there is also the New Year's Eve gambling game that has not been held in the past few years. It is rare for the capital to be so lively. Dai Chengjun sent someone to the marquis's mansion two days ago to pass on a message: just ask the marquis's wife to make time to dress up carefully, take a few girls from Zhongcun with her, and go for a stroll in the nine markets.

Among the six girls, only Li'er could not go out - at that time they moved from Zhongcun to Panyu City. After all, there was a lot of turbulence on the way, and the youngest daughter's leg could not heal, so it was inconvenient for her to travel.

The Dai family carriage stopped in front of Marquis Mu Wu's mansion at the beginning of the 9th hour. Sang Ling tidied herself up a little, and today she put on powder and painted her eyebrows, eyes and lips, and wore two golden hairpins on her forehead.

The other five girls also dressed up. When they left the mansion, they looked like young girls in Chang'an City, wearing the attire of little girls. All the way from the backyard to the main gate of the mansion, they talked to Sang Ling like little sparrows. Later, they were even more excited to see Dai Chengjun. Fortunately, there was a sister Lian who was older and could still control her sisters, so she led them to sit obediently in the carriage at the back.

Sang Ling and Dai Chengjun were sitting in the same car. Dai Chengjun observed her for a while and said, "You just don't like to clean up carefully."

"How is this not considered careful dressing?" She snorted and measured herself, only to find that compared to the daughter of the Dai family, her dark blue robe was indeed low-key. Dai Chengjun was dressed smartly today, with a sable brocade hood on his head and a flower ornament on his forehead. The collar, cuffs and lapels of his brocade robe were trimmed with snow-white lambswool, and even the leather shoes on his feet had a circle of rabbit fur on the openings, making him look like a cute little rabbit.

Dai Chengjun ignored her and changed the subject, "On New Year's Eve, there will be iron flower making on Changting Avenue near the palace gate. Do you want to go and see it?"

"I probably can't go. There's a family banquet at the Marquis' Mansion." She answered, and then remembered that Madam Zhaoyu had mentioned before that she would have to go to the palace at noon on the 30th. Palace banquets always take a long time, and when she comes out, she will probably have to rush to the Marquis' Mansion. How would she have time to go out and play?

"Okay, okay." Dai Chengjun looked a little disappointed, still thinking - who should I ask to accompany me to watch the iron flower show? He only heard the person on the other side asking, "What will your parents say when you go back?"

She couldn't help but groan, "My father originally wanted me to kneel in the clan temple. I thought, that's impossible. I'm already tired after coming back all the way, and your husband's return speed is much faster than ours, and he didn't give me any rest time. Although I'm used to riding a boat, I still feel dizzy for several days. He also didn't allow you to play cards with us all night, and didn't let you sleep with me at night. No one talked to me. When I got home, I just wanted to have a good rest for a few days. He wanted me to go to the temple. Isn't that asking me to die?"

The daughter of the Dai family chattered like a little sparrow. Sang Ling simply leaned back and listened with his chin propped up. "And then, you didn't go anyway."

"Of course." Dai Chengjun said as he stared over and looked into her eyes. He asked curiously, "A Ling, your eyelashes are so black today... and so long. I remember that your eyelashes were not like this before?"

Although Sang Ling's eyes have always been beautiful, they were even better today. If you look closely, you can see clearly that there is a circle of black substance on each of his distinct eyelashes, making his eyes look especially big and bright.

"You are curious. I will make one for you and teach you how to apply it later?" Sang Ling said.

"What did you really use?"

"This thing is called mascara." She smiled, but Dai Chengjun's eyebrows furrowed when he heard her. "What mascara?"

This stuff was actually made by Sang Ling two years ago. At that time, Nie Ce asked her to put on heavy makeup before going out to play. She spent a long time getting ready and was sweating profusely. Later, she found some time to make a tube, but she has hardly used it in the past two years.

The Sang family's daughter sat up and said slowly, "It's the eyelash brush. I also asked someone to make it. The paste is made of pine charcoal black mixed with honey, and the brush is made of wolf hair. The handle is made of pig bone. The wolf hair is glued to one end of the handle with gum. The hairs are arranged tightly one by one, and finally trimmed with scissors. When you want to use it, dip the brush in the black paste and brush it on the eyelashes. Look, this is what I look like now."

"What about this black line on your eyes?" Dai Chengjun looked at her eyes carefully. There was a thin and long black line under her eyelashes.

"This is called eyeliner." Sang Ling tilted his head to show her, "It's also made from the same batch of carbon black, but the paste is thinner. Just use a small brush to fill it in. Finally, apply a layer of almond oil. It won't fade easily if you sweat or cry."

"How can you know so much?" Dai Chengjun took a closer look. "If this thing gets out, won't the noble ladies in the capital go crazy fighting for it?"

Hearing this, Sang Ling was startled at first, then raised her head with pride, and couldn't help but say: There are many more. If she hadn't been interested in studying these in the past two years, she would have drawn tool drawings, mass-produced them and exported them, which would be a big deal.

Before she could finish her words, the carriage had already stopped. The bustling sounds outside could be heard inside. Dai Chengjun lifted the curtain to look around and said to the driver, "There is a lot of traffic here. Let's go to the East Market." After she turned around, Sang Ling remembered what she had not finished saying before and asked, "You haven't told me yet. How did you escape the punishment at home?"