“Sis, have you changed your skincare? Tell me quick, what brand are you using?”
Inside the nanny van, the little assistant stared at Zhao Xiaodao in disbelief.
Zhao Xiaodao herself was holding a small mirror and kept checking her face non-stop.
No wonder, the surprise was too great!
The crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes had vanished, the faint forehead lines were gone, and the dry skin caused by years of heavy stage make-up was now brimming with moisture and collagen, glowing pink beneath the white.
Her arms were fair, her fingers soft and smooth, her neck sleek and delicate.
She wouldn’t dare claim she’d gone straight back to eighteen, but her skin was absolutely no worse than when she was twenty-two or twenty-three.
This wasn’t just a beauty pill, this was practically an age-reversing elixir!
Zhao Xiaodao forcibly suppressed her excitement, picked up her phone, and opened the 【Martial Alliance】 group chat.
Zhao Xiaodao: (selfie.jpg)
Zhao Xiaodao: (selfie.jpg)
Zhao Xiaodao: (selfie.jpg)
Zhao Xiaodao: @Lu Zheng @Lin Wan, Lu bro, Sister Wan, oh my god!
Zhao Xiaodao: (shocked.jpg)
Zhao Xiaodao: I’ve turned young again! Lu bro’s pill is miraculous!
Zhao Xiaodao: This isn’t a beauty pill, it’s a plastic-surgery pill!
Zhao Xiaodao: Thank you Lu bro! Thank you Sister Wan! (deep bow.jpg)
Zhao Xiaodao: I only put on very light make-up today, no beauty filter on the selfies (happy.jpg)
Zhao Xiaodao: My flight is at ten, heading out now!!
Zhao Xiaodao: (selfie.jpg)
The entire chat was filled with messages from her alone, from the moment she finished washing up in the morning until she got into the car. Selfies ranged from the hotel room to the breakfast restaurant, the hotel entrance, and inside the car.
Dozens of messages proved how uncontrollably excited Zhao Xiaodao was.
How could she not be excited? Apart from injections, even the most expensive skincare only maintained, delayed, or covered things up.
And injections…
That unnatural apple-cheek look, stiff face, distorted features; just thinking about it made Zhao Xiaodao shudder.
She had been in the industry for over ten years and was now in her thirties. Her skin was nowhere near what it had been in her twenties, especially with constant filming and layers of make-up damaging it every day.
Although she used top-tier brands and slathered them on like money was no object, nothing could fully resist the erosion of time.
She was still a few years away from needing injections, but she had already started planning her career transition.
So, besides continuing to earn money with ancient idol dramas, she had taken on several realistic modern dramas and was moving into serious acting.
But now…
Zhao Xiaodao touched her smooth cheek and said narcissistically, “Now that I look like this again, how am I supposed to play middle-aged women?”
Little assistant: “…”
One had to admit, the mature charm and aura of a thirty-something combined with the skin of someone in their early twenties made Zhao Xiaodao’s attractiveness skyrocket. In real life she looked like she was shooting a heavily beautified magazine cover.
No blackheads, refined pores, dewy and smooth; even high-definition photos showed zero flaws.
“Sis, you didn’t secretly get anti-wrinkle injections yesterday, did you?” the assistant asked worriedly.
Injections worked fast, but the effect was short-lived, and overdoing them led to resistance. If possible, it was best to avoid them.
Zhao Xiaodao shook her head with a smile. She wasn’t worried at all. How could a traditional Chinese medicine pill be the same as those injections?
She had examined it carefully; the feeling was completely natural, exactly like she’d genuinely gone back to her twenties.
Still… how long would it last? That was the question.
“Lu bro only gave me one pill. The effect has to last at least six months to a year, right?”
Zhao Xiaodao blinked, took out her phone again, and sent another message.
Zhao Xiaodao: Lu bro Lu bro! How long does the Skin-Nourishing Beauty Pill last?
Zhao Xiaodao: (pitiful.jpg)
Her phone kept going “ding-dong, ding-dong”. Lin Wan finally reached for it, glanced at the screen, chuckled, shook Lu Zheng, and held the phone in front of him. “Xiaodao is going crazy. Answer her quick.”
Lu Zheng took his hand off the bowl, picked up his own phone, and typed a reply.
Lu Zheng: The Beauty Pill restores your skin condition; it doesn’t maintain it for a fixed period. Meaning, your skin has now returned to the state it was in your twenties.
Zhao Xiaodao: !!!???
Stunned, she hurriedly typed, “So I’ll stay like this forever?”
Lu Zheng: Of course not. As you age, bodily functions decline, and maintaining skin condition becomes much harder than at twenty. It will gradually revert.
Lu Zheng: For example, this one pill rolled your skin back about ten years, but it won’t keep you permanently ten years younger. It will slowly return to normal as time consumes the restored state. At thirty you’ll have twenty-year-old skin, at forty you’ll have thirty-two-year-old skin, at fifty you’ll have forty-four-year-old skin, until eventually it settles at whatever is normal for your actual age.
Zhao Xiaodao: That long (shocked.jpg)
Lu Zheng: Roughly. Probably not more than a year or two off. No side effects, and the reversion gets slower the closer it gets to your real state.
Zhao Xiaodao’s fingers trembled slightly. For well-maintained celebrities like them, thirty wasn’t a big deal, but forty was terrifying.
She started typing another question, thought better of it, and held back. Ten years was already incredible; no need to push. Instead she wrote…
Zhao Xiaodao: Lu bro is mighty and domineering
Zhao Xiaodao: (lick.jpg)
Lu Zheng: Of course, if you take another pill at forty, it won’t bring you all the way back to twenty because the gap is too big.
Lu Zheng: So…
Zhao Xiaodao’s eyes lit up. Full of anticipation, she asked, “So?”
Lu Zheng: So you can just take two at once.
Zhao Xiaodao: …
Lin Wan, watching the chat, burst out laughing. “You’re just teasing her now.”
Lu Zheng grinned. “With those two extra pills ten years from now, she’ll be your little lackey for life.”
Lin Wan laughed. “Stop it, she’s a household-name superstar.”
Zhao Xiaodao: Lu bro, Sister Wan, from now on I’m your little sister. Tell me to go east and I’ll never go west, tell me to chase dogs and I’ll never chase chickens!
Zhao Xiaodao: (lick.jpg)
Lin Wan: (speechless.jpg) Superstar, where’s your dignity?
Zhao Xiaodao: Eternal youth, who needs a bicycle (cute.jpg)
Lin Wan: …
Of course Lin Wan understood how important flawless skin was to a female celebrity, but she hadn’t expected Zhao Xiaodao to lose it this completely.
…
On the other side, after the chat ended, Zhao Xiaodao received a call from Empress Sun.
“Xiaodao, are you up?”
“Yep, awake!”
“Where are you? Want to grab a meal?”
“Ah, my flight’s at eleven, I’m already on the way.”
“There’s still plenty of time. We’ll come to the airport to see you off.”
“Hehe, sure! Thanks for caring, Sister Li and Brother Chao. I’ll wait for you at the airport.”
“Great, talk soon.”
“Mm-hmm, see you!”
