Thinking on it this way — she could not see, and had spent two years living alone in the countryside. In her heart she must feel entirely without support or shelter.

A blind girl of marriageable age hoarding money was, in all likelihood, the same as a palace eunuch turned greedy after castration: both had lost all hope for themselves, and so placed all their faith in silver.

The fault lay with Ding Shi for being too hasty — wanting to send her back to the countryside so soon, and then stripping away her personal attendants on top of it. Even a cornered rabbit would scratch.

Weighing it all in this way, Su Hongmeng finally spoke: “Enough — I still have breath in my body! Why are you carrying on as if you’re weeping over my coffin? If you can truly produce a proper scented balm formula, then a reward is only right… But asking for thirty percent of the shop — that’s having no sense of proportion at all. At most, for every new scented balm sold from the shop going forward, I’ll give you twenty percent of the profits. That is more than enough for your needs. What does a young woman want with so much silver? Even if you spent it on wine and flowers every single day, you could not spend that much!”

Seeing her father relent, Su Luoyun gradually reined in her sobbing.

It had not been for nothing that she had sprinkled a few drops of medicated oil on the handkerchief beforehand — pressing it to the corners of her eyes produced instant redness. Without that, the ability to cry on demand was something she could never have mastered in this lifetime.

Su Luoyun knew her father well. The old man was exceptionally canny when it came to money and would not suffer the smallest loss.

So when Su Hongmeng relented, she did not press for more, and accepted the twenty percent on new balms. But she put forward one additional request — First Madam had made a fair point: when her younger sister was married off in a few days, the household would be swarming with people inside and out, and there would be no peace to be had.

She wanted her father to buy her a small residence. It did not need to be large, nor did it need to be in a bustling, prominent part of the city — somewhere comfortable to live was all she asked. She liked quiet. Once her father helped her purchase it, she would move out and live on her own. Naturally, the deed would need to be written in her name.

By now Su Hongmeng had grown accustomed to his eldest daughter stirring up one scheme after another — but her performance today had been a gust of mischief after another, truly more than a person could bear.

Hearing Su Luoyun pressing her advantage, he only set his face and said: “An unmarried girl going out to live on her own? What are you thinking? You may have no shame to speak of, but I still have mine!”

Luoyun replied: “How is it living on my own? I was thinking that Guiyan’s county examination is coming up at the new year — this would be a perfect opportunity to move there with him, so I can oversee his studies. First Madam just said that with Caijian’s wedding approaching, she will be too busy to give him her attention. If my brother and I move out, First Madam will have less to worry about as well. And of course, the household affairs of that courtyard will no longer need to trouble First Madam either.”

Wanting to drive away Nanny Tian and Xiangcao — to strip her of her left arm and right arm? Not a chance.

Su Luoyun had made up her mind this time: she would seize this opportunity and move out.

Su Hongmeng thought of the pained expression Guiyan wore whenever he was made to recite his texts, dull as a stone — it gave him a headache. If Luoyun had nothing else to occupy her and went to manage Guiyan’s studies, it might not be a bad thing… But buying a residence — how much would that cost?

How was it that every child he had raised was like a young fortune-beast, eating money endlessly day after day?

Thinking this, he had no patience to continue trading words with his eldest daughter, and dismissed her with: “I need to think it over. Go back for now — I’ll come and find you later.”

Only then did Su Luoyun rise, give a curtsy, and make her way back to her own courtyard with Xiangcao’s support.

Having been away from the Su family for two years, Su Luoyun had not yet grown reacquainted with the paths of the house. Without the raised pebble markers to guide her feet, she could only hold onto someone and walk slowly.

Once back in her courtyard, Nanny Tian said in a hushed voice: “Eldest young miss — for our sake, you have fallen out with the Master today!”

Su Luoyun gave a small smile and simply picked up her brush and paper to practice writing. Knowing that Nanny Tian was reproaching herself, she said gently: “It was not entirely for your sakes that I did this. Guiyan’s examination is next year, but his stepmother has used the excuse that he is slow and would hold back her two sons’ lessons as a reason to stop him from studying alongside Jinguan and Jincheng. Just yesterday I heard Jincheng let it slip that his mother intends to hire some failed scholar to teach Guiyan separately. What sort of worthy teacher could she possibly find for Guiyan? If we can move out on our own, we will be in a better position to hire a proper tutor to help him prepare.”

Xiangcao said with worry: “But you are not yet married — to go out and purchase a separate residence and live alone… what about your reputation? Will the Master and Madam agree?”

Su Luoyun closed her eyes and said with unconcerned ease: “An elder sister accompanying her younger brother in his studies — there is precedent for this since ancient times. It is not so unusual. Besides, my stepmother will likely help persuade Father for me…”

Ding Pei had been too eager in wanting to be rid of Luoyun — though she had her reasons. Caijian’s wedding date was imminent, and the Lu family would be coming and going frequently. If Su Luoyun were to cross paths with Lu Shi a few more times, Su Caijian would probably climb onto the rooftop and howl her grievances to the tiles.

Not wanting Luoyun to encounter the Lu family too often, Ding Pei had been impatient to get her back to the countryside. On top of that, Ding Shi had recently hired, at considerable expense, a distinguished scholar to teach her two sons. Taking on three students at once would inevitably split his attention — and so Ding Shi had wanted to shuffle Su Guiyan off with a failed scholar and be done with it.

If Guiyan willingly left the household to study elsewhere, Ding Shi would welcome it with open arms. And so Su Luoyun had planted just enough of a suggestion — and left the rest entirely to her stepmother to arrange.

It was said that after returning to their room that evening, Ding Pei and Su Hongmeng had a minor quarrel. Most likely her father was reproving her for driving Luoyun away so hastily and making an enemy of his eldest daughter.

But Ding Pei, though no longer in the first bloom of youth, still possessed a mature charm and a complexion smooth as congealed cream. When she wept, even her tears seemed to glisten like dew on jade — and she spoke at length of all the heartache and difficulty of being a stepmother.

Su Hongmeng could not help but soften in the end, and coaxed her gently with tender words.

The private words exchanged between husband and wife were not for outsiders to know, but in the end, Su Hongmeng agreed to Luoyun’s proposal. The residence he purchased, however, turned out to be a rather old and dilapidated small house in Sweet Water Lane.

They said the price was extremely low, and so when the property broker mentioned it, Su Hongmeng agreed to it without even viewing the house. He told Luoyun not to be too fussy — once she moved in, money from the household budget would be used to make repairs.

Of course, for his late wife’s children to move out, a proper explanation was needed. The story put about was that the eldest legitimate son, Su Guiyan, found the main household too noisy and distracting, and so a residence had been specially purchased for him to study in peace — and Su Luoyun, unwilling to leave her younger brother unsupervised, had moved there with him to accompany and guide his studies.

In this way, it appeared that Su Hongmeng cherished and indulged the children of his late wife equally, bestowing his fatherly affection without favor.

Luoyun could not see — but on the day they went to inspect the courtyard, the creaking of the gate, the unbroken sighs of Nanny Tian and Xiangcao, told her that the place was likely quite rundown and far less spacious or comfortable than the Su family residence.

But if the miserly father’s purse had been squeezed to bleed even this much silver, it was worth celebrating. Su Luoyun caught the faint musty smell drifting through the rooms and turned it around, laughing as she comforted Nanny Tian.

Fortunately, when the craftsmen came to inspect the structure, they said the main roof beams were sound — the minor problems could be seen to with a bit of repair work.

Looking at the slightly rundown courtyard, Su Guiyan felt nothing but delight. He said as long as the roof did not leak in the rain, it was a fine house and there was nothing to complain about.

Guiyan had endured years of being bullied by his stepmother’s two sons in the Su household, and had never been at ease there. The prospect of moving out to live with his elder sister made him entirely indifferent to any shortcomings in the accommodation.

Luoyun listened with a smile to her younger brother chattering away like a cheerful bird. This lively, sparrow-like energy — this was how a boy his age ought to be. She did not regret moving out at all.

In truth, she was the same as her brother — she had not wished to spend a single day longer in the Su household either. And so without even waiting for the repairs to be completed, she packed up a few essentials and moved in. She planned to live there and see to the repairs at the same time, little by little.

As Ding Shi was consumed with preparing the wedding trousseau and seemed to be running short of funds lately, Su Luoyun’s monthly allowance had not been arriving on time.

When Nanny Tian finally went to collect the monthly payment, Ding Shi said outright: the money for the house repairs would have to wait even longer.

Luoyun could not be bothered to haggle with her stepmother over such small sums. On the day they moved in, she took out her own savings and had Nanny Tian buy wine and meat.

That evening, everyone ate together in good spirits and laughter, and then went off to their beds.

The elders always said: you do not truly know whether a house suits you until you have lived in it. How true that turned out to be!

That very night, Su Luoyun lay down on the unfamiliar bed, tossed and turned for a while, and had only just drifted off to sleep when she was jolted awake by the sound of strings and wind instruments.

She pulled back the bed curtain and called out to Xiangcao sleeping in the outer room: “At this hour of the night — where is that music coming from?”

Xiangcao quickly threw on her outer garment and traced the sound around the compound, eventually finding its source at the western courtyard wall.

It turned out that on the western side of their property, sharing a wall with them, was a large residence on Qingyu Lane — its lights blazing, with what appeared to be people drinking and making merry in the garden.

Even standing on a ladder, Xiangcao could not make out the figures clearly. She could only see a group of women in thin, gauzy garments, their white necks and arms exposed, laughing uproariously as they moved among a cluster of men, wine-glazed and swaying — the whole scene breathing an atmosphere of reckless, dissolute abandon.

Xiangcao was too embarrassed to look for long and climbed back down quickly to report to the eldest young miss.

Su Luoyun knitted her brow slightly. She had always visited the house during the day — she had truly not known that this seemingly quiet lane turned into such a den of demons and spirits at night, like a spider’s silk cave.

But who was this household — to hold banquets through the night, on such a lavish scale?

The following day, Su Guiyan had Nanny Tian strike up casual conversation with the various housewives buying vegetables at the lane entrance — and only then did they learn that the enormous residence abutting their western courtyard was occupied by a descendant of the late Emperor Xianzong.

“It is that Shizi of Prince Beizhen — come to the capital to study, and the Emperor granted him the residence in Qingyu Lane next door to stay in. Ever since this noble personage arrived, there have been songs and music here almost every single night — it disturbs people’s sleep terribly. But that is imperial kin — ordinary people like us cannot very well go and bang on the gate to argue with him. Those who could not bear it have sold their houses and moved away!”

Hearing Nanny Tian’s report, Su Luoyun drew in a slow, deep breath. No wonder the previous owner had been so willing to sell at such a deflated price — this house turned out to share a wall with a golden, untouchable monkey king.

At once she recalled the incident of Han Shizi playing the zither on the street and “begging” the other day. It seemed this dissolute young nobleman’s repertoire of amusements was truly without end.

Other things she could manage — but if her younger brother could not get proper rest, how was he to sit his examination?

Su Luoyun had been away from the capital for two years and knew nothing of the details of this Shizi who had arrived shortly after her departure. As the neighbors said — ordinary people had no way of picking a quarrel with imperial kin. So the nightly songs and music would simply have to be endured.

After a few days of this, Su Luoyun’s eyes had taken on a dark tinge beneath them. Su Guiyan, however, was young enough that his sleep was deep and sound — he drifted off sweetly every night without any trouble.

Fortunately, the neighbor kept entirely inverted hours, and the days were relatively quiet. Su Luoyun decided that as long as it did not interfere with her brother’s studies, it was bearable. As for herself — with her keen sense of hearing — until she had the means to purchase a new house, she would simply make up for lost sleep in the mornings.

Unfortunately, she had little time to rest, for the scented balm for Princess Yuyang still required her to blend it personally.

Each morning, even with a foggy head, she had to rise and go to the shop to work on the fragrance.

For Su Luoyun had taken to heart the lesson of her mother — who had surrendered all her own carefully blended formulas, and in the end could not even help her own family when they needed her. She was determined not to make the same mistake.

Though she had agreed to produce the balm, she had not handed the formula over to Shouwei Zhai. Instead, she went each day with Nanny Tian and Xiangcao into the fragrance storeroom and blended it herself with her own hands.

The misery of dragging oneself out of bed on insufficient sleep was truly difficult to bear. Xiangcao had fetched water for the young miss and was preparing to help her rise — only to find the eldest young miss still wilting in the depths of her quilt.