Having already obtained the new fragrance to appease Princess Yuyang’s side of things, Su Hongmeng felt considerably relieved, and no longer saw any need to tread carefully around this newly elevated little ancestor of his.

He was still smoldering over his eldest daughter’s hidden cunning, and upon hearing Ding Shi’s suggestion, let out a cold laugh: “Even feeding a dog a steamed bun will earn you a wag of its tail. She’s nothing but an ungrateful wretch — all she does is play her little schemes against me! Not a chance! She chose that ramshackle house herself. Let her patch it up with whatever dowry money her mother left behind!”

Ding Shi had been circling around the matter the whole time, advancing by way of retreat — and this was precisely the answer she had been maneuvering to hear. A smile curved at the corner of her lips. After offering Su Hongmeng a few words of comfort, she deftly steered the conversation toward the matter of selecting and purchasing their daughter’s trousseau.

Su Hongmeng had little patience for such things and told Ding Shi to handle it herself. He had recently taken up his post, and all his fervor was poured into his official career. When it came to the business of marrying off a daughter, he was content to let one less thing trouble him.

A respectable trousseau was a matter of face for the Su family — they could hardly let the Lu family look down on them. If Ding Shi handled it with distinction, it would reflect well on him, the Treasury Keeper, too.

Still, his cold indifference toward his eldest daughter did not last long.

A few days later, word reached Princess Yuyang through her steward that the incense had in fact been blended by a woman who was completely blind. She marveled at this and sent word through her steward for Su Luoyun to be brought to her, so she might also help appraise a newly acquired batch of fragrant materials.

This singular honor sent Su Hongmeng into a fit of excitement, and for a moment he forgot entirely about the household’s supposedly “tight” funds. He went so far as to engage a retired palace nanny especially to come to Tianshui Lane and give Su Luoyun a crash course in court etiquette, so she would not embarrass herself in the princess’s presence.

As for the gowns and hair ornaments she would wear to the Prince Consort’s residence, Su Hongmeng personally gave instructions for those to be prepared as well.

Su Caijian watched all this with envious eyes, yet had no grounds to say anything sour. She only felt aggrieved — with her own betrothal gift ceremony still a few months away, she ought to have been the one the whole Su household was fussing over. How was it that the moment her elder sister came back, she had stolen the entire show?

Ding Shi had believed she had already gained the upper hand over her stepdaughter, only to find that Su Luoyun had, without a sound, quietly leveraged Lu Lingxiu to attach herself to the princess’s illustrious branch. Though she kept a smile on her face, her heart turned over several times within her chest.

That wretched girl — she had not even thought to keep a proper distance from the Lu family’s young miss! The only explanation was that she was having regrets, and was now scheming to undercut Caijian’s position.

And so, come evening, she could not help but speak softly into Su Hongmeng’s ear, trying to get him to have Luoyun claim an illness and stay away from the Prince Consort’s residence — there was no need for her to go drawing attention to herself there.

It was a pity that the master was in the full flush of his official ambitions just then, and where matters of his career were concerned, everything else had to yield.

On the day Su Luoyun was to enter the residence, the master of the Su household made a special detour early in the morning to Tianshui Lane, pressing his instructions upon her in person — she was to mention his name before the princess when she could, and put in a few favorable words on his behalf.

Luoyun listened with half an ear, feeling that her father was getting rather carried away.

She was a young woman of minor merchant stock going to call on a princess — at best, it was a noble lady’s idle whim, and she was hardly an important guest. As for her father’s hope of using this to inch closer to higher office, that was somewhat closer to daydreaming.

Su Hongmeng was irritated to hear his daughter cast cold water on the matter: “What is it that you can’t seem to grasp? Have you not heard that man can achieve anything he sets his mind to? Where is that clever tongue of yours that is so quick when you are pestering me for money? Don’t go acting willful in front of noble company — speak sweetly for me! What a shame, what a shame that the princess did not ask for me to come as well. If I could go, I would not waste an opportunity like this for anything.”

Su Luoyun had no desire to listen to Su Hongmeng’s prattling and, using the excuse that she feared being late, left Tianshui Lane at the earliest opportunity.

When Su Luoyun arrived at the princess’s residence by carriage, following the steward’s instructions, she found she had come too early. She was settled in a side room to wait, to see whether the princess might think of her once the tea gathering was over.

Since losing her sight, Su Luoyun had never much liked going somewhere unfamiliar.

Wrapped in the darkness before her eyes, the scents entering her breath all unfamiliar, and every tile beneath her feet leading to she knew not where — all of this converged into a feeling of profound unease.

She suppressed the discomfort within her as best she could, turning an ear to listen. Carried faintly through the air, she could just make out the sounds of women’s laughter from a garden not far away — the princess and her guests, most likely in the midst of a merry tea gathering.

Xiangcao sat beside her, watching the eldest young miss hold herself perfectly upright, and said quietly: “Miss, are you weary of sitting? Perhaps the princess has forgotten about wishing to see you — would you like me to go ask the steward?”

Su Luoyun shook her head. Princess Yuyang’s desire to see her had always been no more than a diversion to pass the time. She had already composed herself to turn back and go home at any moment — how could she presume to ask someone to go remind the princess that noble personages were often forgetful?

Just then, however, the steward of the Prince Consort’s residence arrived to summon the eldest young miss of the Su family.

Supported by Xiangcao, Su Luoyun followed the path of green stone slabs all the way to the warm pavilion at the rear garden.

The moment she stepped inside, Luoyun — with her keenly sensitive nose — very nearly sneezed from the rush of fragrance that greeted her.

The hall must have been full of noble ladies, each wearing their own variety of incense, all of it baked together by the warmth of the underfloor heating into a pungent and overpowering blend.

Knowing she could not afford to commit any breach of manners, she pinched the inside of her own arm hard before the sneeze could escape, and just barely managed to hold it back. But she had used too much force — the pain was sharp enough to set the corners of her eyes faintly glistening with moisture.

What she did not know was that amid the music and laughter filling the hall, a pair of eyes had fixed upon her the very moment she stepped through the door.

And those small, subtle movements of hers — along with the reddened, moist eyes she had held back, as pink-tinged as a rabbit’s — were all silently and completely taken in by that person, without a flicker of expression.

The rest of the hall paid no attention to Su Luoyun. While she stood somewhat awkwardly at the doorway, a languid male voice rang out: “Grand Aunt, it appears you have yet another new guest.”

That rich, resonant voice finally turned the attention of the deeply engaged Princess Yuyang, who looked around to see Su Luoyun standing at the entrance.

“You must be the gifted incense blender — the young miss of the Su family?” asked Princess Yuyang, who was nearing forty, with a smile.

Su Luoyun stepped forward at once, as propriety required, and performed her greeting and salutation in the direction of the woman’s voice.

Princess Yuyang had not expected a girl from a merchant household to possess such exceptional looks. Thinking then of her inability to see, she could not help but feel a stirring of compassion.

“I thought I had already seen every beauty the capital had to offer, yet to think a lovely woman like you was hidden among the common folk. Someone, bring a seat!”

After expressing her gratitude to the princess, Su Luoyun sat with dignified composure and answered the princess’s questions respectfully.

It transpired that the princess wished to have a unique incense blend prepared for the Prince Consort’s birthday. She had recently come into possession of a piece of finest-quality ambergris — but the servant in charge of the storeroom had reported that the fragrance had spoiled. And so she had thought of the young miss of the Su family, hoping she might assess its quality.

Su Luoyun took the ambergris, carefully broke off a small piece, and brought it to her nose for a long, careful sniff. A sharp, rank odor rose to meet her. To all appearances, it was beyond salvaging.

And yet Luoyun’s brow smoothed: “Your Highness, this is indeed a piece of the finest quality. Only this fragrance is rather delicate — if it has not been treated by a particular method, it will absorb moisture. The remedy, however, is quite simple: one need only wrap some quicklime in yellow paper and place it inside a box together with the fragrance to draw out the damp. One must also use a fine brush to sweep away any impurities on the surface of the fragrance, and then have someone handle it regularly with their hands, as one would handle a piece of jade — working the oils into it until it forms a natural patina. Stored in this manner, it will keep for a very long time.”

Princess Yuyang was greatly pleased to hear this, and simply handed the ambergris over to Su Luoyun then and there, instructing her to remedy it and then see how it might be used. If the fragrance she blended proved suitable, the princess intended to present it to the Empress.

Several of the noble ladies seated nearby chimed in with interest. Upon learning that this was the daughter of Shouwei Zhai’s proprietor, they one after another expressed their wish to purchase the light pear-blossom fragrant ointment the princess had mentioned.

The princess had been wearing such a remarkable fragrance of late that everyone else had been moved to desire it as well.

Su Luoyun committed each noble lady’s request to memory, then, after offering her thanks to Princess Yuyang, withdrew from the gathering with a proper farewell.

After all, this was an occasion for the nobility’s social pleasures, and she herself was nothing more than a brief interlude of diversion. She knew how to read the room, and when to take her leave.

But just as she stepped out of the warm pavilion and turned to go, a languid male voice sounded behind her: “Miss, a moment, if you please.”

It was the same voice that had just drawn Princess Yuyang’s attention to Su Luoyun.

Luoyun could not see, and could only turn back in bewilderment. It was the steward of the Prince Consort’s residence beside her who explained: “Miss Su, the Shizi of the Beizhen Prince’s residence appears to have something he wishes to say to you.”

Su Luoyun’s heart gave a sudden lurch. The Shizi of Beizhen’s residence? Was that not her disruptive noble neighbor? How did he — could it be that he had traced the letter on the cat’s neck back to its source?

There was no time to think it through. She could only turn first toward the direction of the male voice and offer her greeting and salutation, and then see what the master of that spider’s den had to say.

She had scarcely heard any footsteps when that languid voice drifted down from just above her: “Miss Su is skilled in the art of incense. I too would like to ask the young miss to blend a fragrance for me.”

As his words reached her, the scent of him came along with it — the Shizi had been in the hall for quite some time, and his clothing had absorbed all manner of mingled fragrances. He was standing rather too close; a rich, complex mixture of scents swept over her, and buried somewhere within it, there seemed to be a faint trace of medicinal smell as well.

This time, Luoyun was completely unprepared. Her nose began to itch — she managed only just to cover her mouth and nose with her sleeve before she sneezed, freely and uncontrollably, three times in a row.

Knowing she had made a terrible breach of decorum, Luoyun immediately dropped to her knees to beg the Shizi’s pardon.

She bowed her head and did not dare rise. After a moment, she heard the voice above her give a light laugh: “The young miss is skilled in making incense, yet she does not seem to care for its scent. Was it the fragrance on my person that troubled you?”

How could Luoyun dare to admit to that? She hastened to say: “The Shizi thinks too much of it — this commoner woman has been suffering a slight chill of late. I have truly shown great disrespect, and I beg the Shizi not to take offense.”

Han Linfeng leaned down slightly to look at the woman kneeling on the floor. Though her head was half-lowered, a flush of rose still lingered at her cheek — she looked thoroughly mortified, but not particularly frightened.

It seemed, then, that she had indeed not recognized him as the man who had once held a blade to her throat.

With this thought in mind, Han Linfeng spoke again, in his unhurried drawl: “I understand the young miss lives not far from Qingyu Lane — we are quite near neighbors. My residence often hosts gatherings, with fine music that is well worth hearing. The young miss is most welcome to come to my estate anytime and share a cup of wine.”

Su Luoyun thought to herself: Many thanks, but I have already been listening to your string players every night as it is. Besides, what reason could an unmarried young woman possibly have for visiting a Shizi’s residence of such ill repute?

It seemed this Han Linfeng was indeed an utterly frivolous and presumptuous good-for-nothing.

Yet she could not afford to make an enemy of him, and only said quietly: “I have just taken orders from several noble ladies, and I fear I shall be too occupied to spare the time. What is more, a woman of merchant stock such as myself knows nothing of music — I am afraid that if I came to the Shizi’s estate, I would only be like someone burning a lute for firewood or cooking a crane for a meal, and would do nothing but dishonor the fine artistry of the musicians.”

Han Linfeng’s handsome face remained expressionless. He tapped his folded fan lightly against his palm, lowered his eyes, and sighed with an air of mock regret: “What a pity — a rare beauty of the finest kind, and yet a woman of common sensibilities, with no appreciation for fine music.”