Hearing the Shizi mock her so, Luoyun simply pretended not to notice, only lowering her head a little further.

She did not know much about Han Linfeng’s character, but few of the people he kept company with were any good — birds of a feather, as they say. To be looked down upon as common and unrefined was far preferable to being pestered by a lascivious rake. She rather hoped the Shizi would continue in this fashion — maintaining his lofty airs and refined tastes, too proud to stoop to the vulgar.

Having said his piece, the Shizi seemed to lose interest entirely, with no desire to exchange further words with this dull merchant girl. He swept past Su Luoyun without ceremony and departed with an easy, unhurried grace.

When Xiangcao helped her to her feet, Luoyun finally let out a slow breath of relief. That Han Shizi had probably only exchanged a few idle words with her out of boredom — he had not discovered the origins of the anonymous letter.

Still, from Xiangcao’s description, he seemed every inch the pampered and resplendent young lord bred in the company of powdered beauties. And yet during their brief exchange, though his tone had been leisurely and light, she had sensed an intangible pressure hovering beneath it — a weight that made it faintly difficult to breathe.

Whatever the case, a worthless and dissolute young lord like this — the greater the distance kept from him, the better.

When Su Luoyun returned home, her father was still there and pressed her for an account of her visit, unable to contain his eagerness.

Having listened from beginning to end, Su Hongmeng was left wanting: “What? And that was all?”

Su Luoyun unhurriedly removed the pins from her hair: “The princess only wanted to ask about how to restore the ambergris — once that was settled, there was nothing more to say. I could hardly have planted myself in the princess’s residence and waited to stay for a meal. Oh, and — the household allowance for this month still has not been given to me. There is not much rice or grain left in my courtyard, and Nanny Tian does not cook with any surplus. If Father intends to eat here, I am afraid you will have to send a page boy to fetch a meal box from a restaurant.”

Su Hongmeng turned away in displeasure, flicking his sleeve: “Enough. Looking at that stubborn face of yours, I wonder how you manage to eat anything at all. Your younger sister is about to be married — the household has heavy expenditures. If you have nothing urgent, spend less!”

With that, he instructed Xiangcao to pack up the hair ornaments and accessories he had newly purchased for Su Luoyun. Since they had been bought with household funds, he was taking them back to store in the treasury. If Luoyun needed to use them again in the future, she could go to the treasury to retrieve them.

Once that gold-devouring father of hers had left with the jewelry boxes in tow, Lu Lingxiu came by, wishing to hear how her close friend had fared at the Prince Consort’s residence.

Su Luoyun first expressed her gratitude to Lu Lingxiu for having made the connection on her behalf. After all, had it not been for Miss Lu, she could never have extracted this residence from her father’s hands.

She had Nanny Tian bring out two sets of hair ornaments and fragrant materials that she had prepared in advance, and presented them to Lu Lingxiu as a gift.

Lu Lingxiu was displeased: “How have you become this formal with me? It was no more than a coincidence on my part — there was no need to go to such expense. Or are you still holding a grudge against my brother, and have made up your mind to draw a clean line between us?”

Luoyun smiled: “These are only some pretty hair pieces, with rather fine inlay work. Now that I have lost my sight, there is no pleasure in wearing beautiful things when I cannot admire them myself. Far better to give them to someone who can appreciate them. Are you saying you find them too plain and unworthy to accept?”

Hearing her speak this way, Lu Lingxiu gave a rueful smile: “How could I ever find fault with anything of yours — you used to be the best dressed among all of us. If you truly wish to thank me, there is no need for these gifts at all. You only need to promise me one thing: my brother — he wishes to see you.”

Before Su Luoyun could refuse, Lu Lingxiu pressed on hurriedly: “I know you have no wish to be entangled with my brother any further — so it would not be the two of you alone. I would accompany you, to share a cup of tea at a teahouse. If anyone should see, we would simply say it was a chance encounter. When everything happened so suddenly back then, my brother suffered no less than you did. And you were so resolute — you refused to see him at all. These past two years, I have watched my brother change from a young man who was always laughing into someone shadowed by despondency. Please take pity on him — think of it as treating a patient who is beyond remedy. At the very least, meet him face to face, so that he can have a proper end to the feelings that have been consuming him.”

By rights, Su Luoyun had no desire to see Lu Shi again. But she had always disliked owing debts of gratitude — and what she owed to Lu Lingxiu would need to be repaid one way or another. After deliberating at length, she at last nodded and agreed.

The meeting place was selected at a tasteful teahouse in the western part of the capital.

On the appointed day, Lu Lingxiu came as promised, and with her was a refined and handsome young man — the Lu family’s son, Lu Shi.

Although the Lu family had originally built their name through an embroidery workshop, over the past two generations they had been gradually pivoting toward official life.

Lu Shi in particular had been sharp-minded since childhood. At the preliminary civil examinations, he had come first, and his essays had earned repeated praise from tutors at several prominent academies, who said unhesitatingly that this young man had a remarkable future ahead of him.

Had the Su and Lu families not been betrothed to one another from early on, a talent like him would have had families competing to secure him long since. But even without the betrothal, Lu Shi had fallen for Su Luoyun at first sight.

In his own words: graceful and charming young women were everywhere to be found, yet one whose steadfast and composed character was no less than that of a man — there was only Su Luoyun of the Su family.

What Lu Shi had not anticipated was that the decisiveness he had once admired so deeply would prove just as swift and clean when it came to severing the bonds between them.

Now that the day had come at last and he would finally see Luoyun again, Lu Shi could not contain a surge of agitation, and swore to himself that he would persuade her to change her mind. Even if it meant breaking off his betrothal to Su Caijian, he would not hesitate.

The Lu siblings arrived early — only to find that Su Luoyun had arrived even earlier, and had been waiting in the tea room for some time.

Lu Lingxiu knew her brother had a great deal he wanted to say to Su Luoyun, and sat quietly to one side without a word. Two years had passed since Lu Shi had last seen Luoyun, and upon seeing her again, he found that beyond appearing even more ethereally lovely than he remembered, her entire bearing had ripened into something more composed and assured.

Just as he was about to open his mouth with barely contained urgency, she spoke first: “Lingxiu invited me today, saying this teahouse has rather fine pastries. I did not feel right enjoying them alone, so I sent Xiangcao to invite my younger siblings along as well. They should be arriving shortly. If Lingxiu feels that having more guests means more expense, then this meal will be on me instead.”

The truth was that Su Luoyun had not come alone — she had brought her younger brother Guiyan with her. But even that seemed insufficiently discreet, and she had gone further still, sending someone to invite Caijian and the two Jincheng brothers as well.

It was only because Luoyun and Guiyan had set out from Tianshui Lane that they had arrived a little earlier than the others.

Lu Shi’s expression fell. He knew there would be no chance for any real conversation once the others arrived, and said in a pressed, constricted voice: “Luoyun, what on earth have I done to offend you, that you would avoid me as though I were a venomous serpent?”

Luoyun opened her mouth to speak, but found her tongue tinged with something bitter.

Lu Shi was a modest and genteel young man who never quarreled with anyone — how could he have offended her? When she had lost her sight so suddenly, there had been some measure of feeling diminished, of not wishing to be a burden to him. But in truth, the greater reason had been Lu Shi’s mother.

Ding Shi was well practiced in cultivating relationships, and had made a deliberate effort to ingratiate herself with Madam Lu. The two women had become something like intimate friends. For years, Ding Shi had been quietly and artfully disparaging Luoyun to Madam Lu whenever the opportunity arose — and so Madam Lu had never been particularly fond of Luoyun.

Madam Lu had always found Luoyun too sharp and calculating at a glance, while Caijian seemed guileless and easy to get along with. Mothers-in-law, after all, seldom took well to a daughter-in-law whose presence overshadowed their own.

Had her son not insisted, Madam Lu would have settled on Caijian long ago.

And so Luoyun understood clearly: a blind woman like herself — if she were truly to contend with Caijian and marry into the Lu household, would Ding Shi simply let the matter rest? There would be no shortage of manipulation and scheming. Lu Shi was a dutiful and filial son who would not go against his mother, and she knew her own nature well enough — she was not one to yield easily. How could the Lu household possibly be a peaceful place for her?

Lu Shi and her younger brother Guiyan were both men who devoted themselves to scholarship — their energies ought not to be squandered on the strife of the inner household. Far better to spare him the trouble from the outset.

Luoyun had thought it over for a long while. Once she had arrived at this understanding, no matter how reluctant she felt, she made up her mind to sever the tie with a clean stroke.

Now, hearing Lu Shi demand an answer, she considered a moment, then said quietly: “Fate has its depths and its shallows. Perhaps you and I were not fated to be husband and wife. I have no wish to marry at present — why must you cling to this? Live well with Caijian from now on.”

Lu Shi could not believe Su Luoyun had a heart of stone to this degree, and said in a low, choked voice: “Back then, my mother would not hear of you coming into our household, and I argued with her for a long time. It was only when she finally relented and said that both Caijian and you might come together that I agreed to the arrangement. Had I known you would be this angry, I would have refused to the last. But tell me — is it that you resent me for being weak, for agreeing to take your younger sister? Or is it that you resent my mother for looking down on you? If that is truly so, why will you not trust me to protect you and keep you safe?”

Su Luoyun was silent for a moment, then said suddenly: “Shall we play a game?”

As she spoke, she gestured toward the corridor on the other side of the teahouse, where an outer staircase was being repaired and kept in reserve. The staircase had only its tread framework — no railing whatsoever — and it groaned and creaked underfoot.

“I came up that way earlier, taking the convenient route, and I memorized the path. Do you dare to blindfold yourself and walk down that staircase following only my instructions?”

Lu Shi did not understand why she had brought this up, but since she was insisting in her obstinate way, he would simply do as she asked.

When he stepped out of the tea room and came to stand beside the outer staircase, he was struck motionless at the sight of it — steep, completely exposed on both sides, without a single handrail for support. If one misjudged a step on a staircase like this, the fall could shatter every bone in one’s body.

Before he could think further, Guiyan had already come over and used a cloth to cover his eyes, then turned him around several times.

At that moment, Luoyun’s clear voice reached him: “Turn to your left, and walk four steps forward.”

Lu Shi had no choice but to follow Luoyun’s words, feeling his way forward slowly and cautiously. But when he reached the fourth step, he found that his descending foot was only half on solid ground — it seemed he had reached the very edge of the outer staircase.

He immediately pulled his foot back and stood still.

Luoyun’s voice came again: “Good — you have reached the top of the stairs. Please take care, Master Lu, and come down slowly.”

Lu Shi felt his way forward again, inch by inch, but could not bring himself to step down. With nothing but darkness before his eyes, he felt no sense of safety even on flat ground — much less following the guidance of a blind woman down a rickety, railing-less staircase.

He hesitated for a long while. His mind was still full of the vision of that steep and crumbling structure, and his foot simply would not move.

Then Luoyun said: “Guiyan, help Master Lu remove the blindfold.”

When the cloth was untied, Lu Shi stood dumbstruck. He was not at the top of the staircase at all — he had only been standing on a landing in the corridor. There was nothing before him but a single step, which one could step down with eyes closed and come to no harm whatsoever.

He felt he had been made a fool of, and even his gentle nature was moved to agitation: “Luoyun, why did you do this to me?”

Su Luoyun gave a faint, rueful smile: “You believe you can look after me — but how could you ever truly understand the heart of someone who cannot see? When both eyes are swallowed by darkness, I am like someone standing alone at the top of a crumbling staircase, not knowing which step will be my last before I fall and shatter. And so, even with a worthy person to guide me, I refuse to depend entirely on another. Master Lu — what lies between us today has nothing to do with anyone else. I simply will not take that step. Why must you dwell on it so?”

Lu Shi stood motionless in the distance, and at last grasped the meaning beneath her words.

The Lu household was, to him, the warm and familiar place where he had been raised. But to Luoyun — blind and alone — it was a precarious structure whose every floor was uncertain. No matter how many times he gave his assurances, she would not place her fate upon such unstable ground.