For a time, various sounds of snickering drifted over intermittently, and no one paid this bumbling newcomer much attention.

But once she had purchased several crates of dark agarwood and sandalwood without batting an eye, the vendors finally grasped that this woman truly had come to source goods — and was a major client who was by no means short of silver.

Since when had this fragrance trade acquired a newcomer of this sort?

The fragrance vendors all began to take notice of this female customer.

When selecting fragrance materials, though Luoyun could not see, she relied on her sense of touch and her nose to distinguish quality from inferior goods.

When she lifted her veil to smell the quality of the materials, some of the vendors got a clear look at just how young this blind young woman was, and saw the unfocused, sightless quality of her eyes.

My, my — a beautiful young miss, but truly blind! Which shop had the audacity to send someone like her to purchase goods in bulk?

One had to understand that what was sold at this fair was all bulk merchandise. An ordinary fragrance shop came here once and stocked up on a full year’s worth of materials. If one misjudged and bought the wrong goods, the year ahead would be a very difficult one to get through.

Spotting what appeared to be an easy target ripe for the picking, a number of unscrupulous merchants immediately moved in, hoping to muddy the waters and pass off inferior goods as prime.

“Miss proprietress — would you like to buy some cloves? Mine are the finest quality. If you want a large quantity, I can sell them to you at a lower price!”

Sure enough, once it was noticed that this female customer was moving on to examine several clove stalls, a stout, heavyset merchant came forward eagerly, offering a handful of dried cloves.

Su Luoyun smelled them carefully, then rubbed them between her fingers, confirming that this handful of cloves was indeed top quality and perfectly suited for extracting flower oil.

Moreover, the price this merchant was offering was remarkably low — any newcomer to the fair would find it difficult not to be tempted.

Those around who knew the trade heard the quoted price and shook their heads immediately, sensing that selling at a loss just to draw in a buyer meant something questionable was surely lurking underneath.

Unfortunately for this major buyer, she was a newcomer — and a blind woman at that. It looked like she would be paying the price of a costly lesson.

After the price was settled, Luoyun went to the stout merchant’s stall, opened several bags of the bulk goods, verified that the quality was genuinely good, and without hesitation ordered one hundred bags.

The merchant, seeing such a large sale, shouted out in excitement at the top of his lungs: “Shou Xiang Zhai of the capital — one hundred bags of cloves!”

Assistants then began loading the bags of fragrance materials onto carts with wooden pushers, to be transported by boat to the capital.

Su Luoyun did not rush to leave. She stood at the entrance to the storehouse all along, and as the assistants transported the goods, she randomly pulled aside two carts, had Nanny Tian use a pair of scissors to cut a small slit in the bags to inspect them — confirming they were in order — before allowing them to continue loading.

The merchant proprietor stood smiling alongside, watching. Once Su Luoyun appeared to have finished her inspections, he shot a glance at one of his assistants.

The assistant understood without a word being said, and immediately slipped away to make arrangements.

A short while later, however, as several more pushcarts came filing out in succession, Su Luoyun’s nose twitched — and she suddenly called out in a clear, carrying voice: “Stop!”

Then, steadied by Xiangcao, she made her way to one of the carts in the middle, bent her head and sniffed briefly at one of the bags, then ran her fingers across the surface of the burlap sack. When she felt the dampness at her fingertips, she said: “Proprietor — these several carts of goods do not match the bulk order. Is this any way to conduct business?”

The proprietor’s face fell at these words: “Madam proprietress, what is this you’re saying? Did you not just say my cloves were good and buy them yourself? You’ve already inspected two carts of the bulk goods — why are you suddenly making slanderous accusations?”

Su Luoyun twitched her nose, and once she was certain, did not even bother opening the bag. She said coldly: “Did you not think, sir, that because I am a blind woman, you could pull a switchover right under my nose? The first few carts were genuinely good — but this cart, and the several carts behind it, are all damp, aged old stock. From the stale smell of it, it has been sitting in storage for at least three years.”

The proprietor had quietly executed the switchover, assuming no one would ever know. He had not remotely anticipated that a blind woman could be so impossible to deceive. She had not even opened the bag, and yet she could identify with such precision how many years the old stock had been stored.

A number of vendors who had been waiting nearby, hoping to do business with this major buyer, were watching as spectators. Seeing this development, they too found it remarkable, and immediately called out to have the bags opened right then and there for inspection.

Without waiting for Luoyun’s instruction, Nanny Tian pushed the assistant aside and went over herself, neatly cutting open the burlap sack with the inspection scissors, then drew out a large fistful of cloves for the young mistress — and the surrounding merchants — to examine.

As the merchants took the cloves in hand, there was no denying it — the contents were damp. Some had even begun to mold. Dried clove flowers in this state, even if dried out again and then distilled, would yield no quality clove oil whatsoever.

At this, everyone around was thoroughly convinced. One after another they pointed at the young blind miss standing steadily before them, exclaiming in astonishment.

She had simply stood there, letting the pushcarts pass her by — and yet she had been able to accurately identify which were good goods and which were old, damp, degraded stock.

What extraordinary powers of smell.

Shou Xiang Zhai — an unknown new establishment, to be sure, but this female proprietress was no ordinary person.

When someone mentioned that she appeared to be the eldest daughter of the Su family of Shouwei Pavilion, who had struck out to open a new shop of her own, understanding dawned on all present — so the scion of an old established family had gotten bored and come out to open a shop to pass the time.

In the fragrance trade, capable people commanded the greatest respect. With this display Su Luoyun had put on, not a single person dared to try deceiving her on the grounds of her being a woman or being blind.

As for the clove vendor — he had initially been quite domineering, putting on the air of someone who had already made the sale and expected it to stand.

But when someone mentioned that she was the eldest daughter of Su Hongmeng, Keeper of the Imperial Fragrance Storehouse of the Bureau of Monopoly Trade, the arrogance melted from the merchant’s fleshy face, and he plastered on an apologetic smile instead, claiming the mix-up had been the mistake of his assistants. He promptly supplied Su Luoyun with replacement cloves of the correct quality.

In doing so, however, the merchant could no longer pass off inferior goods at a premium — and was still bound to the original low price he had quoted. In practice, he had taken a considerable loss.

Yet even so, the unscrupulous merchant had no choice but to grit his teeth and bear it. If he offended the Keeper of the Imperial Fragrance Storehouse, he would find it hard to survive in this port fair going forward.

This time, he had truly bitten into a bone thinking it was meat. The eldest daughter of Shouwei Pavilion — he could not afford to offend her.

Luoyun showed nothing on her face, but inwardly breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Invoking Su Hongmeng’s name was serving as a borrowed prestige — even if she was young and lacking in experience, she at least had some backing to lean on, and could avoid these unscrupulous characters trying to strong-arm her.

On this visit, apart from purchasing some everyday materials, what Luoyun most wanted to acquire was high-quality frankincense and sacred herb.

Of the two, frankincense beads were the most difficult to find.

They were the resin of the frankincense tree from the kingdom of Abi, collected and condensed into waxy yellow beads. The fragrance was singular — carrying the mellow sweetness of wood alongside the bright sweetness of fruit.

Though this fragrance material was prized, its supply was small and its price high, largely monopolized by the palace and a very small number of the most elite fragrance establishments.

Acquiring even a liang or two of quality frankincense required genuine effort.

In the end, at this once-yearly fragrance fair, she was only able to find one or two merchants who carried the item at all.

Those two merchants, having already heard the name of the eldest miss of the Su family, were exceedingly courteous and attentive — they immediately told Su Luoyun to examine to her heart’s content, whichever she liked, and to come back and weigh it once she had decided.

Su Luoyun said there was no need to make a selection — whatever quantity they had, she would take the lot.

But just as Su Luoyun was on the verge of completing the transaction with the two proprietors, two senior craftsmen from Shouwei Pavilion arrived, led by Madam Ding herself.

Ding Pei had come in order to source goods for Shouwei Pavilion.

In the past, Shouwei Pavilion’s supplies all went through the Bureau of Monopoly Trade’s special allocation, and through long-established supplier partnerships — there was absolutely no need to elbow their way into a common trading fair like smaller merchants.

Ding Shi’s visit on this occasion was less about purchasing fragrance materials than it was about deliberately engineering a chance encounter with Su Luoyun.

Ding Pei was, as ever, skilled at putting on a pleasant face. She smiled and greeted Luoyun first, then used the pretext of having business to discuss to draw the two merchants away.

When the two merchants came back out, their expressions were somewhat uncomfortable. They rubbed their hands together and said to Su Luoyun: “Miss, you see — it happens rather inconveniently, but every last bit of our frankincense has been bought up entirely by Shouwei Pavilion. You know yourself that these precious fragrance materials are ordinarily reserved for the imperial household, and very little flows out to the common market… Still, you are all of the Su family, after all — what your mother buys and what you buy amounts to the same thing, does it not? One family, sharing resources between themselves…”

It appeared that after Ding Shi’s brief private exchange with them, the two merchants had grasped that the Su family’s domestic situation was complicated, and had simply decided to push everything onto Ding Shi, hoping not to offend either side.

Su Luoyun’s expression gradually turned cool and still. She turned her head and listened for the sound of Ding Shi’s approaching footsteps, then said in a clear, carrying voice: “How very considerate of you, First Madam — never mind your own daughter’s trousseau, yet you make a special trip all this way just to obstruct my business.”

Ding Shi feigned incomprehension and put on an expression of startled surprise: “Luoyun — what are you saying? We are all one family. Why would I obstruct your business? You have not been to see your father in so long, so naturally you would not know what has been happening at the shop. Even the wife of the Chief Minister must marry off a daughter — she has placed a large order for incense with our Shouwei Pavilion, requiring a substantial quantity of frankincense beads, and our storeroom stock was insufficient. That is why I brought people here in such a hurry to purchase more… Had it not been for the urgency of the Chief Minister’s daughter’s trousseau, I would have set aside some for you regardless of what it took…”

At this, Ding Shi’s gaze swept around the crowd of onlookers that had gradually gathered, and she raised her voice a notch, letting out a long, drawn-out sigh: “Oh, you child — when you made such a fuss about opening a shop, the way you spoke was so sharp it wounded your father’s heart. He is still cross with you to this day. How would I dare help you behind his back? Why not close the shop, stop making trouble, go home and apologize to your father — wouldn’t that settle everything?”

At these words, those standing around immediately understood: so that was why a young lady of a comfortable family had to come out in public doing all this herself, purchasing goods piece by piece. It turned out she had quarreled with her father and struck out to make her own way.

In that case — the father and daughter being estranged as they were, helping the eldest miss of the Su family would not only earn no gratitude from old Master Su, it would likely earn his resentment.

Having said all this, Ding Shi lowered her eyes and listened sideways to the murmuring around her, knowing the effect she wanted had been achieved.

She smiled with satisfied warmth, offered a few words of elder-like affectionate guidance — urging Luoyun to visit her father Su more often — then led her people away, taking with her every last bit of the frankincense beads in a triumphant exit.

After she had gone, throughout the remainder of her purchasing, Luoyun found it nearly impossible to buy anything of reasonable quality at a fair price. The fragrance merchants, all unwilling to offend the Su family, raised their prices sharply whenever they saw Luoyun inquire. Su Luoyun understood — the borrowed prestige she had been wearing had been stripped away, and she could no longer make use of it.

Fortunately, the several most essential materials she had already bought. Since there was nothing more to be had, she could pack up and go home.

Nanny Tian could not abide Ding Shi’s hypocritical behavior, and was also worried that the young mistress had been genuinely angered by what happened. Once they were back in the carriage, Nanny Tian could not help patting Luoyun gently on the back in comfort, just as she had done when Luoyun was a little girl.

Luoyun knew Nanny Tian was worried for her, but she only curved the corners of her lips into a small smile and said quietly: “Nanny Tian, I’m fine.”

She was not saying it to reassure Nanny Tian. She genuinely was not particularly angry.

Having endured the great rises and falls of life, she had at last come to understand: only those who cannot fight back feel the suffocating burn of swallowed rage. Those who can throw punches and bare their teeth — who need not bark and bluster to work up their nerve — can simply let their fangs show and tear apart whatever provokes them.

In the past, Luoyun’s temper had always flared outward — which in truth had simply been the helplessness of despair with nowhere left to go.

But now, for her younger brother’s sake, she had to sharpen her teeth and learn to strike back without mercy.

Her earlier request to have her uncle look into Ding Pei’s past had been precisely for the purpose of equipping herself with those very fangs.

Let Ding Shi show off and strut for now, and enjoy herself thoroughly for a little while. She probably had no idea that a calamity was already waiting for her.

Just two days ago, Luoyun had received a letter from her uncle. Entrusted with the commission, he had gone to Shu territory to investigate Ding Pei’s long-buried history.

As it happened, one of her uncle’s former comrades in arms had become a minor official in Shu territory, which made the inquiry considerably more convenient.

In the end, through relayed inquiries, the two of them had managed to track down the midwife who had delivered Ding Pei’s first child. The midwife’s memory was clear: on the very day Caijian was born, the midwife’s own eldest grandson had also come into the world on the same day.

And so she was entirely certain that the girl Caijian was seventeen years of age — not the fifteen that Ding Shi had told everyone else.

In other words, this so-called legitimate daughter Caijian was actually a full year older than Su Guiyan, and was unambiguously born before Ding Pei had ever married into the household.

The story of how Ding Pei had first come to know Su Hongmeng was stranger still.

Ding Pei had been living with her uncle’s family at the time. In the end, that uncle, short of money and at the urging of his wife, sold Ding Pei into Hongyun Lane — forcing her to press her handprint and be entered into the registry of the lowly.

When Ding Pei had tried to flee, crying out for help, it was then that she first encountered Su Luoyun’s father, who had come to the establishment for pleasure.

People at the establishment also recalled that yes, there had been a girl by the name of Ding Pei sold in — and she had not been there even two hours before a fragrance merchant bought out her contract. From that point, this girl who had not yet received a single client was kept in secret as a kept mistress.

Her uncle had subsequently obtained the registry book from the time of her entry into the lowly register, with Ding Pei’s name clearly on it — and beside it, the signature of her uncle who had agreed to sell her into permanent servitude.

So this Madam Ding, in addition to the lineage she was forever boasting about — a descendant of eighteen generations of distinguished Confucian scholars — had an additional Yun Bin Tian Shang – Chapter in her personal history that was considerably more startling.

When Ding Shi had been bought out at the time, the whole affair had been rushed, and the subsequent paperwork had never been properly followed up on.

After giving birth to her child, she had hurried back to the capital with Su Hongmeng, stepping into the position left vacant by the early death of Hu Shi. She had presumably felt well-satisfied and believed herself entirely secure.

In the more than ten years since, she had never returned to Shu territory, and had apparently never imagined that she had left behind such compromising records there.

Now the midwife’s sworn testimony, and the lowly register entry from when Ding Pei had been placed in Hongyun Lane, had both been collected by her uncle and dispatched to Luoyun by relay courier.

Luoyun had not originally intended to expose Ding Pei’s secrets in any hurry. She had merely wished to hold them as a safeguard against future threats.

But her uncle could not wait. In the letter, he also informed Luoyun directly that he had already found a way to let the Lu family know of the matter.

It was not difficult to understand why Hu Xuesong had taken things into his own hands.

In the course of investigating the long-ago dealings between Ding Shi and Su Hongmeng, Hu Xuesong’s lungs had very nearly burst with fury.

Thinking back on his sister’s melancholy and low spirits in those years, on the way his brother-in-law had gone to do business in Shu territory and delayed his return for so long — suddenly everything made sense.

Other things he could let go. His sister had not been in good health, and had borne children very late after marrying. If Su Hongmeng had wished to take a concubine, and had been willing to take a woman from a brothel, that was his own business. But allowing a privately kept daughter to enter the household under the name of a legitimate-born miss, and to rank above the legitimate son — that was utterly reprehensible.

Su Hongmeng’s conscience had truly been fed to the dogs.

Hu Xuesong then recalled that it had been Su Caijian who had pushed Luoyun and caused her to hit her head and develop the eye condition that left her blind — and felt such a rage he could have stormed into the capital and torn that mother-daughter pair apart with his bare hands.

Did that foolish girl think harming Luoyun would help her marry into the Lu family as she wished? Luoyun, out of sisterly feeling, might let it pass — but he, as uncle, would not.

As it happened, the Lu family had a great-uncle from a collateral branch who operated a subsidiary shop in Shu territory. Her uncle’s colleague hit upon the brilliant idea of inviting this great-uncle out for drinks at a teahouse, and using the mouth of the old madam of Hongyun Lane, let slip to the great-uncle the story of Ding Pei’s past — of how she had once been sold into that establishment.

The great-uncle’s eyes went wide as he heard it, and he forgot his drink entirely. He rushed home at once, picked up his brush, and wrote a letter to the Lu family patriarch without delay.

Madam Lu had always set great store by her son. Upon reading the letter, she was struck as if by a thunderbolt from a clear sky, and immediately sent people to Shu territory to investigate for herself.

The capital was not close to Shu territory, but neither was it impossibly far. A round trip of more than ten days was enough to confirm the general picture.

And what could be more credible than information one had personally gone to verify?

After arranging all of this, Hu Xuesong then wrote to Luoyun to explain directly — saying only that he had gone and properly cleaned out the nest of that flighty fox.

Su Luoyun, seeing that her uncle had taken matters into his own hands, only let out a quiet, soundless sigh. It was not pity for Ding Pei, but rather a sigh of some sadness for Caijian and her dreams of marriage, now to come to nothing.

Still, if what her uncle had uncovered was all true, then having it brought to light was probably for the best. Otherwise, Lu Shi’s future prospects too would eventually be cast under a shadow.

Today’s fruits always grew from yesterday’s seeds.

Particularly after watching Ding Pei lead people here today to deliberately obstruct her business, Su Luoyun felt that her uncle’s approach had been exactly right — a sharp blade cutting cleanly through a tangled knot, settling everything in one stroke.

With a mother who schemed so relentlessly, Caijian was bound sooner or later to suffer the consequences of her mother’s actions.

She could only hope her father had enough sense — if he made a great scene with the Lu family, it would cause serious damage to Caijian’s reputation. He had better not lose sight of the greater stakes for the sake of a small point of pride.

That evening, returning from the fair, Su Luoyun listened to the sudden roll of thunder outside the window and knew that wind and rain were coming. The Su family and the Lu family… were about to descend into turmoil.

Ten days later, the Su family’s residence erupted in commotion, just as she had anticipated.

The cause was nothing else: just when both families had completed their preparations and were on the verge of exchanging betrothal gifts, the Lu family suddenly and without warning broke off the engagement, announcing that their son Lu Shi would not be marrying any daughter of the Su family.

This act of faithlessness and betrayal was a loss of face for both families alike. Ding Pei naturally refused to accept it, and told Caijian to stop her weeping and wailing for now.

Once Ding Pei had composed herself, she brought her maids and matrons with her and set off with Master Su in a forceful, imposing manner to the Lu family’s residence to demand an explanation.

According to the Su family’s servants afterward, the two households began by quarreling noisily, with Master Su’s temper running particularly high — upon entering he smashed a considerable number of teacups.

But once the Lu family patriarch had ordered all the servants out of the main hall, the doors were closed and what followed was a private, behind-closed-doors conversation.

Su Hongmeng and Ding Pei had arrived with great force and fury, yet when the doors opened again and they emerged after that private meeting, both appeared to have lost their bearings entirely.

Ding Shi in particular seemed to have something weighing on her mind — as she stepped out through the Lu family’s main gate, her foot missed the edge of a step, and she tumbled straight down the stairs. Her ankle swelled up black and blue on the spot.

And Master Su, who had always doted on his beloved wife without limit, did not even glance back. He shook out his sleeve and strode away, leaving her behind without a word.