YBTS - 19

Su Luoyun didn’t want to accept them, but the servant said that if they didn’t want the things sent to Young Master Su, they could sell them. The young master’s residence didn’t have a policy of taking back gifts that had been sent out.

With that, the servant turned and left.

Tian Mama was a bit worried. After all, her young lady was exceptionally beautiful and now lived alone without her father. She was afraid that the wastrel young master had taken a liking to her and was looking for an excuse to pester her.

But in the following days, there was no more news from the young master’s residence, and no one came to bother them.

It seemed that the young master had genuinely just wanted to check on the injured person. This showed that although he was dissolute and uninhibited, he was still reasonable and not an arrogant person.

Su Luoyun later sent someone to return the medicine, but the errand boy was dismissed with a few words by the steward.

And she didn’t run into the young master’s carriage on her few outings, so she finally felt at ease.

If she were to return the gifts, it might displease the young master and lead to more entanglement. It was better to sell them all and consider it the money for her medicine that the young master had compensated her with.

After all, she was really short on money now. The shop repairs were costing a lot.

So, all the boxes of tonics were pawned for silver notes. Unfortunately... it still wasn’t enough.

Luoyun personally used the abacus, and Xiangcao helped her with the accounting. She knew in her heart that if the shop was to be used, along with the initial supplies, purchasing equipment, and hiring master craftsmen and assistants, it would require at least fifty ounces of silver.

She didn’t have much cash on hand now. Although Xiangcao offered to use the five ounces of silver she was compensated with, Su Luoyun just smiled wryly and refused.

If an owner had to use her maid’s money to do business, she might as well learn from her neighbor, Young Master Han, and beg on the streets with a copper basin!

Luoyun’s dowry was the small piece of land her mother had left her. The tenant’s rent was only collected at the end of the year.

The money she had for her daily expenses was almost all used up, and her father had already made it clear that he would no longer give her a monthly allowance. He not only stopped her allowance but also her brother’s.

Luoyun knew that her father’s intention was to make her bow her head, admit her mistake, and then, like her mother, obediently mix formulas for Shouweizhai.

But since she had caused such a big fuss, she would never give in.

With that in mind, with Xiangcao’s help, Luoyun took a small piece from the ambergris that Princess Yuyang had left with her. She then placed it on a small copper pan and began to mix it with various spices.

The consort’s birthday was approaching, and the princess had told her earlier that she hoped she could create a fragrance suitable for him.

Luoyun knew that only by creating this fragrance could her strained purse become full. Whether her brother would eat meat every meal or grass depended on this one thing...

This time, she was no longer mixing a sweet fragrance.

According to Lu Lingxiu, Princess Yuyang’s consort, Zhao Dong, came from a military background. He had been chosen by the princess at a glance because of his imposing appearance.

At that time, he already had a wife, but the princess insisted on marrying him. The consort Zhao Dong was also a man of integrity. He resisted the pressure from the empress and adamantly refused to divorce his wife.

And Princess Yuyang was also a stubborn one. If you won’t marry me, I’ll just keep waiting.

In the end, she finally waited until Zhao Dong’s wife died in childbirth. Three years after he became a widower, Zhao Dong finally agreed to marry the princess, who was nearly thirty.

But the married life was a story known only to themselves. Everyone in the capital knew that the usually proud princess was as obedient as a kitten in front of Consort Zhao. Even after twenty years of marriage, she was still careful to please the consort, so humble that she didn’t seem like a princess of the country at all.

At the princess’s residence, the steward had privately told her that Consort Zhao suffered from hyperhidrosis. He would sweat profusely even when he was sitting still, and he had a slight manly scent. The princess was afraid that he would lose his composure in front of the emperor, so she wanted her to create a fragrance to cover the scent.

But Consort Zhao hated the scent of rouge and powder. The princess couldn’t find a suitable fragrance, which was why she thought of having the blind woman from the Su family create a unique one.

After hearing the steward’s words, Su Luoyun realized what a difficult task she had taken on.

Although the nobles of the Great Wei Dynasty were accustomed to applying powder, there were also many men who disliked fragrances. Consort Zhao was one of a kind among the feminine men who wore rouge and powder all over the city. He was a dignified and powerful man who never liked to wear makeup.

What kind of fragrance would such a man wear?

And to cover the scent of sweat, the fragrance would have to be strong, but the consort disliked it, so it would be useless to mix it.

So, Su Luoyun tried to mix several kinds, but none of them were very satisfactory. She knew that she only had this one chance with the princess. If she couldn’t seize it, she would have to go to the back mountain and cut grass to feed her brother.

On this day of mixing fragrances, Luoyun realized that she was missing a key ingredient: musk.

After her big fight with her father, she had to pay for spices herself. It was also difficult for her to buy from Shouweizhai, so she could only go to another shop on the street.

Unfortunately, the good spices in the capital were all monopolized by the Su family, except for the imperial tribute. And the market for bulk spice sales was still a month away.

Su Luoyun searched all over the capital but couldn’t find anything she was happy with.

Later, a shop assistant told her that there was a hunter in the suburbs of the capital who often hunted in the Northern Mountain. He had brought in some self-dried musk yesterday, all of which were of top quality. But his price was high, and the shop would lose money on it, so they didn’t buy it. If she wanted to find good ones, she could go to the old hunter and buy some.

The princess’s deadline was tight, and Su Luoyun didn’t want to delay any longer. So, she had her coachman take her, Xiangcao, and a servant boy to the village in the suburbs of the capital.

When they arrived, they finally found the hunter and discovered another treasure. Besides a few pieces of top-quality musk, the old hunter also had a large wild beehive that had just been picked. The honeycomb honey was often a wonderful ingredient for making fragrances.

So, Luoyun bought everything. When the money was settled, it was still early, but Luoyun felt that the cool breeze was damp, as if it was going to rain. So, they hurried back.

They had gone halfway and had not yet seen the city gate when it began to pour rain.

Since spring, there had been constant rain. Although the carriage had been covered with waterproof oilcloth for a long time, the country road was muddy from such heavy rain, and the wheels, after being covered in mud, couldn’t move anymore.

The coachman, wearing a straw raincoat, went to look around and found a thatched shop on the side of the road for travelers to rest. So, he came to ask the young lady if she wanted to go there to take shelter from the rain and warm herself by the fire.

Luoyun heard the thunder and lightning and the pouring rain. She knew that the rain would not stop for a while, so she got out of the carriage with Xiangcao under an umbrella.

Fortunately, there were a few pieces of firewood left by previous travelers and a fire starter. The coachman started a fire and took down a small wooden stool from the carriage for the young lady to sit on. He and the servant boy then sat under the eaves of the doorway, puffing on their water pipes.

Luoyun, with nothing to do, took the two walnuts that Xiangcao handed her and rubbed them in her hands. She had injured her head, and after she woke up, her hands were often numb. The doctor had given her this idea, saying that rubbing walnuts frequently would massage her hand’s pressure points.

Just as she had rubbed them eighty-one times, there was a commotion of horses and carriages outside the thatched shop.

Besides a few men talking, there was also a high-pitched woman’s laughter, like a startled bird, extremely unrestrained.

Before long, a few attendants walked in. Seeing that there were people in the thatched shop, they frowned and said, “The nobles of the capital want to rest here. Please make way for them.”

Xiangcao was a little angry. “It’s pouring rain. There’s no village or shop for miles. Where do you want us to go to take shelter? Besides, we were here first, so why should we make way for you...”

Halfway through her sentence, Xiangcao’s voice died down because she saw the tall man who came in after the attendants. It was none other than the Prince of the North’s Young Master Han Linfeng.

He was still in his usual fine clothes and crown, but he was wearing a straw raincoat on the outside, and the hem was wet.

This young master had probably been having too much fun and had brought a group of male and female companions here to take shelter from the rain.

Young Master Han also saw that his neighbor was in the thatched shop. But he didn’t go forward to greet her. He just frowned, looking very displeased. After a moment of silence, he instructed the attendant who had been chasing people away, “Since there are people here, let’s go somewhere else to take shelter.”

Hearing Xiangcao say that the Prince of the North’s young master had arrived, Su Luoyun quickly stood up. She bowed her head and greeted him. “Since the young master and your friends have come, it would be an inconvenience for us to stay. We will make way for you now.”

With that, she took Xiangcao’s hand and walked forward, following the direction of the door she remembered. But after a few steps, she ran into a wall. It turned out that Han Linfeng was standing right in front of her.

Because they were close, Su Luoyun smelled a strong scent of powder and rouge on him. Remembering how Xiangcao had described his feminine and handsome appearance, he must have a lot of fragrant powder on his handsome face, or he had gotten it from his female companions...

Han Linfeng looked down at the petite Miss Su. She was retreating as if he were a poisonous snake.

He said faintly, “Your maid is right. It’s first come, first served. How can I possibly chase you out into the rain? I apologize for the disturbance. I will take my leave!”

With that, he gave her a deep look and was about to turn and leave.

But Guo Yan, the young master of the Yong’an residence, who had come with him, was already bringing in his new dancing girl.

Seeing that Han Linfeng was blocking the door and not letting him in, Young Master Guo complained loudly. “What? Look for another place? The rain outside is so heavy it could drown a person! If we don’t take shelter here, do you want us to swim in the puddles? What’s wrong... Is there some beast in this broken thatched house that you’re blocking the door and not letting me in...”

While Guo Yan was complaining, he looked over Han Linfeng’s shoulder.

When he saw her, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. “My goodness, how could there be such a breathtakingly beautiful and ethereal woman in the middle of nowhere, with a thunderstorm?”

Young Master Guo immediately laughed. “I can’t believe I can see such a beauty in this poor village! Brother Linfeng, are you not letting me in because you want to keep her for yourself? Being so protective of your food is not like you...”

Xiangcao’s heart tightened when she heard this. The words of these wastrels didn’t sound like proper talk. In the middle of nowhere, if these men’s animalistic desires were to get the better of them and they lusted after her young lady’s beauty and defiled her... what would she do?

Guo Yan hadn’t finished speaking when his view was blocked by Han Linfeng’s tall body. Han Linfeng turned around and said to him calmly, “I have met this young lady at Princess Yuyang’s banquet. We are acquaintances. She has an eye condition and doesn’t like to socialize. Even the princess treats her with kindness and respect. It would be rude for us to come here so abruptly. It might scare Miss Su, so I was thinking of finding another place to take shelter.”

He didn’t mention Su Luoyun’s identity as a merchant’s daughter but directly said that she was a guest of honor at Princess Yuyang’s. To others, it sounded as if this girl had some powerful background and connections.

Princess Yuyang was the emperor’s favorite daughter, and her husband, Zhao Dong, was a powerful official with military authority. He was not someone that a good-for-nothing noble like Guo Yan would dare to provoke.

Moreover, even a carefree person like Han Linfeng was backing off. There must be something to it...