Upon hearing He Yunce's respectful and polite words, the shopkeeper recalled what his boss had just instructed him, and his eyes instantly darkened.

He smirked at He Yunze, then made a gesture: "You're our boss's junior sister? Then come with me."

Seeing how easily the shopkeeper agreed, Song Ruoan and He Yunze exchanged a glance, both seeing joy and excitement in each other's eyes.

As expected, Ruo'an's guess was correct. The owner behind this incense shop was Ruo'an's senior brother, which is why he was able to develop the same incense as Ruo'an.

So everything that happened this morning was a misunderstanding!

The current predicament was not only easily resolved, but also, thanks to this relationship, even Prince Xiu would have to give Ruo'an some face.

Things didn't go so smoothly.

The two followed the shopkeeper excitedly, winding their way to the very top of the Fragrant Pavilion.

The higher they went, the fewer people there were. The corridor was decorated in an elegant and unique style, and the light and pleasant fragrance of incense wafted into their noses, making their steps lighter.

While inwardly marveling at the brothel owner's exquisite taste, He Yunze noticed the manager approaching the wooden door and hurriedly tried to follow.

But the shopkeeper stopped them directly: "I'm sorry, young master, you will need to wait outside."

He Yunze looked at the shopkeeper with a puzzled expression: "What? Didn't I already say she's my junior sister? Why are we still waiting outside?"

The shopkeeper simply smiled politely and said, "That's just your opinion. We'll have to ask the boss to find out whether she wants to see me or not."

He Yunze felt a little unhappy with the shopkeeper's distant attitude, as if they had come to beg for money.

He can't lie.

But he suppressed his anger: "Fine, go ask then. Ruo'an and I will wait at the door."

After the shopkeeper went inside, the two stood awkwardly at the door for a full half hour, but the shopkeeper showed no sign of coming out.

Song Ruoan's legs were aching from standing, so she leaned weakly against He Yunce's side, but He Yunce's legs weren't doing so well either.

He was about to knock on the door when the tightly closed wooden door suddenly opened. He Yunze was very curious and took the opportunity to peek inside, but the shopkeeper blocked the inside completely.

The shopkeeper asked with a smile, "The boss said she has a master, but she doesn't know if she has a junior sister."

He Yunce and Song Ruoan both breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems they do indeed share the same origin.

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to Song Ruoan: "May I ask if your master is Su Mingyue? Are you Su Mingyue's daughter, Song Xizhi?"

Upon hearing this, He Yunze's eyes widened. Before Song Ruoan could speak, he said directly, "She is not Song Xizhi, she is Song Ruoan! How dare she be compared to Ruoan?"

Song Ruoan's heart was pounding. Upon learning that the boss knew Su Mingyue, she had no choice but to admit it: "That's right, my master is Su Mingyue. She taught me how to make incense."

The shopkeeper, recalling his boss's words, narrowed his eyes and continued to ask, "But if that's the case, why doesn't Mingyue teach her own daughter, but instead teaches you?"

Upon hearing this, He Yunze was slightly taken aback and turned to wait for Song Ruoan's reply.

Song Ruoan simply smiled and said, "Song Xizhi was unruly and mischievous from a young age, unlike me. She didn't like incense and couldn't endure the hardship of studying. Only I liked it and had a talent for it. So Madam Su was very disappointed, but she didn't want this craft to be lost, so she left the recipe for making incense to me."

Hearing this, He Yunze suddenly realized: "Fortunately, Madam Su took Ruo'an as her disciple. If it had been that poisonous woman, it's hard to say whether the incense would still exist today."

He shook his head, feeling a pang of regret. He thought Song Xizhi was truly hopeless, even her own mother disliked her and wanted to save the good things for Ruo'an.

The shopkeeper's expression didn't change when he heard this; he simply said that he would pass those words on verbatim.

Hearing the shopkeeper's words, the two felt that there would be no more problems this time.

So they all craned their necks and waited, and the shopkeeper came to invite them in.

At that moment, Song Xizhi, who was in the side room, was drinking milk on the soft couch. Upon hearing this, he almost burst out laughing before he could even swallow a mouthful of milk.

"This Song Ruoan really dares to talk big, spouting nonsense in front of my door."

The shopkeeper scoffed, "They don't know who you are. They're talking badly about you while waiting for you to see them. Should I kick these two out?"

Song Xizhi raised an eyebrow slightly: "Why chase them away? Since they like to wait, let them wait."

As she spoke, she slowly rose from the soft couch, looked at the sky outside, and said in a melodious tone, "It's getting late, I'll go back to the Marquis's residence through the back door first."

"We welcome guests as soon as we open the door, so why don't you open the rooftop windows to welcome them? We've been open all day, it's time to air things out."

The roof of Pinxianglou was originally designed with many windows, which were opened at noon when the building needed to be ventilated.

It's gotten colder lately, so all these windows are closed in the evening.

The night was cool and still, especially at such a high place. It's cold up there, and if you opened all the windows, the cold wind would probably blow straight up your head.

The shopkeeper's eyes twitched as he heard Song Xizhi's cunning voice, and he hurriedly carried out Song Xizhi's instructions.

He originally thought that the owner behind the Fragrant Pavilion was Madam Xin, and he had secretly admired her for a long time. But he never expected that the real owner would be so young and so resourceful!

The two people outside... are probably in for a rough time.

He Yunze and Song Ruoan were waiting expectantly at the door when suddenly a large number of waiters appeared around them.

He paused slightly, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

But the men walked right past him and went to open several windows that were tightly closed in the distance.

One, two...

The cold wind blew straight in, the biting wind was bone-chilling. When the two hurriedly left, they did not expect that they would not be able to return so late, and their clothes were also very thin.

The cold wind made He Yunze shiver all over, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

Song Ruoan trembled violently, and her face soon turned pale.

Before the workers could open all the windows, He Yunze could no longer bear it and rushed forward to stop them: "What are you doing? The wind is so cold at night, can you close the windows first?"

The servant, following orders, didn't even look at him directly: "The brothel is about to close, and we need to ventilate it at night. This is something we always do before closing. If you feel cold, you don't need to stand here!"