Chapter 80

Lin Jingshu became Ye Xun's wife.

She maintained her usual gentle and virtuous demeanor. Ye Xun was busy with work and sometimes didn't go home for lunch, so she would bring him lunch. Even the gatekeeper of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics recognized her.

Now, they don't even stop her from going in.

There's also Ye Xun.

He genuinely liked Lin Jingshu. Under her gentle and persuasive guidance, he revealed a lot of intelligence, indirectly helping our party sabotage Japanese operations several times.

The Japanese suffered heavy losses.

Of course, the repeated failures of the missions gradually made Ye Xun suspicious of Lin Jingshu, so he devised a scheme to test her with false information, and Lin Jingshu fell for it.

It's quite obvious now: his wife is a spy operating in Shanghai, and she's even infiltrated his inner circle.

Late at night, Ye Xun sat in his office smoking.

He didn't want to go home and face his wife.

Even though he knew she had ulterior motives for getting close to him, he still couldn't bring himself to betray his wife.

Ye Xun didn't dwell on the pain for long before tacitly approving of his wife's actions. He allowed her to obtain information from him and even helped cover things up in critical moments.

Lin Jingshu had long since noticed Ye Xun's secret help.

The two were both aware of the situation, but neither of them dared to bring it up. It would be easy to talk it out openly, but what if things didn't go well...? Lin Jingshu didn't know if she could bring herself to kill Ye Xun.

......

Xu Ying put the draft into the author backend, edited the publication time, and then got up to rest.

The next day.

A sudden heavy snowfall hit Shanghai.

The director of the TV series "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" was overjoyed. The snow came at just the right time; they needed a snowy scene.

"Props team, come quick!"

When Xu Ying arrived at the film set wearing a thick down jacket, everyone was busy setting up the set.

Seeing her from afar, Li Tingyu, who had been hiding behind a side gate to avoid the snow, walked over. Accompanying her were other actresses playing concubines. They all wore headdresses, palace costumes, and platform shoes, and their graceful figures made them look very elegant and antique.

Xu Ying couldn't resist taking out her phone and snapping several photos of them.

As the group approached, she smelled a wonderful fragrance and exclaimed, "It smells so good!"

"Yeah?"

Li Tingyu smiled and took off the hand warmer from his sleeve. It was a prop in the play, but it was indeed warm to wear on one's hands in winter.

"Screenwriter, wear it for a while, it's very warm."

Xu Ying thanked her and accepted it.

Li Tingyu continued, "Speaking of fragrance, screenwriter, the incense you describe in your novels is the most captivating."

The concubines in the book all loved incense, and the film crew inevitably filmed many similar scenes. However, the incense purchased by the crew was just ordinary incense commonly found on the market, not at all as captivating as described in the book.

"If only these fragrances really existed, such as 'Goose Pear Tent Fragrance,' the name itself sounds wonderful."

"Yes, yes, I really want to know what the incense I burn every day in the palace smells like!"

As filming progressed, everyone became less afraid of Xu Ying than at the beginning, and they chatted happily in front of her.

"Time to film!"

The director shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Hey, you're here. We're off, screenwriter," the group said hurriedly before heading towards the director.

Xu Ying returned the hand warmer to Li Tingyu, urging her to hurry over as well.

After Li Tingyu left, Xu Ying stood there pondering the actors' teasing and gossip. She thought they made sense; why didn't she have someone make the incense from the novel?

Right now, only the actors have noticed these incensees. Once the TV series airs, even more people will notice and become interested. If she can promote them in time, I believe they will definitely be a huge hit.

Why didn't she think of this before!

"Legend of the Qing Dynasty" is almost finished filming and is expected to be released next summer. That means she needs to find someone to make it as soon as possible and release it before the summer vacation.

It's better to do it sooner rather than later.

Xu Ying suddenly couldn't stay on the film set any longer. She went back and contacted Zhou Xingyun, asking if she knew any reliable perfumers.

She herself only had a superficial understanding of spices. She could only roughly describe the taste and main ingredients of each fragrance in the novel, and the specific preparation required a professional.

Zhou Xingyun was surprised by her sudden idea: "Why did you suddenly decide to make incense, especially this old-fashioned kind?"

Modern people use perfume more often, and incense is rarely used anymore.

"Didn't the TV series 'Legend of the Qing Dynasty' feature a lot of incense? I'm thinking of making some of those and selling them as merchandise. I'll also make incense burners, making them delicate and small, and carving various antique patterns on them. Do you think there's any potential for selling them?"

Zhou Xingyun pondered for a moment, then said firmly, "Yes!"

If their TV series becomes a hit, these incense burners and censers have a very promising future.

The costumes in the show may be difficult for ordinary people to imitate, but small items like incense and incense burners are much easier to replicate, and I believe many girls will be interested in them.

"Wait while I look for someone."

Zhou Xingyun is very efficient; she found the person she was looking for in less than a week.

This man's name was Li Lanyou, and he lived at the foot of Songshan Mountain.

Her family has been making incense for generations, but by her generation, the traditional incense-making method had declined somewhat. Other young people in the family were unwilling to learn it, but she inherited the mantle and learned it thoroughly from her grandfather.

Now she makes a living by selling incense sticks online using her incense-making skills.

Zhou Xingyun was able to approach her thanks to the recommendation of the president of the spice association in Beijing.

According to the president of the Fragrance Association, Li Lanyou is very talented in perfumery and is a rare talent. It's just a pity that she was born in the wrong era, otherwise she might have become a royal perfumer.

These words immediately struck a chord with Zhou Xingyun.

Having someone from the imperial court to make products for the palace would be perfect. She'd have all the marketing strategies planned out.

*

Xu Ying had spoken with Li Lan by phone beforehand to explain her purpose.

The two sides hit it off immediately.

Li Lanyou also invited Xu Ying to visit her hometown. She has a small room where she makes her own incense, and the room is fully equipped with everything she needs, which is equivalent to her private incense factory.

Xu Ying gladly accepted the invitation.

Of course, she didn't forget to bring Zhou Xingyun along.

Three days later, the two bought plane tickets and flew there. Li Lan also took advantage of these three days to read through Xu Ying's "Legend of the Qing Dynasty" from beginning to end.

In fact, perfumery is sometimes not just about blending fragrances, but also about creating an atmosphere. Only by reading the novel and understanding the characters' personalities and circumstances can one truly blend the right fragrance.

As the saying goes, "humans and fragrances are one," and human preference for spices is a reflection of personality.

Li Lanyou's ideas were highly praised by Xu Ying and Zhou Xingyun.

Xu Ying was very satisfied with Li Lan.

She discovered that Li Lan was truly intelligent. Sometimes she couldn't explain the ingredients in spices clearly, but Li Lan could always keenly grasp the true meaning behind her words.

"The two essential ingredients for the pear-infused incense are pear and agarwood. Of course, there are other spices in it as well, which you will have to discover by experimenting."

Xu Ying only remembered the incantation of "one pear and one agarwood" in the pear-shaped tent, but she couldn't remember any of the other spices inside.

Li Lan thought for a moment and said, "If you want to increase the layers of fragrance, you can try adding a little sandalwood, musk, and styrax. Styrax is used to fix the fragrance and can make the flavors of other spices blend together more harmoniously."

As expected, professional matters should be handled by professionals.

Sure enough, Li Lan solved Xu Ying's long-standing problem in just a few words.

I'm very confident leaving the perfumery work to you.

After the conversation, Xu Ying felt that Li Lan's incense-making skills were undeniable. However, looking at Du Fei's small incense-making room, she hesitated and said, "I need a large number of orders. Your place is too small. I'm afraid there won't be enough production capacity."

Zhou Xingyun explained their future plans to Li Lan.

Li Lanyou's eyes lit up when she heard that the two were going to turn the incense into merchandise and launch it on a large scale in the market.

"I can do it!"

Their village has been a perfumer for generations, but in recent decades they realized that perfumery had no future, so adults and children alike left their hometown to work elsewhere.

If... if she could take on this big order, maybe the people in her village wouldn't have to go out anymore. If they could support themselves by making incense at home, how many people would be willing to leave?

Li Lan looked at the two of them with great enthusiasm: "Every household in our village knows how to make incense. As long as I can mix out the proportions of the spices, they will have no problem making it themselves."

Moreover, these incense sticks are marketed as being made using traditional methods, and their village truly practices traditional incense making, living up to the name.

Xu Ying had no objection.

"As long as you can persuade the people from your hometown to come back, we have no problem with that. But let me make it clear in advance that you are the person in charge of the village. If there are any quality issues with the products in the future, we will only communicate with you."

"Don't worry, I will strictly control the quality, and I will never send you any incense that doesn't meet the standards."

Li Lan was very happy.

After seeing Xu Ying and Zhou Xingyun off in the evening, she contacted her parents. She had received a large order, and the employer was very generous, giving her a deposit of 100,000 yuan.

This 100,000 yuan, though called a deposit, was actually saved by Xu Ying for her to use in perfumery.

Spices are expensive, especially the best ones, which can be worth a fortune. She couldn't possibly let people experiment with different spice ratios for her for free.

Li Lanyou's parents and younger brother all work in other cities. When they heard that she had a big client placing an order, they didn't take it seriously at first. It wasn't until Li Lanyou showed them the deposit in her bank card that the three of them realized how big the client was.

“Is that true? Well then, how about this: your dad and I will go back to help first, while your younger brother stays here to work. Once things are settled, your brother can come back.”

The surprise came too suddenly, and it always felt a bit unreal. It's normal for Li Lan's parents to worry that things might change.

"Alright."

We should see a result by next summer at the latest; at worst, we can call my brother home then.

"Mom and Dad, they need a lot more than we can handle. Could you contact some of the other uncles and aunties in the village? As long as they're willing to come home and do the work, and the quality is good, they'll buy it..."

"Okay, okay, I'll contact them right now and give them a heads-up. Once you've prepared all the incense they requested, then we'll ask them if they're willing to go back."

It's too early to talk about going back now; let's give the villagers time to process this good news.

Li Lan nodded and said, "Anyway, you should contact them as soon as possible. I'll be quick."

With a total of more than a dozen types of incense, plus the main and secondary ingredients provided by Xu Ying, she was confident that mixing the other seasonings wouldn't take too long.