Not long after, one morning just after breakfast, Liu Yueyao suddenly arrived with a gentle smile on her face.

"Master, Madam, you two haven’t gone out much recently, have you? Today, the weather is rarely this nice and warm. Don’t you want to go out and take a walk around the markets?" she said to the two of them. "I don’t know if it’s because the Double Ninth Festival is approaching, but the streets and alleys have become quite lively lately."

Zhu Yu could hear the implication in Liu Yueyao’s words, and glanced at Lu Qing, who was also smiling at her: "Feeling cooped up these days, aren’t you? Since it’s so lively outside, why don’t we join in the fun too."

The two of them quickly got ready and went out for a stroll.

This time, they deliberately avoided the busiest marketplaces and instead wandered through the neighborhoods where ordinary citizens of the Capital lived.

These spots were naturally not as bustling as the main streets, but they had a unique charm of their own.

The women from ordinary families, without the many restraints of wealthy households, all needed to make a living for the whole family. Some would do a bit of small business by the street, selling homemade pickled vegetables or hand-embroidered handkerchiefs, or shoes they had sewn.

Some didn’t engage in small businesses but were busy inside and outside with laundry and drying clothes.

The young children, not yet of age to help the family, would hop and skip around in the alleyways, chasing and playing with each other. Their parents were too occupied with earning a living to pay them any attention.

After wandering around for a while, they found themselves in a small alley where a few children were clapping hands and playing tag, all while chanting: "The stove’s fire burns through nine layers, the deer startles at the black abyss, hooves in the sky, the iron pot cracks, boiling oil fries, the Copper Coin floods the golden column!"

At first, Zhu Yu didn’t think much of it, but after a few steps, he felt something was off. He quietly tugged at Lu Qing, and the two of them slowed their pace.

The children continued to jump around and sing the nursery rhyme, having fun even though they might not understand the words.

Nearby, a woman came out from the courtyard and called to the man mending the wall, "Child’s father, I’ve steamed the pancakes. How many do you need to take with you this time?"

The man mending the wall thought for a moment, "This time I’m just going a short way to get supplies, pack me three to five pancakes, that’s enough to nibble on along the way. I’ll be back in just a couple of days!"

"Alright! I’ll pack six for you! Better to be safe than sorry. You won’t starve at home, but outside it’s different. If you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere, even with Copper Coins in your pocket, there’ll be nothing to buy to eat!" She planned and then glanced toward the children, "What are Little Tiger and Li Family’s second boy fussing about?"

"Who knows!" The man chuckled indifferently, "I heard it’s some nursery rhyme Zhao Sanyan learned from kids at her grandma’s place a few days ago. She brought it back, and now all the kids in the alley are doing it.

Kids just love to follow others and have fun; let them be. I’m almost done here; go wrap up those pancakes for me!"

The woman acknowledged and turned back inside to get busy.

Zhu Yu looked at Lu Qing, whose disguised face remained expressionless, yet his eyes showed that he understood the nursery rhyme, unlike the couple, and he seemed quite pleased.

They strolled around a bit more and returned to the main street. This time, Lu Qing didn’t just go back; instead, he found a simple fabric shop and asked the owner to cut some dark gray coarse cloth.

"Shopkeeper, we just passed by the Headdress and Shoes Workshop. Why is the shop sealed?" Zhu Yu asked casually while the shopkeeper measured the fabric, "We were away for a month attending a family wedding outside the Capital. Coming back, how come the busiest fabric shop is suddenly closed?"

"Oh, don’t even mention it!" The shopkeeper sighed while measuring, shaking his head, "They say some trickery was involved in the fabric order for Duke Yan’s house, and overnight, the shop was sealed.

Some say the shopkeeper and others weren’t caught, that they fled upon hearing the news, while others said they were caught and dealt with.

Anyway, the store can’t open now, and there’s probably no hope for it in the future."

"Oh? That serious? What sort of trickery?" Zhu Yu asked with a look of surprise.

"We can’t really say." The shopkeeper grinned, "The nobles can cover the sky with one hand; if they say you did it, then you did it. Who would hear your explanation?"

After speaking, he looked up at his small shop and sighed, "To be honest, I used to envy the Headdress and Shoes Workshop a lot.

Our small shop here is not even comparable to their outhouse.

We toil all year and still don’t earn much.

That workshop always did business with those big families who don’t mind spending, any deal would earn more than I do in a year!

I used to be quite jealous of them, but to think, overnight, the shop would be sealed!

From the shopkeeper to the staff, whether they’re dead or alive is still unclear!

It’s truly... what’s that saying... something about fortune and misfortune..."

"Blessings and misfortunes depend on each other?" Zhu Yu chimed in.

The shopkeeper nodded quickly, "Yes, yes, that’s it, in all those scholarly terms. I haven’t read much, can’t say it well, but I get the meaning.

I see now, making money from the nobles isn’t easy. Just tending to my little shop here is enough for me!"

The dark fabric measured, the shopkeeper wrapped it up, and the two of them took it back to Yunyin Pavilion. Lu Qing instructed Fu Lu to give the cloth to Liu Yueyao, having her sew four sets of clothes according to the sizes of the two of them, as well as Rune and Fu Lu, tailored to fit the short-sleeve style.

Though Liu Yueyao seemed a bit puzzled by the request, she wasn’t one to ask unnecessary questions. Whatever Lu Qing told her, she listened without asking for excess details. So without a word, she took the fabric and returned. By the third day, she had prepared the four sets of clothes.

Zhu Yu inspected them and found that, while the craftsmanship wasn’t particularly fine, it was quite efficient for just over a day’s work.

More importantly, Liu Yueyao hadn’t needed to take their measurements; yet when Zhu Yu tried on the clothes, he found they fit perfectly.