Rebirth of the Merchant Woman's Revenge

Lian Jue also nodded repeatedly and sat down below Gu Xunwei with peace of mind.

After all, he is a fifteen-year-old child. In fact, Gu Xunwei is only a little over sixteen years old. However, boys' mental development is slower after all. In addition, Lian Jue was brought up by being spoiled at home and had little contact with the outside world, so he naturally looks more immature.

Gu Xunwei glanced at Lian Jue twice, and only then did she realize that this young man was quite pleasing to the eye when he was quiet, and was completely different from his arrogant and domineering appearance just now. In addition, in the previous life, the Lian family did not take action against the Gu family after all. Even in the years in the capital, the Lian family had never slandered or squeezed other incense shops. They only chose to rely on Prince An due to the situation. This was not unforgivable.

"Brother Lian Jue is right. Wangyu Tower has made such a big fuss this time, they must have big ambitions. I wonder if the head of the Lian family has ever made it clear?" Gu Xunwei asked.

"My father? He didn't say anything else. He just said that we don't need to take Wangyu Tower seriously. He knew the incense products of Wangyu Tower and they were not that good." Lian Jue didn't care, but when he said this, he glanced at the small jar on the table.

Lian Jue, who had understood the meaning of scent since childhood, naturally noticed that Wangyu Tower did not seem to be as bad as his father said.

Gu Xunwei nodded without saying anything more. It seemed that the head of the Lian family had been paying attention to Wangyu Tower since it opened. However, the incense brands he knew about were the ones that Gu Xunwei wanted everyone to know about. The incense brands that were to participate in this competition had never appeared before.

As a gong sounded on the stage of Wangyu Tower, the shopkeeper Bai of Wangyu Tower also stepped onto the stage in full view of everyone.

After bowing to everyone, he went straight to the point and explained the details of the fragrance tasting competition, including the schedule and judges.

The competition is divided into two parts, one is the comparison of balms and ointments, and the other is the competition of scented powders.

The judges of this competition were three incense identification masters invited from Zhangzhou, known as the "Incense Capital", and a perfume blending master, Mr. Ningxiangzi, was invited from the palace. In order to show fairness and impartiality, each fragrance was placed in a different number plate. The masters did not know the true origin of the fragrance, and they judged the fragrance purely based on its quality.

In addition, four people will be randomly selected from the audience in each session to serve as reference judges. Each person's vote only accounts for half a vote, while the master's vote is a full vote.

After all, they are not professional incense appraisers, so it is impossible for them to influence the evaluation results. They are just for reference.

Then the gong sounded again, and the two shopkeepers of Ruixiangzhai and Yaxiangge went up to the stage together and stood on the sides of Shopkeeper Bai.

Gu Xunwei and Lian Jue continued to stay in the waiting room. As the hosts, they did not need to appear on the stage; the shopkeepers of each store could attend.

"As you all have seen, due to some issues, several other restaurants have already withdrawn from the competition early. In the end, only Ruixiangzhai, Yaxiangge, and Wangyulou are left, so the following tasting session will be much simpler." Shopkeeper Bai said with a smile.

A lot of people had already gathered under the stage. This was due to the fact that Wangyulou had been building momentum in the capital several days in advance. When they heard that the other companies had already withdrawn, some people said with some disappointment, "Why did they all withdraw? It would be more lively if there were more people, but it would be boring with only three companies."

"What do you know?" someone refuted his statement. "These three are basically the three most powerful companies. Making incense also requires financial support. The other few are small incense shops. How can they compare with them?"

"What you said makes sense, but I heard that the Lian family is a royal merchant, and the Gu family also chose the top scholar as their son-in-law. I just don't know who the owner of Wangyu Tower is?"

When someone asked a question, someone else jumped out to answer it. He said, "I heard about it too, I don't know if it's true, but it's said that the owner of Wangyu Tower is not ordinary, they are a family of incense makers from Zhangzhou, and they are going to open up a battlefield in the capital."

"You're wrong," someone immediately retorted, "What Zhangzhou? I heard it came from outside the country. The raw materials and techniques used to make incense there are different from what we've seen before, so the smell is also very strange."

"..."

While everyone was discussing the matter heatedly, Zhu Da was standing in the crowd wearing a hat, listening silently to the discussion. It turned out that the boss had prepared for the worst and had people release different versions in advance. With so many versions, everyone didn't know which one to believe, and the truth was hidden.

With the sound of a gong, the first session on the stage slowly began. The three shopkeepers took out the balms and ointments they were going to participate in the competition, put them in a small box, and placed them in the small boxes in the hands of the three maids in front of them.

Several tasters and reference tasters were all blindfolded and faced the people below the stage.

The three maids covered their small boxes respectively, and then began to move around randomly. After moving for less than half a cup of tea, no one could remember the positions of the three maids. After they stood still, they began to exchange the small boxes in their hands.

In this way, even the people in the audience would not be able to remember which box of perfume belonged to which brand.

Then someone asked the three maids to stand in line and put three labels "A", "B" and "C" on the boxes in their hands respectively. Then it was time for the tasting.

Three maids holding three identical incense boxes came to Ningxiangzi first, and he checked the incense in the boxes one by one. Coincidentally, all three incense products were perfume ointments, which were also the most popular incense products among the ladies in Beijing, but the smells were not the same.

Both have the scent of goose pear, and the other has the scent of golden osmanthus.

It only took Ningxiangzi a moment to write down the label of her favorite fragrance on the paper in front of her, and then the three maids walked to the next appraiser.

This went on and on, until they finally came in front of four reference tasters, who tasted the wine together.

This trip took about two quarters of an hour. Although different people were tasting the three fragrances, everyone below was watching with great interest. Even the subtle changes in expression on the tasters' faces could allow them to guess several results.

Since the tasting session has already begun, Shopkeeper Bai and the other two shopkeepers have become contestants, so the current host is no longer Shopkeeper Bai, but Elder Yang who was invited by Wangyu Tower.

Lord Yang can be considered a strange man in the capital. Although he is nearly seventy years old, he loves the hustle and bustle the most. He is no longer on duty in the court, so whenever there is a lively place in the capital, he will go to join in the fun. It is reasonable for him to come and host this fragrance-tasting competition today, so no one is surprised.