This turned out to be quite similar to what Xia Zheng had guessed.
As the two were whispering, they suddenly heard the crowd stir, and someone shouted, "It's starting, it's starting!" Upon looking up, they indeed saw two young and beautiful matrons walking out with smiles brimming on their faces.
A familiar person called out loudly, "It's Embroiderer Ru and Embroiderer Qiao!"
Men mostly took little interest in fabric shop matters, so Xia Zheng did not recognize these two. Among the people at the Red Smoke Pavilion, he had only met the proprietress, Madam Cheng, a few times.
Speaking of Madam Cheng, she was considered a legend among the women of the Capital city. With her parents deceased early and her siblings gone too, she managed, with her grit alone, to transform the small embroidery shop inherited from her family into the now famous Red Smoke Pavilion in the Capital city; her hardship was evident.
