A painting?!

What kind of painting?

Upon hearing this, Yu Tang’s heart pounded chaotically, her breathing rapid.

“Can you read?” She heard her own voice, somewhat hoarse, asking.

“I can’t read.” The young man wore a mournful expression, looking like he’d given up completely, and said: “It was the manager of the gambling house who told me to steal it. He said if I could steal it, he’d give me five taels of silver. It’s a painting of two old men fishing by a river in the mountains…”

Two old men fishing by a river in the mountains!

Yu Tang immediately thought of that “Fishing in Seclusion Among Pine Streams” painting.

She felt her heart racing and her breath shortening, her hands and feet trembling.

“Is this the painting?” Yu Tang didn’t know how she’d walked back to her room or how she’d spread the painting out for the young man to see. She only knew that when she opened the painting, the young man’s eyes lit up, and he said repeatedly: “That’s the one, that’s the one! The manager told me that there’s a seal on this painting stamped on the hair of the boy attendant next to the old man. This is definitely the right painting.”

Things she had previously overlooked now flashed through Yu Tang’s mind in tangled confusion.

The burglary at the Li family in her previous life, the Li family’s sudden wealth… the two thefts in this life, the “Meilin” seal stamped on the young servant’s hair, and the “Chunshui Hall” that had replaced the “Meilin” seal… She seemed to understand, yet also seemed to have a thousand jumbled thoughts, knowing nothing at all.

“A’Tang, what’s wrong with you?” Chen Shi, Yu Yuan, Shuang Tao, and the others all gathered around. Chen Shi even supported Yu Tang, asking in confusion: “Child, why did you dig out this painting again? Is there something wrong with this painting? Or…” As she asked, she glanced at the young man who had come to their house to steal, then looked at Yu Tang.

Some things still weren’t clear… Moreover, even if they became clear, aside from worrying and becoming anxious along with her, her mother would have no other solution.

“It’s nothing.” Yu Tang forcefully suppressed the tumultuous waves in her heart, making her tone sound calm and indifferent as she said: “He said he came to our house to steal a painting, so I asked him about it.”

Upon hearing this, the young man immediately shouted: “That’s right…”

But Yu Tang, as if unintentionally, struck the young man’s mouth with the scroll, making his words unclear, and said: “Mother, he’s illiterate. He says someone told him to come to our house to steal something. I think this matter requires careful consideration—it would be best to wait until Father returns. For now, let’s have Elder Cousin watch over him, lest he spout one thing after another without a single truthful word, and we just get more anxious and upset listening to him.” After saying this, she even gave the young man a threatening look.

Chen Shi had blind trust in both her daughter and husband, so naturally she had no doubts. Yu Yuan, however, saw clearly. He examined Yu Tang carefully, then helped support her words: “That’s right! A’Tang is correct. I’m here, so Auntie should go rest early. Your health has never been good—after all this commotion, if something else troubles you, that would be problematic.”

Yu Tang glanced at Yu Yuan, knowing he had seen there was a problem here but was still helping her. She followed along with Yu Yuan’s words: “Mother, because of Lu Xin’s funeral, our family still owes Shopkeeper Tong silver!”

Chen Shi didn’t dare delay here any longer, but still said with lingering doubt: “Could someone have mistaken this painting for an authentic work?”

“That’s also possible.” Right now Yu Tang only wanted to coax her mother to sleep, so she smiled and said: “Didn’t Father also misjudge it at first?”

Chen Shi nodded and went to the inner chamber accompanied by Shuang Tao.

The young man’s mother came to plead with Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan, however, stared at Yu Tang.

Yu Tang gave him a meaningful look.

Yu Yuan understood and said to the young man’s mother: “Don’t be anxious. Our family is not harsh or unkind, but this matter belongs to my second uncle’s household, so I can’t make decisions right now. I see you’re tired too, but if I let you go home, I’m afraid you wouldn’t go anyway. How about this—tonight you sleep with Chen Pozi, and as for your boy, I’ll temporarily watch over him. When my uncle returns, we’ll discuss what to do.”

The young man’s mother thanked them profusely, scolding her son to kowtow to Yu Yuan, cursing him for not knowing how to better himself and such.

Chen Pozi also noticed something was amiss. She interrupted the scolding and led the young man’s mother away.

Yu Yuan called A’Tiao over, had the young man bound, and threw him into his room.

The siblings stood talking by the bamboo grove in the courtyard.

“I just felt something was wrong, so I bluffed the young man a few times, and he told me everything.” Yu Tang told Yu Yuan all the information she’d just obtained. “I don’t know if it’s true or false. Even if you hadn’t sought me out, Brother, I would have sought you out to help investigate.”

After speaking, she went with Yu Yuan to the study, relit the lamps, and spread the painting on the large desk. While carefully examining the painting, she said: “But I really can’t figure out what’s special about this painting—even if it were an authentic work, it would have to be converted to silver to matter. When Scholar Lu was selling this painting, he didn’t approach only Father. If that person liked this painting, why not spend a few extra taels of silver to buy it? Why go to such lengths to create all this trouble? Moreover, this painting is a fake and has been authenticated by Shopkeeper Tong. If he’s always wanted to obtain this painting, he should have known this.”

Yu Yuan had read more books than Yu Tang and was very fond of calligraphy and paintings, so he had more knowledge in this area than Yu Tang.

He examined the painting carefully but really couldn’t see anything different about it: “Could it be that Shopkeeper Tong made a mistake?”

Yu Tang was startled.

Why had she assumed Shopkeeper Tong couldn’t make a mistake?

First, in her previous life, nothing bad had been heard about Shopkeeper Tong, so she had preconceived notions. Second, in her previous life, this painting had been in her hands—she didn’t know how many times she’d examined it, so she absolutely couldn’t be wrong!

But Yu Yuan’s words were like water dropped into a hot oil pan, splattering oil in all directions.

What if her painting had been fake?

Yu Tang suddenly felt a light dawn in her heart.

Hadn’t she just had such a bold thought?

If what her father bought in her previous life was this painting, and this painting had accompanied her dowry to the Li family, and during that burglary at the Li family someone had switched her painting… then everything seemed to make sense.

This was an authentic work!

Shopkeeper Tong had made a mistake.

The one in her hands in her previous life was the fake!

But who had switched the authentic work in her hands?

Yu Tang’s mind raced.

By that time, she had already married into the Li family carrying a memorial tablet—she was the Li family’s chaste widow. All of Lin’an was watching her, waiting to see when she could earn a chastity arch for Lin’an and the Li family. She rarely went out, but whenever she did go out, anyone who knew her showed her three parts sympathy, three parts sighing, and three parts respect.

Who would be so foolish as to steal from her?

Who would have the audacity to steal from the Li family?

Moreover, that burglary at the Li family had always been shrouded in secrecy.

She had previously thought the Li family feared bad rumors spreading that would affect her widowhood.

But what if things weren’t like that?

What if the one who stole her painting was someone from the Li family?

There was also the Li family’s sudden wealth, which had begun not long after she lost her painting.

Thinking of this, Yu Tang felt indignation rise within her, her mind buzzing.

She moved two lamps to the desk and said to Yu Yuan: “Brother, can you see anything unusual about this painting?”

Yu Yuan shook his head. He looked at the painting from left and right for quite a while, then said with a bitter smile: “No wonder people say you regret not studying more when you need knowledge. If only I had read more books.”

Yu Tang immediately thought of Pei Yan.

She hurriedly shook her head, as if by doing so she could shake away this thought.

Pei Yan was Third Master of the Pei family. If she took a painting that Shopkeeper Tong had authenticated as fake to ask him to help authenticate it, Pei Yan would probably not just throw her out—he might even think she was there to cause trouble.

Her brain must be waterlogged to think of asking Pei Yan for help!

No wonder Pei Yan had looked down on her before—she truly did… act without thinking!

Yu Tang sighed and asked Yu Yuan: “Brother, do you think we should take this painting to someone more skilled to examine? I keep feeling that if that young man wasn’t deceiving us, we’re definitely being watched by whoever instructed him to steal the painting. If that person can’t get this painting, he’ll definitely cause more trouble. We don’t know who he is, so even if we wanted to sacrifice our wealth to avoid disaster and give him this painting, we’d have no way to do so!”

Yu Yuan thought for a moment and said: “Tomorrow I’ll go find Uncle and tell him about this matter. Then I’ll ask Officer Li to help me quietly question the manager of that gambling house to see if we can find out who wants our family’s painting. If Uncle agrees, we’ll ask the gambling house manager to act as intermediary and make a big show of selling this painting to the other party.”

Yu Tang worried: “What if they think we’re selling them a forgery?”

Yu Yuan was stunned. After a long moment he said: “Then, do you have any good ideas?”

“I think we should still try to find out what’s special about this painting.” As Yu Tang spoke, she suddenly thought of Lu Xin. Her words immediately froze, and she looked toward Yu Yuan.

In his cousin’s eyes, Yu Yuan saw confusion, hesitation, worry, surprise, and even fear.

His heart sank with a thud as he thought of this painting’s origin.

Could it be, could it be that Lu Xin’s death was also related to this painting?

Lu Xin had actually been a very selfish person. Every time he drank to excess, others paid for it—he himself almost never bought alcohol. If he craved it, he would mostly try to mooch drinks from others. Only when he couldn’t mooch any would he, extremely pained, buy two taels of wine.

“I, I’ll go find Uncle right now.” Yu Yuan suddenly jumped up. “We don’t know exactly how Lu Xin died—we can only ask Uncle.”

Yu Wen was busy with Lu Xin’s funeral at another temple on the outskirts of the city.

“An ordinary man is innocent, but possession of treasure makes him guilty!” Yu Tang looked at the painting on the desk, wishing she could burn it with a single fire. “This is truly an undeserved calamity!”

But she didn’t dare.

She feared that even if she really burned the painting, the person who wanted it wouldn’t believe it and would still come to cause trouble for their family. Moreover, if they couldn’t produce the painting then, their situation might be even more difficult than it was now.

Yu Tang checked the water clock and said: “The city gates won’t open for at least two hours. Sleep for a while first. When the time comes, I’ll have Shuang Tao wake you. Then have A’Tiao go to Old Master Wu’s house to borrow a mule. Early in the morning, if you can’t hire a horse cart, at least with a mule to ride, you’ll be faster than walking!”

Yu Yuan knew this arrangement was the best.

Though his mood was heavy, he still forced himself to sleep for a while according to Yu Tang’s arrangements.

Yu Tang, however, didn’t sleep all night.

She kept staring at the painting, hoping to find something different from her previous life. When it was nearly dawn, she first woke Shuang Tao to help prepare provisions for Yu Yuan, then had A’Tiao wake Yu Yuan and saw him off.