Yu Tang looked toward her father.

Yu Wen clearly also realized this problem.

He smiled bitterly at his daughter and said, “Mr. Shen is truly a man who keeps his word!”

If it had been someone else encountering such a situation, they might have given up, but Shen Shanyan had tried every means possible to obtain sea buckthorn tree saplings for them.

These kindnesses could only be kept in their hearts and slowly repaid.

Yu Tang thought about this and smiled at her father, “Father, then let A’Tiao quickly take Wang Si back to the old residence! These saplings have been on the road for nearly two months, and now isn’t even a good season for transplanting. If they should…” not survive, wouldn’t that disappoint everyone’s efforts?

Yu Wen thought the same and quickly called A’Tiao over to give him detailed instructions.

Yu Tang thoughtfully had Chen Pozi prepare some food for Wang Si to eat his fill before setting off on the road.

Along the way, Wang Si had been eating dry rations, and sometimes to save money, he would only eat a few bites of flatbread a day to stave off hunger. Now that he’d delivered the tree saplings and could eat a meal with soup, he felt incredibly grateful. Without even sitting at the table, he squatted by the stove and wolfed down the food, leaving Shuang Tao, who had come to the kitchen to fetch hot water for Chen Shi, staring in astonishment.

Seeing a pretty maid scrutinizing him, Wang Si’s face grew hot with embarrassment. He quickly explained, “I, I came on this trip, and my employer only gave me two taels of silver. I have to save carefully—I still don’t know if the employer here will keep me on.”

If the saplings didn’t survive, why would the employer here keep him?

He’d heard that in Jiangnan there was little land, and most people could read a bit. They either went out to do business or worked as apprentices in shops, finding ways to become managers. Someone like him who was illiterate and could only sell his labor would not only be looked down upon but would also have great difficulty finding work.

Seeing that he was thinking this way about the Yu family, Shuang Tao became a bit displeased and defended the Yu family, saying, “Our master isn’t that kind of person. If you don’t want to stay, our master definitely won’t shortchange you on travel money for the return journey.”

Wang Si looked honest and slow-witted, but in reality, he had an active mind—otherwise, he wouldn’t have accepted this job. Hearing Shuang Tao say this, he immediately knew he’d said the wrong thing and quickly said, “I know the master is a good person. I’m just afraid my work won’t be able to satisfy the master.”

At least he knew how to speak properly.

Shuang Tao nodded with satisfaction and said, “Just work hard—our master never mistreats people!”

Wang Si smiled as if grateful, but in his heart he thought: whether they mistreat people or not, you have to work for a while to know. However, if the family’s maid could speak up for the master like this, it showed that this household couldn’t be too bad. It just depended on whether he could establish himself here.

He didn’t dare delay. After finishing his meal in just a few bites, he set off with A’Tiao for the Yu family’s old residence.

After seeing off the tree saplings, Yu Tang took her father’s arm and walked back, “How’s the business in Suzhou going?”

Yu Wen was in high spirits: “Your Uncle Wu and I agreed that we’ll set out first thing tomorrow morning.” At this point, he exclaimed “Aiya!” and said, “How did I just forget about this matter? Tomorrow I have to go to Suzhou Prefecture, but the old residence…”

It was just planting trees—her father didn’t necessarily have to supervise it.

Yu Tang smiled and said, “Is Elder Brother also going to Suzhou Prefecture with you? Your business is more important. Tomorrow I’ll just go back by myself. After the trees are planted, I’ll talk with that Wang Si and see what kind of person he is. If we keep him on, we also need to see what else he can do.”

They had already hired someone to watch the forest. If both men could do the same things, given their mountain forest’s income, they would inevitably only be able to keep one.

Yu Wen thought about Wang Si’s sturdy build and said, “I think if the mountain forest doesn’t need two people, we’ll have Wang Si do some odd jobs at our house. I’ve heard that life in the west isn’t easy. He’s come all this way—if we can keep him on, let’s keep him on. Our family doesn’t lack this one extra mouth to feed. Over time, he might be able to find other work in Lin’an City. We’d also be doing a good deed.”

Yu Tang knew it would be like this.

Both her father and mother were very kindhearted.

However, their family had made a windfall from selling the map. If they could help others, that was also a good thing.

“I understand.” Yu Tang replied with a smile.

Yu Wen was very gratified by his daughter’s response and said, “Your elder brother will also go to Suzhou Prefecture with us tomorrow. A’Tiao will stay home—if you need anything, just have him do it.”

If Wang Si stayed on, when Father needed to go somewhere, there would also be someone at home who could run errands and carry things.

Yu Tang nodded repeatedly, thinking that as long as Wang Si was honest and hardworking, she would keep him on.

The next day, after seeing off Yu Wen and Yu Yuan, she returned to the old residence.

Wang Si had already planted the trees overnight and had spent the night staying with the forest keeper the Yu family had hired. However, looking at the forest keeper’s expression, which wasn’t very good, it was clear that Wang Si’s arrival had made him feel threatened.

Yu Tang disliked scheming and intrigue. She spoke frankly to the forest keeper: “I hired Wang Si specifically to plant these sea buckthorn trees. Everything else on this mountain is still your responsibility. You also need to find ways to help Wang Si keep these trees alive. Otherwise, there’s no need to hire someone to watch this mountain forest.”

The forest keeper hadn’t thought about this connection before, but now hearing Yu Tang say this, he immediately changed his thinking and assured her, “I’ll definitely help Wang Si keep these trees alive.”

If the sea buckthorn trees could survive, this mountain forest would gradually be completely converted to sea buckthorn trees. This mountain forest was forty to fifty mu in size—this way, over the next three to five years they wouldn’t be idle. When the sea buckthorn trees bore fruit, the Yu family would still need people to harvest the fruit, so there would still be work. The two of them definitely wouldn’t be able to finish all the work—they might even need to hire more people. But if these trees didn’t survive, both he and Wang Si would be without work.

Seeing that he’d figured it out, Yu Tang said no more. She asked Wang Si about planting the trees, and Wang Si could answer everything. It all sounded quite reasonable, and from what Wang Si said, he also knew how to grow crops and fruit trees. It was just that they grew barley and wheat over there, while Lin’an mainly grew rice. Yu Tang thought that as long as one could tell the difference between rice and wheat, with determination, one should be able to learn to grow anything.

She simply said to Wang Si, “Do you see that large expanse of paddy fields over there? That also belongs to our Yu family. When you don’t have anything to do on the mountain, go look at those fields and learn from them how to grow rice.”

Wang Si respectfully agreed.

Yu Tang also went to inform Fifth Great-uncle.

As for the Yu family’s ancestral home and the estate matters, Fifth Great-uncle was just helping to watch over things and didn’t really manage affairs. Whether Wang Si learned to grow rice or not didn’t have much to do with him in his view. It was just that when other people in the village asked about it, he would help answer and tell others this was the Yu family’s intention—there was nothing he wouldn’t agree to.

Yu Tang instructed Wang Si, “My Fifth Great-uncle lives alone. When you have time, come check on him more often, help gather firewood, fetch water—when you encounter any problems in the village in the future, you’ll also have someone to help you.”

Wang Si was very surprised. He hadn’t expected Yu Tang to be so friendly in her treatment of people, and the things she told him were fundamental principles for establishing oneself. He thanked her repeatedly, feeling more hopeful about settling down with the Yu family.

Yu Tang returned home that same day.

Wang Shi didn’t know when she had arrived and was busy in the storeroom with Chen Shi.

Covered in sweat, Yu Tang asked Chen Pozi while washing up, “What are Mother and Eldest Aunt doing? On such a hot day.”

What they called the storeroom was actually a small room behind Chen Shi’s inner chamber, without even a window. In this kind of weather, it could give someone heatstroke.

Chen Pozi grinned and laughed, saying, “I don’t know either. When the mistress comes out, you can ask her yourself.”

Yu Tang felt she was being deliberately mysterious and didn’t ask more. She changed into fresh clothes, drank two bowls of mung bean soup in a row, and felt refreshed before going to greet Eldest Aunt.

Wang Shi had already emerged from the storeroom with Chen Shi and was standing under the eaves talking. Seeing Yu Tang approach, she smiled and not only took the initiative to greet Yu Tang but also asked about the mountain forest matters.

While responding to Eldest Aunt’s questions, Yu Tang curiously glanced at the bundle Eldest Aunt was holding in her arms.

Chen Shi explained, “Your Eldest Aunt came to our house to borrow some fabric.”

What fabric would she need to borrow from their house?

Yu Tang wanted to ask, but Eldest Aunt was already taking her leave.

She couldn’t ask more, so she accompanied Chen Shi in seeing Eldest Aunt out before saying, “Mother, what fabric does Eldest Aunt want?”

Chen Shi said vaguely, “Nothing much, just a few feet of fine cloth.”

At this time of year, wearing undergarments made of fine cloth was both washable and cool.

Could it be that Eldest Aunt wanted to make undergarments?

Yu Tang didn’t ask further. She spoke with her mother about her father’s trip, pushing this small episode to the back of her mind.

Yu Wen and Yu Yuan returned five days later.

Both were in high spirits, which showed that things had progressed very smoothly.

Because of this matter, Old Master Wu’s family and their family became even closer. During the Ghost Festival, Mrs. Wu even came to their door to invite Chen Shi and Yu Tang to release river lanterns together, and even made great efforts to arrange a good match for Yu Tang. But as Yu Wen had predicted, those willing to become live-in sons-in-law either had various shortcomings or were poor in appearance. Chen Shi even went in person to view prospects twice, but nothing came of it.

Fortunately, Yu Tang wasn’t in a hurry, which at least kept Chen Shi from feeling so anxious.

After they had eaten at Zhang Qing’s full-month celebration, and Yu Tang had sent peanuts to Pei Yan once, the osmanthus blossoms burst open, and every household began preparing Mid-Autumn Festival gifts.

Yu Tang discussed with Chen Shi sending some mooncakes to the Pei family: “Besides flaky-crusted mooncakes, can you make other kinds of mooncakes?”

In her previous life, she had eaten mooncakes at the Li family that were said to have come from the capital area. The crust was like flatbread, with nut filling inside.

She wondered if her mother knew how to make them.

Chen Shi laughed and said, “If mooncakes don’t have flaky crusts, what kind would they be? Are there really mooncakes that aren’t flaky-crusted?”

Yu Tang couldn’t say much more. She was thinking about whether to go to Hangzhou City to buy a few capital-style mooncakes for her mother to try, then attempt to make them.

Just as she was thinking about this, Yu Yuan came to deliver mooncakes. He said the Xiang family had someone bring them from Fuyang as a Mid-Autumn Festival gift for the Yu family, and one portion was for Yu Wen’s side.

When Yu Tang opened it to look, it was truly a case of thinking of something and having it appear—it was actually a box of Guangzhou mooncakes.

Guangzhou mooncakes and those from the capital area were quite similar, both having dough crusts. The difference lay in the filling. Guangzhou mooncakes preferred lotus seed and egg yolk fillings.

She said to Chen Shi, “See, aren’t these mooncakes without flaky crusts?”

Chen Shi said dismissively, “If they’re not flaky-crusted, can they even be called mooncakes? To eat mooncakes, you must eat the flaky-crusted kind!”