Once the thought arose, Yu Tang simply couldn’t suppress her excitement.

But she knew Pei Yan was an extremely intelligent person. If she showed even the slightest hint of elation, not only would her painstaking efforts be wasted, but Pei Yan might think she was delusional, speaking complete nonsense, and might even doubt everything she’d said and done.

Losing Pei Yan’s trust.

This was something she absolutely could not tolerate.

Yu Tang’s expression involuntarily revealed anxiety about gain and loss.

Pei Yan thought Yu Tang was afraid he’d find her words too bizarre and didn’t dare continue.

He thought for a moment, then like when his father had comforted him as a child, he gently patted Yu Tang’s hand—white, delicate, and smooth as mutton-fat jade—resting on the dark blue plain cotton quilt, saying warmly, “It’s fine! I sometimes also have all sorts of chaotic dreams. When I wake up they seem absurd, but they’re things I truly dreamed. I think it’s good that you can tell me your dreams. You don’t need to have any misgivings—I won’t tell anyone else.” After saying this, he even made an unprecedented joke with Yu Tang: “I’ll help you donate the incense money. You don’t need to repay me, and I guarantee the temple monks will all be very pleased.”

Unfortunately, he rarely joked, so this joke came out awkwardly. Combined with Yu Tang having her own concerns, her mind racing as she pondered how to tell him about her previous life, when she heard this she didn’t think carefully. She just smiled at him and absentmindedly said, “Father gave me plenty of silver when I came,” then lowered her head again, lost in her own thoughts.

Pei Yan frowned, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

Before, when the young lady talked to him, she would open her eyes wide and focus entirely on him. The slightest movement from him and she’d immediately react. Now… perhaps it was because she’d encountered such a terrifying thing and been frightened.

Pei Yan was very satisfied with this speculation.

No matter what, a young lady was still a young lady. No matter how bold, she couldn’t be as thick-skinned as a boy. It was perfectly normal for her to be frightened. He’d always thought this young lady feared nothing, but that was thinking too simply.

He decided to end this conversation to avoid continuing further and scaring the young lady badly.

Pei Yan said, “What happened after? Did you wake up frightened then?”

Yu Tang felt that no matter how much she investigated matters from her previous life, they were already past events. She couldn’t return to the past or investigate clearly. This was why after her rebirth she’d worked hard to forget her previous life.

People in this life couldn’t be held responsible for things they hadn’t yet done in this life.

But there were some things she still wanted to tell Pei Yan. She couldn’t let Pei Yan think her courage was so slight that she’d faint from merely dreaming about people arguing, could she?

Yu Tang shook her head and said, “Later, I don’t know why, but I bumped into the flowering tree, making rustling sounds. They discovered me. I felt that having lost this opportunity, I might never have another chance. I didn’t run away. Instead, I quietly prepared to change hiding places. Who knew Peng Eleven seemed able to see me? He chased after me and grabbed my throat. During the struggle, I stabbed the scissors into his abdomen…”

She heard Li Duan’s cry of alarm.

Her last memory stopped at Li Duan saying anxiously to Peng Eleven, “What do we do? Ku’an Temple is too small. How about we bury her at the Pei family’s country estate…”

She didn’t know if they had actually buried her at the Pei family’s country estate. If her body was discovered, would it implicate the Pei family?

Listening, Pei Yan sucked in a sharp breath.

No wonder the young lady had been frightened.

Anyone who had such a strange dream would feel uncomfortable, let alone turning around and encountering the person from the dream. If it were someone with a more suspicious mind, they might even think Peng Eleven had escaped from the dream to hunt her down!

He thought for a moment, changed Yu Tang’s hot tea for a fresh cup, and said, “Don’t overthink it. Perhaps it’s because you’ve changed locations these past few days and haven’t slept well. However, that Peng Eleven’s appearance is indeed somewhat frightening. I didn’t consider this thoroughly. I only thought I found it acceptable, without considering that you all rarely see people like him. I heard you only brought two people with you. How about this—I’ll have Qing Yuan temporarily attend to you, and dispatch a few more servants to guard where you’re staying. After today’s sutra lecture ends, I’ll have that Peng Eleven leave Lin’an City.”

Would you feel safer?

Pei Yan looked at Yu Tang.

Yu Tang’s almond eyes widened.

Would he really drive Peng Eleven out of Lin’an for her sake?

What about the Peng family…

The young lady’s gaze was too clear, her look too direct, making Pei Yan unable to help softly laughing aloud.

He said, “What else? Keep him here to celebrate New Year? If he had any sense, after such an incident occurred, he should voluntarily leave. Having him stay to finish listening to today’s sutra lecture before going is already giving him face. Don’t worry about this matter—leave it to me. I’ll send someone to escort him back to Fujian. In the future, he shouldn’t think about setting foot in Lin’an again. Would the Peng family really turn against me over a mere Peng Eleven?”

Yu Tang was deeply moved hearing this.

The Peng family was large and powerful. Driving away one of their family members who had passed the provincial examination and not letting him appear in Lin’an City again—how could that be so easy!

Yet Pei Yan was prepared to do it for her.

Whether this matter succeeded or not, she was grateful for Pei Yan’s kind intentions.

She felt she should persuade Pei Yan—just having Peng Eleven stay away from her would be enough. But just as she prepared to speak, she suddenly thought of something.

In her previous life, the court was going to implement converting farmland to mulberry cultivation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

The land in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang area was already scarce. With this policy, rice prices would definitely soar.

The Pei family had first bought a very large estate in Huguang, then later bought a large estate in Jiangxi. Therefore, regardless of the harvest year, the Pei family’s grain and oil shops always had rice to supply. One year, because of a great disaster, they had even stabilized rice prices. Because of this, the Pei family had received court commendation and been awarded a plaque.

Because of this matter, the Li family had also wanted to buy estates in Jiangxi.

At that time, the Li family had gone through the Peng family’s connections.

Because the Peng family had someone serving as governor in Jiangxi.

Moreover, Li Yi had specifically written a letter back then telling Li Duan to quickly handle this matter, saying the Peng family member had already been in the Jiangxi governor position for nearly three years, had outstanding achievements, and the Peng family was pulling strings for him, wanting him to return to the capital to serve as a vice minister in one of the Six Ministries, hoping to enter the cabinet.

Li Duan at that time was preparing to take the examinations and had no time to handle this, so he’d asked Lin Jue for help.

Lin Jue took the opportunity to also buy an estate for the Lin family.

If because of her, Pei Yan offended the Peng family, wouldn’t the Jiangxi estate and the court’s commendation all be implicated?!

She couldn’t be so selfish.

“No need, no need!” Yu Tang quickly said. “It’s just a dream, that’s all. We shouldn’t offend the Peng family over this. The sutra lecture is only nine days, and when it’s over, that Peng Eleven will probably leave Lin’an anyway. I’ll just avoid him these few days. After all, the Pei family is the host—it wouldn’t be good to have the Peng family leave in anger.”

Pei Yan didn’t like hearing this.

He looked at Yu Tang sideways. “You think I can’t handle the Peng family?”

It’s over! It’s over!

Hearing this, Yu Tang cried out inwardly.

How had she forgotten Pei Yan’s proud temperament?

If she didn’t properly praise him thoroughly, and instead doubted his abilities here, he’d definitely be extremely angry!

“No, no!” Yu Tang hurriedly said in remedy. “I just feel it’s not worth it.”

Saying it this way was too dismissive—this probably wasn’t enough to dissuade Pei Yan!

Yu Tang felt that based on her understanding of Pei Yan, she needed to produce more compelling reasons that also wouldn’t hurt his pride.

Her mind raced as she said, “Doesn’t the Peng family have someone serving as governor in Jiangxi? I feel that rather than just driving Peng Eleven away, it would be better to use this incident to make the Peng family feel guilty and open convenient doors for Pei family business. However, this is just my suggestion. Whether to do this and whether it’s possible still requires your decision.”

Pei Yan said nothing, but looked at her with a somewhat strange expression.

Yu Tang’s heart sank, knowing she’d probably said something wrong. What was worse, she didn’t know where she’d gone wrong. She could only put on a timid appearance and say softly, “Did, did I say something incorrect?”

Pei Yan’s expression became even more peculiar.

He said, “Who told you the Peng family has someone serving as governor in Jiangxi?”

Wasn’t that the case?

In her previous life, the Li family had clearly gone through these connections!

Yu Tang didn’t dare think further, knowing her statement had a major flaw.

Thinking quickly, she put on a confused expression and said, “I, I dreamed it in my dream. I also dreamed the Pei family bought estates in Jiangxi.”

Pei Yan looked at Yu Tang in shock.

Just three days ago, he had just decided to purchase a large tract of land in Jiangxi.

Because the court was about to forcibly implement converting farmland to mulberry cultivation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

Unlike Huguang, where few reached the rank of third-grade official, buying land there only required silver. Jiangxi was a major harvest area for the northern examination route, where people always liked forming factions, vaguely forming a standoff with Jiangnan. Buying land there required not only silver but also connections.

The current Jiangxi governor was Zhang Shao, the eldest son of his mentor Zhang Ying. Zhang Shao’s official career in Jiangxi wasn’t going smoothly. He seemed to want to give Jiangxi officials a show of authority, which was why he repeatedly asked him to buy land in Jiangxi.

Moreover, Jiangxi didn’t produce as much grain as Huguang.

Jiangxi wasn’t a good choice.

He couldn’t refuse Zhang Shao’s personal request, so he was prepared to spend tens of thousands of taels of silver to help Zhang Shao save face.

Within the Pei family, only he, Old Steward Yi, and the actual handler Shu Qing knew about this.

There was no way the young lady could know.

Pei Yan was a scholar and didn’t believe in supernatural occurrences.

But at this moment, looking at Yu Tang whose eyes remained clear and whose expression still relied on him, then thinking about how he was sitting in a temple meditation room, his mood couldn’t calm down at all. Strange thoughts arose.

The Pei family had worshipped Shakyamuni for generations, donating enough silver to cast a Buddha statue to enshrine in Zhaoming Temple’s Great Hall. Could it be that the Bodhisattva, having received the Pei family’s devotion, felt obligated after accepting their offerings, and to ensure the Pei family would continue devotions in the future, borrowed the young lady’s dreams to warn him?

However, what was this about the Jiangxi governor being from the Peng family? He needed to investigate this thoroughly.

Perhaps Zhang Shao had truly done something in Jiangxi and might capsize in the gutter.

Pei Yan asked Yu Tang, “What else did you dream in your dreams?”

Yu Tang breathed a sigh of relief.

She’d been thinking about how to steer the conversation here, never expecting to unintentionally arrive at this point.

Yu Tang would naturally seize the opportunity.