Yu Tang was also somewhat panicked.

If Pei Yan hadn’t reminded her, she wouldn’t have realized that before Zhaoming Temple, Gu Chang had never seen her.

Could it be that Gu Chang, like her, had been reborn?

If not, then… Gu Chang indeed had a problem!

Yu Tang nodded repeatedly, promising: “I understand. I won’t speak with him alone anymore.”

Pei Yan gave a very satisfied “Mm,” feeling the little girl was just like a mischievous kitten who, after being naughty for a while, had finally returned to her former obedient and sensible self.

“Then I’ll go discuss matters with Second Brother Yin first.” He instructed Yu Tang, “Stay with Miss Xu. Don’t get separated under any circumstances. That short, plump servant woman beside Miss Xu knows martial arts. If you stay with her, at least someone can help block for you.”

Yu Tang casually responded a couple of times, her attention completely captured by Pei Yan’s phrase “knows martial arts.” Her gaze involuntarily looked toward the servant woman beside Miss Xu whom she normally never paid much attention to.

Watching this, Pei Yan wondered inwardly whether he should also find such a servant woman for Yu Tang.

Although they only had more strength than ordinary people and knew a bit of martial arts, at critical moments they could delay time. Most importantly, ordinary people wouldn’t expect Yu Tang to have such a person by her side.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he needed to quickly place such a person beside Yu Tang. He strode quickly to Yin Hao’s side. Seeing Gu Chang still talking about anecdotes of Yongfu Temple, he couldn’t help but snort coldly in his heart, thinking no wonder Gu Xi was so shameless—turns out this was the family culture of the Gu family’s second branch. This Gu Chang was also someone who was one thing on the surface and another beneath—looking elegant and refined but actually full of bad intentions. Staring at Miss Yu like that, he was most likely plotting against Miss Yu…

Thinking this far, Pei Yan’s heart jumped in alarm.

People like him, like Gu Chang, including Yin Hao, and even the recently deceased Zhang Shao, all married relatively late. Mainly because their marriages had to consider many factors and might even involve much calculation. Like Gu Chang, who previously didn’t want to marry Lord Sun Gao’s daughter but feared what others might say, so he kept delaying the marriage, hoping to drag it out until the Sun family’s daughter could wait no longer. This time, having betrayed Sun Gao, the situation had changed. The best solution would be to marry Sun Gao’s daughter before the matter came to light. That way, his conflict with the Sun family would become a difference in political positions, unrelated to private virtue. Not only could the Sun family not blame him, they would have to take pride in such a son-in-law. As for what the Sun family thought in their hearts, that would be the Sun family’s own business.

Yet he was flirting with a young girl!

A thought flashed through Pei Yan’s mind.

But he wasn’t certain.

He had always looked down on marriages for profit and was thus rather clueless about such matters, unlike Tao Qing who understood everything clearly!

Pei Yan wanted to see Tao Qing.

But at this moment, Tao Qing was busy preparing gifts to meet Wang Qibao.

Even if he went to see Tao Qing, Tao Qing probably wouldn’t have time to see him.

What should he do?

Pei Yan frowned.

Yin Hao was also a bit annoyed.

What kind of temple Yongfu Temple was, the Hangzhou local gazetteer had recorded in great detail. Did Gu Chang really need to keep telling him these fabricated folk legends? It seemed that inviting Gu Chang to tour Yongfu Temple was a very wrong decision. He just didn’t know if they could also decline the vegetarian meal at Lingyin Temple later.

He glanced behind him.

He saw Pei Yan with a bitter face, also looking quite vexed.

He immediately cheered up and pulled Pei Yan into conversation: “What’s wrong with you? Toothache? Should we find a physician to look at you! I heard Yongfu Temple and Lingyin Temple share the same lineage. Since Lingyin Temple has medical monks, Yongfu Temple should also have medical monks. Should I accompany you later?”

Hearing this, Pei Yan’s face became even more sour. He didn’t speak to Yin Hao and slowly followed behind Yin Hao and Gu Chang.

He noticed Gu Chang quickly glance behind him.

Pei Yan felt all his hackles rise.

What was behind him?

Miss Xu and Miss Yu!

Miss Xu was the treasured pearl of the Xu family. Even if Gu Chang were blind, he couldn’t possibly covet Miss Xu.

So he must be looking at Miss Yu!

Pei Yan immediately felt Gu Chang was a wretched and disgusting person.

Without showing anything, he walked between Yin Hao and Gu Chang and said to Yin Hao: “Second Brother, how was this year’s spring plowing in Huai’an? I heard there was some incident at Qinghe River on your end. Is it true?”

Upon hearing this, Yin Hao smiled bitterly and helplessly: “How is it that you know everything? I’ve been keeping it suppressed so people wouldn’t know. How did you find out?”

Pei Yan smiled faintly but stopped walking.

Yin Hao, wanting to hear how he would answer, naturally also stopped. Gu Chang, having his own ulterior motives and wanting to take the opportunity to speak with Yu Tang, naturally pretended not to notice and continued walking forward.

This way, when Miss Xu and Yu Tang passed Pei Yan and Yin Hao, he could turn back and strike up a conversation with them.

Pei Yan watched Gu Chang’s retreating back, his gaze turning several degrees colder.

He couldn’t help but ask in a low voice: “Second Brother, if Gu Chaoyang were to marry the daughter of an ordinary rural scholar at this time, what kind of impact would it have on his official career?”

Only then did Yin Hao realize that Pei Yan wanted to get rid of Gu Chang to talk with him. He mistakenly assumed the earlier question was very important, so he temporarily set aside pursuing the matter of Qinghe River. After thinking carefully, he whispered: “If he could reach the rank of third-grade official before the Sun Gao matter comes to light, and if the Sun family doesn’t have any extraordinarily talented disciples, who would offend Gu Chaoyang to investigate Sun Gao’s matter?”

In other words, it wasn’t completely unfeasible.

Pei Yan’s expression became extremely cold and severe.

Yin Hao was startled and hastily asked: “What’s wrong? Did you discover something? Or has Gu Chaoyang gone back on his word?”

“No!” As Pei Yan spoke, his gaze toward Yin Hao became somewhat profound.

He was silent for a while, then again said in a low voice: “Do you think Gu Chaoyang meets the criteria for recruiting a son-in-law into the Yin family?”

Yin Hao was stunned and instinctively retorted: “Our family doesn’t have a daughter of suitable age for him, and moreover, he might not be willing to take such a great risk.”

The Yin family was one of the more famous aristocratic families in the current dynasty, with considerable power. Being a son-in-law of the Yin family had obvious benefits, but for Gu Chang at this moment, it wasn’t necessarily the best choice.

Once Sun Gao fell from power, if Gu Chang were the Yin family’s son-in-law, his choice would become rather intriguing.

It would definitely have some impact on Gu Chang’s reputation.

Pei Yan narrowed his eyes and smiled slightly, though that smile looked somewhat sinister to Yin Hao.

“If Gu Chaoyang wants to become a third-grade official without the support of an aristocratic family, it probably won’t be so easy, will it?” he said unhurriedly, like a tiger sizing up its prey wondering where to bite. “His father offended quite a few people because of that stepmother of his. The Gu family definitely won’t devote all their resources to him. Moreover, the Gu family has declined severely in recent years. The so-called four great families of Jiangnan merely have the advantage of numbers!”

That was true.

Like this time with Tao An wanting to become Jiangxi Provincial Inspector, not only did he need several families to jointly recommend him strongly, the Tao family also had to produce large amounts of wealth to reward everyone.

With Gu Chang’s own capabilities, he absolutely couldn’t come up with that.

Yin Hao suddenly felt somewhat tempted.

Gu Chang was excellent in every way—whether in appearance, ability, cunning, or courage, he was first-rate.

If he had the Yin family’s full support, reaching the rank of third-grade official in ten years was completely to be expected.

It just depended on whether Gu Chaoyang would accept this proposal!

At this moment, Yin Hao instead became a bit worried about Pei Yan.

He said: “What do you mean? Don’t tell me there’s some trap waiting for me?”

Pei Yan, however, retracted his claws. With utmost sincerity, he said: “Second Brother, I can set traps for you, but I cannot set traps for the Yin family.”

Setting a trap for him was a matter between the two of them; setting a trap for the Yin family would make them mortal enemies.

Yin Hao stroked his chin and smiled: “Didn’t I just feel that your manner didn’t seem like you were doing something good but rather like you were watching a joke unfold?”

“Really?” Pei Yan looked at Yin Hao, feeling he still hadn’t cultivated his skills properly—Yin Hao had actually sensed a trace of malice. It seemed he was still too contemptuous of others. He hastily made amends: “Aren’t I also afraid Gu Chaoyang might go back on his word? This person is, after all, a son of an aristocratic family. While Sun Gao fabricating evidence and slandering others is certainly wrong, he is still Gu Chaoyang’s mentor. Besides himself, Gu Chang has the Gu family behind him. If it’s truly exposed, his future days won’t be easy either. A third-grade official position is, after all, just a vision. What if the goal isn’t achieved? If it were me, I’m afraid I wouldn’t agree so easily.”

Yin Hao snorted disdainfully: “That’s right! You, this fellow, don’t know who you take after—you only sweep the snow from your own doorstep and don’t care about the frost on others’ roofs. If you encountered such a matter, no matter who your mentor was slandering, as long as it wasn’t someone close to you, never mind opposing it—not helping to twist the knife would already be good.”

Pei Yan pretended to be angry: “Second Brother Yin is really disparaging me. Am I that kind of person?”

The two bantered back and forth a few times, but Yin Hao began seriously contemplating making Gu Chang a son-in-law of the Yin family.

His conversation with Pei Yan became somewhat absent-minded.

The corners of Pei Yan’s mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.

He felt this matter was eighty or ninety percent likely to succeed.

When he saw Gu Chang speaking with Yu Tang again, his heart was as calm as the sea. He felt he truly was broad-minded and magnanimous! Not only was he not irritated, but he could even banter with Yin Hao, saying if Yin Hao paid him ten taels of silver, he would tell him who informed him about the Qinghe matter, which made Yin Hao so angry his mustache bristled.

Having finally managed to speak with Yu Tang, Gu Chang rather calculatingly brought up Yu Wen, mentioning which year Yu Wen had passed the scholar examination, what questions had been on the exam that year, and that when he was studying, his teacher had used that question to have them practice examination essays. He even asked Yu Tang whether her father planned to continue with the imperial examinations. If he still planned to take the exams, it would be best to come to Hangzhou to find a famous teacher for guidance: “That way it would be somewhat easier.”

The more Yu Tang listened, the more she felt Gu Chang was deliberately approaching her.

Otherwise, how would he know so much about her father?

Even Pei Yan didn’t know as much as he did.

Yu Tang tightly hugged Miss Xu’s arm, listening to Gu Chang speak with a stiff smile.

Gu Chang thought she was shy.

Miss Xu, however, felt Gu Chang was completely wasting his flirtations on a blind person.

When no one was paying attention, she rolled her eyes. But thinking of how her foolish older brother had once been similarly senseless in front of her sister-in-law, she felt sympathetic. When Gu Chang again asked how many acres of fields Yu Tang’s family had and Yu Tang looked unwilling to answer, she sighed and said: “Lord Gu, Miss Yu doesn’t normally manage household affairs. Rather than asking Miss Yu how many acres of fields her family has, why not ask what Miss Yu usually likes to do?”