Yu Tang discovered that Pei Yan particularly disliked others knowing his business.
She had grown up in the marketplace from childhood. When servants from various households gathered together, they loved gossiping about family matters. When good things happened, the servants also liked to show off, so whatever happened in any household couldn’t escape the neighbors’ ears.
Yu Tang was also accustomed to this kind of living atmosphere.
However, now that she had married into the Pei family, she should naturally follow the Pei family’s rules, especially with Pei Yan. Since they would be living together in the future, they should respect each other’s habits even more.
Moreover, the Pei family’s affairs truly weren’t suitable to speak of outside.
For instance, the matter of buying estates in Jiangxi.
Yu Tang secretly committed this to memory and said: “Later, Grandmother invited Old Woman Shi over twice. I felt this person was acceptable, but I haven’t had much contact with her. Whether or not to invite her into the household—it would be better to ask Grandmother about it.”
Pei Yan felt Yu Tang spoke reasonably.
The main thing was that this medicine woman specialized in moxibustion, which Old Madam Pei used more frequently.
He casually hooked Yu Tang’s waist ornament with his hand and played with it, saying: “Then you can ask Grandmother about it later.”
Yu Tang felt somewhat embarrassed.
Pei Yan then told her: “There’s a common saying: distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. Why is that? It’s because close neighbors interact more frequently. It’s the same between people—the more you associate, the more you understand, and the better the relationship becomes. There’s no need to mention Elder Sister-in-law. Second Sister-in-law is kind-hearted but lacks decisiveness. She often needs Second Brother to make decisions for household matters. Grandmother wants her to simply follow Second Brother through life—that way with just the three or four of them, Second Sister-in-law won’t find managing difficult either. We will certainly be living together with Grandmother. Grandmother has a strong personality, so I can only ask you to be more accommodating to the old lady.”
Yu Tang didn’t think this was a problem.
She was a junior and naturally should be filial to her elders.
Moreover, Old Madam Pei was not an unreasonable woman.
She smiled and promised: “Rest assured, I will certainly listen to Grandmother’s words.”
These were originally extremely docile words, but when Pei Yan heard them, he felt slightly dissatisfied in his heart.
But one shouldn’t be blindly filial either!
He couldn’t help but add: “But don’t be too hard on yourself either. If Grandmother does something wrong anywhere, just don’t argue with her face to face. Come back and tell me, and I’ll figure out a solution.”
Would a junior really dare argue face to face with an elder?
Yu Tang stared at Pei Yan with wide eyes.
Pei Yan laughed heartily, rolled over, lay on his stomach on the bed and said to Yu Tang: “When I was little, I often argued with Father. Father got so angry several times he wanted to remove me from the family register.” Speaking of this, he thought of his deceased father. His expression darkened, and he rolled over again, lying supine on the bed. He stopped playing with Yu Tang’s waist ornament, pillowed his hands behind his head, and let out a long sigh. “If only Father were still here. He would definitely be very happy to know I got married.”
Yu Tang knew he was filial to Old Master Pei. For this, he had even cut all the brightly blooming flowers in the household. Seeing him like this, she couldn’t help but feel heartache and comforted him gently: “After the twelfth month passes, let’s go offer incense to Father! We can also invite the great masters from Zhaoming Temple to perform a religious ceremony.”
Pei Yan thought this was a good idea and said: “Father believed in Daoism. We should invite Daoist priests from Shangqing Abbey to perform the ceremony for Father instead.”
After saying this, he began discussing at length the differences between Daoism and Buddhism.
Yu Tang was hearing about this for the first time and couldn’t help listening with great interest. Seeing Pei Yan had been talking for a long time, she even personally poured him a cup of tea.
The two could discuss such a dry topic for an entire afternoon. If Qing Yuan hadn’t reminded them it was almost time to go to Old Madam Pei’s place for the meal, the two probably could have continued talking.
Pei Yan couldn’t help but smile with his eyes and brows.
It had been a long time since he had chatted with anyone. He hadn’t expected Yu Tang would be quite interested in the topics he discussed.
Perhaps he could teach Yu Tang to read?
As Pei Yan pondered this in his heart, Yu Tang secretly regretted, saying: “It looks like we’ll only have time to meet the people from Shuyu Mountain House when we return this evening.”
But Pei Yan didn’t want to.
He said: “In the pitch darkness, how many faces could you recognize clearly? Let’s wait until we return from the visit to your natal home!”
He wanted to continue practicing the positions he hadn’t had time to practice last night. He must make up for it today.
Yu Tang suspected nothing. After dining at Old Madam Pei’s place, Old Madam Pei kept the two of them and gave them lengthy instructions about what to be mindful of during the return visit to the natal home. She also advised Pei Yan several times with things like “don’t keep a straight face” and “I know you’re not losing your temper, but others don’t know that,” before finally letting the two leave.
But as soon as they left, Old Madam Pei said to Nanny Chen: “Look at Xiaguang—doesn’t he have a bit of that mischievous and lively manner from before? Today I told him to be more pleasant and amiable with his father-in-law, and he actually glared at me twice. When he was little and didn’t want to do his schoolwork, when his father scolded him, if I was nearby, he would glare at me just like that.”
Nanny Chen had been sent by Old Madam Pei to re-inspect the items they were bringing for the return visit to the natal home. She wasn’t at the scene at all, much less had seen it. But she was worthy of being Old Madam Pei’s devoted nanny. She answered irrelevantly with a smile: “Though Third Master is the pillar of the household, his age is what it is. It’s rare that Third Madam can make him happy—isn’t this precisely the ‘harmonious marriage’ that people often envy? If I were in your place, I would be delighted beyond measure.”
Old Madam Pei laughed heartily and let the matter pass.
The next day, Yu Tang rose from bed with a dark expression.
Pei Yan was in the hall arranging several pots of clivia plants.
Wearing a bamboo-green Hangzhou silk long robe with woven hidden patterns of bamboo leaves, his face like white jade, he glowed in the morning light—like a precious pearl or jade beside one, making others pale in comparison.
Yu Tang didn’t know what to say.
How could a person have such a great difference between day and night?
Truly a beast in gentleman’s clothing!
Yu Tang cursed chaotically in her heart, but when Pei Yan turned his head, smiled at her and said “You’re up! Don’t rush, it’s still early. Elder Brother won’t come over so quickly,” she felt less angry again—just that her face burned terribly.
According to Lingan customs, when a daughter returned to her natal home, her maternal brother would bring over a stacked box filled with food to escort her.
Yu Tang feared Yu Yuan would come too early, so she had risen earlier than yesterday, struggling to get out of bed. Hearing Pei Yan say this, she could only ignore him.
Knowing she was embarrassed, Pei Yan wasn’t annoyed either. He had Qing Yuan bring over a bowl of black-bone chicken and codonopsis soup that had been simmering all night, saying: “Have something to tide you over first.”
Yu Tang was indeed hungry and drank two bowls of soup in succession.
Yu Yuan arrived.
He first went to pay his respects to Old Madam Pei, then came over to escort Yu Tang and Pei Yan for the return visit.
Pei Yan followed proper etiquette and invited him to breakfast, then everyone returned to the Yu household together.
Yu Tang’s wedding had been conducted with great fanfare. For their return visit, neighbors specifically waited at the door to watch.
Pei Yan was also quite generous and amiable in greeting the neighbors, causing those neighbors to continuously praise him for having grace and bearing.
Yu Wen was naturally pleased to know this. He personally came out of the hall to welcome his new son-in-law. Pei Yan also fully performed the role of son-in-law, making everyone in the Yu family very satisfied.
Yu Tang was called to the inner chambers by the family’s female relatives. Chen Shi nervously grasped her hand and asked: “How is it? After you married over, has the Pei family treated you well? Has your husband-in-law taken good care of you?”
That kind of care from Pei Yan—either keeping her from sleeping all night or telling her not to be afraid to quarrel with others?
Fortunately she was an honest person who just listened and let it go. If it were someone else, wouldn’t they make the household utter chaos?
Yu Tang grumbled inwardly but instinctively felt that such matters would be embarrassing to tell even her mother. The former was too shameful, and the latter—she feared family members would misunderstand Pei Yan.
She could only say vaguely: “It’s quite good! Whether it’s Third Master or Old Madam, they both treat me very well.”
Chen Shi still didn’t quite believe it and looked Yu Tang up and down.
Wang Shi watched from the side and laughed directly, saying: “Look at the young miss’s appearance—does she look like someone who’s not doing well? Since she doesn’t want to talk about it, stop asking. We all came through being young girls ourselves. There’s a long road ahead. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future.”
Chen Shi chuckled and indeed stopped asking.
Xiang Shi, however, asked with some curiosity: “I heard from people that the First Madam of the Pei family is very difficult to get along with. What do you think?”
When one marries into a family, one should speak on behalf of that family.
Yu Tang smiled and said: “I only just married over. I only encountered her face-to-face during the family recognition ceremony. What kind of person she really is—it’s not good to say right now. However, she is widowed and it’s truly inconvenient for her to go out.”
The implication was that it was proper for her to be somewhat cold.
Xiang Shi felt she had asked the wrong question and smiled: “I just wanted to know whether the rumors were true or false.”
Yu Tang understood quite well—she used to be very interested in such things too.
Everyone happily hosted Pei Yan and his wife. Because they lived close by, Yu Tang and the others stayed at the Yu household for dinner before returning.
Only they hadn’t expected to encounter the First Madam on the way back.
She had just come out from Old Madam Pei’s place. She coldly greeted Pei Yan and Yu Tang before leaving.
Pei Yan’s attitude was also very cold. He nodded, pulled Yu Tang along and left.
From the looks of it, it seemed even the pretense of civility had been torn away.
She followed Pei Yan to pay respects to Old Madam Pei. Old Madam Pei’s complexion was somewhat poor. She smiled with difficulty and asked them a few questions about the return visit, then showed signs of fatigue.
Yu Tang quickly tugged on Pei Yan’s sleeve.
Pei Yan then rose with her and took their leave.
Old Madam Pei gazed at the swaying door curtain and sighed to Nanny Chen: “You spoke correctly. Xiaguang married a wife and his temperament has become gentler. This is a good thing. Extreme rigidity breaks easily. This is just right.”
Thinking of the words the First Madam had come to say earlier, Nanny Chen sighed secretly in her heart.
The next day, Yu Tang formally met with the servants of Shuyu Mountain House. She made adjustments to both the people around herself and those around Pei Yan according to what Pei Yan had told her before, determined who would be responsible for what, and Shuyu Mountain House quickly became orderly like the other courtyards.
Besides going to Old Madam Pei’s place daily for morning and evening attendance, Yu Tang had to endure the teasing from several Pei family misses, and then there was Pei Yan, who seemed never to be satisfied.
Just this alone left her physically and mentally exhausted.
Especially with several of the misses—one moment bringing young nephews from this branch to pay respects to their grand-uncle’s wife, the next moment bringing brothers from that branch to pay respects to their uncle’s wife. Every afternoon, Shuyu Mountain House was filled with continuous laughter. Even Pei Yan keeping a stern face was useless.
Yu Tang could only plead with Pei Yan: “Can you go sleep in the study for a few days?”
Pei Yan’s face darkened with anger. He was worse off than those little nephews and grand-nephews of his. Feeling wronged, he shouted: “Why should I? I married a wife and still have to go sleep in the study? Listen to yourself—are those even human words?”
Yu Tang felt extremely guilty and murmured in a low voice: “But isn’t it because you… you should at least let me get a full night’s sleep!”