Early the next morning, Xu Xuan came running over.

Yu Tang was helping Pei Yan, who was preparing to go out, get dressed. Hearing this, she couldn’t help but pause and asked the little maid who came to report: “Did Mrs. Yin say what urgent matter it was?”

The little maid shook her head and said, “Mrs. Yin didn’t say.”

Yu Tang had the little maid lead Xu Xuan to the flower hall to sit first, and continued helping Pei Yan arrange his clothing and accessories.

Pei Yan made no effort to hide his cold snort, saying, “I’ll come back early this afternoon, and then I’ll accompany you to go out on the streets.”

The capital city had dragon boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival. He was planning to accompany Yu Tang to watch the dragon boat races. Today he would go to the Zhang residence in advance to give notice, so he wouldn’t need to go pay respects to Old Master Zhang on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Thinking of how Pei Yan had complained last night that she had learned bad habits from following Xu Xuan around made Yu Tang want to laugh. But considering Pei Yan’s limits, she could only suppress her laughter, her eyes and brows smiling as she said, “I understand! I’ll prepare in advance.”

Pei Yan nodded with satisfaction, but when he went out and encountered Xu Xuan, he still brushed past her with a cold expression.

Xu Xuan looked at Pei Yan’s retreating figure in confusion, then looked at Yu Tang and said, “What’s wrong with him? Did you two have a fight?” Before her words had even faded, she denied it herself, “No, you two shouldn’t have fought. A person like Pei Xiaguang—if he had fought with you, he’d definitely be jumping with rage. The way he looks now, it’s not like he’s angry; it’s like he dislikes me. How have I offended him again?” Then she began complaining to Yu Tang about Pei Yan, “I’m not criticizing your Pei Xiaguang, but his temper is truly terrible. It’s only because your temperament is good that you can get along with him. If you ask me, if he continues like this, you might as well just leave him alone in the capital…”

Yu Tang just laughed, personally taking the loquats the little maid had washed and passing them over, saying, “Try these—they were just sent over from Fujian a few days ago.”

The golden loquats made Xu Xuan’s appetite surge, and she stopped pursuing the matter of Pei Yan’s cold expression.

Yu Tang asked her, “You came over so early—is there something?”

Xu Xuan hurriedly swallowed the loquat in her mouth and said, “There really is something.”

Yu Tang listened attentively.

Xu Xuan said, “Last night I asked Yin Mingyuan for you. Supposedly the Qin family’s eldest young master is quite good in terms of appearance, character, and learning. If it’s for a marriage alliance, he’s a pretty good candidate. But I was afraid of making mistakes, so I had Yin Mingyuan inquire more carefully, and I also asked my maternal family’s fourth sister-in-law. She loves to visit around, so she’ll definitely be able to find out about the Qin family’s affairs.”

This was really doing the Pei family a great favor.

Yu Tang was very grateful and decided to wait until Xu Xuan’s side had more reliable information before inviting Second Madam over to discuss things properly with Xu Xuan.

Without realizing it, their conversation topic shifted to Fei Zhiwen.

Xu Xuan told Yu Tang, “Old Madam Fei will arrive in the capital in the next couple of days. It’s most likely related to Fei Zhiwen’s marriage. Your family should make a decision about whether or not to form a marriage alliance with the Qin family.”

For families like theirs, sometimes it wasn’t just a matter of the children being good enough to settle a marriage—it mainly depended on the political positions of the parents’ generation.

Yu Tang smiled and said, “Then let’s wait until the marriage between the Fei and Qin families is settled before discussing it.”

Xu Xuan was in high spirits and told Yu Tang many anecdotes from the capital, and also arranged for both families to go watch the dragon boat races together.

Yu Tang looked at her big belly and hesitated, saying, “Can you manage like this?”

“Oh my, we’ll talk about it when the time comes.” Xu Xuan waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll leave that matter to Yin Mingyuan.”

Speaking of which, Yin Mingyuan’s temperament was indeed very gentle.

In the afternoon, Pei Yan indeed came back early. Xu Xuan, hearing the implication, got up early to go home.

Yu Tang felt a bit sorry for Xu Xuan and had someone bring out a large basket of cherries for Xu Xuan to take back and eat.

Xu Xuan refused, saying, “Even if I take them back, I won’t be able to eat them. If you really want to help me, just let me store these cherries here with you, and have a little maid wash a plate for me each time I come.”

Seeing how sincere and earnest she sounded, Yu Tang had no choice but to agree.

But Pei Yan spoke coldly and sarcastically from the side: “Don’t you still have Yin Mingyuan? If he can’t even manage to get you a few cherries to eat, what kind of good husband is he?” Then he instructed a young servant, “Help Mrs. Yin load them onto the carriage!” He added, “Don’t worry—whenever you come to our house, you can eat as many cherries as you want. I guarantee you won’t be able to stop.”

The way he said that…

Xu Xuan was immediately displeased and said, “Are you saying our Mingyuan isn’t as good as you? You’re just taking advantage of our A’Tang’s good temper.”

Pei Yan’s gaze was icy cold.

Xu Xuan raised her head with a cold laugh, saying, “I just don’t want to make things difficult for A’Tang.”

The implication was: you dare to be so willful because you don’t take Yu Tang seriously.

Pei Yan’s face turned livid with anger.

Xu Xuan secretly squeezed Yu Tang’s hand, apologizing in a low voice: “I really can’t stand the way he acts. I’ll have to ask you to go smooth things over with him.” Then she ran off in a flash.

Yu Tang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She comforted Pei Yan: “She means well too. Just treat her like a child.”

Pei Yan said, “If she’s a child, would she be gossiping in your ear every day?”

Yu Tang laughed and said, “Doesn’t it take two hands to clap? I also like hearing her talk about these things!”

Pei Yan was speechless with frustration.

Yu Tang could only continue to placate him: “Didn’t you say you’d accompany me out on the streets? If we keep talking like this at home, the shops will probably all close up.”

The shops in the capital closed earlier than those in Lin’an. Usually they shut their doors one after another around dusk, whereas the shops in Lin’an mostly stayed open until lamp-lighting time.

Yu Tang brought this up with Pei Yan in the carriage.

Pei Yan said, “It’s because of the climate. The north is cold, especially at night. Once everyone’s back inside, who’s going to go out shopping?”

His temper came quickly and went quickly too.

The two chatted and laughed. Besides identifying the storefronts of some century-old establishments, they also bought many foods and small decorative items that had nothing to do with the Dragon Boat Festival to bring back.

Qing Yuan smiled as she helped Yu Tang put things away when Gu Xi came over.

Yu Tang was somewhat surprised.

Although she lived in the Pei residence, Yu Tang didn’t particularly like having contact with her. She had exempted her from morning and evening attendance, so the two didn’t see each other very often.

Yu Tang invited Gu Xi inside.

Gu Xi’s gaze swept over the table full of scattered small items before she smiled and sat down in the grand armchair nearby, explaining the reason for this visit: “…Elder Aunt asked me to come ask if there’s anything you don’t eat, so she can instruct the kitchen to be mindful of it.”

Was this treating Yu Tang as the primary guest?

Yu Tang had thought that the Yang family matriarch had invited Second Madam.

Yu Tang simply told Gu Xi of her decision: “Something came up here temporarily, so I’m afraid there’s no way to visit the Yang family as a guest. Since you’ve already come over, why don’t you help me relay the message to the Yang family?”

After speaking, she even smiled apologetically.

In her heart, she was actually thinking: since you like to meddle and create opportunities for yourself, I’ll give you something to do.

Gu Xi was very surprised. After hesitating for quite a while, she asked, “Is it because Old Madam Fei is coming to the capital?”

Yu Tang couldn’t help raising her eyebrows.

She hadn’t expected Gu Xi’s information network to be so well-informed.

Gu Xi saw this clearly, but mistook Yu Tang’s raised eyebrows for surprise. She didn’t bother hiding her smugness anymore and said with feigned nonchalance, “I heard it from the third young mistress of the Li family. She’s about the same age as me, and her natal family’s ancestral home is in Tonglu. Her family and our Second Miss’s in-laws are from the same hometown.”

The Pei family’s Second Miss had married into Tonglu.

Gu Xi, just like in her previous life, enjoyed associating with the mistresses of these wealthy and prominent households.

She even said cleverly, “Are you planning to visit the Fei family? Is Second Aunt going? Should I start preparing too?”

“Our family hasn’t received an invitation from the Fei family yet,” Yu Tang said. “It’s not that we’re declining the Yang family’s banquet to go to the Fei family—there’s another matter.”

What matter during this time could be more important than Old Madam Fei coming to the capital?

The so-called not having received an invitation was probably just not having decided whether or not to take her along, right?

Thinking of it this way, her distancing herself from Yu Tang still had its advantages and disadvantages.

But should she really be expected to curry favor with Yu Tang?

Gu Xi felt she had seen through this matter. She smiled and acknowledged it, then said with a somewhat difficult expression meant to embarrass Yu Tang, “If the Yang family insists, what should I say? I can’t very well say that our family will be going to pay respects to Old Madam Fei at that time, can I?”

Yu Tang felt that Gu Xi was repeating her bad habit from her previous life—forcing her to lose face.

She immediately felt displeased, thinking that in her past life, because of her status as a widow and sister-in-law, it had been difficult to refute. But now I’m your aunt—what can you use to manipulate me with?

“Then you can make your own decision,” Yu Tang said with an unperturbed smile. “If you think this excuse is appropriate, then use this excuse!”

Let’s see whether it’s me, the mistress of the household, who loses face, or you, the nephew’s wife representing the Pei family’s affairs.

Gu Xi immediately realized.

If she said this, people wouldn’t say the Pei family was snobbish—they would only say she didn’t know how to handle matters and couldn’t even speak properly.

Gu Xi felt somewhat dejected. She looked up to see Yu Tang smiling faintly at her.

She did it on purpose, didn’t she?

Gu Xi’s first impulse was to stand up and berate Yu Tang, but those reproachful words rolled on her tongue before she swallowed them back down.

After all, Yu Tang was her elder. Even if she won the argument, others would still criticize her. And the next time Yu Tang made things difficult for her, they would think her even more disrespectful.

This was her natural disadvantage in her relationship with Yu Tang—a gap she had no way of overcoming.

Gu Xi cursed silently in her heart. But when she met with the people from the Yang family, she had no choice but to swallow her anger and make excuses for Yu Tang’s decision, patching up the gaps: “It’s not that we don’t want to come visit the Yang family—there really was a sudden matter that delayed us. There’s no way to come.”

Pei Tong’s maternal grandmother, Old Madam Yang, was so angry that the veins on her forehead bulged. She sneered and interrogated Gu Xi: “You’re A’Tong’s daughter-in-law—tell me the truth. Does she really have something going on, or is she toying with our Yang family?”

They had invited the two madams of the Pei family to come as guests. Especially since Pei Xuan was now Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and controlled the salt certificates’ seals—countless people wanted to establish this connection. The Yang family naturally wouldn’t pass up such an opportunity. Besides their own relatives, they had also invited the mistresses of several official households with whom they were on good terms. Now Yu Tang said she wasn’t coming—what to do about the prepared banquet was one thing, but how were they to explain to those mistresses?

Wasn’t this trampling the Yang family’s face underfoot?

This Yu Shi was too excessive!

Old Madam Yang slammed her hand heavily on the tea table, her gaze shooting toward Gu Xi like an arrow: “You child too—this is an adult matter. What are you meddling in? How thoughtless!”