Everyone looked toward Yu Tang, who had burst out laughing.

Yu Tang hurriedly suppressed her laughter and said to her father, “What would you go there for? Would you really personally tell the Gu family about the grudge between our two families?”

Yu Wen raised his eyebrows. “Why not?”

Chen Shi’s heart jumped chaotically hearing this, afraid this father and daughter would recklessly act without restraint. She hurriedly put on a chiding and angry expression and said, “How is this getting more and more outrageous! Gossiping about others behind their backs—is that supposed to be a good thing?”

The Yu father and daughter didn’t want to make Chen Shi worry and be frightened, so they both shut their mouths.

Seeing this, Wang Shi smiled and mediated from the side: “Alright, alright. In any case, our family hasn’t suffered a loss. As for whether other families are happy or angry, since they’re not close relatives, what does it have to do with our family? I heard the Pei family is funding a lantern festival on Changxing Street tomorrow that the government will host. Everyone should rest early today, and tomorrow let’s all go to Changxing Street to see the lantern festival together?”

Chen Shi wasn’t truly angry with the father and daughter. Since Wang Shi had offered a way out, she naturally took it, saying with a smile to Wang Shi, “I was just about to invite Elder Sister-in-law and Elder Brother, but Elder Sister-in-law spoke first. What time do you plan to go tomorrow? Where should we meet?”

The sisters-in-law discussed tomorrow’s lantern festival plans. Chen Shi personally saw Wang Shi to the door.

Yu Wen’s face then became stern as he said to Yu Tang, “Come with me.”

Yu Tang didn’t dare say much and obediently went with her father to the study.

Yu Wen slumped into the master’s chair and scolded his daughter: “What else have you done? If you confess everything to me now, I won’t pursue it. Otherwise, go copy the Classic of Filial Piety ten thousand times.”

Wouldn’t that make her hands swell from copying?!

Yu Tang said with a bitter face, “I really didn’t deliberately hide it from you. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to implicate you.”

Yu Wen said urgently, “You didn’t tell me, yet Madam Li came to the house anyway. Fortunately, your eldest aunt rushed over today. If your mother had been frightened, what were you planning to do?”

Yu Tang lowered her head to admit her mistake.

Yu Wen couldn’t help but lecture Yu Tang: “Since you already told the Gu family about this matter, however the Gu family treats Li Duan is the Li family’s business. Yet you actually sent someone to watch Li Duan, wanting to see him make a fool of himself. The result is good—you’ve entangled yourself, haven’t you?”

On the Li family’s side, Lin Shi was furious and had smashed several teacups in succession: “It’s all the Yu family’s fault. If it weren’t for them, how would my son suffer such grievances? They clearly knew my son was coming to pay New Year respects on the second day. It’s one thing for the father-in-law and mother-in-law not to see him, but to actually have a servant entertain my son—what does this mean? Do they think our family is reaching above our station? I want to see what the Gu family plans to do about this marriage!”

Li Duan only felt deep exhaustion.

Ever since the cause of Wei Xiaoshan’s death was exposed, events had been like a runaway carriage, rushing madly in a direction even he didn’t know. Behind him there seemed to be invisible hands pushing him along.

However, was the matter with the Gu family really related to the Yu family as his mother said?

Wasn’t the Yu family scholarly people?

That Yu Wen also had a literary reputation. How could he gossip about their family’s affairs behind their backs?

Li Duan looked at his mother, whose lips trembled with anger. Thinking about how to comfort her with a few words, he raised his eyes and saw his cousin Lin Jue standing outside the window making eye signals at him.

For the sake of that “Fishing in Seclusion at Pine Creek” painting, Lin Jue had not only stayed instead of returning to Fujian for New Year but had also found a way to locate a mounting master to restore that map to like-new condition. After the fifteenth of the first month, they could send someone to deliver a message to the Peng family.

His cousin’s hard work during this time was not in vain.

He imperceptibly nodded at Lin Jue. Lin Jue understood and returned to his guest room. Li Duan comforted his mother a few more times before finding an opportunity to slip away and meet with Lin Jue.

“What happened?” Li Duan asked as soon as he saw Lin Jue. “You’re even hiding from my mother!”

“Women just have long hair and short insight,” Lin Jue said dismissively.

His aunt was no exception.

Rather than worrying at this time about what grievances Li Duan suffered at the Gu family, she should be concerned about whether that map was real or fake.

As long as the Li family gained power, would the Gu family be willing to give up Li Duan as a golden turtle son-in-law?

Women could never distinguish priorities.

“I’ve been thinking that before sending the map to the Peng family, we should first make several copies to keep,” Lin Jue shared his carefully considered idea. “We need to guard against the Peng family turning against us and refusing to acknowledge us.”

If the worst happened, they could still take the copied maps to seek patronage from other powerful families.

Li Duan grasped it immediately. He said, “Then we’ll first send a letter to the Peng family saying we’ve obtained the painting, asking them how to deliver it, to delay for some time?”

This way, with letters going back and forth, they could drag it out for ten days to half a month.

Lin Jue, seeing that Li Duan understood his meaning, showed a glimmer of gratification in his eyes. He lowered his voice: “It’s just this map?”

Li Duan immediately understood his meaning and said decisively, “One copy for each of our two families.”

Lin Jue was satisfied and said, “I’ll handle this right away. When the time comes, I’ll go with you to meet the Peng family’s people.”

When all was said and done, wasn’t he just afraid the Li family would monopolize the Peng family’s benefits?

Li Duan showed not a trace of emotion, nodding with a smile: “As it should be!”

Lin Jue laughed heartily.

On the Yu family’s side, when Yu Bo returned from the shop in the evening and heard that someone from the Li family had come to make trouble, he specifically came with Wang Shi to check on Chen Shi. Yu Yuan, however, didn’t come along.

Yu Bo said with dissatisfaction, “That boy, I don’t know what he’s been doing these days. Leaving early and returning late—during the New Year, even meeting him is difficult. If I weren’t seeing that he’s about to get married soon, I would have caught him and given him a beating already.”

During New Year, which family’s son didn’t run wild everywhere?

Yu Wen didn’t feel there was anything wrong with Yu Yuan not coming to pay respects. He even advised Yu Bo: “You also said he’s about to get married. You’ll have to say less to him in the future. Later when his wife enters the family, if you give him no face like this, will he still be able to stand tall before his wife?”

Yu Bo muttered a few sentences and let Yu Yuan be.

The next day was the fifteenth of the first month. Yu Yuan was still nowhere to be seen. Yu Tang went to Ma Xiuniang’s house. Only the Yu Bo brothers and Wang Shi sisters-in-law went together to the lantern festival.

Yu Yuan was really as Yu Bo said—who knew what he was busy with.

It wasn’t until the seventeenth of the first month when the lanterns were taken down and New Year was officially over, with every household’s shop opening its doors, that Yu Yuan emerged from somewhere, excitedly telling Yu Tang: “I found the kind of tree you mentioned. It’s called sea buckthorn, and it’s really just as you said—the poorer the soil quality, the easier it is to survive.”

Hearing this, Yu Tang also became interested and hurriedly pulled Yu Yuan to the study to talk.

Yu Yuan told her that these past days he had followed Yao San’er to meet several groups of people doing business outside. Among them was one called Gao Qi who ran errands for a salt merchant and had seen this kind of tree in the Northwest: “He also said if we’re really sincere about wanting them, he can help arrange to have some saplings sent over. However, each sapling costs one tael of silver, and we need to pay a deposit first.”

“So expensive!” Yu Tang was astonished.

She had originally thought this tree was very cheap and easy to maintain, which was why the Pei family planted this kind of tree on the mountain, then made it into preserved fruit to sell for profit.

If each tree sapling cost one tael of silver, what profit would they make?

Could there be some trickery in this that she didn’t know about?

Hearing Yu Tang say this, Yu Yuan immediately felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured over him. The excitement and joy from finding the tree saplings was instantly doused thoroughly. He was like an eggplant beaten by frost, wilting: “Then, then are we still planting trees or not?”

Yu Tang couldn’t make up her mind either.

She said, “Wait first. Let me think it over more carefully.”

Yu Tang wondered whether she should consult Pei Yan to find out why Pei Yan had thought back then to plant sea buckthorn trees in their family’s forest…

Shen Fang accompanied Shen Shanyan back to Lin’an.

Shen Shanyan specifically invited Yu Wen over to talk: “Regarding the tree saplings you mentioned, my elder brother has a student serving as an official in the Northwest who can help procure some to send back. It’s just that the travel expenses are considerable. You’ll probably have to calculate carefully.”

Yu Wen’s heart jumped hearing this. He said, “How much per sapling?”

Shen Shanyan said, “Including the round-trip expenses, it comes to about thirty-some copper coins per sapling.”

It was indeed expensive.

But this was what Yu Tang wanted.

He gritted his teeth and said, “Then could we first get ten or twenty saplings back for us to try planting?”

“That’s no problem.” Shen Shanyan said with a smile. “I’ll simply have him also find you a master who knows how to plant sea buckthorn trees to come back. If they can survive, he can also earn a livelihood here.”

If they were really going to plant trees, neither Yu Yuan nor Yu Tang could possibly live on the mountain. They would always need to hire people.

“Great!” Yu Wen readily agreed and went back to tell Yu Tang about this matter.

Yu Tang was dumbfounded.

How could the price difference be so great!

Could it be because of different channels?

Yu Tang didn’t think too much about it. She just had Yu Yuan decline that person called Gao Qi, saying the family elders had already asked someone to buy the saplings.

This was also a common human situation.

Yu Yuan didn’t take it to heart. After greeting Gao Qi, he considered the matter closed and began running to the old residence every day, measuring the forest, arranging spring plowing. In just over ten days, he had tanned considerably.

Wang Shi wouldn’t let him go to the forest anymore, saying, “The spring sun may look warm, but it’s the most scorching. You’re about to get married. If you tan yourself like charcoal at this time, Miss Xiang might think the person she saw and the one she’s marrying aren’t the same person!”

Yu Yuan laughed foolishly but stopped going to the forest, devoting himself wholeheartedly to preparing for the wedding.

Yu Tang also felt this matter couldn’t be rushed. Helping Eldest Cousin bring his wife into the family first was the most pressing matter.

Booking kitchen staff, booking gongs, drums, and suona players, booking flower sedan chairs and ceremonial processions… a heap of trivial matters.

Ma Xiuniang chose a day to come deliver congratulatory gifts.

Yu Tang welcomed her into her inner chamber to talk.

Ma Xiuniang said somewhat apologetically, “Originally I should have brought several bolts of fabric to make new clothes for your elder brother and sister-in-law. But there are really so many matters at home and I can’t get away. Your brother-in-law took it upon himself to paint several hanging scrolls to give to your elder brother, wishing him marital bliss and abundant descendants.”

Yu Tang knew Ma Xiuniang’s finances were currently tight. She held her hand and comforted her with several sentences, kept her for a meal, then saw her to the door.

When Wang Shi heard about it, she was somewhat curious and took out the congratulatory gift from Ma Xiuniang’s family to look at.

Zhang Hui had painted one of pomegranates, one of magpies, one of grapes, and one of plums—all auspicious meanings. What neither Wang Shi nor Yu Tang expected was that these paintings were all extremely well done. Even Wang Shi, who didn’t understand paintings, loved them: “I didn’t expect Young Master Zhang to have such painting skill. Even if Young Master Zhang can’t pass the juren examination in the future, he won’t lack for a living.”

Wang Shi’s unintentional words stirred something in Yu Tang’s heart. She secretly pondered whether she should ask Zhang Hui to help her family paint some lacquerware designs.

This way, she could both solve the shop’s lack of a painter and allow the Zhang family to increase their income.