Yu Tang stood to the side watching, grinning from ear to ear.

She could see Xiang Shi’s eye signals crystal clear.

No wonder in her previous life Yu Yuan and Gao Shi had gotten along so terribly.

With such a simple household, this elder brother of hers had no clue how to handle family matters.

However, Xiang Shi being so considerate of her was because she valued Yu Yuan.

This kind of sister-in-law was the type who could have a good life with her brother.

She wasn’t the type to stir up trouble over nothing.

Once she married, she would have her own husband to dote on her. She shouldn’t compete to be her elder brother’s precious treasure at home—if anyone should compete, it should be the children of her brother and sister-in-law.

Yu Tang stepped ashore and stood on solid ground to adjust for a while before saying, “Elder Brother, you don’t need to worry about me. Just look after Sister-in-law. If I’m not feeling well, I’ll tell you.”

Only then did Yu Yuan react.

His face reddened slightly. He coughed lightly and said with feigned composure, “I understand. Walk carefully. The inn where we’re staying isn’t far from the dock. Follow your sister-in-law and don’t wander off, understand?”

“Understood!” Yu Tang replied with a beaming smile, making Xiang Shi’s face turn completely red.

Unlike Hangzhou, they had no acquaintances in Suzhou, so they chose a relatively large inn. Though the price was a bit expensive, they had female family members with them, so staying somewhere safer was better.

Yu Yuan escorted Yu Tang and Xiang Shi to their guest room and repeatedly gave them lengthy instructions. He then intimidated Shuang Tao and Xia Lian: “If the Young Madam or Young Miss loses even a single hair, don’t think about coming back with me.”

Xia Lian had only recently arrived at the Yu family and hadn’t had much contact with Yu Yuan. Hearing this, she trembled with fright. Shuang Tao, however, had grown up in the Yu family and knew Yu Yuan was just worried about Yu Tang and Xiang Shi. She nodded repeatedly and proactively said, “Rest assured, even if the Young Madam and Young Miss want to go out, I’ll stop them.”

Only then did Yu Yuan feel relieved. He returned to his guest room with Xia Pinggui to tidy up before going to the lacquer shop.

Yu Tang and Xiang Shi immediately went to sleep. It wasn’t until Yu Yuan returned and Shuang Tao woke them that the two sleepily got up and changed clothes. Not only had they not left the room, they hadn’t even gotten out of bed.

Yu Yuan was very satisfied with this and discussed with Xiang Shi: “Would you prefer to eat in the room or go to the small restaurant next to the inn?”

Xiang Shi looked at Yu Tang, who was as beautiful as a flower, and felt it would be more secure to eat in the guest room. She said, “Let’s not go out tonight either. We can just stroll around during the day.”

Yu Tang had come this time hoping to run into Jiang Ling.

In her previous life, she had heard someone say Jiang Ling lived near the Suzhou canal dock. She wanted to find an opportunity to strike up a conversation with Jiang Ling, then follow her to invest in several maritime business ventures. If they cooperated well, she could bring up the matter of the maps.

She had learned to be smart. What she heard in her previous life remained superficial—people really needed to interact to truly understand what someone was like.

Yu Tang naturally nodded in agreement.

Seeing she didn’t object, Xiang Shi breathed a sigh of relief. Smiling, she ordered several dishes she thought Yu Tang would enjoy eating and had Shuang Tao accompany Yu Tang back to their own guest room before personally attending to Yu Yuan’s washing and grooming.

Though the days were getting longer, after dinner the sky still darkened. Yu Yuan asked Yu Tang what her plans were.

Yu Tang didn’t intend to hide anything from Yu Yuan and Xiang Shi, but she hadn’t actually met Jiang Ling in her previous life and didn’t know what kind of person she was. To rashly take her brother and sister-in-law to find Jiang Ling could cause troublesome misunderstandings.

She could only say, “I want to go to the dock area tomorrow first to inquire around. Those doing maritime business can’t be separated from the docks—they bring things back from outside and need to find places to sell them! If we inquire there, we surely won’t go wrong.”

Xiang Shi had known their plan before coming.

She felt it was somewhat risky, but since the two siblings wanted to do this business, she thought they might as well try. At worst, they would just spend more silver. Her father had given her a substantial dowry when she married, which could completely withstand this kind of adventure by the siblings.

Xiang Shi had actually had someone inquire about some information.

Hearing Yu Tang say this now, she also said, “I’ve heard as well. Only those who have contact with sailors know which fleet truly has capability and which fleet leader is reliable. I think Little Sister’s idea is quite good.”

Yu Yuan hadn’t expected Xiang Shi to proactively learn about these matters.

Of course, he was very happy that Xiang Shi didn’t oppose what he did, but if Xiang Shi could actively and enthusiastically support him, he would feel an intimacy of sharing hardships together with her and would be even happier.

He smiled so broadly his mouth wouldn’t close: “Then tomorrow we’ll do as Little Sister says—we’ll go to the dock to inquire. You two can go stroll the streets.”

In other words, Yu Yuan didn’t plan to take them along to inquire about these matters.

Yu Tang had anticipated this long ago.

She smiled and said, “Just let Sister-in-law and me go with you! We can also see what the Suzhou dock is like. At worst, when you’re inquiring about matters, we’ll just sit in a teahouse drinking tea and listening to people chat.”

Local teahouses were the best places to gather information. When they went to inquire, the first thing they would surely do was go to the teahouses near the Suzhou dock.

Rather than everyone separating and going their own ways, it was better to keep his wife and sister under his own watchful eye.

Yu Yuan thought about it and agreed.

Yu Tang was overjoyed.

The group talked together for a while longer. Learning that Yu Yuan had successfully purchased the lacquer and, fearing they couldn’t stand the smell of raw lacquer, had already arranged for the seller to send people to deliver it to Lin’an, everyone finally dispersed.

This was Xiang Shi’s first time traveling far from home with her husband. Too excited to sleep, she whispered with Yu Yuan for most of the night. The next morning they got up late, and by the time they finished grooming and went out, the sun had already risen halfway up the sky. Xiang Shi’s face turned red enough to drip blood, and she repeatedly apologized to Yu Tang.

Yu Tang pursed her lips and smiled quietly, pretending not to notice. She warmly linked arms with Xiang Shi and said, “Sister-in-law, have you ever been to a teahouse for tea? I heard teahouses also have storytelling performances. If we go, will people think we’re strange?”

The Wei family boys were all honest people who had rarely even been to Hangzhou, let alone to teahouses.

Xiang Shi had never even heard of such things, but Yu Tang’s words aroused her curiosity. No longer feeling shy, she asked Yu Yuan, “Is it like what Little Sister says?”

Yu Yuan had traveled to some places with Yu Bo after all. He quickly said, “Some teahouses have storytelling performances, some don’t. If you want to listen, we’ll find one with performances. People in Suzhou really enjoy spending time at teahouses. There are even private rooms specially set up for female family members. Though not many, I think since we’re here, you might as well try it.”

Perhaps this was the only chance in Xiang Shi and Yu Tang’s lives to enter a teahouse.

With Yu Yuan and Xia Pinggui accompanying them, they couldn’t help but eagerly want to try.

When they reached the Suzhou dock, Yu Yuan still found a teahouse with storytelling performances and requested a private room.

Xia Pinggui watched Yu Yuan hand over three taels of silver, his heart aching terribly.

Xia Lian felt the same.

She couldn’t help but mutter to herself that fortunately the young miss’s dowry was substantial, otherwise with the young master’s temperament, he would probably squander the family fortune in just a few days.

The two of them looked up, their eyes meeting squarely, and both saw heartache and reluctance in the other’s eyes.

Xia Lian and Xia Pinggui were both startled, each thinking the other was a down-to-earth, practical person, and simultaneously developed some favorable feelings toward each other.

Everyone’s attention was focused on admiring how magnificent yet imposing this three-story teahouse was. No one paid attention to Xia Lian and Xia Pinggui, much less noticed their awkwardness.

“I’ve never seen a small building that could be built three stories high before,” Shuang Tao whispered to Yu Tang, her eyes darting about in barely concealed curiosity.

Yu Tang smiled gently, thinking this was quite good.

Once the family members had been to more places and gained experience, knowing there were always people beyond people and heavens beyond heavens, they would become more modest and cautious. This was the foundation of establishing a family.

Everyone entered the second-floor private room. After Yu Yuan ordered tea and refreshments, the tea server sang out the order and withdrew. Only then did everyone begin looking around.

Shuang Tao said, “Young Miss, look at these lanterns—they’re actually hung in clusters of five. I’ve only seen that in temples before. I never imagined a teahouse’s private room would have them too.”

Xia Lian said, “Young Madam, look, sitting here we can even see what’s happening in the main hall, and we can see the performers clearly too. I wonder if those theater troupes are like this as well.”

One of the shop assistants directly pushed open the window, looked at the crowded street, and said to Yu Yuan, “Young Master, look, there are so many general goods shops over there.”

Naturally there would be many general goods shops near the docks, wouldn’t there?

Those doing maritime business mostly engaged in barter trade. What they could exchange for on this voyage might be completely different from what they could get on the next voyage. As long as the items were interesting and seemed profitable, they would sell them.

Xia Pinggui also squeezed over to look.

The tea server brought over the tea and refreshments, along with a menu for selecting performances. He enthusiastically said to Yu Yuan, “Take a look—see what tunes the Young Madam and Young Miss would like to hear. You can order them. Two taels of silver per tune, or four taels for a famous performer.”

Yu Yuan thought it was rather expensive. However, since Xiang Shi and Yu Tang rarely went out, even if it was expensive, he wanted them to enjoy themselves without regrets.

He handed the menu to Xiang Shi, saying, “See what you’d like to hear.”

Though Xiang Shi was wealthy, she had never spent money so extravagantly. She felt she could just listen to whatever tune Yu Tang chose. She passed the menu to Yu Tang and said, “You see what you like. I’m not familiar with any of these. Even if you asked me to choose, I wouldn’t know what to pick.”

Hearing this, the tea server immediately cleverly began introducing the tunes on the menu to them.

Yu Tang listened absentmindedly, but her mind was racing.

At this time in her previous life, the Jiang family had already started raising money for maritime business. They would surely find ways to spread this news, letting more people know so they might come invest.

She needed to find an opportunity to ask this teahouse server about it.

Yu Tang ordered “Cui Yingying Worships the Moon,” and requested a famous performer too.

Yu Yuan paid four taels of silver.

The tea server was somewhat surprised.

Seeing Yu Yuan’s young master appearance, he had assumed he was the head of the household. He hadn’t expected that the one with such generous and straightforward spending would actually be a young lady.

Looking more carefully, he saw that Yu Tang was not only beautiful but also poised and elegant, maintaining graceful composure amidst all this opulence. His heart skipped a beat, realizing he had misjudged them. He quickly lowered his head, thanked Xiang Shi and Yu Tang, and then withdrew to make arrangements.

Yu Yuan let out a long breath, thinking to himself that he should come to places like this less often in the future. Just ordering one tune cost several taels of silver—he couldn’t afford such luxury. But Xiang Shi and Yu Tang both seemed quite pleased, so the money wasn’t wasted after all.