Yu Tang only chased a short distance before catching up with Pei Yan. Of course, this wasn’t to say that Yu Tang ran fast, but rather that Pei Yan had waited for her up ahead.

“I still have questions to ask you!” Yu Tang said breathlessly and unhappily. “Why didn’t you pay any attention to me!”

Pei Yan looked at her with a “you’re an idiot” expression, not even interested in speaking.

They were clearly standing downwind. The fragrance from Miss Gu’s body kept rushing toward his nose with the wind, yet Yu Tang had no reaction at all… Was she even a girl?

Shouldn’t girls be very sensitive to fragrances?

Pei Yan said, “What else do you want to ask me?”

Yu Tang said, “Ku’an Temple… when did it start receiving support from the Pei family? Will the Pei family continue supporting them in the future?”

The female members of the Pei family all enjoyed doing so-called “good deeds.” It was said that doing such “good deeds” could easily attract others to join in, and could even inspire others. Pei Yan guessed Yu Tang was the same. He said, “Five years ago, my father accidentally discovered this nunnery. Inside were two nuns with seven or eight homeless lay practitioners. Finding them quite pitiful, he began supporting them. He helped them rebuild the main hall and side halls, and bought the surrounding twenty-some acres of land and two hilltops to give to the temple. This allowed the nuns and lay practitioners at the temple to have enough food and warm clothing. As for the future, we will certainly continue supporting them. After all, it’s a good deed.” Having said this, he asked curiously, “Why are you asking about this? Do you have some plan?”

“No, no.” Yu Tang waved her hands repeatedly, saying awkwardly, “I’m just asking. I just saw that the people at the temple live very austerely and are quite pitiful. I was afraid your family might think supporting such a temple has no meaning, so I came specifically to ask.”

“How could it have no meaning?” Hearing this, Pei Yan frowned in displeasure. “Did you hear someone say something? Since you say the nuns and lay practitioners at this temple are pitiful, you must also feel their lives are not easy, right? On this point, I actually think the same as my father—women already have it hard enough. If they encounter the wrong people, they’re even more pitiful. We help them as much as we can. You don’t need to worry that our Pei family won’t support Ku’an Temple. Unless the people at the temple don’t value the Pei family’s support and start harboring filth and accepting evil, otherwise, as long as I live one day, I will support Ku’an Temple for one day.”

In other words, in her previous life, she had indeed received protection from the Pei family, from Pei Yan.

Yu Tang was flooded with mixed emotions for a moment.

So, in her previous life, she had been able to live until the age of twenty-four because she had received many kindnesses she didn’t know about, obtained much help she had never known of.

“Thank you!” Yu Tang murmured, her eyes growing moist, her emotions surging and overwhelming.

Afraid she might shed tears in front of Pei Yan, she curtsied to him and hurriedly ran off with Shuang Tao.

Pei Yan was baffled, standing there for a long while unable to figure it out. He simply called out to Pei Man, “Go investigate whether anyone from the Yu family has become a nun or lay practitioner at Ku’an Temple.”

Pei Man left to do as ordered.

A young servant came running over with a letter, panting as he reported, “Third Master, a letter from Sixth Master of the Gu family in the capital.”

Outside, everyone referred to Gu Chang as Sixth Master of the Gu family.

Pei Yan absentmindedly opened the letter. After quickly scanning it a few times, he couldn’t help but laugh coldly several times and asked A’Ming, who had appeared beside him at some point, “Where is Lady Pei? Go announce me. I need to see Lady Pei.”

But A’Ming said, “Third Master, people from the Yang family have arrived. Lady Pei and Old Lady Yi are accompanying the Yang family members in conversation.” After speaking, he added half curiously, half as a reminder, “Third Master, do you want to see the Yang family members? Young Master Yan came along as well. I heard their steward say that Young Master Yan very much wants to meet you!”

The Yang family wanted to use the Pei family’s connections to sell tea, didn’t they?

However, Yang Yan was intelligent. Many people wanted to climb the Pei family’s high branches. If he could be of use, once he married Second Miss, there would be no harm in lending him a hand.

Pei Yan said, “Then bring him over for me to take a look.”

A’Ming left to comply.

Second Miss, however, sat anxiously in the tea room listening to Fourth Miss, Third Miss, and Fifth Miss talking. “The Yang family matrons all wear gold ornaments and look quite amiable. I think the people in their family should be quite decent too.”

Third Miss also said, “I saw that matchmaker isn’t the overly shrewd type either, which shows that those who deal with the Yang family are also honest folk. Their family culture should be quite good.”

Fifth Miss, however, disagreed. “This kind of thing still needs more observation. My grandmother said that seeing people is one thing, but you still need to inquire carefully. After all, we know their background well. Great-Aunt wouldn’t casually marry Second Sister off.”

“That also makes sense,” Third Miss said seriously. “Look at Eldest Sister—how well she did before marriage, but right after marrying and giving birth to a daughter, her mother-in-law was displeased. Every family hopes for the first child to be a daughter to make the character for ‘good,’ so you can see Eldest Sister still encountered something unfortunate. But look at Eldest Sister—she has her husband firmly in hand, so her mother-in-law can only fret in vain. I think it doesn’t matter what kind of family you marry into. What matters is that your husband is united with you in heart. Otherwise, even the best family culture is useless.”

“A good family culture should be somewhat better, right?” Fourth Miss said hesitantly. “Otherwise, if relatives constantly coming around to take advantage, the worry alone could kill you.”

With no elders present, the three young ladies said whatever they wanted without any reservations. Hearing this made Second Miss, whose heart was already unsettled, even more anxious and irritated. She scolded in a low voice, “You’re all unmarried young ladies—what nonsense are you talking about? Should I have someone tell Great-Grandmother what you said?”

The several young ladies lowered their eyebrows obediently, not daring to say another word.

Second Miss, who was deeply fearful of her future, remained uneasy. She called loudly for a maid to enter and asked about Gu Xi’s whereabouts. “She was here just a moment ago? How did she disappear in the blink of an eye?”

Before the young maid could respond, Gu Xi’s voice, carrying a somewhat sweet tone, rang in the ears of the Pei young ladies. “Didn’t I just go to the privy? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“It’s nothing!” Seeing Gu Xi, Second Miss immediately breathed a sigh of relief. She stepped forward and took Gu Xi’s hand, saying in a low voice, “Sister Gu, you told me before that you have to keep your own affairs in your own hands. If you’re weak yourself, even if your father and brothers are good, you’ll still be bullied. If you’re strong yourself, even if you have no one from your maternal family, you can still live well in your husband’s home. Is that true?”

“Of course it’s true.” Gu Xi smiled, looking at Second Miss with bright, determined eyes. “What kind of life a woman wants to live depends on her own management.”

That’s why she hadn’t been able to speak with Pei Yan, yet Yu Tang had gotten ahead of her—that must be the reason, right?

Gu Xi continued, “These were words my mother said when she was alive. I find them very reasonable and keep them in my heart at all times, hoping that one day I can live the life I want.”

“Sister Gu, you’re amazing!” The Pei young ladies all praised her one after another.

But Gu Xi smiled and said, “I went to the privy. Where did Miss Yu go? Why don’t I see her?”

Fifth Miss quickly answered with a smile, “Sister Yu had something to do and went to see Third Uncle. She should be back soon.”

Gu Xi was startled.

Yu Tang went to see Pei Yan… so everyone knew… She thought only she knew!

Gu Xi’s smile became somewhat forced. “Is that so? I wonder what matter she had that she absolutely had to find Third Master for? Couldn’t she have found Lady Pei?”

Fifth Miss said, “I don’t know either! When Nanny Chen told us guests had arrived and we shouldn’t move about freely, we went to invite Sister Yu to the tea room for tea. Liu Xu, who serves Sister Yu, told me that Sister Yu had gone out to find Third Uncle for something. It must be something very important, right? Otherwise Sister Yu would definitely have found Grandmother. Or perhaps guests suddenly arrived at the temple and it wasn’t convenient for her to find Lady Pei, so she went to find Third Uncle instead.”

Not a bit of suspicion that Yu Tang had ulterior motives.

Gu Xi sneered inwardly, thinking of what Pei Yan had said to her—it was like being slapped hard across the face.

She had grown this old and had never suffered such humiliation.

If she weren’t strong-willed and hadn’t turned back unwilling to give up, wanting to pull Pei Yan aside to get to the bottom of it, she wouldn’t have known that Yu Tang had also gone to find Pei Yan, and that Pei Yan’s attitude toward her and toward Yu Tang was completely different.

What was so good about that Yu Tang? Why did he deserve such gentle words from him?

She was just relying on having some beauty to act coquettishly.

If Pei Yan could take a liking to this kind of person, clearly he wasn’t anything good either.

With these thoughts, Gu Xi finally felt somewhat better, but still couldn’t help smiling at Fifth Miss. “What you say makes sense. When Miss Yu returns, I must ask her what matter she encountered…”

But before she could finish speaking, Yu Tang appeared at the doorway of the tea room, interrupting Gu Xi’s words. “What does Miss Gu want to ask me?”

“Sister Yu!” Third Miss, Fourth Miss, and Fifth Miss all said happily. “We were afraid you’d come late. Soon Young Master Yang will come to pay respects to the two Ladies Pei.”

The implication was that if she came late, she wouldn’t get to see Young Master Yang.

Yu Tang couldn’t help but smile with pressed lips.

Second Miss, however, was somewhat annoyed and chided her three sisters, “Can you say less? What’s so worth seeing? Doesn’t Miss Yu have matters to attend to? Do you think everyone is as idle as you?”

The three young ladies giggled and didn’t talk back to Second Miss.

Yu Tang, however, looked down on Gu Xi’s two-faced behavior, wondering if she would again, as in her previous life, constantly dig pits in front of everyone for her to fall into—she quite liked the Pei young ladies and didn’t want them to misunderstand her.

“What does Miss Gu want to ask?” She smiled. “I only heard half a sentence and don’t know what Miss Gu really wants to ask.”

Gu Xi was secretly displeased.

She could sense that the former Yu Tang had somewhat avoided her, but the current Yu Tang had an unyielding appearance, as if she had suddenly gained the courage and confidence to confront her. And who had given her this courage and confidence was self-evident.

Gu Xi had always looked down on such women.

She raised her eyebrows and smiled meaningfully. “We were just saying that Miss Yu wasn’t here. It turns out Miss Yu went to find Third Master. We were guessing what matter Miss Yu had that she absolutely had to find Third Master for—something that even Lady Pei couldn’t resolve?”