Hu Xing was frightened into a cold sweat by Shu Qing’s words.

He had only thought about how to do this matter well, make the Pei family shine brightly, and get himself back onto Pei Yan’s list of trustworthy personnel. He had forgotten that what the Pei family most taboo was standing out conspicuously.

Shu Qing wasn’t someone who spoke carelessly.

“Thank you, thank you!” Hu Xing said repeatedly. “When you have time someday, Mister Shu, let’s go have a drink together. There’s not a famous eatery or tavern in Lin’an City that I don’t know about.”

Shu Qing wasn’t from Lin’an but had returned from the capital with Pei Yan. As for where exactly he was from and what experiences he’d had, Hu Xing wasn’t clear.

This included the accountant Chen Qi and the coachman Zhao Zhen—he wasn’t familiar with or didn’t understand them either.

Shu Qing smiled, politely said “all right,” and went to attend to his own matters.

Hu Xing stood in the tree shade in a daze for quite a while before leaving.

On Young Steward Tong’s side, things went even more smoothly than Yu Tang had anticipated. On the third day after she met with Senior Steward Tong, news came from the pawnshop that the Tong family stewards had found two incense-making masters. One was from Fuyang, surnamed Xun, over sixty years old. He could come, but he wanted to bring his whole family and over a dozen of his apprentices. The other was surnamed Mi, from Wuchang, in his early forties. He also wanted to bring his family of four and two apprentices. When Young Steward Tong introduced these two masters, he said, “Each has advantages and disadvantages. Master Xun’s old employer is gone, and the new employer wants to change businesses, so they gave him a sum of silver for retirement. But his son, son-in-law, and apprentices all learned this trade from him, so he needs to find them a way out. He himself probably won’t make incense anymore. As for Master Mi, he’s in his prime working years. He left because he didn’t get along with his old employer, which is why he traveled far to Jiangnan. As for which one to choose specifically, please make the decision, Miss Yu.”

Yu Tang thought that since this matter was entrusted to the Pei young ladies by Old Madam Pei, she should send word to the several Pei misses to ask their opinions. Who knew that all the Pei misses were too busy with Buddha Bathing Festival matters to spare time? Second Miss simply said, “Since this matter has been entrusted to Sister Yu, please trouble Sister Yu to make the decision.”

An attitude of washing her hands of it.

Yu Tang smiled bitterly.

This truly proved the saying that whoever suggests something does it—how had this matter become hers alone?

Fortunately, Young Steward Tong was also an open-minded person like Senior Steward Tong. Not only did he not laugh at her, he even comforted her: “It’s fine. We often encounter such situations. You just need to tell the Pei young ladies your reasoning for the choice so that when they encounter similar matters in the future, they’ll have a reference. This is also why the Old Madam has the Pei young ladies manage things—they’ll all marry into wealthy families in the future. Would they really manage such matters themselves? Even if something happens, they’ll have husbands and uncles-in-law in their marital home, and brothers and sisters in their natal home. There are plenty of people to give them advice. The Old Madam is just worried they have too little experience, which is why she has them going here and there, everywhere.”

Yu Tang thought about it and felt it made sense, so she said to Young Steward Tong, “I’m thinking of choosing Master Mi.”

Young Steward Tong was startled.

Most people would usually choose Master Xun.

Master Mi had a falling out with his original employer, which was something very criticized.

Yu Tang said, “Both of these masters you found are locally famous incense-makers. Master Mi shouldn’t have difficulty finding work to make a living, yet he’d rather leave his homeland—clearly he doesn’t want to compete with his original employer. This shows the man still has some principles. As for not getting along with his original employer, perhaps there’s another story behind it. As for Master Xun, his son, son-in-law, and apprentices all learned incense-making from him. He’s over sixty now, and the new employer wants to change businesses, yet his family members and apprentices apparently can’t find very good work and still need him to step forward to secure jobs for them. This shows that either his sons, sons-in-law, apprentices and such are disappointing and haven’t learned his incense-making skills, or he treasures his own broom and hasn’t truly passed on his craft to his successors. Such a person, even if we hire him, probably won’t sincerely teach the masters and lay Buddhists at Ku’an Temple how to make incense. However, as for what their specific temperaments are like, we’ll only know after interacting with them.”

Young Steward Tong nodded secretly to himself.

He had also meant to test Yu Tang somewhat with these words. If Yu Tang trusted him, she would believe the information he provided. If she didn’t trust him, she would only believe what she saw with her own eyes. This related to what attitude he should take toward Yu Tang in the future.

Now this was the best result.

Young Steward Tong no longer held anything back. He said, “I’m thinking of inviting both masters over to try them out.” At this point, he smiled at Yu Tang before continuing, “They can help us rush-make a batch of plate incense and stick incense at the same time.”

This was using the trial opportunity to have both masters help with Ku’an Temple’s work!

Yu Tang smiled with pursed lips and said, “That works!”

Young Steward Tong’s eyes also narrowed.

The two reached an unspoken agreement, each feeling the other was a sharp and flexible person who should work well together in the future.

Soon, both masters arrived in Lin’an.

During this period, Yu Tang also went to view a marriage prospect once.

Like the previous times, Yu Tang still felt nothing. Yu Wen thought the young man was fairly honest, but Chen Shi criticized that he wasn’t tall enough and didn’t match Yu Tang.

Yu Wen even rarely argued with Chen Shi: “In marriage, aren’t character and learning the most important things?”

Chen Shi said, “But that boy is really too short. Do you want to have a very short grandson in the future?”

Perhaps because the Yu family members were all not very tall, they had developed a certain obsession with height.

Like Yu Yuan, he was satisfied with Miss Xiang at first sight. But in outsiders’ eyes, Miss Xiang was tall and robust, and not fair-skinned either. In terms of appearance, marrying Yu Yuan was somewhat marrying up.

Yu Wen immediately fell silent.

Yu Tang breathed a sigh of relief.

She felt she still had many things to do and didn’t want to marry so quickly.

According to the agreement Young Steward Tong had made with the two incense-making masters beforehand, as soon as the two masters settled into two farmhouses near Ku’an Temple, he personally delivered their travel expenses. He also very tactfully expressed that it wasn’t that he didn’t trust the two masters’ skills, but that his employer liked to “test whether something is a mule or a horse by taking it for a walk.” As a young steward, he could only follow orders. He also coaxed the two masters, saying, “You must use your best skills and make the best incense, otherwise I, as the one who recommended you, will have no way to explain to my employer.”

The two incense-making masters naturally agreed repeatedly.

Young Steward Tong delivered the already-prepared incense materials and went to Ku’an Temple.

The abbot master at Ku’an Temple had, as Young Steward Tong suggested, found over a dozen lay Buddhists with nimble hands and feet through these days of observation. Seeing Young Steward Tong arrive, he directly handed them over to Young Steward Tong and said according to Young Steward Tong’s earlier instructions: “To help our Ku’an Temple get ahead, the Pei family not only sponsored the scripture lecture assembly at Zhaoming Temple but also hired two masters to help our Ku’an Temple make incense. But we ourselves cannot stand by with folded arms. When you go there, you must properly assist the two masters.”

The two masters’ attitudes toward these lay Buddhists would also determine who was ultimately hired.

Within a few days, both masters had made plate incense the size of foot basins and stick incense as thick as forearms. Young Steward Tong invited Yu Tang and the Pei young ladies to test the incense to see whether the incense would extinguish in the middle or break when lit. This was precisely why plate incense the size of foot basins and stick incense as thick as forearms were difficult to make.

Yu Tang and the Pei misses naturally couldn’t actually wait for the plate incense and stick incense to finish burning completely—that would take several days and nights. They merely went to look when Young Steward Tong delivered the incense, then found a through-hall to light the incense and smell the fragrance. After that, they gathered together to whisper among themselves. The maids and old women watching in the through-hall would tell them whether the Buddha incense was good or bad.

“What clothes is Sister Yu planning to wear that day?” This was what Fourth Miss cared about most. Her face full of excitement, she said, “I made three outfits, but Second Sister and Third Sister brushed me off, saying they’re all good. Sister Yu, please help me look at them later. Whichever outfit you say looks good is the one I’ll wear.”

Fifth Miss said huffily, “Sister Yu, don’t listen to her. We all said she should wear the pink outfit, but that pink outfit only looks good with pearl jewelry. Yet she ended up having a new gold phoenix with pearl hairpin made. She wants to wear this hairpin to Zhaoming Temple, so she’s agonizing over which outfit to wear.” As she spoke, she invited Yu Tang, “Sister, you haven’t come for some time. The peony flowers in our back courtyard are about to bloom. Do you have time these days? I’ll have someone send word to you when the time comes, and you can come appreciate the flowers! This year several green peony plants were added to our household. I’m also seeing them for the first time.”

Yu Tang said curiously, “Doesn’t Third Master dislike flowers?”

Fifth Miss snorted with dissatisfaction, “Even if Third Uncle doesn’t like them, he can’t interfere with my grandmother’s courtyard! Those green peonies were sent by someone from the Song family. My grandmother loves them so much she even rewarded my mother with a pot. But my mother is afraid she can’t care for it properly, so it’s still in Grandmother’s flower room.”

Yu Tang knew about the relationship between the Song family and the Pei family.

She smiled and agreed, “Then remember to have someone tell me when the time comes. I’ve only heard of green peonies but never seen them.”

Third Miss, however, sneered, “The Song family never visits without a purpose. What are they up to this time?”

Fifth Miss said hesitantly, “There shouldn’t be anything, right? The person who came only said the Song family built two large ships at Taihu Lake, and when the large ships are launched, they’d like to invite Grandmother to go see. That doesn’t count as anything, does it?”

Third Miss warned Fifth Miss, “Anyway, whatever their family does, we need to be extra careful. If we can avoid interaction, we should try not to interact.” She sighed again, “Great-Aunt is good in every way, except for this family connection.”

Yu Tang laughed and said, “Even the Emperor has three poor relatives. You can’t expect every in-law to be upright in character!”

Third Miss’s face reddened as she said, “I just feel the Song family does things too improperly.” As for how they were improper, Third Miss didn’t elaborate further. Yu Tang couldn’t very well ask more, but the fact that the Song family had built large ships left a deep impression on Yu Tang.

She wondered whether Jiang Chao’s voyage would be safe this time.

If he could return safely, the Yu family would have caught some good fortune.

Yu Tang was thinking this in her heart when Second Miss’s complaint reached her ears: “Could you all not act like you’re competing for attention? On Buddha Bathing Festival day, we can only watch the excitement from side rooms anyway. What’s the point of dressing so nicely?”

What did she mean?

Everyone’s gaze turned toward Second Miss.

Second Miss said, “Don’t you all know? The Buddha Bathing Festival procedures have come out. For donations before the scripture lecture, no families will appear in person. Items should be delivered to Zhaoming Temple in advance, and when the time comes, the guest monk at Zhaoming Temple will simply recite the register of names. All women are forbidden from going out to watch the excitement.”