Pei Yan remained oblivious, his head lowered as he painted earnestly.

His jade-white face, perfect profile lines, and serene expression were like a sculpture, giving him a distinctive handsomeness.

Yu Tang sighed quietly in her heart.

She didn’t like the tone her eldest cousin used when speaking of Pei Yan, as if Pei Yan were a fool.

Pei Yan was smarter than most people… As this thought flashed through her mind, Yu Tang sat up straight.

He should know, shouldn’t he?

Advising their family shop’s business—if it profited, everyone would naturally benefit; if it lost money, he would be responsible.

Did he think the Yu family’s affairs were merely trivial matters, where loss or gain didn’t matter? Or did he feel that even if he had to take responsibility, he still wanted to help their family?

Yu Tang stared blankly at Pei Yan’s profile, her heart tangled into a mess.

Fortunately, Pei Yan painted quickly. In just the time it took to brew two pots of tea, he had finished.

Pei Yan stood up from behind the large desk holding his sketch, walking toward the siblings while saying: “Take a look! I only drew a small three-inch square diagram, but this is roughly the pattern.”

Yu Tang belatedly remained seated waiting for Pei Yan to come over.

Yu Yuan had already sprung to his feet and stepped forward to meet him, extending both hands to receive the sketch from Pei Yan while continuously saying things like “Thank you for your efforts, Third Master, you’ve worked hard.”

Yu Tang’s face flushed as she suddenly realized whether she had been too negligent toward Pei Yan.

She hastily stood up as well.

But Pei Yan glanced at Yu Tang.

Yu Tang blinked.

What did Pei Yan mean by this? Even if she had been disrespectful to him, wasn’t making amends better than remaining indifferent?

She looked at Pei Yan in confusion.

Pei Yan lowered his eyelids, barely managing to suppress his laughter.

This young lady who usually seemed quite sharp—how was it that once her family’s support arrived, she completely took on the appearance of being unworldly?

However, Miss Yu like this was quite interesting too.

Like a small beast that had finally retracted its claws, only to discover it had retracted them at the wrong time and could only forcibly maintain composure while putting its armor back on, inadvertently revealing its soft interior.

He wondered if she was this lazy at home too.

Pei Yan decided to ignore Yu Tang and let her anxiously speculate on her own.

“I painted two pictures.” He sat in the meditation chair beside the Yu siblings and said lightly, “One is a lotus painting, the other a plum blossom painting. The lotus painting is entirely lotuses; the plum blossom painting has two magpies.” At this point, his brows furrowed slightly as he said, “How is your family’s master at carving flowers and birds? If he can’t carve flowers and birds, his general craftsmanship is probably mediocre too, isn’t it?”

Carving flowers and birds was the Yu family’s traditional craft, but in front of Pei Yan, Yu Yuan didn’t dare speak with absolute certainty.

“It’s passable, passable,” he said repeatedly. “How about I have someone go to the shop right now and fetch a box with carved flowers and birds for you to see?”

Although both the Pei family and Yu family were in Lin’an City, one was in the east and one in the west. A round trip would take half an hour, and it was getting late—shouldn’t they avoid such trouble?

Yu Tang was thinking this when, unexpectedly, Pei Yan nodded very seriously and said to Yu Yuan: “Then have someone bring one over!”

Upon hearing this, Yu Yuan immediately instructed San Mu, who had accompanied him, to fetch a box from the shop, even reminding him: “Bring the box with the finest carving work.”

San Mu rushed off.

Yu Tang looked at Pei Yan.

Pei Yan raised his eyebrows with a matter-of-fact expression and said: “It’s not that I don’t trust your family’s carving work, but some things must be seen with one’s own eyes to know for certain.”

Still making excuses!

Clearly he just didn’t trust their family’s carving work!

Yu Tang was about to refute him when, before she could speak, Yu Yuan already said: “Indeed, indeed. Third Master is well-traveled and knowledgeable. That you’re willing to guide us—our family is already endlessly grateful. Without understanding our family’s craftsmanship, it would be difficult to advise what items we should sell. I understand this principle.”

Wasn’t her eldest cousin being too humble?

Yu Tang glared at Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan acted as if he hadn’t seen it.

He felt that although Yu Tang was more decisive and responsible than ordinary women, she had ultimately spent too much time in the inner quarters and didn’t understand the Pei family’s formidable influence.

What was this?

He had merely said a few kind words before Pei Yan—others wanted to say kind words but didn’t even have the opportunity!

He continued: “Should I also organize all our family’s patterns and send them to you?”

Pei Yan, watching Yu Tang’s angry yet helpless appearance, felt pleased and said: “That works too. When can you have them organized?”

Yu Yuan immediately replied: “Very quickly! After I return, I’ll work with the shop assistants through the night to organize them.”

As for exactly when they could be organized, he didn’t specify to Pei Yan.

Pei Yan didn’t press the issue and had the siblings look at the patterns he had drawn.

The lotus painting was entirely half-bloomed or fully bloomed lotuses—some elegant, some brilliant, in countless poses. Within just three small inches, he had already captured every aspect of the lotus’s various forms. The plum blossom painting had only a few light strokes, but because of the two magpies singing melodiously on the branches, it became full of spring vitality. Gone was the plum blossom’s severity; instead it carried worldly warmth that touched the heart.

Yu Yuan’s craftsmanship was average, but his eye was good—he understood painting.

He immediately exclaimed “Aiya!” in admiration: “I never expected Third Master to paint so well. Truly worthy of being a double-list successful Scholar!”

Pei Yan looked up at Yu Yuan and said mercilessly: “The Six Arts of a gentleman. Even a seventy-year-old perpetual student would have this level of painting skill.”

Yu Yuan felt awkward and laughed sheepishly.

Although Yu Tang was somewhat annoyed with her eldest cousin, she wouldn’t watch him be bullied either, and immediately defended him with a retort.

She replied faintly: “If everyone could draw such patterns, the sales probably wouldn’t be that good, would they?”

This little slip of a girl—wrong on the left, wrong on the right—he hadn’t realized she had such a temper.

Pei Yan was exasperated and said: “Even with identical paintings, it depends on who painted them. Otherwise, why would Wu Daozi’s Buddhist images become masterpieces passed down through generations?”

Yu Tang at most dared to extend her claws to scratch at Pei Yan once, but didn’t dare truly anger him.

After all, Pei Yan was helping their Yu family!

She immediately said with a beaming smile: “This lotus is beautiful. This plum blossom… didn’t you say before that too much blank space doesn’t look good? Why not also paint it full of plum blossoms? I think that should look quite nice too.” As she spoke, her thoughts diverged, fantasizing freely: “If we could make those plum blossoms layer upon layer, like real plum blossoms stuck onto the box, it should look even better.” As soon as the words left her mouth, her heart stirred, and an image appeared in her mind of a carved red lacquer box piled with plum blossoms—so flowery and clustered that probably no girl could resist it.

The more she thought about it, the more feasible this method seemed.

“Why don’t we also draw a pattern that’s entirely plum blossoms?” Yu Tang consulted with Yu Yuan. “If it looks good, we could also carve boxes full of orchids, full of tuberose flowers, full of gardenia flowers—that would truly be our signature feature as Third Master suggested.”

Upon hearing this, Pei Yan’s mouth twitched.

So everything he said before was nonsense, and Miss Yu hadn’t listened to a word of it?

He ignored Yu Tang and instead fixed his gaze on Yu Yuan, asking: “What do you think?”

Yu Yuan could discern some insight. But he was somewhat timid before Pei Yan and said hesitantly: “The patterns Third Master drew—not only do the petals layer upon layer, but the lines are also distinct, combining softness with strength. They’re all indeed very suitable for the carved red lacquer technique, especially this plum blossom painting’s blank spaces. Using the same color for the base makes the lines even more important…”

As he spoke, images of his own family’s patterns appeared in his mind.

Indeed, switching to what Pei Yan had drawn not only looked beautiful, but the overall quality and refinement improved. Then, then their family’s lacquerware could sell for much better prices.

Yu Yuan grew excited: “Third Master, truly thank you! Without you, we don’t know how many wrong paths we would have taken! No, perhaps in our entire lifetime we wouldn’t have known where the problem lay.”

His tone was extremely sincere, making it clear to anyone listening that he was genuinely grateful to Pei Yan.

The corners of Pei Yan’s mouth curved up slightly, his aura much gentler than before.

“That you can see this means there’s hope,” he said. “This is from a carved red lacquer box I saw in the imperial study room when I previously entered the palace. That pattern gave exactly this feeling. I thought your family should be able to draw on this as well.”

“We can, we can.” Yu Yuan nodded repeatedly, joy overflowing undisguised from his features.

Upon hearing this, Yu Tang also understood.

Indeed, one must have experience and knowledge.

Like Pei Yan—not only did he grow fruit trees well, but even if you gave him a lacquerware shop, he could quickly think of ways to break through.

She asked: “If we imitate the Emperor’s things, will that be a problem?”

“What problem could there be!” Pei Yan said dismissively. “It’s like painting—at first you must copy, but if you want to leave your name in history, you must have your own style and techniques. Right now you should first find ways to break through, then carefully study these subtle details. Otherwise, even if you profit temporarily, I’m afraid it will be difficult to sustain long-term.”

Yu Yuan nodded like a pecking chicken, his view of Pei Yan completely transformed. No longer the cautious flattery and ingratiation, but admiring worship and respect.

Yu Tang pressed her forehead.

But Pei Yan smugly shot her a sidelong glance.

Yu Tang was dumbfounded.

Did Pei Yan know it would be this way?

She scrutinized Pei Yan carefully.

He remained as arrogant as ever, making one wish to give him a beating to feel satisfied.

Yu Tang gritted her teeth.

Pei Yan still brought up sensitive topics, asking Yu Yuan with apparent casualness: “I don’t really understand lacquerware techniques. Tell me, why must carved red lacquer use red as the base? Wouldn’t white or black look better?”

Yu Yuan answered with the respectful tone of a student responding to a teacher’s question: “There are those that use white or black bases, but that’s called inlaid lacquer—it’s another technique that our family doesn’t know.”

“Is that so?!” Pei Yan drew out his voice, glancing at Yu Tang with a half-smile.

Yu Tang lowered her head, wishing there were a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Pei Yan still wouldn’t let her off and continued: “Why doesn’t your family also learn this inlaid lacquer technique? I wonder if it’s difficult?”

Yu Yuan looked at Pei Yan with an expression of not knowing what to say.

Craftsmanship was one’s livelihood, and stealing someone’s means of survival was equivalent to murdering them for profit!

Everyone knew this—how could Third Master say something so foolish?

He said awkwardly: “Even if our family wanted to learn, we’d need a place to learn and someone willing to teach.”

Yu Tang was extremely annoyed.

Pei Yan knew that if he teased her any further, Miss Yu would extend her claws again. Being scratched didn’t frighten him, but making her cry wouldn’t be good. He changed the subject: “I see. Then let’s properly research which patterns can best embody the distinctive qualities of carved red lacquer!”