As Lady Pei spoke, many things she had not thought carefully about before gradually became suspicious, and she grew increasingly frightened. In the end, her teeth were actually chattering and she could no longer speak.
Pei Tong also felt cold all over.
He gripped his mother’s hand tightly, as if by doing so they could overcome the fear in their hearts and gain an extra measure of courage from each other.
“Mother!” Pei Tong said in a low voice when Pei Fei came running in joyfully carrying pastries, calling out loudly for “Mother” and “Elder Brother,” showing them the pastries in his hands. “They say these vegetarian cakes were made by the head chefs of Zhaoming Temple. I ate one piece—it has almonds and walnuts inside, so delicious! You should try some too!”
Adding almonds and walnuts to pastries was a filling that capital pastries liked to use. Both Pei Tong and Pei Fei had grown up in the capital, and compared to pastries like osmanthus cake or green rice balls, they preferred pastries with melon seeds, almonds, walnuts, and such.
Lady Pei quickly forced a smile, gently took her younger son’s hand, and said, “I knew you would like them. Mother won’t eat any. It’s too late—Mother has already rinsed her mouth. You and your elder brother eat them!”
Pei Fei knew his mother’s habits—after rinsing her mouth at night, she would not eat anything more. He did not insist and gave more than half of the pastries in his hand to Pei Tong.
Lady Pei then gave her eldest son a meaningful look and said, “It’s getting late. You and your brother should go back and rest! Tomorrow is the sutra lecture assembly. You cannot arrive later than your elders—it’s not suitable to stay up late. If there’s anything, I’ll take advantage of the sutra lecture assembly to speak with your third uncle about it.”
Hadn’t Gu Chaoyang said he would stay in Lin’an for some time after the sutra lecture assembly? They needed to speak clearly with Pei Yan while Gu Chaoyang was in Lin’an.
Pei Tong glanced at his brother, smiled and nodded, then left with Pei Fei.
At this time, Gu Chang was on his way back to the wing quarters where he lived. His personal attendant Gao Sheng was quietly telling him the information he had gathered: “…Miss Yu is just the daughter of an ordinary poor scholar’s family. Because of her good temperament, she gained Old Lady Pei’s favor and frequently visits the Pei residence.” His tone paused slightly before he continued, “She is not a daughter of any aristocratic family.”
Gu Chang was astonished and stopped in his tracks. After a long while, he said, “You’re saying Miss Yu is only the young lady of an ordinary scholar’s household in Lin’an city?”
“Yes!” Gao Sheng dared not look into Gu Chang’s eyes and lowered his eyelids, saying, “The Yu family was originally an ordinary farming household. Through diligence and thrift, they gradually accumulated some wealth, then opened a lacquerware shop, and only then had the means to send the family’s children to study. Miss Yu’s father is the first person in their family to have obtained scholarly rank. Moreover, their family is very small. Scholar Yu only has one elder brother, and Miss Yu only has one male cousin.”
In other words, there was no one for them to rely on and watch out for each other.
There was no helping it then!
Gu Chang rubbed his forehead, and Yu Tang’s bright and beautiful face surfaced in his mind once again.
She really was very beautiful!
Probably the most beautiful young lady he had ever seen in his life.
What a pity…
Gu Chang stood under the boxwood tree by the roadside for nearly the time it takes to burn a stick of incense before he collected his emotions and said in a heavy voice, “This matter ends here. Don’t let any unpleasant rumors spread.”
Gao Sheng nodded and brought up another matter: “This time, the Third Lady of the Yang family also came. She’s the former Seventh Miss of the Yin family. I heard that the Yin family has a young lady about to reach the hairpin ceremony age. She came on the orders of the Grand Lady of the Yin family to find a suitable marriage match for the Yin family’s young lady.”
Throughout the court, who didn’t know how formidable the Yin family was at selecting sons-in-law?
Previously, this was luck that Gu Chang could only dream about, but now this opportunity was right at hand, yet he suddenly did not feel the excitement and elation he had imagined.
“Such matters also depend on fate,” he said indifferently. “We’ll see if there’s an opportunity.”
Gao Sheng dared not say more and silently accompanied Gu Chang as he slowly walked toward his residence.
Pei Yan, however, was having some trouble sleeping. He felt he should talk with his adviser Shu Qing, but his instinct told him that what he wanted to say might earn Shu Qing’s contempt. So he simply lay motionless on the bed, staring at the bed canopy in a daze.
In the deep quiet of night, even occasional sounds would be infinitely amplified.
He heard Zhou Zijing over there playing the seven-stringed qin and singing.
Usually this was when Zhou Zijing was slightly tipsy.
If it were any other day, Pei Yan would feel this was Zhou Zijing’s own business and had nothing to do with him. But today, he inexplicably found Zhou Zijing extremely annoying—why should Zhou Zijing be allowed to drink and sing in the temple, disturbing everyone’s peace, and he still had to endure it? He was upset here but didn’t even have anyone to talk to?
After thinking about it, he threw on his clothes and went out.
Zhou Zijing was indeed sitting on the ground with several manservants beside the Taihu stone rockery next to the courtyard where they lived, enjoying himself carefree under the moonlight by the small lake.
Anger rose from his heart. He strode forward and kicked away the wine bottles lying beside Zhou Zijing.
Zhou Zijing looked up, gazing at Pei Yan through drunken eyes, and said, “What madness has seized you now? Not putting on airs and pretenses anymore? Come, come, come, little brother, don’t lose your temper. Tell your elder brother what troubles you’ve encountered?” As he spoke, he grabbed at Pei Yan’s sleeve, trying to make him sit down on the grass mat. “Household affairs certainly wouldn’t stump you. So what is it? Could it be you’ve encountered a beautiful young lady and cannot have her?” Saying this, Zhou Zijing was amused by his own words. He said, “No, if you truly took a liking to someone’s daughter, marrying her would probably just be a matter of one word from you—you wouldn’t be unable to have her! Unless the match is improper in status? Ha ha ha… Pei Xiaguang, you have this day too!”
Pei Yan’s face changed color with anger. He pushed Zhou Zijing away and shouted at his manservants, “Do you know where this is? And yet you still indulge him in drinking and making merry—are you afraid his reputation is too good?”
The manservants looked embarrassed and quickly came forward, wanting to help Zhou Zijing back to where he lived.
But Zhou Zijing waved his hand to push the manservants away and shouted at Pei Yan, “Xiaguang, don’t be shy. Although I and your elder brother were in the same examination class, I show your elder brother that much respect only for your sake. You’re my brother…”
This was getting more and more outrageous.
Pei Yan decided not to bother with Zhou Zijing anymore and walked away angrily.
Returning to his room and lying down again, he still could not sleep. He was thinking that tomorrow’s sutra lecture assembly was arranged in the dharma hall. The male guests’ side had tables and chairs placed directly facing the lecture platform, while the female family members were arranged in the east hall with a screen set up in front. At that time, all the female family members would sit together. If Miss Gu and Miss Yu had a conflict, everyone would see it, and regardless of who was right or wrong, it would be an unseemly matter in any case.
The more Pei Yan thought about it, the more precarious this matter seemed—if Miss Yu heeded his advice, that would be fine, but if she did not… or if Miss Gu took the initiative to provoke trouble, Miss Yu could not just keep yielding, could she? Moreover, Miss Yu was not someone who could endure things!
He suddenly sprang up from the bed, called Pei Man in, and had him arrange for people to go overnight to fix the seating positions on the female family members’ side: “Mark who sits in which position. Don’t let people wander around randomly at the time, pushing forward if they want to get closer. Miss Yu and her mother came with Old Lady—you arrange for them to sit together with Old Lady. As for Miss Gu, arrange for her to sit together with the young ladies of the Song and Peng families.”
Keeping people separated should reduce some conflicts.
Pei Man was so shocked it took him quite a while to find his voice. He said doubtfully, “Now? Fix the positions now?”
“Yes!” Pei Yan said decisively. “Go now. Like when my mentor’s family held their celebration in the capital last time, draw a diagram showing how many positions there are and where each person sits—make it all clear. Then send a diagram to each family so they know where they’re sitting.”
But when Minister Zhang held his celebration last time, it was because both the Third Prince and Second Prince came to offer congratulations and even stayed to watch the opera.
They were just holding a sutra lecture assembly—was this necessary?
But Pei Man dared not say this. As if sleepwalking, he said “Oh, oh” twice before fully reacting and confirming: “Fix each person’s position?”
In other words, they had to confirm overnight how many people from each household would attend the sutra lecture.
Including personal maids and elderly servants.
Even for people who would stand, they had to find them a place to stand, right?
Pei Yan felt these were all small matters.
Since the Zhang family could do it, their family could do it too.
“Go handle it!” Like a heavy stone falling to the ground, sleepiness immediately attacked him. He yawned, indicating that Pei Man could withdraw.
Pei Man withdrew but could not help grumbling in his heart—when the master speaks one sentence, the servants run their legs off. Tonight, he and several stewards could forget about sleeping.
On Yu Tang’s side, however, she slept very soundly.
Last night, she not only completed copying the Buddhist sutras as planned but also learned that the Li family was about to suffer great misfortune. She was in such a good mood that even when Shuang Tao woke her before dawn the next day, she was still cheerful. After breakfast, she was even preparing to invite Miss Xu to go pay respects to Old Lady Pei together. Only when she reached the courtyard gate did she remember that both Miss Xu and Third Lady Yang had decided to feign illness and not attend the sutra lecture assembly.
But she still went in to greet Miss Xu and Third Lady Yang before going with her mother to Old Lady Pei’s residence with token support.
Old Lady Pei had also risen quite early. When they arrived, not only were Old Lady Yi and Old Lady Yong there, but even the Second Lady and several Miss Peis, as well as the other ladies and young madams from other branches of the Pei family, had arrived one after another. Old Lady Pei was in very good spirits and even played for a while with the second branch’s great-grandson who was not yet a year old. When the time was about right, she led everyone to the dharma hall behind the Great Hero Treasure Hall.
Since everyone already knew the previous arrangements, they were all stunned when they suddenly received seating charts.
Although at such occasions everyone could find their proper places according to their status and position, there would always be people who would squeeze next to venerable elders to sit in order to curry favor. If the elders also did not dislike this person, they could chat together.
This was the first time they had encountered something like this where even which family’s maids and elderly servants stood where was marked with circles.
The several ladies and young madams of the Pei family began whispering amongst themselves.
Pei Man, who had not slept all night, could only trot over to explain: “The sutra lecture assembly lasts nine days. We have a good idea of who will come and who won’t, so some things are easier to arrange.”
What things needed arranging?
Old Lady Pei was full of confusion, but since her son was in charge, she could only go along: “That’s fine too. Everyone, don’t be constrained—sit down first! If you feel uncomfortable, we can adjust later.”
Everyone smiled and sat down.
Pei Man smiled apologetically and had people guard tightly the passage leading to the east hall.
As for the west hall, they had placed some tables, chairs, and benches there and opened it to the gentry and common people of Lin’an city who came to hear the sutra lecture assembly.