Yu Tang listened, her brows furrowing slightly.
For Pei Yan to surpass his elder brother and become the Pei family’s clan head was not something that would easily happen in an ordinary wealthy household. She had no way of knowing what earth-shattering story lay behind this, but judging from Pei Yan’s current tone, he had clearly been dissatisfied with Hu Xing for a long time and wanted to use this opportunity to replace him.
Replacing Hu Xing was nothing—it was Pei Yan’s prerogative. But if he wanted to use her as an excuse, she didn’t like that at all.
Yu Tang thought back to their last unpleasant parting and understood why everyone feared Pei Yan. This person was indeed unlikeable.
In any case, she had no desire to curry favor with Pei Yan, so she said straightforwardly: “Chief Steward Hu has served as the Pei family’s chief steward for many years—if not with merit, at least with effort. You gave him an order that he didn’t carry out well, and you’re unhappy about it—I can understand that. It’s just that our family’s mountain forest hasn’t been a matter of just a day or two. The sea buckthorn trees will be ready to bear fruit next year—if we rashly change and plant something else, I’m afraid it will delay things for several more years. Fortunately, our family doesn’t depend on the mountain forest’s output to get by. The miscellaneous trees growing in the forest can still be sold for a few bundles of firewood. I think it would be better to just leave the mountain forest for me to manage myself. As for Chief Steward Hu, it would be better if you assigned him some other task—as you just said yourself, he’s familiar with several prominent families in Jiangnan. That’s not something that can be achieved overnight. Having him come here to help manage a mountain forest is too much of a waste.”
Pei Yan listened and silently applauded Yu Tang.
This little girl was indeed someone he had his eye on—so clever.
She was afraid that if Chief Steward Hu’s position was stripped away, people would misunderstand and think it had something to do with her, so she preemptively extricated herself from the situation.
He had no intention of making Yu Tang a scapegoat. Perhaps he should change to some other matter?
Or should he speak of a different matter?
What other matters did the Yu family have…
Pei Yan pondered and continued probing: “How is your family’s lacquerware shop doing? How did the designs I drew for you last time sell?”
When he had offered that good suggestion, both Yu Bo and Yu Wen had been quite moved, saying that Old Master Pei had good judgment in choosing Pei Yan as clan head. Their family had also followed Pei Yan’s advice and worked through the night to make several carved red lacquer floral boxes. Aside from those presented to Old Lady Pei and Zhaoming Temple, the rest hadn’t been put up for sale yet.
Yu Tang smiled and said: “Speaking of this matter, I must thank you. If you hadn’t given us advice, our family wouldn’t have thought of it so quickly. It’s just that the time has been short, and we first prioritized Zhaoming Temple’s sutra lecture gathering, so we haven’t yet put them out for sale.”
This was about what Pei Yan had guessed. He said: “Then I’ll draw a few more designs for your family. When others come to your shop, they’ll have more choices. You can’t just have lotuses and plum blossoms—you should add several other types of flowers. Otherwise, no matter how beautiful the items are, people will grow tired of looking at them.”
Yu Tang couldn’t have wished for more.
But this way, she would inevitably owe Pei Yan another favor, and would have to frequently deal with him in the future.
She didn’t know which was more troublesome.
Yu Tang hesitated for a moment, feeling that she couldn’t completely offend Pei Yan, but also couldn’t rely entirely on him. Otherwise, their family might truly have to depend on Pei Yan to make a living in the future.
Having lived two lives, Yu Tang always felt it was better to rely on oneself than on anyone else.
Her future life should be like this, and their family’s shop should also be like this.
Yu Tang smiled and said: “Then I’ll thank you in advance. It’s just that you are, after all, a person with an official title. We’ll see if we can find other scholars willing to draw designs. If you know anyone familiar who would be willing to do this, please keep an eye out for us. We’re willing to pay a high price for designs.”
Pei Yan forgot to drink the tea he had raised to his lips.
Was he being rejected?!
Pei Yan looked at Yu Tang.
Aside from noticing that she seemed a bit paler than before, and that her slightly lowered eyelashes seemed denser than he remembered, Yu Tang showed no other unusual signs.
Pei Yan was so angry he almost slammed the tea cup down on the tea table.
If he weren’t afraid of making Yu Tang, who was already speaking with a somewhat sardonic tone, even more estranged and distant from him, why would he have taken several deep breaths and forcibly swallowed down his anger?
He took several deep breaths, feeling he had restrained his fury, before saying calmly: “I’m afraid I don’t have any scholars around me willing to draw designs. If your family feels my drawings aren’t very good and wants to commission designs, I can make connections and keep an eye out for you.”
Though he said this, with Yu Tang’s perceptiveness, how could she not sense the overwhelming anger emanating from him?
She felt she had miscalculated.
She had thought that with Pei Yan’s status, position, knowledge, and experience, he wouldn’t take such matters to heart. She hadn’t expected that he was just like many literati—competitive and petty, unable to bear others giving even a glance to other people’s artwork.
Did this mean their family could only use designs drawn by Pei Yan in the future?
What if one day he stopped drawing them?
If he was so busy and had no time to draw?
Would their Yu family have to put their business on hold and just wait?
Yu Tang thought for a moment and said: “I shouldn’t really say this, but you’re not an outsider, so there’s no harm telling you. Previously, I commissioned designs from Young Master Zhang Hui…”
The implication was that it was impossible to use only his designs.
Pei Yan discovered that the young lady had quite a lot on her mind. Like a slippery loach, when she spoke, she neither offended people nor gave them anything to hold against her.
Perhaps this little girl was truly quite suited for business.
If she really had this talent, he wasn’t the type who couldn’t tolerate others. The Pei family had plenty of shops—when the time came, he could have her manage them. She didn’t necessarily have to struggle in the Yu family’s lacquerware shop, and it would also save her from competing with Yu Yuan for a livelihood. That way, Yu Yuan would definitely like her more than he did now.
Pei Yan couldn’t help but smile: “So in Miss Yu’s eyes, I’m someone who can’t tolerate others!”
The teasing tone of these words, placed in a setting where only the two of them were alone together, was inevitably somewhat frivolous.
Yu Tang was startled.
Pei Yan immediately realized this.
He uncomfortably cleared his throat lightly and said seriously: “As for Young Master Zhang, you can continue commissioning designs from him. On my end, if I encounter suitable people, I’ll also keep an eye out for you.”
He wanted to find something that would allow him and Yu Tang to get along well. Drawing designs really wasn’t very suitable—if he spent every day bent over his desk drawing, and she continued staying at the Yu family home, even if they were spending time together, they would at most be able to exchange a few words when meeting. How could that compare to planting trees, where besides discussing tree species, they would also need to go up the mountain for on-site inspections?
The more Pei Yan thought about it, the more he felt the mountain forest matter was more suitable.
He stiffly turned the conversation back to the Yu family’s mountain forest: “Hu Xing’s matter won’t implicate you. But your family’s mountain forest can’t be left unresolved. Do you have any good ideas?”
Yu Tang wasn’t afraid of confronting others head-on, but she was afraid of others showing her kindness and gentleness.
Right now, Pei Yan was being very friendly toward her.
Yu Tang felt embarrassed, her voice involuntarily dropping several degrees, and her words taking on some of their former sincerity: “I also don’t know what to do. I’m thinking of waiting until the sea buckthorn preserves are made before deciding.”
She was placating Pei Yan.
Expending great effort to transplant sea buckthorn saplings again was impossible. She planned to look around the mountain forest after returning home to see what other families with similar mountain forests had planted. Perhaps she could learn from them.
Or simply give up altogether.
People plan, heaven decides. Sometimes, accomplishing something also requires a bit of luck.
Perhaps she simply didn’t have the same luck as Pei Yan had in his previous life.
Hearing this, Pei Yan was greatly pleased.
This was a good thing.
It would be best if their family’s mountain forest produced nothing for the next two or three years.
But he didn’t show the slightest hint of this in his expression. He even pretended to think for a while before saying seriously: “What you say makes sense. Then how about this—when we return to Lin’an, I’ll bring Hu Xing and personally go take another careful look at your family’s mountain forest to see if we can all discuss and come up with a good solution.”
She and Pei Yan wandering around in the mountain forest together?
Yu Tang was stunned, her heart beginning to beat irregularly beyond her control.
Pei Yan, meanwhile, imperceptibly glanced at the water clock in the room. Based on his experience dealing with high-ranking officials at court, the conversation should stop here. Continuing further would only make people feel tired and uninterested in the topic.
In any case, he had already achieved his goal.
He decisively stood up and said: “It’s getting late. Tomorrow you still need to help Third Madam Yang and Miss Xu. You should rest early. I’ll take my leave now. As for the mountain forest matter, let’s both think about it these next couple of days to see if there are any better ideas. We can discuss it further on our way back to Lin’an.”
This way, even what to discuss at their next meeting was settled.
Pei Yan was very satisfied. Without waiting for Yu Tang to stand, he said “You needn’t see me out, I’ll go first” and lifted his feet to leave Yu Tang’s lodgings.
Yu Tang stood there, feeling bewildered.
What exactly had Pei Yan come to do? After all that talking, everything he discussed was about her family’s affairs, and moreover, he just said whatever came to mind…
Yu Tang couldn’t fall asleep for most of the night. When she got up the next morning, her eyes actually had slight dark circles. She hurriedly had Qing Lian carefully cover them with powder. After having breakfast, she went to Third Madam Yang’s quarters.
The group went to the Yin family’s newly purchased residence.
That residence was quite close to Pei Yan’s residence—by sedan chair, it was only a quarter hour’s journey. In Yu Tang’s view, with three courtyards front to back, it was quite large. In Miss Xu’s view, however, it was merely adequate: “The only good thing is that it’s close to Pei Xiaguang. In the future, if anything comes up, the Pei family can help look after things.”
Yu Tang smiled but said nothing. Leading the maidservants borrowed from the Pei residence, she entered the side hall next to the main house and began discussing matters requiring attention.
Seeing her sit upright with proper posture, her expression gentle, speaking in a voice neither too high nor too low, with a tone neither rushed nor slow, her beautiful face glowing pale white in the dimly lit room with an indescribably distinctive beauty, Miss Xu couldn’t help but pause and watch for a while before turning to go to Third Madam Yang’s quarters. She smiled at Third Madam Yang and said: “Miss Yu is far more capable than we imagined. Sitting there instructing those maidservants, even the mistress of an ordinary household doesn’t have her presence. The key is she’s not at all overbearing. Entrusting her with the Pei family’s maidservants will definitely not result in any mistakes.”
Third Madam Yang was very interested upon hearing this and wanted to go see, but unfortunately Steward Tong’er from the Pei family came to help, so Third Madam Yang had to invite Steward Tong’er in. For the moment, she had no time to pay attention to Yu Tang. By the time Third Madam Yang was free, Yu Tang had already arranged everything according to what they had discussed yesterday.