With this thought, Pei Yan lost all interest in continuing the conversation. No matter how their family treated that eldest sister-in-law of his, she would always feel it was unfair and that she had suffered great injustice. This was no longer something that could be resolved with material goods. Besides, no matter how much wealth their family had, they couldn’t give it all to the eldest branch. He and his second brother were also born of the same mother—how could their parents possibly disregard the lives of their other two sons for the sake of the eldest?
Yang Shi considered herself clever, yet she couldn’t even understand this principle.
Pei Yan curled his lips dismissively and casually agreed with Old Lady Pei’s remarks for a few sentences before rising to take his leave.
Old Lady Pei found this amusing and said, “You might as well go look in the side hall. Miss Yu is over there helping me calculate accounts. If there’s anything she doesn’t understand, you can give her some guidance.”
Irrepressible joy surged from the depths of Pei Yan’s eyes.
“Thank you, Grandmother!” He cast aside all pretense of dignity, grinning as he bowed to Old Lady Pei before hurrying toward the side hall.
Old Lady Pei chuckled and shook her head, thinking that she hadn’t seen her youngest son this lively since before he turned ten. Now it seemed he was growing more like a child again. However, she couldn’t deny that he was genuinely happy.
This was good.
Old Lady Pei then turned to Nanny Chen, who was serving at her side, and said, “I didn’t expect Yu Shi’s mathematical skills to be quite impressive. I think in the future I could teach her some Pythagorean theory.”
This had been Old Lady Pei’s hobby when she was still an unmarried young lady.
Hearing this gave Nanny Chen a headache. It seemed incomprehensible, like sacred texts. Miss Yu was truly remarkable at arithmetic—she could look at those numbers and calculate them in her mind. But someone good at calculation might not necessarily be able to learn Old Lady Pei’s so-called Pythagorean theory.
Thinking of this, Nanny Chen felt somewhat sympathetic toward Miss Yu.
If Miss Yu were truly pulled into studying these things by Old Lady Pei, and if she learned well, she would certainly become the apple of Old Lady Pei’s eye, and her future status in the Pei family would go without saying. But if she couldn’t learn… then it would have been better not to stand out at all!
However, these were not words that someone in a servant’s position could say.
Nanny Chen smiled and responded with “Yes.”
But Yu Tang was currently troubled by the pile of account books in her hands.
Calculating accounts was the simplest part—addition and subtraction. She could figure it out even without an abacus. But account books were different from mere calculation. Those eggs at five wen each, that dried vegetables at fifteen wen per bundle—she truly didn’t know what to do with them.
Yu Tang was there scratching her head when Pei Yan entered.
She immediately grasped at him like a lifeline, quickly standing up to greet him. The chair behind her scraped noisily as she bumped it, but she paid no attention, her eyes shining as she looked at Pei Yan and asked, “How did you come here?”
Pei Yan gazed at Yu Tang with a smile, his heart filled with joy.
The little girl still thought of him. He shouldn’t have left her here alone just because of his own embarrassment. Otherwise, he might have been able to hold her again… that should be possible, right?
Pei Yan recalled the elegant fragrance that had once lingered at his nose… and her soft body…
The more he thought about it, the better it seemed.
His expression and voice involuntarily softened as he said, “How have you been these past couple of days?”
In Yu Tang’s imagination, a great family like the Pei household must have many unspeakable matters. She truly didn’t know where the pitfalls were, and she didn’t want to fall into a trap before she had even married in. However, Yu Tang had no intention of concealing things for Pei Yan—after all, this wasn’t something she had caused. Naturally, whoever created the trouble should bear the consequences.
“Not well!” Yu Tang said, pulling Pei Yan by his sleeve and pressing him into the grand armchair before the desk. She pointed at the account books on top and said, “Help me see what’s wrong with these account books.”
So she had no choice but to seek his help?
Pei Yan’s eyes and brows still carried a smile as he obediently sat down. While flipping through the account books, he asked somewhat distractedly, “How did you end up looking at account books? What has Grandmother had you doing these past two days? Have you finished everything? Didn’t Second Sister-in-law help you?”
Yu Tang thought of the young ladies of the Pei family and Miss Yang happily picking mulberries in the back mountain, then thought of all the things she herself had done these past two days. Her voice couldn’t help but carry a few notes of complaining coquettishness: “Old Lady first had me accompany her playing leaf cards and told me many anecdotes about the Pei family and their in-laws. Later she had me help Nanny Chen calculate the accounts for the Dragon Boat Festival gifts. And then you saw,” she pointed at the pile of account books on the desk, “today when I came to pay respects to Old Lady, she kept me and had all of last year’s account books from the别 estate brought over, asking me to make an inventory table.” She unconsciously pouted. “Second Madam wanted to help me, but Second Master’s side sent someone with a message asking Second Madam to find that set of wine vessels the Tao family had given them years ago—he said he wanted to give them as a gift. Second Madam hurried back to the Pei residence, and even if I wanted to find someone to ask, I didn’t know whom to ask.”
When she felt troubled, she couldn’t help but think somewhat distressedly that perhaps this was Old Lady Pei testing her.
But she truly didn’t want to experience such tests.
However, Pei Yan felt he had come at just the right time. He gazed at Yu Tang tenderly and said softly, “Alright, I’ll help you look!”
His voice was usually quite stern, but this sentence was spoken with exceptional gentleness. Hearing it in Yu Tang’s ears, it even carried a few notes of tender affection, making the tip of her heart feel as if it had been tickled by a feather—itchy. She even took two deep breaths before she could breathe normally again.
And then Pei Yan smiled at her, that smile like summer sunlight—so brilliantly bright that one couldn’t keep their eyes open. It made her unable to recover her senses for quite a while.
By the time she came back to herself, Pei Yan had already rapidly flipped through half the account book.
Yu Tang looked at Pei Yan doubtfully.
Could it be that he hadn’t noticed there was a problem with these account books?
As the thought flashed through her mind, Yu Tang’s mouth fell open.
She really shouldn’t have counted on Pei Yan.
Who was Pei Yan? Someone who had clothes handed to him and food placed in his mouth—how would he know how much eggs cost each or how much dried vegetables cost per bundle? How could he possibly discover the problems in these accounts?
So should she tell him or not?
Yu Tang felt annoyed.
She felt she should still let Pei Yan know.
Whether or not to give these purchasing servants opportunities to profit was one thing, but whether he knew about the tricks involved was another matter entirely.
Yu Tang simply stood beside him and pointed to one entry in the account book he had opened: “Third Master, look at this! Ten pears, two hundred twenty wen—that’s about twenty-two wen per pear, and they’re only being used to adjust flavors when cooking. If I remember correctly, good quality pears only cost fifteen wen each, and those are for making Sichuan fritillary stew when treating coughs. Pears for flavor adjustment don’t need to be this good quality at all—at most they should be six or seven wen each.”
Pei Yan was quite surprised. He looked at Yu Tang: “Do you often handle these matters at home?”
His expression was serious, making Yu Tang instinctively feel this matter was important. She quickly said, “Of course. When I was six or seven years old, I was already helping our family’s Chen Pozi calculate accounts. I’m quite familiar with market prices.”
Pei Yan made a sound of acknowledgment, his expression growing even more grave as he said, “When a household grows large, there are all kinds of people. You also won’t be able to handle everything personally in the future. So when you look at these account books, if the discrepancies aren’t great, just turn a blind eye. If the discrepancies are quite large, pick out a few items and point them out. The most important thing is—who occupies these positions? Have you noticed that in our family, the accounts are done by the outer courtyard stewards, and then accounts involving the inner courtyard are brought to the inner courtyard for review?”
Yu Tang didn’t know what to say and nodded blankly.
Pei Yan continued, “So the manipulations in these accounts can’t be hidden from people. What you need to know is—who prepared these accounts? Who is responsible for purchasing? And whose people are those responsible for purchasing? Are these accounts inflated because they don’t know the prices and were taken advantage of? Or are there other expenses that can’t be openly written in the account books being spread across these itemized entries…”
Yu Tang found this troublesome just listening to it. She said, “But I don’t want it to be this complicated. Because ultimately, I’m the one reviewing these accounts. If something goes wrong, I have to take responsibility. I don’t want to be responsible for other people’s matters.”
Pei Yan froze, then laughed and said, “So what do you plan to do?”
Perhaps his smile was too gentle, or perhaps his attitude carried an indulgence and permissiveness that even he himself wasn’t aware of. Encouraged by this, Yu Tang grew bolder and said, “That’s why I’m asking you for help!”
Pei Yan raised an eyebrow, guessing in his heart whether Yu Tang was planning to throw down the burden and refuse to do it, whether she wanted him to speak to Old Lady Pei on her behalf, or whether she wanted him to help discipline these servants who were twisting things around and deceiving people. Then he heard Yu Tang say, “Just help me figure out what Old Lady wants to accomplish!”
This surprised Pei Yan even more.
Yu Tang said straightforwardly, “If Old Lady Pei just wants me to help her calculate accounts, then I’ll just calculate according to these account books to make sure the totals match. If Old Lady wants to use my hand to discipline someone, please help me think of a way to push this matter to Second Madam. If that really won’t work, pushing it to First Madam would be fine too!”
After all, First Madam and Pei Yan didn’t get along—taking the blame wouldn’t be such a big deal.
Pei Yan laughed heartily, finding Yu Tang truly interesting. He couldn’t help but say, “If I hadn’t come, what were you planning to do?”
Yu Tang thought for a moment and said, “I was planning to pretend I didn’t know and just look over these accounts perfunctorily—after all, I’m not managing these things, so not knowing market prices would be normal. Then I’d find an opportunity to mention it to you.”
So Pei Yan wouldn’t be taken for a fool.
Pei Yan sensed her unspoken meaning, and his expression grew even more gentle. He said, “You were worried I’d be deceived?”
Sort of!
Yu Tang hesitated about whether to admit it.
But Pei Yan suddenly changed the topic, smiling as he said, “Then just do as you think best.”
Were her concerns too petty?
She couldn’t stand being deceived like this.
But for Pei Yan, when the water is too clear there are no fish—this was how the Pei family showed generosity to those loyal hereditary servants.
Yu Tang felt somewhat stifled.
But Pei Yan pressed on relentlessly, asking her, “If you were managing the household, what would you do?”
The question made her irritable, and she had no kind words for him, saying bluntly, “If I were managing the household, these accounts would naturally need to be overturned and redone. Market prices should be market prices. If there are expenses inconvenient to record in the accounts, establish a separate category for them. With things unclear and muddled like this, not only can the account reviewers not see clearly through the fog, but over time even the purchasing people won’t be able to explain things clearly. What’s the point of reviewing accounts then?”