Yang First Madam was rendered speechless. No matter how proud Pei First Madam was, without Pei You to back her up, she didn’t dare contradict Old Madam Pei. Moreover, when Old Madam Pei mentioned her two sons and asked if they wanted to be taken away, she became even less daring to make a sound.
This dispute dissipated under circumstances of much thunder but little rain.
However, after Pei First Madam returned, she cried for a long time. Yang First Madam watched from the side, only sighing, not knowing how to comfort her. On the other hand, when Pei Tong returned from the Gu family and heard that his mother and grandmother had quarreled, his expression darkened. After being alone for quite a while, he finally pulled himself together and went to Pei First Madam’s place.
Gu Xi’s maid He Xiang couldn’t help feeling somewhat worried when she saw this, and asked Gu Xi, “Should we advise the young master a few words?”
Gu Xi removed her makeup before the mirror, thinking of her elder brother’s instruction to “not get yourself involved when you don’t have the ability to clean up the mess.” She said indifferently, “No need,” and instructed He Xiang to help her take inventory of her dowry, saying, “In a couple of days, elder brother and sister-in-law will be setting out for the capital. Send some礼程 over.”
But surely there was no need to use the dowry for this?
He Xiang said, “Eldest Young Master has always cherished you. If you send things over, he definitely won’t accept them.”
Gu Xi didn’t speak, but glanced at He Xiang.
This meant for He Xiang to talk less and do as she was told.
He Xiang had no choice but to go inventory Gu Xi’s dowry.
Gu Xi sat before her dressing table without moving for a long time.
When the formal gift exchange ceremony took place, her dowry list had gained two more sheets of paper. The items on these two sheets were all things that her young sister-in-law Yin Shi had allocated to her from her own dowry.
She knew this was her sister-in-law saving face for her.
But her heart still felt very uncomfortable.
When had she, Gu Xi, fallen to this state?
She decided to convert the things her sister-in-law had given her into silver and return it to her bit by bit.
Otherwise, how could she as the younger sister-in-law hold her head up or speak freely before her sister-in-law?
Only this way, she would have to calculate carefully how much silver to keep in hand so as not to be strapped for cash and unable to make ends meet.
After Gu Xi finished putting everything away on this side, she wanted to wait for Pei Tong to return so she could greet him, but even after the third night watch drum was struck, Pei Tong still hadn’t come back.
She was a bit worried, yet didn’t want to get involved in matters between Pei Tong and his mother, so she sent her wet nurse to discreetly inquire.
When the wet nurse returned, her expression wasn’t very good. She whispered in her ear, “Mother and son quarreled. The maternal aunt was there fanning the flames. The First Madam was threatening to hang herself!”
When Gu Xi heard this, a ball of fire immediately burned in her heart.
This First Madam had no sense at all. What time was it now? The whole family was relying on Pei Yan for their livelihood, yet she was still putting on airs there. As the common saying goes, a gentleman’s revenge is never too late even after ten years. Couldn’t she just endure? Endure until Pei Tong studied, entered officialdom, and rose to prominence?
Gu Xi was becoming somewhat annoyed with the First Madam. She wanted to go to sleep first, but felt that during their honeymoon period, this would seem too cold.
The wet nurse then advised her, “You must take this opportunity to win over the young master’s heart. Otherwise, if the First Madam makes trouble over other matters in the future, you’ll definitely suffer.”
This “other matters” referred to if she offended the First Madam.
“I understand,” Gu Xi said, instructing the wet nurse, “You all must also change how you address people, lest someone overhear and it’s not good.”
Like the Gu family, the Pei family also had a large household living together. With so many people and so much gossip, it was very easy to give people ammunition.
Gu Xi couldn’t help but say, “Do you know what that Yu person did today?”
The wet nurse knew her sore spot and also reminded her, “You shouldn’t call her ‘that Yu person’ either. If you get used to saying it, you might let it slip.” Then she said, “Old Madam was in a bad mood today. The Second Madam seemed to be packing things. The Third Madam invited that Madame Shi into the residence to give Old Madam moxibustion. I heard the effect was quite good—Old Madam was much better during the evening meal. So the Third Madam kept that Madame Shi to stay at home for a few more days, saying she would also give massages and moxibustion to the other madams while she was at it.”
Gu Xi curled her lips and sneered, “Coming from a small household, she doesn’t understand propriety. Bringing these busybodies and matchmakers through the door—who knows when they’ll become a disaster!”
The wet nurse said, “That’s her business. Let’s not concern ourselves.”
Gu Xi nodded.
She waited for almost another half hour before Pei Tong returned to the room.
Gu Xi hurried forward to help him change clothes. “Why did you come back so late? Is there something urgent?”
After all, they had just married. Pei Tong cared about face, and hearing her ask this, he didn’t know what to say for a moment. He responded vaguely and said, “It’s getting late. Let’s rest early! Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow.”
Gu Xi wished not to ask.
The next morning after rising and having breakfast, she prepared to first go pay her respects to her mother-in-law, then go to Old Madam Pei’s place. Who knew that before she could go to Pei First Madam’s place, a message came from Pei First Madam’s side saying that Yang First Madam was rushing back to the capital and told them to come quickly.
Gu Xi said in surprise, “Didn’t they say she wouldn’t leave for another couple of days?”
Pei Tong knew it was because Yang First Madam felt that continuing to stay here held no meaning and wanted to hurry back to the Yang family to celebrate New Year. He responded vaguely again and went with Gu Xi to Yang First Madam’s place.
Yang First Madam had already packed everything. After seeing them, they all went together to Old Madam Pei’s place.
Old Madam Pei didn’t give Yang First Madam any face at all, directly saying it was too early and she hadn’t risen yet, so she wouldn’t personally see Yang First Madam off.
Yang First Madam was so angry her face turned livid.
When Old Madam Pei learned of this, she held back Yu Tang—originally she had planned to have Yu Tang represent her in seeing off the guest. But since Yang First Madam felt wronged, she was afraid Yu Tang would have to listen to gossip when seeing Yang First Madam off, so she simply had Nanny Chen see the guest off instead.
Yang First Madam swept her sleeves and left.
Pei First Madam wanted even more to return to her own maiden family.
With reddened eyes, she pulled her son aside to discuss, “Don’t try to persuade me with all that nonsense. I don’t want to stay here even one more day. If you don’t want to watch your mother die, then think of a way to get to the capital, to study at your uncle’s place. One day, bring me and your younger brother to the capital. We even have our own residence in the capital!”
This was bought by Pei You himself.
After Pei You died, the Pei family either pretended not to know or had no time to deal with it—the residence had remained in their hands all along.
Thinking of the warmth of their family when his father was alive, Pei Tong’s eyes couldn’t help but redden. He promised his mother in a low voice, “Please endure for now. Our family will definitely be reunited in the capital.”
Only then did Pei First Madam’s heart feel somewhat better.
When mid-December arrived, shops began taking inventory and closing, and every household began pickling fish and meat, frying twisted dough and making New Year’s cakes. The First Master of the Li family’s main branch suddenly came to visit Pei Yan. With a pale face, he pulled Pei Yan to a secluded place and said, “I’m afraid I must trouble Third Master again.”
Pei Yan felt very impatient in his heart.
Because Yu Tang couldn’t go home for New Year’s, she wanted to return home during Little New Year to visit. He was planning to send Yu Tang back to her maiden family, then casually have a meal at the Yu family, go to the shop in the afternoon to check on things, then pick up Yu Tang and return. In the evening they would dine at Old Madam Pei’s place.
With the Li family head coming like this, this plan would probably fall through.
He frowned almost imperceptibly and said, “What happened?”
The First Master of the Li family’s main branch smiled bitterly, “Li Duan was stabbed to death!”
Hearing this news, even Pei Yan was greatly shocked. His voice tense, he said, “What happened?”
The smile of the Li family’s First Master became even more bitter. He said, “Didn’t we say before that Li Yi had accepted someone’s silver and treated human lives as worthless? That victim was also stubborn. Hearing that Li Duan was a studious youth and that the Li family could make a comeback relying on Li Duan in the future, the victim felt resentful. He traveled thousands of miles to find his way here and killed Li Duan!”
This really was…
Pei Yan didn’t speak for a long time.
The Li family’s First Master sighed, “Originally when their family was wealthy they split from us, but one stroke cannot write two Li characters. With Li Yi exiled and Li Jun following to care for his father, Lin Shi is just a woman. Suddenly encountering such a great disaster, I heard she’s already lying in bed sobbing and unable to speak. As the main branch, we can’t just watch him lie exposed in the wilderness, can we?”
According to Pei Yan’s thinking, lying exposed in the wilderness wasn’t so bad either.
Only before the Li family’s main branch people, he couldn’t say this. He said, “What can I do?”
The Li family’s First Master looked at Pei Yan and said, “The incident happened in Hangzhou, so it counts as a major case. I heard Magistrate Li will personally try it. The advisors beside Magistrate Li told me that Magistrate Li hates evil like an enemy and feels the victim has justifiable circumstances, so he probably won’t sentence that person to immediate execution. I was thinking, Li Duan is from our Lin’an. Could you go speak to Magistrate Li and have this case transferred to Lin’an for trial?”
The Li family was among the most prominent gentry households in Lin’an. If Pei Yan stepped forward to help plead, and the case was transferred to Magistrate Wu’s hands, that victim would definitely be sentenced to capital punishment.
Pei Yan didn’t want to help with this favor.
He said, “Even if the case comes to Lin’an for trial, it would ultimately have to be reviewed by Magistrate Li. Moreover, this matter is so serious—I think it’s not quite appropriate for me to step forward to plead for him.”
The Li family’s First Master was very surprised. He hadn’t expected Pei Yan wouldn’t help his fellow townsman. He hastily said, “I’m also thinking of the reputation of us Lin’an people…”
Pei Yan interrupted his words without mercy, saying, “If we’re thinking of the reputation of Lin’an people, we should even more so not obstruct Magistrate Li’s judgment. Who in this world doesn’t make mistakes? Knowing one’s mistakes and being able to correct them—nothing is better than this. In my opinion, we Lin’an people should take this as a warning. When serving as officials elsewhere, we must not only be incorruptible but also harbor benevolence and kindness. This is the true way of being an official.”
The Li family’s First Master couldn’t argue with Pei Yan. Disappointed, he took his leave. After returning and thinking it over repeatedly for a long time, he had to admit Pei Yan was right. Later he often used this matter to educate the Li family’s descendants, making Pei Yan’s reputation even more prominent—it was even recorded in historical books. But this is a story for later.
In Hangzhou City, the newly appointed Zhejiang Provincial Administration Commissioner Li Guang waited for a long time but didn’t receive any plea from Pei Yan. He couldn’t help asking his advisor, “What does this mean? Is he letting me judge as I see fit? Li Duan is from their Lin’an. Moreover, I heard Madam Li has already gone mad, and it was he who helped send her to the nunnery.”
Yet he didn’t step forward to put in a word for Li Duan.
His advisor told Li Guang the words passed on by the Li family’s First Master, and even laughed, saying, “Perhaps Pei Xiaguang thinks the same as you do—that the Li family planted melons and got melons, planted beans and got beans. This is the karmic retribution they deserve!”
Li Guang contemplated for a long while, then nodded slightly. Thus his impression of Pei Yan became very good, and he secretly felt Pei Yan was his kindred spirit.