The Pei Yan and Yu Tang couple playfully teased each other over this private money. Pei Yan thought that going to Tongzhou required staying overnight, and bringing Yu Tang along would be good—they could also stroll around the area before returning. He simply discussed with Yu Tang staying in Tongzhou for a few more days.
Being able to go out and have fun was naturally wonderful.
Yu Tang happily agreed.
The two immediately made it seem like they were going on an outing. On the day of departure, they even had the kitchen make many pastries to eat on the road.
Yu Yuan benefited from this association and ate several chrysanthemum pastries. However, he commented: “The rice cakes from our hometown still taste better.” Speaking of this, he couldn’t help but think of Miss Xiang: “With me away from home, and her pregnant and having to care for the child, I wonder how she’s doing now?” He then thanked Yu Tang: “She’s always liked the hair ornaments you make. Seeing that box of hair ornaments, she’ll definitely be very happy.”
Yu Tang smiled with pursed lips.
When she had nothing to do, she made hair ornaments and gave them to those she got along well with.
Besides Miss Xiang, she also brought some food and toys for Ma Xiuniang and her child.
On Gu Xi’s side, she took advantage of Yu Tang not being home to move everything to the old residence Pei You had previously purchased.
Gu Chang still came to take a look and asked Pei Tong: “Have you set a date for the housewarming yet?”
That day when he went to the Pei residence, he hadn’t waited for Pei Tong.
Elder Master Yang had gone directly to the old residence. Pei Tong invited Elder Master Yang to eat a meal outside, and by the time they returned it was almost curfew. Unable to wait, Gu Chang had left first.
The two hadn’t spoken yet.
Seeing Gu Chang ask, Pei Tong hurriedly said: “I was just preparing to discuss with you and set an auspicious date.” As he spoke, he took out the dates previously requested from White Horse Temple for Gu Chang to choose from.
Gu Chang was indifferent and said: “Any date is fine with me—even if I need to request leave, I’ll come. You should first go ask your Second Uncle to avoid conflicts with his schedule.”
This would also let those people speculating that Pei Tong was driven out of the Pei family see that Pei Xuan still stood on Pei Tong’s side and would still help support Pei Tong when matters arose.
Hearing him say this, Pei Tong decided to visit the Pei residence later.
Gu Chang asked him: “What did Elder Master Yang come to see you about that day? What did he say to you?”
Pei Tong didn’t hide it from him and said: “He asked whether the silver from the Pei residence had been transferred to the account. Then he talked to me about some household trivial matters.”
Specifically what, he didn’t tell Gu Chang.
Actually, the main reason Elder Master Yang had sought him out that day was to discuss the letter Pei You had left with him.
According to Elder Master Yang’s meaning, since the Pei family hadn’t mentioned it, they didn’t need to rush forward to curry favor with the Pei family—they could wait until the Pei family came asking for it before discussing it.
Pei Tong vaguely understood this maternal uncle’s meaning.
When all was said and done, he just didn’t want to return it to the Pei family and wanted to hold onto it as leverage.
He had been somewhat unhappy at the time and reminded Elder Master Yang: “If someone else takes it or sees it, that would also be troublesome.”
Elder Master Yang made no mention of safeguarding it, only saying to set his mind at ease—such a thing would definitely not happen.
Pei Tong knew this letter probably couldn’t be retrieved.
Elder Master Yang had then discussed with him wanting to wait until his mother came to the capital before holding the housewarming, even saying things like “good food is worth the wait”: “Only then will it count as the whole family being together, complete and intact.”
If it were before, even if he had many thoughts, he would have found ways to suppress them himself. But now, hearing Elder Master Yang say this, he would only speculate whether he was plotting something regarding their family again.
Perhaps this was it—after not trusting his maternal family, whatever the maternal family people did, he would keep a watchful eye?
So this time he wasn’t planning to listen to Elder Master Yang.
He decided that once everything in the house was organized, he would invite relatives and friends for the housewarming. This would also be a tactful way of telling those who knew about their branch separation that from now on he was establishing his own household, and this family would be supported by him. This way, when his mother came, she wouldn’t insist on sitting at the main table, and others wouldn’t still treat him as a child who relied on his mother. For any matters, they would first go discuss with his mother, his mother would first ask his maternal uncles for their opinions, and in the end they would manipulate him like a puppet.
A single tree cannot make a forest.
This being the case, he had to seek help from other people.
Such as his maternal elder brother Gu Chang.
He felt this was always better than seeking help from the Yang family.
It was just that his father’s letter was of great importance. He hadn’t yet decided whether to tell Gu Chang, which was why he concealed part of his conversation with Elder Master Yang. And Gu Xi would even less likely tell Gu Chang about Pei You’s matters. Gu Chang felt that his younger sister and brother-in-law were hiding something from him, making him very unhappy. He deliberately stayed at Pei Tong’s home for the evening meal but still couldn’t get anything out of Pei Tong, showing that Pei Tong was still closer to the Yang family people.
When Gu Chang left, though he didn’t storm out angrily, his expression was very unpleasant.
Pei Tong vaguely sensed this and pondered alone in his study for a long time. In the end, he couldn’t make a decision, thinking there was still a pile of matters at home and he didn’t necessarily have to tell Gu Chang about this matter right now. So he kept delaying, procrastinating all the way until the day of the housewarming.
The Yang family was certainly unhappy.
Lady Pei hadn’t yet come to the capital.
But Pei Tong’s invitations had already been sent out, so they couldn’t very well not come.
Elder Madam Yang sent the young couple a set of yellow pear wood furniture. Second Madam Yang and Third Madam Yang were listless—one family sent a tea set, the other family sent a set of bowls and dishes.
Old Madam Yang was displeased watching this. Without waiting to return home, sitting in the pavilion in Pei Tong’s back garden, she began criticizing her eldest daughter-in-law, Elder Madam Yang: “Even if one’s official career isn’t going smoothly for a time, they haven’t fallen to this extent. They don’t understand propriety, but you don’t either? Look at the Pei family’s Second Madam—she sent two paintings and calligraphy from the previous dynasty. Third Madam sent antiques. What will the Yin and Gu families think of us when they find out?”
Elder Madam Yang felt very wronged and said in a low voice: “When I discussed it with them earlier, they didn’t say it would be like this.”
Old Madam Yang felt it was too disgraceful and persisted relentlessly: “Whatever they say is what it is? What are you there for? Furthermore, we’re still counting on the Pei family to help quickly get the second and third sons back—acting like this, aren’t you slapping the Pei family in the face? How can we speak up then?”
When Second Master Yang and Third Master Yang had gotten into trouble, quite a bit of money had been thrown in. At the time, they were only thinking of saving people and didn’t distinguish between yours and mine. Now that matters were settled, the second and third households were empty-handed. The old madam and old master wouldn’t subsidize the two of them either—she couldn’t very well take out her own dowry to support the second and third households’ livelihoods, could she?
Elder Madam Yang lowered her head without making a sound.
Pei Yan and Yu Tang played in Tongzhou for two days and even bought a small three-courtyard residence by the water there. Yu Tang really enjoyed furnishing residences and spent several days organizing it with Qing Yuan. She was also thinking that next year she didn’t know if they would still be in the capital. She quite wanted to plant a few pomegranate trees in that residence, but didn’t know who to entrust it to? Perhaps there were old nannies or old stewards from the Pei family who needed to retire and could be settled in this residence to help watch over it. When they came to the capital in the future, they wouldn’t need to stay at Tongzhou inns. Her eldest cousin Yu Yuan would frequently come to the capital in the future—the warehouses for river transport were all in Tongzhou, and her residence could also help store goods. She completely didn’t notice what the Yang family had sent when Pei Tong held his housewarming.
The Second Madam was thinking about preparing dowry items for Pei Dan all day. By late summer, when Young Master Qin returned to his hometown on his father’s orders to take the imperial examinations, the Second Madam was also pondering that she should make a few sets of clothes for their son-in-law and procure some good brushes and inkstones. How could she manage to attend to Pei Tong’s affairs?
The two sisters-in-law each had their own matters when Fourth Madam Song suddenly came to the capital.
Yu Tang was in the courtyard where Pei Tong used to live, discussing with several senior maids what flowers and plants to plant to replace those few peony plants that had been dug up. When the servant woman on duty came to report, she pointed at herself in bewilderment and said: “Fourth Madam Song wants to see me?”
“Not exactly.” That servant woman had also followed from their Lin’an hometown. She said with a smile: “The mistress of the Song household has come to visit our family—naturally it’s you who should go meet her. I came directly to inform you.”
Listening to this, Yu Tang couldn’t help but feel somewhat embarrassed.
During this period, she had only been concerned with enjoying herself and hadn’t fulfilled her responsibilities as a clan wife.
She hurriedly went to wash and groom herself again before going to the reception hall.
Fourth Madam Song hadn’t come alone—she had also brought Seventh Miss Song.
After the two families exchanged greetings and sat down as host and guests, and after the young maids served tea and pastries, the servant woman beside Fourth Madam Song presented a gift list.
“The journey is too long—some things weren’t easy to bring,” Fourth Madam Song said politely. “Thinking that you’ve been living in the capital for some time, I brought some local specialties from home to satisfy your cravings.”
Qing Yuan, standing behind Yu Tang, received the gift list. Yu Tang also smiled and exchanged pleasantries with her: “Thank you so much. Everything is good in the capital—it’s just that the food is somewhat hard to get used to. Now that you’ve come, we can enjoy some good food too.”
Fourth Madam Song chatted with Yu Tang cheerfully for a few sentences. Only then did Yu Tang learn that Fourth Madam Song had come to attend Miss Wu’s wedding.
Yu Tang couldn’t help but find this somewhat strange.
She, a Jiangnan person living in the capital, didn’t even know about Miss Wu’s marriage, yet Fourth Madam Song, far away in Jiangsu, not only knew about it but had even traveled here to attend Miss Wu’s wedding… She couldn’t help but ask which family Miss Wu was marrying into.
Hearing this, Fourth Madam Song laughed directly and said: “What have you been doing all this time? You don’t even know about such matters? Miss Wu has married into the Peng family, becoming the second daughter-in-law of Ninth Master Peng.”
The Peng family?
Yu Tang thought of how Peng Yu and Ninth Master Peng were blood brothers, and Miss Sun had also married into the Peng family.
There was also Jiang Hua’s eldest daughter-in-law, who was the eldest Miss Wu.
This way, the Jiang and Peng families were also related by marriage.
Yu Tang’s heart rose and fell uneasily.
“I truly haven’t ventured beyond the inner gate—I really haven’t paid attention to these matters.” Yu Tang spoke somewhat distractedly with Fourth Madam Song: “Is the Wu family marrying off their daughter in the capital? You’ve come from so far away just to escort Miss Wu to her wedding?”
“Not entirely.” Fourth Madam Song smiled and glanced at Seventh Miss Song, saying: “It’s just that the young ladies in the family are all grown now. We’ve always been holed up in the Suzhou area, coming and going always discussing marriage prospects with the same few families. We should also venture out and take a look.”
In other words, the Wu family had shown the Song family another possibility, and the Song family was preparing to follow the Wu family’s example, using their children’s marriages to secure benefits for their own family.
Yu Tang couldn’t say much about such matters. At this moment, she only wanted to see Pei Yan as quickly as possible and tell him about this.
She pretended not to understand and said perfunctorily: “Yes, you should come out and take a look. Although Jiangnan scenery is the finest under heaven, the capital also has the capital’s advantages.” She continued: “The Wu family’s alliance with the Peng family hasn’t been announced yet, has it? We haven’t received invitations yet. Do you know when the two families have set the wedding date?”