Li Duan’s situation was a complete mess.
Because of the map affair, he and Lin Jue had barely left the house during this period. Even the New Year gift arrangements for their household were being handled by Lin Shi. However, there were a few families that required the legitimate eldest son to visit personally to show proper respect, but the matter of the painting was progressing very unsmoothly.
They had finally managed to find out that there was a Master Qian in Hangzhou, only to discover that Master Qian had long since moved away with no trace of his whereabouts. He then asked his father for help and requested a master from Rizhao to come over. Whether it was because this master’s skills were inadequate or their luck was bad, when the painting reached this master’s hands, it was indeed divided into three parts, but the middle map was damaged in a small section during the separation process.
If it were any other picture, it would be fine, but this was a nautical map. One small section could mean the difference between being off by a hair’s breadth and missing by a thousand miles in actual navigation, with no way to guarantee safety.
With the Spring Festival approaching, the Peng family sent someone to deliver New Year gifts.
Though the person who came was merely a minor steward from the Peng family, arriving inconspicuously and bringing quite ordinary common gifts, he still detected a note of urgency in the minor steward’s words. Thinking deeper, there was even the implication of “if your Li family can’t handle it, there are plenty of other families eager to help the Peng family with this favor.”
No wonder the Peng family was getting impatient.
It had been over half a year since their family had proactively taken on this matter.
After the Spring Festival, no matter what, they would have to deliver this painting to the Peng family.
If they still couldn’t deliver the map to the Peng family by then, their family’s capabilities would be called into question.
They needed to find another skilled master to repair that damaged section of the map, and they also had to restore the painting properly before sending it to the Peng family.
Finding someone to do the repairs became a major problem.
Lin Jue had never left. With the New Year approaching, if he delayed any further, he wouldn’t have time to return to Fujian before the Spring Festival. Moreover, the map affair was far more complicated than he had imagined, and he was inevitably becoming somewhat restless.
“Why don’t we just send this painting to the Peng family as a New Year gift before the year ends?” He suggested to Li Duan. “After all, we got the painting according to their wishes. As for this little damaged area… the fleet belongs to the Peng family. They might have ways to know the route. Are we supposed to organize our own fleet? Since the bulk of the business belongs to the Peng family, even if there are losses, they’ll lose more.”
These words were too shameless.
Moreover, doing this would make the Li family seem less important in the Peng family’s eyes.
When working with tigers and wolves, one had to be even more ruthless than them to stand firm and earn their respect.
Li Duan’s brows furrowed into a “川” character.
Lin Jue said, “Why don’t you go deliver New Year gifts first? Staring at it every day like this won’t make flowers bloom. Consider it a chance to clear your mind.”
There was nothing else to be done.
Li Duan had originally wanted to visit the Pei family first, but thinking of Pei Yan’s attitude toward their family, his heart went cold halfway, and he decided to visit Magistrate Tang first instead.
Magistrate Tang was, after all, a local official and an outside guest. Respecting outsiders first and then insiders wouldn’t be wrong.
After considering this for a while, Li Duan went to Magistrate Tang’s residence.
Magistrate Tang was having a private conversation with his trusted secretary in the study: “Did you see clearly? Was it really someone from the Huzhou Wu family?”
“It really was someone from the Huzhou Wu family.” Mentioning the Wu family, even the secretary’s voice lowered a few notches. “Moreover, the one who came was the eldest master of the Wu family, the head of the household.”
Magistrate Tang scratched his head.
The Magistrate of Huzhou was from the same examination year as him. Their jurisdictions weren’t far apart, they held the same rank, had more common ground than others, and their exchanges were close. While others didn’t know, he had heard from the Magistrate of Huzhou that although the Wu family’s ancestors were said to have come from grain transport work—which was really just flattery since the Wu family girl married into the Jiang family—the Wu family had previously been lake bandits. They had only been legitimate for three generations, and killing people was still a common occurrence for them. Even the Magistrate of Huzhou had cleaned up after them several times.
The Wu family was truly an ominous star.
How could they have dealings with Pei Yan?
He asked his secretary, “Tell me, should I go to the Pei family to wish Pei Xiaguang an early New Year?”
Magistrate Tang didn’t particularly like Pei Yan either, feeling that compared to the late Old Master Pei who had passed away, Pei Yan simply didn’t put him, the magistrate, in his eyes. He always called him “Pei Yan” or “Pei Laosan” behind his back. But now that he knew Pei Yan actually had dealings with the Huzhou Wu family, he didn’t even dare to call him “Pei Yan” or “Pei Laosan” anymore.
Since he was a trusted confidant, he understood Magistrate Tang best. The secretary quickly said, “You definitely should go wish Third Master Pei an early New Year! When Lord Zuo was serving as an official in Zhejiang, he once said that to be a good local official, one must maintain good relations with the local gentry and prominent families. Even someone as capable as Lord Zuo said such words—naturally we ordinary officials should follow his example.”
Magistrate Tang heard what he wanted to hear and nodded with satisfaction, saying, “Then there’s no time to waste. Let’s go early to avoid Pei Xiaguang thinking I’m arrogant. Actually, I’m the most approachable to the people!”
However, as soon as his words fell, a servant came in to report that Li Duan had come to deliver New Year gifts. Though he was somewhat annoyed that Li Duan had disrupted his arrangements, the Li family’s New Year gifts were always generous, so he was quite pleased to receive Li Duan.
Magistrate Tang exchanged a few pleasantries with Li Duan, then served tea to send him off. Li Duan felt that Magistrate Tang wasn’t as warm toward him as usual.
He couldn’t help feeling puzzled. After leaving the yamen, he had his sedan chair stop at the corner and lifted the curtain to wait a while. Sure enough, he saw Magistrate Tang heading toward Little Plum Lane with his secretary.
Li Duan’s heart burned with discomfort.
Truth be told, Pei Yan was only three or four years older than him, yet the gap between them seemed as vast as heaven and earth. Not only did others never mention them in the same breath, they even always treated him as Pei Yan’s junior. When all was said and done, it was simply because the Pei family had more power than the Li family.
This time, no matter what, he had to find a way to board the Peng family’s great ship.
Li Duan sent someone to watch Magistrate Tang.
An hour later, he learned that Magistrate Tang had been turned away at the Pei family’s door—Pei Yan hadn’t seen Magistrate Tang, instead sending Pei Man to have a cup of tea with him before dismissing him.
Li Duan gazed at the cluster of still-verdant square bamboo in front of his study, his heart filled with mixed feelings, unable to identify the taste.
Pei Yan hadn’t intentionally avoided seeing Magistrate Tang; it was just that his timing was unfortunate.
The Yu family’s lacquerware shop was reopening on the eighteenth day of the twelfth month, and the Yu family came to deliver invitations to the Pei family.
Yu Bo and Yu Yuan naturally didn’t dare imagine that Pei Yan would pay attention to such matters, nor did they dare imagine this invitation would reach Pei Yan’s desk. They only hoped that when the time came, the Pei family would send a servant with a congratulatory note for the opening, which they could display in the most prominent place in the shop so that passing merchants would know the shop had the Pei family’s protection. Who would have known that just as Yu Bo and Yu Yuan handed the invitation to the steward specifically managing such neighborly exchanges and were leaving, they would run into Hu Xing.
These days, Hu Xing was truly riding high on success.
Those who came to deliver New Year gifts to the Pei family were all prominent wealthy families from the Jiangnan region. The gift-bearers were all heads of households or those in power, and the bulk of the New Year gifts were for the Third Master himself, with only a small portion for the Pei family.
Didn’t this indicate that these people could deliver New Year gifts to the Pei family entirely because of the Third Master, entirely because they had personal connections with him!
His decision not to listen to the former head steward and not to question the old master’s decision was truly the most correct choice.
Therefore, when he saw Yu Bo and his son, he immediately thought of Yu Wen and his daughter, as well as the bronze door ring he had inadvertently seen on the Third Master’s bookshelf today when he went to request instructions.
Through his careful and attentive observations during this period, Hu Xing felt that the Third Master had some small quirks. For example, with newly made clothes, even though the Third Master clearly liked them very much, he would set them aside for ten days to half a month before wearing them, and some he would even save until the next season. For something like this to appear in his study just days after being delivered, and in a place within easy reach, showed just how satisfied the Third Master was with the Yu family’s gift.
He served the Third Master. Since the Yu family had gained the Third Master’s favor, he naturally should also respect and value the Yu family.
“Oh my, isn’t this Elder Master Yu?” He approached with a smile and performed a bow, saying with concern yet familiarity, “What brings you here? Why didn’t you have a servant let me know? You’re being far too formal!”
Both Yu Bo and Yu Yuan were somewhat dumbfounded.
The Pei family’s Steward Hu often accompanied Imperial Physician Yang to take Chen Shi’s pulse. If Steward Hu had connections with anyone in the Yu family, it would be with Yu Wen. When had they become so familiar with Hu Xing? Especially Yu Bo, who had just returned and had no idea what had happened—previously when he had business at the Pei family, he had to find ways to get close to those stewards. Let alone someone like Hu Xing, a head steward.
He glanced at Yu Yuan.
Yu Yuan was also puzzled, but he knew a bit more than his father and quickly figured out the reason.
He quietly reminded his father with the words “it’s Uncle,” then smiled and returned Hu Xing’s bow, explaining their purpose. He also politely mentioned in passing that Hu Xing should come join the festivities.
Hu Xing immediately agreed. After chatting with the Yu father and son for a while, he took it upon himself to ask them to wait, saying, “Let me go get a word from the Third Master for you before you leave, so your trip won’t be wasted.”
Both Yu Bo and Yu Yuan looked astonished.
Hu Xing paid them no mind, smiling as he went on his own to the gift reception room, retrieved the Yu family’s invitation, then went to see Pei Yan. His eyes smiling into crescents, he bowed to Pei Yan, who was practicing calligraphy, handed over the invitation, and only then respectfully said, “The Yu family’s lacquerware shop is about to open. Elder Master Yu and Young Master Yu came to deliver an invitation to you. Tell me, do you have any instructions?”
The Yu family?
In Pei Yan’s mind flashed the image of Miss Yu’s earnest face as she used the Pei family’s banner to intimidate Lu Xin, followed by the thought of that bronze door beast ring worth two taels of silver.
He said coldly, “Do I need to tell you how to handle such matters? Of course, follow the usual practice!”
The Pei family’s usual practice was for the steward in charge of such matters to wrap up two taels of silver as a red envelope.
But Old Master Pei’s usual practice was that distant relatives weren’t as good as close neighbors. Since the Pei family had established itself in Lin’an City, they should maintain good relations with these local gentry and neighbors. Besides the red envelope, he would also ask a few questions to show concern when people came to deliver invitations. If they earned his regard, he would even personally visit to offer congratulations.
The Yu family clearly fell under Old Master Pei’s usual practice!
If he hadn’t stopped the Yu father and son, how else would the Yu family have known Pei Yan’s decision so promptly?
Hu Xing secretly applauded his own cleverness.
“Excellent! I’ll go tell Elder Master Yu right away.” He scurried off cheerfully.
Pei Yan felt something was off about his mood, but a servant came to say that Tao Qing had rushed over from Guangzhou. For the moment, he didn’t think much more about it and went to see Tao Qing.