Both Yu Wen and Chen Shi were greatly startled.

Yu Tang had never concerned herself with these matters before, and moreover, the words she spoke were so sharp.

Chen Shi hurriedly said: “Child, how can you speak like that? The dead are paramount! When you’re outside, you mustn’t say such things. Others will say you’re harsh.”

Yu Tang disagreed, feeling she couldn’t let her parents be fooled by that Grand Steward, and said: “But that Grand Steward was in the wrong to begin with! Think about it—by dying like this, he benefits, gaining a reputation for loyalty and righteousness. But what about the living? His family’s positions are finished, right? No, not just his family’s—even those related to his family by blood or marriage probably can’t work at the Pei residence anymore. And there’s the primary branch. Although Third Master became the clan head, he has the Old Master’s dying command. Even if there were any scheming and plotting involved, winners become kings and losers become bandits. If they’re not satisfied, they can struggle again. But with him dying like this, what will others think of the primary branch? Are they dissatisfied with the Old Master’s arrangements? Or do they want to compete with Third Master for the position of clan head? The Pei family isn’t one person’s Pei family—they have three branches. With the primary branch making such a fuss, aren’t they afraid the other two branches will laugh at them? Or is it that the primary branch no longer cares about face and dignity and is wholeheartedly trying to pull Third Master down?”

Yu Wen and Chen Shi looked at each other in bewilderment.

Was this still their daughter who only knew about eating, drinking, and having fun?

When had their daughter gained such insight?

Yu Tang, lacking self-awareness, asked her parents: “Isn’t what I’m saying correct? I most despise people like the Grand Steward who fish for fame and reputation—only caring about their own honor before and after death, not caring whether others live or die. By dying like this, Third Master naturally can’t escape responsibility, but the primary branch will also be criticized by others.”

She was also thinking that this method of making the snipe and clam fight while the fisherman profits might have been thought up by the Second Master.

After all, he was the one who benefited from this matter.

However, Yu Tang wasn’t worried that Third Master Pei would fail.

In her previous life, he had been the big winner.

Different from her previous life was that in her previous life, she had thought Third Master Pei lived quite comfortably, but looking at it in this life, that might not necessarily be the case.

Yu Tang sighed and asked her father: “Have you seen Second Master Pei? What kind of person is he?”

At this moment, she somewhat regretted not paying closer attention to the Pei family’s affairs in her previous life.

Yu Wen came back to his senses and said: “Of course I’ve seen Second Master. He’s really quite good as a person—learned, cultivated, gentle in temperament, generous in his conduct, meticulous and thoughtful in his dealings with people and matters, making one feel like bathing in a spring breeze. He’s a rare man of refined taste.”

Such a high evaluation of Second Master!

Yu Tang was quite surprised.

On second thought, she realized her father saw everyone as quite good. Even Lu Xin, who had sold him a fake painting and swindled his silver, he had still chosen to forgive Lu Xin and bore him no grudge.

In her father’s words, hating someone also required energy. Rather than hating anyone, it was better to climb a mountain, buy a few Lake Brushes, make some new clothes, and be happy.

Thinking of these things, she thought again of that painting stamped with the “Spring Water Hall” seal.

Since the seal on that authentic painting was correct, where exactly had that painting that ended up in her hands in her previous life come from?

As Yu Tang pondered this, she thought about whether she should also make a fuss about going along the next time her father went to see Shopkeeper Tong, to ask Shopkeeper Tong whose private seal was carved with “Spring Water Hall.”

As she mulled this over, she heard Chen Shi, who had been silent all along, say to her father: “Huili, I think A’Tang’s words make a lot of sense. If the Grand Steward felt the primary branch had been wronged and wanted to stand up for them, he could have waited until after the Old Master’s funeral to seek justice from Third Master.”

Yu Tang was delighted by her mother’s awakening.

Yu Wen smiled bitterly and said: “As for what inside story there might be, we don’t know and shouldn’t discuss it.” He tactfully asked Chen Shi and Yu Tang to stop talking about this matter.

Yu Tang smiled and agreed.

Chen Shi also nodded.

Yu Bo’s family came over to visit.

Yu Wen hastily finished his meal. Chen Shi directed Chen Pozi and Shuang Tao to clear away the bowls and chopsticks, then personally went to brew tea.

Yu Tang went to wash some fruit.

The two families sat down to talk.

Yu Bo asked Yu Wen about the Grand Steward’s matter: “Have you heard?”

“I’ve heard!” Yu Wen told his elder brother what he knew, and also used what Yu Tang had just said to judge the Grand Steward.

Yu Tang was somewhat surprised.

She hadn’t expected news of the Grand Steward’s suicide to spread so quickly.

Calculating it, the Grand Steward had only been dead for a few hours.

But seeing that her father actually agreed with her words at heart, she was still very happy and smiled with pursed lips on the side.

Yu Bo, like Yu Wen before, thought the Grand Steward was a loyal servant, but hearing Yu Wen put it this way, he also felt the Grand Steward’s actions were somewhat improper. However, he had come for another matter. After sighing with his brother for a few sentences, he said: “Little brother, do you know who took over the Grand Steward’s position?”

Yu Wen never concerned himself with such matters. He hesitated and said: “Isn’t it the Third Steward?”

“I heard it’s not.” Yu Bo said worriedly, “I heard that the one taking over the Grand Steward’s position is neither any of the other two stewards nor one of the seven managers, but someone called Pei Man. I’ve never heard of this person. You’ve been helping at the Pei residence these past few days—have you ever heard of this person?”

“No!” Yu Wen was astonished and said: “Surnamed Pei and performing servant duties, he definitely isn’t one of the Pei family’s sons. Then the surname must have been bestowed. To be bestowed a surname, he must be an extremely outstanding hereditary servant. But the Pei family and we are all neighbors—such an outstanding person, even if we haven’t seen him, we should have heard of him. This person called Pei Man suddenly appeared just like that and immediately became Grand Steward…”

“That’s what I thought too.” Yu Bo said disappointedly, “I thought it was because I’m a merchant and don’t have much contact with the Pei family, so I hadn’t heard of him!”

Yu Wen said: “Why are you asking about this? Wasn’t the matter of building the shop already promised by Third Master Pei? Now that he’s the clan head, it’s even less likely to change.”

Yu Bo scratched his head and said: “I’m not worried about that. I was thinking that since this Pei Man has become Grand Steward, I should at least go offer my congratulations. If I could learn some information from you, I could exchange a few more words with him then. You don’t know—business is hard to do nowadays. Those old patterns passed down from our ancestors were all burned. I’m thinking, now that the shop is being rebuilt, should we change to some other business?”

Yu Yuan wanted to speak but hesitated.

Yu Tang felt that her eldest cousin was more formidable at doing business than her uncle, and decided to help her eldest cousin. Taking advantage of being a young girl whose parents and uncle and aunt were very indulgent toward her, she interjected: “Uncle also says business isn’t easy to do. If you’re going to change trades, why not have eldest cousin go out and travel around more? Eldest cousin has inherited Uncle’s true teachings—he’ll definitely gain something.”

Seeing his niece flatter him, Yu Bo laughed heartily, feeling very pleased. With a grand wave of his hand, he said: “That works too! Anyway, during this time I’ll be busy with rebuilding the shop. I’ll have your eldest cousin stay in Hangzhou Prefecture for a while to see how others do business.”

He didn’t think Yu Yuan could come up with any good ideas.

Yu Yuan was a man, and Yu Bo managed him quite strictly. He was also quite proper and generally didn’t dare speak when his elders were talking.

He glared at Yu Tang and obediently responded “Yes.”

The brothers Yu Bo and Yu Wen continued their idle chat. Yu Yuan took the opportunity to pull Yu Tang out and threaten her: “If you keep talking nonsense like this, I won’t bring you combs and headbands when I go to Hangzhou Prefecture. Our Yu family’s ancestral lacquerware craft—how can we casually change direction? Besides, every trade has its tricks. It’s not like you say, where you can just casually look around and enter the field.”

Yu Tang knew nothing about doing business, but she did know that to do things well, you first had to be a good person. To be a good person, you needed vision and perspective. To have vision and perspective, you needed to see more, hear more, travel more, and experience more.

“Eldest cousin, don’t worry. I’m not making trouble.” She explained to Yu Yuan with a beaming smile: “Even if you don’t agree with Uncle’s approach, it’s not good for you to oppose it. Rather than unwillingly following Uncle around doing things like this, you might as well go out and gain some experience—it would be good even just to know how those famous shops treat their customers.”

Yu Yuan’s heart stirred.

Yu Tang said: “Eldest cousin, I’ll subsidize you with five taels of silver.”

Yu Yuan tapped Yu Tang’s head and said: “That little bit of silver you have can only buy a few more packets of nest silk candy, and you want to subsidize me.”

“Eldest cousin, you can’t look down on people!”

The two siblings made a ruckus together.

After seeing off her uncle’s family, Yu Tang began preparing to host Ma Xiuniang’s visit to her home. Yu Wen even specially went to the street to order ice for this, instructing A’Tiao to go to the shop to get it only after Ma Xiuniang arrived.

Ma Xiuniang ate the osmanthus brown sugar jelly mixed with ice, so envious her eyes were sparkling like stars. Leaning on a luohan couch spread with a cooling mat, she crunched the ice and said indistinctly: “A’Tang… so good… how about you recruit my second little brother as your son-in-law… Although he’s only nine years old this year, if you raise him from childhood, he’ll definitely be obedient…”

Yu Tang also hadn’t eaten osmanthus brown sugar jelly mixed with ice in a long time.

Before she married, Chen Shi wouldn’t let her eat much, afraid she’d upset her stomach. Later, after marrying into the Li family, it was because Lin Shi wanted to torment her—everyone else had some, but she wasn’t given any.

She happily scooped a large spoonful of ice and stuffed it into her mouth, spat “Bah” at Ma Xiuniang, and said: “I’m not going to help you raise your little brother. If my family recruits a son-in-law, we’ll definitely recruit one who knows how to do business. We don’t want a scholar!”

“Why?” Ma Xiuniang asked in surprise, “Scholars don’t have to pay taxes and are respected by others.”

Yu Tang said indifferently: “Who who knows how to read would be willing to become someone’s live-in son-in-law? Anyway, my father is already a scholar. If we recruit someone who knows how to do business to make the family fortune more substantial, it will be easier to supervise descendants in their studies later.”

“Hee hee hee!” Ma Xiuniang covered her mouth and laughed, saying: “So you want your son to earn you an imperial rank for a wife!”

When young ladies got together, they would definitely talk nonsense, but when Ma Xiuniang talked to this extent, it was still somewhat embarrassing.

“What nonsense are you talking about?!” Yu Tang threw down her bowl and went to tickle Ma Xiuniang’s armpit. “I think you’re the one waiting for your husband to earn you an imperial rank for a wife!”

Ma Xiuniang cried out “Ow, ow” and dodged from the couch to the doorway.

Yu Tang’s hand paused as she looked outside the Hunan bamboo curtain and raised her eyebrows.

“What’s wrong?” Ma Xiuniang turned around and also looked over.

Outside the curtain, Chen Pozi was leading Madam Tang, who had brought a maid, toward Chen Shi’s main room.

“What is she here for?” Ma Xiuniang stood beside Yu Tang and said with some distaste, “That person is the most snobbish. She wouldn’t come calling without some reason.”