For daughters from families like the Yu family’s lacquerware master, they generally married craftsmen of equal standing and continued circling within this sphere. Very few could break out of this circle.
Hearing Pei Yan ask her, the girl was immediately overjoyed.
If she could gain the favor of the Pei family, even if she married a craftsman in the future, she could find ways to work for the Pei family, or borrow the Pei family’s influence to open her own shop. At the very least, she would have some standing in the shop, and life would be much better.
“This humble one is called Lanhua,” the young girl answered, pulling her somewhat wooden older sister beside her and said, “This is my older sister, called Meihua.”
Pei Yan nodded and said nothing more. He called over the Yu family’s template-making master and asked about the template work.
The template master was in his thirties, hired by the Yu family from Jiangxi. Short in stature and somewhat timid, but when discussing template work, his eyes shone brightly with confidence. It was clear he had great faith in his craft: “We made the template according to the drawing the young master brought, but carved red lacquer is different from other lacquerware techniques—the recessed becomes the raised, the raised becomes the recessed—it must be carved layer by layer.”
In other words, the template wasn’t important; what mattered was the master’s skill.
Pei Yan then asked him, “So how much time do you need for a thousand boxes?”
The master said quite solemnly, “If I were to do it alone, I’d need about four to five months. But once summer passes and the weather turns cool, the lacquer won’t dry as quickly as now, so four to five months would probably be optimistic. If I work with my apprentices, we could probably save about a month.”
Pei Yan wanted to watch him make a piece of lacquerware.
The master hesitated somewhat.
Pei Yan sneered coldly, “Your master isn’t afraid—what are you afraid of?”
That master was also quite shrewd and hurriedly said, “Some people can’t tolerate lacquer—just smelling that odor makes their faces swell up. I’m afraid that if you feel uncomfortable anywhere, I would be guilty of an unforgivable offense.”
Pei Yan stood up, his expression stern: “Lead the way.”
The master didn’t dare say more and hurried ahead.
But Pei Yan grabbed hold of Yu Tang, who was about to follow behind him: “You stay here and help me shell some lotus seeds and chill them with ice so I can eat them when I return.”
Yu Tang’s eyes lit up. She loved how he said one thing but meant another. With smiling eyes, she said, “I grew up in a lacquerware shop. If I couldn’t tolerate lacquer, I would have stopped coming long ago. Don’t worry. But you should be careful—if you feel uncomfortable, you absolutely mustn’t try to tough it out.”
Pei Yan nodded. After thinking, he had Yu Yuan find a handkerchief for Yu Tang to cover her nose: “That smell is really unpleasant—don’t be careless either.”
Yu Tang knew Pei Yan meant well. Obediently covering her nose with the handkerchief, she went with Pei Yan to the workshop at the back.
Yu Yuan watched Pei Yan and Yu Tang, smiling until his eyes narrowed to slits.
The master then demonstrated the carved red lacquer process for Pei Yan.
Pei Yan said nothing. After leaving the workshop with Yu Tang, he prepared to send Yu Tang home: “I’ll think carefully about this matter. When I’ve figured it out, I’ll tell you. Tomorrow there are dragon boat races at Tiaoxitang—everyone should rest early so we’ll have energy to enjoy ourselves properly tomorrow.”
Yu Yuan had originally only wanted Yu Tang to give him some advice and hadn’t expected Yu Tang to come to the workshop. Hearing Pei Yan say this, he naturally agreed repeatedly and urged Yu Tang to hurry home.
Yu Tang trusted Pei Yan very much. Since Pei Yan said he didn’t have any good ideas at the moment, she put the matter aside, thinking that with Pei Yan’s intelligence, he would surely come up with a good solution. So she didn’t insist and left the shop through the back door with Pei Yan.
Pei Yan then discussed with her: “I think those two young maids who served us tea today are quite good. If they’re willing, you could keep them by your side—they’re better than buying from outside. Their father and brothers both work for your family, so if they serve by your side, their family probably won’t return to Jiangxi either.”
Yu Tang had already guessed when Pei Yan asked the two young maids their names. Now that Pei Yan brought it up, she was even more certain and smiled, “I’ll go back and ask.”
Pei Yan “mm”ed with satisfaction and escorted Yu Tang toward Green Bamboo Lane.
However, when they reached the intersection, they discovered that the entrance of an inn at the intersection was surrounded three layers deep with people.
Shuang Tao couldn’t help but take a few more glances and said to Yu Tang, “Miss, some outsiders who came to visit relatives were thrown out by the inn.”
Most of the inns in Lin’an were owned by the Pei family.
Hearing this, Pei Yan couldn’t help but frown and instructed A’Tiao, “Go take a look.”
A’Tiao ran over.
Yu Tang was somewhat worried.
She feared damage to the Pei family’s reputation.
“How about we wait here for a bit,” Yu Tang said. “I’m not in a rush to get home right now.”
If Pei Yan personally came forward to mediate, regardless of whose fault it was, the matter would pass quickly.
Pei Yan was still hesitating when Yu Tang decisively said, “These are small matters to begin with—we shouldn’t let small things ruin big plans. You should go take a look, shouldn’t you? I’ll wait here for you.”
He had only wanted to spend more time with Yu Tang. Hearing this, after pondering for a moment, he had people guard Yu Tang’s sedan and went to the inn himself.
Yu Tang pricked up her ears to listen.
Before long, the sounds from the inn stopped. After waiting about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Pei Yan returned and said, “They’re from Shandong going to Fujian to visit relatives. They took the wrong road and ended up in Lin’an. The mother is ill with consumption. The innkeeper told them to stay at one of the Pei family’s estates outside the city for a few days, but the family was afraid of being driven out and refused to leave, so they made a fuss at the inn entrance. I had people take them to the estate.”
Pei Yan wasn’t a cold-hearted person. Since he had people take them to the estate, he would surely find ways to help treat their illness.
Yu Tang put the matter aside. When she returned home, she began rummaging through trunks and cabinets looking for clothes and jewelry, preparing to quietly go play at Tiaoxitang with Pei Yan tomorrow.
Fortunately, Chen Shi had always been sickly in the past. Though she had improved these past two years, Yu Wen didn’t let her go out much, especially not in weather as hot as the Dragon Boat Festival. This year, Yu Wen had made arrangements early with Old Master Wu and secured a private room at a riverside restaurant along Tiao Creek, planning to take Chen Shi out to enjoy herself. Chen Shi was also carefully preparing her own clothing and accessories and didn’t have much energy to supervise Yu Tang. When they reached the restaurant and encountered the Wei family, everyone chatted and laughed merrily. It was very lively, so much so that when Yu Tang slipped away, only Wei Xiaochuan noticed and followed.
“Why are you following me?” Yu Tang stood on tiptoe. Seeing that Pei Yan was no longer visible on the viewing platform, she feared he was waiting for her in the sun and asked Wei Xiaochuan somewhat anxiously, “I arranged to meet someone to play. Don’t you dare sell me out.”
“How could I!” Wei Xiaochuan’s eyes darted around in a way that made it impossible to trust him. “I want to play too. Big Sister, take me along!”
Yu Tang was even more cunning than him. She called over several of the Wu family’s young misses under ten years old, grabbed a handful of small change to give them, and smiled as she instructed them, “If you want to buy snacks later, have this older brother run errands for you.”
Immediately, one of the Wu family’s young misses hugged Wei Xiaochuan’s leg, clamoring that she wanted to eat melon seeds.
Wei Xiaochuan’s face turned red with anger. “Aren’t there melon seeds in the private room? Why do you need to go outside to buy them?”
The little girl answered righteously, “The melon seeds in the private room are the same as at home. Outside they have sugar-coated melon seeds—we want to eat sugar-coated melon seeds.” She even threatened Wei Xiaochuan, “If older brother won’t buy them for us, we’ll go tell Madam Wei that you all ignored us.”
Wei Xiaochuan stamped his feet. He wanted to find Yu Tang, but she had already disappeared. Looking around, all he saw was a sea of bobbing heads.
He pointed at the little girl’s forehead and said, “If something happens to Sister Yu, let’s see how you explain it!”
The little girl had a round face and snow-white skin, like the children painted in New Year pictures. She “hmph”ed and said, “Nothing will happen! Sister Yu has Sanmu following her, and Shuang Tao too—she won’t get lost!”
Wei Xiaochuan could only crane his neck to look around, guessing whom Yu Tang was going to meet.
It took Yu Tang a long time to squeeze through the crowd to reach the big tree where she had agreed to meet Pei Yan.
Qing Yuan was already waiting there.
Seeing Yu Tang, she breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly came forward, inviting her onto a mule cart. She also said, “Third Master said that with so many people and loose tongues, and fearing we might encounter kidnappers, traveling by cart is safer.”
Mainly it meant fewer people would see them.
Yu Tang had no objections and got on the cart.
However, having squeezed through the crowd, her body was covered in light perspiration. After Qing Yuan helped her wipe off the sweat and opened the cart window for ventilation, she inadvertently glanced up and saw a mule cart passing by them.
Yu Tang’s heart began pounding wildly, and she felt somewhat breathless.
She grabbed Qing Yuan’s hand and said urgently, “Quickly send someone to check—the mule cart that just passed us seems to have Peng family’s Eleventh Master sitting in it.”
Qing Yuan had heard that Peng Eleven had frightened Yu Tang into fainting at the Buddhist lecture at Zhaoming Temple.
She hurriedly went to report to Pei Yan.
But Pei Yan’s heart told him that Peng Eleven would harm Yu Tang.
His expression tightened, and he rode his horse over immediately.
Fortunately, everyone had gone to watch the dragon boat races. Pei Yan’s horse galloped unimpeded all the way, and in just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he met up with Yu Tang.
“Did you see clearly?” Without time to savor the joy of their meeting, worry came first. Pei Yan asked with a grave expression, “Was it Peng Eleven?”
“It seemed like him!” But it had been just a fleeting glance, so Yu Tang couldn’t be certain either. She said, “Hasn’t the Li family case concluded yet?”
If it really was him, what had he come to do?
Pei Yan didn’t think that far. He immediately ordered the servants beside him to follow, then said to Yu Tang, “Don’t worry about this matter—I’ll find a way to get to the bottom of it.” Then he felt Yu Tang was too much at risk.
What if Peng Eleven was coming for Yu Tang, just like in her dream?
Pei Yan immediately said, “A’Tang, I’ll take you to Tiaoxitang another day. Right now, go to my mother’s side. There are many people around her, and with my mother protecting you, nothing will happen to you. I’ll go confront Peng Eleven right now.”
Yu Tang knew her own situation. She felt she might not necessarily be in danger in this life and wasn’t very panicked in her heart. But seeing that Pei Yan wanted to go meet Peng Eleven, and thinking that Zhao Zhen and the others weren’t in Lin’an, her heart became somewhat anxious. She grabbed Pei Yan’s sleeve and wouldn’t let him go: “Let’s respond with stillness to their movement. If he doesn’t come looking for us, let’s not go looking for him.”