Wei Xiaochuan didn’t know whether Pei Yan was fair or not, but he knew that if this matter hadn’t been done by the Li family but by some other household, they wouldn’t need to ask anyone for help at all—they could directly file a complaint at the yamen. Nor would they be in the current situation where even after asking Pei Yan to act as mediator, the real murderer might still ultimately escape the law.
For little Wei Xiaochuan, the impact of this matter was too great.
He used the handkerchief Yu Tang gave him to wipe his face messily. Ever since learning that his second brother’s death was related to the Li family but there was no way to take revenge, the emotions he had been consciously or unconsciously suppressing in his heart erupted at this moment like a volcano.
“Sister,” he clenched his hands into fists, his eyes red, and said to Yu Tang in a low voice, “I will definitely become a presented scholar, pass the examination for Hanlin compiler, and enter the Hanlin Academy. I definitely won’t let people bully us again!”
Looking at Wei Xiaochuan, whose expression had suddenly turned gloomy, Yu Tang got quite a fright.
This child—had he become obsessed!
Just like when she began to suspect in her previous life that the Yu family’s misfortunes were related to the Li family, what she hated most wasn’t even the Li family, but herself for being deceived.
If she hadn’t later encountered kind people who helped her, she might have been like Wei Xiaochuan now, hating this world and the people in it.
She hastily pulled Wei Xiaochuan into her embrace and said softly: “It’s all right, it’s all right. We’ll take our time. As the saying goes, a gentleman’s revenge is not too late even after ten years. Don’t be anxious. Think about your father, think about your mother, and your elder brothers and sisters-in-law. We can’t let ourselves live unhappily because of some scum. Otherwise, even if we get our revenge, we’ll only make our enemies laugh at us.”
Yu Tang knew that if she advised Wei Xiaochuan not to seek revenge at this moment, it would only make him resentful, which would be even more harmful. It was better to guide than to obstruct in all matters. Rather than stopping him now, it would be better to go along with what he said for now, then soothe his wounds when the time came and find an opportunity to advise him again.
Sure enough, Wei Xiaochuan’s expression softened slightly after hearing this. He said: “I know. Sister, rest assured, I won’t let those who care for me grieve while pleasing our enemies.”
As long as he could listen to her advice, that was good.
Yu Tang breathed a sigh of relief and said warmly: “I’ll have someone bring water for you to wash your face, then we’ll go see your father together so he won’t worry.”
She also needed to thank the Wei family members for being able to forgive her.
Although she still hadn’t forgiven herself even now, she was even more unwilling to let her elders worry because of the trouble she had caused.
Wei Xiaochuan nodded. After washing his face again at Yu Tang’s place and calming his emotions, the two of them went to the main hall as if nothing had happened.
Master Wei and Yu Wen were discussing the matter of going to see Pei Yan. When they entered, they happened to hear Yu Wen saying: “Third Master Pei agreed to act as mediator for us the day after tomorrow morning. As for the Li family’s side, I asked Old Master Wu next door to help. He’s quite worldly in his ways and has a good relationship with the Li family. I’ve already sent someone to contact Old Master Wu, thinking we should have news shortly. Would you like to rest here, or wait for a reply from Old Master Wu’s side before making plans?”
“With you handling things, younger brother, what do I have to worry about?” Master Wei said in a deep voice. His expression showed some grief but his eyes were very spirited, clearly having temporarily set aside the pain of losing his son to focus his thoughts on how to take revenge for his deceased son. “Which gentry did you invite?”
Yu Wen reported all the names one by one.
Master Wei felt it was very appropriate and said: “Let’s do it this way! When the time comes, I’ll just go with you.”
Seeing that the two had nearly finished talking, Yu Tang finally had the opportunity to step forward and thank Master Wei.
Master Wei’s face finally showed a trace of softness. With a kind attitude, he exchanged a few words with Yu Tang, after which Yu Tang withdrew.
Hearing that Master Wei had come, Yu Yuan also hurried over to pay respects to his future father-in-law.
Master Wei was very satisfied with this match, and he smiled a bit more when talking with Yu Yuan.
Yu Wen felt somewhat better in his heart. He kept Master Wei for dinner and said apologetically to Master Wei: “Elder brother went to Nanchang Prefecture, wanting to hire a group of lacquerware craftsmen from there. He can’t accompany you for drinks today, so I’ll have A’Yuan toast you a few cups on behalf of his father.”
Master Wei asked curiously: “Are the original craftsmen not working anymore?”
Generally, craftsmen and employers wouldn’t easily part ways unless there was a major conflict, because when you looked for a new employer, others would usually inquire about why you left your original employer—whether there was a problem with your character or your skills weren’t good enough, and so on.
Sometimes a single word from your former employer could cut off your chances of finding new work.
Yu Wen said: “The original master craftsman had worked for my family his whole life and didn’t want to continue anyway. After the shop caught fire, he took the opportunity to resign and return to his hometown. Several junior craftsmen didn’t want to stay in Lin’an City because of this incident. Those who stayed couldn’t handle things independently, so we had no choice but to find capable master craftsmen to come over.”
Master Wei thought for a moment and said: “How about after A’Yuan gets married, you let him go out and explore the world? Anyway, in-law, you’re still young. Family matters can be completely left to you. This way, A’Yuan can also test his abilities, and you, in-law, won’t have such a heavy burden and need to hire so many craftsmen.”
Yu Wen was somewhat surprised, not expecting the Wei family to be willing to let Yu Yuan use Miss Xiang’s dowry after marriage.
He knew this was the Wei family’s kind intention. Moreover, Miss Xiang had grown up in the Wei family since childhood, and Master Wei was a very proper person in his conduct. For him to dare say this, Miss Xiang must have agreed.
But this was a matter for Yu Yuan and his wife—it wasn’t his place as an uncle to express an opinion.
“Let the two of them discuss and decide after they’re married,” Yu Wen said.
Yu Yuan’s neck turned completely red.
A servant from Old Master Wu’s household came to visit Yu Wen and said: “Our master said that everything you asked him to handle has been arranged. The day after tomorrow at the hour of mao, he’ll definitely meet at the old camphor tree at the entrance of Little Plum Lane to go visit the Pei family together. This matter should have been told to you personally by our master, but Master Du kept our master at his home for drinks. Fearing you were anxiously waiting for a reply here, he specially sent me ahead to inform you, Master Yu. After our master returns, he’ll speak with you in detail.”
Master Du was also one of the gentry they had invited to witness this matter.
Yu Wen thanked the servant, rewarded him with silver, and had A’Tiao accompany him to drink tea. He himself continued discussing matters with Master Wei: “Now you can temporarily set your mind at ease. The Li family has agreed to go with us to the Pei family for arbitration.”
When finding a mediator for arbitration, the greatest fear was that the other party wouldn’t come.
So this mediator had to carry weight, making the other party feel they couldn’t easily offend him.
Master Wei sighed: “This time we really must thank Third Master Pei. My family still has a treasured century-old ginseng root. When the time comes, I’ll take it to thank Third Master!”
Yu Wen very much wanted to say that Third Master Pei might not accept it, but thinking this was the Wei family’s sincere gesture, he swallowed those words back. The two of them carefully discussed what they should say when they met Pei Yan and when they met the Li family members.
Yu Tang waited until after Master Wei and his son had taken their leave before going to see her father.
“Father,” she pleaded with Yu Wen, “please take me with you when the time comes!”
She wanted to know what the Li family would say that day.
This life was already very different from her previous life. Now that the Li family had revealed their sinister nature at this time, would they fall into decline midway?
She very much wanted to know, very much wanted to witness it with her own eyes.
Yu Wen felt that such a scene was rarely seen, and it would be good for Yu Tang to go along and gain some experience.
He said thoughtfully: “You can go, but you cannot speak, and you cannot wander about.”
Yu Tang had thought she would need to give a lengthy argument to persuade her father. Hearing this, her heart couldn’t help but leap with joy, and she hastily said: “Rest assured, I’ll definitely stay close to Elder Brother and not draw anyone’s attention.”
Yu Wen nodded.
Yu Tang asked Yu Wen: “What about those two vagrants? Should we have the Qu brothers escort them over when the time comes?”
If they did this, the Qu brothers would be exposed, and the Qu brothers might not be willing to offend the Li family.
She needed to ask the Qu brothers’ opinion.
Yu Wen said: “Don’t worry about this matter. I’ve already spoken with Manager Tong. When the time comes, Manager Tong will send people to bring these two vagrants to the Pei family in advance, and won’t give the Li family any chance to interfere.”
Yu Tang’s mind was set at ease. On the agreed day, she disguised herself as Yu Yuan’s servant, keeping her head lowered as she followed behind Yu Wen and Yu Yuan, and went with Old Master Wu to Little Plum Lane.
Because they were the inviting party, they arrived relatively early, but Master Wei and Wei Xiaoyuan arrived even earlier than them.
Yu Wen hastily introduced Old Master Wu to Master Wei.
Master Wei gratefully thanked Old Master Wu.
Old Master Wu was warm-hearted. He grabbed hold of Master Wei who was bowing to him, heartily patted Master Wei’s shoulder, and said: “No need for so much ceremony. Master Yu and I have been neighbors for many years. He understands my temperament—I most enjoy making friends. That we can get to know each other this way is also fate. Let’s visit each other more often in the future, visit more often.”
Master Wei naturally agreed and invited Old Master Wu to visit the Wei family when he had time.
Old Master Wu readily agreed and asked about Master Wei’s harvest this year.
As several people were talking, the invited gentry arrived one after another.
Everyone greeted each other.
No one noticed Yu Tang.
While feeling reassured, Yu Tang took the opportunity to start recognizing people—these were all prominent figures in Lin’an City. Who knew if they might encounter some matter in the future that would require help?
Close to the appointed time, people from the Li family arrived.
Because Li Yi was serving as an official elsewhere, the ones who came were Li Duan and Li Jun.
Old Master Wu frowned directly and asked Yu Wen in a low voice: “Didn’t you invite the Li family’s main branch?”
“I did!” Yu Wen also looked somewhat displeased and said, “I went to invite them personally.”
Old Master Wu looked rather unhappy and said: “What does this mean? Don’t they want to acknowledge themselves as members of the Li clan?”
By rights, when such a matter occurred, the Li clan’s main branch should come forward. For Li Duan and Li Jun to come like this meant either the Li clan’s main branch didn’t take this matter seriously, or Li Duan’s household didn’t respect the Li clan’s main branch.
But before these two brothers could get close, Li He, supporting his father—who was the Li clan head, the twelfth great-uncle of the Li clan’s main branch—appeared hurriedly in Little Plum Lane.
“Li Duan, wait for us,” Li He called out loudly to the Li Duan brothers, out of breath.
Li Duan turned back. His expression wasn’t too good, but he still stopped.
Those who came were all shrewd people. Seeing this, they immediately knew that Li Duan’s household didn’t respect the main branch very much.
Several gentry immediately began discussing in low voices: “Just because one person became a fourth-rank official, they’ve started getting arrogant. Look at the Pei family—which branch doesn’t have officials, yet which branch dares disrespect the main branch!”
“That’s why the Pei family has stood strong for several generations!”
Yu Tang listened, but her gaze fell on Li Jun.
After only a dozen or so days of not seeing him, Li Jun seemed like a completely different person. His face was haggard, his spirits listless, like a tree that had lost its vitality. He had aged more than ten years in an instant and no longer had his former radiant bearing.