Chapter 70 – Folding Doors
The people recalled how Pei Yan defended the Yu family earlier, so after hearing his intention to speak with Yu Wen alone, their gazes towards Yu Wen turned a little envious. As the saying goes, the son of the heavens will be accompanied by his vassals. Whoever that is in power, will only accept people they know, are familiar with or have talents that they appreciate as their compatriots.
Although Pei Yan had only recently became the Patriarch of the Pei Family, those prominent and respected official families did not plan any grand celebration for him as he was still in mourning. Furthermore, no one expected that patriarch of the Pei family would be Pei Yan. Pei Yan was known to be cold and standoffish and was not the eldest son. In addition, Pei Yan’s eldest brother was a man of great talent and virtue. Therefore, everyone just assumed the eldest son would take over as patriarch. Because of this, no one tried to became familiar with Pei Yan, let alone forming friendships.
Now with this situation, everyone is bending over backwards, as they desperately looked for opportunities to strike up a conversation with Pei Yan. Suddenly seeing Yu Wen with such a wonderful opportunity, who’s heart wouldn’t be tempted?
Especially Master Wu.
He and the Yu family were neighbors, and this time he helped the Yu family tremendously. Being quick-witted, he immediately pushed Yu Wen towards Peiyan and whispered to him, “Master Wei and I will be waiting for you outside with the children, just let me know if there’s anything you need.”
However, Yu Wen was left completely baffled.
Previously, he came over to thank Pei Yan twice for his wife’s illness, but Pei Yan obviously did not want to see him. After mulling it over, he felt it was better for their exchanges to be peaceful and lowkey. However, now, in front of everyone, Pei Yan requested for him to stay behind.
Rather than thinking PeiYan was trying to build rapport, this only made him more certain that PeiYan had something to tell him about the matter between the Yu and Li families. This case, from the initial investigation to PeiYan’s involvement as an intermediary, was all YuTang’s idea. He could not help but glance at YuTang.
Yu Tang didn’t have a clue about Pei Yan’s intentions either. Since Pei Yan had invited her father for a chat in front of so many people, out of politeness, they could not reject his request.
She could only whisper to her father, saying “As long as it doesn’t have any impact on the conclusion of the matter, you can just go along with what he says. Third Master Pei is a great benefactor of our family.”
Not mentioning anything else, they still depended on the grace of the Pei family’s grand madam to send Yang Douxing to examine her mother every month!
Yu Wen paused for awhile, thinking to himself ‘A honest, upright gentleman would have nothing to hide. It’s not like we did anything wrong, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.’ He smiled and thanked all the men who came as witnesses, and told Yu Tang and Yu Yuan to wait and not cause trouble. He then whispered a few words to Master Wu, Master Wei and his son telling them to wait for him as he remained in the hall.
Pei Yan paid close attention to the movements of the Yu family, and so when he saw that Yu Wen still had to look at his daughter for guidance before replying, he had a bad feeling in his heart. However, this was his character, as long as he had something he was unsure of, he had to clarify it. No matter what plans Yu Wen and his daughter had, he would not just let it pass.
He instructed Pei Man, “Invite Master Wu and Master Wei to have tea in the drawing room, we’ll be done soon.”
The last sentence was addressed to Yu Tang and the others.
Master Wu was initially worried about not having an opportunity to speak with Pei Yan, so after hearing this it was like being handed a pillow when he was feeling sleepy. Afraid that Yu Tang and Master Wei would not know the importance of this and refuse this opportunity, he did not wait for Master Wei to speak. He quickly bowed towards Pei Yan and said with a smile, “I will have to trouble Third Master Pei.”
Pei Yan nodded slightly.
Master Wu quickly dragged Master Wei and went out of the hall.
However, outside the hall, with the numerous small bridges and streams, rocks and false mountains landscaping surrounding them, it was difficult to tell north from south, let alone find the drawing room that Pei Yan was referring to.
The attendant who led the way could not help but purse his lips as he held back his laughter, smiling as he said respectfully, “Gentlemen, please follow me.”
“Oh!” Master Wu answered sheepishly as he straightened his lapel, hoping that no one noticed his embarrassment just now, before taking the lead and walking ahead of the others, as he followed the attendant through a long, winding vermillion corridor and past a flower wall to a drawing room with brightly colored stained glass folding doors on all sides.
“Oh my!” Master Wu’s eyes shone. “This, how much silver did this cost?” After saying that, he realized that he had spoken inappropriately. He hurriedly explained to Master Wei, “I’ve seen this kind of colored stained glass before in the house of an official in the capital. The last time I came to the Pei family’s estate, this place had drapes covering them, but now it’s changed to stained glass. Just for a tiny small square, it would already cost fifty taels of silver, not to mention a whole piece of this size! Even if you had the funds, you might not even be able to obtain it. This is even more impressive than the one I saw previously in the houses of the officials serving in the capital!”
As Master Wei was still worried about Yu Wen, he didn’t pay much attention earlier, but after seeing the stained glass doors, he was stunned. As he surveyed the folding doors, he murmured, “This is incredibly beautiful! It should be the first of its kind in the whole of Lin’an City, isn’t it? Look at this painting! It’s even covered in gold leaf. How did it get installed here? This workmanship… this should have been imported from overseas! It’s the first time I’ve seen it.”
Yu Tang, Yu Yuan and Wei Xiaoyuan were similarly amazed by the stained glass folding doors.
For Yu Yuan and Wei Xiaoyuan, they saw this for the first time, but Yu Tang remembered what happened in her earlier life.
After the Li family grew wealthier due to the maritime trading business, they too replaced the doors of their drawing room with colored stained glass ones like these. However, unlike the Pei family’s drawing room, the Li family’s drawing room only installed eight-piece folding doors for the front. The Pei family’s drawing room had them installed on all four sides, twelve pieces each for the sides, and twenty-eight each for the front and back. While the Li family’s doors were decorated with the standard motifs, such as plum, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemums, the Pei family’s doors were obviously much more complicated, aside from flowers, they had various birds, mostly peacocks and cranes. Those colorful feathers were extremely detailed, rich and vivid, as the light fell, it sparkled beautifully, as if they were made from precious stones.
The Li family’s doors were clearly a poor imitation; a painted tiger instead of the real one.
Even so, Madam Lin proudly said to her guests at the time, “They were all done overseas – even more expensive than gold! It was also custom-made, otherwise it would all have been those generic looking paintings of women, so ugly!”
These doors of the Pei Family should also have been custom-made and then brought back from overseas, right?
This meant that the Pei family should have already started to have dealings in maritime trading business.
At the very least, the Pei family should not be just a small, unremarkable client of those merchants.
Yu Tang was a little surprised.
It wasn’t the first time for the attendant that was leading the way to see such shocked expressions from the guests.
He let the guests admire those doors and said with pride, “These were all brought back by our Third Master to show filial piety to Grand Elder. After Grand Elder’s passing, Third Master originally wanted to replace all these doors with plain white glass ones, but our Grand Madam said that Grand Elder loved to entertain his guests here when he was still alive, so if the Third Master was filial, he should preserve the things that the Grand Elder liked.”
As he was saying this, the attendant chuckled, probably as he recalled the scene, saying “The Third Master said that since the Grand Elder liked it so much, he should send it along with the Grand Elder to accompany him into the grave. Grand Madam objected, saying that the third master was rebelling against the Grand Elder’s wishes. What the Grand Elder clearly liked to do the most was to boast to his relatives and friends that these doors were a gift to him from Third Master. Thus by doing this, Third Master would be pouring cold water on Grand Elder’s head. Later, it was the Second Master who stepped in and made the decision to keep all these doors.”
Master Wu laughed heartily and chatted idly with the attendant, “That’s right, that’s right. If I had a son like that, I would definitely brag about it to each and every guest that came. However, the Third Master is really generous with his silver, this drawing room required a lot of time, effort and funds, didn’t it?”
“Of course!” This was obviously not the first time he had entertained such questions from the guests. So, and after inviting them into the drawing room, he immediately pointed to the roof of the drawing room and said, “Look, the lights are also made from colored glass. At night, when candles are lit, they are even more beautiful than fireworks. And look at the ivory tusks on the shelf over there, longer than even a man’s arms! Such a rarity. It’s also a tribute to the Grand Elder from our Third Master, and the Eight Treasures of Vajra on the table there is also not those usually seen in temples, but were all imported.”
Master Wei didn’t understand the significance of it, but Master Wu being a businessman and immediately noticed.
He chatted with the attendant and said seemingly casually, “All these things are so precious and rare, where did your Third Master get them from?”
The young male attendant proudly puffed up his chest as he replied. “Of course, they were obtained from the capital. Third master’s second senior brother is the current head court minister and our third master is a close protégé of Cabinet Minister Zhang, thus he is on very good terms with all his senior brothers there. If our third master wanted to get his hands on any rare item, he only needs to ask. Those maritime merchants in the capital – which one of them wouldn’t fight for their turn to please our third master!”
Speaking of this, he suddenly sighed, saying “It’s hardly surprising that when third master returned home, he was not accustomed to things around here. Whoever that previously experienced such a life of luxury and comfort, and had to return to a significantly smaller city like Lin’an would definitely feel discomfited. Grand Elder always said that our third master was filial. Before his death, he left this huge mess for third master to handle. Although Third Master was unwilling, he still resigned from his court official position and came back to take on the patriarch role.”
Wasn’t it just a leave of absence to observe the mourning period?
How did it become a resignation?
Master Wu could not help but ask “Is your third master not going to resume his court official duties in future?”
The attendant chuckled as he replied, “The Pei family’s rules is that the patriarch has to reside in the ancestral home. He is not permitted to become an official.”
The crowd froze in shock, feeling that it was both unexpected and reasonable.
Many major families were doing this as well. Whoever that is the patriarch will stay in the ancestral estate to manage the family business and assets, and will no longer take up any court official duties. What everyone found surprising was that such a young, talented and capable person like the third master will be staying at home and managing the family affairs. What a pity!
Thinking of this, those rumors circulating outside weren’t all that reliable.
Albeit, the patriarch position was certainly important, but if you could have a successful career and leave your mark in history, wouldn’t that reveal more of your worth than being a patriarch who only manages the family’s businesses and affairs?
Pei Yan as the patriarch of the Pei family, he too, had to made sacrifices, which he himself may not be willing to do.
Yu Tang felt as though she had been struck by lightning; there were many questions and thoughts coming to her, and for a while she was lost in thought.
In her previous life, Pei Yan also did not return to his official post in court. She just assumed it was the natural course, but looking at it again, she noticed some incongruities.
Grand Elder Pei seemed to be partial towards Pei Yan, but he also closed off Pei Yan’s career path. Conversely, the eldest house, although they lost the patriarchal house position, the two remaining grandsons are free to participate in the imperial examinations and become officials. There is also the second house. Given the rumors that he was the most incompetent among several brothers, why was he not the one staying at home and managing the family businesses?
On the surface, the eldest and second eldest’s families seemed to have been treated unfairly, but in actuality, it was the third eldest’s family, Pei Yan, who was really trapped in the family. There was also a high probability that all the descendants of Pei Yan’s family would be confined to Lin’an City.
Yu Tang recalled Pei Yan’s face that was always held some indifference and frost.
Was it because of this that he always seemed to be unhappy?
Yu Tang’s heart pounded wildly, feeling as though she had inadvertently caught a glimpse of something.
Chapter 70 – Folding Doors
The people recalled how Pei Yan defended the Yu family earlier, so after hearing his intention to speak with Yu Wen alone, their gazes towards Yu Wen turned a little envious. As the saying goes, the son of the heavens will be accompanied by his vassals. Whoever that is in power, will only accept people they know, are familiar with or have talents that they appreciate as their compatriots.
Although Pei Yan had only recently became the Patriarch of the Pei Family, those prominent and respected official families did not plan any grand celebration for him as he was still in mourning. Furthermore, no one expected that patriarch of the Pei family would be Pei Yan. Pei Yan was known to be cold and standoffish and was not the eldest son. In addition, Pei Yan’s eldest brother was a man of great talent and virtue. Therefore, everyone just assumed the eldest son would take over as patriarch. Because of this, no one tried to became familiar with Pei Yan, let alone forming friendships.
Now with this situation, everyone is bending over backwards, as they desperately looked for opportunities to strike up a conversation with Pei Yan. Suddenly seeing Yu Wen with such a wonderful opportunity, who’s heart wouldn’t be tempted?
Especially Master Wu.
He and the Yu family were neighbors, and this time he helped the Yu family tremendously. Being quick-witted, he immediately pushed Yu Wen towards Peiyan and whispered to him, “Master Wei and I will be waiting for you outside with the children, just let me know if there’s anything you need.”
However, Yu Wen was left completely baffled.
Previously, he came over to thank Pei Yan twice for his wife’s illness, but Pei Yan obviously did not want to see him. After mulling it over, he felt it was better for their exchanges to be peaceful and lowkey. However, now, in front of everyone, Pei Yan requested for him to stay behind.
Rather than thinking PeiYan was trying to build rapport, this only made him more certain that PeiYan had something to tell him about the matter between the Yu and Li families. This case, from the initial investigation to PeiYan’s involvement as an intermediary, was all YuTang’s idea. He could not help but glance at YuTang.
Yu Tang didn’t have a clue about Pei Yan’s intentions either. Since Pei Yan had invited her father for a chat in front of so many people, out of politeness, they could not reject his request.
She could only whisper to her father, saying “As long as it doesn’t have any impact on the conclusion of the matter, you can just go along with what he says. Third Master Pei is a great benefactor of our family.”
Not mentioning anything else, they still depended on the grace of the Pei family’s grand madam to send Yang Douxing to examine her mother every month!
Yu Wen paused for awhile, thinking to himself ‘A honest, upright gentleman would have nothing to hide. It’s not like we did anything wrong, so there’s nothing to be afraid of.’ He smiled and thanked all the men who came as witnesses, and told Yu Tang and Yu Yuan to wait and not cause trouble. He then whispered a few words to Master Wu, Master Wei and his son telling them to wait for him as he remained in the hall.
Pei Yan paid close attention to the movements of the Yu family, and so when he saw that Yu Wen still had to look at his daughter for guidance before replying, he had a bad feeling in his heart. However, this was his character, as long as he had something he was unsure of, he had to clarify it. No matter what plans Yu Wen and his daughter had, he would not just let it pass.
He instructed Pei Man, “Invite Master Wu and Master Wei to have tea in the drawing room, we’ll be done soon.”
The last sentence was addressed to Yu Tang and the others.
Master Wu was initially worried about not having an opportunity to speak with Pei Yan, so after hearing this it was like being handed a pillow when he was feeling sleepy. Afraid that Yu Tang and Master Wei would not know the importance of this and refuse this opportunity, he did not wait for Master Wei to speak. He quickly bowed towards Pei Yan and said with a smile, “I will have to trouble Third Master Pei.”
Pei Yan nodded slightly.
Master Wu quickly dragged Master Wei and went out of the hall.
However, outside the hall, with the numerous small bridges and streams, rocks and false mountains landscaping surrounding them, it was difficult to tell north from south, let alone find the drawing room that Pei Yan was referring to.
The attendant who led the way could not help but purse his lips as he held back his laughter, smiling as he said respectfully, “Gentlemen, please follow me.”
“Oh!” Master Wu answered sheepishly as he straightened his lapel, hoping that no one noticed his embarrassment just now, before taking the lead and walking ahead of the others, as he followed the attendant through a long, winding vermillion corridor and past a flower wall to a drawing room with brightly colored stained glass folding doors on all sides.
“Oh my!” Master Wu’s eyes shone. “This, how much silver did this cost?” After saying that, he realized that he had spoken inappropriately. He hurriedly explained to Master Wei, “I’ve seen this kind of colored stained glass before in the house of an official in the capital. The last time I came to the Pei family’s estate, this place had drapes covering them, but now it’s changed to stained glass. Just for a tiny small square, it would already cost fifty taels of silver, not to mention a whole piece of this size! Even if you had the funds, you might not even be able to obtain it. This is even more impressive than the one I saw previously in the houses of the officials serving in the capital!”
As Master Wei was still worried about Yu Wen, he didn’t pay much attention earlier, but after seeing the stained glass doors, he was stunned. As he surveyed the folding doors, he murmured, “This is incredibly beautiful! It should be the first of its kind in the whole of Lin’an City, isn’t it? Look at this painting! It’s even covered in gold leaf. How did it get installed here? This workmanship… this should have been imported from overseas! It’s the first time I’ve seen it.”
Yu Tang, Yu Yuan and Wei Xiaoyuan were similarly amazed by the stained glass folding doors.
For Yu Yuan and Wei Xiaoyuan, they saw this for the first time, but Yu Tang remembered what happened in her earlier life.
After the Li family grew wealthier due to the maritime trading business, they too replaced the doors of their drawing room with colored stained glass ones like these. However, unlike the Pei family’s drawing room, the Li family’s drawing room only installed eight-piece folding doors for the front. The Pei family’s drawing room had them installed on all four sides, twelve pieces each for the sides, and twenty-eight each for the front and back. While the Li family’s doors were decorated with the standard motifs, such as plum, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemums, the Pei family’s doors were obviously much more complicated, aside from flowers, they had various birds, mostly peacocks and cranes. Those colorful feathers were extremely detailed, rich and vivid, as the light fell, it sparkled beautifully, as if they were made from precious stones.
The Li family’s doors were clearly a poor imitation; a painted tiger instead of the real one.
Even so, Madam Lin proudly said to her guests at the time, “They were all done overseas – even more expensive than gold! It was also custom-made, otherwise it would all have been those generic looking paintings of women, so ugly!”
These doors of the Pei Family should also have been custom-made and then brought back from overseas, right?
This meant that the Pei family should have already started to have dealings in maritime trading business.
At the very least, the Pei family should not be just a small, unremarkable client of those merchants.
Yu Tang was a little surprised.
It wasn’t the first time for the attendant that was leading the way to see such shocked expressions from the guests.
He let the guests admire those doors and said with pride, “These were all brought back by our Third Master to show filial piety to Grand Elder. After Grand Elder’s passing, Third Master originally wanted to replace all these doors with plain white glass ones, but our Grand Madam said that Grand Elder loved to entertain his guests here when he was still alive, so if the Third Master was filial, he should preserve the things that the Grand Elder liked.”
As he was saying this, the attendant chuckled, probably as he recalled the scene, saying “The Third Master said that since the Grand Elder liked it so much, he should send it along with the Grand Elder to accompany him into the grave. Grand Madam objected, saying that the third master was rebelling against the Grand Elder’s wishes. What the Grand Elder clearly liked to do the most was to boast to his relatives and friends that these doors were a gift to him from Third Master. Thus by doing this, Third Master would be pouring cold water on Grand Elder’s head. Later, it was the Second Master who stepped in and made the decision to keep all these doors.”
Master Wu laughed heartily and chatted idly with the attendant, “That’s right, that’s right. If I had a son like that, I would definitely brag about it to each and every guest that came. However, the Third Master is really generous with his silver, this drawing room required a lot of time, effort and funds, didn’t it?”
“Of course!” This was obviously not the first time he had entertained such questions from the guests. So, and after inviting them into the drawing room, he immediately pointed to the roof of the drawing room and said, “Look, the lights are also made from colored glass. At night, when candles are lit, they are even more beautiful than fireworks. And look at the ivory tusks on the shelf over there, longer than even a man’s arms! Such a rarity. It’s also a tribute to the Grand Elder from our Third Master, and the Eight Treasures of Vajra on the table there is also not those usually seen in temples, but were all imported.”
Master Wei didn’t understand the significance of it, but Master Wu being a businessman and immediately noticed.
He chatted with the attendant and said seemingly casually, “All these things are so precious and rare, where did your Third Master get them from?”
The young male attendant proudly puffed up his chest as he replied. “Of course, they were obtained from the capital. Third master’s second senior brother is the current head court minister and our third master is a close protégé of Cabinet Minister Zhang, thus he is on very good terms with all his senior brothers there. If our third master wanted to get his hands on any rare item, he only needs to ask. Those maritime merchants in the capital – which one of them wouldn’t fight for their turn to please our third master!”
Speaking of this, he suddenly sighed, saying “It’s hardly surprising that when third master returned home, he was not accustomed to things around here. Whoever that previously experienced such a life of luxury and comfort, and had to return to a significantly smaller city like Lin’an would definitely feel discomfited. Grand Elder always said that our third master was filial. Before his death, he left this huge mess for third master to handle. Although Third Master was unwilling, he still resigned from his court official position and came back to take on the patriarch role.”
Wasn’t it just a leave of absence to observe the mourning period?
How did it become a resignation?
Master Wu could not help but ask “Is your third master not going to resume his court official duties in future?”
The attendant chuckled as he replied, “The Pei family’s rules is that the patriarch has to reside in the ancestral home. He is not permitted to become an official.”
The crowd froze in shock, feeling that it was both unexpected and reasonable.
Many major families were doing this as well. Whoever that is the patriarch will stay in the ancestral estate to manage the family business and assets, and will no longer take up any court official duties. What everyone found surprising was that such a young, talented and capable person like the third master will be staying at home and managing the family affairs. What a pity!
Thinking of this, those rumors circulating outside weren’t all that reliable.
Albeit, the patriarch position was certainly important, but if you could have a successful career and leave your mark in history, wouldn’t that reveal more of your worth than being a patriarch who only manages the family’s businesses and affairs?
Pei Yan as the patriarch of the Pei family, he too, had to made sacrifices, which he himself may not be willing to do.
Yu Tang felt as though she had been struck by lightning; there were many questions and thoughts coming to her, and for a while she was lost in thought.
In her previous life, Pei Yan also did not return to his official post in court. She just assumed it was the natural course, but looking at it again, she noticed some incongruities.
Grand Elder Pei seemed to be partial towards Pei Yan, but he also closed off Pei Yan’s career path. Conversely, the eldest house, although they lost the patriarchal house position, the two remaining grandsons are free to participate in the imperial examinations and become officials. There is also the second house. Given the rumors that he was the most incompetent among several brothers, why was he not the one staying at home and managing the family businesses?
On the surface, the eldest and second eldest’s families seemed to have been treated unfairly, but in actuality, it was the third eldest’s family, Pei Yan, who was really trapped in the family. There was also a high probability that all the descendants of Pei Yan’s family would be confined to Lin’an City.
Yu Tang recalled Pei Yan’s face that was always held some indifference and frost.
Was it because of this that he always seemed to be unhappy?
Yu Tang’s heart pounded wildly, feeling as though she had inadvertently caught a glimpse of something.
