Chapter 77 – Secret
Both of them turned around to see a handsome man clothed in a purple and red gilded silver brocade robe walking in with a lively smile.
“Ah Jue!” Madam Lin exclaimed with delight, she was about to take hold of the hand of her serving maid beside her to stand up, “When did you arrive? Why didn’t you write to us in advance? I could have gotten your cousin to pick you up!”
The person who came in was Madam Lin’s nephew, Lin Jue, from her maiden family.
He was the eldest son of Madam Lin’s brother. Ever since he was a child, he had been always been good-looking and charismatic, and thus was Madam Lin’s favorite nephew.
Lin Jue quickly stepped forward and held Madam Lin’s hand before the serving maid could and assisted her in standing.
“Aunt!” He greeted Madam Lin warmly and grinned, “I wanted to surprise you! Besides I’m not visiting a stranger’s place. I didn’t expect my happy surprise to have frightened you instead!” He said, glancing meaningfully at Li Duan. He continued speaking with Madam Lin, “I didn’t scare you, did I? Had I known, I would have asked my attendant to inform you of my arrival in advance.”
His tone was filled with remorse, which made Madam Lin’s heart ache as she listened and she hurriedly denied it, saying, “Is your aunt such a timid person? I don’t dare to brag about anything else, but your aunt’s household management skills are second to none. Who else can come to my house quietly and unannounced, if it’s not you?”
Lin Jue didn’t deny this fact.
After greeting Li Duan, both of them helped Madam Lin sit down in front of the round table outside.
The maid then served them tea.
Madam Lin asked Lin Jue, “Are you just making a brief stopover or are you planning to stay for a few days? How are things going in Huai’an? How’s business at home? Is your father’s health alright?”
Lin Jue smiled as he replied: “Father’s health is good, and the family business is running smoothly with the help of aunt over the years. I came here because the business in Huai’an is all settled, so I wanted to tell my dear aunt not to worry. Furthermore, I also wanted to show my appreciation. If it wasn’t for uncle’s help this time, I am afraid that I would have lost all my investment. Speaking of which, it’s important that we have a scholar in the family!”
Madam Lin nodded her head repeatedly, saying, “That’s why I’ve always insisted for the both of you to study hard.”
Li Yi was only a fourth-ranking official and the Lin family’s business had already gone up a notch – if they were like the Pei family, wouldn’t the silver be pouring into their coffers just like torrents of water?
Madam Lin thought of Lin Jue’s newly born eldest son and said: “Although your wife’s maiden family is rich, but their family background isn’t good. In future, after your cousin gets married, you can bring your child here to be educated. He doesn’t have to be a imperial or a provincial scholar but at least he must be a scholar(xiucai). You see those renowned families in Hangzhou City that have highly accomplished businesses, majority of them are scholars. Only then can you be on equal terms with those officials and have someone backing you when things go awry.”
Lin Jue deeply recognized this fact and nodded repeatedly in agreement, thanking Madam Lin and Li Duan in advance. It was then that he brought up the real reason for his visit. “It just so happened that I have nothing much to do now, so I came to keep you company and talk to my cousin. If I could also meet the third master of the Pei family, that would be the icing on the cake.”
The last sentence should be his key concern.
Madam Lin sniffed. However, her nephew said it nicely, so she was still in a good mood. “Okay! You can stay here for a few more days. Lin’an City has nothing much to offer, but the scenery here is lovely. You are always in such a rush every time you visit, so you can stay for a few more days and let your cousin show you around. If you’re bored, you can hire a boat to Hangzhou City and return on the same day.”
Lin Jue immediately got up to thank her, and accompanied Madam Lin for a while longer. Noticing that Madam Lin was looking a little weary, he said his goodbyes together with Li Duan, who escorted him to the guest room to rest.
However, as soon as Lin Jue entered the room, he dismissed the servants who had been sent by the Li family to tidy up the boxes and clean the room. He swiftly closed the door and took out a painting from one of the boxes he had with him and handed it to Li Duan with a smirk. “Well? I told you earlier that your method wouldn’t work. In the end, you still had to rely on me. Here it is – Lu Xin’s painting. See if it is the nautical map that your family’s looking for.”
Li Duan laughed awkwardly, saying “So you’ve got it?”
Ever since they heard the news of Lu Xin’s possessions, they started to form a plan. Just that they didn’t expect Lin Jue’s plan to progress so smoothly.
Li Duan couldn’t help but defend himself, “The main thing is that Ah Jun took a fancy to the girl from the Yu family, and thus I agreed to do it in such a way that it would kill two birds with one stone.”
Although the Lu family’s matter was going well, but if someone wanted to check, it would be easy to find out who had the painting. Profits gained from the maritime trade were immense, and thus comparing it with the killing of a commoner’s family was nothing. The Li family’s background was still too weak to withstand any backlash, not mentioning pressure from the Pei family.
If they were to let the Pei family share in the spoils, their family would forever have to consider the Pei family’s wishes before taking any action. What kind of future could they possibly have? What would be the point of his lifelong struggle to break free from the shackles of mediocrity?
Lin Jue was pleased that his plan worked, but as he did not want to offend Li Duan, his cousin who could bring them infinite advantages in the future, he refrained from debating with Li Duan over who won or lost. He simply went along with Li Duan’s words, saying “I would do the same too. The Yu family was just too obstinate. However, at least we’ve got the painting in our hands now. We have to be quick, before the Pei family finds out, we have’ll to hand over the painting to the Peng family. The Pei family may be powerful, but even they cannot overpower the Peng family!”
Fu An’s Peng family was the most influential family in Fujian.
Their family not only produced two court cabinet ministers, but the seventh master, Peng Yu was currently the emperor’s closest court official, the right-wing imperial historian in charge of overseeing the actions of all the court officials. Even Pei Yan’s second senior brother, the Cabinet Minister of Public Affairs, Jiang Hua, wouldn’t dare to offend Peng Yu.
It was the Peng family who wanted to obtain this painting.
Over the past few years, Li Yi tried ways to transfer his family to the capital, but the Pei family was too conservative, and progress was slow. With some difficulty, he managed to build rapport with the Peng family, and they were willing to help him. In return, their Li family had to help the Peng family get the painting as a token of goodwill.
However, as the Li family’s foothold was in Lin’an, before forming a firm and mutually beneficial partnership with the Peng Family, they could not afford to offend the Pei family, as they would not be able to withstand the terrible consequences.
Li Duan smiled as he remained silent.
The Peng family wanted the painting, but they don’t necessarily have to obtain it through their Li family. On the other hand, it was imperative that their Li family obtain this painting as a basis for a partnership with the Peng Family. It’s useless to say anything now, but it’s the indisputable truth that Lin Jue was the one who acquired the painting.
No secret can be hidden indefinitely and Li Duan didn’t expect that he could conceal this from the Pei family either, but he had to at least keep it under wraps till their Li family formed an alliance with the Peng family.
He asked Lin Jue, “You didn’t retrieve this personally, did you?”
“Do you take me for a fool?” Lin Jue felt that this cousin of his had studied himself silly. He gave Li Duan a look and scoffed, “Of course I had someone else to handle it! It’s my personal trusted steward who contacted him. We mentioned that it was a valuable antique. The market price for this painting was around 400-500 silver taels, but I mentioned that I had some personal contacts who were willing to spend upwards of a few thousands silver taels for it. Sure enough, that person fell for it. He spent four hundred taels to buy the painting, and sold it to me for five hundred taels of silver. Although it was a bit expensive, but I’ll just treat it as buying ourselves some peace of mind and I didn’t pressure him to lower the price.”
Even after knowing that the painting could be sold for thousands of silver taels, buying it for four hundred taels and then only reselling at five hundred taels, this person was quite reasonable.
Li Duan feigned his surprise as he chuckled: “This person isn’t too greedy.”
“That’s why one has to choose the right kind of people to do business with.” Lin Jue continued on, saying smugly, “I followed my father, doing business in various places, and never had any trouble with any of my business associates. Thus I can say with confidence, the Peng family is capable of achieving great feats in the future, and thus, aligning ourselves with their family will be a big boon for us.”
Li Duan remained unconvinced.
He had opposing views with Lin Jue on this point.
The Peng family was avaricious.
Out of the nine fleets of ships in Fujian, the Peng family’s fleet was the largest, and owned majority of the ships in Fujian. However, when they inadvertently learned that Minister Zuo had hidden a nautical map in a painting, they became so afraid that others would obtain it, and thus sought to obtain it at any cost.
But this was also understandable.
Who would want to have another competitor in their domain?
Li Duan and Lin Jue discussed further on the painting, “Do we just send it straight to the Peng family? Or should we see if this painting is the correct one?”
He didn’t think that the Yu family would be able to uncover the secrets hidden in this painting, but he was afraid that they would be just like Lu Xin, who didn’t even know about the secrets of this painting, and ended up taking the wrong thing.
Lin Jue answered, “Of course we have to find a way to check if there really is a nautical map in this painting. What if the Peng family reneges?”
Not only do they have to inspect the painting, they also had to obtain some leverage over the Peng family by making a copy of this map and prevent the Peng family from reneging on the deal.
After all, their family and the Peng family were not on the same level. If the Peng family wanted to deal with them, it would be as easy as lifting a finger. However, it was hard for them to fight against the Peng family. This was especially difficult since there was also the Pei family. If it wasn’t for this matter, they could have turned to the Pei family for help. But once their dealings with the Peng family came to light, it would be a blessing if the Pei family chose to stay on the sidelines, much less expecting the Pei family to protect them.
After saying this, they exchanged knowing looks.
Li Duan answered, “Just leave this matter to me.”
Lin Jue was prepared to stay here for a while longer for this very purpose.
He had to see that nautical map with his own eyes before he could be at ease!
He would also be the one to take this painting to Fujian and send it straight to the Peng family.
This was also what their family and the Li family arranged from the beginning.
They had to combine forces so as to achieve their goals. Whether the Lin family or the Li family, both were too weak and only by working together can they hope to achieve success in future.
The two men discussed who they should find to have the painting reframed.
The information that Yu Tang had been waiting for finally came.
The person behind this Lu family’s matter was revealed to be Lin Jue.
She had given a lot of thought to this matter. It was impossible for the Li Family to join in the maritime trade without the help of the Lin Family. Thus, the Lin Family must also had to be involved in this. And in her previous life, the person who had the closest dealings with the Li Family was Lin Jue.
He came far more frequently than a relative separated by several thousand miles should have.
Yu Tang drew a portrait of Lin Jue and showed it to Ah Liu , the fruit seller on Little Plum Lane, and asked him to keep an eye on the gate of the Li family, and to inform Ah Cam as soon as this person arrived. She also gave the drawing to the two Qu brothers to keep watch on the man who was trading with the Lu family to see if the painting eventually ended up in Lin Jue’s hands.
Fortunately, she was able to utilise her previous life’s knowledge, and got the information that she had been waiting for.
Chapter 77 – Secret
Both of them turned around to see a handsome man clothed in a purple and red gilded silver brocade robe walking in with a lively smile.
“Ah Jue!” Madam Lin exclaimed with delight, she was about to take hold of the hand of her serving maid beside her to stand up, “When did you arrive? Why didn’t you write to us in advance? I could have gotten your cousin to pick you up!”
The person who came in was Madam Lin’s nephew, Lin Jue, from her maiden family.
He was the eldest son of Madam Lin’s brother. Ever since he was a child, he had been always been good-looking and charismatic, and thus was Madam Lin’s favorite nephew.
Lin Jue quickly stepped forward and held Madam Lin’s hand before the serving maid could and assisted her in standing.
“Aunt!” He greeted Madam Lin warmly and grinned, “I wanted to surprise you! Besides I’m not visiting a stranger’s place. I didn’t expect my happy surprise to have frightened you instead!” He said, glancing meaningfully at Li Duan. He continued speaking with Madam Lin, “I didn’t scare you, did I? Had I known, I would have asked my attendant to inform you of my arrival in advance.”
His tone was filled with remorse, which made Madam Lin’s heart ache as she listened and she hurriedly denied it, saying, “Is your aunt such a timid person? I don’t dare to brag about anything else, but your aunt’s household management skills are second to none. Who else can come to my house quietly and unannounced, if it’s not you?”
Lin Jue didn’t deny this fact.
After greeting Li Duan, both of them helped Madam Lin sit down in front of the round table outside.
The maid then served them tea.
Madam Lin asked Lin Jue, “Are you just making a brief stopover or are you planning to stay for a few days? How are things going in Huai’an? How’s business at home? Is your father’s health alright?”
Lin Jue smiled as he replied: “Father’s health is good, and the family business is running smoothly with the help of aunt over the years. I came here because the business in Huai’an is all settled, so I wanted to tell my dear aunt not to worry. Furthermore, I also wanted to show my appreciation. If it wasn’t for uncle’s help this time, I am afraid that I would have lost all my investment. Speaking of which, it’s important that we have a scholar in the family!”
Madam Lin nodded her head repeatedly, saying, “That’s why I’ve always insisted for the both of you to study hard.”
Li Yi was only a fourth-ranking official and the Lin family’s business had already gone up a notch – if they were like the Pei family, wouldn’t the silver be pouring into their coffers just like torrents of water?
Madam Lin thought of Lin Jue’s newly born eldest son and said: “Although your wife’s maiden family is rich, but their family background isn’t good. In future, after your cousin gets married, you can bring your child here to be educated. He doesn’t have to be a imperial or a provincial scholar but at least he must be a scholar(xiucai). You see those renowned families in Hangzhou City that have highly accomplished businesses, majority of them are scholars. Only then can you be on equal terms with those officials and have someone backing you when things go awry.”
Lin Jue deeply recognized this fact and nodded repeatedly in agreement, thanking Madam Lin and Li Duan in advance. It was then that he brought up the real reason for his visit. “It just so happened that I have nothing much to do now, so I came to keep you company and talk to my cousin. If I could also meet the third master of the Pei family, that would be the icing on the cake.”
The last sentence should be his key concern.
Madam Lin sniffed. However, her nephew said it nicely, so she was still in a good mood. “Okay! You can stay here for a few more days. Lin’an City has nothing much to offer, but the scenery here is lovely. You are always in such a rush every time you visit, so you can stay for a few more days and let your cousin show you around. If you’re bored, you can hire a boat to Hangzhou City and return on the same day.”
Lin Jue immediately got up to thank her, and accompanied Madam Lin for a while longer. Noticing that Madam Lin was looking a little weary, he said his goodbyes together with Li Duan, who escorted him to the guest room to rest.
However, as soon as Lin Jue entered the room, he dismissed the servants who had been sent by the Li family to tidy up the boxes and clean the room. He swiftly closed the door and took out a painting from one of the boxes he had with him and handed it to Li Duan with a smirk. “Well? I told you earlier that your method wouldn’t work. In the end, you still had to rely on me. Here it is – Lu Xin’s painting. See if it is the nautical map that your family’s looking for.”
Li Duan laughed awkwardly, saying “So you’ve got it?”
Ever since they heard the news of Lu Xin’s possessions, they started to form a plan. Just that they didn’t expect Lin Jue’s plan to progress so smoothly.
Li Duan couldn’t help but defend himself, “The main thing is that Ah Jun took a fancy to the girl from the Yu family, and thus I agreed to do it in such a way that it would kill two birds with one stone.”
Although the Lu family’s matter was going well, but if someone wanted to check, it would be easy to find out who had the painting. Profits gained from the maritime trade were immense, and thus comparing it with the killing of a commoner’s family was nothing. The Li family’s background was still too weak to withstand any backlash, not mentioning pressure from the Pei family.
If they were to let the Pei family share in the spoils, their family would forever have to consider the Pei family’s wishes before taking any action. What kind of future could they possibly have? What would be the point of his lifelong struggle to break free from the shackles of mediocrity?
Lin Jue was pleased that his plan worked, but as he did not want to offend Li Duan, his cousin who could bring them infinite advantages in the future, he refrained from debating with Li Duan over who won or lost. He simply went along with Li Duan’s words, saying “I would do the same too. The Yu family was just too obstinate. However, at least we’ve got the painting in our hands now. We have to be quick, before the Pei family finds out, we have’ll to hand over the painting to the Peng family. The Pei family may be powerful, but even they cannot overpower the Peng family!”
Fu An’s Peng family was the most influential family in Fujian.
Their family not only produced two court cabinet ministers, but the seventh master, Peng Yu was currently the emperor’s closest court official, the right-wing imperial historian in charge of overseeing the actions of all the court officials. Even Pei Yan’s second senior brother, the Cabinet Minister of Public Affairs, Jiang Hua, wouldn’t dare to offend Peng Yu.
It was the Peng family who wanted to obtain this painting.
Over the past few years, Li Yi tried ways to transfer his family to the capital, but the Pei family was too conservative, and progress was slow. With some difficulty, he managed to build rapport with the Peng family, and they were willing to help him. In return, their Li family had to help the Peng family get the painting as a token of goodwill.
However, as the Li family’s foothold was in Lin’an, before forming a firm and mutually beneficial partnership with the Peng Family, they could not afford to offend the Pei family, as they would not be able to withstand the terrible consequences.
Li Duan smiled as he remained silent.
The Peng family wanted the painting, but they don’t necessarily have to obtain it through their Li family. On the other hand, it was imperative that their Li family obtain this painting as a basis for a partnership with the Peng Family. It’s useless to say anything now, but it’s the indisputable truth that Lin Jue was the one who acquired the painting.
No secret can be hidden indefinitely and Li Duan didn’t expect that he could conceal this from the Pei family either, but he had to at least keep it under wraps till their Li family formed an alliance with the Peng family.
He asked Lin Jue, “You didn’t retrieve this personally, did you?”
“Do you take me for a fool?” Lin Jue felt that this cousin of his had studied himself silly. He gave Li Duan a look and scoffed, “Of course I had someone else to handle it! It’s my personal trusted steward who contacted him. We mentioned that it was a valuable antique. The market price for this painting was around 400-500 silver taels, but I mentioned that I had some personal contacts who were willing to spend upwards of a few thousands silver taels for it. Sure enough, that person fell for it. He spent four hundred taels to buy the painting, and sold it to me for five hundred taels of silver. Although it was a bit expensive, but I’ll just treat it as buying ourselves some peace of mind and I didn’t pressure him to lower the price.”
Even after knowing that the painting could be sold for thousands of silver taels, buying it for four hundred taels and then only reselling at five hundred taels, this person was quite reasonable.
Li Duan feigned his surprise as he chuckled: “This person isn’t too greedy.”
“That’s why one has to choose the right kind of people to do business with.” Lin Jue continued on, saying smugly, “I followed my father, doing business in various places, and never had any trouble with any of my business associates. Thus I can say with confidence, the Peng family is capable of achieving great feats in the future, and thus, aligning ourselves with their family will be a big boon for us.”
Li Duan remained unconvinced.
He had opposing views with Lin Jue on this point.
The Peng family was avaricious.
Out of the nine fleets of ships in Fujian, the Peng family’s fleet was the largest, and owned majority of the ships in Fujian. However, when they inadvertently learned that Minister Zuo had hidden a nautical map in a painting, they became so afraid that others would obtain it, and thus sought to obtain it at any cost.
But this was also understandable.
Who would want to have another competitor in their domain?
Li Duan and Lin Jue discussed further on the painting, “Do we just send it straight to the Peng family? Or should we see if this painting is the correct one?”
He didn’t think that the Yu family would be able to uncover the secrets hidden in this painting, but he was afraid that they would be just like Lu Xin, who didn’t even know about the secrets of this painting, and ended up taking the wrong thing.
Lin Jue answered, “Of course we have to find a way to check if there really is a nautical map in this painting. What if the Peng family reneges?”
Not only do they have to inspect the painting, they also had to obtain some leverage over the Peng family by making a copy of this map and prevent the Peng family from reneging on the deal.
After all, their family and the Peng family were not on the same level. If the Peng family wanted to deal with them, it would be as easy as lifting a finger. However, it was hard for them to fight against the Peng family. This was especially difficult since there was also the Pei family. If it wasn’t for this matter, they could have turned to the Pei family for help. But once their dealings with the Peng family came to light, it would be a blessing if the Pei family chose to stay on the sidelines, much less expecting the Pei family to protect them.
After saying this, they exchanged knowing looks.
Li Duan answered, “Just leave this matter to me.”
Lin Jue was prepared to stay here for a while longer for this very purpose.
He had to see that nautical map with his own eyes before he could be at ease!
He would also be the one to take this painting to Fujian and send it straight to the Peng family.
This was also what their family and the Li family arranged from the beginning.
They had to combine forces so as to achieve their goals. Whether the Lin family or the Li family, both were too weak and only by working together can they hope to achieve success in future.
The two men discussed who they should find to have the painting reframed.
The information that Yu Tang had been waiting for finally came.
The person behind this Lu family’s matter was revealed to be Lin Jue.
She had given a lot of thought to this matter. It was impossible for the Li Family to join in the maritime trade without the help of the Lin Family. Thus, the Lin Family must also had to be involved in this. And in her previous life, the person who had the closest dealings with the Li Family was Lin Jue.
He came far more frequently than a relative separated by several thousand miles should have.
Yu Tang drew a portrait of Lin Jue and showed it to Ah Liu , the fruit seller on Little Plum Lane, and asked him to keep an eye on the gate of the Li family, and to inform Ah Cam as soon as this person arrived. She also gave the drawing to the two Qu brothers to keep watch on the man who was trading with the Lu family to see if the painting eventually ended up in Lin Jue’s hands.
Fortunately, she was able to utilise her previous life’s knowledge, and got the information that she had been waiting for.
