Chapter 80 – Even Playing Field
Pei Yan could feel a headache coming on just by seeing how Yu Tang was dressed.
He said irritably, “Can’t you come dressed properly?”
Was she improperly dressed?
Yu Tang examined herself. Looking at the coarse brown clothes she had on, she stifled a grin as she replied, “Third Master, I have no choice in this. Although it’s a poor disguise, but if you don’t make any effort to cover up, it will undoubtedly stir up unwanted gossip.”
“By doing this, can you guarantee that no one will gossip?” Pei Yan retorted. He could not understand Yu Tang’s way of thinking. “With just one glance at your attire, everyone would know that you are a woman under disguise as a man.”
“True.” Yu Tang smiled sweetly, “But they are also aware of my intention to cover it up. Kind-hearted people will close an eye to it. Those who love to stir up gossip, no matter how I’m dressed, they will always find something to say. Instead of letting those kind-hearted ones feel uncomfortable, I’d prefer to only let those who like to stir up trouble to talk about me.”
What kind of twisted logic is this!
Pei Yan felt his headache worsening.
He replied, “In the future, you are to come appropriately dressed and by carriage.”
In other words, if she came to see Pei Yan again, Pei Yan would still be willing to see her!
Yu Tang was overjoyed, and there was unconcealed glee in her eyes as she replied “Everything will be done as per Third Master’s instructions.”
When requesting help, she had to follow the person’s wishes.
Only then did Pei Yan feel somewhat better in his heart and asked, “Why did you come to see me? Does your father know?”
Yu Tang smiled cheekily, saying, “I came to find you to discuss some personal matters. My father doesn’t know about this.” She added, “More accurately, it’s difficult to discuss with my father about this, so I came to find you directly!”
Pei Yan was taken aback and asked, “What is it regarding?”
Since Yu Tang had already came all this way, she didn’t intend to prevaricate. She asked straightforwardly, “Is there any enmity between your family and Fu An’s Peng family?”
“Why would you ask about that?” Pei Yan was startled.
He replied, “Is this about the maritime business? Although we are not close, but there is no rift between our two families. When it comes to serious matters, we can still cooperate with each other.”
This means that the Pei family only had issues with the Peng family after this period.
Yu Tang hesitated for a moment before telling Pei Yan about the fake painting sold by Lu Xin. Of course, she keep silent about the things that happened in her previous life, only that she had doubts about the painting and wanted to investigate further.
As Pei Yan listened, his brow furrowed and the more he heard, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and in the end, his expression went completely dark.
He said: “You’re saying that you felt suspicious of the Li family’s motives for demanding marriage and thus went to investigate?”
As Pei Yan said this, he couldn’t help but carefully examine Yu Tang.
Although she wasn’t tall, but her legs were long, which made her look taller than she actually was. Her skin was white as snow, extremely delicate with a slight rosiness, making her look radiant and lively. Her eyes were big and bright, and when she looked at people, they shone with curiosity, making her look a little mischievous. Her eyebrows were thick and dark, her nose was straight, her lips moist and plump. Unlike other young ladies who reached maturity, however pretty they were, they appeared immature. Whereas she looked graceful and gentle, having an open mind with a touch of charm and restlessness.
Such a young lady, was undoubtedly, very attractive.
How could she feel that there was something wrong with the Li family for wanting to have her as a daughter in law?
Of course, there were many young ladies kept in the inner courtyards, who were unaware of their own beauty. But evidently this young lady of the Yu family was not oblivious.
When she was at Zhaoming Temple, she knew very well how to play up her charms and attract the attention of others, especially those young men.
Moreover, he felt that it was more appropriate for her to have her hair tied in a simple bun rather than weaving flowers in her hair. The twin buns and hairstyles of those sorts, diminished the fire hidden in her, and softened her distinctive features that caught one’s eye.
Yu Tang was unaware of the thoughts running across Pei Yan’s mind. She remarked, “I’m not exactly a beauty that rivals nations, and my family is not a distinguished one, so who would want to have me this badly? Mrs. Li even said it was only because the second son of the Li family had unintentionally met me once by accident. I wondered how would such a coincidence happen? One day I heard that the second son of the Li family was visiting Zhaoming Temple, so I purposely went to meet him. It turns out that he didn’t even recognize me ……”
Tch.
This was yet another misunderstanding.
Pei Yan felt uncomfortable as if there was something lodged in his throat.
Could it be that the autumn flowers were in full bloom over the last couple of days, causing an increase in the amount of pollen circulating in the air?
The previous patriarchs in their family loved those flowering trees, and thus planted all kinds of flora and blossoming trees everywhere in the courtyard. Had he not ordered some to be trimmed, there would be flowers all year round, and pollen everywhere, causing people to sneeze all day long, which would have driven him crazy.
He couldn’t help but cough twice, before his throat felt a little better and replied, “You’re saying that your visit to Zhaoming Temple that day was intentional?”
YuTang always maintained a high level of awareness and sensitivity when interacting with Pei Yan. After hearing this, she blinked and said in surprise, “You knew that I went to Zhaoming Temple that day?”
Of course he knew.
Pei Yan glanced at Yu Tang.
Her face was filled with confusion, but her brilliantly clear eyes seem to be speaking, as if asking him, “Were you there?”
He inexplicably felt a little uncomfortable sitting still.
However, he immediately steadied his nerves.
All his life, he was honest and forthright; he had never done anything that was unspeakable. That day at Zhaoming Temple, he saw Lady Yu, but acted as if he had not seen her. He even stood on the second floor of the Hidden Pavilion, watching the drama play out.
There was nothing wrong with him doing that.
They didn’t know each other at that time.
However, at this moment, he had to admit that he felt extremely uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because he had gotten better acquainted with Lady Yu, and to acknowledge that he just stood there indifferently, would make him appear cold, right?
As Pei Yan pondered over this, he hastily diverted the topic and remarked, “Presently, you suspect that the Peng family directed the Li family to find this nautical chart that was in LuXin’s possession?” After saying this, he had a slight smile on his face.
It was the kind of smile that only pulled a little at the corners of the mouth.
A smile that seemed superficial.
However, there was a glint in his eyes.
It was a brilliant light that seem to pierce through to the heart.
His appearance was captivating.
It also gave her a feeling that she couldn’t hide anything from him.
Yu Tang felt her face heating up a little and said timidly, “I, I was just worried allies would hurt each other due to incomplete information and misunderstanding. I do want the Li family to suffer, but if it causes the Pei family to be harmed alongside it, then it would really be the greatest sin!”
This young lady was really interesting.
Clearly she had a thousand devious ideas hidden in her heart, yet her words sounded so well-intentioned and righteous, one had to wonder how she managed to have such confidence.
Pei Yan didn’t feel like making things difficult for her and replied, “You can rest assured. Our two families don’t share any vested interests. If we were to fight, their family won’t extend mercy, neither will our family yield to them.”
That’s good!
Yu Tang patted her chest in relief.
Every place had their own ruler. The top brass in Lin’an City was the Pei family. Since the Peng family dared to extend their reach to Lin’an City, she was justified in reporting this news to Pei Yan.
Thankfully, she played her cards right!
Pei Yan asked her, “So when you and your family visited Hangzhou, it was to find someone to examine the painting?”
Although she knew it was impossible to hide it from him, he made the connection immediately without even pausing for a second thought. It was then that Yu Tang felt she had been a little premature in coming to inform the Pei family.
Fortunately, when Pei Yan saw the hesitation on her face, he did not pursue the matter, but said calmly, “Can you still remember how the nautical map looked like? Can you tell me more about it?”
The gears in Yu Tang’s mind spun rapidly.
Their family held this map for so long and tried all sorts of ways to figure out the secrets, but they still couldn’t discover them. The Li family was different. After all, the Li family was a family of scholars and had more knowledge than the Yu family, so they were likely to find the secrets of the map soon. Even if they couldn’t, they could still give it to the Peng family for them to research. The Peng family had far more scholars and had more knowledge and exposure. If things were to follow as per her previous life, once this map fell into the hands of the Peng family, and the Li and Lin families thus became rich from the maritime business with the Peng family, by then, what difference would it make by telling the Pei family about the painting?
If she wanted to take revenge, would she wait till the Li family grew stronger before striking?
That would be idiotic.
Yu Tang clenched her teeth and said dryly, “No one in our family is familiar with that map either. However, we were afraid that we remained oblivious, more trouble would come, so we asked someone to make a copy. If you are interested, I will bring it over for you to have a look.”
As Pei Yan listened, he became intrigued.
This lady Yu had several tricks up her sleeve!
He said, “So you prepared a backup plan. Nevertheless, when the Lu family came to ask for the inheritance, why didn’t you think of giving them a fake painting instead?”
Of course she had her reasons.
One could not reveal the whole truth.
She certainly couldn’t reveal all her secrets to Pei Yan.
With an honest look, Yu Tang said, “Firstly, we didn’t know if they recognized the map and were fearful of being discovered. Secondly, our family didn’t have the means of stopping them. If they took the fake map and organized a fleet of ships with others, I’m afraid that many people would perish – even though our family has a grudge with the Li family, we can’t do it with the full knowledge that it will endanger the lives of innocents. The best solution is to distribute the map and render it worthless. In this way, the Li family would not be able to ride on the Peng family’s coattails.”
The Li family’s hopes of making a fortune would be crushed.
This was much better than giving them a fake painting.
Of course, even if she wanted to give them a fake painting, she had to find someone who was able to do it by that time.
She couldn’t drag Master Qian down with her again!
Besides, Master Qian was no longer in Hangzhou.
Pei Yan listened calmly.
Most people would have given a fake to the Li family, but the Yu family had taken a different path.
Was the Yu family too kind? Or were they too naïve?
Pei Yan was silent for a moment.
In his heart, however, he admired the Yu family for their integrity which made him see them in a better light.
Yu Tang felt that a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
If the Pei family possessed the same map, they would be able to compete with the Peng family.
Even if the Pei family did not wish to compete with the Peng family, they could still deliver the map to the Peng family’s rivals.
If the Pei family was interested in the painting, that would be ideal.
She would then give the painting to the Pei family and thus repay some of the Pei family’s kindness.
In short, as long as the map held by the Li family was not the sole copy, their importance before the Peng family would be greatly diminished.
If the Li family still dared to collude with others behind the Pei family’s back… Hmph, just Pei Yan’s anger alone would be enough to settle them for good.
But this wasn’t the biggest gift that Yu Tang prepared for the Li family.
She had another gift as well.
But this issue of the nautical map had to be dealt with first.
Yu Tang replied, “Third Master, I’ll go home and bring you the map.”
However, Pei Yan stopped her and said, “There is no urgency. I have an idea.”
Chapter 80 – Even Playing Field
Pei Yan could feel a headache coming on just by seeing how Yu Tang was dressed.
He said irritably, “Can’t you come dressed properly?”
Was she improperly dressed?
Yu Tang examined herself. Looking at the coarse brown clothes she had on, she stifled a grin as she replied, “Third Master, I have no choice in this. Although it’s a poor disguise, but if you don’t make any effort to cover up, it will undoubtedly stir up unwanted gossip.”
“By doing this, can you guarantee that no one will gossip?” Pei Yan retorted. He could not understand Yu Tang’s way of thinking. “With just one glance at your attire, everyone would know that you are a woman under disguise as a man.”
“True.” Yu Tang smiled sweetly, “But they are also aware of my intention to cover it up. Kind-hearted people will close an eye to it. Those who love to stir up gossip, no matter how I’m dressed, they will always find something to say. Instead of letting those kind-hearted ones feel uncomfortable, I’d prefer to only let those who like to stir up trouble to talk about me.”
What kind of twisted logic is this!
Pei Yan felt his headache worsening.
He replied, “In the future, you are to come appropriately dressed and by carriage.”
In other words, if she came to see Pei Yan again, Pei Yan would still be willing to see her!
Yu Tang was overjoyed, and there was unconcealed glee in her eyes as she replied “Everything will be done as per Third Master’s instructions.”
When requesting help, she had to follow the person’s wishes.
Only then did Pei Yan feel somewhat better in his heart and asked, “Why did you come to see me? Does your father know?”
Yu Tang smiled cheekily, saying, “I came to find you to discuss some personal matters. My father doesn’t know about this.” She added, “More accurately, it’s difficult to discuss with my father about this, so I came to find you directly!”
Pei Yan was taken aback and asked, “What is it regarding?”
Since Yu Tang had already came all this way, she didn’t intend to prevaricate. She asked straightforwardly, “Is there any enmity between your family and Fu An’s Peng family?”
“Why would you ask about that?” Pei Yan was startled.
He replied, “Is this about the maritime business? Although we are not close, but there is no rift between our two families. When it comes to serious matters, we can still cooperate with each other.”
This means that the Pei family only had issues with the Peng family after this period.
Yu Tang hesitated for a moment before telling Pei Yan about the fake painting sold by Lu Xin. Of course, she keep silent about the things that happened in her previous life, only that she had doubts about the painting and wanted to investigate further.
As Pei Yan listened, his brow furrowed and the more he heard, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and in the end, his expression went completely dark.
He said: “You’re saying that you felt suspicious of the Li family’s motives for demanding marriage and thus went to investigate?”
As Pei Yan said this, he couldn’t help but carefully examine Yu Tang.
Although she wasn’t tall, but her legs were long, which made her look taller than she actually was. Her skin was white as snow, extremely delicate with a slight rosiness, making her look radiant and lively. Her eyes were big and bright, and when she looked at people, they shone with curiosity, making her look a little mischievous. Her eyebrows were thick and dark, her nose was straight, her lips moist and plump. Unlike other young ladies who reached maturity, however pretty they were, they appeared immature. Whereas she looked graceful and gentle, having an open mind with a touch of charm and restlessness.
Such a young lady, was undoubtedly, very attractive.
How could she feel that there was something wrong with the Li family for wanting to have her as a daughter in law?
Of course, there were many young ladies kept in the inner courtyards, who were unaware of their own beauty. But evidently this young lady of the Yu family was not oblivious.
When she was at Zhaoming Temple, she knew very well how to play up her charms and attract the attention of others, especially those young men.
Moreover, he felt that it was more appropriate for her to have her hair tied in a simple bun rather than weaving flowers in her hair. The twin buns and hairstyles of those sorts, diminished the fire hidden in her, and softened her distinctive features that caught one’s eye.
Yu Tang was unaware of the thoughts running across Pei Yan’s mind. She remarked, “I’m not exactly a beauty that rivals nations, and my family is not a distinguished one, so who would want to have me this badly? Mrs. Li even said it was only because the second son of the Li family had unintentionally met me once by accident. I wondered how would such a coincidence happen? One day I heard that the second son of the Li family was visiting Zhaoming Temple, so I purposely went to meet him. It turns out that he didn’t even recognize me ……”
Tch.
This was yet another misunderstanding.
Pei Yan felt uncomfortable as if there was something lodged in his throat.
Could it be that the autumn flowers were in full bloom over the last couple of days, causing an increase in the amount of pollen circulating in the air?
The previous patriarchs in their family loved those flowering trees, and thus planted all kinds of flora and blossoming trees everywhere in the courtyard. Had he not ordered some to be trimmed, there would be flowers all year round, and pollen everywhere, causing people to sneeze all day long, which would have driven him crazy.
He couldn’t help but cough twice, before his throat felt a little better and replied, “You’re saying that your visit to Zhaoming Temple that day was intentional?”
YuTang always maintained a high level of awareness and sensitivity when interacting with Pei Yan. After hearing this, she blinked and said in surprise, “You knew that I went to Zhaoming Temple that day?”
Of course he knew.
Pei Yan glanced at Yu Tang.
Her face was filled with confusion, but her brilliantly clear eyes seem to be speaking, as if asking him, “Were you there?”
He inexplicably felt a little uncomfortable sitting still.
However, he immediately steadied his nerves.
All his life, he was honest and forthright; he had never done anything that was unspeakable. That day at Zhaoming Temple, he saw Lady Yu, but acted as if he had not seen her. He even stood on the second floor of the Hidden Pavilion, watching the drama play out.
There was nothing wrong with him doing that.
They didn’t know each other at that time.
However, at this moment, he had to admit that he felt extremely uncomfortable. Perhaps it was because he had gotten better acquainted with Lady Yu, and to acknowledge that he just stood there indifferently, would make him appear cold, right?
As Pei Yan pondered over this, he hastily diverted the topic and remarked, “Presently, you suspect that the Peng family directed the Li family to find this nautical chart that was in LuXin’s possession?” After saying this, he had a slight smile on his face.
It was the kind of smile that only pulled a little at the corners of the mouth.
A smile that seemed superficial.
However, there was a glint in his eyes.
It was a brilliant light that seem to pierce through to the heart.
His appearance was captivating.
It also gave her a feeling that she couldn’t hide anything from him.
Yu Tang felt her face heating up a little and said timidly, “I, I was just worried allies would hurt each other due to incomplete information and misunderstanding. I do want the Li family to suffer, but if it causes the Pei family to be harmed alongside it, then it would really be the greatest sin!”
This young lady was really interesting.
Clearly she had a thousand devious ideas hidden in her heart, yet her words sounded so well-intentioned and righteous, one had to wonder how she managed to have such confidence.
Pei Yan didn’t feel like making things difficult for her and replied, “You can rest assured. Our two families don’t share any vested interests. If we were to fight, their family won’t extend mercy, neither will our family yield to them.”
That’s good!
Yu Tang patted her chest in relief.
Every place had their own ruler. The top brass in Lin’an City was the Pei family. Since the Peng family dared to extend their reach to Lin’an City, she was justified in reporting this news to Pei Yan.
Thankfully, she played her cards right!
Pei Yan asked her, “So when you and your family visited Hangzhou, it was to find someone to examine the painting?”
Although she knew it was impossible to hide it from him, he made the connection immediately without even pausing for a second thought. It was then that Yu Tang felt she had been a little premature in coming to inform the Pei family.
Fortunately, when Pei Yan saw the hesitation on her face, he did not pursue the matter, but said calmly, “Can you still remember how the nautical map looked like? Can you tell me more about it?”
The gears in Yu Tang’s mind spun rapidly.
Their family held this map for so long and tried all sorts of ways to figure out the secrets, but they still couldn’t discover them. The Li family was different. After all, the Li family was a family of scholars and had more knowledge than the Yu family, so they were likely to find the secrets of the map soon. Even if they couldn’t, they could still give it to the Peng family for them to research. The Peng family had far more scholars and had more knowledge and exposure. If things were to follow as per her previous life, once this map fell into the hands of the Peng family, and the Li and Lin families thus became rich from the maritime business with the Peng family, by then, what difference would it make by telling the Pei family about the painting?
If she wanted to take revenge, would she wait till the Li family grew stronger before striking?
That would be idiotic.
Yu Tang clenched her teeth and said dryly, “No one in our family is familiar with that map either. However, we were afraid that we remained oblivious, more trouble would come, so we asked someone to make a copy. If you are interested, I will bring it over for you to have a look.”
As Pei Yan listened, he became intrigued.
This lady Yu had several tricks up her sleeve!
He said, “So you prepared a backup plan. Nevertheless, when the Lu family came to ask for the inheritance, why didn’t you think of giving them a fake painting instead?”
Of course she had her reasons.
One could not reveal the whole truth.
She certainly couldn’t reveal all her secrets to Pei Yan.
With an honest look, Yu Tang said, “Firstly, we didn’t know if they recognized the map and were fearful of being discovered. Secondly, our family didn’t have the means of stopping them. If they took the fake map and organized a fleet of ships with others, I’m afraid that many people would perish – even though our family has a grudge with the Li family, we can’t do it with the full knowledge that it will endanger the lives of innocents. The best solution is to distribute the map and render it worthless. In this way, the Li family would not be able to ride on the Peng family’s coattails.”
The Li family’s hopes of making a fortune would be crushed.
This was much better than giving them a fake painting.
Of course, even if she wanted to give them a fake painting, she had to find someone who was able to do it by that time.
She couldn’t drag Master Qian down with her again!
Besides, Master Qian was no longer in Hangzhou.
Pei Yan listened calmly.
Most people would have given a fake to the Li family, but the Yu family had taken a different path.
Was the Yu family too kind? Or were they too naïve?
Pei Yan was silent for a moment.
In his heart, however, he admired the Yu family for their integrity which made him see them in a better light.
Yu Tang felt that a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
If the Pei family possessed the same map, they would be able to compete with the Peng family.
Even if the Pei family did not wish to compete with the Peng family, they could still deliver the map to the Peng family’s rivals.
If the Pei family was interested in the painting, that would be ideal.
She would then give the painting to the Pei family and thus repay some of the Pei family’s kindness.
In short, as long as the map held by the Li family was not the sole copy, their importance before the Peng family would be greatly diminished.
If the Li family still dared to collude with others behind the Pei family’s back… Hmph, just Pei Yan’s anger alone would be enough to settle them for good.
But this wasn’t the biggest gift that Yu Tang prepared for the Li family.
She had another gift as well.
But this issue of the nautical map had to be dealt with first.
Yu Tang replied, “Third Master, I’ll go home and bring you the map.”
However, Pei Yan stopped her and said, “There is no urgency. I have an idea.”
