Chapter 84: Busy
It’s been half a year since the Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting fell into the hands of the Yu family, and with one incident following another, the entire Yu family was continuously kept in a state of tension and unease. Now that they were finally free of the problem, both Yu Wen and Yu Yuan felt a great sense of relief, and that their long-awaited peaceful and leisurely days would soon return.
“We’ll just listen to Third Master Pei’s instructions on the map.” Yu Wen happily informed Yu Yuan, “Our family can start preparing for the New Year.”
Yu Yuan’s face turned red.
He and Lady Xiang had already settled the engagement, and they would have to send New Year’s gifts to the Xiang family and settle on a wedding date. Furthermore, their store on Changxing Street had to be reopened.
Yu Wen advised him, saying “Lady Xiang’s situation is quite unusual. I will ask your aunt to go to the Wei family to ask, to see if Lady Xiang is spending the New Year with the Wei Family or the Xiang Family. If Lady Xiang stays with the Wei family for the New Year’s, I’m afraid you’ll have to send two identical sets of gifts for both.”
One side is the adoptive family and the other is the birth family, of which neither side can be neglected.
Yu Yuan nodded repeatedly.
Yu Wen asked Madam Chen to visit the Wei family.
Although she thought Mrs. Wei was very nice and liked her a lot, she didn’t have much confidence in handling such matters. Since Yu Tang had performed very well during this period of time and even Yu Wen had started to listen to her, she had gradually started to rely on her daughter more. She pulled Yu Tang to join her. “Come and accompany me and send your greetings to Aunt Wei as well.”
As Yu Tang was busy with the map incident, she had not seen the Wei family for several days and felt that it was time to visit the Wei family as well, so she readily agreed.
Madam Chen decided to take her to the Pei family’s jewellery store and got a few pieces of gold and silver jewellery suitable for young girls to wear, saying, “I guess after the 15th of the first month, we’ll finalise the wedding date for your cousin and Lady Xiang. There will definitely be many guests at home during the New Year, so you’ll have to dress up beautifully for the occasion.”
It was also a good time to let the madams of all the families get acquainted with Yutang and ask them to assist in marriage negotiations for her.
Yu Tang didn’t think too much of it as she was preoccupied with the matter involving Pei Yan.
That person was so particular of the quality of his own dressing, but yet still wanted it to be simple, plain and unassuming, such a stick-in-the-mud. Yet he preferred ladies to dress up beautifully like vibrant flowers, which was totally unlike his image.
He definitely owns a lot of fancy looks in his personal collection.
It was almost New Year’s Eve, but nothing was heard about the auction. Afterwards, he still needed to arrange a partner willing to cooperate with them and make the relevant introductions. Therefore, the Yu family should send him a New Year’s gift which meets his liking.
If they cannot obtain it in Lin’an City, then they should go to Hangzhou City to find it.
And also the Gu family.
Gu Xi had a close and strong bond with her brother Gu Chang. With Li Duan’s family now separate from the patriarch house, she had to ascertain how the Gu family viewed the issue and their reaction.
She also had to inquire of the separation of the Li family and get a clear picture of it. Perhaps it would be useful in the future….
As Yu Tang contemplated, she got a little overwhelmed with the amount of things she had to do.
However, now that she was no longer worried for her life, she was not as anxious as before, and felt that there was still hope, so she did not feel that it was troublesome. After choosing a few pieces of jewellery, she persuaded Madam Chen to visit the antique store, saying “We have to choose something for Third Master Pei as a new year’s gift.”
Madam Chen felt her purse and said hesitantly, “Why don’t you and your father go instead?”
Yu Tang smiled, saying, “What doesn’t Third Master Pei have? If you want to give him a gift for the New Year, even if you spent a lot of silver to purchase it, he may not necessarily like it. More importantly, it should be something that is interesting instead.”
Madam Chen thought for a while and said, “Then also tell your cousin this. When he is travelling around, he may come across something suitable.”
Yu Tang nodded with a smile and went with Madam Chen into the antique store nearby.
Madam Chen saw a lotus pond ink holder and thought of the new pieces of jewelry she just ordered, and asked, “Haven’t you always favored those simple and clean patterns? Why did you choose all those intricate floral pieces earlier?”
Yu Tang replied with a smile, “Aren’t they beautiful?”
“Yes.” Madam Chen looked at her daughter with a smile and said wholeheartedly, “My precious daughter has clear, bright eyes and beautiful white teeth, so she would look good with those floral pieces. It’s just that you used to dislike them as they were troublesome to wear. Perhaps this is a sign that you have grown up?”
No.
She was afraid that she would have to dress “properly” when she next meets Pei Yan.
But she could not say this to her mother, so she just smiled and pointed to a Ru kiln plum vase next to her and said, “Mother, look! Isn’t it beautiful?”
Madam Chen answered, “Of course, it’s beautiful. But this plum vase?”
Their family couldn’t afford it even if they didn’t set aside funds for Yu Yuan’s marriage.
Yu Tang pursed her lips and smiled, saying, “I’m just letting you have a look.”
One day, she will be able to buy whatever she wants.
Madam Chen sighed in relief.
Yu Tang saw a bronze beast-shaped door ring placed nearby. She couldn’t figure out what kind of beast it was, but it looked ancient and rugged, with a sense of weightiness.
She unconsciously smiled at it and said to the accompanying young sales attendant, “You also sell such things in your store?”
The sales attendant, who knew the things in the store like the back of his hand, smiled and said, “Miss, you may not be aware, this door ring is very intriguing. Can you identify what kind of divine animal is it? It is a Pixiu(TL: mythical hybrid creature – looks like a winged lion). You wouldn’t have expected it at all, right? That isn’t even the most interesting thing.” Saying that, he took out the beast-shaped door ring, and then pulled down the armature, and another small beast-like being emerged from the beast’s mouth.
Yu Tang and Madam Chen both found it quite interesting.
He then pulled the new smaller beast’s ring again.
The little beast’s mouth spit out yet another even smaller beast.
“That’s interesting!” Yu Tang said as she waited for the attendant to put back all the small beasts back, before trying it herself.
Seeing her interest, he quickly introduced the history of this door ring: “This is the door beast that guarded the secret room of the Grand Princess Jin Yang of the former dynasty, who was in charge of the treasury, there was originally a pair, but the other one was lost ……”
This kind of thing that has no way to verify its authenticity was mostly just hearsay, and not trustworthy.
Yu Tang said, “Why don’t I take it to Supervisor Tong to check it out.”
The attendant immediately went silent.
Yu Tang asked him, “How much silver is this?”
He hesitated for a moment and said, “Ten taels of silver.”
Yu Tang bargained with him, “Go ask the shopkeeper if it’s for sale for two taels of silver.”
His face turned red as he went to get the shopkeeper, and it was sold for two taels of silver.
Madam Chen kept silent until they left the antique store, and then she whispered, “You intend to gift this to Third Master Pei?”
“Why not?” Yu Tang smiled, “Think of it as a guide. If he keeps it, we’ll know what to send next time.”
Madam Chen was ambivalent, while Yu Wen also found it interesting and played with it for a while before finding a brocade box to put it in, and sent it along with the other New Year’s gifts to the Pei family.
As for the Wei family, Lady Xiang will leave the house next spring. Although the previous years were spent in the Wei family for New Year’s Eve, but this year the grand madam of the Sang family personally sent someone to pick her up, saying that Lady Xiang not having the bridal leaving procession in the Sang family’s estate was already going against traditions, so if this time she still doesn’t return for New Year’s Eve, it wouldn’t bode well.
Mrs. Wei did not dare to keep Lady Xiang. She smiled bitterly and said to Madam Chen: “This child, after going back, I wonder if she would be bullied?”
Madam Chen reassured Mrs. Wei: “At most, it’s just this one Spring Festival, bear with it. Consider it as a final calamity that the Bodhisattva let her undergo, and it will all go well with her in future.”
Mrs. Wei shook her head, not wanting to continue further on this. She pulled Yu Tang to her side and started discussing the plans for New Year’s “On the fourth day of the first month, you can come over along with your mother. Your sister-in-law should also back by them. I will let her accompany you to play mahjong.”
Lady Xiang laughed as she replied, “Aunt, admiring peach blossoms, eating fruits and arrow-throwing pitch pots, they are all fun, so why mahjong in particular?”
Everyone laughed.
Yu Tang liked Lady Xiang’s easy-going cheerfulness and suddenly felt closer to her.
After returning from the Wei family, she began to help her mother prepare the New Year’s gifts, and Yu Bo also had just returned from Jiangxi. He brought back a shipload of goods, and poached two lacquer masters from Jiangxi. The issue of having skilled masters was settled, the workshop was rebuilt, the goods were supplied, the people to be invited for the reopening were planned. Her cousin was so busy that Madam Chen was assigned to coordinate the sending gifts to the Xiang and Wei families.
Yu Tang was also roped in to help and got busy as well.
Meanwhile, Pei Yan wasn’t idle either.
But he wasn’t as busy compared to Yu Tang. Their family has everything set up in place, so he only needs to make decisions regarding matters beyond the usual customary ones. Moreover, everyone was celebrating the New Year soon, and Zhou ZiJin had already left, so he was relatively free and can do as he pleases.
He focused his energy on the auction of the map.
When the Yu family left, they left the map with him. He tried to copy it himself, but found that it was too troublesome and not as fast as if he were to draw one by himself. He sent a letter to Tao An, his senior brother whose family was in the maritime business, asking him to send someone over to copy the map and told him that it was a nautical chart from Guangzhou to the Arab Empire.
Tao An didn’t reply his letter. After the 8th day of the lunar month, the chief steward of the Tao family and one of Tao An’s retainers arrived in Lin’an City directly along with two skilled copyists along with two large boxes of gold.
“Our master said, the Pei family is a great family well-versed in poetry and literature and Third master is ever more noble and upright. These are a few basic things to show our appreciation for allowing us to stay in the Pei estate so please don’t take offense.” The Tao family’s chief steward was very humble, as he continued speaking,”Our master is afraid of holding up third master’s business. As soon as he received third master’s letter, he instructed us to come directly from Guangzhou. Whatever it is that you want to be done, please instruct us accordingly.”
Pei Yan ‘tsked’ internally.
This senior brother of his was known among his peers as “Lord Meng Chang”. He was usually quite generous, but for it to be to this extent …… he skimmed the corners of his mouth, if it wasn’t for helping the Yu family…., he’ll just pretend to be deaf and dumb as if he did not know anything.
“Does your family’s master have any other orders?” He said straightforwardly, “If not, you can start copying the map after having a meal.”
“Yes, there is.” Thinking over what his master had instructed him in his letter to say, he hurriedly piped up, “Our master also mentioned, if it’s convenient, could I take the two copyists back with me once it’s over?”
The master copyists are often at great risk.
Just like those masters who possess a specific skillset, when they encounter matters of secrecy, they probably will not be able to make it out alive.
By saying this, the Tao family not only wanted to guarantee the lives of the two copyists, but also taking this opportunity to ask Pei Yan if the Tao family could also have a share in the map!
Chapter 84: Busy
It’s been half a year since the Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting fell into the hands of the Yu family, and with one incident following another, the entire Yu family was continuously kept in a state of tension and unease. Now that they were finally free of the problem, both Yu Wen and Yu Yuan felt a great sense of relief, and that their long-awaited peaceful and leisurely days would soon return.
“We’ll just listen to Third Master Pei’s instructions on the map.” Yu Wen happily informed Yu Yuan, “Our family can start preparing for the New Year.”
Yu Yuan’s face turned red.
He and Lady Xiang had already settled the engagement, and they would have to send New Year’s gifts to the Xiang family and settle on a wedding date. Furthermore, their store on Changxing Street had to be reopened.
Yu Wen advised him, saying “Lady Xiang’s situation is quite unusual. I will ask your aunt to go to the Wei family to ask, to see if Lady Xiang is spending the New Year with the Wei Family or the Xiang Family. If Lady Xiang stays with the Wei family for the New Year’s, I’m afraid you’ll have to send two identical sets of gifts for both.”
One side is the adoptive family and the other is the birth family, of which neither side can be neglected.
Yu Yuan nodded repeatedly.
Yu Wen asked Madam Chen to visit the Wei family.
Although she thought Mrs. Wei was very nice and liked her a lot, she didn’t have much confidence in handling such matters. Since Yu Tang had performed very well during this period of time and even Yu Wen had started to listen to her, she had gradually started to rely on her daughter more. She pulled Yu Tang to join her. “Come and accompany me and send your greetings to Aunt Wei as well.”
As Yu Tang was busy with the map incident, she had not seen the Wei family for several days and felt that it was time to visit the Wei family as well, so she readily agreed.
Madam Chen decided to take her to the Pei family’s jewellery store and got a few pieces of gold and silver jewellery suitable for young girls to wear, saying, “I guess after the 15th of the first month, we’ll finalise the wedding date for your cousin and Lady Xiang. There will definitely be many guests at home during the New Year, so you’ll have to dress up beautifully for the occasion.”
It was also a good time to let the madams of all the families get acquainted with Yutang and ask them to assist in marriage negotiations for her.
Yu Tang didn’t think too much of it as she was preoccupied with the matter involving Pei Yan.
That person was so particular of the quality of his own dressing, but yet still wanted it to be simple, plain and unassuming, such a stick-in-the-mud. Yet he preferred ladies to dress up beautifully like vibrant flowers, which was totally unlike his image.
He definitely owns a lot of fancy looks in his personal collection.
It was almost New Year’s Eve, but nothing was heard about the auction. Afterwards, he still needed to arrange a partner willing to cooperate with them and make the relevant introductions. Therefore, the Yu family should send him a New Year’s gift which meets his liking.
If they cannot obtain it in Lin’an City, then they should go to Hangzhou City to find it.
And also the Gu family.
Gu Xi had a close and strong bond with her brother Gu Chang. With Li Duan’s family now separate from the patriarch house, she had to ascertain how the Gu family viewed the issue and their reaction.
She also had to inquire of the separation of the Li family and get a clear picture of it. Perhaps it would be useful in the future….
As Yu Tang contemplated, she got a little overwhelmed with the amount of things she had to do.
However, now that she was no longer worried for her life, she was not as anxious as before, and felt that there was still hope, so she did not feel that it was troublesome. After choosing a few pieces of jewellery, she persuaded Madam Chen to visit the antique store, saying “We have to choose something for Third Master Pei as a new year’s gift.”
Madam Chen felt her purse and said hesitantly, “Why don’t you and your father go instead?”
Yu Tang smiled, saying, “What doesn’t Third Master Pei have? If you want to give him a gift for the New Year, even if you spent a lot of silver to purchase it, he may not necessarily like it. More importantly, it should be something that is interesting instead.”
Madam Chen thought for a while and said, “Then also tell your cousin this. When he is travelling around, he may come across something suitable.”
Yu Tang nodded with a smile and went with Madam Chen into the antique store nearby.
Madam Chen saw a lotus pond ink holder and thought of the new pieces of jewelry she just ordered, and asked, “Haven’t you always favored those simple and clean patterns? Why did you choose all those intricate floral pieces earlier?”
Yu Tang replied with a smile, “Aren’t they beautiful?”
“Yes.” Madam Chen looked at her daughter with a smile and said wholeheartedly, “My precious daughter has clear, bright eyes and beautiful white teeth, so she would look good with those floral pieces. It’s just that you used to dislike them as they were troublesome to wear. Perhaps this is a sign that you have grown up?”
No.
She was afraid that she would have to dress “properly” when she next meets Pei Yan.
But she could not say this to her mother, so she just smiled and pointed to a Ru kiln plum vase next to her and said, “Mother, look! Isn’t it beautiful?”
Madam Chen answered, “Of course, it’s beautiful. But this plum vase?”
Their family couldn’t afford it even if they didn’t set aside funds for Yu Yuan’s marriage.
Yu Tang pursed her lips and smiled, saying, “I’m just letting you have a look.”
One day, she will be able to buy whatever she wants.
Madam Chen sighed in relief.
Yu Tang saw a bronze beast-shaped door ring placed nearby. She couldn’t figure out what kind of beast it was, but it looked ancient and rugged, with a sense of weightiness.
She unconsciously smiled at it and said to the accompanying young sales attendant, “You also sell such things in your store?”
The sales attendant, who knew the things in the store like the back of his hand, smiled and said, “Miss, you may not be aware, this door ring is very intriguing. Can you identify what kind of divine animal is it? It is a Pixiu(TL: mythical hybrid creature – looks like a winged lion). You wouldn’t have expected it at all, right? That isn’t even the most interesting thing.” Saying that, he took out the beast-shaped door ring, and then pulled down the armature, and another small beast-like being emerged from the beast’s mouth.
Yu Tang and Madam Chen both found it quite interesting.
He then pulled the new smaller beast’s ring again.
The little beast’s mouth spit out yet another even smaller beast.
“That’s interesting!” Yu Tang said as she waited for the attendant to put back all the small beasts back, before trying it herself.
Seeing her interest, he quickly introduced the history of this door ring: “This is the door beast that guarded the secret room of the Grand Princess Jin Yang of the former dynasty, who was in charge of the treasury, there was originally a pair, but the other one was lost ……”
This kind of thing that has no way to verify its authenticity was mostly just hearsay, and not trustworthy.
Yu Tang said, “Why don’t I take it to Supervisor Tong to check it out.”
The attendant immediately went silent.
Yu Tang asked him, “How much silver is this?”
He hesitated for a moment and said, “Ten taels of silver.”
Yu Tang bargained with him, “Go ask the shopkeeper if it’s for sale for two taels of silver.”
His face turned red as he went to get the shopkeeper, and it was sold for two taels of silver.
Madam Chen kept silent until they left the antique store, and then she whispered, “You intend to gift this to Third Master Pei?”
“Why not?” Yu Tang smiled, “Think of it as a guide. If he keeps it, we’ll know what to send next time.”
Madam Chen was ambivalent, while Yu Wen also found it interesting and played with it for a while before finding a brocade box to put it in, and sent it along with the other New Year’s gifts to the Pei family.
As for the Wei family, Lady Xiang will leave the house next spring. Although the previous years were spent in the Wei family for New Year’s Eve, but this year the grand madam of the Sang family personally sent someone to pick her up, saying that Lady Xiang not having the bridal leaving procession in the Sang family’s estate was already going against traditions, so if this time she still doesn’t return for New Year’s Eve, it wouldn’t bode well.
Mrs. Wei did not dare to keep Lady Xiang. She smiled bitterly and said to Madam Chen: “This child, after going back, I wonder if she would be bullied?”
Madam Chen reassured Mrs. Wei: “At most, it’s just this one Spring Festival, bear with it. Consider it as a final calamity that the Bodhisattva let her undergo, and it will all go well with her in future.”
Mrs. Wei shook her head, not wanting to continue further on this. She pulled Yu Tang to her side and started discussing the plans for New Year’s “On the fourth day of the first month, you can come over along with your mother. Your sister-in-law should also back by them. I will let her accompany you to play mahjong.”
Lady Xiang laughed as she replied, “Aunt, admiring peach blossoms, eating fruits and arrow-throwing pitch pots, they are all fun, so why mahjong in particular?”
Everyone laughed.
Yu Tang liked Lady Xiang’s easy-going cheerfulness and suddenly felt closer to her.
After returning from the Wei family, she began to help her mother prepare the New Year’s gifts, and Yu Bo also had just returned from Jiangxi. He brought back a shipload of goods, and poached two lacquer masters from Jiangxi. The issue of having skilled masters was settled, the workshop was rebuilt, the goods were supplied, the people to be invited for the reopening were planned. Her cousin was so busy that Madam Chen was assigned to coordinate the sending gifts to the Xiang and Wei families.
Yu Tang was also roped in to help and got busy as well.
Meanwhile, Pei Yan wasn’t idle either.
But he wasn’t as busy compared to Yu Tang. Their family has everything set up in place, so he only needs to make decisions regarding matters beyond the usual customary ones. Moreover, everyone was celebrating the New Year soon, and Zhou ZiJin had already left, so he was relatively free and can do as he pleases.
He focused his energy on the auction of the map.
When the Yu family left, they left the map with him. He tried to copy it himself, but found that it was too troublesome and not as fast as if he were to draw one by himself. He sent a letter to Tao An, his senior brother whose family was in the maritime business, asking him to send someone over to copy the map and told him that it was a nautical chart from Guangzhou to the Arab Empire.
Tao An didn’t reply his letter. After the 8th day of the lunar month, the chief steward of the Tao family and one of Tao An’s retainers arrived in Lin’an City directly along with two skilled copyists along with two large boxes of gold.
“Our master said, the Pei family is a great family well-versed in poetry and literature and Third master is ever more noble and upright. These are a few basic things to show our appreciation for allowing us to stay in the Pei estate so please don’t take offense.” The Tao family’s chief steward was very humble, as he continued speaking,”Our master is afraid of holding up third master’s business. As soon as he received third master’s letter, he instructed us to come directly from Guangzhou. Whatever it is that you want to be done, please instruct us accordingly.”
Pei Yan ‘tsked’ internally.
This senior brother of his was known among his peers as “Lord Meng Chang”. He was usually quite generous, but for it to be to this extent …… he skimmed the corners of his mouth, if it wasn’t for helping the Yu family…., he’ll just pretend to be deaf and dumb as if he did not know anything.
“Does your family’s master have any other orders?” He said straightforwardly, “If not, you can start copying the map after having a meal.”
“Yes, there is.” Thinking over what his master had instructed him in his letter to say, he hurriedly piped up, “Our master also mentioned, if it’s convenient, could I take the two copyists back with me once it’s over?”
The master copyists are often at great risk.
Just like those masters who possess a specific skillset, when they encounter matters of secrecy, they probably will not be able to make it out alive.
By saying this, the Tao family not only wanted to guarantee the lives of the two copyists, but also taking this opportunity to ask Pei Yan if the Tao family could also have a share in the map!
