Delicate Flower

Chapter 138 – A Visitor

Never had Pei Yan seen her like this.

She was downcast, depressed, like a flower battered by a wild storm, all wilted up.

Pei Yan felt uncomfortable internally as he looked on.

He liked to see her looking radiant, especially when she was gossiping about others, her eyes bright and sparkling, her cheeks rosy like peaches and plums, the joy radiating from her eyes, so brilliant and dazzling, like a ray of sunshine in winter, delighting anyone who looked at her.

Perhaps this was why he moved the Yu family’s name to a separate ledger when he was looking through the gift list, and even wondered when he heard about the Li family’s incident whether Lady Yu would run to him and gloat if she heard about it, much like what she did the last time.

Of course, he knew he was wrong for thinking that.

However, Lady Yu was just a young girl, a woman raised in the inner courtyard and having perhaps read only a copy of the Book of Filial Piety, and so he shouldn’t expect the same intelligence and insight from her as he did from those scholars of the academic circles.

Who knew that word of the Li family’s affairs had spread stealthily, but there was still no movement at all on Lady Yu’s side.

He asked Ah Ming to check if the Yu family’s Mid-Autumn Festival gifts had arrived, thinking that Lady Yu might take advantage of the gift delivery to come to his residence and gossip about it to him. The Yu family’s gifts were among the first to be sent, but the Yu family’s return gifts still had not been sent back to them even now.

Pei Yan thought that perhaps each family has different customs, and that many people like to send gifts only when they are about to celebrate the holidays, to show their sincerity.

He left this matter aside for the time being.

It was only when he visited Shen Shanyan today and inadvertently saw Wei Xiaochuan when he was leaving the local school that he suddenly got interested and made a trip to the Yu family, only then did he realise that such a major incident had occurred in the Yu family.

Who would still have the heart to send festive gifts!

No wonder he hasn’t received any gifts from the Yu family in return.

As Pei Yan reflected, he felt exasperated and also amused. What made him annoyed was that Yu Tang was still defending that person named Jiang Chao even now, and what made him amused was that she was now standing here with her head lowered, without any semblance of her usual fiery boldness. Perhaps it was the first time in her life that she had lowered her head like this?

“All right, I’ll inquire about this matter.” He replied, “The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, so you should just spend it happily with your family. We have some business in Ningbo, so I’ll have someone ask around and see if the Wang family has anything left, so that they can use it to compensate your family.”

The Pei family had business in Ningbo?

Yu Tang looked up at Pei Yan and blinked her eyes.

How come their family’s businesses were everywhere?

Is there even a place where there isn’t?

In his heart, Pei Yan was contemplating. The risks are high, so the returns will be high. Moreover, the Wu family’s participation in the business was Master Wu’s own decision, and the Yu family could have left him alone. But he understood that a person like Master Yu would rather suffer losses himself than let others suffer. Furthermore, the silver from the auction of the nautical chart was obtained freely, so he didn’t feel any pain about spending it, so he became all the more generous.

However, didn’t he realize that their family had little funds to speak of in the first place and yet they wanted to keep their daughter at home and recruit a son-in-law. How would they be able to recruit a good son-in-law without accumulating more silver?

Yu Wen was not a dependable person either.

Pei Yan let out a long sigh and became a little worried for the girl in front of him. It would be such a pity if she was delayed in marriage by her father and cousin.

Yu Tang was just trying to explain their situation to Pei Yan so that he could excuse her family for not sending the return gifts to the Pei family on time, but never did she expect that Pei Yan himself will be handling the matter for them.

She hurriedly protested, “This isn’t a good situation, so you shouldn’t intervene. Since Master Jiang promised to return the recovered silver to our family, he will definitely do so. Let’s wait and see.”

Why did she trust this Jiang Chao so much?

Pei Yan was cynical.

It would be best if Jiang Chao could return part of the silver to the Yu family, but if it was merely an act of perfunctory reparation to the Yu family, it would be good for Lady Yu to learn her lesson.

He remarked: “In that case, I will head back first. When Master Yu returns, I will come again and visit when I have time.”

Yu Tang could feel Pei Yan’s kindness.

Although he spoke harshly, his intentions were good.

Naturally, she thanked him again and sent Pei Yan to his carriage, and only when the carriage was out of the back alley and no longer in sight did she return to the house. But as soon as she got back, she hurried to Old Aunty Chen’s place, asking “Are the gifts our family prepared for the Pei family ready? Did father say when they would be sent over?”

If Madam Chen’s health was poor, it was customary to leave the household’s affairs to Old Aunty Chen.

Old Aunty Chen was cutting up slices of ginseng and preparing an old hen tonic soup to nourish Madam Chen’s body. She smiled and put the sliced ginseng into the small porcelain bowl near her hand before saying with a smile, “Master said that the Chengxin paper was too rare, and no gift in return would be enough to repay the Pei family. Therefore, for this festival, it would be better to send the usual mooncakes, fabrics and other ordinary items. This time, everything was too rushed, and even if he put some thought into it, he couldn’t think of any good return gifts either. He said to wait until spring festival to prepare a proper gift.”

Indeed, her mother was still feeling unwell.

Yu Tang nodded and watched as her father put four boxes of moon cakes of various kinds and two rolls of silk tapestry into the box for Yu Yuan to deliver to the Pei Residence.

Silk tapestry was not hard to obtain, but it was more expensive than gold. Although the gifts might seem ordinary, but they showed sincerity.

Madam Chen rested for a few days, and as she was not a person who placed much importance on wealth, she was quickly able to get out of bed and start planning for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Yu Wen discussed with Madam Chen about inviting Master Wu to their home for the festival this year, adding, “I usually see him as a generous and cheerful man who likes to make friends and help his neighbours. I find him to be generally quite a nice person, besides being a little less educated. Unexpectedly, he really doesn’t care much about money. This time when we started our business together, I discovered that I had a compatriot near me who was worth making friends with, so I guess that I had underestimated him previously.”

Madam Chen pursed her lips and laughed, saying, “Otherwise, why would the saying that ‘you only know a person’s character over a long period of time’ prove true?”

As they were chatting, Master Wu came over to see Yu Wen and said with a sigh of relief, “Fortunately, you suggested to send some Mid-Autumn Festival gifts to the Jiang family. Guess what? When the chief steward went to deliver the gifts, he ran into some scoundrels from Suzhou who were taking advantage of the fact that Master Jiang was not at home and were bullying his widowed mother and made a scene in the Jiang household!”

Yu Wen was furious, and exclaimed “How can there be such people? If you have a problem, go and settle it with Master Jiang, but what’s with bullying a widowed old lady when her son is not at home? And what happened thereafter? Did you report it to the magistrate or ask any of the Jiang family’s relatives or friends to help?”

Master Wu sighed, “It’s useless to report it to the magistrate. I heard from my chief steward that the ruffians were ordered by the governor’s mistress’s own brothers. Fortunately, the married daughter of the Jiang family stayed nearby, and when the chief steward was having difficulties, she rushed over and took Madam Jiang to her home.”

Yu Wen listened and said with emotion, “Now, more than ever, we cannot pressure Master Jiang to repay our funds.”

Master Wu nodded in agreement.

After the two of them had spoken for a while, Yu Wen invited Master Wu’s family over to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival together. He even pointed to the crabs kept at home and said, “This year we will have a feast of crabs.”

Master Wu, who turned out to be a great lover of crabs, immediately and joyfully agreed, saying, “Don’t worry about the tea and wine, I’ll bring it over when the time comes. I’ll bring the aged Fifty years Nverhong ‘Daughter’s Wine’, which was buried at the time of my great aunt’s birth.”

Yu Wen got so happy that his eyes turned into tiny crescents. When he returned to the room, he spoke with Madam Chen, “I think we should forget about the silver that we invested. The Jiang family is orphaned and widowed, and we are not short of that few pieces of silver. Everyone faces difficulties in life.”

Madam Chen replied, “You can decide on our family’s matters.” She asked curiously, “Why didn’t you mention this with Master Wu when he was here?”

Yu Wen said, “Our silver is our family’s business, Master Wu’s silver is Master Wu’s. If I had said so to Master Wu just now, Master Wu, no matter what he felt inside, would have had to go along with it. Wouldn’t I be making things difficult for him? That is not what friends should do.”

Madam Chen commended him for his thoughtfulness.

Yu Tang had mixed feelings upon learning this, but her feelings of joy overshadowed the others.

She found some time to return to the countryside, visited the mountain forest to see the saplings and saw that they were growing well. She rewarded Wang Si and the forest caretaker with one tael of silver each for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and brought back half a cartload of peanuts.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Madam Chen got Yu Tang to rise early, and together they prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival feast at night. Just then, a man with an attendant arrived at the entrance of the Yu family’s house, asking to see Yu Wen.

He appeared to be 23 or 24 years old, tall, and wearing a respectable dark red silk jacket with auspicious clouds. He was fair-skinned, with handsome features and an elegant posture, but his eyes were red and bloodshot, and he looked very tired.

He went up to the door and knocked, identifying himself as Jiang Chao from the Suzhou Prefecture.

The one who opened the door was Ah Cam, who had more or less heard about the changes in the family even without anyone telling him specifically. His face paled dramatically at this, and he rudely left the man outside the door and ran towards the courtyard, shouting loudly as he ran, “Master, Master, Master Jiang from Suzhou Prefecture is here.”

Yu Wen was discussing with Madam Chen about the tableware to be used for the Mid-Autumn Festival dinner, but when he heard this, he froze in shock, and it took him a moment to realise who had arrived.

Yu Tang, who had heard the commotion, ran out first and said, “Master Jiang? Is it that Master Jiang who is doing business with Father?”

Ah Cam nodded somewhat excitedly and said, “He said his surname is Jiang.”

Yu Wen hurried instructed, “Invite him in! Quickly invite him in!” He also told Shuang Tao, “Go and tell Master Wu next door that Master Jiang from Suzhou Prefecture is here.”

Shuang Tao acquiesced and went away.

Yu Wen personally went to welcome Jiang Chao in.

Yu Tang and Madam Chen were hiding in the screens beside the hall, peering in.

Jiang Chao came in and bowed deeply to Yu Wen, saying with reddened eyes, “When I returned home, I heard from my mother that if it weren’t for you and Master Wu, my mother would have suffered disgrace. Just expressing my thanks in words is insufficient. Please accept my obeisance.”

After saying this, he was about to give a big bow to Yu Wen, but Yu Wen tugged him back and said, “You don’t have to be so polite. Whoever encountered such a thing would have offered a hand to help as well. Besides, the person who saved him was the Chief Steward of the Wu family, so it has nothing to do with me. “

Jiang Chao shook his head, as if he had a thousand words he wanted to say but did not know how to say them.

Yu Wen thoughtfully skimmed over the subject and said concernedly, “Was Old Madam frightened? How is she now? Why have you suddenly come to Lin’an?”

Today was the date of the Mid-Autumn Festival!