Delicate Flower

Chapter 139 – Visiting Guest

Jiang Chao’s pale face reddened as he lowered his voice and said, “It’s almost the Mid-Autumn Festival, so I thought I had to come and show my appreciation to both you and Master Wu, but I didn’t know I had taken the wrong boat and by the time I reached Lin’an, it was already the fifteenth day of the eighth month.”

Yu Wen didn’t suspect anything and warmly pulled him in and said, “Then stay over at my place first. I have arranged to have crabs with Brother Wu today, and he still has the 50-year Nverhong ‘Daughter’s Wine’. As for us, we will only talk casually, and not about business. If there’s anything difficult or unpleasant, we’ll talk about it after the Mid-Autumn Festival.”

Jiang Chao’s eyes reddened further.

Yu Wen called out loudly to Ah Cam to clean up the guest room for JIang Chao.

Jiang Chao thanked him repeatedly.

Ah Chao took along Jiang Chao’s attendant and retreated.

Yu Wen asked about Mr. Wang’s situation at NingBo.

Jiang Chao replied dejectedly, “Mr, Wang was forced into this. The youngest son of the former owner’s family suddenly climbed up to become the brother-in-law of Zhejiang Academy’s official, and the authorities are turning a blind eye to the matter. I used to think that if I worked hard, I would be able to accumulate some wealth. Now I realise that it’s not that easy to build up a fortune.”

The country has been peaceful for a while now, and there were many established and powerful families in power for decades, even since the previous dynasty.

Yu Wen understood his unspoken words and comforted him by sighing, “Don’t be discouraged, thirty years the river flows east and thirty years  the river flows west, there are many powerful families that have fallen as well.”

Jiang Chao nodded and said, “Indeed. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared to try to get into this business on my own strength.”

Everyone knows that the maritime business is not easy, but if you can find a way, it will be highly lucrative and you will be rich in just a few years, and things will be easier in the future.

As they spoke, Ah Cam quietly entered behind the screen where Yu Tang and Madam Chen were hiding and whispered, “Madam, Miss, that Master Jiang, he doesn’t even have a single piece of luggage with him.”

Madam Chen was utterly shocked and looked towards Yu Tang, “What, what should we do?”

Yu Tang suspected that Jiang Chao was most likely trapped by debt collectors and was unable to gather his belongings. Therefore, he had no choice but to come to Lin’an and try his luck.

However, since her father didn’t care about those issues anymore, so she didn’t have much to worry about either.

She pulled Madam Chen out of the hall and stood under the canopy and whispered to her mother, “Since father has decided to help Master Jiang, let’s not make it difficult for father. Why don’t we pretend not to know, and take some silver to buy some clothes for Master Jiang, and send him away without mentioning it?”

Yu Tang didn’t know if Jiang Chao had encountered such things in his previous life, but from what Jiang Chao had done these days, it seemed that Jiang Chao had not lived up to his reputation in his previous life. Then he couldn’t always hide in Lin’an. He would have gone out and found a way to change his life, so why should they be the villains?

In her past life, there were many people who helped her when she was in trouble, so she should do the same for others and help them in any way she could.

Madam Chen felt that Yu Tang had a point. She went to open her trousseau and gave Ah Cam some silver.

Yu Wen didn’t know anything about this.

But Jiang Chao, whose nerves were taut ever since he entered the hall, could see it clearly.

There were people behind the screen, either the women of the Yu family or friends who had been talking to Master Yu here. The attendant who led him in had gone off to arrange the guest room, but was now behind the screen. Most likely, he found that he had no luggage and asked the person behind the screen for instructions.

I wonder if Mrs. Yu is the one wearing the dark green robe or the white threaded dress?

The one wearing white should most likely be the maid.

The Yu family should have already found out about his wretched state.

Would Master Yu find an excuse and throw him out? Or would he take him in for a few days, as he hoped?

Jiang Chao’s mind was in turmoil, but his expression was calm as he drank tea.

Master Wu came over as soon as he got the news, and because of Jiang Chao, the original arrangement for the two families to enjoy the moon and feast on crabs together in the courtyard was disrupted, turning into Master Wu, Yu Wen, Yu Bo, Yu Yuan, Jiang Chao and Master Wu’s two sons drinking and enjoying the moon and eating crabs on the front patio, while the women of the Yu and Wu families had a table in the backyard.

Mrs. Wu knew about the investment failure but never had a chance before to meet with Madam Chen, so she tugged on Madam Chen’s hand and spoke about it: “We need to be prepared to suffer losses. Without sacrifice, there is no gains. Besides, the family business was originally the result of the men’s efforts, so when they made money, we laughed and smiled along with them, but now that they have incurred losses, naturally they would be upset, so we can’t criticize or make them feel bad. I thought that I was the only one who felt like this, but to my surprise, dear sister-in-law is even more generous than I am and invited my family to eat crabs. I would like to drink a toast to you.” After saying that, she served up the Jinhua wine in front of her.

Yu Tang could not help but be impressed with Mrs Wu.

Her words were clearly meant to persuade Madam Chen.

Yu Tang had previously only thought of her as a person with grace, tact, and good social skills, but she had never imagined that she would be this magnanimous. It’s no wonder that everyone liked to invite her to be the matron for blessing a marriage.

She toasted Mrs. Wu with a cup of wine.

However, it was like Mrs Wu caught her, as she began to discuss about Yu Tang’s marriage.

Yu Tang felt as though she was on pins and needles.

Madam Wang laughed and rescued her niece. “There is no hurry, the most important thing is to find someone who is suitable.”

Mrs. Wu nodded with a smile, and seeing that Lady Xiang was just sitting there drinking tea and eating mooncakes, she enthusiastically placed a piece of crab into Lady Xiang’s bowl and said, “You should try it too, it’s a good purchase, the crab meat is tender, fresh and delicious, it’s a rare treat.”

Lady Xiang smiled, but looked towards Madam Wang for help.

Madam Wang said with a beaming smile, “Thank you, Mrs. Wu, but my daughter-in-law needs to watch her meals these days. These crabs are chilling to the body, so she can’t have them. I will invite everyone to a crab feast when the time comes next year.”

Mrs. Wu was taken aback, but quickly became as happy as Madam Wang, saying “Congratulations!” and “Next year, don’t you forget!”.

“Sure, sure!” Madam Wang was beaming with joy, but Lady Xiang lowered her head in embarrassment.

Yu Tang looked confused.

Only then did Madam Chen smile and stroke her daughter’s head, saying, “Silly girl, you’re going to be an aunt soon.”

It suddenly dawned on her.

No wonder Yu Yuan was stuttering, or that Eldest Aunt came to the house to take some cloths ……

Yu Tang let out a gasp and blamed Lady Xiang, “Sister-in-law didn’t tell me about this either.”

The redness of Lady Xiang’s face grew deeper as she blushed and said, “It’s only been three months ……”

In her previous life, Yu Yuan never had any children.

In this life, both she and Yu Yuan were able to have the chance to be parents.

Her eyes brimmed over with tears and she lifted her wine cup and toasted Lady Xiang.

Madam Chen laughingly took away Yu Tang’s wine cup, saying amusedly, “Silly girl, you got confused. how can your sister-in-law drink now? If I had known, I would have told you sometime later. “

Mrs. Wu and the others burst into laughter.

Yutang, though, had drunk an unusually large amount of wine and was a little unsteady on her feet when she returned to her room.

Jiang Chao, however, although tipsy from wine, still maintained a sense of clarity, and after drinking two cups of tea in a row in his room, he eventually sobered up and immediately asked the attendant who was still busily making him tea, “What did the Yu family say?”

The attendant replied, “Nothing. They even brought some clothing and twenty taels of silver on their madam’s request, saying that it was for master to use during this festival holiday. I too got a tael of silver as a reward.”

They were indeed generous people.

Jiang Chao let out a long exhale.

These past few days, he was hounded by debt-collectors. Fearing that his mother would be dragged into it, he didn’t even dare to return home, nor did he have the money to send some festive gifts to the Yu and Wu families.

This kindness could only be repaid later.

He thought of the two ladies in green and white behind the screen.

Both were kind-hearted people.

He drifted in and out of thought, not knowing exactly when he had fallen asleep. When he woke up the next day, it was already late, the sun was shining bright, and the attendant was sitting in front of his bed, staring blankly in boredom.

“Ah Zhou.” He called out to the boy.

Ah Zhou was startled and immediately stood up, saying, “Master, are you feeling better? Master Yu came over early in the morning and saw that you were still resting, so he didn’t wake you up. He only told you to go to the study room once you woke up and had your breakfast, and that he and Master Wu were waiting for you in the study.”

Jiang Chao rubbed his temples, only then remembering that Yu Wen had invited him to go enjoy the streets of Lin’an City yesterday at the banquet.

It seemed that he had woken up very late.

A hangover was always unpleasant. After Jiang Chao washed his face and took his breakfast, it was only while walking to Yu Wen’s study that he felt more alert.

Yu Wen and Master Wu decided to accompany Jiang Chao on a trip to Zhaoming Temple and then to Tianmu Mountain.

Jiang Chao was not in the mood to have fun, but it was hard to refuse their hospitality, so he ended up going to Zhaoming Temple in the Wu family’s carriage.

On the way, Master Wu shared about the famous places in Lin’an City and some interesting stories, among them was the old plum tree of the Pei family: “…… The earlier generations said that it has the same origins as the Wudao pine in Zhaoming Temple, but one is in the east and the other in the west, and they are the two oldest trees in Lin’an City, but it is not clear whether this is true or not. “

Yu Wen chuckled, “Most likely, it should be something those literati made up, as this is the first time I’ve heard of it.”

In contrast, Jiang Chao’s heart was beating wildly, and even his voice became sharper, “What you’re saying, it shouldn’t be the Pei family, right? The Pei family from Little Plum Lane? That Pei family, the one with three successful scholar officials in one family? From what I hear, it sounds like you have some kind of camaraderie with their family?”

Master Wu was startled and replied, “Indeed, it is the Pei family of Little Plum Lane. We know the Pei family as we are from the same town. But if I were to say that we know each other fairly well, it would be Master Yu who is more familiar with them than I am. They are both scholars, and when Master Yu’s store opened, Third Master Pei even came personally to congratulate him.”

This was really a town with hidden opportunities!

Jiang Chao couldn’t hold back his excitement and said, “Two elder brothers have really saved my life.”

As Master Wu and Yu Wen exchanged glances, Jiang Chao said excitedly, “Isn’t it because the youngest son of Mr Wang’s former employer was involved with the Zhejiang academy, that Mr Wang abandoned his family and business? I’ve been thinking about the possibility of calling on the Governor of Ningbo. I was reminded by the words of my brothers that instead of going to the governor of Ningbo, we could ask the third master of the Pei family to come to the rescue.”

Master Wu and Yu Wen only understood partially of what he said.

They exchanged another look.

Master Wu said carefully, “Do you mean that we should ask the Third Master of the Pei family to help with the lawsuit? Could it be that the Pei family has some kind of friendship with the governor of Ningbo?”

This was only a minor issue, but what they feared was that Jiang Chao came all the way to Lin’an all of a sudden this time, was only to ask Pei Yan for help.

Although they were generous in their dealings, they were not fools and had no desire to be used as weapons!