CH 42

Chapter 42 – Intermediary Layer

Yu Yuan only returned to the inn in the evening. He was carrying several lotus leaf bags in his left hand and a glass bottle in his right hand. Once he saw Yu Wen playing chess in the main hall, he ran straight over. Smilingly, he lifted the things in his hands, saying, “Uncle, look at what I’ve brought back?”

Yu Wen smelled an aroma of braised meats as he came over. He sniffed deeply as he took a guess, “It should be the braised pig’s head from Zhenbei Cheng’s house.”

Yu Yuan laughed as he replied, “Your sense of smell is indeed amazing, uncle.”

“Of course!” Yu Wen grinned, “Didn’t you think back on the first time you ate this braised pig’s head? Who was the one who brought it back from Hangzhou for you to try? If I can’t even discern this braised fragrance of Zhengbei Cheng, how can I even call myself a food aficionado?” After speaking, he pointed to the glass bottle in Yu Yuan’s hand. “What’s this? It’s even stored in a carved glass bottle. Just this bottle alone is worth several taels of silver, where did you get this?”

Yu Yuan greeted the innkeeper before sitting down on a stool beside Yu Wen and said with a somewhat smug expression, “You definitely wouldn’t know this. It’s called grape wine (TL: red wine), and it was given to me by Yao San’er.”

“Grape Wine?” Yu Wen frowned in confusion, “Yao San’er?”

“He’s the third son of the Yao family who lives in the north of the city. He grew up with me and later followed his brother-in-law to become a merchant.” Yu Yuan said excitedly, “I was strolling around in the the city north today, and coincidentally met him! He opened a grocery store at Wulin Gate and owns it. He originally wanted to come and greet you in person, but the goods just came in the store and he couldn’t leave, so he gave me this bottle of wine as a gift, saying that it came from Arab Empire. It’s also a popular item that the rich people in Hangzhou often give as gifts. He said that to take it as his token of respect for you and for you to try something new as well. He was also the one who bought the braised pig’s head from Zhengbei Cheng. He plans to visit you tomorrow.”

Yu Wen remembered him and then chuckled, “I remember him now. When his parents passed away, you also provided him with food time and again, but I didn’t expect him to remember you, this is also fate.”

Yu Yuan nodded repeatedly and smiled brightly. “He’s doing really good now. He even bought a small mansion here in Qingchun Gate, married a lady from Hangzhou city, and settled down here.”

Yu Wen nodded and invited the innkeeper to drink along with him, saying “It’s rare that we are able to meet up like this, so don’t be so polite! Let’s try this wine together.”

The innkeeper dealt with Yu Wen several times before, so he knew that Yu Wen was a friendly and generous person, plus this wine was spoken about a lot recently, which made everyone curious, so he put aside politeness and asked his wife to add some more dishes to the table. They moved a table to the patio with Yu Wen and Yu Yuan, placed the braised pig’s head on a plate and started with the wine.

Yu Yuan opened the wine bottle.

As soon as the wine was poured out, Yu Wen could smell a fruity fragrance which was different from what he usually drank. He inhaled deeply, and then looked down inside the cup. In his white porcelain cup, the wine was burgundy red, like blood. He was a little alarmed and asked, “Why is it this color?”

Yu Yuan hurriedly reassured him, “It has to be this color. Yao San’er specially instructed me before, if it is not this color, then it is fake.”

Yu Yuan nodded and reluctantly took a sip.

The innkeeper asked eagerly, “How is it? Does it taste good? “

Yu Wen was a bit non-committal in his reply, saying, “This wine is like tea – taste is subjective. What I think it is good, you may not think that it is, so you’ll have to try it yourself.”

The innkeeper felt that his words were logical, so he too raised his cup and took a sip …… then, he froze there in a daze.

Yu Yuan observed his expression and felt something was not quite right, and said urgently, “Why? What’s wrong?”

The innkeeper glanced at Yu Wen before swallowing the wine in his mouth. Afterwards, he slowly said to Yu Yuan. “You’ll know when you taste it.”

Yu Yuan looked at both of them suspiciously as he tentatively took a sip of wine. However even before the wine could enter his throat, he immediately spat it out.

“What is this weird taste?” He wrinkled his brow, “Didn’t they say it was very expensive? “

Both Yu Wen and the innkeeper laughed uproariously, and only then did Yu Wen say with honesty, “What famous wine? How can it be compared to our Jinhua wine? However, it’s good to try something new from time to time. Go, bring a cup to your sister and let her try it as well. It’s rare that she came to Hangzhou, so she should see and experience some strange and exotic things to make the trip worthwhile.”

Yu Yuan brought a cup of wine for Yu Tang to try.

Yu Tang looked at Yu Yuan with suspicion. “Didn’t you say that I should fast?”

“This wine is famous and very expensive. Just have a sip and taste it, you think we’ll let you drink the whole bottle?” Yu Yuan said innocently.

Yu Tang trusted him and took a sip.

It was astringent, sour and bitter, what kind of wine was this?!

Yu Tang immediately got up to punch Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan avoided her as he circled around the round table and said defensively, “Uncle asked me to bring it up for you to try.”

“But you can’t just bully me like this either!”

As the two siblings were fighting and messing around, Xiao Er knocked on the door outside and said, “Gentleman Yu, someone is looking for you.”

Yu Tang had to stop as Yu Yuan straightened his lapel and asked, “Who is it?”

The shopkeeper said, “It’s a 12 or 13 year old boy, he only said he was looking for you, but refused to reveal his identity.”

Yu Yuan asked with a perplexed look, “Who could it be?” Then he said to Yu Tang, “I’ll come back as soon as I check it out.”

Yu Tang nodded and sent Yu Yuan out the door.

After a little while, Yu Yuan returned and he whispered to Yu Tang, “It’s Master Qian who sent someone to look for me, asking me to go over. When Uncle comes back later, you can inform him.”

At this moment, Yu Wen was still having drinks with the innkeeper.

Yu Tang got worried and asked, “Did he not state the reason? “

Yu Yuan shook his head and said comfortingly, “Don’t worry, I’ll have someone come and report to you immediately if anything happens.”

No matter how uneasy Yu Tang was, she could only let him go.

When it was around 11pm, Yu Wen finished his drinks and he came over to see Yu Tang. “Are you feeling better?”

“Much better!” Yu Tang helped her father to sit down at the table and poured him a cup of hot tea.

Yu Wen saw the needle and threadwork that Yu Tang had left half-finished on the table and couldn’t help but pick it up and examine it closer under the oil lamp. “Aiya, I didn’t think you could actually do this. This little insect can be made to look so real, even the seven black dots on its back were all in the right places. It’s really good!”

Yu Tang was skilled at crafting insects. In addition to ladybugs, she could also stitch dragonflies, praying mantis, bees …… all of them very realistic-looking.

Yu Wen added, “This flower is also marvelous, It looks like a white-headed flower. When you return home, make one for your mother to wear too.”

This was definite praise and affirmation of her skills.

Yu Tang was delighted and said with a smile, “I was planning to make a Moutan peony or a peony flower for her.”

However Yu Wen replied, “I think your mother would look better with begonia or lilac.”

In her father’s mind, was her mother more like a begonia or a lilac?

Yu Tang nodded with a smile and told Yu Wen where Yu Yuan had gone off to.

Yu Wen was worried as well, but he couldn’t show it in front of Yu Tang, so he calmly responded “I know,” and urged Yu Tang, “Go to bed early, and remember to make a head flower piece for your mother tomorrow. We’ll say that we bought it in Hangzhou City, and see if your mother can spot the difference. “

Yu Tang smiled and assented.

However, throughout the night she tossed and turned and did not sleep much.

Before dawn, Yu Yuan came back.

When he entered the room, the noise woke Yu Tang, whose heart was uneasy, and she quietly got dressed and went to her father’s room.

Yu Yuan came to open the door.

Yu Wen was standing in front of the bookcase with a solemn face, draped in his outer clothes, and did not speak a word when he saw Yu Tang enter.

When Yu Tang came closer, she saw the three unframed paintings spread out on the bookcase. Two of them was the “Pine Creek Fishing Hidden painting”, however the third one was different. It resembled a drawing of mountain but also looked like a drawing of the sea, and had many kinds of unrecognizable symbols and markings on it.

Yu Wen said in a serious voice. “Ah Tang, you really guessed correctly. There was indeed something hidden in this painting.”

Even if her father didn’t say it, Yu Tang also could discern something wasn’t right. She looked towards Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan’s expression was also not very good. He lowered his voice and said. “These were the three paintings that Master Qian uncovered. The top layer and the bottom layer is this “Pine Creek fishing hidden painting”. However, this middle layer, is something unrecognizable. Master Qian did not even mount it on a frame but immediately sent for us to take it back.”

Clearly Master Qian also saw something wrong with it.

Yu Tong pointed to the middle layer of the painting that was unknown and asked, “What is this?”

Yu Yuan shook his head as he replied. “I don’t know.”

Yu Wen stared at the unknown painting and said with a grim face, “Province map.”

“What?!” Yu Tang and Yu Yuan exclaimed in unison.

Yu Wen explained, “It’s a topographic map showing the mountains and rivers. Back in those days, when battles were fought over land and sea, we needed maps like this to understand the surrounding terrain, whether it was filled with mountains or lakes, forests or flat rivers.”

As Yu Tang recalled her previous trip to zhaoming temple, where if there wasn’t anyone around to lead the way, she wouldn’t even know her way around, so she felt that whoever that drew up such a map was truly remarkable. Moreover, it must have taken a lot of time, effort and resources to complete it – truly a precious and valuable item. She then asked, “Could it be that they were looking to get this map?”

Yu Wen and Yu Yuan did not respond, silently affirming her words. Yu Wen also added, “Province maps are extremely rare and valuable. They were strictly kept by the Minister of War or the Minister of Works, and ordinary people would never have seen them. In the past, generals who went to battle had to send at least a third ranked official to the Ministry of Works to retrieve it. After the battle was over, they had to make sure to return it in its original condition as well. I too only knew of this because I overheard Lu Xin talking about this.”

Yu Yuan listened with some trepidation and asked, “Then how did this map come about? Who is searching for this? How did they know that it was hidden in this painting? Why didn’t they buy it from our family openly?”

No one could answer these questions.

Only now did Yu Wen and Yu Tang realize the magnitude of their precarious situation.

Yu Yuan asked, “Then, what shall we do?”

Yu Wen sat down on the chair behind the desk and contemplated, “Let me think…… although I’m able to recognize this painting as a province map, but I can’t determine the place this map is referring to, much less its purpose and benefits…… if we want to uncover its secrets, we can only find someone who has seen such province maps, and is knowledgeable about the different kinds of province maps ……” he then pointed to a part of the map with wavy lines that represented water. “Nothing is marked. So we do not know whether this refers to a river or a creek. For us, holding this map is akin to a young child welding a 40kg broadsword – not only will it fail to threaten others, but it’s likely to hurt ourselves with it instead.”

People who have seen such province maps, people who have thorough understanding of province maps …… Yutang suddenly thought of Pei Yan.

“Ah father!” She said hesitatingly, “How about we find third master Pei?”

Yu Wen looked at her sharply.

Yu Tang suddenly inexplicably felt guilty and was extremely uncomfortable as if she was stripped of her outer garments. She hurriedly continued, “Or, or we could find First Ranked Imperial Scholar Zhou …… They’re all knowledgeable people, surely they would know …… “