CH 122

Chapter 122 – Teahouse

Yu Tang smirked as she watched on from the sidelines.

She could distinctively see Lady Xiang’s brow furrow.

It’s little wonder that in her previous life, Yu Yuan and Madam Gao’s relationship was in such a mess.

Growing up in such a small and simple family, this brother of hers was wholly ignorant of handling such matters.

However, the reason why Lady Xiang was so considerate of her feelings was only because she cared deeply about Yu Yuan.

With such a sister-in-law, her brother would be able to lead a happy and fruitful life.

She wasn’t the sort to stir up unnecessary trouble either.

When she gets married in the future, she will have her own husband to love and cherish her, so she doesn’t have to fight to remain the apple of her brother’s eye within her own family; should there be any competition, it would be only among her brother and sister-in-law’s children.

Yu Tong climbed out of the boat and stood on the ground for a while to stabilise herself before replying, “Brother, don’t worry about me, just take care of sister-in-law. If I don’t feel well, I’ll inform you.”

Only then did Yu Yuan react.

He blushed and coughed lightly, pretending to be calm as he said, “I know. Walk slowly, the inn we are staying at is not far from the pier. Just follow your sister-in-law and don’t wander off, got it?”

“Understood!” Yu Tang responded with a smile, and Lady Xiang’s face turned bright red.

Unlike Hangzhou City, they didn’t have many acquaintances in Suzhou, so they chose a larger inn. Although it was a bit expensive, but they had female family members, so it was safer to stay there.

Yu Yuan escorted Yu Tang and Lady Xiang to the guest rooms, and repeatedly cautioned them for a long while before threatening Shuang Tao and Xia Lian: “If even one strand of hair is missing from the First Young Mistress and First Young Miss, both of you won’t be returning home.”

Xia Lian had arrived at the Yu family’s residence only recently and didn’t have much interaction with Yu Yuan. Upon hearing this, she shook like a leaf. Rather, it was Shuang Tao, who grew up in the Yu Family, and knew that Yu Yuan was only showing concern for Yu Tang and Lady Xiang. She nodded her head and answered, “Rest assured. Should First Young Mistress and First Young Miss want to leave, I’ll be the first one to stop them.”

Only then did Yu Yuan feel at ease. Xia Pinggui and Yu Yuan went back to their guest room, tidied up and went to the shop where they were selling lacquer paint.

Yu Tang and Lady Xiang immediately fell asleep and it was only when Yu Yuan returned that Shuang Tao woke them up. The two of them got up and dressed. They were still feeling somewhat drowsy, not to mention going out of the house, they didn’t even feel like getting out of bed.

Yu Yuan was delighted by this and asked Lady Xiang, “Do you want to eat inside the house or go to the little restaurant next to the inn?”

Lady Xiang looked at Yu Tang, who looked as pretty as a flower, and thought it would be better to eat in the guest room, and said, “Let’s not go out tonight either, we will just browse around during the daytime tomorrow.”

The reason Yu Tang came was to meet Jiang Ling.

In her previous life, she heard that she was living right next to the Suzhou canal docks, and she wanted to find a chance to strike up a conversation with Jiang Ling and then join her in a few maritime ventures. If they worked well together, they could proceed to talk more about the nautical chart.

She knew that the information she received in her previous life was shallow, and she needed to spend more time with the person to know their true character.

Yu Tang nodded her head in agreement.

Lady Xiang was relieved when she saw that she didn’t object. She smilingly ordered a few dishes that she felt Yu Tang would enjoy before letting Shuang Tao accompany Yu Tang to return to the guest room to freshen up.

Although daylight hours were longer, it was still quite dark by the time they had taken their evening meal, so Yu Yuan asked Yu Tang what her plans were.

Yu Tang didn’t intend to hide anything from Yu Yuan and Lady Xiang. However, she had never met Jiang Ling in her previous life and did not know what kind of person she was, so it could result in misunderstandings if she took her brother and sister-in-law to find Jiang Ling hastily.

She could only say, “I want to visit the pier tomorrow and ask around. In the maritime business, they have to find a place to sell the goods that they brought back. We won’t go wrong if we ask around near the docks.”

Lady Xiang known about their plans before arriving.

She thought it was a little risky, but since the two siblings wanted to try it out, she figured she could join in as well and she could afford the loss. Her father had given her plenty of silver as dowry when she got married, which could be used for this.

Lady Xiang also had someone ask around for more information about the maritime business.

After hearing what Yu Tang said, she replied, “I’ve heard about it too. Only those involved in ship’s operation would know which ship’s crew was actually competent and whose fleet of ships was reliable. I think sister’s idea is quite good.”

Yu Yuan hadn’t expected Lady Xiang to take the initiative to find out more.

Of course, he was happy that Lady Xiang did not oppose him, and he would be ecstatic if Lady Xiang actively supported him, as they would be sharing the joys and sorrows together.

He beamed from ear to ear and said, “Then we will go to the docks tomorrow and ask around, just like what sister suggested. You both will just go for a stroll down the streets.”

In other words, Yu Yuan had no intention of taking them along to inquire about these things.

Yu Tang had expected as much.

She smiled and said, “Let me and sister-in-law tag along! We can also see what the Suzhou docks are like. We can sit in the teahouse and drink tea and listen to people’ gossip while you inquire about the situation.”

The local teahouse was the perfect place to gather information. The first place people would go to obtain information would surely be the teahouse right next to Suzhou Pier. 

Instead of everyone going their separate ways, it would be better to have both his wife and sister under his watchful eye.

Yu Yuan thought it over and agreed.

Yu Tang was delighted.

After chatting for a while, they learned that Yu Yuan had successfully bought the paint and that he had arranged for the goods to be delivered straight to Lin’an as he was worried that they could not tolerate the smell of raw lacquer paint. After this, they return to the rooms to rest.

However, this was the first time for Lady Xiang to travel with her husband and she got so excited she couldn’t sleep and stayed up most of the night whispering to Yu Yuan. As a result, she got up late the next morning and by the time she had freshened up and stepped out, the sun was already halfway up in the sky. Lady Xiang’s face was so red that it could be dripping blood, and she repeatedly apologised to Yu Tang.

Yu Tang stifled her laughter, acting as though she didn’t see it. She took Lady Xiang’s arm, saying: “Sister-in-law, have you ever gone to a teahouse? I heard that there are also musicians who sing. Would it be strange for us to visit?”

The Wei family’s sons were all honest and upright people who hardly visited Hangzhou City, let alone go to teahouses.

Lady Xiang had never even heard of them, but Yu Tang’s words piqued her interest. She overcame her shyness and asked Yu Yuan, “Is it really as what sister says?”

Throughout the years, Yu Yuan had followed Yu Bo on his travels to a number of places and was thus familiar with it. He quickly replied, “Some teahouses would have musicians play pingtan (a musical and/or vocal performance which was popular and originated in Suzhou), while others did not. If both of you would like to hear them, we will find a teahouse that offers this. Many people in Suzhou City enjoy listening to such performances and there are elegant private rooms especially reserved for women to enjoy. Although there aren’t many, but since you’re here, I think you might as well experience it.”

This might be the only time in their lives that Lady Xiang and Yu Tang would ever get to go to a teahouse.

With Yu Yuan and Xia Ping Gui accompanying them, they were eager to try.

Once they reached the pier, Yu Yuan found a teahouse where they could listen to the musical performance and asked for a private room.

Xia Pinggui was in pain as he watched Yu Yuan pay three taels of silver.

So was Xia Lian.

She couldn’t help but grumble inwardly that fortunately her young mistress’s dowry was large, otherwise, according to the young master’s expenditure, he would have squandered the family fortune in a few days.

As they looked up, their eyes met, and they saw the distress and dismay in each other’s eyes.

Both Xia Lian and Xia Pinggui were startled, and felt that the other party was a practical, down-to-earth person, and felt a sense of camaraderie.

Everyone’s attention was on admiring the magnificent and elegant three-storey teahouse, so no one paid much attention to Xia Lian and Xia Pinggui, let alone noticing their unnaturalness.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a three-storey Teahouse.” Shuang Tao whispered to Yu Tang, her eyes shifted around as she couldn’t contain her curiosity.

Yu Tang smiled, feeling that this was pretty good.

Once more people in her household visited various places, they would gain more exposure, learning more about the world, and only then would they realize that there were many powerful people and things beyond their imagination, resulting in increased humility and greater caution, which is the foundation of building a strong and successful future.

Everyone went into the private room on the second Floor. As they waited for Yu Yuan to order, and after the teahouse owner confirmed the items and retreated, only then did they start examining their surroundings.

Shuang Tao commented, “Eldest young lady, look at this lamp, it’s actually a five-tier lamp. I’ve only seen it in temples, I didn’t expect that there would be one in this teahouse’s private room.”

Xia Lian exclaimed, “Eldest Young Madam, look, if you sit here, you’ll see the whole hall as well as the singer very clearly. I wonder if those singers in the Pear Garden will be the same.”

One of the Yu family’s store-workers pushed the window and looked down at the crowded street and said to Yu Yuan, “Young master, look, there are many general produce shops over there.”

There certainly would be plenty of miscellaneous goods shops next to the pier, wouldn’t there?

Those who are in the maritime business mostly engage in bartering, they would exchange an item for another in this trip, and exchange it for another in the next. Therefore, as long as the item was something interesting and they feel that it’s profitable, they would buy it.

Xia Pinggui also huddled over to have a look.

The teahouse owner brought over the refreshments and a list of songs they could request, and enthusiastically said to Yu Yuan. “Take a look, young madam and young lady can request any song they like. Two taels of silver for one song, and if it’s a well-known piece of music, it would be four taels of silver.”

Yu Yuan felt it was a little expensive, but as it was rare for Lady Xiang and Yu Tang to travel, so even if it was expensive, they had to play to their hearts’ content so that they would have no regrets.

He handed Lady Xiang the song list and said, “What you would you like to hear?”

Although Lady Xiang was affluent, she had never splurged like this. She figured she would just listen to the songs Yu Tang wanted, and thus passed the list to Yu Tang, saying, “See what you like? I’m not familiar with any of these, so I don’t know what to pick even if you asked.”

Hearing this, the teahouse owner promptly introduced the various songs in the booklet to them with enthusiasm.

Yu Tang didn’t pay much attention to his explanation as her mind spun quickly with various thoughts.

At this point in her previous life, the Jiang family was in the process of raising funds for their maritime activities. Therefore, they would definitely find a way to publicize the news, so that more people would know about it and participate.

She had to find an opportunity to ask the teahouse owner here.

Yu Tang picked Cui Ying Ying’s , which was a well-known song from a famous singer.

Yu Yuan paid four taels of silver.

The teahouse owner was a little surprised.

He assumed that as Yu Yuan appeared to be the young master, he should be the one in charge. Instead, it was the young lady who was so generous and yet unfazed about it.

He took a second look and saw that Yu Tang was not only beautiful, but also gracious. In this place that was full of wealthy and distinguished individuals, she was still able to remain calm and elegant. At once, he knew he had erred in his judgement. He quickly lowered his head and thanked Lady Xiang and Yu Tang before leaving.

Yu Yuan exhaled a long sigh of relief, thinking to himself that he should not come to such places in the future, as he could not afford to pay so many taels of silver for a single song. However, Lady Xiang and Yu Tang seemed to enjoying themselves, so it wasn’t a waste of money.