CH 127

Chapter 127 – A second encounter

Yu Yuan froze.

Yu Wen glanced at the mother and daughter pair who were holding hands and chattering happily in front, and said in a low voice, “Come and see me first thing in the morning.”

Yu Yuan nodded. The very next day, he went to Yu Wen’s house even before having breakfast.

Yu Wen met Yu Yuan in the study.

When Yu Tang knew of it, she followed along as well.

Yu Yuan remarked helplessly, “Are you so afraid that I can’t explain it well?”

“It’s not that.” Yu Tang replied, “I was involved in this matter, so it’s only right for me to listen too.”

Yu Wen only felt a headache coming on and said to Yu Yuan, “Don’t mind her, let her listen if she wants to. Even if we chase her away, with her stubborn nature, she will still find a way to eavesdrop.”

Yu Yuan chuckled.

Yu Tang blushed as she sat down next to Yu Yuan, pretending she didn’t hear a thing.

Yu Wen shook his head wryly and addressed Yu Yuan, “So, you say this Jiang Chao is good at this and that, but have you seen his boat? Do you know who his partners are? What do they do? Do you understand?”

Yu Wen could not give an answer.

Yu Tang, on the other hand, sighed with relief.

Never did she think her father would be this reliable at times.

However, as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she heard him continue, “It’s not that I forbid you from entering the business. In any case, the silver from the auction was an unexpected windfall, so even if you lose it, it’s fine. Most importantly, you should not fall for other people’s tricks and let yourself be duped.”

Yu Tang felt her legs wobble.

Indeed, her father was still the same……

Yu Yuan immediately corrected himself, saying “Then should I go to Suzhou again and inquire about all these things you mentioned?”

Yu Wen thought for a moment before remarking, “I’ll go with you. You are still too young and have little experience in these.”

His words implied that they were not thorough in their work.

Yu Yuan smiled with relief.

However, Yu Tang felt re-energised and exclaimed, “Father, when are we going?”

She brought gifts for Ma Xiuniang, and had arranged with her mother yesterday that she would go to see her later.

Unexpectedly, Yu Wen replied, “I won’t bring you along on this trip, It’s not convenient for a young lady to leave the house. If you are so free, head to the shop and help your eldest uncle more.”

Yu Tang sulked.

Yu Wen added, “This is also your mother’s request. She is afraid that the more you go outside, the more you will stray away from societal norms and proper decorum.”

In future, when choosing a husband, she was worried that YuTang would become overly picky, causing her to become an old lady who was unable to get married.

Yutang thought about it for a while. There were differences in societal norms for men and women, and it was indeed inappropriate for her to pry into Jiang Chao’s matters so it would be best to have her father investigate further. However, judging from Yu Yuan’s remarks, Jiang Chao was an eloquent speaker, so she had to inform her father in advance, so that he would not be misled by him in the same way as her elder cousin.

She solemnly cautioned her father, saying “It’s good for both of you to visit Suzhou together. After all is said and done, it’s best to observe with your own eyes. Although I’ve never met Jiang Chao, but I’ve heard from brother that he’s quite impressive. Brother met him once and immediately decided to join his business. There are so many affluent families in Suzhou, so why is Jiang Chao still looking for people to invest in his business? It should have been easy for him, right? Why did he have to rely on us outsiders to provide the funds?”

Yu Yuan and Yu Wen were both struck silent for a moment.

Yu Tang continued, “Fortunately, Ningbo is not far from us. If there’s a need, you can head to Ningbo and see what kind of family the Wang family is before you come back. Yes, the silver was from the sale of the nautical chart, all thanks to the Third Master Pei. It was an unexpected windfall, but in the end it’s still precious silver. Whether it will lead us to greater wealth or scatter to the wind depends on how we use it. Father should not treat this matter so nonchalantly. If we had this money earlier, Mother’s illness wouldn’t have been so difficult on us.”

She could only use that incident to convince her father.

In this life, many things changed because of her, and the only thing that was heart-breaking for her father was her mother’s illness.

Yu Wen nodded his head earnestly and said, “I know. I will speak to your eldest uncle later. During your stay at home these few days, do your best to listen and take care of your eldest aunt on your elder brother’s behalf and don’t let me worry.”

Yu Tang smiled lightly, as she recalled something, saying, “I may have to go to the countryside home to see how those sea buckthorn trees are growing.”

Yu Wen was very pleased to hear this and said, “You’ve put your heart into it. If you only did it half-heartedly, I wouldn’t help you with any of your requests in the future.”

As Yu Tang thought of how Yu Wen had asked around to gather information for her tree-planting, she smiled and went up to him and handed him a cup of tea, saying sweetly, “Yes, I know! Don’t worry, I’ll do as I’m told and take care of the trees properly.”

Yu Wen gave a satisfied noise of acknowledgement and advised Yu Tang further before he and Yu Yuan went to Yu Bo’s house.

In her room, Yu Tang wrapped the baby clothes and toys she wanted to give to Ma Xiuniang in a cloth bag and went over to her house.

As Ma Xiuniang was about to give birth in the next month or so, her belly was huge and her feet were so swollen that she couldn’t even put on her shoes, which alarmed Yu Tang.

She quickly supported Ma Xiu Niang, who had went out to greet her, and chided her, “Why are you still coming out to greet me in such a state? Isn’t there Xi Que here?”

Xi Que, Ma Xiuniang’s maid, also chimed in saying, “Yes, yes! Lady Yu, please help me persuade young mistress too! Tell her to just instruct me to do whatever she wants, and not to move around on her own.”

Ma Xiuniang had grown considerably plumper and her face was as round as a silver plate. She laughed, “It’s not as serious as you all make it out to be. If I can give birth successfully this time, I will have to thank Ah Tang for it.”

“Me?” Yu Tang widened her eyes in puzzlement.

Ma Xiuniang and Yu Tang were walking towards the house as she replied, “Doesn’t Imperial Physician Yang go to check on your mother’s condition every month? Just the other day, I went to your house with my mother. I heard that you had gone to Suzhou, but I happened to meet Imperial Physician Yang. He saw me and decided to examine me in passing. He informed me that the baby was fine, but that I had eaten a little too much and that I should move around more, otherwise the delivery may not be easy. I’m just following his instructions to move about more. You must not stop me.”

Xi Que said miserably, “Yes, you can move about, but you shouldn’t be doing anything this strenuous. I tried to dissuade you, but you still refused to listen.”

Ma Xiuniang laughed unconcernedly. She sat down on the Luohan chair with Yu Tang. Even before XiQue could serve the tea, she asked Yu Tang with a smile, “Was Suzhou fun?”

“Of course, it’s fun!” Yu Tang excitedly recounted to Ma Xiuniang what she had seen on her trip to Suzhou, and in the process took out the gifts she had bought for her, saying “I bought them because I thought they were interesting, and I don’t know if I got them right – neither my sister-in-law nor I have ever bought children’s things, but the shopkeeper said we should buy something roughly this big. “

Ma Xiuniang thanked her and handed the gifts to XiQue, saying enviously, “Your sister-in-law is really nice. It would be great if my future sister-in-law were to be as good as yours.”

Yu Tang remembered that Ma Xiuniang had asked her previously to pick her younger brother to be her husband. She teased her with a cheeky grin, saying “Why don’t you help your brother look for a wife now? If he gets one now, you can teach her well and she will be just as affectionate as my sister-in-law.”

Ma Xiuniang was reminded of the same incident.

The two of them had a good laugh.

Yu Tang stayed at the Zhang family’s residence till it was evening time before heading home. After getting news that her father and elder cousin were leaving for Suzhou by boat early next morning, she got up early the following morning to see off Yu Wen and Yu Yuan. Thereafter, she obediently followed Yu Wen’s instructions and went down to the shop for a couple of days. She then informed her family’s elders before taking Ah Cam and Shuang Tao to the countryside residence.

Perhaps Fifth Uncle couldn’t let go of the previous incident with his adopted son or that the heat was getting worse, but he appeared to have aged a lot.

Yu Tang accompanied her fifth uncle for a while before going up to the forest.

The worker who was hired to look after the plot of land lived on the mountain. Earlier on, he was informed of Yu Tang’s visit so he waited at the bottom of the mountain for her.

Both of them went up together.

At this time of year, the trees in the other families’ forests were lush and thick, providing lots of shade from the sun. Though theirs were also lush and green, they were all overgrown and covered in wild foliage, so it was difficult to find sufficient shade from the sun under them. Fortunately, the sea buckthorn trees were planted at the foot of the mountain, and it took only a few steps to reach them, so she did not have to spend the entire journey under the sun.

The sea buckthorn trees that were moved from the Pei family’s back garden had grown surprisingly well, and although they had not produced any flowers, they had developed new branches.

The worker took this opportunity to brag a little, saying “I water these trees every day, and check on them in the morning and at night before bed. I am meticulous about this than taking care of my own children, I wouldn’t dare to be slipshod about it.”

Yu Tang was an open minded person. No matter what he said was true or not, it was clear that that the trees were growing well.

She rewarded him with a piece of silver.

The worker was pleasantly surprised. He thanked her repeatedly and took the initiative to add, “Miss, do you want me to help cut some firewood to dry during autumn?”

As Yutang didn’t come by often, he was afraid that by the time Yutang came back again, there would be insufficient time to cut and dry the wood. The firewood had to be dried in autumn in order to sell it for a good price during winter.

Yu Tang figured that the sea buckthorn trees would definitely not be ready for harvest, but since he was willing to work, it would also generate some income if he could sell the firewood.

“Then I’ll be grateful to you.” She said politely.

The forest worker felt appreciated and thought she was a good master. He added, “I’ve also planted some peanuts over there as you instructed. “

Since they came here, they had to go and take a look.

They went to the other side of the forest to check on the peanuts.

The worker walked ahead and rattled on, “After the next couple of days, the peanuts should be ready. I’ll tell fifth uncle then, and let him find someone to bring them to Lin’an City, so you can eat them fresh ……”

Yu Tang was minding her steps and nodded in passing, when out of the corner of her eye she saw someone walking across the path through the forest on the other side.

She stopped in her tracks.

Shuang Tao, who was walking behind her, nearly bumped into her.

“What’s wrong, Miss?” Shuang Tao asked.

Yu Tang pointed to the man opposite her, “Look closer. Is that the man we met at the rouge shop in Suzhou?”

Shuang Tao stood on her tiptoes and looked carefully and said, “Yes, it looks a bit like him, but it’s a little far and I didn’t pay much attention when I was at the rouge shop, I don’t know if it’s him……”

Yu Tang, however, felt a strong resemblance.

She instructed Ah Cam, “Go over there and find out who that person is.”