CH 135

Chapter 135 – Selling Land

Yu Tang rubbed her forehead helplessly, and when her father returned, she got him to cut and distribute the mooncakes that Yu Yuan brought over.

In Lin’an, mooncakes were only made of crispy puff skin, and they rarely saw mooncakes from Guangzhou, making them something of a novelty. Families like theirs usually did not keep such delicacies for personal consumption, but rather gave them away as gifts. However, as Yu Wen loved his child and felt that since they were such a rare treat and his beloved child wanted to try it, so it was only natural that he should give let his child have a taste.

He immediately ordered Ah Cam to get the knife and said, “Call Old Aunty Chen and the rest to come too, and we can all taste them and see how they differ from the mooncakes we usually eat.”

What a surprise that they all got to have a taste!

Ah Cam was overjoyed and immediately called for Old Aunty Chen and the others.

When Granny Chen found out about it, she was so happy that her eyes narrowed into tiny crescents. She brought a knife over and personally sliced the four moon cakes into sixteen portions and everyone tasted them.

“Delicious!” The first one to exclaim was Old Aunty Chen as she was old and liked to eat soft and sticky things, “How did they make these moon cakes, they are so sweet and soft. Thanks to Eldest Miss and Madam today, I too had the chance to eat such delicious moon cakes.”

Shuang Tao and Ah Cam nodded repeatedly.

Madam Chen agreed that the mooncakes were delicious, but she felt that their local crispy puff mooncakes filled with sesame and icing sugar that once bitten into, filled the mouth with flaky crispness were more flavorful and satisfying. Nevertheless, she doted on her child, and since Yutang thought the mooncakes from Guangzhou were tasty, she would try making those as well.

“Then, for this year’s mooncakes I’ll make them especially for you filled with lotus seed paste and salted egg yolks?” She asked Yu Tang.

Oh!

Her mother’s words alerted Yu Tang.

Pei Yan was also raised in Lin’an, so maybe he shared her mother’s preference for crispy puff pastry mooncakes. Instead of making mooncakes with different types of pastry dough, it might be better to make mooncakes with different fillings instead.

Yu Tang smiled and nodded eagerly, saying to her mother, “Yes! We could also make fruit and nut mooncakes, jujube paste mooncakes, red bean and icing sugar mooncakes ……”

Madam Chen stroked her daughter’s head and smiled lovingly, “I’ll make them all. As long as you can think of it, mother will make them for you.”

Yu Tang’s large almond eyes turned into tiny crescent moons from joy.

Madam Chen and Old Aunty Chen busied themselves. Boiling red beans, buying salted eggs, steaming jujubes …… The house was filled with sweet and delicious aromas every day.

However, before they began sending mooncakes over to the Pei family, the Pei family’s Mid-Autumn Festival gifts arrived first.

For Yu Tang, she received an olive-green fine cloth with golden threads, Madam Chen received a bracelet of eighteen special Buddhist beads made of high-quality rosewood and Yu Wen, a set of rare chengxin paper and a box of fine brushes.

The gifts were delivered personally by Hu Xing, the Third Chief Steward.

Such gifts were usually reserved for family relatives.

Yu Wen felt extremely honoured with the gift list.

However, Madam Chen felt the pressure to send mooncakes that met Pei Yan’s standards, and it would be even better if Pei Yan was willing to eat a few pieces.

She discussed with Yu Wen, “Why don’t you go out and buy some moon cakes from the capital and Guangzhou? Although I don’t know how to make the pastry dough, but we can try different fillings and they may suit Master Pei’s tastes.”

Yu Wen felt sorry for his wife and thought this would be too much of a hassle, so he quickly added, “You’ve barely recovered from your illness, so you shouldn’t fret over this. I suggest we send some antiques, trinkets or other things.”

Madam Chen refused, saying, “We sent them antiques at the Mid-Autumn Festival, so we shouldn’t send antiques again during the Spring Festival. Our family is not some established influential family either, so we don’t need to show off. It’s better to send something hand-made to express our sincerity.”

Yu Wen scratched his head helplessly.

There is no telling the number of people who received support from the Pei family and tried their utmost to deliver home-made gifts to the Pei family during the New Year’s as a gesture of appreciation. But as this was his wife’s heart-felt wish, he could not bear to ruin her spirits. He could only reply, “Very well. In that case, I’ll have someone go out and buy some moon cakes.”

Madam Chen nodded in satisfaction, and researched with Old Aunty Chen on how to make the fillings taste sweet but not cloying, further adding, “Third Master must eat various meats and fish every day, so he wouldn’t like desserts that are too rich in oil and sugar, we’ll make them milder and lighter.”

Yu Tang listened with a grimace and said, “Mother, Third Master Pei is still in mourning, and the last time I saw him, he was still wearing simple and plain garments of fine cloth.”

Madam Chen paused and sighed, “People like him who observe traditions are rarely seen nowadays.”

Although it was 27 months for mourning, few people could really manage to remain a vegetarian and eat lightly during the mourning period. After the first year, people would relax a little in private.

Yu Tang got distracted as she listened, and wondered what Pei Yan would wear after the mourning period ends.

Madam Chen and Old Aunty Chen experimented with several ways to make the mooncakes and for several days in a row the Yu family’s normal meals were very simple.

Yu Wen felt somewhat aggrieved as he ate, and politely reminded Madam Chen, “Crabs will be available in the market soon, why don’t we order some in advance?”

As Madam Chen’s health was poor, the family rarely ate crabs.

Hearing this, Madam Chen felt guilty and smiled apologetically towards Yu Wen, “Yes, we should order some crabs in advance, I remember that Ah-tang loved to eat crabs the most when she was little, but we haven’t bought any these past few years.”

Yu Wen sulked a little.

Hmph, he suffered so much, but his wife only remembered Yu Tang. He absolutely had to arrange a family feast with lots of crabs for the Mid-Autumn Festival to settle his cravings and inner grievances.

Both of them were chatting and laughing as they got news of Master Wu coming to visit Yu Wen with a basket filled with crabs.

Yu Wen was thrilled and personally welcomed Master Wu in for tea and even had Madam Chen and Yu Tang come to greet him as well.

This was a clear indication that the We family intended to build a closer friendship with them.

Yu Tang and Madam Chen had a change of clothes and accompanied Master Wu in the hall for a chat.

The topic of conversation somehow veered from the blooming of osmanthus flowers to their family’s fields and village.

Master Wu lowered his voice and whispered to Yu Wen, “Have you heard that the Li family, that is, Li Duan’s family, wants to sell fifty acres of land?”

Immediately, Yu Tang pricked up her ears.

Land was an important family asset passed down through the generations and people would not readily sell their land until they absolutely had to. If a family sold their land, it was a sign that they were on the verge of collapse.

In her previous life, the Li family only purchased land, but never sold any!

Madam Chen was alarmed by what she heard and squeezed the handkerchief in her hand nervously.

Yu Wen, on the other hand, did not hide his surprise and said, “Who did Brother Wu hear that from? Wasn’t Old Master Li just appointed as an official in the capital? Why would he want to sell the land?”

Master Wu said with a serious expression, “As you know, our family has some private funds. A few days ago, a middleman quietly found me and asked if I was interested, and admonished me to keep it quiet. Even though Li Duan’s family and their Li patriarchal family have split up, they are still blood-related afterall. If they wanted to sell the land, it should be the Li patriarchal family that should buy it; why should I, as a third party, enter into such murky family affairs? However, the plot of land for sale is really good, and it is the one where rice is grown. I mulled over it at home for several days, but I just couldn’t resist the temptation. I thought, you’re as close to me like a brother, and you thought of me when you had something good, so I too, can’t forget about you when I have something good as well. Therefore, I came here to ask you about it. If you are interested, we can divide the land between our two families. What do you think?”

As Yu Tang listened on, she understood.

Because they had jointly invested in Jiang Chao’s vessel, Master Wu and her father grew closer, and the two, who were already on good terms, were now like brothers. The Li family had two hundred acres of good land, all which produced Bi Shi rice, a rice that was of a higher quality than the imperial tributary rice “Sixth Month Snow”. Just solely on these two hundred acres of land, the Li family was able to enjoy the life of a middle-class family. It’s only that these two hundred acres of land were passed down through the generations of the Li family many years ago, and were later divided and distributed to Li Duan’s family. With how Li Duan’s family lived, it was practically impossible for them to sell these two hundred acres of land no matter their circumstances, and there was no chance of anyone else owning it.

Yet now the Li family wants to sell the land!

And it was prime land that could grow Bi Shi rice!

If other people knew about it, they would definitely drive up the price of the land and try their utmost to get their hands on the 50 acres of land.

Yu Tang, however, was more interested in knowing the reason why the Li family wanted to sell this land instead.

Yu Wen was instantly intrigued and asked, “How much is the asking price?”

Master Wu blearily held out four fingers.

Yu Wen froze for a second and said tentatively, “Forty taels an acre?”

Master Wu nodded and heaved a sigh, “A sky-high price.”

Yu Wen furrowed his brows.

The market price of land in Lin’an City was at most eight taels an acre, and occasionally, in special circumstances, it would be sold for ten or twelve taels an acre, but hardly ever for fifteen taels an acre.

Forty taels per acre, it could only be the case of a wealthy man buying the land permanently.

No wonder they asked Master Wu.

Ordinary people really couldn’t afford it.

Of course, at present, he too could afford it. However, more importantly, the two hundred acres of the Li family’s land were all together, and the fifty acres sold were located next to the Li family’s land, so if there was any argument about the source of water or pest infestation, it would be difficult to identify the problem and solve it amicably.

Yu Wen asked Master Wu, “What do you think?”

Master Wu said, “I think forty taels is a little too expensive. Let’s see if we can negotiate for thirty taels per acre. I will take forty acres and you will take ten acres. This way, we won’t be overstretched and we’ll be able to look out for each other.”

The main reason was for them to take care of each other, right?

Yu Tang thought about it and was eager to try.

She dearly wanted to get her hands on the land with a sense of spite, but she also felt that if she did, it would definitely get her into trouble again.

Above all, she felt that the main reason why her father and Master Wu dared to buy the land was because they thought they would earn a lot of money by investing in Jiang Chao. When the time comes, they would be very wealthy. Furthermore, the Wu family has a brother-in-law who is an official, Yu Wen himself is a scholar, so even if the Li family patriarchal house tries to find trouble with them, and even if Li Duan’s family regretted it, they would still have the financial resources to put up a good fight with the Li family.

Indeed, Yu Wen and Master Wu thought exactly the same. However, Yu Wen felt uncomfortable and hesitated, “At this price, average families certainly cannot afford it, so should we wait a little longer? Let’s first find out why the Li family needs to sell the land.”

He figured that the Li family would want to preserve their dignity and would not stoop down to seek aid from the Pei family.

Master Wu said helplessly, “I know this, but I checked with everyone who would know about it, but I still can’t find out the reason why the Li family would sell the fifty acres of land.”

Yu Wen, after all, held a scholarly title, and it was easier for him to find out certain information, especially among the scholarly families than Master Wu if he wanted to know.

Perhaps this was another reason why Master Wu wanted Yu Wen to purchase the land together.

Yu Wen nodded his head.

The two men looked at each other and shared a chuckle.

There was a certain knowing smirk in their smiles.

In Yu Tang’s eyes, this was a devious plan.

But she liked it a lot.

Yu Tang even took the initiative to get up and instruct Shuang Tao, saying “The weather is so hot, go quickly and bring in bowls of chilled green bean soup.”

Shuang Tao assented and went off.

Master Wu smiled and said to Yu Wen, “Your daughter is becoming increasingly mature and sophisticated. It’s a pity that my son is not at a suitable age for your daughter.”

Yu Wen waved his hand with a laugh and was about to make a few modest remarks before he saw the Master Wu’s chief steward rushing in with a pale face, shouting hoarsely, “Old Master, Master Yu, it’s not good, something happened to Master Jiang!”