Chapter 21: 105

Chapter 105 – Trees and Seeds

Everyone looked at Yu Tang who was laughing.

Yu Tang hurriedly stifled her laughter and said to her father, “What would you do there? Do you want to tell the Gu family about our family’s feud in person?”

Yu Wen cocked an eyebrow, “What’s wrong with that?”

Madam Chen’s heart pounded as she listened, fearing that this father and daughter duo would act recklessly, she acted as though she was angry and said, “Your words are getting more and more absurd! Is it a good thing now to talk about people behind their backs?”

Yu Tang and her father didn’t want to frighten Madam Chen further, so they kept quiet.

Madam Wang smiled and said gently, “Okay, okay. Our family didn’t suffer any losses either. As for whether the other families would be happy or upset, since they are not related to us, why should we be bothered? I heard that the Pei family is sponsoring the lantern festival at Changxing Street tomorrow. Why don’t we all rest early today and head to Changxing Street tomorrow to see the festival?”

Madam Chen wasn’t really annoyed with her husband and daughter, so when Madam Wang showed her a way out, she naturally went along with it and said with a smile, “I was just thinking of asking you and eldest uncle, I didn’t expect you to say it before me. When are you planning to go over tomorrow? Where should we meet?”

The two sisters-in-laws made arrangements to go to the lantern festival tomorrow, and Madam Chen personally sent Madam Wang out.

Yu Wen’s face grew solemn and he said to Yu Tang, “Come with me.”

Yu Tang dared not utter a word, and obediently went to the study with her father.

Yu Wen sat down on the tai shi chair and chided his daughter, saying “What else have you done? Give me a good explanation this time and I won’t pursue it, or else, I’ll have you copy the Book of Filial Piety 10,000 times for me.”

Wouldn’t that cause your hands to become swollen?!

Yu Tang said miserably, “I didn’t intend to hide this matter from you. I just didn’t want to drag you into this.”

Yu Wen immediately retorted, “You didn’t inform me, but Mrs. Li came to find us. Fortunately, your eldest aunt came over today. If this matter alarmed your mother, and caused her to fall ill, what would you have done?”

Yu Tang lowed her head and admitted her mistake.

Yu Wen lectured Yu Tang, saying “Since you have already told the Gu family about this, no matter how the Gu family treats Li Duan, it’s all the Li family’s business now. But you still had the gall to send people to keep an eye on Li Duan, waiting to see his downfall. Now you’ve gotten yourself involved in this mess, haven’t you?”

In the Li family’s residence, Madam Lin angrily shattered several tea cups, wailing “It’s all the Yu family’s fault, if it weren’t for them, how would my son suffer such humiliation? They clearly knew that my son would visit his in-laws on the second day of the first month to offer New Year’s Greetings, but yet his in-laws didn’t even see him, even letting a mere servant receive him instead. What do they mean by this? They think our family isn’t worthy of them? What does the Gu family intend to do with the marriage? “

Li Duan only felt a deep sense of exhaustion.

Ever since the cause of Wei Xiaoshan’s death was exposed, things spiralled out of control, heading wildly in directions that even he himself was unaware of. It seemed as though there were invisible strings pulling him around.

However, would the Gu family’s matter really be related to the Yu family, as his mother said?

Isn’t the Yu family a scholarly family?

Yu Wen was known for his uprightness and excellent character, so how could he possibly criticize their family’s faults behind their backs?

Li Duan looked at his mother, whose lips were trembling in anger, and thought about how best to comfort her, when he caught sight of his cousin Lin Jue standing outside the window, giving him a look.

For the sake of that Pine Creek Fishing Hidden Painting, Lin Jue not only did not return to Fujian for the New Year’s, but also managed to find a master to repair the nautical map. After the 15th day of the first month, they would send someone to deliver a letter to the Peng family informing them of this.

At least it was not in vain that his cousin had worked so hard all this time.

He gave an imperceptible nod towards Lin Jue, who understood and went back to the guest room. Li Duan comforted his mother for a while before making an excuse to leave and meet with Lin Jue.

“What’s happened?” Li Duan said as soon as he saw Lin Jue, “Why are you being so secretive? Even keeping this from my mother.”

“A woman’s vision is short-sighted.” Lin Jue said dismissively.

His aunt was no exception.

Instead of focusing on Li Duan’s grievances with the Gu family, rather, she should be more concerned about the authenticity of the nautical chart.

Once the Li family had sufficient power and influence, would the Gu family still want to abandon their ‘golden goose’ son-in-law, Li Duan?

Women were always unable to distinguish clearly their priorities.

“Before sending the nautical chart to the Peng family, we have to make a few copies for ourselves.” Lin Jue said after careful consideration, “We have to prevent the Peng family from turning their backs on us.”

If that were to happen, they could still take the copied nautical chart and find another powerful family to work with.

Li Duan understood the meaning of his words. He replied, “Then should we first send a letter to the Peng family, saying that we have the painting in hand, asking them to fix a method of delivery, thus delaying it for a while?”

By sending correspondences back and forth, it’s possible to delay the matter for ten days to half a month.

Once Lin Jue saw that Li Duan understood the meaning of his words, his eyes shone with relief, and he lowered his voice, “Only this copy of the nautical chart?”

Li Duan immediately understood his meaning and said decisively, “Each of us will have one.”

Lin Jue was satisfied on the arrangements and said, “I’ll handle it. When the time comes, I will go with you to meet the Peng family.”

After all was said and done, they were still afraid of the Li family taking all the benefits of allying with the Peng family.

Li Duan didn’t point it out. He only smiled and nodded, saying, “That should be the way!”

Lin Jue chuckled.

On the Yu family’s side, when Yu Bo returned from the store in the evening, he learned that someone from the Li family had come to the Yu family to cause trouble, so he and Madam Wang came over to see Madam Chen, but Yu Yuan did not come along.

Yu Bo said disgruntledly, “That boy, I don’t know what he’s up to these days. He leaves early and returns late, and it’s hard to even catch up with him during the New Year’s. If it wasn’t for the fact that he is about to get married, I would have given him a good beating.”

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During the New Year’s, which family’s children didn’t go around visiting friends?

Yu Wen didn’t see any problem with Yu Yuan not coming over to say his greetings, even advising Yu Bo, saying, “You already said that he’s about to be married, so you should refrain from criticizing him in the future. After your daughter-in-law comes, if you disgrace him like this, how can he still stand straight with pride in front of his wife?”

Yu Bo grumbled a little but acquiesced and left Yu Yuan be.

The next day was the 15th day of the first month. Yu Yuan was still missing, Yu Tang went to Ma Xiuxiang’s house, and only the Yu brothers and the sisters-in-laws went to the lantern festival together.

Yu Yuan was as Yu Bo said, busy with something but nobody knew exactly what it was.

It was not until the 17th of the first month when the lanterns were kept and the New Year’s was officially over, and all the stores re-opened, that Yu Yuan appeared from nowhere and excitedly told Yu Tang, “I found the kind of tree you mentioned. It’s called sea buckthorn, and it’s really just as you said, the poorer the soil, the easier it will survive.”

Yu Tang was also interested in hearing more about it, so she pulled Yu Yuan into the study to speak.

Yu Yuan told her that these few days he had followed Yao San’er around, meeting several business associates outside. There was one named Gao Qi, who ran errands for a salt merchant and had seen this kind of tree in the northwest. “He said that if we really wanted it, he could help contact someone and send some seedlings over. But a seedling costs one tael of silver, and a deposit must be paid in advance.”

“So expensive!” Yu Tang was stunned.

She originally thought that the tree was very cheap and easy to care for, which was why the Pei family planted this type of tree in the mountains, and then made preserves and sold them to make money.

If a sapling costs one tael of silver, what kind of profit would they even make?

Was there something else she was unaware of?

After hearing Yu Tang’s comment, Yu Yuan’s excitement and joy of finding the seeds was immediately doused, he wilted like an frost-bitten aubergine and said weakly, “Then, should we still grow them?”

Yu Tang was uncertain.

She remarked, “Let’s wait first. Let me think it over again.”

Yu Tang thought about seeking Pei Yan’s help in finding out the reason he thought of planting sea buckthorn trees in their family’s mountain forest in his previous life ……

Shen Fang accompanied Shen ShanYan back to Lin An City.

Shen Shanyan specially invited Yu Wen over to speak to him, “The tree species you mentioned, my eldest brother has a student who is an official in the northwest and can help get some back. However, transportation is expensive, I’m afraid you still have to make the decision yourself.”

As Yu Wen listened, his heart lurched. He asked, “How much is one plant?”

Shen Shanyan replied “Counting the transportation costs, almost 30 coppers for a plant.” (TL: 1000 coppers = 1 silver)

Very expensive indeed.

But this was what Yu Tang wanted.

He gritted his teeth and answered, “Then can we set an order of 10-20 plants for a trial-run first?”

“That’s not a problem.” Shen Shanyan grinned. “I’ll also ask him to find you a master who knows how to cultivate sea buckthorn trees, and if it works, he could also get a job working here.”

If you really want to cultivate trees, Yu Yuan or Yu Tang can’t stay in the mountains all the time, so it was necessary to hire someone.

“Sure!” Yu Wen readily agreed, and went back to tell Yu Tang about it.

Yu Tang’s mouth was agape.

Why was the price difference so great?

Was it because the sources of information were different?

Yu Tang did not think further, she only asked Yu Yuan to reject the person named Gao Qi, saying that their elders had already asked someone to buy seedlings.

This was a common practice.

Yu Yuan didn’t think much of it as he told Gao Qi to forget about it and started visiting the country side estate every day, measuring the land, setting up the area and arranging for plowing. Within just a few days, his skin got tanned.

Madam Wang forbade him from going to the countryside, saying, “Although it’s spring, and the weather is nice, but it’s the season for causing the most sunburns. You are getting married soon, so if you get tanned and turn up looking like a piece of charcoal at this time of year, Lady Xiang may think that the one she’s looking at now and the one she thought she was marrying were different people altogether!”

Yu Yuan grinned foolishly, but he also stopped going to the forest, and single-mindedly focused on preparing for the wedding.

Yu Tang also felt that this matter should not be rushed, as her eldest cousin’s marriage was more important.

Getting people to manage the stove, the gongs, the sedan chairs and tents …… there was a lot of work to be done.

Ma Xiuniang found a day to send her congratulatory gifts.

Yu Tang invited her to come to her inner room to chat.

Ma Xiuniang said somewhat embarrassingly: “Originally I should have taken a few fabrics to your brother and sister-in-law and make some new clothes, but I had a lot of family matters to deal with and didn’t have the time. Your brother-in-law took it upon himself to paint a few pieces for your brother, to wish him and his bride a happy marriage and a long and harmonious life together.”

Yu Tang knew that Ma Xiuniang was in a difficult situation now, so she held her hand and comforted her a few times, asking her to stay for a meal before seeing her off.

Madam Wang was curious to see the congratulatory gifts from Ma Xiuniang’s family when she heard about it.

Zhang Hui drew a pomegranate, a magpie, a cluster of grapes and a plum, all of which were symbols of good luck and fortune. What Madam Wang and Yutang didn’t expect was that the paintings were so excellently drawn that even Madam Wang, who didn’t know how to appreciate art, couldn’t stop looking at them. “I didn’t expect that Master Zhang would have such incredible painting skills. In future, even if Master Zhang doesn’t pass the exams, he won’t have to worry about putting food on the table for his family.”

Madam Wang’s careless words moved Yu Tang’s heart, and she secretly wondered if she should ask Zhang Hui to draw up some lacquerware patterns for her family.

This would solve the dilemma of not having a lacquerware artisan for their store and would also allow Zhang Hui’s family to earn some money.

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