The pavilion beside Mingshan Lake was chilly as the wind blew.

Wrapped in a shawl, Yu Tang shivered as he asked Pei Yan, "Why do you have to come here to talk? Can't we find a warm room or something?"

Pei Yan did not answer, but glanced at Yu Tang's hooded cape.

The lining is made of sable skin and the surface is made of plain silk. No wonder it feels cold.

In this season, you should use fox fur or sable fur lining, and kesi or Sichuan embroidery outer surface.

The Yu family is now considered wealthy, and they are reluctant to make a better war cape for Miss Yu.

Pei Yan frowned.

Yu Tang was stunned.

Following his gaze, he saw his own hood.

She immediately frowned and glared.

This Pei Yan, why does he always stare at her clothes?

She was not a daughter of the Pei family, who had many social engagements and had to wear different clothes for each one. This cloak was made from her mother's dowry, and the fur was well preserved. The plain cloak was only embroidered with a cluster of orchids in one corner, with fine stitches and elegant colors. It was definitely a presentable piece of clothing.

Why does he always look at me with displeasure?

Yu Tang sneered in his heart and decided not to let Pei Yan live in peace.

Just then, a cold wind blew over, and she simply wrapped herself in the cloak again, and said, "How about the waterside pavilion? If I stand here like this, I'll be frozen into a popsicle."

Did he choose such a bad place?

Pei Yan explained: "This is the closest place to Merlin."

All right!

Considering that Lao An was still admiring the plum blossoms in the plum forest, Yu Tang decided to keep it short even if he had a long story to tell.

She asked, "What do you want to talk to me about?"

Pei Yan originally wanted to ask her directly what happened in her family, but Yu Tang's complaint just now made Pei Yan feel that he had not arranged things well, and he felt a little uncomfortable, so he started talking about Li Duan's family - in his heart, he subconsciously felt that Yu Tang would be very happy if he knew that Li Duan was in trouble.

"You told me about the Li family, so I went to check it out." Pei Yan pondered, "It's just like you said. When Li Yi was the prefect of Rizhao, he was indeed a bit shady." At this point, he pursed his lips.

Qianli became an official for wealth.

This is the reason why many people entered the official career.

Pei Yan could understand, but he did not agree.

So when he found out what Li Yi had done in Rizhao, he was very angry.

Everything has a bottom line. If you cross this line, you will be despised.

He wrote a letter to tell his classmate who was working as a historian in the Censorate about Li Yi. This classmate was always ambitious and wanted to become a capable official whose name would go down in history.

He will definitely teach Li Yi how to behave.

Yu Tang was delighted.

In other words, that family can clear their grievances sooner.

She couldn't help but ask: "So, what are you going to do?"

Pei Yan saw the familiar bright light in her eyes, like the summer sun, and nodded in satisfaction. He said calmly, "Doesn't their family want to move to Hangzhou? Then just move there."

Yu Tang was stunned.

Usually, those people who move out and never come back have no business in the local area.

In other words, Pei Yan wanted to force the Li family to sell their ancestral property, even if not all of it, then at least most of it.

She thought of the ancestral properties that the Yu family sold in her previous life, and suddenly felt that the retribution of the Li family was slowly coming in this life despite Pei Yan's unintentional concern.

"Thank you, Third Master!" she murmured, with tears in the corners of her eyes.

Pei Yan looked suspicious.

He didn't say anything. Why was Miss Yu so excited and grateful all of a sudden? Did Miss Yu hate the Li family so much that she would be happy as long as the Li family was in trouble?

Pei Yan couldn't understand.

Yu Tang had no intention of explaining to him, so he played dumb and said, "Ah, wasn't I thinking about the remaining 150 mu of land of the Li family? Their land is the best land in Lin'an City, and you can't buy it even if you have money. I have finally waited for the Li family to fall from grace, how could I resist such a great temptation?"

She said this jokingly, with a pure joy in her eyes that had nothing to do with grudges or hatred.

I am really happy.

Pei Yan was stunned for a moment, and his voice became a little lighter. He said, "What if my family also wants the 150 acres of land?"

Yu Tang was very surprised.

In her heart, Pei Yan is not someone who speaks casually.

At this time, he asked her for the 150 acres of land from the Li family.

Although he knew that this might be a joke, Yu Tang couldn't help but feel happy.

She said, "Of course I'll give it to your family! It's nice to stay cool under the big tree! With your family, at least we won't have to worry about water for irrigating the fields in the future."

When you think about it this way, it does make some sense!

Pei Yan smiled, which was rare for him, and said, "How about we go to the waterside pavilion to talk?"

Across the lake, opposite the pavilion is a waterside pavilion that half stands on the water.

Yu Tang thought Pei Yan came to tell her this, so she shook her head and said, "Forget it, it's good here. Old An is waiting for me to go back!"

Seeing that she had returned to normal, Pei Yan slowly calmed down and talked about the reason for her visit: "You just sent a letter back to your house in the morning and sent someone over to answer your letter in the afternoon. Did something happen at home?" thing?"

Yu Tang felt that Pei Yan had seen her at her most shameful and vicious moments, so there was nothing she couldn't tell him.

She told Pei Yan about asking Master Zhang to draw the pattern.

Pei Yan was very surprised and looked Yu Tang up and down.

Yu Tang asked nervously, "What's wrong?"

But I was worried that I might have done something wrong and kept thinking about what I had done.

Who knew Pei Yan would say seriously: "I didn't expect you to have this business experience. Have you ever thought about making money?"

Nowadays, the most expensive furniture is the one with inlays and ornaments. The red-lacquered furniture like theirs is usually small and may be used for a lifetime. Some families do not necessarily have to buy it even when they get married.

Furniture is different.

Everyone needs it at home.

But there are still more black lacquered furniture.

It can be seen that Pei Yan is not always right.

Yu Tang declined politely, saying with a smile, "The craft inherited from our family is red lacquer carving. If we were to make screws and inlays, it would be like going far away and abandoning our old craft. I think it's not worth it."

The Pei family had a lot of business, but most of it was still managed by the shopkeeper. At most, he could only make requests and look at the accounts. He really didn't understand these things.

"I'm just saying," he said. "Recently, someone asked me to buy a workshop that makes screws and ornaments. I'm still considering it, so I wanted to ask if it would be useful to your family."

Yu Tang was surprised.

If it was just a workshop that made screws and earrings, it could be used in so many places.

As long as the person in charge does not mess around, it can be a very profitable business.

This really proves the old saying that "money brings wealth".

But she was also a little curious about why someone would sell such a workshop.

Pei Yan did not hide the truth from her and said, "It's the Song family." He also explained, "Didn't they build ships in partnership with the Peng and Wu families? Needless to say, the Peng family, the Wu family was originally nouveau riche who became gentry. But shipbuilding is expensive, how can they afford to compete with those two families? I guess the Peng and Wu families want to join forces to squeeze the Song family out, so they set up a trap. The Song family is now in a difficult situation, so they have to quietly sell off some industries to save the day." At this point, he seemed to have thought of something, and said, "Huh?" He added, "Does red lacquer require many coats of paint? The Song family seems to have a paint workshop..."

But they don’t need a paint workshop to provide paint!

The most important thing is that there is no one in their family to manage these industries.

Industries that rely on others for help will ultimately not make any money.

This was Yu Tang’s experience in his previous life.

She declined again. She felt that if she continued to talk to Pei Yan like this, Pei Yan might say something shocking. She quickly changed the subject and asked, "Do you want to take over the Song family's business? What is their most profitable business?"

"It's weaving." Pei Yan said, without answering whether he wanted to take over the Song family's business. "However, weaving is too troublesome. Weaving tributes is not enough to make people think that the textiles are good. To make tributes, someone has to deal with the people in the twenty-four yamen..." Having said this, he suddenly stopped and became dazed.

Yu Tang didn't understand.

Pei Yan asked her: "Do you know Jiang Chao?"

Jiang Chao had lived in their home for a while, so of course she knew him. But looking at Pei Yan's expression, it was clear that he was wondering whether she knew Jiang Chao.

Yu Tang said carefully: "It's okay! I've heard my father say this many times."

Pei Yan nodded, and asked something else out of the blue: "Is it enough for your shop to have good paintings?"

"That's what it looks like now." Yu Tang said conservatively, "Business is something that needs to be explored bit by bit."

Pei Yan asked, "Is Master Zhang's painting really that good?"

Yu Tang smiled and said, "My knowledge is limited. From what I have seen, Master Zhang's paintings are the best."

Pei Yan nodded and said, "Okay! I hope nothing happened at home. I asked you to accompany my mother, and I can't let you worry about two things at the same time. If there is anything going on at home, just ask the maids and servants to tell me, and I will do my best to help you solve it."

Yu Tang thanked him.

The two of them went their separate ways.

Needless to say, Yu Tang went straight back to Meilin. However, the poetry meeting in Meilin had already ended and everyone was preparing to go to Lao An's place.

As soon as Gu Xi saw her, he smiled and said, "It's really better to arrive at the right time than to arrive early. We just decided to have mutton hotpot tonight and you came back. It shows that Miss Yu is a lucky person."

"Didn't we say we'd have barbecue tonight?" Yu Tang asked in surprise.

Why did you change your mind again?

The fourth young lady blushed and stammered, "Miss Gu's poem was ranked first, and the third sister was ranked second. Miss Gu said she was the best and asked the third sister to choose. The third sister said that roasted meat would make her get a sore throat, so she decided to have hot pot instead."

It is not surprising that Gu Xi's poem ranked first in Yu Tang's review.

Apparently there was another bet after she left.

She was happy to eat anything and smiled, "Okay. If it snows again tomorrow, we can have a barbecue."

Yu Tang's words touched the hearts of the Fourth and Fifth Misses.

The two nodded in unison, and a group of people chatted and laughed as they escorted Old An to the main courtyard.

On the way, Gu Xi wanted to ask Yu Tang several times, "Don't you care what place your poem got?" but he held back.