Pei Yan was clueless. He lowered his head and painted seriously.

His jade-white face, perfect profile, and serene expression, like a sculpture, give him a unique kind of handsomeness.

Yu Tang sighed secretly in his heart.

She didn't like the tone her eldest cousin used when talking about Pei Yan, as if Pei Yan was a fool.

Pei Yan is smarter than most people... With this thought in mind, Yu Tang sat up straight.

He should know this too, right?

If he directs their shop's business and it makes a profit, then everyone will benefit; if it makes a loss, he will be responsible.

Does he think that the Yu family is just a small profit, and it doesn't matter whether they win or lose? Or does he think that even if he is asked to take responsibility, he should help them?

Yu Tang looked at Pei Yan's profile foolishly, his heart in a mess.

Fortunately, Pei Yan painted very quickly, and he finished the painting in just two cups of tea.

Pei Yan stood up from behind the desk with the draft in his hand, and walked towards the brother and sister, saying, "Look! I only drew a small picture, three inches square, but this is the general idea."

Yu Tang realized it belatedly and sat there waiting for Pei Yan to come over.

Yu Yuan stood up suddenly, took two steps forward to greet him, stretched out his hands to hold the painting in Pei Yan's hand, and kept saying things like "Thank you, Third Master, you have worked hard."

Yu Tang's face turned red, and he realized that he had been too neglectful to Pei Yan.

She quickly stood up.

Pei Yan glanced at Yu Tang.

Yu Tang blinked.

What does Pei Yan mean? Even if she is disrespectful to him, it is better to help her than to do nothing, right?

She looked at Pei Yan blankly.

Pei Yan lowered his eyes and managed to hold back his laughter with great difficulty.

She usually looks like a smart little girl, but once the support from her family comes, she becomes completely naive.

However, Miss Yu is also quite interesting.

Like a little beast that finally retracted its claws, only to find that it was the wrong time to do so, it had to pretend to be calm and put on its armor again, but this allowed people to inadvertently peek into its soft interior.

I wonder if she is also this lazy when she is at home?

Pei Yan decided to ignore Yu Tang and let her make wild guesses in anxiety.

"I drew two paintings." He sat on the Zen chair next to Yu Tang and his sister, and said lightly, "One is a lotus painting, and the other is a plum blossom painting. The lotus painting is all lotus, and the plum blossom painting has two magpies." Speaking of this, he frowned slightly and said, "How is your master's bird carving? If he can't carve birds, his skills are average, right?"

Carving flowers and birds is the traditional craft of the Yu family, but in front of Pei Yan, Yu Yuan didn't dare to say anything.

"It's all right, all right," he said repeatedly. "How about I ask someone to go to the shop and get a carved bird box for you to have a look?"

Although the Pei family and the Yu family are both in Lin'an City, one is east and the other is west, and it takes half an hour to go back and forth. Besides, it's getting late, so why not go to so much trouble?

Yu Tang was thinking, but Pei Yan nodded seriously and said to Yu Yuan: "Then ask someone to bring one over!"

When Yu Yuan heard this, he immediately told Sanmu, who was accompanying him, to get a box from the shop, and reminded him, "Get the box with the best carving."

Miki ran away.

Yu Tang looked at Pei Yan.

Pei Yan raised his eyebrows and said as if it was a matter of course, "It's not that I don't trust your carving skills, but there are some things that you have to see with your own eyes to know."

Still making excuses!

It's obvious that I don't trust their carving skills!

Yu Tang was about to refute him, but before she could even open her mouth, Yu Yuan said, "That's right, that's right. The Third Elder is very knowledgeable and can guide us. We are already very grateful. If he doesn't understand our craftsmanship, he can't tell us what to sell. I understand this."

Isn't her eldest cousin too respectful?

Yu Tang glared at Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuandang didn't see it.

He felt that although Yu Tang was more opinionated and responsible than other women, she had spent too much time in the inner palace and did not know how powerful the Pei family was.

What is this?

I just said a few nice words in front of Pei Yan. Others didn't even have a chance to say anything nice!

He continued, "Do you think I should send you a copy of all the drawings I have at home?"

Pei Yan looked at Yu Tang's angry but helpless expression, and said cheerfully, "That's fine. When can you sort it out?"

Yu Yuan immediately said, "It will be done quickly! I will sort it out with the shop assistants overnight after I return."

As for when it would be sorted out, Pei Yan was not told clearly.

Pei Yan did not pursue the matter and let the two siblings look at the picture he drew.

The lotus painting is full of half-opened or fully-bloomed lotuses, some elegant and some radiant, in various shapes and forms. The small space of three inches has already described all the various postures of lotus. The plum blossom painting is only lightly sketched, but because of the two magpies chirping on the branches, it becomes full of spring. It no longer has the solemnity of plum blossoms, but carries the worldly fireworks, which warms people's hearts.

Yu Yuan's skills are average, but his vision is good and he understands painting.

He exclaimed "Oh my!" and said in amazement: "I didn't expect that the third master could paint so well. He is worthy of being a Jinshi master who passed the imperial examination twice."

Pei Yan looked up at Yu Yuan and said mercilessly: "The six arts of a gentleman. Even a seventy-year-old old scholar has such painting skills."

Yu Yuan was embarrassed and laughed.

Although Yu Tang was a little annoyed with his eldest cousin, he would not stand by and watch him being bullied, so he immediately helped his eldest cousin fight back.

She replied faintly, "If everyone can draw this pattern, the sales volume won't be that high, right?"

This little girl is neither left nor right. I didn't expect she has such a temper.

Pei Yan was furious and said, "Even if it is the same painting, it depends on who painted it. Otherwise, how could Wu Daozi's Buddha statue become a masterpiece handed down from generation to generation?"

At most, Yu Tang dared to stretch out his claws to grab Pei Yan, but he didn't dare to really make Pei Yan angry.

No matter what, Pei Yan is helping the Yu family!

She immediately smiled and said, "The lotus is beautiful. And the plum blossoms... didn't you say before that it doesn't look good if there is too much white space? How about painting it full of plum blossoms? I think it would look pretty too." As she spoke, she branched out and said, "It would look better if the plum blossoms could be laid out layer by layer, just like real plum blossoms stuck on the box." As soon as she finished speaking, her heart moved. An image of a red lacquered box filled with plum blossoms emerged in her mind. There was so much flowers in such a cluster that I'm afraid there is no girl who wouldn't like it.

The more she thought about it, the more she thought this approach was feasible.

"How about we paint a picture full of plum blossoms?" Yu Tang and Yu Yuan discussed, "If it looks good, we can also carve a box full of orchids, hostas, or gardenias. That would be our specialty, just as the Third Elder said."

Pei Yan twitched his lips when he heard this.

It turns out that what he said before was all nonsense and Miss Yu didn't listen to it at all?

He ignored Yu Tang and instead looked at Yu Yuan and asked, "What do you think?"

Yu Yuan could see something. But he was a little timid in front of Pei Yan, and said hesitantly: "The paintings drawn by the Third Elder, not only have overlapping petals, but also clear lines, soft yet firm, which are indeed very suitable for the red lacquer craft, especially the blank space of this plum blossom painting, which uses the same color as the base color, so the lines become more important..."

As he spoke, images of his own home came to mind.

It's no wonder that after Pei Yan's paintings were changed, not only did they look good, but the overall grade and style were also improved. Then, their lacquerware could be sold at a better price.

Yu Yuan was excited: "Third Elder, thank you so much! If it weren't for you, I don't know how many more detours we would have to take! If not, maybe we wouldn't even know where the problem is in our lifetime."

His tone was very sincere, and one could tell at once that he was truly grateful to Pei Yan.

Pei Yan's lips curled slightly, and his demeanor became much warmer than before.

"If you can see it, you'll be saved," he said. "This is a red lacquer box I saw in the upper study when I entered the palace. The pattern gives people this feeling. I think you can also learn from it."

"Yes, yes." Yu Yuan nodded repeatedly, his joy unable to be concealed overflowing from his brows.

Yu Tang also understood after hearing this.

It turns out that people need to have insight.

Like Pei Yan, not only is he good at growing fruit trees, but even if you give him a lacquer shop, he can quickly find a way to make it work.

She said, "We copied the things on the throne. Is it a big deal?"

"What's the big deal!" Pei Yan said disapprovingly, "It's like painting. You have to copy at the beginning, but if you want to leave your name in history, you have to have your own style and techniques. You should first think of a way to open up the situation, and then you have to carefully think about these subtle details. Otherwise, even if you win temporarily, I'm afraid it won't last long."

Yu Yuan nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, and the way he looked at Pei Yan changed completely. It was no longer the cautious flattery, but the respect of admiration and worship.

Yu Tang stroked his forehead.

Pei Yan glanced at her sideways with a smug look.

Yu Tang was stunned.

Did Pei Yan know this would happen?

She looked at Pei Yan carefully.

He was still so arrogant, and he wished he could be beaten up.

Yu Tang gritted his teeth.

Pei Yan was still talking about something else and asked Yu Yuan casually, "I don't know much about lacquerware craftsmanship. Why do you use red as the base for red lacquer? Wouldn't it look better if it was white or black?"

Yu Yuan answered respectfully in the tone of a student answering a question from his master: "Some people use white or black as a base, but that is called filling paint, which is another process. We don't know how to do that."

"Really?!" Pei Yan stretched out his voice and glanced at Yu Tang with a smile.

Yu Tang lowered his head, wishing there was a crack in the ground he could crawl into.

Pei Yan didn't let her go and continued, "How about your family also learn the skill of filling paint? I wonder if it's difficult?"

Yu Yuan looked at Pei Yan, looking as if he didn't know what to say.

Skills are the basis for livelihood, and stealing people's food is equivalent to stealing money and killing people!

Everyone knows this, how could the Third Elder say such a foolish thing?

He said awkwardly: "Even if my family wants to learn, there has to be a place to learn, and there has to be someone willing to teach."

Yu Tang was so angry.

Pei Yan knew that if he continued teasing Miss Yu would reach out her claws again. He was not afraid of being teased, but it would be bad to make her cry. He changed the subject and said, "I see. Then let's study which patterns can better reflect the difference of the red lacquer!"