Yu Tang frowned slightly as he listened.

Pei Yan surpassed his brother to become the head of the Pei family. This kind of thing would not easily happen in an ordinary wealthy family. She didn't know what thrilling story was involved, but from Pei Yan's tone at this time, it was clear that he had been dissatisfied with Hu Xing for a long time and wanted to take this opportunity to replace Hu Xing.

There was nothing wrong with replacing Hu Xing, as this was Pei Yan's power. But if someone wanted to use her as an excuse, she would not like it.

Yu Tang thought about how they parted on bad terms last time, and felt that it was no wonder that others were afraid of Pei Yan; this man was indeed unpleasant.

Anyway, she didn't want to please Pei Yan, so she said bluntly: "Manager Hu has been the manager of the Pei family for many years. He has worked hard even if he has no merit. He didn't do the things you ordered him to do well. I can understand that you are unhappy. But our forest has not been a one-day or two-day thing. The sea buckthorn trees will bear fruit next year. If we change to planting other things, I am afraid it will take a few more years. Fortunately, it is a family I don't want to live on the forest. The trees in the forest can be sold for a few bundles of firewood. I think I should leave the forest to myself. It would be better if you could assign another task to Hu, the manager. As you just said, he is familiar with some of the noble families in Jiangnan. This is not something that can be accomplished overnight. It would be a waste to send him to help me manage the forest."

Pei Yan listened and secretly high-fived Yu Tang.

This little girl is worthy of his attention, she is very smart.

She was afraid that Hu Xing's manager would be fired and people would misunderstand that it was related to her, so she removed herself from the matter in advance.

He had no intention of letting Yu Tang take the blame, so he was thinking about doing something else.

Or, did he say something else?

What else is going on at the Yu family?

Pei Yan pondered and continued to probe: "How is the business of your lacquerware shop? How is the sales of the design I drew for you last time?"

At first, he gave a good idea. Both Yu Bo and Yu Wen were very impressed and said that Old Master Pei had a good vision and chose Pei Yan as the leader. Their family also followed Pei Yan's suggestion and worked overnight to make several red lacquered flower boxes. Except for those presented to Old Master Pei and Zhaoming Temple, the others have not been sold yet.

Yu Tang smiled and said, "Speaking of this, I have to thank you very much. If you hadn't given us the idea, our family wouldn't have thought of it at all. It's just that the time is short and the lecture at Zhaoming Temple is very important, so we haven't put it up for sale yet."

This is similar to what Pei Yan guessed. He said, "Then I'll draw a few more pictures for your house, so that when others come to your shop, they will have more choices. Don't just put lotus and plum blossoms, you should add a few other flowers. Otherwise, no matter how beautiful the objects are, others will get tired of them."

Yu Tang couldn't ask for more.

But if I do this, I will inevitably owe Pei Yan a favor, and I will have to deal with Pei Yan frequently in the future.

I don't know which one is more annoying.

Yu Tang hesitated for a moment, thinking that he could neither offend Pei Yan nor rely entirely on Pei Yan, otherwise his family might have to rely on Pei Yan to make a living in the future.

Having lived two lives, Yu Tang always feels that it is better to rely on himself than on others.

This was how her life would be from now on, and this was how their shop should be too.

Yu Tang smiled and said, "Then I would like to thank you first, but you are a man of honor after all. We will see if we can find a scholar who is willing to draw the pattern. If you have someone you know who is willing to do this, please keep him in mind. We are willing to accept the pattern at a high price."

Pei Yan even forgot to drink the tea that was brought to his mouth.

Was he rejected?!

Pei Yan looked at Yu Tang.

Apart from finding that she seemed whiter than before and her slightly drooping eyelashes seemed thicker than he had imagined, Yu Tang did not notice anything else unusual.

Pei Yan was so angry that he almost dropped the teacup on the tea table.

If he wasn't afraid of making Yu Tang, who already spoke in a somewhat weird tone, alienated from him and even more cold and distant to him, why would he have taken a few breaths and swallowed his anger?

He took a few deep breaths, and when he felt that he had suppressed his anger, he said calmly, "I'm afraid there are no scholars around me who are willing to draw pictures. If your family thinks that my painting is not very good and wants to ask for a drawing, I can help you to pay more attention to it."

Even so, with Yu Tang's intelligence, how could he not sense the anger that was coming towards him?

She felt she had made a mistake.

She thought that with Pei Yan's status, knowledge and experience, he would not take these things to heart. She never expected that he was still as competitive and petty as many other literati, and couldn't stand others looking at other people's paintings for even a second.

Does this mean that from now on their family can only use the patterns drawn by Pei Yan?

What if one day he stops painting for me?

He is so busy, what if he doesn't have time to paint?

Could it be that the Yu family is just giving up their business and waiting?

Yu Tang thought for a moment and said, "Originally I shouldn't have said this, but you are not an outsider, so it's okay to tell you. I have asked Master Zhang Hui for the design before..."

What this means is that it is impossible to use only your own pattern.

Pei Yan found that the little girl was quite thoughtful, like a slippery loach, and she spoke in a way that did not offend anyone but also did not give anyone any handle to her.

Maybe this little girl is really suitable for business.

If she really has this talent, he is not an intolerant person. The Pei family has many shops, and she can be in charge when the time comes. She doesn't have to work in the Yu family's lacquerware shop, and she doesn't have to compete with Yu Yuan for a job. In that case, Yu Yuan will definitely like her more than now.

Pei Yan couldn't help but laugh and said, "So in Miss Yu's eyes, I am an intolerant person!"

The tone of his words was too teasing, and in a situation like this where they were alone, it seemed a bit frivolous.

Yu Tang was stunned.

Pei Yan realized it immediately.

He coughed lightly and said seriously, "As for Master Zhang, you should continue to contract his manuscripts. If I meet the right person, I will keep an eye out for you."

He wanted to find something that would allow him to get along well with Yu Tang. Drawing was not really suitable. Otherwise, he would be drawing every day, and she would continue to stay at Yu's house. Even if they were together, they would just be able to talk to each other. How could it compare to planting trees? In addition to discussing the tree species, they also had to go up the mountain to check the site.

The more Pei Yan thought about it, the more he felt that the mountain forest thing was more suitable.

He changed the subject abruptly to the forest of the Yu family: "Hu Xing's affairs will not involve you. But your forest must be resolved. Do you have any good ideas?"

Yu Tang is not afraid of confronting others, but she is afraid of others being kind and gentle to her.

Pei Yan was very friendly to her at this time.

Yu Tang blushed, his voice lowered a little, and he spoke with a little more sincerity: "I don't know what to do. I think I can only wait until the sea buckthorn preserves are ready."

She was just trying to please Pei Yan.

It was impossible to spend a lot of effort to transplant sea buckthorn seedlings. She wanted to go back to the mountains and forests to see what other people planted in the mountains and forests like hers. Could she learn from them?

Or just give up.

Man proposes, God disposes. Sometimes, a bit of luck is needed to accomplish something.

Maybe she just doesn't have Pei Yan's luck in her life.

Pei Yan was overjoyed when he heard this.

That's a good thing.

It would be best if they couldn't grow anything in their forests in the next two or three years.

But he didn't show it at all, and pretended to think for a while, then said seriously: "What you said makes sense. How about this, when we return to Lin'an, I will take Hu Xing and go to your forest to take a closer look, and see if we can work out a good solution together."

Are she and Pei Yan wandering in the mountains and forests?

Yu Tang was stunned, his heart beating uncontrollably.

Pei Yan glanced at the clock in the room calmly. Based on his experience in dealing with senior officials in the court, he should have stopped talking here. Continuing would only make people feel tired and lose interest in the topic.

Anyway, his goal has been achieved.

He stood up without hesitation and said, "It's getting late. You still have to help Mrs. Yang San and Miss Xu tomorrow. You should go to bed early. I'll take my leave now. Let's think about the matter of Shanlin in the next two days and see if there are any better ideas. We'll talk about it on the way back to Lin'an."

This way, even what to talk about the next time we meet has been decided.

Pei Yan was very satisfied. Without waiting for Yu Tang to get up, he said, "You don't have to see me off. I'm leaving first," and left Yu Tang's place.

Yu Tang stood there, feeling confused.

So what was Pei Yan doing here? All he talked about was her family's affairs, and he just said whatever came to his mind...

Yu Tang did not sleep most of the night, and when she woke up the next morning, her eyes were a little blue. She asked Qinglian to cover them up carefully, and after breakfast, she went to see Mrs. Yang San.

The group went to the Yin family's newly purchased house.

The house was quite close to Pei Yan's house, and it only took a quarter of an hour to get there by sedan chair. In Yu Tang's opinion, it was quite large with three entrances and three exits. But in Miss Xu's opinion, she could only make do with it: "The only advantage is that it is close to Pei Xiaguang, and if there is anything in the future, the Pei family can help take care of it."

Yu Tang smiled without saying anything, and led the maid borrowed from Pei's house into the annex next to the main house, and talked about the things that needed attention.

Miss Xu saw her sitting upright, with a gentle expression, her voice was neither too high nor too low, her tone was neither too fast nor too slow, her pretty face was glowing white in the dimly lit room, there was an indescribable beauty, she couldn't help but stop and look at her for a while, then turned to Madam Yang San, and smiled at her, "Miss Yu is much more powerful than we thought, sitting there and scolding those maids, the mistress of ordinary families is not as imposing as her, and the key is that she is not aggressive, the maids of the Pei family will definitely not make mistakes if she is handed over to her."

Mrs. Yang San was very interested and wanted to go over to take a look, but unfortunately, Tong Er, the shopkeeper from Pei's family, came over to help. Mrs. Yang San hurriedly invited Tong Er in, and she had no time to pay attention to Yu Tang for a while. When Mrs. Yang San was free, Yu Tang had already arranged everything according to what they had discussed yesterday.