Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 136 Dresses
Cheng Qi didn't distrust Madam Xie; he simply understood the Xie family.

“Old Master Xie is a bastard,” Cheng Qi said. “He’ll back down as soon as things turn bad. Xie Chongjun is still in jail, and the Xie family has wasted seven thousand strings of cash. Having learned their lesson, they probably won’t make the same mistake again.”

Xie Yuyan said, "The method doesn't have to be old, as long as it works. Besides, the situation is ever-changing. I won last time, and perhaps the Xie family can win this time."

Cheng Qi was surprised. What did Madam Xie mean by this?
Could it be that they are going to lose to the Xie family this time?

Cheng Qi couldn't figure it out, so he decided to leave it to Seventh Master to think about.
Xie Yuyan looked at Mother Yu: "Tomorrow morning, go to the two small pottery kilns nearby and try to buy them before the Xie family makes a move."

Madam Yu replied, "Don't worry, Madam, I will definitely negotiate a good price."

Having given all the instructions, everyone withdrew and went about their own business.

Xie Yuyan was also getting ready to rest. It had been quite cold these past few days, and reading in bed was the most comfortable thing to do. Yu Chen would often come close to her at these times. The soft cat was much more convenient than a hot water bottle.

After washing up, Xie Yuyan tested Qin Ge'er's studies for a while before going to rest in the inner room.

Upon discovering that Yu Chen was not there, Xie Yuyan was about to call out when the curtain at the door was lifted a crack, and the cat squeezed in.

The raccoon dog is a little different today.

Xie Yuyan looked over and after a moment spoke, "Yu Chen, come here."

She discovered that the little raccoon didn't like her calling it Han Ying, but preferred Yu Chen, so she simply started calling it that in private.

When the cat jumped onto the bed, Xie Yuyan grabbed the cloth covering the cat and asked, "What is this?"

……

Normally, when the cat came back from outside, Zhang would wipe its paws clean with a cloth before letting it into the inner room. But today, the cat was very quick and disappeared in a flash. By the time Zhang chased it into the room, the cat was already nestled in Xie Yuyan's arms.

"This is……"

The cat had somehow gotten into wearing a small outfit, which looked rather...strange.

Zhang couldn't help but laugh.

"He's acting like a human being."

The little garment resembled a woman's pale yellow dress, worn around the cat's neck, and then tied tightly to its back with two straps.

"I don't know who came up with this idea," Zhang said, trying to look serious. "But once you get used to it, it actually looks quite nice."

When Xie Yuyan saw it just now, wasn't he just like Zhang?

When the cat arrived, she examined the clothes closely and found a note in the small pocket at the bottom.

Upon opening the note and seeing its contents, Xie Yuyan knew where it had come from.

She wasn't surprised that the cat would go back, since the cat had run away to the Yang family on its own. If it could run here, it could run back. However, she didn't expect that Wang Yan would let the cat go.

What surprised her even more was that... Lord Wang was also interested in making clothes for the cat.

A pale yellow dress...

The raccoon is clearly a male, yet it's dressed in a skirt?

This material...

Xie Yuyan frowned slightly, wondering why the face looked somewhat familiar.

"Mother, let me do it!" Xie Yuyan took the handkerchief from Zhang's hand and said, "This is when we go back to the yamen."

Zhang's smile froze: "This cat... is it really kept by the government office?" Xie Yuyan nodded: "However... the clerk Wang who keeps it doesn't want to restrain it, letting it run around freely."

Hearing this, Zhang breathed a sigh of relief. The cat was running around the house all day long, and she was really afraid that one day it would be taken away by someone.

Once that emotion relaxed, the smile returned.

"Do you think that official in the yamen might not know that the cat is male?"

Wang Yan couldn't possibly be unaware that Xie Yuyan always felt he had ulterior motives, but she hadn't yet figured out what they were.

After wiping the cat clean and placing it beside him, Xie Yuyan opened the note and read it carefully.

Wang Yan wanted to expand the iron smelting furnace.

With ample coke available for iron smelting, the larger the furnace, the better. Decades later, the iron smelting furnaces built by the imperial officials of the Great Liang Dynasty had exceeded three zhang in height. However, in addition to needing gravel to build up the outer skin, they also required a layer of refractory clay inside.

She knew this so clearly because several of the iron smelting furnaces were built under her master's guidance.

Xie Yuyan picked up her pen and modified the design on the paper, adding some annotations. This kind of thing was best presented through Wang Yan; since he wanted it, she might as well do him a favor.

If you accumulate too many favors, you'll have to repay them eventually, won't you?
A piece of paper was filled with words. Xie Yuyan blew out the lamp, closed her eyes to rest, and soon fell into a dream. However, this time she dreamed of her childhood, when her grandmother made her a pale yellow dress. She was about to reach for it when, for some reason, the dress ended up on Yu Chen's body.

……

The Xie family of Daming Prefecture.

Old Master Xie, who should have been resting long ago, was still sitting upright in the main room, listening to Xie Chonghai's wife, Madam Tian, ​​speak.

Madam Tian had already recounted what the Liu family had heard and seen several times, but Old Master Xie still kept asking questions.

"Did the Xie family really drive the Liu family's servants out of the Yang family?"

Madam Tian replied, "It's true. I even asked the steward, and he said that Xie Yuyan knew she was a servant of the Liu family, but still refused to see her."

"No one in the entire Daming Prefecture has ever dared to do this."

Madam Tian said, "He's only earned seven thousand strings of cash, yet he's so arrogant. I think Xie Yuyan is doomed." She had never met Xie Yuyan, but just the fact that he had ruined the entire Xie family made her hate this woman to death.

Actually, Xie Yuyan should be thanking the Xie family.

If the Xie family hadn't bought Xie Yuyan, he might have been kidnapped and buried long ago, and wouldn't have had a chance to catch his breath.
Xie Yuyan, however, repaid kindness with enmity.

Now that Xie Yuyan has offended the Liu family, it's good news for them, but...

Tian Niangzi said, "We've never fired the clay stove that Liu Erniang wants before, so we don't know if we can make it."

“Of course not,” Xie Chonghai said. “The Yang family’s clay stove is a pottery kiln, while our family’s porcelain is a porcelain kiln. They are inherently different.”

Tian Niangzi knew perfectly well: "I explained, but Liu Erniang wouldn't listen. She said, 'Didn't the Yang family also make porcelain before? If they can make it, we can too.'"

"How can that be the same?" Xie Chonghai frowned even more. "The Yang family's porcelain kiln is already abandoned and is useless anyway. It can be converted to fire pottery. Our family's porcelain kiln still needs to fire porcelain every day. How can it be converted into a pottery kiln? What should we do when we fire porcelain in the future?"

Liu Erniang clearly knew nothing, yet she demanded that they make a better clay stove, one that could surpass the Yang family's.

If it were really that easy, why would they wait until now?
But now they have no choice but to agree.

The eldest brother is already in jail. If they offend the Liu family again, they will truly be doomed.

But if they really change it like that... what will happen to their porcelain business?
Even if they disregarded these factors, they still didn't know whether they could actually fire a clay stove like the Yang family's.

(End of this chapter)