Four Harmonies and Good Fortune

Chapter 126 Perfunctory
Yang Jiang rushed to the third house.

It was getting dark when the meal was finally prepared in the kitchen.

When Zhang saw Yang Jiang, she immediately smiled and said, "Come in quickly, you can have dinner with us."

Yang Jiang was preoccupied with something on his mind. Although he was starving, he didn't care about eating or drinking. As soon as he entered the door, he wanted to talk to Xie Yuyan about the matter of Lanzhou.

Xie Yuyan said, "Let's eat first, there's no rush."

Yang Jiang pursed his lips: "Sister-in-law... the land has been bought, and porcelain stones have been unearthed, but..."

Seeing Yang Jiang's restless appearance, Xie Yuyan said, "The porcelain stone is loose, coarse-grained, and has spots."

Yang Jiang was taken aback. He hadn't even said anything yet, so how did his sister-in-law already know?

Yang Jiang murmured, "They're from Sanhe Village... But wait, they won't be back until tomorrow."

“I knew before I told you to buy it,” Xie Yuyan said, “that’s the kind of porcelain stone I wanted.”

"But..." Yang Jiang didn't understand, "Then wouldn't we be able to make white porcelain?"

"Who said we're going to fire white porcelain?" Xie Yuyan said. "Can you outfire the porcelain kilns of Xingzhou?"

Yang Jiang shook his head. In recent years, the porcelain from Xingzhou has surpassed all the kilns in the north. Almost all the craftsmen who can fire fine white porcelain are there, and it would be difficult to invite one over.

Xie Yuyan said, "That's it. Since you're not good at it, don't force yourself to do it. I've seen my uncle's method of firing porcelain. As long as you make some improvements with the porcelain stone, you'll definitely be able to fire porcelain with your own unique style."

"There might be many kilns that fire white porcelain that we'll have to visit to learn from."

"In the future, the Luzhou Kiln will be as famous as the Xing Kiln."

Yang Jiang listened to Xie Yuyan's words with a blank expression on his face.

To be honest, he didn't quite believe it.

There are several small kilns near Luzhou, but their situation is not much better than that of their porcelain kilns. Almost no one buys the porcelain they produce, and they can only produce some crude items.

On the way back, he kept thinking about how to use the new kiln to fire better things. Could it be that they should specialize in selling clay kilns? What they really wanted to fire was porcelain.

They still couldn't come up with a solution.

He carried back some porcelain stones and hid them in his bundle. He hadn't dared to give them to his father yet, fearing that the glimmer of hope his father had just ignited would be extinguished.

Unexpectedly, the sixth sister-in-law didn't care at all.

He uttered those two sentences naturally, his tone as certain as if he had witnessed it himself.

As Yang Jiang was thinking this, he was vaguely pulled aside by Yang Qin and sat down. Then, a pair of chopsticks were stuffed into his hands, and a bowl of rice appeared in front of him.

Yang Qin served Yang Jiang some food, and Yang Jiang took a bite blankly. Then... his eyes lit up. This time, without anyone persuading him, he picked up his bowl and, with the aroma of the meat slices, ate a big mouthful of rice.

Really fragrant.

Let's put those worries aside for now and focus on filling our stomachs.

This was the most substantial meal Yang Jiang had eaten recently. In Lanzhou, he had to travel around and sometimes only had a few bites of dry rations to handle these matters without stopping, for fear of delaying anything.

Why? So much money is sitting there, and every day the guards have to pay the soldiers who watch over it. The sooner you spend the money, the more you can save.

This was the first time he had encountered something like this, and the first time he had run a business like this. He felt even more deeply how difficult it must have been for his third uncle to work so hard for the entire clan back then.

He only felt at ease after the money was spent and he received the land deed and documents in return, but soon other worries arose. What if the deal went wrong after spending so much money?
Back home, he shared these concerns with his sixth brother and sister-in-law. They seemed to have already made up their minds, and the heavy burden on his shoulders was immediately lifted. The feeling of having someone to rely on was wonderful.

Before he knew it, Yang Jiang had finished all the rice that the third family had prepared.

Zhang smiled and said, "If I had known you were coming, I would have cooked more food."

Yang Jiang smiled shyly: "I'm full, this dish is really delicious." In the end, he used the soup to mix with his rice.

Xie Yuyan asked, "Could you bring some porcelain stones back with you?"

Yang Jiang nodded.

“I’ll give it to my uncle tomorrow and let him try it out,” Xie Yuyan said. “Tell him not to worry about it being damaged in the fire, we have many more porcelain stones like this.” “We’ll wait until after New Year’s Day to open the kiln in Luzhou. Right now, we just need to figure out what porcelain stones are.”

Yang Jiang replied, "I understand."

"Our new shop opens tomorrow," Xie Yuyan said. "Go back and rest early. Tomorrow, accompany your uncle to see the new shop."

With his sixth sister-in-law settled, Yang Jiang stopped thinking about anything else.

Since he couldn't figure it out anyway, he might as well leave it to someone who could solve it.

After Yang Jiang left, Xie Yuyan finished washing up and leaned against the headboard. She picked up the lifelike flower that Sanhe Village had sent her; she had promised Wang Yan that she would make one for him.

The villagers of Sanhe Village are very skillful, but this was their first time doing this, and they were only seeing what she had drawn, so some parts differed from what she remembered.

However, Wang Yan certainly didn't know what that lifelike flower actually looked like.

Xie Yuyan placed the lifelike flower into the box, and told Yang Qin to deliver it like this tomorrow.

She lay down and picked up the manuscripts beside her. These were prepared by Tong Zixu for the next issue of the tabloid, and he had specifically asked Yang Qin to bring them to her for selection.

Xie Yuyan read half a page, and the words "Daming Prefecture Gazette" came to mind, as well as... the scene when Wang Yan pulled her out of the main hall at Baode Temple today.

Wang Hechun seems to have become more obedient lately.

Unlike the previous times I met him, when his eyes showed disgust and aloofness.

Empress Dowager Xie could not tolerate the slightest grievance.

Even when serving the imperial family, she couldn't always be tolerant. After experiencing so much, she would never flatter anyone, not even Wang Yan.

She even deliberately concealed crucial details, such as coke made from coal.

She asked about Da Shun City, reluctant to speak, yet deliberately revealing some cryptic information. Her aim was simply to test someone's mind, to make them expend more effort in considering the matter.

They can use each other, but first, don't provoke her.

After his trip, Wang Yan seemed to have toned down a bit when he returned.

Empress Dowager Xie was a person who clearly distinguished between gratitude and resentment.

Consider it a way of thanking him for saving me...

Xie Yuyan put down the manuscript and lazily picked up the elephant flower.

But how should it be changed? Empress Dowager Xie held the flower up to her eyes and pondered. Changing the jade plum was too troublesome, so she would reluctantly change it to dogwood!

……

The office of the patrol inspectorate.

Several stacks of official documents were piled up on Wang Yan's desk.

However, he did not handle the situation as quickly as usual.

What was Xie Yuyan thinking when she was in the main hall of Baode Temple? When she looked up at the Buddha statues, her eyes flashed with bloodlust and murderous intent.

There is no doubt that she visited Baode Temple.

But not now, but... in the past.

Or rather, her past.

Her time, her experiences, the people she met—all of them were people he knew, yet there were some differences.

The person wasn't wrong, the timing was.

If his deduction is correct.

So, is there anyone she cares about here?

(End of this chapter)