After hearing Ye Yaming’s words, Ye Chongming felt extremely uneasy. He returned to the main courtyard once more, repeatedly instructing his wife to keep the girls of the household at home and not let them go out. Only then did he depart for Baifeng County.
Ye Hongchang watched his white-haired father leave on this journey, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
Although Ye Chongming still insisted on going up to the mountain once a year to visit the Village Heads and maintain relationships, it was mainly because the two Village Heads lived in accessible areas, not deep in the mountains. Horse carriages could reach there, and the roads were relatively flat.
Now, to pre-order tea leaves and sign contracts with the growers, he would have to visit each household. The mountain paths were rugged, and many places were inaccessible by carriage, requiring horseback travel.
Ye Chongming was sixty years old, and Ye Hongchang was truly worried that his body wouldn’t be able to handle it.
But Ye Hongchang himself had been injured in the leg, and although the injury wasn’t severe, running around with such a wound would cause problems.
His second brother had gone to Tongxiang, and his fourth brother was useless, still lying face down on the bed recovering after receiving several dozen strikes with a plank.
As for Ye Jiaxing, someone needed to remain in Lin’an City to manage affairs. He wasn’t experienced enough to go to the mountains to sign contracts, so he could only stay in the city.
“Ride to Huichun Hall and ask the physician to prepare some medicine pills to be delivered to the Master at the city gate,” Ye Hongchang instructed his attendant.
Watching the attendant acknowledge and leave, he felt slightly relieved.
……
While Ye Hongchang had been back in Lin’an City for only half a day, Meng Chengwei also received news from the bandits.
“What? The man only suffered minor injuries, and the tea money wasn’t stolen? What are they good for? Taking so much of my silver and accomplishing this little—is this just taking money without doing the job?” he roared.
The room fell silent, with no one daring to speak, fearing they might trigger Meng Chengwei’s wrath.
It was bad enough that the bandits hadn’t seriously injured Ye Hongchang or stolen the tea money, but one of the bandits had also been captured and sent to the authorities.
Fortunately, they hadn’t been directly involved, having sent a disguised attendant to communicate with the bandits. Otherwise, they would now be worried about yamen runners coming to their door.
After his outburst, Meng Chengwei gradually calmed down.
He slowly drank a cup of tea, then spoke: “Meng Liang, I told you to send people to keep an eye on the Ye family’s Third Young Lady. How is the situation?”
He genuinely liked that Ye Yaming, the Ye family’s Third Young Lady.
When Meng Chengwei was in the Capital City, he had been quite the playboy. What interested him most wasn’t courtesans but rather girls from respectable families. He most enjoyed watching these girls fall for him because of his youth, wealth, talent, and handsome appearance (not really), becoming desperate to marry him. He relished this process of seduction.
Considering that the Third Young Lady of the Ye family matched his aesthetic preferences, he was planning to put some effort into pursuing her.
Originally, he had just instructed Meng Liang to keep track of her movements for a chance encounter. If he could make that girl fall for him, to the point of desperately wanting to marry him, that would be entertaining.
In such matters, the important thing wasn’t the result but the process.
But now, with his schemes against the Ye family repeatedly failing and the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, Meng Chengwei had truly lost patience with the Ye family.
He now planned to use underhanded methods on Ye Yaming.
He would set a trap, create some incident for Ye Yaming, perhaps drugging her with an incense that would make her lose consciousness. Then he would coincidentally encounter her, rescue her, but end up with Ye Yaming throwing herself at him, forcing him to consummate their relationship…
Just imagining Ye Chongming’s expression upon learning of this made him want to laugh.
At that point, no matter how unwilling Ye Chongming might be, and regardless of whether Ye Yaming was already engaged to a scholar, he would have to hold his nose and beg Meng Chengwei to take Ye Yaming as a concubine.
Note the word “beg”!
Hmph, once Ye Yaming became his concubine, wouldn’t the Ye family be at his mercy? With just a few trivial gestures, they would have to present him with their tea-making methods. All the tea growers and tea leaves would become his possessions.
He hadn’t wanted to resort to this, but the Ye family had forced him to this point.
Meng Liang had been by Meng Chengwei’s side for two or three years and understood this distant cousin’s nature all too well.
Seeing him with half-closed eyes, showing that expression of determined confidence, Meng Liang felt a sense of foreboding.
He lowered his head, trembling slightly: “I have people watching her. But that Third Young Lady is truly strange. She has stayed at home these past few days without going out at all.”
As he expected, a teacup flew towards his face. Meng Liang, quite experienced in such situations, protected his face with his elbow. Even so, the teacup still struck his arm painfully.
Fortunately, Meng Chengwei had finished the tea in the cup; otherwise, it would have been more than just painful.
Meng Chengwei’s servants were filled with trepidation.
As soon as they heard the report, they had quietly stepped back a few paces, worried that their master’s rage might harm them.
Meng Chengwei was usually fine, not easily angered, at most just scolding people. But once his plans against others repeatedly failed, his accumulated anger became terrifying.
Meng Liang was, after all, his clan brother. Meng Chengwei couldn’t afford to offend everyone in his clan, so when he threw things at Meng Liang in his anger, Meng Liang could dodge or block with his hands.
But for the servants, if they dared to dodge or block, the punishment that followed would be even more severe. So they could only stand there and endure it, whether it meant death or injury—that was their fate!
“What about the other girls in the Ye family? As long as they’re around the right age, any will do,” Meng Chengwei no longer cared about his preferences.
Due to his cunning and ruthlessness, even his parents and siblings dared not provoke him. Ironically, his aunt, who was struggling for position in the palace, admired his cunning and ruthlessness, so he was a little tyrant both at home and outside.
Over the years, he had gotten whatever he wanted.
Of course, the Capital City was full of powerful figures. Although his aunt was one of the four consorts, she wasn’t favored. The Meng family wasn’t particularly prominent either. Being a clever person, he knew how to assess situations. He wouldn’t dare provoke those he couldn’t afford to offend. Even if others offended him, he wouldn’t rashly use underhanded methods, fearing that it might be traced back to him.
Lin’an City also had countless connections with the Capital. He wouldn’t dare touch those with backgrounds. But the small Ye family, without power or influence, without background—that whole family, old and young, had never experienced major storms and were incredibly naive—couldn’t he mold them however he wanted?
Yet, he had repeatedly stumbled when dealing with the Ye family. How could this not drive him mad?
“Yes, yes, I’ll go inquire again right away.” At this moment, Meng Liang wished to be as far away from Meng Chengwei as possible, so upon hearing these words, he departed swiftly.
Meng Chengwei looked at his strategist, Liu Qilin: “Manager Liu, do you have anything to say?”
Liu Qilin very much wanted to say that he had nothing to say, but he didn’t dare.
After thinking for a moment, he said: “The day after tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. We need to find an opportunity to make a move on the Ye family’s young lady. It seems unlikely that we can make the Ye family come seeking cooperation anytime soon. Why don’t we target the tea growers who work with the Ye family? Spend more silver and lure all the growers away.”