He immediately wrote invitation cards and had them delivered to Lu Guanyi, Qi Ji, and Adviser Wu. An hour later, the messenger returned—all three had indeed agreed to attend the banquet.
As for the time of the banquet, it would naturally be during dinner.
Ye Chongming spent the day at the tea house and only returned home at dinner time; by then, Song Yifeng would also have returned from the government school. Song Yifeng would likely come directly to the Ye residence at that time to discuss breaking off the engagement with Ye Chongming.
Upon receiving the replies, Old Lady Ye quickly drafted the menu for tomorrow’s banquet, sent servants out to order and purchase ingredients, and went to a restaurant to invite chefs to prepare the dishes.
Since the matter of breaking off the engagement was not yet complete, Zhou Xiang still had people closely monitoring Song Yifeng. Song Yifeng went about his day as usual, though Wang Wenzhi had summoned him again for questioning.
Zhou Xiang knew the Old Master was concerned and immediately relayed this news to the tea house.
Upon hearing this, Ye Chongming immediately felt relieved: “It’s all set.”
With Wang Wenzhi urging him, Song Yifeng would certainly come to the Ye residence tonight to propose breaking off the engagement. If Yin De’an were to interfere in this matter, many complications would arise. Song Yifeng would not tell him, nor would he approach the matchmaker first. He would likely come to the Ye residence alone to break off the engagement.
Everything was proceeding according to their plan.
Ye Chongming patiently counted the time on the water clock, and when it was almost time, he quickly took a carriage home.
“Are all the dishes for the dinner ready?” he asked Old Lady Ye.
“Don’t worry, everything is prepared,” Old Lady Ye replied.
“Father.”
“Grandfather.”
Ye Hongsheng and Ye Jiaxing, father and son, walked in one after the other.
Ye Chongming looked them over.
Ye Hongsheng had only suffered minor injuries before and had recovered now. With distinguished guests visiting today, he had made a special effort to tidy himself up and appeared in good spirits. Ye Jiaxing, of course, needed no mention.
“Jiaxing, go to the main gate to welcome the guests,” Ye Chongming instructed. “Hongsheng, come with me to wait in the outer courtyard.”
Ye Jiaxing acknowledged with a sound, then asked: “Should we send someone to call Third Sister over?”
Today’s banquet was to entertain male guests, so naturally, it would be held in the side hall of the outer courtyard.
But since this concerned Ye Yaming’s lifelong happiness, she should be present; moreover, Lu Guanyi and others were coming to discuss cooperation matters, which Ye Yaming needed to participate in. However, it would certainly be inappropriate for everyone to eat at the same table. Therefore, how to arrange this banquet required careful consideration.
Ye Chongming had already thought of this and said: “When I sent the invitation to Adviser Wu, I included his wife as well. In a while, your grandmother and Yaming will both go to the outer courtyard to help entertain Mrs. Wu.”
Ye Jiaxing praised: “Excellent.” Then added, “I have no more questions then.”
With that, he dashed out the door and headed toward the main gate.
By this time, Ye Yaming had also arrived, and Ye Chongming led everyone to prepare to go to the outer courtyard.
Before leaving, Ye Yaming reminded him: “Grandfather, you’d better send someone to explain to Fourth Uncle. Otherwise, if the family entertains distinguished guests without notifying him, he might be quite unhappy.”
Ye Chongming and Ye Hongsheng immediately realized what she meant.
Indeed, they still had a troublemaker in the house. He had been caned some days ago and should be able to get out of bed by now.
By rights, as the Fourth Master of the Ye family, Ye Hongrong should be notified when male guests visited the family—this would show respect for his status and position. If guests visited while he was at home, according to propriety, he should also come out to help entertain them.
If they were to pretend he didn’t exist and entertain guests without notifying him, that unfilial creature might get angry and have someone help him to the front courtyard to cause trouble.
Ye Chongming said to Li Fu: “Go to the fourth branch’s quarters and tell him that because of his mistake, our family owes Adviser Wu a great favor. Today I’ve invited Adviser Wu and his wife over for dinner to thank him for suppressing the matter.”
“If he asks for details, tell him that someone had previously arranged for tea customers to cause trouble, which escalated to the government office, and it was Adviser Wu who suppressed the matter. Song Yifeng heard rumors and wants to use this to break off the engagement. I plan to use Adviser Wu’s status to pressure Song Yifeng, so I’m hosting a dinner for Adviser Wu and his wife. Today’s banquet is not convenient for him to attend, so he should stay in his courtyard and recover from his injuries.”
Then he added instructions: “Send several guards over to stand at the entrance of the fourth branch’s courtyard, not allowing anyone from there to move around freely. You assign people to watch over this matter, and do not allow any mistakes.”
“Yes.”
Old Lady Ye had gone to the kitchen herself to arrange the dishes. When she heard that the Old Master had sent people to the fourth branch’s courtyard, she also remembered the troublesome Ye Hongrong and quickly dispatched several older female servants to keep watch.
The whole family was guarding against Ye Hongrong as if he were a great enemy.
After everyone had been waiting in the hall of the outer courtyard for a while, Ye Jiaxing escorted Lu Guanyi, Qi Ji, Adviser Wu, and his wife in together.
Adviser Wu was in his fifties, and his wife, Madam Yue, was someone Old Lady Ye had met before. The constraints on women in this era were not overly strict, so Old Lady Ye and Ye Yaming did not escort Mrs. Wu to the inner courtyard, but instead sat with the male guests in the main hall of the outer courtyard.
Everyone exchanged pleasantries.
As soon as they met, Mrs. Wu lavished praise on Ye Yaming.
Magistrate Qi was her husband’s employer, and Ye Yaming had contributed greatly to Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji’s business. Now that the Ye family was in a cooperative relationship with Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji, she naturally wanted to flatter Ye Yaming.
Ye Yaming displayed an embarrassed expression and responded with modesty.
Old Lady Ye quickly said: “Don’t praise her too much; children can’t handle excessive praise—it makes them prone to arrogance.”
Seeing this, Ye Chongming felt deeply moved.
Merchants held low social status—they had money but no power, making them easy targets. So everyone tried every means to maintain good relations with the government. Every year, when it came to building bridges and roads, or when various taxes and levies were imposed, everyone, while pained by the expense, would pretend to be enthusiastic about donating money and goods, flattering Adviser Wu, who represented Magistrate Qi in their dealings.
To say he had a relationship with Adviser Wu was entirely bought with money. If he hadn’t been among the first to donate money, been the head of the tea guild, and didn’t presented lavish gifts every year, would Adviser Wu even know who he was?
But now, because of Ye Yaming’s demonstrated abilities, they had formed a cooperative relationship with Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji, and Adviser Wu’s attitude had made a complete 180-degree turn. Since he couldn’t openly change his attitude, he had his wife display a flattering posture.
Indeed, it was best to follow Ye Yaming’s advice and find one or two high-status, reliable people to cooperate with—that was the correct path for the Ye family to take.
While Mrs. Wu was praising Ye Yaming, Qi Ji and Adviser Wu were exchanging pleasantries with Ye Chongming.
When everyone’s greetings came to a pause, Lu Guanyi addressed Ye Yaming: “Miss Ye, these are the tea sets made by the porcelain master from Xinping Town as I requested. Please take a look and see if there’s anything inappropriate.”
Hearing this, the servant standing behind him brought forward a bamboo box he was carrying. Bai Rui quickly stepped forward to take the box, opened it, and took out the tea sets, arranging them one by one on the small table beside Ye Yaming.