She sighed, “What a young lady fears most is being described as having a fierce temperament, being too formidable.”

Hearing this, Ye Yayin grabbed Ye Yaming’s hand, her big eyes full of worry.

“What excuse could I give? Say we’ll meet another time? Do you believe she wouldn’t immediately set a date?” Ye Yaming said. “Besides, she doesn’t genuinely want to spend time with me—she’s calculating against our family on behalf of her own. Their Yang family covets our family’s osmanthus tea recipe and is targeting me.”

Although this was only speculation without confirmation, when facing two young girls who knew little of the world, she wasn’t afraid to assume the worst about the Yang family to teach them about the darkness in the world.

Sure enough, her words frightened Ye Yayin, who exclaimed, “What?”

Ye Yaming looked at her and said seriously, “The Yang family has their eyes on me. If I hadn’t publicly severed ties with Yang Shu, they would certainly have stuck to me like glue. And if they saw I wasn’t falling for their trap, what if they shifted their target to you two? What if they became so unscrupulous as to use the most despicable means to force a marriage?”

“Ah? Surely not?” Even Ye Yaqing was frightened.

“Why not?” Ye Yaming told her sisters everything she could about what Meng Chengwei had done to the Ye family.

“Yet the Yang family cooperates with such a person, even signing a formal contract. What does it mean to be ‘birds of a feather’? What does it mean to ‘wallow in the mire together’? What tactics wouldn’t such people employ? For the sake of face, for so-called reputation, is it worth putting yourself and your sisters in danger?”

Ye Yaming’s alarming words frightened both sisters considerably.

Ye Yayin was scared at heart. Thinking of how her sister was nearly schemed against, she clutched Ye Yaming’s hand and said indignantly, “That Meng and the Yang family are too wicked. Sister, you did the right thing. That’s exactly how you should have spoken.”

She then looked at Ye Yaming with admiring eyes: “Sister, you’re amazing. Those words were so satisfying to hear. You didn’t see how Yang Shu’s brother’s face turned as black as the bottom of a wok.”

Ye Yaming couldn’t help but laugh, pinching her cheek: “As long as you don’t blame sister for being too fierce.”

Seeing Ye Yaqing about to explain, Ye Yaming said, “Sister, you don’t need to explain. I know you mean well. What I’m trying to tell you is that you should think more when facing situations, and your temperament shouldn’t be too soft. Don’t worry too much about consequences. If you worry too much, looking before and after, yielding at every turn, in the end, you’re the one who suffers. And others will think you’re easy to bully.”

Madam Tao had a somewhat domineering personality, which had influenced Ye Yaqing to develop a softer temperament.

“Yes, I understand,” Ye Yaqing nodded.

“Moreover, didn’t I bring up filial piety? Yang Hong mocked Grandfather, and now I’m severing ties with the Yang family. When outsiders hear of this, they’ll only praise me for being filial. What’s wrong with being a bit fierce toward someone who mocks your elders?” Ye Yaming added to comfort her.

Upon returning to the mansion, Ye Yaming went to the main courtyard and told Old Lady Ye about the incident, saying, “I don’t know what they’re thinking. Perhaps they don’t have such intentions, and I’m thinking too negatively about them. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. Now that I’ve severed ties with Yang Shu, whatever scheme they have in mind will be impossible to execute.”

Old Lady Ye stroked her head and sighed, “It’s just hard on you.”

She felt somewhat guilty toward her granddaughter. Her third granddaughter had finally made a good friend, only to end the association because of family matters.

“I don’t find it hard. I’m telling you this because I’m worried they might target Second Sister and Fourth Sister.”

With Ye Yaming’s maturity from her previous life, she didn’t think she had anything in common with Yang Shu. Young girls in this era typically chatted about clothes, jewelry, and what kind of husband they sought. None of these interested her.

She was relieved not to have to deal with friends like Yang Shu.

As for Ye Yaqing and Ye Yayin, she treated them as sisters she wanted to guide, hoping they could develop some of the independence and self-reliance of modern women, making their future lives smoother.

To confirm the Yang family’s intentions, Ye Yaming sent people to watch near both the Ye and Yang households. Sure enough, they discovered that the Yang family had servants watching at the entrance of the alley where the Ye family resided. Once the carriage that Ye Yaming frequently used went out, someone would report to Yang Tai. Not long after, Yang Tai and Yang Shu would appear near where the carriage stopped.

After experimenting like this once, Ye Yaming lost interest in going out.

In her previous life, her parents felt they had completed their reproductive duty after having her, and both had agreed that while they could have fun outside, they weren’t allowed to produce illegitimate children.

Thus, Ye Yaming knew from a young age that she would inherit the family business. She skipped grades from elementary to middle school and didn’t form deep relationships with classmates. During high school vacations, she stayed by her grandfather’s side to familiarize herself with the company and learn management. After graduating from Cambridge, she directly took over the company, keeping extremely busy.

Shopping, looking at clothes and jewelry… even with free time in this life, she didn’t find these activities meaningful, especially not with the Yang siblings watching her like flies.

That day, after Ye Yaming publicly embarrassed the Yang siblings, Yang Tai was extremely angry and decided to abandon the plan to marry Ye Yaming.

However, Yang Hong said, “How did I raise such a coward? She humiliated you, so you should be even more determined to marry her, and then find ways to make her suffer. That’s what a real man would do.”

Yang Tai felt his father made sense, so he ordered people to continue watching Ye Yaming.

When they saw Ye Yaming’s carriage come out and enter a jewelry shop, the siblings hurried over, only to discover that it was Ye Jiaxing’s wife, Madam Guan, wearing a cloak very similar to the one Ye Yaming had worn that day, using her carriage to go buy jewelry.

After that, Ye Yaming never went out again.

Meanwhile, Old Lady Ye’s search for a son-in-law was quite noticeable. The Ye family was serious about bringing in a son-in-law for Ye Yaming.

The Yang family had no choice but to give up their plans.

……

“Grandfather, how are things going with Young Master Lu and Young Master Qi?” Ye Yaming asked Ye Chongming.

During this period, Lu Guanyi had been traveling around with Ye Jiaxing, trying to see if they could pre-order next spring’s tea. Qi Ji had asked a skilled uncle to help collect design drafts, while he went to Xinping Town to supervise the pottery masters making tea sets.

Ye Chongming shook his head: “Your cousin sent someone back with news a few days ago, saying things aren’t going well. Tea everywhere has been pre-ordered. Even if they use connections through the customs office to buy some tea, it wouldn’t be good quality.”

“Which places have they visited?” Ye Yaming asked.

Ye Chongming mentioned several place names.

Ancient place names were different from modern ones. For example, Lin’an, where they lived, was modern Hangzhou; Xinping Town, where Qi Ji went to make tea sets, was modern Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital.

Moreover, since this was a fictional dynasty, even if the geographical locations were the same, none of the names corresponded to the actual historical names of those places.

Therefore, of the several places Ye Chongming mentioned, Ye Yaming only knew two, and this was only because she had been reading various travelogues and miscellaneous books lately, frantically supplementing her knowledge of Great Jin’s geography and history.

And these two places were both in the Zhejiang region.

It seemed that Lu Guanyi and the others were just circling close to home.

It’s the end of the month, do you have any monthly votes? Please give Ling Shui a couple of votes. This book has a niche theme and is performing worse than my previous infrastructure novel, but I’ll continue writing it well. I hope everyone will continue to support it!