Although both men wore hats with their cloaks and kept their heads down while descending the steps—and despite Fang Xing blocking most of the peddler’s view, making it difficult to see the faces of Ye Chongming and his companion—the peddler recognized their clothing. In a fleeting glance, he saw one person lift his head, revealing the face of Ye Hongchang.
Behind the two men followed Ye Yaming, wrapped in a dark green cape that revealed purple skirt hems below.
Half her face was concealed by the fox fur trim of her cape’s hood. However, the peddler had earlier seen the maid in a green jacket beside her. Judging by her figure, clothes, and accompanying maid, the peddler knew this was the Third Miss Ye.
Seeing the peddler desperately craning his neck to look at Ye Chongming and the others, Fang Xing abruptly turned the man’s face away, his expression frosty as he warned, “If your eyes continue to be so disrespectful, I’ll have them dug out.”
“Hehe, I wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare. I was just curious, never having seen what noble families look like, so I took a curious peek. Didn’t see anything else, didn’t see anything else,” the peddler said with an ingratiating smile.
“Move,” Fang Xing dragged and pulled him, depositing him at the base of the wall about ten meters from the Ye family gate. Six also carried the peddler’s burden pole and dropped it beside him.
While the road in front of the Ye residence wasn’t forbidden to pedestrians, it wasn’t a main thoroughfare and rarely saw foot traffic. Even when people did pass by, they walked along the opposite side and wouldn’t approach the Ye family gate, especially when female members of the household were coming or going, let alone stare fixedly at the women.
The peddler had been discourteous, so Fang Xing’s actions were not unreasonable.
Under normal circumstances, even if someone approached the gate out of curiosity, the doorkeeper would simply offer a polite warning, rather than forcibly dragging them away.
“Don’t come near again,” Fang Xing warned the peddler once more, then walked back with Six.
The peddler looked toward the carriages and saw only the Ye family doorkeeper, the steward, and the old woman who were seeing off the family members. The three masters of the Ye family had already boarded the carriage.
“Let’s go!” the driver at the front called out, cracking his whip as the carriage slowly moved forward toward the city gate. The second carriage immediately followed.
Seeing this, the peddler finally picked up his carrying pole and slowly departed with his burden.
After turning into a nearby alley, the peddler abandoned his previous limping gait and walked swiftly with his load.
Arriving at the door of a residence, he looked around to ensure no one was watching, knocked twice, and called out. The door opened, and the peddler entered with his burden.
Inside, he saw two men sitting in the courtyard with servant-like figures standing behind them.
Seeing everyone’s intense gaze fixed on him, he hastily put down his load and went over to bow respectfully.
“Young Master Gu, Manager Jin, I saw clearly that it was indeed the Old Master Ye, the First Master Ye, and the Third Miss Ye who left. I saw their faces clearly, without any mistake.”
Among the two seated men, one was unmistakably Gu Jie, who had previously signed the contract with the Yang family on behalf of Meng Chengwei.
The other, a man in his forties dressed even more magnificently than Gu Jie, was Manager Jin, an administrator sent down from the Capital by the Meng family.
Although through the efforts of the Meng family and Noble Consort Min, Meng Chengwei would only need to serve five months before release—which meant he could return to the Capital in another month—it was a major embarrassment for a merchant to have caused such a downfall for Meng Chengwei, making both Noble Consort Min and the Meng family a laughingstock.
So after settling Meng Chengwei, the Meng family dispatched Manager Jin, saying he was to assist Gu Jie in avenging Meng Chengwei.
Therefore, although the peddler addressed Gu Jie first, Gu Jie knew he wasn’t in charge and turned his gaze toward Manager Jin.
Manager Jin nodded and said, “Now that it’s confirmed, we’ll proceed with the plan.”
Manager Jin had arrived two months earlier and had been having people watch the Ye family, looking for an opportunity when they would leave the city together. Then he could have men disguised as enemies or bandits beat them severely or simply take their lives.
Yet the Ye family never traveled together.
Killing just one would accomplish nothing. If Ye Yaming didn’t know how to process tea, it would be different—killing Ye Hongsheng would lower the quality of Ye family tea, allowing the Yang family to suppress them further, and causing the Ye family to decline.
But both father and daughter in the Ye family’s second branch were skilled at tea processing, and Ye Yaming had even surpassed her father. If Ye Hongsheng died, the impact on the Ye family would be minimal.
As for the Ye family’s only adult grandson, Ye Jiaxing, he was an even less significant figure, not even comparable to Ye Yaming. Killing him would be meaningless.
So they had waited for over two months.
Now, they finally received news that Ye Chongming, Ye Hongchang, and Ye Yaming would be going to the tea garden in Baifeng County on the sixteenth.
This was an uncommonly good opportunity, worth their long wait.
What they didn’t know was that after Ye Yaming, Ye Hongchang, and Ye Chongming had successively entered the Ye family gate, those who emerged were an old escort leader from the security bureau disguised as Ye Chongming, and Guan Ting disguised as Ye Yaming. Only Ye Hongchang remained unchanged.
Among the Ye family servants accompanying the carriages, apart from Meng Ji, Lu’E, and two guards, the others were all security bureau escorts in disguise, including Guan Canghai.
“Will there be any problems? My heart is pounding,” Ye Chongming said anxiously as he returned to the hall and sat down.
“Don’t worry,” Ye Yaming reassured him. “Those people have been in Lin’an for two months. I had their martial skills tested long ago. Chief Guan and his men can handle them completely. At worst, with Chief Guan’s skills, protecting Uncle is certainly no problem.”
She had told Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang not to risk themselves personally, but when ambushed, to capture the assailants and report to the magistrate’s office. However, without a master of the Ye family present, it would be difficult to properly file the complaint.
With her previous life’s skills, plus having learned martial arts from Guan Ting for some time in this life, this body was at least stronger and more agile than before, if nothing else.
But Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang disagreed. Especially Ye Hongchang—Ye Yaming had said this matter should be handled by the first branch, yet at the critical juncture, Ye Yaming was still arranging everything and putting herself at risk, which was unacceptable.
Moreover, if Ye Yaming, a young woman, were ambushed, rumors could easily damage her reputation. For him, a grown man, such concerns were less important.
So he took part.
Accompanying him were Lu’E, who had trained in martial arts under Guan Ting for some time, and Meng Ji, who already possessed martial skills.
Ye Chongming asked, “Do you think they’ll make their move as we go up the mountain, or wait until we come down?”
“As we go up,” Ye Yaming said. “They’ve waited for over two months and are already impatient. For this trip to the tea garden, we don’t even know exactly when we’ll come back down. They won’t have the patience to wait until then. They’ll certainly act today as we ascend.”
She glanced at the water clock in the room: “We’ll know the outcome in two hours.”