Ye Shijie waited for Jiang Li in a private room at the neighboring teahouse.

Early this morning, he had sent someone to wait outside the Jiang estate to deliver a message to Jiang Li’s maid. Ye Shijie asked to meet her in the teahouse’s private room. Though the message was delivered, it wasn’t certain that Jiang Li would personally come to the appointment.

However, Jiang Li did eventually arrive.

The time for entering school hadn’t yet come, and this place wasn’t very far from Mingyi Hall either. A brief conversation with Ye Shijie wouldn’t affect the school schedule. After making proper arrangements, Jiang Li came to the appointment.

In the teahouse, Ye Shijie wore a blue-gray long robe. Though it was a simple color, looking carefully, the fabric of the garment was quite exquisite, and the hidden pattern at the cuffs was rare double-needle embroidery. This young man had thick eyebrows and large eyes, quite handsome, though the gaze with which he observed Jiang Li still held some wariness.

“Cousin Ye.” As Jiang Li spoke, she sat down across from Ye Shijie.

As if shocked by the three words “Cousin Ye,” Ye Shijie froze for a moment, not knowing what to say for a time. After a long while, he finally spoke stiffly: “Why did you help me yesterday?”

In yesterday’s urgent situation, Jiang Li’s sudden appearance had helped Ye Shijie, and he was very grateful to this young lady who had drawn her sword to help. But when sitting under the lamplight in the evening, he suddenly felt something wasn’t right. The second miss of the Jiang family in the capital—wasn’t that the daughter of his deceased young aunt, his cousin?

If it had been someone else drawing their sword to help, Ye Shijie might not have thought much of it. But with Jiang Li being the righteous helper, Ye Shijie absolutely refused to believe there was no conspiracy in this. Tossing and turning sleeplessly all night, Ye Shijie decided to directly find Jiang Li to talk and ask clearly what was going on.

“I call you Cousin Ye—should I have watched my own relative being extorted on the street while I stood by with folded arms?” Jiang Li spoke very naturally, as if quite puzzled why Ye Shijie would ask such a simple question.

Ye Shijie was again choked by Jiang Li’s matter-of-fact tone. After a long while, he gave a cold laugh and said: “Stop joking. Didn’t you look down on us merchants? What’s this talk of relatives?”

Hearing this, Jiang Li asked curiously: “What do you mean by that?”

Ye Shijie glared at him angrily: “Back then, Grandmother traveled all the way to the capital to take you to Xiangyang, but you publicly berated the Ye family as lowly merchants in front of the entire Jiang household and wanted to sever ties with the Ye family!” At this point, Ye Shijie’s chest heaved violently, seemingly very agitated: “After Grandmother returned, she fell seriously ill and rested in bed for a full year before recovering. Now you talk about relatives—are you joking?”

Jiang Li stared at him, blinked her eyes, and marveled: “Did I really say such things?”

Ye Shijie: “……”

“Perhaps Cousin Ye remembered wrongly.” Jiang Li shook her head. “I don’t remember saying such things.”

“You don’t remember?” Ye Shijie said mockingly: “But everyone from our Ye family who was present remembers!”

“Oh, then it seems I really did say such things.” Jiang Li sighed inwardly. No wonder the Ye family severed ties with the Jiang family. If Second Miss Jiang had really said such hurtful things to Old Madam Ye, reconciliation would be the strange thing. However, she wouldn’t simply bear the blame for something that originally didn’t belong to her. Jiang Li said: “Only I truly don’t remember now. May I ask Cousin Ye, when I said these words, how old was I?”

Ye Shijie said coldly: “Five years old.”

“Five years old.” Jiang Li frowned. “Logically that should be an age of understanding, yet I alone don’t remember this matter. Doesn’t Cousin Ye find this somewhat strange?”

“What excuse are you trying to make now?” Ye Shijie stared at her.

“I want to say that I was young at the time, and Grandmother was far away in Xiangyang. My mother died early, and Father was busy with government affairs, mostly looked after by my stepmother. What I said wasn’t necessarily not taught by someone, or I was threatened by someone to say such things.”

Ye Shijie was about to make some sarcastic remarks when, seeing Jiang Li’s serious expression, he couldn’t help but freeze.

Jiang Li’s words were actually her inner speculation. The original Second Miss Jiang had been quite young, yet could say such hurtful words. Moreover, this notion that merchants were lowly—if it was truly what Second Miss Jiang believed, someone must have instilled such views in her. Based on Jiang Li’s current observations of Ji Shuran, Ji Shuran’s viciousness might well have been used on the young Second Miss Jiang.

Whether Ji Shuran had coaxed or threatened, in any case it definitely wasn’t Second Miss Jiang’s own idea, but rather had another person’s will influencing it.

Ye Shijie fell silent for a moment. What Jiang Li said made him waver somewhat in his heart. Although he harbored resentment toward Jiang Li, at this moment Jiang Li’s expression didn’t seem false.

“Then what do you want to do now?” After a while, Ye Shijie finally said: “Want to reconcile with the Ye family?”

Jiang Li smiled: “I merely saved Cousin Ye once with minimal effort, and Cousin Ye thinks I want to reconcile with the Ye family. Might as well tell Cousin Ye—if I truly wanted to repair relations with the Ye family, I wouldn’t use your matter to do so.”

“Hmph.” Ye Shijie gave a light snort. His expression was no longer as full of hostility as at the beginning. He said: “You speak lightly and appear righteous, but who doesn’t know how shrewd you are at heart? Otherwise, why didn’t you send Liu Zimin to the authorities, but instead gave him a way out?”

Yesterday when Liu Zimin and Ye Shijie were in dispute, Jiang Li stepped in and reversed the situation with a few words. Originally Liu Zimin had no way to turn things around, but Jiang Li voluntarily gave him a way out, allowing him to escape disaster.

“In the land of Yanjing, various forces are intricate and complex, with many official households. Although the Ye family is enormously wealthy, the Ye family has no official position. Like unprotected fatty meat that anyone can take a bite of. Wasn’t it because of your wealth that Cousin was targeted by Liu Zimin?”

Ye Shijie frowned.

“The Ye family is enormously wealthy, but also commoners. Even minor officials don’t dare contend with major officials, much less commoners versus high officials. Letting Liu Zimin off was actually for Cousin’s benefit. If Cousin had continued relentlessly, the Grand Minister of Ceremonies’ household certainly wouldn’t have let it go. The Liu family can afford the cost, but the Ye family cannot.” Jiang Li said.

Ye Shijie discovered that when Jiang Li spoke these words, her expression grew cold, seemingly containing some resentment at injustice.

Commoners don’t contend with officials. A hint of mocking laughter crossed Jiang Li’s heart. Wasn’t that so? Her Xue family had still been an official family, but just because their official rank was low, in the eyes of noble persons like Princess Yongning they were grass and weeds, to be struck down at will. Justice and truth did indeed exist in the world, but that depended on what one relied upon. Relying on absolute power, even unreasonableness became reasonable.

Ye Shijie said: “Of course I know, otherwise I wouldn’t have spared him once.”

Seeing Ye Shijie like this, Jiang Li understood in her heart—the legitimate eldest grandson of the Ye family was not an impulsive and reckless person either. She asked: “I forgot to ask—why are you in Yanjing City, Cousin?”

Coming from Xiangyang to Yanjing City for no reason—there must be a reason, right?

“I’m studying at the Imperial Academy.” Ye Shijie looked at Jiang Li, his tone somewhat challenging: “Just as you said, the Ye family are commoners without power to protect our family property, so I came to the capital to study and enter officialdom.”

“You want to become an official?” Jiang Li suddenly understood.