Madam Wu understood the subtle hint, picked up a piece of pastry, took a small bite, and praised with a smile, “Oh my, fragrant, glutinous, and soft—truly excellent. Some time ago, I was invited by the wife of Imperial Academy Instructor Wang to attend a banquet at their mansion. I had a pastry called ‘Spiral Cake’ which was also quite special. Your family’s pastry and that one each have their own merits.”

Song Yifeng’s heart skipped a beat, and he looked at Madam Wu with alarm, only to meet her meaningful gaze.

He awkwardly averted his eyes, feeling extremely flustered inside.

Gathering his composure, he made one last struggle, saying to Ye Chongming, “Old Master Ye, do you want to break ties completely? I had originally kept that matter secret out of appreciation for your help to me. If you show no consideration for our relationship, then I won’t keep it secret anymore.”

“You mean the private tea business?” Ye Chongming’s face showed mockery. “I’ve already told you that you only heard rumors. You still want to use this to threaten me? Now, in front of Madam Wu, I can tell you once again that there is no such thing. If you want to report it, go ahead. There’s no need to consider any relationship.”

Song Yifeng’s face suddenly turned bright red, though it wasn’t clear whether from shame or anger.

He glared at Ye Chongming with hatred, then suddenly changed his expression, breaking into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

His voice also became calm: “If that’s the case, then I can rest easy. I wanted to break the engagement precisely because of this matter. Since there is no such thing, then there’s no need to break the engagement.”

With that, he stood up and cupped his hands toward Ye Chongming: “I need to return to my studies. I’ll take my leave now.”

Ye Jiaxing became anxious upon hearing this. He turned to look at Ye Chongming.

Ye Chongming stared at Song Yifeng and also smiled: “Very well. In that case, prepare for the wedding. The marriage will take place within three months.”

Ye Jiaxing became even more anxious. After all this conflict between the two families, if Third Sister married Song Yifeng, who knew what suffering she would endure? No matter how clever she was, she was still a girl, and would be a daughter-in-law. How Madam Yu and Song Yifeng might torment her was more than just talk.

But he also knew that this wasn’t something he could interrupt. He turned his head to look pleadingly at his father.

Ye Hongchang glanced at his son, disappointment subtly visible in his eyes.

This Song Yifeng was younger than his son, yet even when pushed to this point, he was still making one last effort. But his blockhead son couldn’t see through any of Song Yifeng’s intentions. The difference between these two was quite vast.

Song Yifeng walked a few steps, then saw that Guizi was still standing there dumbfounded. Irritated, he turned back and shouted, “Fool! Hurry up and bring the silver back with me!”

“Oh, oh, oh,” Guizi quickly stepped forward, closed the box containing the silver, clutched it to his chest, and hurriedly chased after Song Yifeng.

Song Yifeng had already stopped and was waiting for Guizi. Seeing Guizi catch up, he then strode out.

Seeing Song Yifeng step out of the main door, Ye Jiaxing couldn’t help wanting to call out to his grandfather, but just as his mouth opened, his father tugged at his arm and glared at him forcefully. He swallowed the words that had been about to come out.

Song Yifeng was counting steps in his heart: “One step, two steps, three steps, four steps…” hoping that Ye Chongming would call him back.

But after seven steps, there was still no movement from inside the room.

He did consider just walking away like this. Since the Ye family was insisting on this engagement, at worst, he could just marry Ye Yaming.

Marrying her didn’t mean he couldn’t divorce her later; failing that, he could simply not touch Ye Yaming and directly take a concubine, which would infuriate the Ye family.

And if the Ye family thought they could bind him with this marriage, benefit from his connection, and use his influence, that was impossible. Once he gained power, he would turn around and take revenge on the Ye family.

But he had already told Lord Wang about breaking the engagement; if he didn’t go through with it, the marriage arrangement with Lord Wang’s family would naturally fall through, and he would no longer have the chance to become the son-in-law of a third-rank official after passing the palace examination.

Moreover, was he content to marry a merchant’s daughter? Even if he married Ye Yaming and then divorced her, he wouldn’t be able to marry the daughter of an official family. After all, official families selecting sons-in-law would want someone with a clean family background who had never been married before. And because of how ugly things had gotten with the Ye family, his reputation in this regard would certainly not be good…

So, breaking the engagement was still his best choice. Sacrificing his entire life to save a bit of silver wasn’t worth it.

Having thought everything through in his mind, and seeing that he had walked quite a distance without Ye Chongming calling to stop him, he finally couldn’t keep up the pretense anymore and gave Guizi a signal with his eyes.

Master and servant had planned this. Seeing the signal, Guizi spoke up, his voice quite loud: “Young Master, why don’t… we just break the engagement? Things have become so tense between you and Old Master Ye. Even if you marry Third Miss Ye in the future, the two families wouldn’t get along well.”

Song Yifeng immediately stopped in his tracks.

He looked back, pretended to think for a moment, and said, “You have a point.”

He turned around and walked back to the hall.

Ye Jiaxing finally relaxed and looked at his grandfather with admiration.

It seemed everything was under his grandfather’s control.

What he didn’t know was that Ye Chongming had also been anxious, fearing that Song Yifeng truly wouldn’t break the engagement.

The silver meant nothing to the Ye family, and the engagement had to be broken.

But once they lost the initiative, not only would they be unable to seek justice, they would also be extorted by the Song mother and son.

Song Yifeng said to Ye Chongming, “Guizi is right. Given how tense things have become between our families, there’s no point in continuing this engagement. So let’s break it. But I don’t have that much silver. For the remainder, I can write you an IOU, and repay you when I have the money. Would that be acceptable?”

The idlers who had been eavesdropping at the Song residence had already told Zhou Xiang about how the Song mother and son were raising money, and Ye Chongming knew exactly how much silver Song Yifeng had on hand.

He gave a cold laugh, “As far as I know, Young Master Song has used the silver I gave you over these years to purchase quite a bit of land, which should be worth at least one thousand three hundred taels. Then there’s the house you’re currently living in, for which my family paid one thousand one hundred taels of silver. Since all this property was purchased with my family’s money, I won’t ask for cash from you. You can simply return these properties to my family. These two items together are worth two thousand four hundred taels. Add that to the one thousand five hundred taels you just produced…”

He looked at Wentao: “Mr. Wen, how much more does he owe us?”

Wentao had small counting chips with him.

He calculated quickly, making clicking sounds, and reported a number: “Still owed: six hundred thirty-seven taels.”

Ye Chongming said to Song Yifeng, “Bring those property and land deeds, sign an IOU for six hundred and thirty-seven taels of silver, and we’ll be even.”

Old Madam Ye, who had been sitting silently to the side, suddenly spoke up: “There’s more. Madam Song, Yu, would tell Ming’er during festivals and holidays that other ladies had gold hairpins and jade bracelets, hinting between the lines for Ming’er to give her gold and jade jewelry. Ming’er thought that if she didn’t comply with Madam Yu’s requests and offend her, she would have a hard time after marrying into their family, so she had no choice but to send a piece of gold or jade jewelry to Madam Yu as a New Year’s gift every year. Over seven years, there have been seven pieces of jewelry, worth several hundred taels of silver.”