“Secretary Wu said that he happened to overhear this matter, then sent people to inquire about it and verified it was true,” said Zhou Xiang.

“He said that since scholars read the books of sages and worthies, they should understand the principles of proper conduct better than ordinary people. Song Yifeng’s betrayal and ingratitude completely tarnish the reputation of scholars. How could someone who disregards the kindness of both his in-laws, who funded his studies, and his enlightening teacher ever be loyal to the Emperor, grateful to the court, or respectful to his elders? The bad atmosphere among students in Lin’an City must be cleaned up.”

After listening, Ye Yaming praised, “Impressive!”

Secretary Wu’s speech had taken a moral high ground, making it impossible for anyone to attack him for having “private relations with the Ye family.” As expected of a secretary, his political maneuvering and rhetoric were truly formidable.

“To avoid appearing too deliberate, Mrs. Wu didn’t invite the wives of Secretary Wu’s friends to the banquet that day. Instead, she only mentioned it the next day at Official Li’s mother’s birthday celebration when someone asked about it,” Zhou Xiang continued.

“She spoke entirely from your perspective, sighing that she has a daughter herself and wouldn’t know how to deal with such a situation without dying of anger. She said that such a person has no gratitude and is always looking for greener pastures. Once married, if he found a better opportunity, he would certainly divorce his wife to climb higher.”

“She mentioned that when Secretary Wu told the officials about this matter, apart from lamenting about certain students’ improper conduct, he was also reminding everyone to keep their eyes open and not be deceived by such an ungrateful wolf by marrying their daughters to him.”

Ye Yaming wanted to say “impressive” again.

With Mrs. Wu’s explanation, even if people later discovered that the Ye family was cooperating with Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji, and that the Wu couple was helping the Ye family out of self-interest, no one could criticize the couple.

After all, they were kindly reminding others not to be deceived by Song Yifeng. Those with marriageable daughters could only be grateful to the couple.

“Miss, shall we proceed with our next steps?” Zhou Xiang asked.

Secretary Wu had no private relationship with Wang Wenzi; he hadn’t even invited him to his banquet. But Wang Wenzi’s wife had attended Official Li’s mother’s birthday celebration. Even if she wasn’t present when Mrs. Wu was speaking, she would eventually hear about it.

As a result, Wang Wenzi would certainly not marry his daughter to Song Yifeng. And Song Yifeng’s reputation in Lin’an City was ruined.

Many of their backup plans probably wouldn’t be needed anymore.

Ye Yaming said, “We should proceed. If he can’t become Wang Xuzheng’s son-in-law, he might become the son-in-law of some high official in the capital after passing the imperial examination. So we need to take this opportunity to further destroy his reputation.”

She looked at Zhou Xiang: “Have people spread the word in the streets and alleys, and make sure the students at the prefectural school all know about it.”

“Certainly!” Zhou Xiang cheerfully responded.

After Zhou Xiang left, Ye Yaming looked at Lu’E, who kept glancing at her, and asked, “Lu’E, do you have something to say?”

“Huh?” Lu’E was startled and quickly shook her head. “No, no.”

Seeing Ye Yaming looking at her with a half-smile, she lowered her head sheepishly and mumbled, “I… this servant just feels that you’re being quite ruthless toward Young Master Song. Before, you…”

She didn’t continue, and Ye Yaming didn’t press further.

If it had been the original Ye Yaming, before experiencing what happened later in the capital, even if Song Yifeng had broken off their engagement, she probably wouldn’t have gone to such extremes against him, since she genuinely loved him.

Her attitude toward Song Yifeng had indeed changed too thoroughly. Ye Chongming and Old Madam Ye might not realize it, but she couldn’t hide it from her two maids.

She said, “Lu’E, imagine if you wholeheartedly cared for someone, willing to inconvenience your family members just to give him the best. But then you discover that person betrayed you, and not only betrayed you but tried to step on you afterward. How would you feel?”

Lu’E thought for a moment: “I would want to eat his flesh and pull out his tendons.” She lowered her head in shame. “Miss, I understand now. I was wrong.”

…

At Wang Wenzi’s home, after returning from the banquet, his wife asked her husband, “Have you heard any rumors? About Song Yile.”

Wang Wenzi had also attended Official Li’s mother’s birthday celebration.

Hearing this, he was surprised: “What rumors?”

His wife then told Wang Wenzi everything about Song Yifeng.

She said, “It’s understandable that you don’t know, since you’ve always admired Song Yile greatly. They probably didn’t dare to speak about these things in front of you.”

“At first, they didn’t speak about it in front of us women either, but later Mrs. Lin, who has a good relationship with me, kindly informed me about this matter. She advised me to be careful in choosing a son-in-law and never to marry my daughter to such an ungrateful wolf.”

She glanced at her husband: “I think what they said makes a lot of sense. Fortunately, Song Yifeng was already engaged, and we prevented our daughter from having much contact with him.”

Song Yifeng was quite handsome, and with Wang Wenzi frequently praising him at home, their daughter had become interested in Song Yifeng and always wanted to interact with him.

But because Song Yifeng was engaged, the couple worried their daughter might develop inappropriate feelings, so they had servants keep a close watch, preventing their daughter from contacting Song Yifeng.

Otherwise, their daughter might now be making a fuss about wanting to marry Song Yifeng, which would give them a massive headache.

Wang Wenzi frowned.

He greatly appreciated Song Yifeng’s writing and thought highly of him, believing he would certainly succeed in the spring imperial examination two years later. With Song Yifeng’s scholarly ability, while the first rank might be too much to hope for, he could achieve the second rank of the jinshi degree if he performed normally.

Being so young and achieving the second rank of jinshi, combined with Song Yifeng’s quick mind rather than being a mere bookworm, his prospects were limitless. Wang Wenzi had great expectations for Song Yifeng.

Thus, Wang Wenzi had repeatedly praised Song Yifeng in front of his colleagues and expressed regret that he couldn’t make him his son-in-law.

Now such praise and regret had surely become a joke. Everyone would laugh behind his back that Wang Wenzi couldn’t judge people well and had misjudged Song Yifeng.

He said irritably, “Enough, don’t listen to others’ nonsense. I’ll ask Song Yifeng himself tomorrow about what happened.”

“But this matter was revealed by Secretary Wu,” his wife said. “He wouldn’t just make things up, would he?”

Secretary Wu, although he hadn’t passed the jinshi examination, was meticulous in his thinking, resourceful, careful in his words and actions, and upright. Most importantly, he had no grievances with Song Yifeng and wouldn’t make an enemy of a promising junior candidate for no reason.

The only explanation was that the rumors about Song Yifeng were true, and Secretary Wu particularly despised Song Yifeng’s character.

Wang Wenzi knew this as well, but he was unwilling to admit he had misjudged someone and made himself a laughingstock. He still planned to ask Song Yifeng personally and hear his explanation.

The next day, Wang Wenzi went to the prefectural school. As he got out of his carriage at the main gate, he encountered Zhong Ming arriving on horseback.