However, spending such a large sum of money at once was quite challenging for the Ye family, who urgently needed silver to pre-order spring tea.

But Ye Chongming couldn’t worry about that now.

If they couldn’t get past this hurdle, there would be no future for the Ye family. He simply couldn’t think about next year’s spring tea orders right now.

Ye Chongming glanced at Ye Yaming: “Be polite and say nice things. Even if they say something unpleasant, we must endure it. If they make any demands, as long as they’re not too excessive, just agree to them.”

He spoke solemnly: “Remember, only by calming the situation can our family have a future. Otherwise, if we face a lawsuit, our family is finished.”

“Yes, I understand,” Ye Hongsheng responded.

Ye Chongming ignored him and looked at Ye Yaming instead.

Ye Yaming smiled at him: “Grandfather, please don’t worry, I know what to do. However, the households you’re planning to visit may be difficult to deal with. Why not assign more of those easy-going, kind-hearted families to us? This way, we can resolve everything in one day.”

Ye Chongming had just chosen to take the three new customers and several difficult-to-handle regular customers for himself.

Ye Chongming stroked his beard: “All right.” He assigned several more households to Ye Yaming and her father.

Among them was a new customer whom even Ding Jian didn’t know well.

If at the beginning Ye Chongming had been extremely concerned about his second son, choosing him only because there was no better candidate—after all, he was the Second Master of the Ye family and could represent them, with Song Dequan accompanying him to cover any shortcomings—now with Ye Yaming present, he was much more at ease with the father-daughter team. If they truly couldn’t handle that new customer, he could still personally visit later. In any case, these people were to be dealt with first. The regular customers were left for later.

And with Ye Yaming taking charge, Song Dequan could remain at the tea house to watch over Ding Jian and the two assistants. This would prevent them from escaping while everyone was busy outside, causing further problems at the tea house and new complications.

Moreover, he was now somewhat wary of Song Dequan as well.

He stood up: “Then let’s proceed.”

Ye Yaming put away the list and stopped him: “Grandfather, there’s one more thing. I feel that Meng Chengwei intends to attack us from multiple directions—striking us in various ways while also showing goodwill: both weakening our strength and gaining our favor. So I think he might have other arrangements in place.”

“My eldest uncle is returning from the capital with the tea money and is probably on the road now. I’m concerned that if Meng Chengwei’s first plan fails, he might have people disguised as bandits rob them. If the tea money is lost, we won’t be able to pre-order next spring’s tea. Perhaps we should ask the escort agency to meet my eldest uncle to prevent any accidents.”

The original owner didn’t manage the family business affairs, but she remembered that one year, her eldest uncle had been severely injured, almost died, and the family atmosphere had been very tense. Her grandfather and father had returned home very late during that period. When she asked her father about it, he simply told her not to concern herself with it.

Because the original owner’s memory about when Ye Hongchang was injured was somewhat vague, Ye Yaming hadn’t initially thought about this. Now, after Ye Hongrong’s incident, she suspected that Ye Hongchang’s injury might have occurred during this very return journey from the capital with the tea money.

If the tea money was robbed and Ye Hongchang severely injured, it would be a double blow to the Ye family. So, regardless of whether it happened during this particular occasion, taking preventive measures was never wrong.

Ye Chongming’s heart tightened.

He truly hadn’t thought about this.

Regardless, since Meng Chengwei was targeting the Ye family, they needed to take precautions. The tea money could not be lost; otherwise, even if they resolved the immediate problem, the Ye family would still find themselves in dire straits.

“Good. After I visit those two new tea customers, I’ll personally go to the escort agency and ask them to meet your eldest uncle,” he said.

At this point, besides the Ye family members, he couldn’t trust anyone. Ding Jian had received great kindness from the Ye family, yet was bought by Meng Chengwei; he didn’t dare entrust such an important matter to Song Dequan. He had to go to the escort agency himself to feel at ease.

“Good,” Ye Yaming felt slightly relieved.

…

The first household she and Ye Hongsheng visited was the residence of that new customer.

In the center of Linan City was a large lake, with nobles and wealthy families residing along the northern and southern shores of the eastern side, living by the lakeside.

Although the Ye family wasn’t particularly wealthy in Linan City and had no connection to nobility, they had lived there for generations. Ye Chongming’s father, wanting to live among the elite, had spent a considerable sum to purchase their current residence in this area.

That new customer, named Lu Guanyi, lived in a residence not far east of the Ye mansion.

The tea house was located on Qinghe Street, not far from there. Ye Yaming and Ye Hongsheng took a carriage and arrived in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Seeing the tightly closed vermilion door of the residence, Ye Hongsheng was both disappointed and anxious: “Why aren’t they home?”

In this era, households with servants didn’t normally keep their doors closed, instead posting servants to guard the entrance. Servants coming and going would be questioned to prevent them from escaping with stolen goods; masters could conveniently enter and exit, and when guests arrived, someone would be there to announce them, preventing the situation where knocking went unanswered for a long time.

So seeing that Lu’s door was closed, Ye Hongsheng felt that this person might have gone on a distant journey and wasn’t in Linan City.

Ye Yaming, as a modern person, didn’t think a closed door meant anything significant. She raised her chin, indicating to the somewhat dazed Li Fu: “Go knock on the door.”

Li Fu shared the same thought as Ye Hongsheng. However, since Ye Yaming had given an order, he naturally didn’t dare disobey and quickly went forward to knock.

After knocking several times with no response, Li Fu was about to turn and report to Ye Yaming when suddenly the main door creaked open, and a round head poked out: “Who is it?”

Li Fu saw that the person was a slightly chubby servant of sixteen or seventeen, with a round head and large round eyes. When he smiled, there were two dimples at the sides of his cheeks, giving him a very auspicious appearance.

He hurriedly stepped forward, cupped his hands in greeting, and smiled: “Our master and young miss are the owners of Ji Xiang House. The other day, your master bought several cakes of compressed tea from Ji Xiang House. There was an issue with that tea. Our master and young miss have come to apologize to your master, reclaim the tea, and hope that you will go in and announce us.”

As he spoke, he handed over the visiting card.

Normally, in households that observed proper etiquette, servants would first deliver visiting cards, and after the master accepted them, guests would later visit at the agreed time.

Unfortunately, given the urgency of the Ye family’s situation, they couldn’t observe these formalities and had to arrive as uninvited guests.

After hearing Li Fu’s words, the chubby servant glanced at the carriage, seeing a man of about thirty wearing blue silk clothing standing beside it, with a strikingly beautiful young lady next to him.

Upon seeing Ye Yaming, the smile on his face disappeared, his brows furrowed, and his eyes flashed with impatience.

He lowered his head to look at the visiting card in his hand, then said to Li Fu: “Wait.”

With that, he retreated inside, closing the door with a “bang” and sliding the bolt with a “click.”

Not just Li Fu, but everyone standing by the carriage was stunned.