“Th-Third Miss.” The servant boy stood before Ye Yaming, panting and out of breath. He bowed to her. “Our master asks you to come over and speak with him.”

Ye Yaming raised an eyebrow and walked toward Ye Hongrong.

“Fourth Uncle,” she said, curtseying in greeting.

“I heard you’ve had your engagement broken off?” Ye Hongrong’s tone was somewhat confrontational from the start.

Since her transmigration, Ye Yaming had only seen Ye Hongrong once. That was when Ye Hongsheng returned from Tongxiang. Since Ye Hongrong had been injured and couldn’t go to the main courtyard to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with everyone, Ye Hongsheng had visited him and brought Ye Yaming along.

However, Ye Yaming had only spoken with Madam Zhang outside and hadn’t entered the bedroom. Surprisingly, Ye Hongrong had moved himself out to greet her.

His behavior had struck Ye Yaming as unexpected. Thinking about it later, she realized it might have been because she had helped the family during the private tea incident, and he was grateful to her. That’s why he had specifically come out to greet her.

This suggested that Ye Hongrong might not be as worthless as she’d thought. He understood that the private tea incident had caused trouble for the family and was grateful to her for resolving it.

For a person, regardless of other qualities, as long as they had a conscience and knew gratitude, Ye Yaming felt they could be dealt with.

Therefore, even though Ye Hongrong’s tone was a bit harsh now, she didn’t think much of it and simply replied, “Yes, the engagement is broken.”

“That bastard,” Ye Hongrong cursed, glaring at Ye Yaming. “Why didn’t you tell your Fourth Uncle about this earlier? If I had known, I would have had someone beat that scoundrel to death.”

He continued cursing, “Without our family, he’d probably still be begging on the streets. Now that he’s become a Provincial Graduate thanks to our family’s money, he shows his ingratitude. What a piece of trash!”

He then said to Ye Yaming, “Don’t be sad. It’s better not to marry such a scoundrel; you’d only suffer if you did. Tomorrow, I’ll have someone teach him a lesson—put him in a sack and give him a beating.”

Ye Yaming hadn’t expected that Ye Hongrong was waiting there, leaning on his cane, just to comfort her and seek justice on her behalf.

She smiled and said, “Fourth Uncle, there’s no need. Song Yifeng has already received his retribution.”

“What happened?” Ye Hongrong became excited upon hearing this.

Ye Yaming told him about what had happened.

Of course, she didn’t mention a word about her and the Ye family’s behind-the-scenes manipulation.

Apart from the aunt-nephew pair of Cui Zijin, only she, Ye Chongming, the Old Madam, Zhou Xiang, and Lai Yun knew about this matter. The other servants whom Ye Chongming had assigned to help spread rumors didn’t know about Cui Zijin’s existence.

It was certainly better for fewer people to know about such things. Otherwise, even if the poems were indeed written by Song Yifeng, the charge of framing a scholar could lead to the destruction of the Ye family.

“Ah, that’s truly retribution,” Ye Hongrong laughed. “Now I can rest easy.”

He then seriously said to Ye Yaming, “Yaming, you’re not overthinking this, are you? Let me tell you, it’s fortunate that you broke off the engagement with such a person. Otherwise, our family would have been implicated, and your reputation would have been ruined.”

Ye Yaming nodded and smiled, “Don’t worry, Fourth Uncle. I understand.”

Ye Hongrong was finally reassured. “Alright then, I’ll head back now.” He then supported himself on the servant’s shoulder and slowly walked toward the fourth branch’s quarters.

When Ye Chongming had beaten him, he had shown no mercy. Although the number of strokes wasn’t many, each one was delivered with all of Ye Chongming’s strength. Toward the end, Ye Chongming was exhausted, and Ye Hongrong had passed out. If not for the servants who desperately tried to stop it, with maids and older women kneeling all around, Ye Hongrong might have been beaten to death.

During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the doctor had come to check on him and advised against movement to prevent the newly formed scabs from breaking open. Thus, the fourth branch hadn’t participated in the Mid-Autumn banquet.

Even now, Ye Hongrong was still in this condition, but at least he could get out of bed and walk.

Ye Yaming watched his retreating figure and silently resolved.

Once Ye Hongrong recovered, she would find him something to do and suggest that Ye Chongming assign someone to watch over him. With work occupying his time and energy, and someone keeping an eye on him to prevent him from straying, he probably wouldn’t be able to cause much trouble.

Ye Chongming was an upright person, and although the Old Madam doted on her youngest son, she was not the type to be blind to right and wrong. Even if Ye Hongrong had been spoiled, he couldn’t have gone too far astray.

His wife, Madam Zhang, only liked to compete and assert herself with a sharp tongue. But in truth, she didn’t seem to be a bad person.

As for the eldest sister-in-law, Madam Tao, she had always been valued by Ye Chongming and the Old Madam, and had a good reputation in the family. But in Ye Yaming’s view, she had quite a few hidden agendas.

From a conspiratorial perspective, the previous incompetence of the second branch and the worthlessness of the fourth branch might have been the result of Madam Tao’s behind-the-scenes manipulations.

But this was just Ye Yaming’s speculation; she had no evidence.

Now that she was here, intending to build her tea empire with the Ye family, these internal conflicts within the family needed to be resolved.

A solid and reliable home front was the foundation for success. Otherwise, no matter how hard you worked at the forefront, charging into battle, if someone stabbed you in the back and undermined your defenses through your family members, what use would your bravery or sharp weapons be?

Although Meng Chengwei was ruthless, Ye Yaming had to admit that his choice of Ye Hongrong as an entry point and Ye Jiaxing as a target was extremely accurate.

What Ye Yaming needed to do was to unite and arm all members of the Ye family through Ye Chongming and the Old Madam, forming an iron wall to stand united against external threats.

With these thoughts, she had unconsciously arrived outside the walls of the second branch’s compound.

The elderly woman guarding the gate saw her and quickly bowed, just about to greet her when Madam Yin hurriedly came out from inside.

Seeing Ye Yaming, Madam Yin came forward and grabbed her arm. She was about to speak but, perhaps realizing this wasn’t the right place for conversation, pulled Ye Yaming inside, saying, “Come, mother has something to ask you.”

Ye Yaming followed her into the hall.

Madam Yin sat down and shooed away the maid who wanted to come in to serve tea. She asked Ye Yaming, “Did you know Song Yifeng has been thrown into prison?”

Ye Yaming nodded, “I just found out. I’ve just come from Grandfather and Grandmother’s place. They had just received the news, called me over, and told me about it.”

Madam Yin patted her chest, “Your maternal grandfather heard the news and immediately sent someone to tell me. I was truly startled just now.”

The news of Song Yifeng writing treasonous poetry had caused the greatest stir among scholars. As he was Yin De’an’s student and his granddaughter’s fiancé, those who didn’t know about Song Yifeng’s broken engagement with the Ye family quickly went to inform him.

Yin De’an felt uneasy and immediately sent someone to inform Ye Chongming and Madam Yin.

Thus, Madam Yin, as the mother of the instigator, received the news from her father outside.

She asked again, “Are you alright?”

Ye Yaming shook her head, “I’m fine.” She added, “Fortunately, we broke off the engagement with him. Otherwise, we would certainly have been implicated.”