“Although Madam Yin favors her natal family, she’s not so foolish as to sacrifice herself for others. If we hadn’t mentioned bringing in a son-in-law, Madam Yin might have considered her natal family’s interests and married her daughter into the Yin family. But now that we’ve mentioned bringing in a son-in-law, she must consider her interests,” Ye Chongming said.

“What I meant was, you should prevent Yin’s third sister-in-law from pressuring Madam Yin to betroth Yin’er to her son after failing to secure Ming’er.”

Old Lady Ye’s expression changed.

The third sister-in-law’s son was fifteen years old, one month younger than Ye Yaming. He would be a suitable match for Ye Yaming, who was the same age, and he would also be acceptable for thirteen-year-old Ye Yayin. After all, Madam Yin had two daughters, and the third sister-in-law might want to marry either one of them.

What the elderly Ye couple hadn’t anticipated was that due to the widespread commotion over Song Yifeng’s imprisonment for writing forbidden poetry, the earlier rumors about his ungrateful betrayal in breaking off the engagement with the Ye family—which had spread along the street where scholars and the Song family lived—were frequently brought up again.

When discussing forbidden poetry, people were extremely cautious, but there were no such reservations about discussing broken engagements. People particularly enjoyed gossiping about such matters, which led many to have sudden inspirations.

“What’s so special about Song Yifeng? When he was engaged to the Ye family’s daughter, he wasn’t even a xiucai scholar. Although I’m only a xiucai now, with my abilities, becoming a juren is just a matter of time. The Ye family may be merchants, but they’re wealthy! If they can give me several hundred taels of silver to spend annually, what’s wrong with marrying a merchant’s daughter?”

“Exactly! If they give several hundred taels of silver before marriage, who knows how much dowry they’ll provide at the wedding.”

“We exhaust ourselves studying for exams, aren’t we just pursuing fame and fortune? Many who pass the jinshi examination still struggle on meager salaries in the capital. If we become xiucai or juren scholars and then marry a wealthy young lady, we’ll have both status and money—now that’s living the good life.”

“Hey, do you think the Ye family would look favorably on just any scholar? Look at yourself in the mirror first.”

“…”

Not only were those with no official titles or those who had merely obtained the tongsheng or xiucai degrees interested, but tea merchants were also quite tempted.

Those who were more proactive immediately engaged matchmakers to propose marriage to the Ye family.

Old Lady Ye was thoroughly annoyed by the disturbances.

Fortunately, she told each matchmaker about the plan to bring in a son-in-law and gave them red envelopes. Once several matchmakers spread the word, those people finally gave up their intentions.

Those who sent people to propose marriage were not common peddlers but had some academic achievements or family assets, and they were after the substantial dowry that Ye Yaming would bring.

Such people, naturally, would not consider becoming live-in sons-in-law in a merchant family.

Then another batch of people became active.

Those who had relatives in the countryside living difficult lives with many brothers thought it would be beneficial to send one to become a son-in-law in the Ye family. He would enjoy a comfortable life and could also help support his parents and brothers. Even the city relatives could benefit from this connection.

So another wave of matchmakers arrived at their door.

This time, Old Lady Ye was noticeably more serious. She began to listen to what the matchmakers had to say, learning about the potential matches they proposed, and sent people to verify the information.

As for the Yin family, when Madam Yin had returned home after Song Yifeng broke off the engagement, she had already told her parents about keeping Ye Yaming at home to bring in a son-in-law. Moreover, Yin De’an had maintained strict moral standards all his life and had high expectations for his sons.

He had allowed his daughter to marry into the Ye family because of their good family values. Ye Chongming and Old Lady Ye were kind and reasonable people, and Ye Hongsheng was honest and kind-hearted. From Ye Chongming to the eldest son Ye Hongchang, none had taken concubines, and Ye Hongsheng had indicated he would not take concubines either—only then had Old Master Yin given his consent.

Regarding Ye Yaming’s broken engagement, Old Master Yin was already blaming himself heavily. How could he possibly have designs on her marriage prospects or covet her dowry? When the third Mrs. Yin came to the Ye household to speak at length with Madam Yin, she had kept it from the Yin family. But such matters couldn’t be kept secret for long, and when Old Master Yin and Old Madam Yin found out later, they severely reprimanded her.

Therefore, the Yin family wasn’t a concern.

As for other marriage proposals, they were all handled by Old Lady Ye. Even Madam Yin couldn’t interfere, much less bring them directly to Ye Yaming.

Ye Yaming was called to the main courtyard every few days to dine with Ye Chongming and Old Lady Ye. One day, she couldn’t help but say to Old Lady Ye, “Grandmother, the red envelopes for the matchmakers don’t need to be so generous. If you give too much money, these matchmakers won’t care who the other party is. As long as someone hires them to matchmake, they’ll come to our door. It doesn’t matter if they’re just collecting red envelopes, but aren’t you tiring yourself out, Grandmother?”

Old Lady Ye, who came from the Mei family and had been a wealthy lady all her life, was certainly aware of these principles.

She said, “But what if? What if there’s someone suitable? Grandmother’s fatigue is nothing. As long as we find you a good husband, everything is worth it.”

Ye Yaming: “…”

That’s fine, then.

After all, she had no expectations for love. Old Lady Ye wouldn’t harm her, and ultimately she would need to agree to any match. Why not let her grandmother do the initial screening? It would also give the elderly lady something to do, so she wouldn’t be too bored.

During this time, Ye Yaming hadn’t been idle either; she was drawing designs for tea sets.

The five design drawings she had previously given to Lu and Qi represented a new concept in tea ceremony and tea set design. Lu and Qi had given her a share of the tea set business profits. But now that they were hiring others to draw designs, the payment structure was different. Generally, it was fifty to two hundred taels of silver per set of designs—note that it had to be a complete set. The flexibility in payment mainly depended on the quality of the designs.

Drawing tea sets was second nature to Ye Yaming; she had seen countless tea sets in her previous life. This was essentially free money for her. So she drew some more designs to earn extra income. The money for buying an estate might not be enough, and she would still need to borrow from her grandmother.

Initially, she hadn’t wanted to be too greedy and wanted to leave opportunities for others, so she drew only five more sets of designs and stopped after earning a thousand taels of silver.

Unexpectedly, her designs were superior to others’. Lu Guanyi told Ye Chongming to let her draw as many as possible, so Ye Yaming unapologetically drew ten more sets, earning two thousand taels of silver.

One day, Old Lady Ye invited her three granddaughters to join her for breakfast. After the meal, she said, “In a few days, it’s Old Lady Wang’s sixtieth birthday. You’ll come with me.”

“Yes, Grandmother.” Ye Yaqing had a gentle temperament and immediately agreed.

Ye Yayin looked toward her elder sister.

Ye Yaming put down her teacup. “Grandmother, I’d rather not go.”

She had attended many such banquets in her previous life. Although the times and places were different, the tedium of such events remained the same.

Besides being boring, these events were essentially large-scale matchmaking venues. Middle-aged and elderly women would showcase their children and observe others’, hoping to find potential matches.

Instead of wasting time putting on a stiff smile and socializing with strangers, she would rather stay home and read a few more books.

She turned to Ye Yayin: “If Yin’er wants to go, you can go with Second Sister. Stay close to her, and make sure your maids keep a close eye on you.”