“Sister, please come too,” Ye Yayin pleaded softly.

Ye Yaming looked at Old Lady Ye and explained with slight reluctance, “I don’t want to go and listen to people asking about my plans to bring in a son-in-law.”

After all, the original owner of this body had loved attending such banquets. Since she was now unwilling to participate, she needed to give a reason.

Old Lady Ye wouldn’t force her anyway, and upon hearing her words, she said, “If you don’t want to go, don’t force yourself.”

To be honest, thinking about how the various madams and old ladies would ask about this topic and how she would have to repeatedly give the same explanation, she found it quite annoying as well.

Two days later, she took her two granddaughters and Madam Tao to attend Old Lady Wang’s birthday banquet. Upon returning, Ye Yayin said, “Sister, Elder Sister Yang Shu asked why you didn’t come. She said she would invite you to go shopping tomorrow.”

Ye Yaming frowned. “How did you respond to her?”

“I said you weren’t feeling well these days, and I couldn’t accept the shopping invitation on your behalf,” Ye Yayin replied.

Ye Yaming reached out and stroked her smooth, delicate cheeks that still held a hint of baby fat. “Well said.”

Ye Yayin noticed that after saying this, Ye Yaming lowered her head to read her book without continuing the conversation. She couldn’t help but ask, “Sister, aren’t you going to send a servant to the Yang family with a response?”

“No,” Ye Yaming said. “If I don’t respond, I think she’ll understand my meaning.”

She explained to Ye Yayin the business grievances between the Ye family and the Yang family, saying, “I met Yang Shu at banquets before, and gradually we became friends. The family didn’t stop us from associating. But now we’re older, and we each need to consider our own family’s interests. Yang Shu came to sound me out a few days ago, wanting me to marry her brother Yang Tai. She’s not purely acting in my best interest, but rather…”

She explained the Yang family’s intentions to Ye Yayin.

Usually, because Ye Yayin was a girl and still young, the family never discussed these matters with her. In Ye Yaming’s view, this was wrong.

It’s worth noting that Ye Yayin had her social circle. Knowing nothing made her vulnerable to being used or set up at banquets.

Ye Yayin listened with wide eyes.

“You’re old enough now, and you should understand some family matters. When attending banquets, when someone is kind to you or unkind to you, you need to know why. Someone being nice to you doesn’t mean they like you; they might have ulterior motives,” Ye Yaming patiently instructed her.

“Yes, I understand,” Ye Yayin nodded vigorously.

“If you have any concerns, tell Sister, and come to visit me often,” Ye Yaming added.

“Mm-hmm.”

After staying still for so long, Ye Yaming felt the need for movement. Although she enjoyed the leisurely life of staying at home, she couldn’t always be confined indoors. A few days later, she invited Ye Yaqing and Ye Yayin to go shopping with her.

But shortly after sitting down in a jewelry shop, she saw a young man and woman coming up from downstairs.

“Yaming, you’re here to buy jewelry too? What a coincidence!” Yang Shu lifted her skirt and ran over.

Ye Yaming looked at Yang Tai, who was smiling at her, then at the delighted Yang Shu, and raised her eyebrows.

“Yes, quite a coincidence,” she smiled.

Yang Shu glanced at Yang Tai, then at the three Ye sisters, and said coquettishly to Yang Tai, “Brother, I want to look at jewelry with Yaming and her sisters.”

Yang Tai showed a doting expression. “Alright, go ahead.”

Yang Shu then turned to Ye Yaming and said, “You don’t mind my brother standing nearby, do you? He lost a bet with me two days ago and said he’d accompany me all day today and pay for my purchases.”

What could Ye Yaming say? She could only say, “I don’t mind.”

Regardless of whether the Yang siblings had intentionally or unintentionally come here, she had no intention of associating with the Yang family.

The matter of the Yang family’s collaboration with Meng Chengwei might be concealed from others, but not from the Ye family. Such people could only be mortal enemies of the Ye family.

At her signal, Ye Yaqing and Ye Yayin each selected a piece of jewelry, and the three sisters prepared to leave.

“It’s been so long since you’ve gone out, and you didn’t even attend Old Lady Wang’s birthday banquet. Now that I’ve finally run into you, you’re leaving after barely speaking. Yaming, do you have something against me?” Yang Shu protested.

Ye Yaming didn’t know whether today’s encounter with the Yang siblings was truly coincidental or deliberate, nor did she know if they had designs on her marriage prospects, but she truly didn’t wish to have any entanglements with the Yang family.

She withdrew the smile from her face and said, “Yang Shu, there are some things I didn’t plan to say. I thought when you invited me to visit your home and I didn’t send anyone to explain or apologize, you would understand my meaning. But it seems you still don’t understand.”

“Since that’s the case, let me be clearer. Ever since my family faced difficulties and your father went to our teahouse to mock my grandfather, I’ve felt that we shouldn’t associate much anymore. I am a daughter of the Ye family. My grandfather was insulted by your father. If I were to continue smiling at you, calling you sister, I would be unfilial. Returning your greeting in public is just me showing good manners.”

With that, she turned to the stunned Ye Yaqing and Ye Yayin: “Let’s go.” She led the way downstairs.

The two quickly followed.

Yang Shu was dumbfounded by Ye Yaming’s words. By the time she regained her senses, Ye Yaming’s figure was already blocked by Ye Yaqing, who was walking last.

She turned to look at her brother and saw that Yang Tai’s expression was quite unpleasant.

She stammered, “Brother, what should we do?”

The siblings had indeed come today specifically for Ye Yaming.

No matter how strict the Ye family’s supervision was, it wasn’t an impenetrable fortress. Previously, when circumstances were unusual, the Ye family had restricted servants from leaving the mansion freely. Now that Meng Chengwei had been exiled, the Ye family had returned to normal.

With so many servants coming and going from the Ye mansion, as long as enough money was offered, there would always be greedy servants willing to sell information.

So during this period, the Yang family had discovered that the osmanthus tea was created by Ye Yaming. Previously, people had coveted this tea-making method but didn’t know how to obtain it. After all, with no osmanthus flowers now, Ye Yaming had long stopped making tea. Even if they bribed servants, they couldn’t steal the method for making osmanthus tea.

But then heaven helped them—Ye Yaming’s engagement to Song Yifeng was broken.

Yang Hong immediately slapped his thigh and decided to have Yang Tai marry Ye Yaming.

If they brought Ye Yaming into their family, wouldn’t the method for making osmanthus tea belong to the Yang family? Additionally, the best tea maker in the Ye family was Ye Hongsheng. Perhaps the osmanthus tea was developed by him and taught to his daughter. If they could have Ye Yaming go home and ask for guidance, wouldn’t the Ye family’s tea-making methods be passed to the Yang family?

This led to Yang Shu visiting to test the waters, and her repeated attempts to invite Ye Yaming out, so that Yang Tai could appear and win her heart with sweet words.

Unexpectedly, Ye Yaming had such an attitude.

The three Ye sisters boarded their carriage. Ye Yaqing lifted the curtain to glance at the jewelry shop, and seeing that the Yang siblings hadn’t pursued them and that the carriage was successfully leaving the area, she finally relaxed.

“Third Sister, just now you…” she considered her words carefully, “Actually, if you didn’t want to go, you could have just made an excuse. Why did you have to speak so harshly? There were shop owners and clerks in the jewelry shop. If word gets out…”