Helpless because his daughter liked Song Yifeng, and with his father single-mindedly wanting to find support in official circles, along with Song Yifeng being particularly promising in this regard, the whole Ye family was hoping he would pass the imperial examination so that their family could operate more freely in the business world. With no alternative, Ye Hongsheng had reluctantly accepted this engagement.

Now, hearing Ye Yaming’s words, even someone as mild-tempered as he became furious.

“This ungrateful wretch! How could he study? How could he pass the county and provincial examinations? If our family hadn’t supported him, how could he enjoy his current glory? He hasn’t even passed the imperial examination yet, and he’s already looking down on you. What would happen if he passed the imperial examination? This engagement must be broken off immediately.”

Finally, he added with relief: “Yaming, it’s so good that you’ve come to your senses in time. I’ve always said that boy wasn’t a good match. You’ve been pouring your heart out to them, but how many smiles has he given you in return? He’s already treating you this way while using our family’s money. Once you’re married and he passes the imperial examination, who knows what kind of life you’ll have.”

He snorted coldly: “That Madam Yu, I don’t think she’s a good person either. She hides malice behind her smile, always putting on an act and calculating.”

In truth, Madam Yu’s acting was quite convincing. If not for the memories from the original owner’s previous life, based solely on their brief encounter, Ye Yaming wouldn’t have been able to tell that she was hiding malice behind her smile.

Grandmother Ye and Madam Tao, who had spent their lives in the inner courtyard and had frequent dealings with Madam Yu, hadn’t they also failed to see what kind of person she truly was? Of course, perhaps it wasn’t that they hadn’t seen clearly, but rather that their vision was obscured by Song Yifeng’s “talent” and their expectations for the future.

Madam Yin, as the original owner’s birth mother, was very loving towards her daughter, yet she too was deceived by self-interest. She preferred to believe in the restraint and control that the Ye family’s wealth exerted over Madam Yu, so even if she noticed Madam Yu’s impropriety, she deceived herself, unwilling to believe her own eyes.

So, the actions of Grandmother Ye and Madam Tao were understandable.

Although Ye Hongsheng’s words carried much of his emotion, it had to be said that his assessment was spot on, hitting the nail on the head. Compared to Madam Yin, he was more clear-headed and more loving toward his daughter.

Who said her father was dull and incompetent? Wasn’t he quite perceptive about this issue?

“Father, please don’t spread this matter yet. You can hint at it to Mother, but don’t directly tell her I want to break the engagement. With the Song family, it’s not as simple as just breaking the engagement. I will discuss this matter properly with Grandfather, to make the Song family return the silver they’ve received over the years,” said Ye Yaming.

“Good, good, good.” Hearing that Ye Yaming planned to tell Ye Chongming about her intention to break the engagement, Ye Hongsheng finally believed she was sincere about it.

He quickly said, “Everything else is secondary; we must ensure your reputation isn’t damaged.”

“Yes, yes, I understand. Please don’t worry,” Ye Yaming smiled. “Let’s go, we have important matters to attend to.”

After that, the father and daughter visited all the remaining customers.

Because Ye Chongming had chosen honest families, exchanging the tea went very smoothly.

Although they had more customers assigned to them, Ye Chongming’s customers were more difficult to deal with, so the completion rate was about the same on both sides. When they returned to the Ye residence, they happened to meet Ye Chongming, who was just getting out of his carriage at the gate.

“Grandfather, did everything go smoothly?” Ye Yaming quickly stepped forward to ask.

Seeing Ye Yaming, Ye Chongming’s eyes grew exceptionally gentle, and his face carried a smile: “It went well. There were some complications, but ultimately it was resolved. How about your side?”

“Also smooth,” Ye Yaming asked curiously, “What complications were there? Are there any potential issues?”

Ye Chongming saw that his second son had also come over. He stepped through the main gate, and only after they were far from the entrance did he say, “Hmph, they just made noise about reporting to the authorities. I bluntly told them I would report how they colluded with Ding Jian to counterfeit Ye family tea, and even pretended to invite Secretary Wu to mediate. Only then did they quiet down.”

If this contraband tea hadn’t been labeled with the Ye family name, after collecting the tea cakes from others, just those two men wouldn’t have been able to cause much trouble. At that point, Ye Chongming would only need to say they were making false accusations. After all, ruffians and hooligans extorting traveling merchants with fake goods was a common occurrence.

The Ye family had operated in Linan City for generations, amassing considerable wealth, and naturally had established connections with the officials.

Whenever Prefect Qi Zhipei needed to repair bridges, build roads, or provide disaster relief, hadn’t the Ye family always strongly supported him? His subordinate, Secretary Wu, received tributes from the Ye family every year. As for whether Secretary Wu kept these tributes for himself or passed the majority up to Qi Zhipei, those in the know understood.

The factional struggles in the capital were extremely complex. Meng Chengwei’s indirect approach to interfering with the Jiangnan tea market showed that he was not in the same faction as Qi Zhipei in the court, and his hand couldn’t reach into the Customs Office.

Therefore, as long as the Ye family’s contraband tea incident wasn’t made public knowledge, the Ye family had nothing to fear from the authorities.

Unfortunately, that fool Ye Hongrong, under Ding Jian’s manipulation, had labeled all the contraband tea with the Ye family’s tea mark. So those two men thought they could use this point to threaten him? But it was just a threat. Without others’ cooperation, the two of them couldn’t stir up much trouble.

When the two men heard Ye Chongming mention “Meng Chengwei,” they immediately backed down.

They were locals who still needed to live in Linan. Helping Meng Chengwei, the outsider, secretly was one thing, but openly confronting the Ye family would bring them no benefits.

So after Ye Chongming promised them some benefits, they expressed that not only would they not pursue the matter, but they also wouldn’t speak of it to others.

Thus, this potential problem was considered resolved.

“I’m very curious, how did you know that Meng Chengwei was behind this?” Ye Chongming asked.

With his matters settled smoothly, he had returned to the tea house and sent Ding Jian and the two assistants to the authorities, accusing them of colluding with Meng Chengwei to set a trap for the Ye family.

He did this for two reasons: first, to file a case with the authorities, preventing Meng Chengwei from causing further trouble with this incident; second, to indirectly inform Qi Zhipei that the Linan tea market was being targeted.

On the way, he had questioned Li Fu and Liu Chunxin separately, learning about Ye Yaming’s interrogation process with Liu Chunxin.

Regarding this matter, Ye Yaming had already prepared her explanation.

“When Elder Brother fell from his horse, by such a coincidence, Meng Chengwei happened to be nearby; knowing that Elder Brother had attendants, he still eagerly sent him home. Offering help for no reason suggests ulterior motives. I felt there was a trap. Then, as soon as we returned, the tea house had an incident. So I tried mentioning Meng Chengwei’s name to Liu Chunxin to see if my guess was correct, and unexpectedly, he confessed.”

Hearing this, Ye Chongming was speechless for quite some time.

He didn’t know whether to praise this child for being too perceptive and intelligent, or to say that she thought too negatively of people.

Generally, children of her age who hadn’t experienced any hardships, growing up in an environment with no worries about food and clothing, should see everything as beautiful and be full of trust in people.

Not just Ye Yaming, even he, a man in his sixties, wouldn’t have suspected Meng Chengwei, who appeared so benevolent at first meeting. He didn’t know whether her attitude was good or bad.

But no matter what, due to her perceptiveness, the Ye family had escaped a disaster.