Seeing Old Mrs. Ye and Madam Yin’s enthusiastic expressions, Ye Yaming had no choice but to follow them to the main chamber.

After selecting two shops and one estate according to the family’s standard allotment, Ye Yaming also chose two shops and one estate of her own. Then she said, “That’s enough. I also plan to buy some tea mountains myself, and two shops in the Capital City.”

With her modern mindset, she wouldn’t leave money sitting idle but would invest it to generate more wealth. The money she had earned over the past year or more had been gradually converted into land deeds and property titles.

She had bought two more estates in Tongxiang to grow chrysanthemums, as well as two estates to grow osmanthus and jasmine flowers. In Huangshan, Qimen, and various places in Minzhou, she had independently purchased tea mountains.

These tea mountains were still undeveloped when she bought them, so the land was very inexpensive. Ten thousand taels of silver could buy one or two mountaintops.

Not only would these tea mountains bring her substantial income through annual tea production, but when the local tea became famous, the tea gardens on the mountains would certainly increase in value many times over, just like the tea gardens in Baifeng County.

These assets, which could increase in value several or even ten times over, were what she was most willing to invest in. Moreover, such assets were inconspicuous and not easily noticed by envious eyes. In case of real trouble, they could also serve as an excellent escape route.

As for the shops that collected monthly rent and the estates used for farming, which everyone else preferred, Ye Yaming wasn’t particularly interested. She casually bought a few to keep up appearances, both to reassure the elders and to diversify her investments, not putting all her eggs in one basket.

Since Ye Hongrong had accompanied her to Huizhou and Ye Hongchang to Minzhou, Ye Yaming had been quite open about buying tea mountains and hadn’t tried to hide it. Ye Chongming also knew that most of her money had been converted into land deeds.

He nodded and said, “Alright, do as you see fit. Grandfather trusts your judgment.”

His words stopped Madam Yin from voicing the advice she had intended to give Ye Yaming.

In Madam Yin’s conventional thinking, farmland and shops were naturally the most secure investments, while everything else was unreliable.

Ye Hongsheng said guiltily, “Your parents are useless; the money we have was given by you, Ming’er. We haven’t prepared much else, just planning to give you a few thousand taels of silver as your bottom-drawer money.”

Seeing Madam Yin’s discomfort, Ye Yaming smiled and said, “A few thousand taels is very good. The best gift you’ve given me is your love, not restraining me, and allowing me to act freely.”

She knew what was making Madam Yin uncomfortable.

Madam Tao had brought a substantial dowry of her own, and when Ye Yaqing got married, she had given her daughter a shop, several sets of jewelry, and several hundred taels of silver as bottom-drawer money.

In comparison, Madam Yin had nothing. The shops and a small amount of silver she had were given to her by Ye Yaming.

Over these two years, Ye Yaming’s performance had made Old Mrs. Ye’s affection for her surpass even that for her most beloved youngest son. For Ye Yaming’s marriage, Old Mrs. Ye would certainly want to give her some gifts.

However, out of consideration for Madam Yin and the first branch of the family, Old Mrs. Ye didn’t plan to make her gifts public, intending to give them to Ye Yaming privately when she got married.

For parents, the most important thing was to be fair to all children.

After Ye Yaming went to the Ye family’s common treasury to select the jewelry, silk fabrics, and other items to be included in her dowry, Old Mrs. Ye asked, “Which servants will you take as part of your dowry?”

“Just those few in my courtyard will do, if they’re willing to follow me,” Ye Yaming said. “The others that you and Grandfather are accustomed to using—if I take them away, you’ll have to find new people, which would only add to your troubles. So I plan to select some from among the servants I’ve bought.”

Among the servants managed by Sun An, some came from wealthy households, while others, though from farming families, were quick-witted. As long as they had good character, sharp minds, and were diligent and hardworking, they were candidates for Ye Yaming to groom.

After training them well, she wouldn’t place them in the Ye family’s tea factories or tea shops. Instead, she would take their contracts and make them her personal attendants, to later become her right-hand assistants.

She not only had dowry estates and shops to manage but also oversaw the vast Ye family business. The Lu family side seemed to have few people, but would certainly have no shortage of troublesome matters. All of this required help.

She had explained all this to Ye Chongming and Old Mrs. Ye: “I plan to select over thirty people to train at my side. To manage both our family’s and the Lu family’s affairs well, I need people to help me, at least to run errands and relay messages. For some matters they can handle on my behalf, so I won’t be so exhausted. Therefore, I need my people.”

Ye Chongming strongly approved of her approach: “That’s exactly right, otherwise how could you attend to everything?”

When Old Mrs. Ye heard Ye Yaming mention the Lu family, she became worried: “What’s the situation in the Lu family? Will you be mistreated when you marry into their family?”

Madam Yin also looked at her daughter with concern.

They weren’t very clear about the Lu family’s situation, only knowing that Lu Guanyi had a stepmother who treated him very poorly.

Since there were no outsiders present, Ye Yaming explained the Lu family’s situation to them.

Upon hearing that Lu Guanyi’s stepmother had been divorced, Old Mrs. Ye recited a Buddhist prayer, a heavy weight lifted from her heart.

She asked, “That brother of Zi Mo’s, does he hate Zi Mo very much? After all, Madam Shi is his birth mother. When Zi Mo isn’t home, will he target you? Also, is he engaged?”

Ye Yaming shook her head: “Whether he hates Zi Mo or not, I don’t know. I’ll only know what kind of person he is after meeting him. He is engaged; he was engaged even before Zi Mo and I were.”

According to the intelligence she had gathered, Madam Shi had arranged an engagement for Lu Guanyu when he was just twelve years old, to Qingrong County Lady, the granddaughter of the Zhennan Prince. If not for the fact that Lu Guanyu had just come of age and had his elder brother Lu Guanyi standing before him, Madam Shi would probably have had Lu Guanyu married already.

Now with this treason incident, since Lu Guanyu was Madam Shi’s grandson, it was uncertain whether the Zhennan Prince had broken off the engagement.

Zai’er had gone to Minzhou with her at the time and hadn’t had time to organize the news from the Capital City since returning.

Setting aside the blood relations with the Shi family, just looking at Lu Zhongyong’s side, it seemed the Zhennan Prince would be very willing to continue this marriage alliance. After all, Lu Zhongyong now held military power comparable to the Duke of Wei’s former influence and wasn’t as much under the Emperor’s suspicion.

Thinking of this, she remarked with emotion: “Fortunately, Zi Mo found a way to have the Emperor grant us a marriage decree. With the Emperor’s bestowed marriage, no matter who they are or how high their status, they wouldn’t dare to bully me carelessly.”

This tactic of the imperial marriage decree, though partly motivated by Chen Zhen’s desire to lower the price of the Ye family’s black tea, was more likely Lu Guanyi’s foresight, predicting that Ye Yaming would face difficulties in the Capital City due to her status, and deliberately arranged to prevent this.

With the Emperor’s decree affirming Ye Yaming’s worth, who would dare say she wasn’t worthy of Lu Guanyi, or dare label her with names like “enchantress”? With the title of eldest sister-in-law and the heir’s wife, along with the Emperor’s bestowed marriage, even County Lady Qingrong wouldn’t dare to put on airs in front of her.