Madam Tao was well aware that the Second Branch was no longer what it once was, and she knew of Ye Yaming’s capabilities. To make her recognize Ye Yaming’s formidable nature, Ye Hongchang had told Madam Tao everything he knew about Ye Yaming’s accomplishments.

But for the past ten to twenty years, she had maintained a superior position over the Second Branch and Ye Yaming, with the mother and daughter always being submissive. This ingrained impression made it difficult for her to develop a sense of respect or fear toward the Second Branch and Ye Yaming.

Everyone said Ye Yaming was formidable. But Madam Tao had watched Ye Yaming grow up; to suggest that she had been hiding her abilities before and only now revealed her capabilities was something Madam Tao couldn’t quite believe. She preferred to think that Ye Yaming had simply been lucky, like a blind cat catching a dead rat, and with the guidance from ancestors in her dream, merely appeared formidable rather than truly being so.

Moreover, she was Ye Yaming’s elder. No matter how capable Ye Yaming might be, how could she disrespect her First Aunt? The previous two times when she had spoken sarcastically to Ye Yaming, hadn’t Ye Yaming remained silent?

She hadn’t expected Ye Yaming to confront her directly and speak to her in such a manner.

And the aura around her when she spoke was completely different from usual. Madam Tao didn’t know this was called the aura of someone in authority, but deep down, she was genuinely frightened.

The Ye Yaming before her was completely different from the one she thought she knew.

At that moment, Ye Hongchang’s threatening words also echoed in her ears.

“I-I…” she stammered for a while, then steeled herself, stood up, and bowed to Ye Yaming. “Yaming, please be magnanimous and forgive your First Aunt this time. I truly know I was wrong. I won’t dare to do it again.”

When Madam Tao had first arrived, they both thought it would be like usual—exchanging a few pleasantries and then parting ways. They hadn’t expected the conversation to escalate to this point, so they hadn’t dismissed the servants. Both Bai Rui and Matron Li were in the room.

Now the two servants watched in astonishment as Madam Tao suddenly yielded and bowed to Ye Yaming.

Ye Yaming did not avoid accepting Madam Tao’s bow.

However, she didn’t want to create too much tension. Since Madam Tao was willing to yield, that was enough.

She helped Madam Tao up and said, “It’s good that First Aunt acknowledges her mistake. We are family, and I hope we can live in harmony, rather than looking at each other like fighting roosters—you envying me, and me resenting you. When the family is harmonious, everything will prosper. If we work together, united in effort, the Ye family will flourish even more.”

“Yes, yes,” Madam Tao nodded repeatedly.

An elder humbling herself before a junior was ultimately embarrassing. With a red face, she said, “If-if there’s nothing else, I’ll be going now.”

“Of course, take care, First Aunt.”

Seeing Madam Tao flee as if being chased by ghosts, Bai Rui secretly glanced at Ye Yaming, and noticing her calm expression, hesitated for a moment before asking, “Miss, will there be any trouble?”

“Don’t worry, there won’t be,” Ye Yaming replied.

Madam Tao, to put it bluntly, was someone who bullied the weak and feared the strong. Look at Ye Hongrong and Madam Zhang—neither had an easy temperament. Ye Hongrong was the Old Lady’s favorite, and Madam Zhang had a powerful natal family. Had Madam Tao ever bullied the Fourth Branch? Although she had many opinions about the Fourth Branch, she never dared to say anything in front of Ye Hongrong, and she would only occasionally make sarcastic remarks to Madam Zhang, falling silent after being rebuffed.

But her attitude toward the former Second Branch was not the same. On the surface, she seemed the most reasonable and treated Madam Yin the best, but the one who often made Madam Yin cry was she.

Now that Ye Yaming had become the heir to the family head position and was about to marry into a marquis family in the capital, Madam Tao still occasionally dared to make snide remarks. This was partly due to her unwillingness to accept the situation, but it was also because she believed Ye Yaming had a good temperament, was her junior, and wouldn’t dare to talk back—in short, that she was easy to bully.

Now that she had put Madam Tao in her place, Madam Tao’s habit of making sarcastic comments would certainly improve, and she wouldn’t dare to offend again.

…

Matron Li followed behind Madam Tao, seeing her discomfort. She didn’t dare speak, only walking with her head lowered. The mistress and servant returned to the First Branch in silence.

Madam Tao felt deeply humiliated for yielding to a junior in front of the servants and wanted to save face in front of Matron Li.

After sitting down in her bedroom, she patted her chest and said, “Just now… her aura was truly terrifying.”

“Indeed, it gave this old servant quite a fright.” Matron Li naturally went along with her words. “We always hear people say the Third Miss is formidable, but when facing us, she’s always smiling and seems easy to talk to. When we meet her on the road and pay our respects, she even stops to exchange pleasantries. Today, this old servant finally realized that her formidable nature is real. No wonder the heir of the Xuanwu Marquis would take a liking to her. She’s truly extraordinary.”

“Indeed,” Madam Tao felt somewhat better after hearing Matron Li’s words, regaining some face. “From now on, let’s not provoke her. We can’t afford to.”

She also instructed, “Don’t mention today’s matter to anyone, not even to the master.”

“This old servant understands,” Matron Li replied.

From then on, whenever Madam Tao saw Ye Yaming, she always greeted her with a smile and never made any sarcastic remarks. As for going to the capital for the wedding, she never mentioned it again.

…

On September 15th, Ye Yaming was checking what else she needed to bring when Qingzhi ran in and reported, “Miss, the son-in-law has arrived.”

“Who?” Ye Yaming hadn’t reacted yet.

“The son-in-law, Young Master Lu. He’s here,” Qingzhi said.

Ye Yaming: “…” The title wasn’t wrong, but it felt strange.

When she went to the outer courtyard, Lu Guanyi was sitting with Ye Chongming, conversing.

Seeing Ye Yaming, Lu Guanyi stood up and smiled, “Yaming, I’ve come to escort you.”

“When did you return from the border?”

“Five days ago.”

From the capital to Lin’an, even riding at full speed would take two or three days. Lu Guanyi had returned from the border to the capital and then immediately rushed to Lin’an without rest.

However, the fact that he came personally showed his sincerity.

“You’ve been traveling for days, and tomorrow you have to return to the capital. It’s too exhausting,” Ye Yaming turned to ask Ye Chongming, “Grandfather, why don’t we delay our journey to the capital by a couple of days? There’s still plenty of time.”

“I said the same thing,” Ye Chongming said with a smile, “but Zimu said it’s not necessary, that this amount of travel is nothing to him.”

Lu Guanyi looked at Ye Yaming: “There’s no need to change the date. If we go to the capital earlier, I can first take you to see if there’s anything in the house that doesn’t suit your taste. If there is, I’ll have them fix it right away.”

Ye Yaming was stunned: anyone would think this fellow was a modern person with such open-minded thinking.

In this era, there were many strict rules, such as not meeting before the wedding. Additionally, a new bride usually wouldn’t know anything about her husband’s home before marrying in, unless they were already familiar. Who would ever show the bridal chamber before the wedding?

Seeming to understand Ye Yaming’s thoughts, Lu Guanyi said, “Our family doesn’t have so many formalities. My father doesn’t care about these things, and there are no other elders, so you can do as you please.”