However, that was a matter for later. For now, there were things he needed to discuss with Ye Yaming.

He walked out and instructed the maid in the corridor: “Go invite the Third Young Lady here.”

Before the maid could respond, Li Fu, who had been waiting on the side with matters to report, hurriedly spoke up: “Master, the First Madam knows that the First Master has returned and has sent a maid to inquire outside the door.”

Ye Chongming frowned: “I have matters to discuss with the First Master. Tell her to go back and wait.”

For the first time, he felt dissatisfied with his eldest daughter-in-law.

When Ye Hongchang returned home, he didn’t immediately go to the main household’s inner quarters but first entered the outer study. This alone indicated that there must be important matters to discuss. Yet his eldest daughter-in-law had sent a maid here to inquire, which was truly inappropriate.

“Yes.” Li Fu was about to turn around when the doorkeeper came in to report: “Master, the First Madam’s maid has already been called away by Old Madam’s maid.”

Ye Chongming’s expression softened: “I understand.” Turning his head and seeing that the maid was still standing there, he frowned again, “Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and go!”

“Yes, yes.” The maid hurriedly left and went to the second household.

Ye Yaming was still busy making tea in the courtyard. Hearing that Ye Hongchang had returned, she changed her clothes and came to the outer study.

When Ye Chongming saw Ye Yaming, his face lit up with such benevolence as he informed her that the tea money had been secured, and then asked: “Given this, should we still issue the tea currency?”

Issuing tea currency was a measure taken out of necessity. Now that the Ye family had money, it didn’t make sense to not pay the tea growers directly and instead fool them with tea currency. This would be inconsistent with the business philosophy of integrity that the Ye family had always upheld.

But if they didn’t issue it, he had already made arrangements with Mei Chonglin. Mei Chonglin was counting on the Ye family to help him open up the market and make the bank flourish.

It was truly a dilemma.

Ye Yaming said: “We can explain clearly to the tea growers. If they choose tea currency, they can receive interest by next spring; if they don’t trust it, we can pay them directly in silver. As for the option of immediately exchanging tea currency at the bank, although it’s possible, it would be an unnecessary step.”

Ye Chongming slapped the armrest: “Right, right, let’s do it this way.”

This approach neither deceived the tea growers nor broke the cooperation with Mei Chonglin—it was the best of both worlds.

“But we can’t wait any longer on this matter; we need to act quickly,” Ye Yaming said. Previously, Meng Chengwei was waiting for us to fall into difficulty so he could take advantage, which is why he held back. Now that we’ve resolved the private tea issue, and the bandits neither seriously injured Uncle nor took the tea money, Meng Chengwei might become desperate and start manipulating the tea growers.”

Ye Chongming was startled: “But didn’t the Prefect say…” He didn’t continue, but he believed Ye Yaming understood his implication.

Ye Yaming shook her head: “The Prefect has to follow procedures to arrest someone. He needs to interrogate people, send people to investigate, and then summon the person. Without evidence, he can’t immediately detain someone.”

Not only that, Prefect Qi probably also needed to consult his superiors to see how they planned to deal with Meng Chengwei.

If the higher-ups used this leverage to negotiate with Noble Consort Min, and if both parties reached an agreement, then Meng Chengwei would face no consequences at all. If the higher-ups wanted to make an example of someone, they would target Meng Chengwei.

In short, this wasn’t a matter of law or business competition but a game of political factions. Prefect Qi’s acceptance of the Ye family’s complaint and intention to move against Meng Chengwei was driven by interests. The Ye family had no right to complain.

In this era without phones, Prefect Qi would have to send someone on horseback to the capital to inquire about the higher-ups’ intentions. Calculating this, Meng Chengwei would still be free to move about for at least a few days.

These few days would be the time when the Ye family needed to be most vigilant. No one knew what else Meng Chengwei might do.

Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang had been in business for many years. They immediately understood Ye Yaming’s unspoken concerns.

Both of their expressions instantly became tense.

Worried that Ye Chongming might not fully grasp the seriousness of the situation, Ye Yaming said: “If he becomes desperate and is willing to pay a hefty price, offering three or four times more silver to pre-order tea leaves, Grandfather, think about the consequences…”

Ye Chongming’s heart sank, and he quickly stood up, saying urgently: “I’ll go up the mountain immediately.”

Although those tea growers had been cooperating with the Ye family for ten or even several decades, who could be certain when faced with benefits? If Meng Chengwei was willing to pay a high price and offer a large sum of money to pre-order tea leaves from the growers who worked with the Ye family, at least half of them would sell to him.

And those who resisted the temptation would surely face complaints from their families. At that point, would the Ye family have the heart not to raise their prices?

Once the price was raised, it couldn’t be lowered again. When tea leaves were in high demand, prices only went up, not down.

And with this precedent, all the tea growers on the mountain might demand higher prices from tea merchants. They had wanted to raise prices for a long time, but because the Tea Guild in Lin’an constrained merchants from arbitrarily raising prices, the prices had remained stable. Now that the Ye family had taken the lead, what reason would other growers have not to raise their prices?

By then, the Ye family would become the villain of the Tea Guild, offending all tea merchants.

If Meng Chengwei played this card, the Ye family would not only lose a substantial amount of silver and long-term cooperative tea growers, but Ye Chongming’s position as the head of the Tea Guild would also be impossible to maintain.

Thinking of this, Ye Chongming broke out in a cold sweat. He wished he could go up the mountain immediately, pay the silver, sign contracts, and secure agreements with the tea growers in one go.

Ye Hongchang was also frightened. While his niece’s abilities amazed him, the severe consequences of Meng Chengwei using large sums of money to snatch away tea growers made his heart tremble so much that he had no time to admire his niece’s intelligence.

He hadn’t expected that when one of Meng Chengwei’s schemes failed, he would have another, and when the second failed, he would have yet another vicious plan that would harm others without benefiting himself. Fortunately, his niece had pointed this out incisively. Otherwise, his father’s position as guild head would be lost, they would lose the tea growers, and they would become everyone’s enemy. They wouldn’t be able to stay in Lin’an City and would lose their livelihood.

Thinking about these consequences made him shiver.

“Wait, Grandfather,” Ye Yaming stopped Ye Chongming. “Show me the template of the contract you sign with the tea growers.”

Ye Chongming didn’t understand why.

However, he didn’t question it now. He directly took out the key, opened the wooden box, and gave Ye Yaming a copy of the contract.

Since they needed to sign contracts with the tea growers, he had already asked the accountant to prepare these contracts. There were seventy-eight copies in total, all identical.

Many tea growers couldn’t read, so they would read the contract aloud to them. Once the growers confirmed there were no issues, they would fill in the household head’s name and the approximate quantity of tea leaves ordered. The growers would then sign and affix their seal, and the contract would be finalized.