Ye Yaming examined the contract thoroughly.

She primarily wanted to see if there was any liability for breach of contract.

However, this contract from the Great Jin Dynasty did not include such a clause. What differed from modern contracts was that they had a guarantor section. In this guarantor column, the words “Village Head” were consistently written.

The so-called guarantor meant a transfer of responsibility. For instance, if A borrowed one hundred taels of silver from B, with C acting as guarantor, then if A failed to repay on time, B could pursue C for the debt.

In the Great Jin’s administrative structure, one hundred households formed a village, five villages formed a township, and each village had one Village Head. This Village Head was equivalent to a modern-day village chief.

Tea in Jiangnan wasn’t produced on just one hillside but across a cluster of mountains. The mountains varied in height and spanned roughly a dozen li in circumference. The villages that cooperated with the Ye family were all adjacent and fell under the jurisdiction of two Village Heads.

The Village Head wielded the authority to collect taxes and assign corvée labor. Having the Village Head as a guarantor provided some security, as these tea growers wouldn’t dare offend the Village Head.

But this security wasn’t absolute. Even if some individual growers breached the contract, the Ye family couldn’t hold the Village Head accountable. If they offended the Village Head, it would become difficult for the Ye family to pre-order tea leaves in that area again. The tea leaves they received might also be of varying quality, possibly tampered with.

In short, this contract was fine when things went well. Once problems arose, only the Ye family would suffer.

Ye Yaming shared her concerns with Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang.

Both men were alarmed upon hearing this.

“This contract has been signed this way since my great-grandfather’s time,” Ye Chongming rubbed his face, unsure whether to feel lucky or ashamed.

“What should we do then?” Ye Hongchang asked.

Ye Yaming inquired, “This is a white contract, right?”

Contracts were divided into white contracts and red contracts. A white contract was witnessed by a third party, with all three parties signing and affixing their seals to finalize it. This type of contract didn’t require official filing or taxation and lacked legal protection, relying instead on moral constraints.

A red contract, on the other hand, was filed with the government, taxed, and protected by law. If one party failed to fulfill the contract, they would be held accountable by the authorities.

Ye Chongming nodded, “Yes, it is.”

He was beginning to understand Ye Yaming’s intention and shook his head, “But changing it to a red contract would be difficult!”

As the saying went, “The yamen’s gates open like the character ‘八’, but without money, don’t come in even if you’re right.” Common people were inherently fearful of government offices. Moreover, the mountain villages were far from the county yamen, with inconvenient transportation. The tea growers wouldn’t be willing to go to the county office to sign red contracts.

Thinking Ye Yaming didn’t understand, he explained these problems to her one by one.

Ye Yaming knew it would be difficult. But adding a penalty clause for breach of contract would be even less feasible.

If the penalty was small, it wouldn’t deter Meng Chengwei from interfering. But if the penalty was large, the growers simply wouldn’t sign.

After all, tea production depended on the weather, and no one could guarantee they would deliver the promised amount of tea to the Ye family. If the contract stipulated in black and white that failure to deliver would result in ruinous compensation to the Ye family, how could they possibly sign?

Besides, they weren’t worried about selling their tea. Even without this pre-order payment, they could sell directly to the government tea bureau. They would only lose one source of income.

Compared to the risk of financial ruin, they would prefer to earn less and wouldn’t sign such a high-risk contract.

Furthermore, even if the penalty clause was included and they did breach the contract, holding them accountable would be problematic. Aside from this being a society based on personal relationships with imperfect laws, even in the modern era with comprehensive legal systems, lawsuits were difficult for ordinary people.

And when disputes arose between the Ye family and the tea growers, the Village Head would protect the growers’ interests first. After all, they were his fellow villagers.

So they needed to focus on the red contract approach. The common people feared government offices, so if the contract was filed with the authorities and the growers were told that breaching it would result in arrest and imprisonment, they wouldn’t violate it no matter how much money others offered.

Ye Yaming said, “We don’t need to deal directly with the growers. We can give the Village Head a sum of money to represent the growers and file the red contracts at the yamen. Nothing has gone wrong in all these years, so he’d be happy to receive this windfall. Moreover, converting the white contract to a red one provides an additional layer of protection for the Village Head as the guarantor.”

Ye Chongming frowned and asked, “Do you mean we shouldn’t let the growers know, just have them sign the contract, and then I go with the Village Head to the yamen to make it a red contract?”

This approach seemed dishonest. If the growers found out, the good reputation the Ye family had built over the years would be ruined.

Ye Yaming shook her head, “Of course, we need to be transparent with them. First, discuss it with the Village Head, saying it’s the yamen’s initiative. Then, for growers who sign red contracts, you’ll give them a gift or some silver. Since they don’t have to pay taxes or go to the yamen themselves, I think they’ll agree to convert the white contracts to red ones for the sake of this gift.”

Ye Chongming’s eyes gradually brightened.

He slapped the armrest, “This approach is feasible.”

The Village Head would want white contracts to become red contracts. Over the years, with more and more tea merchants from outside the area and increasing temptations, the Village Head worried that some households might be blinded by greed and breach their contracts. The trouble would then fall on him. Once they switched to red contracts, his risk would immediately decrease.

With an additional monetary gift, how could he not be pleased?

And as long as the Village Head was willing to help the Ye family with this explanation and persuade the growers, with the growers receiving a gift, they naturally wouldn’t disagree.

“Do you want to go up the mountain with me to handle this?” he asked Ye Yaming.

Having managed business all his life, Ye Chongming now found that he felt secure only with Ye Yaming by his side.

Ye Yaming shook her head and addressed them both seriously, “Grandfather, Meng Chengwei won’t just interfere with tea pre-orders; he might also target personal safety. If I or my older cousin fell into his hands and were humiliated, ruining our reputation, the Ye family would be coerced and ultimately fall into his grasp.”

“So during this period, not only should I stay home, but all the girls in the family should also remain at home and not go anywhere. Grandfather, when you go out, you should take more guards and attendants to ensure your safety.”

Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang felt another chill run down their spines.

Ye Chongming sighed deeply, “Heaven bless us, our Ye family is fortunate to have Yaming.”

Otherwise, they would have fallen into Meng Chengwei’s trap one way or another.

If at first, when his father told him about Ye Yaming’s various accomplishments, Ye Hongchang had some doubts and wondered if his father was exaggerating, now he truly and deeply felt Ye Yaming’s formidable nature.

He felt his father’s earlier concerns were unwarranted.

With someone like her, would he dare to oppose her or compete with her? If Ye Yaming truly wanted the Ye family’s property, she would only need to use her little brain, and the main branch would be wiped out, with all the family property falling into the second branch’s hands. The main branch should be burning incense in gratitude that Ye Yaming was willing to coexist peacefully with them.

He planned to return later and thoroughly question his wife and son about whether they had offended Ye Yaming during this period. If they had, they must sincerely apologize to her.