“Oh, your grandmother said it wasn’t proper for her to be cooped up at home all day, so she insisted on bringing her along,” Madam Tao explained. “You know your sister-in-law is pregnant and can’t attend to your grandmother. I have my matters to handle. With Yaming going, staying by your grandmother’s side, I can at least feel somewhat at ease.”

Ye Yaqing felt ashamed and quickly offered, “Why don’t I stay by Grandmother’s side as well?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Madam Tao said. “Until your marriage is settled, neither your grandmother nor I can be at peace. You should focus on managing yourself.”

She glanced at Ye Yaqing and continued, “When Miss Su calls for you, send a maid to discreetly inform me of the location. I’ll have someone go to identify this Young Master Yang.”

“Very well,” Ye Yaqing had no objections.

When their group arrived at the Chen family residence, Ye Yaqing paid her respects to the elderly ladies and then went outside to look for the young ladies. Sure enough, she saw Su Rou waiting for her by the door.

Upon seeing her arrive, Su Rou gave her a knowing look and waved goodbye to the young girl beside her, saying, “You all enjoy yourselves. Yaqing and I are going to freshen up.”

With that, she pulled Ye Yaqing away.

As soon as the two left, Ye Yaming appeared. She followed the pair at a measured pace, accompanied by her maid.

Shortly after, two manservants who had come to the banquet with Ye Hongchang appeared at the corner and joined them.

Madam Tao’s approach, which Ye Yaming had heard about from Old Lady Ye, did not meet with her approval.

Ye Yaming had always been inclined to assume the worst of people’s intentions.

This Yang Chuzhi surnamed Yang—she couldn’t help but suspect he was connected to the Yang family. The way the Yang family had risen to wealth so quickly meant their style of conduct differed from established families like the Ye household. Associating with people like Meng Chengwei, they might well be birds of a feather.

If the Ye family failed to notice Yang Chuzhi’s designs on Ye Yaqing, he could gradually wear down her resistance, eventually leading Ye Yaqing to defy her family, perhaps even with tears and tantrums, to secure this marriage.

If, before he had completely captured Ye Yaqing’s heart, he learned from her words that the Ye family was investigating him, he might become desperate and resort to ruining Ye Yaqing’s reputation as a last-ditch effort. By the time they discovered he was from the Yang family, what use would that be?

Therefore, feeling uneasy, she had insisted on coming along.

Besides Bai Rui and the two manservants, she had specifically gone to the Guan family to bring along Guan Ting.

Guan Ting was Guan Canghai’s youngest daughter, sixteen years old this year, and trained in martial arts since childhood.

When it became known that Meng Chengwei might harm Ye Yaming, Ye Chongming had personally sought out Guan Canghai, hoping he would assign a female guard to protect Ye Yaming whenever she went out. Guan Canghai had recommended his daughter.

Though Guan Ting shared the same birth month as Ye Yaqing and had just turned sixteen at the end of last year, she had grown up in the escort agency and had already accompanied her father on two escort missions. She was much more mature in her conduct than Ye Yaqing. Ye Yaming had a good impression of her.

This time, she had asked for Guan Ting’s help.

The Chen family’s banquet was bustling with people coming and going. Both Guan Ting and Ye Yaming knew some counter-surveillance techniques, while Ye Yaqing was too excited about the prospect of seeing Young Master Yang. Thus, the two parties—one leading and one following—walked to the lakeside without Ye Yaqing and Su Rou noticing the three people behind them.

“Cousin, you’ve come,” Su Rou called out happily when she spotted two men sitting by the lake, and rushed toward one of them. The other stood up, gazing softly at Ye Yaqing.

The two groups quickly separated. Su Rou and her cousin walked along the left side of the lake, leaving Ye Yaqing and Yang Chuzhi standing where they were.

Ye Yaqing’s maid had been sent some distance away to keep watch.

The moment she saw the lake, Ye Yaming silently exclaimed that this wasn’t good.

Weren’t there always such plots in those palace intrigue dramas and novels? Pushing a girl into the lake, then jumping in to save her, and when she emerges with thin, revealing clothes in a man’s arms—whether the man was a beggar or a ruffian—she would have no choice but to marry him to preserve her reputation.

This was also the perfect scheme for women to frame their rivals, or for men to use despicable means to force marriage upon women they desired.

Now, as luck would have it, Yang Chuzhi and Su Rou’s cousin had set their meeting place by the lake, which led Ye Yaming to assume the worst.

She turned to ask Guan Ting, “Do you know how to swim? If someone falls into the lake, can you rescue them successfully?”

Guan Ting instantly understood Ye Yaming’s meaning.

With a serious expression, she thought for a moment, then nodded, “No problem. However, I’m concerned that if the person in the water struggles too violently, my strength might not be enough. So, after I jump in, I hope you can quickly send someone to help me.”

Ye Yaming turned and instructed Bai Rui, “Go to where the Old Lady is and quietly summon Mother Lin and Old Woman Liu.”

When they attended banquets at others’ homes, they would typically bring only two maids, not wanting to burden the host with too many attendants.

Today, Ye Yaming had specifically replaced Lu’E with Mother Lin and had also substituted one of the Old Lady’s maids with Old Woman Liu.

Mother Lin and Old Woman Liu were both rough servant women, but they were reliable, could swim, and were physically strong. Whether facing someone being pushed into water or a physical confrontation, they were more useful than the maids.

Since they weren’t confidants, and Ye Yaqing’s matter shouldn’t be widely known, bringing them along would make their purpose too obvious. Ye Yaming hadn’t kept them by her side but had them stay near the main hall.

Now that she needed the two women, Ye Yaming sent Bai Rui to fetch them.

In truth, Ye Yaming herself knew how to swim, and quite well at that.

In her previous life as the heiress of a wealthy family and the family’s only successor, she had to be prepared for kidnapping, framing, and other unexpected dangers. Besides having bodyguards, she had learned many skills herself, such as martial arts, swimming, parachuting, and other self-protection and survival techniques.

But these were skills the original host didn’t possess, so unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn’t reveal them in public.

To put these abilities to use, she had previously used the threat of Meng Chengwei as an excuse to request learning martial arts from an escort guard.

For this purpose, Guan Ting would stay at the Ye household every night and lead Ye Yaming in martial arts practice for an hour every early morning, returning to the escort agency during the day. By now, she had been training with Guan Ting for over two months. So if she displayed some martial skills in the future, it wouldn’t seem strange.

If Ye Yaqing were pushed into the lake today, then her proposing to learn swimming wouldn’t be unusual either.

But that was for later consideration; today she still needed external help.

Having confirmed that Guan Ting could save Ye Yaqing, and that by taking a shortcut, this spot wasn’t far from the hall where Old Lady Ye was situated, meaning Mother Lin and Old Woman Liu could arrive quickly,

Ye Yaming instructed the two manservants: “You two follow Miss Su and her cousin. When Miss Su comes back, let her be, but make sure to detain her cousin.”

Madam Tao had also investigated Su Rou and her cousin Qin Sheng during this time. Both had ordinary backgrounds, not particularly wealthy or noble, far inferior to the Ye and Yang families.