“Whether Yang An is Yang Hong’s son or not, we should make it appear that he is. First, have someone investigate—if they can’t find evidence, then fabricate it. We must obtain proof that Yang An is Yang Hong’s son, then have someone report to the authorities that the Yang family has committed the crime of deceiving the emperor.”
Ye Chongming: “…”
Old Lady Ye: “…”
Ruthless, utterly ruthless!
This would destroy the Yang family in one fell swoop.
Upon learning that the Yang family had schemed against Ye Yaming and then Ye Yaqing, plotting against the Ye family, the elderly couple had wanted to tear the Yang family apart. At that moment, countless ideas had flashed through their minds about how to retaliate against the Yang family.
But out of habit, they had thought about how to target the Yang family in business, defeat them commercially, or at most spread some rumors to further damage their reputation.
Neither of them had imagined that Ye Yaming would devise such a powerful strategy.
Even if the evidence was insufficient and the Yang family ultimately escaped punishment through the Meng family’s intervention, they would still suffer severely. It would be impossible for them to remain in Lin’an afterwards.
Seeing the two staring wide-eyed without speaking, Ye Yaming thought her plan was too brutal and had frightened them.
She explained, “The history of the Yang family’s rise is drenched in blood. The tea farmers who now work for the Yang family once belonged to the Li and Wu families, both long-established and benevolent tea merchants in Lin’an. But look, where are the Li and Wu families now?”
The elderly couple fell silent.
They were familiar with both families. However, when those families had run into trouble, the Ye family had also been in difficulty and couldn’t offer help.
“Although we can’t prove the Yang family was responsible for their downfall, we don’t need evidence—we just need to look at the results. One family’s destruction might be a coincidence, but when two families are destroyed, it can only be human malice—the Yang family’s doing.”
Ye Yaming raised her eyes to look at Ye Chongming: “When the Ye family was also in trouble back then, did Grandfather discover who was behind it?”
Ye Chongming shook his head.
“It must have been the Yang family. But Grandfather was capable and managed to weather the storm, avoiding the fate of the Li and Wu families. Otherwise, the Yang family would now dominate the tea industry in Lin’an.”
She paused briefly: “Let’s not discuss ancient history. Just consider what happened five years ago, when Yang Hong set his eyes on the daughter of the Ma family’s silk shop on Front Street and wanted to take her as a concubine. Where is the Ma family now?”
Old Lady Ye shuddered: “Could that also be the Yang family’s doing?”
This incident had caused quite a stir at the time, and she had heard about it. The Ma family had refused Yang Hong and quickly married their daughter to another family. The Yang family didn’t pursue the matter further, and the incident seemed to have been settled.
At that time, the women’s circles had said that although the Yang family’s methods weren’t honorable, they weren’t too terrible either. When the Ma family refused, Yang Hong hadn’t pursued the matter.
But a year later, the Ma family suffered a series of misfortunes: first, their daughter died in childbirth, taking her unborn child with her; then their newly-adult son was framed and, in a moment of rashness, beat a man to death.
The Ma family only had one son and one daughter. With the daughter dead and the son executed by beheading, Mrs. Ma fell gravely ill and soon passed away.
The Ma family had been a small business, and they spent their entire savings trying to resolve the situation through bribes. Mr. Ma sold their last property, used the money to bury his wife and collect his son’s remains, and then disappeared.
People said he had become a monk.
Now that Ye Yaming suggested the Yang family was behind this, Ye Chongming and Old Lady Ye trembled with fear.
“How do you know the Yang family did it?” Ye Chongming asked.
At the time, Mr. Ma had investigated, wanting to avenge his son, as the trap had been quite obvious.
The man who had been killed was originally a beggar with no background. Somehow, he suddenly had money and spent some time eating, drinking, and enjoying himself. One day, he encountered the Ma family’s young master strolling with his soon-to-be-fiancée and harassed the young woman.
The Ma family’s son, who had just turned sixteen, was in the prime of his youth and hot-blooded. In front of his beloved, being naturally impulsive, he immediately attacked the beggar with his fists and feet. According to his account, he hadn’t used excessive force, yet the beggar died.
The magistrate of Lin’an at that time wasn’t Qi Zhipei, but an official who had since been reassigned elsewhere. Mr. Ma had offered bribes, hoping to have his son’s punishment reduced from execution to exile, but failed.
Because of these circumstances, people had privately speculated whether the Ma family had been set up, and whether the magistrate had been bribed to condemn the Ma family’s son to death.
But Mr. Ma, like his son, had a quick temper and sometimes spoke without thinking, possibly offending someone unintentionally. As for “a life for a life,” people could only praise the magistrate for being impartial in sentencing the Ma son to death and refusing the Ma family’s bribes; no one could say he had done wrong.
Even though some had privately suspected this was the Yang family’s handiwork, there was no evidence. By then, the Yang family had already become powerful. If they were truly behind this, their methods were too vicious—who would dare provoke such people? These people only dared think about it, not speak of it aloud.
So after being a topic of conversation for some time, the Ma family incident was gradually forgotten in the river of time.
Now that Ye Yaming claimed the Yang family was responsible, Ye Chongming didn’t agree.
Such accusations required evidence; they couldn’t be based solely on conjecture.
Ye Yaming glanced outside.
They had dismissed all servants before this conversation. Though with only three people in the room, there was little risk of leaks, Ye Yaming was cautious—these words couldn’t be overheard.
She lowered her voice and said, “Ma Dafu is still alive. He moved from the open into hiding and has been investigating this matter for years. He has confirmed that the Yang family was behind it and has evidence.”
“What?”
“What?”
Ye Chongming and Old Lady Ye exclaimed in unison.
They quickly covered their mouths and looked outside.
Upon hearing about the Yang family’s cruelty, both felt a chill in their hearts.
Ye Chongming lowered his voice: “How do you know this?”
Ye Yaming replied, “I learned it accidentally while investigating Song Yifeng’s matter.”
The truth was quite different.
She came from the modern era with its advanced information systems. In modern times, using network security and hacking techniques to prevent and attack opponents, collect information, and find vulnerabilities has become the most convenient and common method.
Coming to the ancient world, she had suddenly become an ignorant young lady confined to the inner chambers. As the main combatant against Meng Chengwei and Song Yifeng, she wanted to obtain information but could only do so through Ye Chongming and his subordinates.
And Ye Chongming, as a merchant who had grown up in prosperity without experiencing major challenges, had methods and abilities that Ye Yaming found truly inadequate.
The Ye family being targeted by Meng Chengwei wasn’t without reason.
Ye Yaming, having just arrived and recently become involved in family affairs, still needed to be careful about gradually transitioning her persona, making it inappropriate for her to do too much.
In her chess match with Meng Chengwei, without those few crucial pieces of information from the original owner’s memories, she wouldn’t have been confident at all.
So when dealing with Song Yifeng, she had decided to use the opportunity to build her information network.