“Jiaxing’s horse was suddenly startled, and Young Master Meng happened to pass by. He came forward to inquire and then followed the servants to send Jiaxing home. I am very grateful for this act. But having done business all my life and interacting with people in teahouses daily, I believe I have some discernment when it comes to judging character. I feel that this Young Master Meng should not be deeply involved with.”

Although Meng Chengwei had only revealed a momentary flash of amazement and covetousness when he saw Ye Yaming, most people might think it was nothing. After all, it was completely understandable for men to be unable to look away from a beautiful woman.

But Ye Chongming believed that one could see the whole leopard by observing a single spot—a person’s upbringing and character could be discerned from just one glance.

A person of good upbringing and character should not stare at another’s female relatives, much less show a disgusting, leering expression.

Perhaps the old man was too conservative, but anyway, he disliked such people.

Because of his integrity, although he missed many opportunities by not flattering the powerful, he had won the respect of his peers who had chosen him as the head of their trade association. This further strengthened Ye Chongming’s adherence to his principles.

“If you say that man is inappropriate, then he certainly must be,” Tao Liyang said with a placating smile.

The Ye family business was larger than the Tao family’s. As the family head, Ye Chongming was over sixty years old, with more experience than Tao Liyang. As the leader of the tea merchants’ association, he lacked neither ability nor discernment, so Tao Liyang naturally respected his judgment.

By now it was nearly noon, so Ye Chongming invited him to stay for a meal.

Having confirmed that Meng Chengwei was not someone to associate with deeply, there was no need to hurry back to curry favor with him. Tao Liyang immediately had a meal at the Ye family villa before leisurely riding down the mountain.

Meanwhile, Meng Chengwei waited and waited at the inn, but not only did no one from the Ye family appear, but not even anyone from the Tao family, who owned the Rugui Inn, came to see him.

“What do they mean by this?” he asked Meng Liang.

He truly did not understand why these people, even after hearing he was an imperial merchant, still maintained this attitude.

Meng Liang finally understood what Meng Chengwei had been waiting for. He was also puzzled.

But he couldn’t show his confusion, so he said, “I suspect that the innkeeper lacks experience and doesn’t understand what being an imperial merchant means, so he didn’t inform the Tao family, let alone send word to the Ye family. Otherwise, the Tao and Ye families would have flocked here like flies to honey, scrambling to curry favor with you, master.”

This explanation somewhat eased Meng Chengwei’s expression.

After thinking it over, he decided that begging for attention wasn’t good business. “Let’s go to Linan,” he said.

Once they settled in at the Ye family teahouse in Linan and made his identity known, when the news reached the Ye family’s ears, coupled with his act of saving Ye Jiaxing, if the Ye family encountered some trouble, they would inevitably come seeking his help.

The reason he hadn’t used this approach earlier was that he didn’t want to make a big fuss.

After all, the Meng family wasn’t the only one eyeing the Jiangnan tea market.

Although the names of Consort Min and imperial merchant were intimidating, those who knew the inside story understood that Consort Min was not favored and had only given birth to a princess, not a son. Because of her, the Meng family could only do some minor business tangentially related to the imperial family.

Therefore, saying the Meng family was imperial merchants made them only slightly better than ordinary merchants. In the capital, not many people gave him much credit.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have to scheme so meticulously for the Jiangnan tea market. Tea was officially bought and sold by the court. If one could establish connections with the Ministry of Revenue, one could intercept directly upstream and wouldn’t need to deal with tea merchants downstream at all.

It was still early afternoon, and Baifeng County was not far from Linan City, so the group immediately set out for Linan.

…

At this time, the carriage carrying Ye Yaming and her party was slowly stopping in front of the main gate of the Ye family ancestral home.

“Young Master, Young Mistress, Second Miss, and Third Miss have returned?” Outer Steward Li Fu and Inner Housekeeper Madam Lu led servants and maids to welcome them.

Since the escorts had gone ahead to report their arrival, soft sedan chairs had already been prepared.

The servants carried Ye Jiaxing onto a soft sedan chair and proceeded inward. Madam Guan and the Ye sisters, having been jolted all the way, did not wish to ride in sedan chairs and slowly walked behind.

When they entered the main hall through the second gate, everyone sensed that the atmosphere in the home was unusual.

Given Ye Jiaxing’s injury, considering both the elders’ affection for him and his position as the eldest grandson, Old Madam Ye, First Madam Tao, and the women from the second and fourth branches should have been waiting in the hall to inquire about his condition and send for a doctor.

But at this moment, only the original body’s mother and younger sister—Second Madam Yin and Fourth Miss Ye Yayin from the second branch—were in the hall, and neither looked pleased. Old Madam Ye and Madam Tao, as Ye Jiaxing’s grandmother and mother, who always treated him like a treasure, were nowhere to be seen.

“What happened?” Ye Jiaxing asked.

Madam Yin first inquired about his injury before saying, “It seems something has happened with your Fourth Uncle. Now they and your mother are all in the main courtyard with your grandmother.”

Sure enough, misfortunes never come singly, Ye Yaming sighed inwardly.

When Ye Jiaxing heard it involved his Fourth Uncle, his heart tightened. In the entire family, the most troublesome was the fourth branch.

He solemnly ordered, “Carry me to Old Madam’s place.”

So the group redirected to the main courtyard.

The maids and older female servants in the main courtyard, seeing that Second Madam and the eldest young master had arrived, didn’t dare to stop them to announce their presence and directly let them in.

Upon entering the room, they saw Old Madam Ye, Madam Mei sitting at the head with a dark face. Fourth Master Ye Hongrong was kneeling on the ground, while Fourth Madam kept her head lowered beside him, nervously twisting her handkerchief.

First, Madam Tao sat below Madam Mei, her face full of rage.

Seeing Ye Jiaxing being helped in, Old Madam’s expression softened slightly. She rose and walked to his side, examining the bandaged wound on his leg with concern, and asked, “Is it serious?”

“It’s nothing major.” Ye Jiaxing had no mood to discuss this.

He looked at Ye Hongrong. “Fourth Uncle, what happened?”

At the mention of this, Old Madam’s face darkened again. She glanced around the room and said, “Jiaxing stays. The rest of you, go back.”

Madam Yin’s face immediately soured.

Of the four branches of the Ye family, the third branch was out of the picture because Third Master had passed away from illness shortly after marrying at eighteen, leaving Third Madam to live in seclusion with her posthumous daughter, uninvolved in family affairs. But their second branch’s master was still alive and well.

Now that the fourth branch had trouble, Old Madam kept the first branch’s mistress and eldest son while excluding the second branch—what did that mean?

It was probably because she hadn’t given birth to a son, and the second branch only had two daughters.

Ye Yaming, with the original owner’s memories, naturally knew what was angering Madam Yin.

When Ye Chongming had arranged marriages for his four sons, he had put considerable thought into it.

Although he had good relationships with the tea merchants in the association and they knew each other well, he considered it unwise to have daughters-in-law from the same industry, as it wouldn’t help expand their network. Therefore, he had found matchmakers and selected daughters-in-law from various trades and professions for his four sons.