Glory

Song Yifeng waved his hand at Guizi.

Today's situation had Guizi feeling rather nervous. He was particularly worried that the Ye family would refuse to let the matter rest and have them beaten up—neither he nor his young master would be able to walk back unharmed.

He swallowed hard, his legs trembling as he stepped forward and handed the box in his hands to Ye Chongming.

But Ye Chongming turned to Zhang Yuniang and said, "Madam Zhang, would you kindly take a look?"

Zhang Yuniang nodded, stepped forward to take the box, and, in front of everyone, took out the silver ingots one by one, counting them. She then said to Ye Chongming, "It totals fifteen hundred taels of silver."

Ye Jiaxing laughed in disbelief.

Back when dealing with Meng Chengwei, he had already collaborated with Ye Chongming on dividing tasks. He was quite experienced in playing the impulsive, hot-tempered antagonist.

He said sarcastically, "Oh my, Young Master Song, since you have such lofty ideals and refuse to associate with us, why don't you have the guts to return the money you spent from our family? Now, after using our money to study and earn an official rank, you turn around and look down on us while refusing to pay back most of the expenses. Young Master Song, you truly have high aspirations!"

Song Yifeng’s face flushed red again, whether from anger or shame.

He argued defensively, "Your family gave me two hundred taels a year for seven years. I’ve returned fifteen hundred taels—what’s wrong with that? How can you accuse me of refusing to pay back most of the expenses? Ye Jiaxing, don’t make baseless accusations!"

After saying this, he shot a threatening look at Ye Chongming. "Old Master Ye, think carefully about whether you really want to break ties with me. If you continue to let your grandson spout nonsense, whatever goodwill remains between us will be gone. There are some things I won’t help you keep hidden anymore."

Ye Chongming couldn’t be bothered to argue with him and said to Meng Ji, "Go call Wen Tao in."

Wen Tao was the Ye family’s accountant. He had been waiting under the corridor.

So when Meng Ji went out and called for him, Wen Tao entered immediately and bowed to Ye Chongming.

"Give him the account book," Ye Chongming instructed.

Wen Tao presented an account book to Song Yifeng.

This account book had been prepared earlier, and Ye Chongming had originally intended to send one copy to Song Yifeng and another to Zhang Yuniang. Later, when they sent someone to invite Madam Wu and she agreed to serve as a witness, Ye Chongming decided not to present the account book in advance, hoping to expose Song Yifeng’s true nature more thoroughly.

As a result, Madam Wu ended up witnessing yet another dramatic scene today.

When Song Yifeng saw Wen Tao, a sense of foreboding arose in his heart. As the account book was handed to him, his heart sank. He didn’t even dare reach out to take it.

Ye Chongming didn’t mind and instead instructed Wen Tao, "Since Young Master Song doesn’t dare take it, show the account book to Madam Wu and Madam Zhang."

Wen Tao immediately withdrew his hand. Granny Yu stepped forward proactively, took the account book from him, and presented it to Madam Wu.

Madam Wu was literate. She took the account book and began flipping through it.

When Song Yifeng heard Ye Chongming’s words, he first felt a pang of anxiety, but then relaxed.

Only the wives of officials with ranks could be addressed as "Madam," while others were simply called "Madam."

Since this Madam Wu had been invited by the Ye family to serve as a witness, Song Yifeng had initially been somewhat wary, thinking she might be the wife of some high-ranking official. Now that he knew she was merely a "Madam," her status was clearly not very high. He felt relieved and immediately looked down on her.

The Ye family was nothing but merchants—what influential people could they possibly associate with?

With that thought, he stopped caring at all about the existence of the account book.When Madam Wu saw the account book, it not only recorded the exact year, month, and day when money was given to Song Yifeng, the amount, and the handler, but also included the handler's signature and fingerprint, as well as some receipts written by Song Yifeng himself.

She flipped to the last page and discovered that the total amount the Ye family had spent on Song Yifeng over the years was four thousand five hundred and thirty-seven taels of silver.

She shook her head inwardly once again, lamenting the greed and ingratitude of the Song family.

When she married Master Wu in her youth, he was still a mere Tongsheng, so she knew exactly how much a scholar spent in a year.

For those with poor family circumstances and tight budgets, the annual expense was a few dozen taels of silver; for those with more comfortable means, it was around one to two hundred taels. This average cost included expenses for imperial examinations and occasional poetry or literary gatherings.

In other words, the two hundred taels per year set by the Ye family was more than enough for Song Yifeng to study comfortably, and the mother and son of the Song family could live quite well.

Yet, the Song mother and son had actually spent so much of the Ye family's money.

Since they had spent it, they should have properly married the granddaughter and lived their lives—Ye Yaming was in no way unworthy of Song Yifeng. Instead, the Song mother and son grew insatiably greedy, looking at one thing and coveting another, and even began to disdain the Ye family for being merchants. Tsk, tsk, tsk...

She handed the account book to Zhang Yuniang.

Zhang Yuniang looked at the amount of money recorded and was visibly shocked.

Song Yifeng had been observing Madam Wu and Zhang Yuniang. Seeing their astonished expressions, his heart pounded, and his mind raced as he searched for a countermeasure.

After Zhang Yuniang finished reading the account book, Ye Chongming said, "Every entry in this account book is backed by either Madam Song's fingerprint or a handwritten note from Young Master Song. If you doubt its authenticity, Young Master Song, I can send for officials to verify the fingerprints or handwriting."

As a businessman, he was meticulous about financial transactions, ensuring every expenditure was clearly documented.

For every large sum given to the Song family, the steward, accountant, or servant delivering the money would insist on having Yu Shi press her fingerprint or Song Yifeng write a receipt, using the excuse that "without a receipt, we cannot account to our masters." These proofs were then attached to the account book by the accountant. There was no way for the Song mother and son to deny it.

He looked at Song Yifeng and said calmly, "The total is four thousand five hundred and thirty-seven taels of silver. If this money had been lent out for seven or eight years, it would have earned considerable interest. I won't charge you interest now. Just return the full amount to me and write a divorce paper, and our two families will have no further ties. From then on, we go our separate ways."

Hearing the amount, Song Yifeng's heart tightened, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

He had never imagined it was so much money, nor had he expected the Ye family to account for it so meticulously.

What should he do? What should he do? Did he really have to repay the Ye family such a large sum? What would happen if he refused to acknowledge the accounts? Would Madam Wu and Matchmaker Zhang spread the story and ruin his reputation?

Song Yifeng's mind worked frantically, his palms damp with cold sweat.

Ye Chongming did not rush him, and the hall fell into a dead silence.

Zhang Yuniang glanced at Song Yifeng, then at Ye Chongming. After a moment's thought, feeling she could not afford to offend either party, she lowered her head and continued studying the account book as if it could sprout flowers.

Seeing this, Old Mrs. Ye pushed the plate of pastries on the table toward Madam Wu and said with a smile, "These are our chef's specialty pastries, Madam Wu. Please try them and see if you like them."