Glory

Although both men wore cloaks with their hoods up and kept their heads lowered as they descended the steps, and though the vendor's view was largely blocked by Fang Xing, preventing him from clearly seeing Ye Chongming and his companion's faces, he recognized their clothing. In a fleeting glance, he saw one of them lift his head—it was unmistakably Ye Hongchang's face.

Following behind them was Ye Yaming, draped in a dark green cloak that revealed the purple hem of her skirt. Her face was mostly obscured by the fox-fur trim of her hood. However, the maid in a green jacket beside her had been seen by the vendor earlier. Based on her figure, attire, and the maid, the vendor knew this was Third Miss Ye.

Noticing the vendor craning his neck to peer at Ye Chongming and the others, Fang Xing abruptly twisted the vendor's face toward him and warned with a frosty expression, "If you keep being this insolent with those eyes of yours, I'll have them gouged out."

"Heh heh, I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. I was just curious, never having seen what wealthy folks look like, so I took a peek. Didn't see anything else, nothing else," the vendor replied with an ingratiating smile.

"Move," Fang Xing ordered, half-dragging and half-pushing him to the base of the wall about ten meters away from the Ye family's main gate. Liu Zi, carrying the vendor's shoulder pole and baskets, tossed them down beside him.

Although the road in front of the Ye residence wasn't off-limits to pedestrians, it wasn't a main thoroughfare and saw few passersby. Those who did walk by kept to the other side, avoiding the Ye family's entrance, especially when women of the household were coming or going. Staring insistently at the ladies was considered highly improper.

Given the vendor's rudeness, Fang Xing's actions were hardly unreasonable.

Under normal circumstances, even if someone lingered near the gate out of curiosity, the gatekeeper would merely issue a polite warning without forcibly dragging them away.

"Don't go any closer," Fang Xing warned the vendor before turning back with Liu Zi.

The vendor glanced toward the carriages and saw only the Ye family's gatekeeper, along with the housekeeper and matron who had come to see them off, standing at the entrance. The three Ye family masters had clearly already boarded the carriage.

"Let's go," the coachman at the front called out, cracking his whip. The carriage started moving slowly toward the city gate, followed immediately by the one behind.

Seeing this, the vendor picked up his shoulder pole, hoisted his baskets, and ambled away.

Once he turned into a nearby alley, the vendor shed his earlier limping demeanor and hurried along briskly with his baskets.

Arriving at a household's door, he glanced around to ensure no one was watching before knocking and calling out twice. The door opened, and he entered with his baskets.

Inside, he saw two men seated in the courtyard, with what appeared to be pages standing behind them. Feeling everyone's intense gazes fixed on him, he quickly set down his baskets, stepped forward, and bowed.

"Young Master Gu, Steward Jin, I saw clearly—it was indeed Old Master Ye, Elder Ye, and Third Miss Ye who left. I got a good look at their faces; every one of them matched."

Of the two seated men, one was unmistakably Gu Jie, who had previously signed the contract with the Yang family on behalf of Meng Chengwei. The other, a man in his forties dressed even more splendidly than Gu Jie, was Steward Jin, sent by the Meng family from the capital.

Despite the Meng family and Min Fei's efforts to pull strings, Meng Chengwei had only been sentenced to five months of labor service. By the count, he had just one month left before he could return to the capital. Yet, the fact that a mere merchant had caused Meng Chengwei such a significant setback was a humiliation that made both Min Fei and the Meng family the butt of jokes.After settling Meng Chengwei properly, the Meng family sent Housekeeper Jin to assist Gu Jie in avenging Meng Chengwei.

Therefore, although the vendor addressed Gu Jie first, Gu Jie knew he couldn't make the final decision and turned his gaze to Housekeeper Jin.

Housekeeper Jin nodded and said, "Since it's confirmed, let's proceed."

Housekeeper Jin had arrived two months earlier and had been having people watch the Ye family members, waiting for an opportunity when they would leave the city together to have someone pose as enemies or bandits, severely injuring them or outright taking their lives.

But the Ye family members never acted together.

Killing just one of them would be utterly useless. If Ye Yaming didn't know how to process tea, killing Ye Hongsheng would cause the quality of Ye family's tea to decline. With the Yang family suppressing them further, the Ye family would decline.

However, both father and daughter from the Ye family's second branch were skilled at tea processing,

and Ye Yaming had even surpassed her father. If Ye Hongsheng died, the impact on the Ye family wouldn't be significant. As for Ye Jiaxing, the only adult eldest grandson of the Ye family, he was even more insignificant than Ye Yaming. Killing him would be meaningless.

So they had waited for over two months.

Now, they finally received news that Ye Chongming, Ye Hongchang, and Ye Yaming were going to the tea garden in Baiteng County on the sixteenth.

This was truly a rare opportunity, worth their long wait.

What they didn't know was that after Ye Yaming, Ye Hongchang, and Ye Chongming entered the Ye family gate one after another, those who came out were an old guard from the security company disguised as Ye Chongming, and Guan Ting disguised as Ye Yaming. Only Ye Hongchang remained unchanged.

Among the Ye family servants accompanying the carriage, except for Meng Ji, Lve E, and two manor guards, the others were guards from the security company in disguise, including Guan Canghai.

"Will anything go wrong? My heart is pounding with anxiety," Ye Chongming said as he sat back down in the hall, full of unease.

"Don't worry," Ye Yaming comforted him. "Those people have been in Lin'an for two months. I've already had someone test their skills. Guard Guan and the others can handle them easily. At worst, with Guard Guan's skills, he can definitely protect Da Bo."

She had told Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang not to put themselves in danger, but if they were attacked and managed to capture the assailants to file a complaint at the magistrate's office, it wouldn't be appropriate if there were no masters from the Ye family present to lodge the complaint.

With her skills from her previous life, plus having trained with Guan Ting for some time in this life, if nothing else, at least this body had become much stronger and more agile than before.

But Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang disagreed. Especially Ye Hongchang - Ye Yaming had said this matter should be handled by their eldest branch, yet key arrangements still had to be made by Ye Yaming, and ultimately having her take the risk was completely unacceptable.

Moreover, if Ye Yaming, a young woman, were attacked, rumors could easily damage her reputation. As for him, a grown man, such considerations weren't as important.

So he took part personally.

Accompanying him were Lve E, who had trained with Guan Ting for some time, and Meng Ji, who already had martial skills.

Ye Chongming asked, "What do you think - will they strike when we go up the mountain, or wait until we come back down?""They will strike when we ascend the mountain," Ye Yaming said. "They've waited over two months and are already impatient. This time, we're heading to the Tea Garden with no fixed schedule for our return. They won't have the patience to wait until we descend. They will certainly act today during our ascent."

She glanced at the water clock in the room: "We'll know for sure within two hours."