Glory

A room full of men looked at Ye Yaming with hopeful eyes.

Deep down, they all felt a sense of shame. A household of grown men, yet they were desperately relying on a seventeen-year-old girl to solve their problems—they truly felt useless.

Ye Yaming walked into the room, found a chair to sit in, and as she recalled what Lu Guanyi had mentioned and the information she had gathered from Zan’er about the capital, she asked Ye Hongchang, "Da Bo, do you know what kind of person the Third Prince is?"

Over the past decade or so, Ye Hongchang had spent most of his time in the capital, running a teahouse business, so he had some knowledge of the situation.

He nodded. "The Third Prince was born to Consort Hui. It’s said that Consort Hui came from a minor official’s family, and her maternal relatives are not prominent. The Second Prince is in a similar situation. Both princes usually keep a low profile and rarely cause trouble, so there isn’t much gossip about them outside."

He had already shared this information with Ye Chongming when Ye Yaming arrived.

However, in everyone’s view, this explanation was as good as saying nothing—it offered no help in addressing the predicament Ye Jia was facing.

Keeping a low profile and avoiding trouble, yet now they had come knocking on Ye Jia’s door, and it was Wang Kuan who brought them. Clearly, their intentions were far from good.

Yet Ye Yaming nodded in acknowledgment.

The intelligence she had gathered was largely consistent with this.

The Great Jin Dynasty had been established for 130 years. The founding emperor had seized the imperial power of the previous dynasty and directly established a new regime. After ascending the throne, to consolidate his power, he was forced to marry a daughter of an old aristocratic family as his empress and took many daughters of influential families into his harem. As a result, the newly established regime nearly collapsed.

After overcoming this political crisis, he established a rule: princes could only marry or take as concubines the daughters of officials ranked fifth grade or lower. Daughters of officials above the fifth grade, especially those from aristocratic families, were excluded from the selection process.

Thus, the consorts in the current emperor’s harem all came from humble backgrounds and were from civil official families. The only exception was the recently deposed Empress Shi, who came from the Duke Wei’s household.

When Ye Yaming first received the information Zan’er had compiled, she couldn’t help but think how foolish the Duke Wei’s family had been. They knew full well that the emperor’s marriage to Empress Shi was a matter of necessity and that he might behead them at any moment. Instead of keeping a low profile, they had flaunted their power and fought for influence.

But upon second thought, she realized that the Duke Wei’s family might also have been forced into their actions.

Whether they fought or not, they would eventually be eradicated by the emperor. In that case, it was better to rise up, rebel against the emperor, and place the Fourth Prince on the throne—only then could they secure their own heads.

With the Crown Prince, born of the first empress, ahead and the Fourth Prince, born of the stepmother empress, behind, the Second and Third Princes, who lacked substantial backing, naturally had to keep a low profile.

Now that the Fourth Prince had fallen, was the Third Prince starting to show off?

Ye Yaming asked, "Where is that eunuch staying? At Wang Kuan’s residence?"

Ye Chongming was taken aback, a hint of shame appearing on his face. "As soon as they left, I sent someone to fetch you, then came back to discuss countermeasures with your Da Bo and your father. I didn’t look into where he was staying."

Ye Hongchang quickly added, "And it wouldn’t be easy to investigate, would it? If they found out…"

Fair enough.

Ye Jia had always been a lowly merchant family, where even a minor official from the yamen could make them kneel. Now, with a eunuch from a prince arriving, it was understandable that they were frightened and at a loss.

Ye Yaming called out to the outside, "Zan’er."

Zan’er hurried in. "Your servant is here.""This morning, a tea merchant named Wang Kuan accompanied a eunuch from the capital to the teahouse to speak with Old Master Ye. Go investigate where that eunuch is staying and when he first connected with Wang Kuan."

"Yes."

"Before you begin the investigation, make a detour to Magistrate Qi's residence and deliver a letter to Young Master Qi on my behalf."

"Yes, Miss."

Ye Yaming immediately wrote a letter, and Zan'er took it and departed.

Watching Ye Yaming handle matters calmly and methodically, the men of the Ye family, though still unsettled, were no longer as panicked and flustered as they had been initially.

After Zan'er left, Ye Hongchang asked, "Regarding the matter of the Third Prince, can Magistrate Qi really handle it?"

They had considered this issue before Ye Yaming returned. The Ye family had been collaborating with Young Masters Lu and Qi, but Young Master Lu had suddenly left to join the military a year and a half ago, leaving Young Master Qi to continue the business dealings with them.

Now that trouble had arrived, their only potential support was Magistrate Qi. But how could a mere magistrate oppose the Third Prince? This was the source of their anxiety.

Ye Chongming exchanged a glance with Ye Yaming, his eyes clearly asking whether the Lu family could handle this situation.

Behind the Lu family stood the Crown Prince. If the Crown Prince intervened, even the Third Prince would be no match.

Ye Yaming said, "Let's not discuss how to handle it just yet. We should first gather information. Eunuchs from the palace cannot leave the capital without the Emperor's permission. Since that eunuch has come to Lin'an, Magistrate Qi must be aware of it. Let's investigate the situation first. Besides, didn't Grandfather arrange to give them a response tomorrow? I will go to the teahouse tomorrow to meet with that eunuch in person and gauge their true intentions."

"And after we gather information? Ming'er, do you have some plan? What about your fiancé..." Ye Hongchang couldn't help but ask.

Most people speculated that Ye Yaming's engagement was fabricated and that there was no powerful noble from the capital involved. However, Ye Yaming didn't think so.

He understood his father well—the man always prioritized stability and wouldn't dare to fabricate such a significant lie. After all, forging Imperial Mandate ceremonial robes and noble attire constituted the crime of deceiving the Emperor. The Ye family hadn't been driven to such desperate measures that they needed to take such a risky gamble.

Even if the Ye family were to take a risk, Master Zhineng wouldn't participate in it. Why would the venerable master, unless he had lost his mind, join the Ye family in committing such a grave offense? What did the Ye family's affairs have to do with Master Zhineng?

He vaguely suspected that Ye Yaming was engaged to Lu Guanyi.

After all, Ye Yaming was beautiful and exceptionally intelligent. She had traveled to Huizhou with Lu Guanyi, and spending day and night together could easily lead to mutual affection. It was entirely plausible that Lu Guanyi, overcoming class barriers, had become engaged to her.

Moreover, Lu Guanyi came from a marquis household and was descended from nobility. After returning from Huizhou, he had gone back to the capital and then to the border regions. As a descendant of nobility, earning a fifth-rank military officer position with just a modest achievement would be perfectly normal.

With this suspicion in mind, when Ye Hongchang later traveled to Minzhou with Ye Yaming and Qi Ji, he noticed Qi Ji's profound respect toward Ye Yaming—the kind of respect a younger brother would show an elder sister-in-law—which further confirmed his conjecture.

But since his father and Ye Yaming remained tight-lipped about the identity of her fiancé, refusing to clarify even when rumors grew slanderous, Ye Hongchang guessed there must be some reason preventing them from revealing it.Therefore, even though he had guessed the truth, he never sought confirmation from his father.

But now that the Ye family faced such a crisis, he had no choice but to ask. Everyone present was family—it was wrong for his father and Ming'er to keep them in the dark.