Glory

On the other side, the money house lent money to tea merchants at interest rates several times higher than what they paid depositors. With the substantial profits from tea trade as their foundation, tea merchants were overjoyed just to secure loans—why would they hesitate to pay a little interest? Soon, they would be competing to borrow.

As for potential bad debts, they were virtually nonexistent. Before lending money to tea merchants, Baofeng Money House required them to mortgage their farmland and shops. If a tea merchant couldn’t repay the loan, selling off these assets would cover the debt.

Moreover, tea currency was highly beneficial for both tea merchants and estate holders. Tea merchants didn’t need to use cash, and if estate holders were willing to hold onto the tea currency until spring to exchange it with tea merchants, they could earn extra interest, which they were quite happy to do.

From every angle, this was an excellent idea. Since the Ye family had proposed this plan to Mei Chonglin and were the first to use tea currency, the Mei family naturally had to help the Ye family through their difficulties.

With the Mei family willing to lend, there was no shortage of funds for producing Osmanthus Tea. Although Ye Hongchang’s silver should not be a problem, Ye Chongming would never turn down extra money to invest in the tea trade.

Ye Chongming left in a whirlwind.

Old Madam Ye and Ye Yaming exchanged a glance and couldn’t help but smile.

Old Madam Ye picked up the teapot and personally poured a cup of tea for Ye Yaming: "Ming'er, thank you. If you hadn’t advised your grandfather, our family would be in dire straits."

To ensure she managed Ye Hongrong properly and didn’t indulge him further, Ye Chongming had explained the Ye family’s predicament in detail the previous night, even exaggerating it somewhat.

At the time, Old Madam Ye broke out in a cold sweat and couldn’t sleep all night.

Now, hearing their conversation and realizing the crisis might be resolved, she felt deeply grateful to Ye Yaming from the bottom of her heart.

Ye Yaming was a girl, already fifteen years old. Her fiancé was a young Recommended Man, who might become a major supporter of the Ye family in the future. Therefore, her dowry had been prepared early and was quite substantial.

No matter what difficulties the family faced, they wouldn’t really affect Ye Yaming. She could easily have ignored the family’s affairs.

But now, she had gotten involved and offered so many good ideas, which made Old Madam Ye extremely grateful and reflective toward her third granddaughter.

This granddaughter had always been quiet and unassuming—who would have thought she was so intelligent? As her grandmother, she realized she hadn’t understood the girls in the family well enough.

Ye Yaming waved her hand: "I’m part of this family. How could I just live my own life while the family is in trouble?"

She paused, lifted her eyes, and glanced at Old Madam Ye: "My mother injured her body when she gave birth to Yin'er and can’t have more children, and my father doesn’t want to take a concubine. As the eldest daughter of the second branch, I need to take on responsibilities. Regarding the matter of a groom who lives with the bride's family, Grandmother, perhaps you could consider it for me."

In her modern life, her parents had a marriage of convenience with little affection. She had no particular longing for marriage herself. Since the family needed an heir, she had even prepared to have a test-tube baby in her thirties.

In ancient times, such methods were neither technically feasible nor socially acceptable.

Accustomed to being in charge, she was neither suited to bowing and scraping as a daughter-in-law in another family nor willing to bear children only to lose them in a divorce. The solution was to take in a groom who lives with the bride's family.Once she had a child, if the groom who lived with the bride's family proved troublesome, she could simply give him some money to settle the divorce, and the child would stay with her. This approach was most in line with the legal customs of the era and best suited her temperament.

"Uh, well..." Old Mrs. Ye hadn't expected Ye Yaming to genuinely consider the feasibility of this idea.

She carefully observed Ye Yaming and asked, "Do your parents know about your thoughts on this?"

Ye Yaming shook her head. "My father cares about nothing but tea. As for my mother..."

She gave a helpless smile. "You know how she is—she takes pride in Song Yifeng being her son-in-law. Moreover, Song Yifeng was my maternal grandfather's student, and it was my grandfather who arranged the match. If Song Yifeng turns out to be a man of poor character, it would mean my grandfather's judgment was flawed. My mother would be the last person to accept that. No matter what I say, she won't believe me." She poured a cup of tea for Old Mrs. Ye. "Once Grandfather finishes with the family affairs, he will surely send someone to investigate Song Yifeng. When the facts are laid out before her, even if my mother refuses to believe it, she won't be able to argue."

Old Mrs. Ye believed she had a good understanding of her daughters-in-law's temperaments.

Her second daughter-in-law was undoubtedly a good person. However, because she hadn't given birth to a son and her family background was inferior to her sisters-in-law's, she tended to overthink things and often felt that the Ye family looked down on her. When Song Yifeng passed the imperial examination and became a Recommended Man, she stood taller and took immense pride in it. To give up such an outstanding son-in-law now, and have her daughter subjected to gossip, would be too much for Yin Shi, who was inherently strong-willed.

"Alright, I'll help you with this matter," Old Mrs. Ye said decisively.

Ye Yaming was delighted and raised her teacup to Old Mrs. Ye. "Thank you, Grandmother."

Old Mrs. Ye came from the Mei family, a large and populous clan. After marrying into the Ye family, she started as a young daughter-in-law and now managed the internal affairs of the several dozen members of the Ye household. Her skills in navigating household politics were undoubtedly sharp.

With her help, breaking off the engagement would surely proceed smoothly.

Ye Chongming spent over two hours at the Mei residence. It wasn't until the sky had completely darkened and Bai Rui urged Ye Yaming to wash up and go to bed that Ye Chongming finally sent a maidservant to inform Ye Yaming, "Old Master Ye said that the idea you proposed has been approved by Old Master Mei. Old Master Mei also said he wants to thank you, Miss."

"Ah, that's wonderful!" Ye Yaming happily instructed Bai Rui to give the maidservant a reward.

Tea Silver was issued in 1925 when the tea business was booming, and there wasn't enough currency in circulation. The China Silk and Tea Bank issued it as an emergency measure. The nature of banks and money houses, as well as the specific circumstances, were entirely different.

Moreover, the money houses of this era were not the same as modern banks. This was due not only to the limitations of the times but also to various other factors.

Although Ye Yaming had explained everything clearly to Ye Chongming and appeared very confident, she still felt uncertain deep down.

Now that the matter had been settled, and the Ye family's problems were completely resolved, even if Ye Hongchang failed to bring back the silver, the Ye family's business would remain unaffected. They could even turn the tables on Meng Chengwei. Naturally, Ye Yaming was overjoyed.

The maidservant added, "Old Master Ye said that if you haven't retired for the night, you should go see him. If you have, then it can wait until tomorrow."

Ye Yaming knew that Ye Chongming must want to discuss the preparation of Osmanthus Tea the next day, so she stood up and said, "I haven't retired yet. Let's go."

She brought Xia Momo and Bai Rui to the main courtyard.

When Ye Chongming saw her, he briefly recounted his conversation with Mei Zhonglin."Heh, you don't know how your great-uncle Old Master Ye praised you—said you're capable, said you're clever, said you're bound for great achievements in the future. In short, he lavished all kinds of compliments without holding back." He chuckled, his eyes narrowing into slits.