Glory

After hearing Ye Yaming's words, Ye Chongming was extremely uneasy. He returned to the main courtyard once more to repeatedly instruct his wife to keep a tight rein on the young girls in the household and not let them go out. Only then did he set off for Baiteng County.

Ye Hongchang watched his white-haired father leave to toil away, his heart filled with bitterness.

Although Ye Chongming still insisted on making an annual trip up the mountain to visit the village heads and maintain relationships—mainly because the two village heads lived in areas accessible by carriage with relatively flat roads—this time was different.

To pre-order tea leaves and sign contracts with them, he would have to visit each family individually. The mountain paths were rugged, and many places were completely inaccessible by carriage, requiring travel on horseback.

Ye Chongming was sixty years old, and Ye Hongchang truly worried his body couldn't handle the strain.

Moreover, Ye Hongchang himself had a leg injury. Though it wasn't serious, running around with an injury would certainly cause problems.

His second younger brother had gone to Tongxiang, and his fourth younger brother was useless—after being beaten with dozens of boards, he was still confined to bed to recuperate.

As for Ye Jiaxing, someone needed to stay in Lin'an City to manage affairs. He wasn't experienced enough to go into the mountains to sign contracts, so he could only remain in the city.

"Ride to the Hall of Returning Spring and have the Herbalist prepare some pills. Deliver them to the Old Master Ye at the city gate," Ye Hongchang instructed his attendant.

Watching the attendant depart with the order, he felt slightly reassured.

...

Back in Lin'an City for only half a day, Ye Hongchang had just settled when Meng Chengwei received news from the bandits.

"What? They only suffered minor injuries, and the Tea Silver wasn't stolen? What are those idiots doing? I paid them so much silver, and this is all they can accomplish? Just taking money without doing the job?" he roared.

The room fell into silence. No one dared to speak, afraid of provoking Meng Chengwei's wrath.

To make matters worse, not only had the bandits failed to seriously injure Ye Hongchang or steal the Tea Silver, but one of the bandits had been captured and handed over to the authorities.

Fortunately, they hadn't been directly involved—they had sent a disguised attendant to contact the bandits—otherwise, they would already be worrying about constables showing up at their door.

After venting his anger, Meng Chengwei gradually calmed down.

He slowly drank a cup of tea and said, "Meng Liang, I told you to send someone to keep an eye on the Ye family's Third Miss. How is that going?"

He genuinely liked that Third Miss Ye, Ye Yaming.

Back in the capital, Meng Chengwei had always been a playboy. What interested him most weren't women from brothels, but respectable young ladies. He particularly enjoyed watching girls fall for him because of his wealth, talent, and dashing appearance (not really), becoming infatuated and desperate to marry him. He relished the process of the chase.

Given that Third Miss Ye matched his aesthetic preferences, he had intended to put some effort into pursuing her.

Initially, he had only ordered Meng Liang to have someone investigate her whereabouts so he could arrange a chance encounter. If he could make the girl fall for him, to the point she became desperate to marry him, things would get interesting.

In such matters, the outcome wasn't important—it was the process that mattered.

But now, with his schemes against the Ye family repeatedly failing and the Mid-Autumn Festival fast approaching, Meng Chengwei had truly lost patience with the Ye family.

He now planned to use underhanded methods against Third Miss Ye.

Set a trap, arrange for Third Miss Ye to encounter some mishap—perhaps be exposed to a sedative incense—and then he would coincidentally show up to rescue her. In the end, Third Miss Ye would throw herself at him, and he would be forced to "do the deed" with her...Just thinking about Ye Chongming's expression when he learns of this matter makes him want to laugh.

When the time comes, no matter how unwilling Ye Chongming is, and even if Third Miss Ye's betrothed is a Recommended man, he'll have to hold his nose and beg to take Third Miss Ye as a concubine.

Note the word "beg"!

Hmph, once Third Miss Ye becomes his concubine, won't the Ye family be completely at his mercy? He could offer mere scraps, and they'd have to hand over their tea-making recipe. All their estate holders and tea leaves would become his for the taking.

He hadn't wanted to resort to this move, but the Ye family forced him to this point.

Meng Liang had been by Meng Chengwei's side for two or three years now and understood this distant cousin's nature best.

Seeing him narrow his eyes with that confident, determined expression, Meng Liang felt a sense of foreboding.

He lowered his head, his legs trembling slightly: "I've had people keeping watch. But that Third Miss Ye is truly baffling. These past few days, she's been staying at home and hasn't stepped out at all."

As expected, a teacup came flying toward his face. Meng Liang, quite experienced, protected his face with his elbow, but even so, the teacup struck his arm painfully.

Fortunately, Meng Chengwei had already drunk all the tea in the cup, otherwise it wouldn't have been just a painful hit.

Meng Chengwei's page felt a lingering fear.

Thankfully, as soon as they heard the report, they had quietly taken a few steps back, worried their master might hurt someone in his rage.

Meng Chengwei was usually fine, not easily angered, at most he'd curse. But when his schemes against others repeatedly failed, his pent-up fury became truly terrifying.

Meng Liang, after all, was his clansman, and he couldn't afford to offend all his relatives. So when Meng Chengwei threw things at him in a rage, he could still dodge or block with his hands.

But if it were them, the servants, daring to dodge or block would only lead to even harsher punishment. So they had to stand there and take it, whether it resulted in death or injury—it was all fate!

"What about the other girls in the Ye family? Any around the same age will do." Meng Chengwei couldn't afford to be picky about preferences now.

Because he was exceptionally cunning and ruthless, even his parents and brothers dared not provoke him. However, his aunt, who was striving in the palace, admired precisely this cunning and ruthlessness in him. Thus, he was a little tyrant both at home and abroad.

All these years, he had gotten whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it.

Of course, the capital was full of powerful nobles. Although his aunt was one of the four consorts, she wasn't favored; the Meng family wasn't particularly remarkable either. He was smart and knew how to assess situations—those he couldn't afford to provoke, he didn't dare to. Even if others offended him, he wouldn't easily resort to underhanded tricks, fearing they might trace it back to him.

And Lin'an City had countless connections to the capital. Those with influential backgrounds, he didn't dare touch. But this insignificant Ye family, without power, influence, or backing, and its members so naive and inexperienced—shouldn't they be completely at his mercy?

Yet, what happened? He kept stumbling over the Ye family again and again. How could this not drive him mad?

"Yes, yes, I'll go make more inquiries right away." Meng Liang wished he could be as far away from Meng Chengwei as possible, so upon hearing this, he scurried off promptly.

Meng Chengwei turned to his incompetent strategist, Liu Qilin: "Housekeeper Liu, do you have anything to say?"

Liu Qilin very much wanted to say he had nothing to say, but he didn't dare.After a moment's thought, he said, "The day after tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. We need to find an opportunity to cause trouble for the Ye family girl. But trying to force Ye Jia to come begging for cooperation in such a short time probably won't work. What if we target the Estate Holders working with Ye Jia instead? Spend more silver to poach all the Estate Holders from them."