Glory

The next day, he visited another village chief, settled the matter, and accompanied by the chief, went to three nearby villages with more Estate Holders, signing over twenty more contracts. His heart finally felt much more at ease.

The remaining twenty or so households, however, lived in small, scattered mountain villages. Some villages had only a dozen households, and among them, only one or two might be Estate Holders with Tea Gardens.

The mountain paths were rugged and potholed, impassable by carriage, requiring travel on horseback. The two village chiefs couldn’t accompany him on such a trek, so Ye Chongming had to take his attendants and proceed slowly, visiting each household one by one.

Fortunately, he was known for his honesty and integrity. Even in years of disaster, when Estate Holders couldn’t deliver the pre-ordered tea, he would agree to carry the orders over to the next year instead of forcing them to refund the money.

If an Estate Holder faced emergencies and urgently needed money or help, as long as they sought him out, he would assist as much as possible.

Now, he was merely converting white contracts into red contracts, not demanding an extra coin from anyone. The village chiefs handled the process, and he even gave gifts. Hearing that the chiefs had accompanied Ye Chongming to two large villages where the Estate Holders had agreed, the others naturally gave Ye Jia this face and raised no objections.

As for the tea currency, initially, everyone was hesitant and resistant upon hearing they wouldn’t receive silver.

But when they learned that for every hundred taels of tea currency, they would earn half a tael of interest by redeeming it with Ye Jia during the spring tea delivery, it became an unexpected windfall for Estate Holders who had little income beyond tea. Thus, most who weren’t in urgent need of cash, like those in the lower villages, preferred tea currency over silver.

This pleased Ye Chongming greatly.

The more Estate Holders accepted tea currency, the easier it would be for him to account to Mei Chonglin.

After another day of running around from dawn to dusk, only three small villages remained, and the Tea Gardens of their Estate Holders were relatively small.

Li Fu advised, "Old Master Ye, perhaps you should rest. We can visit these two villages tomorrow."

Other attendants chimed in, "Exactly. The elder master and young master are still injured and cannot handle worries. If you fall ill, there will be no one to manage the family affairs."

Ye Chongming sighed.

Though even a mosquito’s leg has meat, and it would be best to secure the tea from these two villages, he was getting on in years and had exhausted himself over the past two days. Continuing like this could indeed make him ill.

"Alright, we’ll go tomorrow," he said. "Let’s rest well at the mountain villa tonight."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, quickly helped Ye Chongming into the carriage, and slowly returned to the villa.

Seeing Ye Chongming’s carriage stop at the gate, the old caretaker of the villa relaxed and came forward to greet him, saying, "Old Master, you’re back? The third master from Chief Zhou’s family has been waiting for you for some time."

"Zhou Xing?" Upon hearing this, Ye Chongming guessed what was going on.

He hurried inside to the hall, where Zhou Xing, who had been resting in a room, came out and bowed to Ye Chongming. "Uncle Ye."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Ye Chongming asked, "What brings you here?"

"This noon, an out-of-town tea merchant visited my father, offering a hefty sum to persuade him to have the Estate Holders under his jurisdiction sign contracts to sell their tea to him next spring. My father naturally refused and sent me to inform you."

Ye Chongming narrowed his eyes and asked, "What is that person’s name?""Liu Qilin."

A cold smile curled at the corner of Ye Chongming's lips.

He had long since dispatched people to investigate Meng Chengwei's situation thoroughly. He knew Meng Chengwei had brought three capable individuals with him: besides his cousin Meng Liang, there were two housekeepers—one named Liu Qilin, the other Yuan Fang.

This Liu Qilin was indeed Meng Chengwei's man.

Just as Ye Yaming had anticipated, Meng Chengwei had sent someone to poach the estate holders.

Fortunately, Ye Chongming had struck first, securing contracts with the vast majority of estate holders before Meng's men could act. Although they hadn't yet converted the white contracts into red ones at the magistrate's office,

the two village heads and the estate holders from the four major villages had been informed about the red contracts. Given the estate holders' fear of the authorities, they were unlikely to consider breaching the agreements. Moreover, the two village heads had accepted his bribes, had collaborated with him for years, and were well aware that the Ye family's roots in Lin'an ran deeper than any outsider tea merchant's. They also knew of his relationship with Master Wu.

He reckoned they would stand firm and not be swayed by trivial gains to persuade the estate holders to break their contracts.

As for the two villages that hadn't signed yet, their tea gardens were small. Losing them wouldn't significantly impact the Ye family.

With this thought, Ye Chongming felt no urgency.

The next day, after a leisurely breakfast at home, he set out with his attendants toward those two villages.

These villages were actually quite close to Lin'an city. Starting from the Ye family's villa, Ye Chongming now had to descend the mountain. However, most of the tea gardens were located on the southern slopes, while these two villages were on the eastern slopes, with relatively small tea garden areas. That's why he had initially headed south, planning to circle back and visit these last two villages afterward.

The path was narrow; in previous years, tea leaves had been transported out by mules. Ye Chongming rode his horse slowly, taking a full half-hour to reach the first village.

"Is anyone home? Is Gong Daniu here?" Wu Qingping, the housekeeper of the tea factory, stepped forward and called into the courtyard.

After a while, a middle-aged woman emerged from the house.

Wu Qingping had accompanied Ye Hongchang in previous years to secure tea orders and recognized this woman.

He first introduced her to Ye Chongming: "This is Zhao Shi, Gong Daniu's wife."

Then he turned to Zhao Shi and said, "Auntie Gong, this is our Old Master Ye. He's here to place a tea order with your family."

Zhao Shi opened the courtyard gate but stood at the entrance without inviting them in, though she wore a faint smile. "So it's Old Master Ye. But you're too late this year—our tea has already been reserved."

At these words, everyone was taken aback.

Wu Qingping repeated blankly, "Reserved?"

"Yes."

Though Ye Chongming had his suspicions, to be certain, he frowned slightly and asked, "Might I ask who it was reserved for? Also, do you plan to continue working with them next year?"

Zhao Shi's smile stiffened, and her expression cooled. "I'm not sure who it was reserved for. These matters are decided by my husband; I don't involve myself in them."

Then she added, "There's no tea left this year. Please take your leave, sir." With that, she closed the courtyard gate and turned back into the house.

Wu Qingping stood stunned for a moment, then frowned. "Does the Gong family intend to stop cooperating with us from now on?" Otherwise, they wouldn't have behaved so dismissively.

After all, Ye Chongming was the Old Master of the Ye family. Even if their tea had been reserved, given his status, the Gong family should have invited him in to sit and share a cup of tea.But the Gong family's actions were practically no different from an open confrontation.