Chapter 59: Ye Yaqing’s Marriage

She first greeted Madam Cai and then waved to Ye Yayu, “Fifth Sister, come over and talk with us.”

Ye Yayu shrank back, tightly clutching Madam Cai’s clothes, her face almost buried in her back.

Madam Cai glanced at Ye Yaming and said calmly, “Third Miss, there’s no need.”

Ye Yaming, not one to meddle, smiled at Madam Cai and said, “Alright,” before turning to talk to Ye Yaqing.

Ye Yaqing was half a year older than Ye Yaming. Because Ye Yaming was engaged to Song Yifeng, who had passed the scholar and provincial exams, he seemed very outstanding. As a scholar, he was considered several levels above merchants. With this engagement as a comparison, Madam Tao and the others had been trying to find a more outstanding son-in-law than Song Yifeng but had not succeeded.

As a result, Ye Yaqing, now fifteen and a half years old, had not yet been engaged, and Madam Tao had been anxious since her coming-of-age ceremony.

The matter of Ye Yaming wanting to break off the engagement was known only to Ye Chongming and his wife, Ye Hongsheng, and the nannies, Yu and Xia. Therefore, Madam Tao was still comparing potential suitors to Song Yifeng.

Recently, a matchmaker finally found a young scholar from the same cohort as Song Yifeng who was willing to discuss marriage with the Ye family, and Madam Tao was delighted.

This marriage was almost finalized, so Madam Tao mentioned it at the family gathering.

“…His family is large, with four generations living together, more than twenty people. But having many people has its advantages. Everyone helps each other, and there’s no difficulty that can’t be overcome,” Madam Tao said cheerfully to Madam Yin.

“Yes, yes, just like our family, with many people, everything is taken care of, which is the best,” Madam Yin said with a smile, though her heart ached.

Before her husband went to Tongxiang, he had told her about the issues with Song Yifeng and asked her to keep an eye on the Song family. She had indeed found some troubling news. Since Song Yifeng passed the provincial exam, Madam Yu, in her interactions with neighbors, had shown disdain for Ye Yaming being the daughter of a merchant.

This made Madam Yin very uneasy. With her husband away, she didn’t know who to confide in about her anger and anxiety. She couldn’t tell her mother-in-law or sisters-in-law because Song Yifeng was chosen by her father, Yin De’an, and had always been her pride in front of them. If the Song family were problematic, it would affect not only her reputation but also her father’s. She didn’t have the courage to reveal the truth and face the shame.

She couldn’t tell her daughter, who had been praised for her wisdom by her father-in-law. If she did, what then? Break off the engagement? If not, how would her daughter get along with Madam Yu and Song Yifeng in the future? And would her father-in-law and eldest brother agree to break off the engagement?

It was a tangled mess.

This matter had been weighing on Madam Yin, making her unable to eat or sleep. If not for being busy with tea production, she might have fallen ill before her husband returned.

Ye Hongsheng had hinted at the issues with the Song family to let Madam Yin investigate and confirm the truth. He wanted her to know it was real and not just rumors out of jealousy. When he returned and found his wife believed the Song family was problematic, he revealed that Ye Chongming knew about it and, recognizing Ye Yaming’s wisdom, planned to break off the engagement and find her a new match.

This news kept Madam Yin up all night. Hearing her sister-in-law talk about Ye Yaqing’s engagement to a scholar from the same cohort as Song Yifeng, she felt a mix of emotions. She had to maintain her composure and not let Madam Tao and the others see her distress, which was exhausting.

Ye Hongsheng had warned her that this matter was significant and should not be mentioned until the last moment.

Madam Yin, being strong-willed, didn’t want to be laughed at and kept the matter to herself.

Madam Zhang, who loved to be sharp and competitive, couldn’t stand Madam Tao’s smugness and asked curiously, “How old is Scholar Wang? What does his family do?”

Madam Tao’s smile stiffened slightly, then she glanced at Madam Zhang and said nonchalantly, “Why ask so many questions? You’ll know when Yaqing’s marriage is settled.”

Madam Zhang pursed her lips. She asked because she knew some details. This marriage had been discussed with the matchmaker for some time. The delay was because Scholar Wang was already twenty-three and had been married before. His wife had died in childbirth, along with the baby. So, if Ye Yaqing married him, she would be a second wife.

Besides being a scholar, Scholar Wang had no other merits. Madam Yin’s father, Scholar Yin, hadn’t passed the provincial exam but ran a private school to support his family. The Wang family, though having some property, maintained a scholarly facade and didn’t engage in production.

Scholar Wang’s father had four sons, with only Scholar Wang achieving the provincial exam. The others were at the level of child students or scholars. They relied on their scholarly reputation to marry wealthy merchants’ daughters and lived off their dowries.

Scholar Wang’s first wife was the daughter of a small salt merchant. Her death in childbirth not only freed Scholar Wang to remarry but also left her substantial dowry to the Wang family.

The Wang family sought Ye Yaqing for her substantial dowry and her status as the eldest daughter of the wealthy Ye family.

When Scholar Wang needed money for the imperial exams, would the Ye family turn a blind eye? They sent hundreds of taels to Song Yifeng annually. For their eldest daughter’s husband, it would be even more.

To Madam Zhang, such a family was like leeches. Yet her seemingly shrewd sister-in-law couldn’t see it and insisted on finding a scholar son-in-law, even if it meant making her daughter a second wife.

It was laughable!

Ye Yaming knew about this marriage. In her previous life, Ye Yaqing married Scholar Wang. If nothing changed, Ye Yaqing would marry in six months. In her previous life, Song Yifeng had said he would marry after passing the imperial exam, so the original owner stayed home for three more years, marrying Song Yifeng at eighteen.

Ye Yaqing’s married life and the Wang family’s situation were well known to the original owner.