Chapter 41
Red Contract

Ye Yaming read through the contract.

She mainly wanted to see if there were any breach of contract liabilities. However, this contract from the Great Jin Dynasty did not include such a clause. Unlike modern contracts, this one also had a guarantor. In the guarantor section, the words “Li Zheng” were written uniformly.

The so-called guarantor is someone who takes on the responsibility. For example, if Person A borrows 100 taels of silver from Person B, Person C acts as the guarantor. If Person A fails to repay on time, Person B can pursue the debt from Person C.

In the administrative structure of the Great Jin Dynasty, one Li consisted of 100 households, and five Lis made up one Xiang. Each Li had one Li Zheng, who was equivalent to a modern-day village head.

The tea from Jiangnan doesn’t come from just one mountain but a range of mountains. The heights of the mountains vary, covering an area of about ten miles. The villages that cooperate with the Ye family are adjacent to each other and fall under the jurisdiction of two Li Zhengs.

The Li Zheng holds the power to collect taxes and assign corvée labor. Having the Li Zheng as a guarantor for the contract provides some assurance. After all, these garden households wouldn’t dare offend the Li Zheng. However, this assurance isn’t absolute. Even if some garden households breach the contract, the Ye family can’t hold the Li Zheng accountable. Offending the Li Zheng would make it difficult for the Ye family to pre-order tea in that area again. The quality of the tea received might also be inconsistent, with some tampering involved.

In any case, as long as nothing goes wrong with the contract, it’s fine. But if something goes wrong, the Ye family will suffer.

Ye Yaming shared her concerns with Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang.

Both were taken aback.

“This contract has been signed this way since my great-grandfather’s time,” Ye Chongming said, rubbing his face, unsure whether to feel lucky or ashamed.

“So what should we do?” Ye Hongchang asked.

Ye Yaming asked, “Is this contract a white contract?”

Contracts are divided into white contracts and red contracts. A white contract is witnessed by a middleman, with all three parties signing and sealing it. This type of contract doesn’t need to be registered with the government or have official legal protection, relying instead on moral constraints. A red contract, on the other hand, is registered with the government, with taxes paid and legal protection. If the other party fails to fulfill the contract, they would be held accountable by the government.

Ye Chongming nodded, “Yes.”

He now understood Ye Yaming’s point and shook his head, “But changing it to a red contract is difficult!”

As the saying goes, “The yamen’s doors are open, but without money, don’t enter.” Ancient people had an inherent fear of the yamen. Moreover, the mountains are far from the county yamen, and transportation is inconvenient. The garden households wouldn’t go to the county yamen to sign a red contract.

He thought Ye Yaming didn’t understand and explained the issues to her one by one.

Ye Yaming knew it was difficult. However, adding a penalty clause to the contract would be even less feasible.

If the penalty is small, it wouldn’t deter Meng Chengwei from tampering. But if the penalty is large, the garden households wouldn’t be willing to sign.

After all, tea depends on the weather, and no one can guarantee they can deliver a certain amount of tea to the Ye family. If they can’t fulfill the contract, they would have to pay a large sum of money to the Ye family, which they wouldn’t agree to.

Their tea isn’t hard to sell. Even without the pre-order money, they could sell it directly to the Tea Bureau. It would just mean a loss of some income. Compared to the risk of losing everything, they would rather earn less and not sign such a risky contract. Even if a penalty clause is added, enforcing it would be a big problem. In a society based on personal relationships, with imperfect laws, even in modern times with complete laws, lawsuits are difficult for ordinary people.

When the Ye family and the garden households have a dispute, the Li Zheng would likely side with the garden households, as they are fellow villagers. So, the focus should be on the red contract. People fear the yamen, so if the contract is registered with the yamen, and the garden households are told that breaching the contract would result in being arrested, they wouldn’t breach the contract no matter how much money they are offered.

Ye Yaming said, “We don’t need to deal with the garden households directly. We can give the Li Zheng some money to have him go to the yamen and sign the red contract on behalf of the garden households. Nothing has gone wrong for so many years, and he would be happy to get some free money. Moreover, changing the white contract to a red contract also provides an extra layer of protection for the Li Zheng as the guarantor.”

Ye Chongming frowned and asked, “You mean, don’t let the garden households know, just have them sign the contract, and then you and the Li Zheng go to the yamen to change it to a red contract?”

That wouldn’t be ethical. If the garden households found out, the Ye family’s good reputation built over the years would be ruined.

Ye Yaming shook her head, “Of course, we need to explain it to them. First, talk to the Li Zheng and say it’s an initiative from the yamen. Then, for the garden households that sign the red contract, you can give them a gift or some money. They don’t have to pay taxes or go to the yamen, so they would likely agree to change the white contract to a red contract for the gift.”

Ye Chongming’s eyes gradually brightened. He slapped the armrest, “This plan is feasible.”

The Li Zheng would definitely prefer changing the white contract to a red one. With more and more tea merchants from other places, the temptation is growing. The Li Zheng is also worried that some household might breach the contract, causing trouble for him. Once it becomes a red contract, his risk will be reduced immediately.

With some money as a thank you, why wouldn’t he agree?

As long as the Li Zheng helps the Ye family with this explanation and persuades the garden households, and the garden households get a gift, they wouldn’t disagree.

“Do you want to go up the mountain with me to handle this?” he asked Ye Yaming.

After handling things for a lifetime, now that he’s old, Ye Chongming felt reassured having Ye Yaming with him.

Ye Yaming shook her head and said seriously to the two, “Grandfather, Meng Chengwei might not only tamper with the tea pre-orders but also pose a threat to personal safety. If my cousin or I fall into his hands and are humiliated, the Ye family would be blackmailed and eventually fall into his hands.”

“So during this time, not only will I not go out, but the girls in the family should also stay at home and not go anywhere. Grandfather, you should also take more guards with you when you go out to ensure your safety.”

Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang felt a chill down their spines.

Ye Chongming sighed, “Heaven bless, our Ye family is fortunate to have Ming’er.”

Otherwise, they would have fallen into Meng Chengwei’s trap.

If Ye Hongchang had any doubts about his father’s praise for Ye Yaming before, thinking it might be exaggerated, he now truly felt Ye Yaming’s brilliance. He realized his father’s previous worries were unnecessary.

With someone like her, would he dare to oppose her and compete with her? If Ye Yaming wanted the Ye family’s property, she could easily take it all. The big house would be destroyed, and the property would fall into the second house’s hands. The big house should be grateful that Ye Yaming is willing to coexist peacefully with them.

He would go back and ask his wife and son if they had offended Ye Yaming recently. If they had, they must sincerely apologize to her.