Chapter 99: The Plans of the Song Family Mother and Son

She didn’t have the patience to teach people to read. After all, she herself had been slowly familiarizing herself with traditional Chinese characters by reading books and secretly practicing writing to make her handwriting resemble the original owner’s.

The original owner’s small regular script was excellent, while her own penmanship was flamboyant and bold. Their personalities were completely different, which was reflected in their writing styles. Despite having the original owner’s memories and muscle memory, her writing still had a distinct style.

Bai Xin took the paper with a puzzled look and read it carefully.

After reading two lines, she looked up at Ye Yaming.

The paper listed the gold, silver, and jade jewelry the original owner gave Madam Yu over the years.

To gain the Ye family’s support, Madam Yu always pretended to be poor, wearing wooden jewelry on her head and hands. She would then complain to the original owner about how the neighboring ladies looked down on her for not having jewelry, often crying in front of her.

The original owner wasn’t oblivious to Madam Yu’s hints for jewelry. But to please her future mother-in-law and for Song Yifeng’s sake, she had to give Madam Yu gold and jade jewelry. However, she wasn’t wealthy herself, and the jewelry given to the girls in the family was limited. She couldn’t go without jewelry, as it would damage the reputation of the Ye family’s young lady. Moreover, she knew she couldn’t spoil Madam Yu by giving her jewelry for every festival.

So, she endured Madam Yu’s disdain and only gave her a piece of jewelry as a New Year’s gift.

Once she started, it became a tradition. Every New Year, the original owner would give Madam Yu a piece of jewelry.

Under Madam Yu’s pressure, the jewelry given was not cheap. Over the years, the total value of the jewelry amounted to two or three hundred taels of silver.

Ye Yaming knew why Bai Xin was surprised.

She said calmly, “Since the Song family despises me, I must take back the jewelry I gave them. We can’t let them benefit for nothing. Check if there’s anything missing and add it. If not, take this list to Meng Ji.”

Bai Xin carefully reviewed the jewelry names on the list, thought for a moment, added one more item, and then took it to the main courtyard.

Meanwhile, although Song Yifeng had passed the imperial examination, he was still a young scholar with no connections or wealth. In his anger, he didn’t think to inquire about the Ye family’s recent activities near their residence. Therefore, he didn’t know that two carriages had gone to the Ye family today, one of which was Advisor Wu’s usual carriage.

Returning home, he recounted his conversation with Ye Chongming to Madam Yu. Since Song Yifeng had warned her in advance, Madam Yu accepted it well.

She knew that Ye Chongming was a businessman who had been in business all his life and wouldn’t do a losing deal. Since the Song family wanted to annul the engagement, it was fortunate that Ye Chongming only asked for the money the Ye family had given them over the years.

Probably fearing her son’s prowess, he didn’t dare to go too far.

She rolled her eyes and said, “Let’s return fifteen hundred taels of silver.”

Song Yifeng opened his mouth to say something but closed it in the end.

The Ye family had given them two hundred taels a year since he was ten, totaling fourteen hundred taels. Not to mention the money for poetry gatherings, literary meetings, and imperial examinations, as well as the money for his and his mother’s illnesses, which amounted to at least two hundred taels a year.

In seven or eight years, the Ye family had given them no less than three thousand taels, not counting Ye Yaming’s monthly allowances and the house cost.

After a long silence, he said, “Prepare three thousand taels of silver for me. If we only return fifteen hundred taels, I’m afraid the Ye family will refuse to annul the engagement, using it as an excuse. Although the silver is a lot, the benefits of annulling the engagement are greater. We can’t lose the big picture for a small gain.”

Three thousand taels roughly matched the amount the Ye family had given him over the years. If calculated in detail, it would be more. But he believed the Ye family wouldn’t make a fuss over two or three hundred taels. Returning three thousand taels should be enough.

As for the thousand taels the Ye family spent on buying the house, he would pretend it didn’t exist.

Although Madam Yu managed the family’s finances, Song Yifeng knew how much money they had. Selling the land could raise three thousand taels, but to gather four thousand taels, they would have to sell the house.

A house represented a person’s face. Selling the house and moving to a smaller, poorer place would ruin his reputation as a scholar, and no official’s daughter would marry him and live in such a house.

As for hoping an official’s daughter would bring a house as a dowry, he didn’t dare to think of such good fortune. Unless a wealthy merchant needed him, no family would provide such a large dowry.

So, selling the house was out of the question.

Madam Yu, being his biological mother, thought the same way. She said, “I’d like to give you the money, but we don’t have it. Even the fifteen hundred taels were borrowed from small landlords today.”

These small landlords wanted to put their land under Song Yifeng’s name to avoid certain taxes and to rely on him.

In these times, having money without power meant dealing with bullies and officials. Relying on a scholar’s name allowed small landlords to live peacefully. After all, even bullies had to respect the scholar’s owner.

No one underestimated a scholar’s future. Even if they didn’t pass the imperial examination, they could serve officials, teach at county or prefectural schools, or participate in poetry and literary gatherings, gaining influence.

Madam Yu was a shrewd woman. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have brought her son to Lin’an and improved their lives. Previously, she could ask the Ye family for money, so she didn’t keep much herself. When she saved two or three hundred taels, she bought land.

Recently, without Ye Yaming’s support, Madam Yu’s expenses had increased, and she only had a few dozen taels left.

When Song Yifeng mentioned annulling the engagement, she knew they would have to return some money to the Ye family. Today, she spent the whole day borrowing and managed to gather sixteen hundred taels.

Without the Ye family’s income, she had to keep a hundred taels for emergencies. She didn’t know how difficult life would be for her and her son in the future, so she couldn’t spend more.

“No, you need to borrow more, at least two thousand five hundred taels,” Song Yifeng said.