Ye Zuan nodded slightly.

  Everything is under control, even if Yan Qingchun and Gong Zhimin have some connections, and they can get out of the big prison by sending more money, their official positions are already lost - if Yan Qingchun's backstage is solid enough, he won't be a county lieutenant for so many years. He wants to come out unscathed in this lawsuit, that's impossible.

  While this subsides and that rises, Yang Jianxiu has accumulated many connections in the government office over the years, and with Yuan Chaolin's support, the position of county magistrate should not be a problem. And as for Ye Jia's relationship with him is not ordinary, so whether it is Gong Jia, Tao Jia or Xie Jia, they are no longer to be feared.

  What she is worried about now is Ye Jia's second house.

  Gong's wife was divorced, and the child she had just given birth to was also proven to have no relation to Ye Jiaming, but things were far from over.

  During this time, Qiu Yue often chatted with the aunt from the corner door, and Ye Zhuo knew all about the movements of the second house. After she was adopted into the main house, Gong Shi had a few more confrontations with Ye Yu Zhang and Jiang Shi. Originally clever, Gong Shi was further empowered by her pregnancy and Gong Zhi Min's status, causing Ye Yu Zhang and his wife to finally succumb to pressure and lose. Once defeated, they were unable to recover, and Gong Shi took advantage of the situation, step by step, eventually taking control of the warehouse keys and replacing the servants guarding the warehouse with her own maids. Ye Yu Zhang probably thought that since she was his daughter-in-law, even if those things temporarily belonged to her, they would ultimately end up in his grandson's hands; secondly, he planned to wait until she gave birth, then re-engage in a power struggle and reclaim the warehouse, so he let her have it.

  Now, the valuable things in the warehouse have been taken away, right? The dowry that Madame Gong brought to the Ye family was just a formality, and it's likely that most of it will be gone. This marriage has ended up with both families losing out financially.

  With Ye Yuzhang's stingy and money-loving personality, when he found out that the treasures he had accumulated over the years were all sold by Gongshi, what would be his reaction? Yang Jianxiu hadn't become the county magistrate yet, so it was still okay. But once Yang Jianxiu became the county magistrate and had some dealings with the main house, wouldn't Ye Yuzhang have to come to the main house to beg and cry? With Ye Yuzhang's personality, could he just stand by and watch calmly?

  Thinking of this, Ye Zhuo shook her head and let out a sigh.

  Send Táng Shùn Guì away. Yǎ Wén Yán Qíng was the first to speak, and walked out of the door to see Guān Shì standing beside the vegetable garden, watering the green vegetables with a long-handled wooden spoon. Outside, it was noisy and chaotic, but this small courtyard was still peaceful and quiet, with life going on in an orderly manner. Yǎ Wén walked over and said to Guān Shì: "Grandmother, let Qiū Jú do these rough chores."

  "She wants to embroider flowers. If her hands become rough, it's not a big deal. I'm used to doing these things, no problem. If I had to sit around all day, giving orders and telling others what to do, that would be uncomfortable." Guan Shi said with a smile. Wei Da Xiang and Tang Shun Gui came and went, Autumn Moon and Autumn Chrysanthemum were also sent out by Ye Zhuo, but Guan Shi didn't ask anything. Since Ye Zhuo single-handedly turned the tide and defeated the conspiracy of the Xie and Gong families, she no longer asked about Ye Zhuo's affairs.

  Yu Zhuo Fang's business is getting better and better. Ye Yuqi now spends most of his daytime there.

  "Yu'er, come here." Guan suddenly lowered her voice and beckoned to Ye Yu.

  Ye Zhuo leaned in close and whispered: "What's up?"

  "Now that Mr. Yang has come home, can you see anything?"

  "Yang Xianggong?" Ye Zhuo pretended to be silly, tilting his head in confusion and blinking his eyes, "What did you see?"

  “Cough…” Gu suddenly choked up. Talking to Ye Zhuo, a young girl, about her mother's marriage, felt awkward no matter how she looked at it. But because it involved Zheng's reputation, Gu felt uncomfortable discussing this with Ye Yuqi, and Zhao didn't know anything, so she had been keeping this in her heart for a long time.

  After hesitating for a moment, she finally made up her mind and asked mysteriously: "Tell me, has Master Yang taken a liking to your mother?"

  "What?" Ye Zhuo's eyes widened.

  "That... I think Yang is quite good, and his age is also suitable." Guan's face turned red as she stuttered to explain. It was not proper to spread rumors about Zheng's family like this.

  "Before Mr. Yang has expressed this intention, Grandmother, you must not mention this matter to my mother, and even more so, do not go and ask Mr. Yang about it. If Mr. Yang does not have this intention, my mother will be embarrassed, and in the future, it will not be good for him to come and go with us again."

  "I know, I know." Guan replied repeatedly, "I understand this matter."

  "Just... " She raised her head and continued, "I think this matter, if we make an effort, might actually work out. For example, when we invite Mr. Yang over for dinner, let's also invite your mother..."

  "Absolutely not! If Mr. Yang has a mind to, this matter can be settled without any effort; but if he doesn't have a mind to, and we do it this way, wouldn't that make people look down on us?"

  "Uh-huh, you're right. Alright, I know what to do now." Guan had originally only wanted to help arrange this marriage and hadn't considered anything else. Upon hearing Ye Zhuo's words, she immediately dispelled the idea. The main house of the Ye family may not have any power or money, but they lived with a sense of dignity. Anything that would make them lose face was something that couldn't be done.

  ————————————————————————————

  The Gong family's affair, after all, is related to the Ye family's reputation, and it's easy for people to bring up Zheng Shi and Ye Zhuo's affairs as well. So Yang Jianxiu didn't publicize the matter of Gong Shi and Tao Changsheng. However, Tao Changsheng had set traps to harm others first and then committed adultery with a married woman. As the headmaster of the academy, he couldn't even educate his own son properly, and his private morals were at fault. He was no longer suitable for this position. Yuan Chaolin reported the matter with one document, and even the Minister of Personnel from the same Nan Shan Academy couldn't speak up for him. Ten days later, Tao Xujin was also dismissed from office.

  At the same time that Tao Yu-jian was dismissed, Yang Jian-xiu's appointment letter arrived, and he became the county lieutenant of Nan Shan County as he had wished.

  On that day, Ye Jiaming returned home and told the story of Gong's family, then checked the warehouse of Ye Jia's second house, opened the trunk of Gong Shu's dowry, and saw that it was empty everywhere. Ye Yuzhang fainted on the spot and lay in bed for half a month without getting up. Losing money is like taking his life, he didn't care about family shame, and forced Ye Jiaming to go to the county government to file a complaint, wanting the county magistrate to help Ye Jia's second house get back the loss. However, Yuan Chaolin was competing with Yan Qingchun and Tao Xujin's backstage forces at that time, so he didn't care about such trivial matters? He directly called the teacher to question Ye Jiaming, asking if Gong Shu was willingly married by him in the first place? Was the key to the warehouse voluntarily handed over to Ye Yuzhang by her? Ye Jiaming was asked to be red-faced and escaped with his face covered, and never dared to go to the county government to lose face again.

  Ye Yuzhang was beside himself with grief, lying in bed and regretting his decision. In just half a month's time, he had aged ten years. Meanwhile, Ye Jiaming drowned his sorrows in drink at home, getting drunk every day and smashing things and hitting people when he was intoxicated.

  When the news of Yang Jianxu being appointed as county magistrate reached Ye Yuzhang's ears, he immediately got out of bed and limped to the main house with his crutches. As soon as he entered the door, he knelt down and wailed loudly on the ground: "Big brother, please save me! I'm your own younger brother, you can't ignore me!"

  Ye had expected that since the night he came back, Ye Zhuo would have told him everything about what happened, and he already knew about the Gong family's affairs. It was just that the second house was doomed to perish, this time they only lost some gold, silver, and utensils, but their houses, workshops, and shops were still there, which didn't affect their lives at all; moreover, Yang Jianxu's appointment letter hadn't been issued yet, so even if he wanted to help, he couldn't. So he just sighed a few times and didn't take the initiative to intervene in the second house's affairs.

  At this time, he heard a cry and hurried out of the house. Seeing his brother for the first time in half a month, his originally all-black hair had turned white by more than half, his face was thin and haggard, looking older than himself. Even knowing that the second room was to blame for itself, he couldn't help but feel heartache, and hurriedly stepped forward to support him: "A Zhang, what are you doing? How did you get yourself into this state? Come on, hurry up."

  "No, I won't get up. If big brother hadn't helped me, I wouldn't have made it either. It's better to die on my knees here." Ye Yuzhang was overcome with emotion.

  "Since you knew it would end up like this, why bother in the first place? If you hadn't been greedy and didn't have wild ideas about climbing to great heights, just living a simple life, how could things have turned out like this today? Fortunately, it's only a loss of money. Money is external to one's body, if you let go of it, that's all. What's important is your health. If you had lost your life, what would be the point of having so much money?"

  "Big brother, I know I was wrong, and it won't happen again. Please help me out this time. If I don't get through this ordeal, my life is as good as over by the end of the year!" Ye Yuzhang wailed.

  The courtyard was so quiet, Ye Zhuo had already come out of the house. At this time, seeing Ye Yuqi's face showing a look of unbearable pain, he hurriedly said: "Uncle, you say you know your mistake with your mouth, but you still don't understand! My grandfather just said that money is an external thing, and let you see it clearly. You said that without that money, you can't live through this year. What do you want to do? Are you thinking of letting our big house sell the workshop and the house to fill up the loss made by your second house?"

  "Preposterous! You're not even a decent human being, forcing Manwen to leave and your own granddaughter into a nunnery, crying and wailing to marry that jinx back. Now you've lost some money and think you can come here to take ours to fill your own pockets? Do you think we're all dead? So-called brother, humph! When we were driven out by the Xie family with no way to turn, did I see you offer a single penny to help us? You hid as far away as possible, not even as good as a stranger. Now it's just a matter of losing some money, but you're not going hungry or cold, living in that big house with all those servants at your beck and call, and the workshop bringing in income every day...and yet you come here to cry poor? Do you think we're all fools?"

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