Mingmen Family

Chapter 44
On the second day, he went to another Lizheng family to settle the matter. He accompanied him to three nearby villages with a large number of households, and signed contracts for more than 20 households. He finally felt more at ease. .

The remaining [-] or so households live in small villages on the mountain, and they are relatively scattered. Some villages have only a dozen households, and those who own tea mountains may only have one or two of them.

The road on the mountain was bumpy and full of potholes, and it was impossible for a carriage to pass through. It was impossible for the two Lizheng to accompany him on the run. Ye Chongming could only walk slowly with his entourage, visiting each house.

Fortunately, he is kind and honest. Even if there was a famine in previous years and the tenants could not deliver the tea they ordered, he would promise to keep the order until the next year and not force the tenants to refund the money.

There is an accident in the family of a farmer who urgently needs money to employ people, just ask to come to him, and he will try to help as much as he can.

Now he just changed the white deed into a red deed, and he didn't want everyone to pay a penny. Instead, Lizheng handled it and gave him a gift; he also heard that Lizheng accompanied Ye Chongming to two villages. The two big villages agreed, and the tenants naturally gave the Ye family this face and had no objection to this matter.

As for the tea coins, when everyone heard that cash would not be given, they were heartbroken and refused.

I heard that the tea coins of 100 taels of silver can be exchanged with the Ye family when the tea is handed over in spring, and there will be half a tael of interest. This is also a windfall for farmers who have no income other than tea. Therefore, most farmers who are not in a hurry to spend money are like those farmers in the village, willing to ask for tea coins instead of cash.

This made Ye Chongming very happy.

The more tea coins the tenants accepted, the better he would explain to Mei Chonglin.

After another day of running from morning to night, I saw that there were only three small villages left, and the tea gardens of the farmers in these three villages were not large.

Li Fu persuaded: "Old Master, why don't you take a rest, the two families will go tomorrow."

The other attendants also persuaded: "That's right. Both the Eldest Master and the Eldest Young Master are still injured, so don't worry about it. If you collapse from exhaustion, there will be no one to take care of the big and small matters at home."

Ye Chongming sighed.

Although mosquito legs are still meat no matter how small they are, and the tea from these two villages is the best, but he is an elderly person, and he has been very tired these two days.It is really possible to fall ill if you continue running.

"Sure, let's go tomorrow." He said, "Let's take a good rest in the other courtyard on the mountain tonight."

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

Seeing Ye Chongming's carriage stop at the door, the old Cangtou who guarded the other courtyard heaved a sigh of relief, and greeted him, "Old Master, you are back? The third master of Zhou Lizheng's family has been waiting for you for a long time."

"Zhou Xing?" Ye Chongming guessed what was going on when he heard this.

He hurried through the door, and when he reached the hall, Zhou Xing, who had been resting in the room, also came out, and saluted Ye Chongming: "Uncle Ye."

Ye Chongming exchanged pleasantries with him and asked, "What's the matter with you here?"

"At noon today, a tea merchant from another place visited my father. He promised my father a lot of money to let the farmers under his jurisdiction sign a contract with him and sell tea to him next spring. Of course, my father refused. and sent me to speak to you."

Ye Chongming narrowed his eyes and asked, "What's that man's name?"

"Liu Qilin."

A sneer appeared on the corner of Ye Chongming's mouth.

He had already sent someone to investigate Meng Chengwei's situation.He knew that Meng Chengwei brought three people who could stand alone, besides his cousin Meng Liang, there were also two stewards, one named Liu Qilin and the other named Yuan Fang.

This Liu Qilin is Meng Chengwei's man.

Sure enough, as Ye Yaming expected, Meng Chengwei sent people to rob the tenants.

Fortunately, he acted first and signed contracts with most of the tenants before they did.Although they haven't gone to the yamen to change the white deeds into red deeds, the two of them are talking about the red deeds with the directors of the four big villages. The tenants are afraid of the government, so they probably won't think about breaking the contract.

And the two Lizhengs took advantage of him and cooperated with him for many years. The foundation of the Ye family in Lin'an is not comparable to that of foreign tea merchants. The relationship between him and Master Wu is also clear to the two Lizhengs.

Presumably, they will stand firm, and will not change their minds for a small profit, and persuade the tenants to breach the contract.

As for the two villages that haven't signed the contract yet, the area of ​​the tea garden is not large, so if you lose it, just lose it, and it won't have a big impact on the Ye family.

Thinking about it this way, Ye Chongming was not in a hurry anymore.

The next day, after having a good breakfast at home, he took his entourage to the direction of the two villages.

These two villages are actually quite close to Lin'an City. Ye Chongming started from the Ye Family Courtyard, and now he has to go down the mountain.It's just that most of the tea gardens are located on the south slope, while these two villages are on the east slope, and the tea gardens are not large.So he went directly to the south at the beginning, planning to come back after a circle, and then go to the last two villages.

The road is very small. In previous years, mules were used to carry tea leaves.Ye Chongming rode his horse and walked slowly. After walking for more than half an hour, he arrived at the first village.

"Is anyone home? Is Gong Daniu there?" Wu Qingping, the manager of the tea factory, stepped forward and shouted into the yard.

After a while, a middle-aged woman came out of the room.

Wu Qingping used to order tea with Ye Hongchang, so he knew this woman.

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

As he spoke, he said to Mrs. Zhao again: "Aunt Gong, this is my old lady. I'm here to order tea with you."

Mrs. Zhao opened the gate of the courtyard, but stood at the door without inviting everyone in, with a smile on her face: "It turned out to be Mrs. Ye. But you came late this year, and my tea has already been reserved."

Hearing this, everyone was startled.

Wu Qingping repeated blankly: "Are you booked out?"

"Correct."

Although Ye Chongming had guesses in his heart, just in case, he frowned slightly and asked, "Can I ask, who is the reservation for? Also, are you planning to cooperate with him next year?"

The smile on Mrs. Zhao's face froze, and then her expression faded: "I don't know who the booking is for. These things are all my own decisions, and I don't care about them."

She said: "This year's tea is gone. Please come back." She closed the courtyard door and turned into the house.

Wu Qingping was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said, "The Gong family doesn't intend to cooperate with us anymore?" Otherwise, it wouldn't be this attitude.

Ye Chongming is the old man of the Ye family.His old man has come to the door in person, and the Gong family's tea has been reserved, so he should be invited in to sit down and drink a cup of tea.

But with the Gong family like this, it's no different from turning their faces directly.

(End of this chapter)