Xia Chunyu was also on his knees in front of his mother-in-law’s grave. He said solemnly, “Mother, I promise to treat Yaoyao as a precious treasure. I promise to always take care of her and put her first. I promise to nurture our marriage until the day we die.”

Ye Jiayao glanced at him, moved by his words. However, she couldn’t resist saying, “Mother, you heard what he vowed. If he doesn’t keep his word, feel free to visit him.”

He turned to his wife in shock. He was making a sincere promise to her mother, and here she was, trying to use it as leverage against him. Unbelievable.

He turned back to the tombstone and said, “Mother, if you have the time, I hope you can tell your daughter that a woman should be kind and gentle. If you could tell her that it’s not cute or attractive when she gets irritable and angry, I would appreciate it.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are!”

Xia Chunyu said, “Mother, see? She’s getting angry again.”

Mother Su, Qiao Xi, and Song Qi stood behind the two couple, trying to stifle their laughter. The Heir-son Lord and the Second Young Lady were both childish but it was clear that they loved each other.

Mother Su looked up, a smile on her face. My Lady, your daughter is in good hands with her husband. You can be at peace now.

When Xia Chunyu came home, he was informed that the salt merchants were already waiting for him in the study outside. He has already told Ye Binghuai not to meet them alone and to wait for him.

He sat across from the merchants, holding a cup of tea and lazily stirring it.

The salt merchants, on the other hand, were nervously looking at each other. No one daring to say anything.

Xia Chunyu finished two cups of tea before starting, “You have benefitted a lot from my father-in-law in these past few years. Of course, I also know that my father-in-law took your bribes, no one’s denying that it was a mutually beneficial relationship. However, now that the government wants to control the salt business, that relationship is now ending because it’s beyond my father-in-law’s ability now. It is not very kind of you to remove the bridge after crossing the river.”

“That’s not what we were doing,” one merchant denied.

Xia Chunyu slightly raised a brow. “Oh? Then what were you trying to do?”

The salt merchants had the grace to look embarrassed.

Xia Chunyu sneered, “You’re not going to get anything by getting my father-in-law in trouble. It doesn’t matter what you do to Ye Binghuai, you’re not going to get the salt that you want. He took your bribes, but you also shouldn’t have given them out. It’s not right that you’re throwing him in the line of fire now. You may not know me, but one thing I always do is stand up for my family.”

The threat made the men even more anxious. It seemed that they have underestimated the Jing An Heir-son Lord. They thought that they could rattle him into giving them what they want, but he was more ruthless than they anticipated.

Ye Binghuai may not have scared them but Xia Chunyu certainly did.

“Of course, I understand the value of making money,” Xia Chunyu continued. “I am a businessman too, after all. I will see what I can do to help you guys a little.”

He gave out a warning first to let them know that he cannot be intimidated before showing a friendlier side. The key to these negotiations is a balance.

The salt merchants readily agreed to his terms. They weren’t stupid enough to argue and risk ruining their business career.

Ye Binghuai did not think that his problem could be solved so smoothly. It turned out that his son-in-law was even tougher and smarter than he seemed.

“It’s a piece of cake,” Xia Chunyu told Ye Binghuai. “Your real problem is with the Water Resources Administration. You better strengthen the dam before spring. If it gives out and someone dies, the Emperor would have to take action.”

“Of course. I’ll see to it right away,” Ye Binghuai said with a nervous nod.

“If you are afraid that people will start to talk when you get the dam fortified, just say that Jinxuan paid for it. You can tell them that she wanted to do something for her hometown. You’ll have to pay a lot of money but that’s just the price you’re going to have to pay if you don’t want any trouble,” Xia Chunyu told his father-in-law.

Ye Binghuai wanted to groan. He’d be forking out the money and Jinxuan will be getting the credit? That seemed unfair.

Xia Chunyu watched his pained expression and realized what he was thinking. He said to Ye Binghuai, “Jinxuan is your daughter. Whatever she does will reflect on you. It doesn’t matter if her name’s the one being boosted, people will still acknowledge you.”

“That makes sense,” Ye Binghuai said after much thought.

Xia Chunyu wanted to roll his eyes. His wife’s father was a weak, selfish man. He couldn’t be more different than his daughter if he tried.

He also added, “And you don’t have to be afraid of Ning. She’s just bluffing. There’s now she’s gonna sabotage Zhongyuan’s future. That kid is smart and he has a good character. Have him come to Jin Ling after the festival and I will arrange for him to enter the Imperial College.

Ye Binghuai was overjoyed. “That’s generous of you, Heir-son Lord. Thank you, thank you so much.”

That was a brilliant plan. The brighter Zhongyuan’s future look, the more Ning would hesitate to ruin it.

After dinner, Ye Jiayao and the others were set to leave for Zhenjiang. She wanted Mother Su to come with them, but the old woman refused.

“I’m too old to follow you, My Lady. I’d prefer to stay here in Yangzhou. However, if you’d like, I can visit you in Jin Ling when the time permits.”

There was no way Ye Jiayao was going to let Mother Su visit the Jing An mansion while Zhou and Liu Li were there. The old woman doesn’t need the stress of dealing with those people.

She handed her some silvers and said, “I will be visiting you frequently, Mother Su.”

Despite the animosity, Ye Jiayao and Chunyu also went to say goodbye to her grandparents.

Zhongyuan accompanied them to the docks where they found Song Qi directing the other servants to carry the luggage on board. Ye Binghuai prepared a lot of gifts to give to Ye Jiayao’s grandparents on her mom’s side so they had to fit those in too.

Ye Jiayao climbed in the boat first. When she turned to call for Chunyu, she found him talking to Zhongyuan. They seemed to be in a deep conversation and she thought she saw them mouth her name a couple of times.

“The ship’s about to leave,” she yelled.

Xia Chunyu patted Zhongyuan’s shoulder and boarded the ship.

“What did you say to Zhongyuan?” Ye Jiayao asked as she lies in bed, feeling a little dizzy. She found it strange since she never had that problem before. She chucked it up to physical exhaustion and bad sleeping habits.

Xia Chunyu was sitting at the other end of the bed, holding a book in one hand and Yaoyao’s cold foot in the other. Her feet were always so cold. Maybe it was because of her poor blood circulation? Whichever it was, he vowed to nurse his wife back to health when they get back to Jin Ling.

“I asked him to come to Jin Ling after the first month of the year. I’m going to arrange for him to join the Imperial College,” Xia Chunyu answered.

“He really impressed you, didn’t he?”

“Well, I’ve read his articles before. They were a bit immature but it was still outstanding. Even I wasn’t as good as him at that age.”

Ye Jiayao chuckled. “Wait, you practice martial arts! Are you telling me that you’re an academic too?”

“Did you think that all military guys only excel in physical combat? I’ll have you know that most guys I work with were also scholars. As they said, when you hold the pen, you keep the country safe; when you get on a horse, you influence the country’s future. A person can have both courage and wisdom,” Xia Chunyu explained, a bit affronted with her assumption.

“Wow, I had no idea that I’m married to such a hero,” she teased, her eyes twinkling with mirth.

“Well now you know,” he said seriously.

Seeing that he didn’t find it funny, Ye Jiayao nodded earnestly. “Well, I didn’t really know about it before.”

“There are few men in the world that can compare to me, so you should cherish me,” Chunyu said, moving to tickle her foot.

Ye Jiayao fell into a fit of giggles. She tried to pull her feet back, but he has them in a strong grasp. The only thing she could do was wiggle as he mercilessly attacked her.

“You look even more lovely when you laugh!” he teased her, still not relenting with his tickles.

Suddenly, a huge bout of dizziness swept over Ye Jiayao. “No, no, stop, please. I’m getting dizzy now.”

Xia Chunyu immediately stopped and looked at her pale face worriedly. “Do you want Qiao Xi to give you some medicine?”

“Take medicine in the first month of the year? No. This is just sea-sickness.” Ye Jiayao’s grandmother, the one from the modern time, always had this superstition that it’s bad luck to take medicine for the first fifteen days of the first month of the year.

“You are too superstitious,” Xia Chunyu chastised as he massaged her head.