Chapter 57 The greatest contributor is my granddaughter...

That night, the Ye family ancestral hall on the north side of the old eldest house was brightly lit.

Today is the 14th day of the seventh lunar month, the traditional Ghost Festival. The women of the Ye family gathered in the ancestral hall to burn paper money for their ancestors.

Afterwards, the three families went back to their respective homes for a meal.

The members of the eldest son's family also gathered at Xihe Hall for dinner.

After dinner, the men chatted in the study upstairs, while the women sat together drinking tea and waiting to play mahjong.

Liang Meiyun pulled Ye Baoling aside and said, "I saw a gossip magazine this morning that had two whole pages dedicated to you."

Ye Baoling asked with a smile, "What did you say about me?"

"The article makes your invitation to Xian Bi to be the spokesperson sound like some kind of magic, and even says that Xian Bi's agent was completely taken in by your orders."

As she spoke, Liang Meiyun asked Ah Hong, who was standing next to her, to bring the magazine. She opened the magazine and loudly selected a few sentences to read aloud.

"As the only granddaughter of Ye Qizu, the head of Ye Qingtang, Ye Baoling personally took charge and secured the endorsement deal with the football king for the lowest possible fee..."

She emphasized the words "only granddaughter" when she read them.

Zheng Junni immediately realized that Liang Meiyun had said all that just to elicit this statement, intending to publicly humiliate her and her daughter.

Ye Baoling is Ye Qizu's only granddaughter, while Ye Baoxin is just a burden and not a true member of the Ye family.

The mother and daughter exchanged glances; with so many people around, they were both holding their breath and couldn't let it out.

After that topic passed, someone asked Zheng Junni, "I heard Baoxin and Fang Shanxing are dating. When will they get married and invite us to their wedding?"

Zheng Junni laughed and seized the opportunity to elaborate: "There's still plenty of time. The other day, Kaimin said that Baoxin is a few months younger, so it's not good for her to get married before Baoling. Baoling should get married first, no matter what."

That's weird and sarcastic.

Everyone looked at Ye Baoling and asked, "Baoling, how did your talk with Gong Jiahua go?"

Someone else said, "You two sisters could have a wedding together. That would be so lively!"

Ye Baoling closed the magazine and placed it on the table: "There are two points. First, Gong Jiahua and I have always just been ordinary friends. Second, I don't mind Baoxin getting married before me. Whoever is in a hurry can get married first, as long as Baoshun doesn't beat me to it."

The implication is that Bao Shun is her biological brother, but Bao Xin doesn't, and she doesn't care.

But she didn't say it outright. Zheng Junni wanted to get angry but couldn't find a reason, and Ye Baoxin was even worse off. She could only smile politely and, taking advantage of Ye Leqiong's invitation to everyone to play bridge, she quickly got up and went out.

They were one player short; Ye Baoshun had gone out to eat and they couldn't find him.

Ye Leqiong called out to Ye Baoling, "Baoling, do you know how to play bridge? Let's play together."

Ye Baoling didn't want to fight them, but Ye Baoxin had publicly mocked her for not knowing how to fight during Ye Qizu's birthday party, so she asked, "How big of a fight?"

"10 yuan and 1 cent."

Ye Baoxin suggested with a smile, "Baoling doesn't know how, let's make it smaller."

"It's okay, I have money." Ye Baoling has a monthly allowance from her family fund and just received a bonus from the company, so she is indeed richer than Ye Baoxin.

Ye Baoxin's salary is only five or six thousand yuan, and the rest is subsidized by Ye Kaimin and Zheng Junni.

Ye Kaimin had been withholding the original owner's bank card while subsidizing his stepdaughter, which was one of the reasons for the original owner's resentment and extreme imbalance.

They went to the Lantingju chess and card room to play bridge, which is 2v2, and the partner is very important.

While they were still on the road, Ye Baoxin grabbed Ye Leqiong's hand and said, "Shall we team up?"

Ye Leqiong is a fun-loving person; she's good at everything and doesn't care who she's paired with. "As long as they agree, that's fine."

Her younger sister, Ye Leyan, immediately objected: "No way. I'm not good at bridge, and Baoling is a beginner. It's two strong players against two weak players. Are you trying to scam us out of our money?"

Ye Baoling put her arm around her shoulder and laughed, "It's okay, we're partners, no problem."

Ye Leyan looked up at Ye Baoling: "Are you sure you can do it? I'm not. I don't want to drag you down with me."

"Why not? I'll take you flying."

Ye Leqiong laughed loudly upon hearing this: "Alright, Ye Baoling, so arrogant, huh? Let's see how we deal with you."

The result was predictable.

In physical activities, Ye Baoling might lose, such as playing ball or folding gold ingots.

But she never lost when it came to using her brain.

When she was in college, she was the head of the bridge club and participated in many competitions. Unless she was extremely unlucky, how could she possibly lose to these amateur players?

An hour and a half later, Ye Baoling won two minor slams and one grand slam, which added up to 1,800 points, or 18,000 yuan.

Including other winning contracts, Ye Baoling's team of two won over 24,000.

Ye Leqiong and Ye Baoxin each lost 12,000 yuan.

The Ye Qingtang family trust is divided into a major and a minor trust. Ye Baoling receives more than 20,000 yuan in pocket money each month, while the Le Qiong sisters belong to the minor trust and receive only about 10,000 yuan in pocket money each month.

That's equivalent to losing a month's allowance in an hour and a half.

Although Ye Leqiong didn't lack those ten thousand or so, she couldn't help but laugh and scold, "Baoling, I've figured it out. You're playing dumb to fool others. The way you play your cards is definitely not that of a novice."

Ye Baoling raised an eyebrow with a hint of pride: "You don't understand the talent-based approach."

Ye Baoxin was also very upset about losing, as she lost two months' salary, but she had to pretend to be indifferent, only glancing at her watch and yawning from time to time.

Only Ye Leyan was the happiest; she won without lifting a finger.

Seeing Ye Baoxin looking at her watch again, Ye Leqiong asked, "What are you doing?"

"I have to go to work tomorrow."

Seeing how badly they had lost, Ye Leyan felt a little embarrassed and said very considerately, "Why don't we call it a day?"

Ye Baoxin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Ye Baoling deliberately made things difficult: "I also have to work tomorrow. It's only a little past 9 o'clock now, there's still plenty of time. Don't you want to win your money back?"

Upon hearing this, Ye Leqiong hurriedly encouraged Ye Baoxin: "Let's play a few more rounds, until 10 o'clock. Let's win the money back."

Ye Baoxin had no choice but to play along, and in the last half hour, she lost more than three thousand.

That's infuriating!

Ye Baoxin has saved up a lot of pocket money over the years, but losing to Ye Baoling is what she is most unhappy about.

He could only secretly vow never to play cards with Ye Baoling again.

Ye Baoling returned to her bedroom and realized that she hadn't contacted Ye Huaizhang in the past few days because she was so busy.

I called him to ask what he was busy with.

After Ye Huaizhang's elder brother made the call, it was Dong Jian who answered.

"Where's Huaizhang?" She assumed he was out socializing again.

Dong Jian was also surprised: "Young Master went to Taiwan early this morning to discuss a project. Didn't he tell you?"

Ye Baoling was stunned. He seemed to have called her yesterday, but she was busy and didn't answer.

After a short while, she asked, "When will he be back?"

"I should be home by Saturday morning."

After hanging up the phone, Ye Baoling sat on the sofa in a daze. Ye Huaizhang seemed to be contacting her less often lately.

Perhaps he's busy.

After all, when she's busy with work, she might forget to contact him.

*

The Jasmine Ice Tea advertisement filmed by Xian Bi had an unexpectedly good effect.

Jasmine iced tea sold very well, achieving the annual sales target for new products ahead of schedule. Ye Baoling took the opportunity to buy a lot of press releases and promote it extensively.

This resulted in a record number of people filling out forms to apply to buy new shares of Ye Qingtang.

On the day of its listing, the stock price soared, reaching a high of 13.9 yuan, and finally closed at 12.8 yuan, a closing gain of over 61%!

It has achieved the highest increase among newly listed stocks in recent years.

Ye Qizu happily offered to upgrade Ye Baoling's V7 car to the top-of-the-line model.

The following Saturday evening, Ye Qingtang held a celebration banquet at the hotel and opened champagne to celebrate.

The people who went on stage to open the champagne were the directors of Ye Qingtang, including the eldest son's family, Ye Jinfeng, the representative of the second and third sons' families, and independent directors.

Previously, Ye Qizu's birthday celebrations only invited close relatives and friends, but this time the scope is much broader.

Basically, all the prominent socialites and gentry in Hong Kong came.

In the past, Ye Qizu was always accompanied by Ye Baoshun, but today it was Ye Baoling. He specially introduced Ye Baoling to people in the circle in front of the second and third sons.

“My granddaughter Bao Ling was studying abroad before, but now she’s back to help me at the company. She was the one who invited Xian Bi this time. Ye Qingtang’s listing results are so good, and she deserves a lot of credit for it.”

“My granddaughter Bao Ling… no, no, I only have one granddaughter. Xian Bi and my granddaughter met in the United States. He became the spokesperson for Ye Qing Tang at a very favorable price, which was entirely out of respect for my granddaughter. As I said the other day, the biggest contributor to Ye Qing Tang's listing is my granddaughter.”

Ye Baoling wanted to laugh, but she could only hold it in and greeted the many seniors politely and gracefully.

“My granddaughter, yes… The younger generation surpasses the older, and people have to accept getting old… She had good grades when she was in school, and without her, we wouldn’t have achieved this success in this IPO.”

The old fox lies effortlessly, without batting an eye or feeling any moral burden.

Actually, the point he wanted to praise wasn't Ye Baoling herself.

Instead, he wanted to tell everyone that Ye Qingtang's successful IPO was thanks to the old eldest branch.

Ye Baoling thus became the focus of attention today.

The only advantage was that she got to know many political and business figures she wouldn't normally have been able to meet in other situations.

Because Gong Jiahua is fickle and hasn't yet established a romantic relationship with Ye Baoling, Ye Qizu doesn't want to put all his eggs in one basket. His granddaughter is so outstanding, she's not afraid of not finding a suitable man.

He now has a higher vision than before.

The Li family is quite good; their assets are comparable to those of the third branch of the Ye family, and they also have two sons of marriageable age.

Marrying into the Li family is actually more worthwhile than marrying into the Gong family, since the Li family has a wide range of businesses, many of which can complement the Ye family's eldest branch.

Today is a great opportunity to choose a son-in-law.

At this moment, Ye Baoshun stood in the corner, drinking with Ye Baoxin, feeling very bored.

After gently clinking their glasses, Ye Baoxin teased softly, "You've fallen out of favor today."

It was said to be a joke, but it was actually a provocation.

Jealousy is a natural human emotion.

Was Ye Baoshun not jealous? Yes, he was.

But Ye Baoshun knew that the real threat to him was the newborn Ye Baoxian, not the capable Ye Baoling. So, despite his jealousy, he simply shrugged and acted indifferent: "She'll get married sooner or later, who cares?"

Ye Baoxin laughed at him, saying, "You're faking it."

Just then, Ye Huaizhang arrived, and he immediately followed Ye Jinfeng to greet Ye Qizu.

"Second Uncle, congratulations on Ye Qingtang's listing! The stock price soared on the first day. I saw the news as soon as I landed. I'm so happy for you and for our Ye family."

"Huaizhang! You came to support us as soon as we landed, you've worked hard." Ye Qizu was enthusiastic to everyone today, and even more so to Ye Huaizhang. "By the way, do you know our Baoling?"

Ye Huaizhang and Ye Baoling finally met eyes, their gazes conveying only two words: "We're not familiar with each other."

Ye Huaizhang laughed and said, "Last time on Second Uncle's birthday, Bao Ling and I played billiards together, and afterwards I even took her to the intersection to catch a taxi. You even called to ask about it. Second Uncle, have you forgotten?"

Ye Qizu suddenly remembered and hurriedly laughed, "I'm getting senile. Bao Ling wasn't home often before, so I thought you hadn't seen her. The success of Ye Qingtang's IPO this time is all thanks to Bao Ling. She was in charge of promoting the jasmine iced tea, and she's the one who invited Xian Bi to be the spokesperson..."

Ye Baoling was tired of hearing it, but Ye Qizu was still talking on and on.

"Women are just as capable as men! Bao Ling is amazing, our Ye family has produced a talent." Ye Huaizhang's words seemed sincere, but Ye Bao Ling heard a hint of sarcasm in them.

Ye Baoling glared at him, but he just smiled at her, his face still showing an expression that said, "We're not familiar with each other."

Ye Jinfeng had always looked down on Ye Baoling. He was arrogant, and even now that Ye Baoling had achieved something, he still thought she was nothing special.

Besides, what good is being outstanding? She's still just Ye Huaizhang's wife, chosen for a marriage of convenience to ward off bad luck.

The woman from their third wife's family.

But in front of Ye Qizu, Ye Jinfeng couldn't help but compliment her: "Among the girls of her generation, Bao Ling is considered outstanding."

Ye Qizu was very dissatisfied with this assessment. He was always quite direct with the Ye family, and immediately said, "How many girls are there in their generation? How many are there in your third branch? Are they still breastfeeding?"

Ye Jinfeng: "..."

Ye Huaizhang suppressed a laugh and complimented, "Baoling is the most capable person of our generation, regardless of gender."

These words made Ye Qizu feel a little better, but he didn't completely agree: "How can girls be compared to boys? They're far inferior. We should be realistic."

This time, it was Ye Baoling's turn to roll her eyes at her grandfather.

If it weren't for the inappropriate occasion, she would have loved to retort.

Just then, the Li family father and son arrived late due to other matters, so Ye Qizu immediately pulled his granddaughter forward to greet them.

Ye Jinfeng and Ye Huaizhang were left standing there, stunned.

Ye Jinfeng complained, "The eldest branch of the family has no one else, only one granddaughter who's presentable, and the old man is using this opportunity to put us down. If he knew that his most presentable granddaughter had already married into our family, I think he'd be spitting blood."

Ye Huaizhang didn't speak; he had something on his mind.

Ye Baoling understood this very well.

But the two of them never had a chance to talk privately. When she had free time and wanted to talk to him, he was always surrounded by a group of people.

She finally found a moment when she noticed he was the only one standing in the corner, so she quickly went over to him and asked, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

He looked away and said in a low voice, "Shall we go? Now?"

ha?

That's definitely not going to work now; there are eyes everywhere inside and reporters everywhere outside.

Before she could object, he said, "I'll go to the underground parking garage to get the car and wait for you on Hyde Street."

It's very close to the Gu family's house on Hyde Street, so it's convenient for her to go there in her family's car.

After saying that, he left first.

Ye Baoling knew he must have something important to tell her, so after half an hour, she made an excuse to leave as well.

Back at the Gu family home, she changed her clothes before calling him.

Ye Huaizhang drove his car over and parked it in front of her grandmother's house.

"Get in the car."

Ye Baoling got into the passenger seat.

He drove the car forward for about a hundred meters and stopped it in a secluded spot.

Ye Baoling tilted her head to look at him: "Tell me, what's on your mind?"

He looked at her calmly, paused for a moment, and then said, "I'm not hiding anything. You've just been too busy to have time. I'd like to know, though, what are you hiding?"

Neuropathy!

Ye Baoling's anger was rising, but she tried her best to control it and calmly retorted, "Speak your mind. I hate people like you the most."

Ye Huaizhang tapped his fingers lightly on the steering wheel, remained silent for a while, and then asked, "You took the ugly jade pendant from the second and third wives' families. What are you trying to do?"

Ugly King Jue?

Ye Baoling was taken aback. "Why did you suddenly bring this up?"

He stared at her intently, as if trying to deduce something from the changes in her eyes: "You've been meticulously planning to collect all the ugly king's jade pendants, haven't you?"

Ye Baoling's heart skipped a beat. What had he discovered?

She wants to collect all the ugly king's jade pendants.

But she couldn't admit it.

How can she tell the system the task she is required to complete?

Can he understand the system and follow the script?

Definitely not.

They would only take it as an excuse and a perfunctory response, and would become even more suspicious.

Ye Baoling suppressed her nervousness, her eyes hardening as she immediately adopted a bluffing stance, turning the tables on him: "Are you crazy?! Do I need to go to great lengths to ask you for those two ugly jade pieces? Didn't you practically beg them to come to you? Did I approach you on my own initiative? No, right? You're not trying to say that your kidnapping in South Africa was also my doing, are you? It's all part of a whole scheme."

She didn't just say that; she also pinched his arm, saying, "It's the middle of the night, and if you keep startling me like this, don't blame me for breaking the contract!"

Breaking the contract means divorce.

She has quite a bit of strength in her hands.

Ye Huaizhang was pinched hard by her.

"Stop! Stop, stop, stop!"

She finally stopped.

He couldn't help but say to her, "You're not allowed to hit me again." His arm was red from being pinched by her.

After a pause, he added, "Even if you were to take action, you shouldn't use that much force."

Ye Baoling didn't like to take action, but in order to create a show of force, she had no choice but to do so.

The more assertive she was, the more passive he became.

She retorted defiantly, "I don't mind not using my fists, but only if you don't provoke me. If you do, don't blame me for taking action."

Ye Huaizhang's train of thought wasn't interrupted by her; he was perfectly clear-headed. He rubbed his aching arm and asked her, "Tell me honestly, what do you need two pieces of Ugly King Jade for?"

"I'm not after anything. I just don't care too much about money, that's why I took your ugly Wang Jue. If I really wanted it, why would I sign an agreement to sell it back to you after a year?"

That seems to make some sense.

But Ye Huaizhang's intuition told him that there was a lot of room for flexibility in this principle.

For example, why did they insist on his ugly Wang Jue in the first place?

For example, why did she only agree to sell the ugly king's jade back to him a year later?

Seeing that he didn't speak, Ye Baoling quickly changed the tables and said, "You still haven't told me why you suddenly brought this up."

Ye Huaizhang took the gleaming bronze plaque from the armrest box and handed it to her.

What is that?

Ye Baoling turned on the car's roof light and looked at the tattered bronze plaque repeatedly, quite surprised: "Isn't this the junk we picked up on the top of Silver Serpent Mountain that day?"

What does this have to do with him suddenly mentioning the Ugly King Jue?

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Author's Note: I'm late with today's update, but there will be small red envelopes (gifts) in the comments section of this chapter. Until the next chapter.