Ye Zhiwei was startled by his wife's words. His eldest son was the heir to the family business and needed to marry a woman who was literate, reasonable, gentle, and understanding.
In his mind, the choice for his eldest son's marriage had not yet been finalized, but the boy was already sixteen or seventeen years old; it was time to arrange a betrothal.
If his eldest son went to propose to Hongji's eldest daughter, they would have to wait several more years, and his requirements would be even higher.
So, the idea of the second son, who was just fifteen, seemed plausible – waiting another four or five years was acceptable. The second son didn't need to inherit the family business so the criteria could be lowered a bit.
But they all shared the Ye surname and came from the same village. Although marriage between them was possible, they had always disliked the recently risen Hongji family.
