Round tea cakes were made with added fragrances, making them extremely expensive and only affordable to wealthy families. They were regarded as symbols of wealth, which was why they were so sought after by the upper classes.

The Ye family had been in the tea business for generations, relying on their tea-making craftsmanship. Ye family’s round tea cakes were famous even in the capital.

The reason Meng Chengwei had targeted the Ye family, instead of buying tea directly from the Tea Bureau, was because the Tea Bureau only sold raw tea. This raw tea still required fine processing and manufacturing into other tea varieties before it could fetch a good price. What Meng Chengwei coveted was the Ye family’s tea-making craftsmanship.

However, Ye Yaming, who was accustomed to drinking pure tea in modern times, was decidedly unenthusiastic about these fragrance-added round tea cakes.

As the head of a tea enterprise, she knew how to make round tea cakes. Many modern tea researchers have replicated and studied Song dynasty round tea cakes. On the carriage ride home today, she had also carefully questioned Ye Hongsheng about the details. Although she hadn’t had time to visit the tea house yet, she had gained considerable understanding of round tea cake production.

She believed that since round tea cakes were made by pressing tea into juice and then processing it, if Meng Chengwei had directly mixed moldy tea into the leaves to make the cakes, the entire tea cake would have had a moldy smell. Not just the regular tea customers, even Ye Hongrong wouldn’t have been fooled.

Though Ye Hongrong was a spendthrift, he was still born into a tea merchant family. From his teens, he had been forced by Ye Chongming to train in the tea factory and tea house. He could distinguish between good and bad tea, otherwise, Ye Chongming wouldn’t have dared to put him in charge of the tea house.

Moreover, ordinary round tea cakes usually had a hole in the middle, just like copper coins. The middle hole, whether square or round, facilitated handling and carrying. And round tea cakes were generally small, with one cake being enough for a single serving.

But Meng Chengwei’s batch of tea had solid centers that were slightly raised, and the tea cakes were also larger than ordinary ones. When the seller had explained this to Ye Hongrong, he said it was to accommodate the beautiful mold. Because this batch of round tea was pressed into the shape of a peony, the raised part in the middle was the flower’s stamen, which made it look particularly attractive.

In this era, people drank round tea would first roast the tea over fire, then place it in a paper bag and break it into pieces with a small hammer through the bag. Then they would grind it into powder in a mortar, sift it, and whisk it into foam in the tea for drinking.

Therefore, even if only the middle part of this tea cake contained a small moldy portion, it would be completely blended when consumed, and the moldy taste would only be discovered upon drinking.

Thinking of this, Ye Yaming took a small knife, intending to pry open the tea cake to see the condition inside.

However, round tea cakes were made with glutinous rice paste or licorice paste as binders, making them extremely hard and solid. Ye Yaming called for a physically strong maid, and after tremendous effort, they finally managed to pry open all the tea cakes.

Once the tea cake was opened, a small blackened tea cake was revealed inside.

This tea cake had obviously been made long ago, a hard little disc that had been incorporated with other tea juice to make new tea, which was why it was so clearly distinct from the outer tea. Ye Yaming examined the tea connected to it and found that the surrounding tea had not been contaminated with the moldy smell.

She put the separated tea into a paper bag and had the maid roast, grind, and whisk it before carefully tasting it.

Because the tea cake contained fragrances, and the scent was quite strong, it masked the moldy smell. In any case, she couldn’t taste any moldiness.

Ye Yaming had the maid call Ye Hongsheng over and showed him the tea she had separated.

As soon as Ye Hongsheng came in contact with tea, he seemed like a different person; even his demeanor changed. Looking at the separated tea, his expression became focused, and his scholarly, refined temperament became even more pronounced.

It was about five o’clock now, but in mid-autumn, the sky had already darkened.

He had the maid bring over two lamps and carefully sifted through the tea, discovering that the tea leaves indeed had no traces of mold at all, and there was no unusual smell.

After brewing a cup to taste and finding that the tea flavor was still good, he exclaimed with delight: “This tea can still be processed and sold as powdered tea.”

Ye Yaming nodded: “Yes, reducing the loss even a little is good.”

In this era, powdered tea referred to tea powder, which was made from tea that failed to form proper cakes due to various reasons, and was ultimately dried, ground, boxed, and sold. Naturally, the price was much lower than round tea cakes.

Round tea cakes were not like modern tea discs that could be steamed and repressed to salvage some value, albeit with diminished flavor. These hard objects couldn’t be reprocessed, so this was the only way to handle them.

“Come, bring these tea leaves with us, and let’s go find your grandfather,” Ye Hongsheng stood up and said, “The sooner we tell him this good news, the better he’ll sleep tonight.”

Today, the Ye family suffered heavy losses. If something went wrong with Ye Hongchang and he couldn’t retrieve the tea money, the Ye family might not be ruined, but next year’s business would be severely affected. Being able to recover some losses would be a comfort to Ye Chongming.

Father and daughter took the tea and went to the main courtyard together.

Ye Chongming was meticulous about health maintenance. Every day after dinner, he would walk around the residence. Today, after a major family crisis, returning to beat Ye Hongrong with over ten strikes of the board, and then quarreling with Elder Lady Ye, he was feeling unwell and planned to rest in the study in the front courtyard.

He met Ye Hongsheng and his daughter halfway to the front courtyard.

“Let’s go to the study,” Ye Chongming said, not wanting to see Elder Lady Ye.

When the three arrived at the study, Ye Hongsheng explained the situation and showed the tea leaves to Ye Chongming.

If the second son approved of the tea, Ye Chongming knew it was good without needing to look or taste it.

He nodded and said: “Fine, then do as Yaming suggests.” He turned to Ye Hongsheng, “Tomorrow, send this batch of tea to the factory and have the tea workers process it all.”

Now that the tea mountains had entered the non-harvesting season, the tea factory workers were idle. This was the perfect time to process this batch of tea.

Ye Yaming, seeing that Ye Chongming’s furrowed brow had not relaxed much, asked: “Grandfather, do our tea houses and tea shops not have much good tea to sell now?”

Although Ye Hongrong’s mistake had been remedied, the Ye family had spent a considerable amount of money buying silk to compensate. If that batch of tea hadn’t contained the moldy center, it would have been high quality at a low price, and Ye Hongrong had purchased a significant quantity.

Though the number of tea customers wasn’t large, those who bought this tea were bargain hunters, and those who bought in bulk had stockpiled dozens or even hundreds of boxes, possibly to resell them.

As a result, the money the Ye family paid in compensation was no small sum. Given that merchants typically don’t keep large amounts of idle money, and usually invest in fields, shops, or tea gardens, Ye Yaming estimated that the Ye family had likely spent most of their cash reserves.

If Ye Hongchang failed to retrieve the tea money, then the Ye family’s losses would be even more devastating.