Mrs. Wu also looked over curiously.

As soon as Ye Yaming saw the quality of the tea sets, she was somewhat satisfied.

These were sweet white porcelain, which was considered extremely high-end porcelain in the Great Jin Dynasty.

When Ye Yaming had previously brought out tea sets, she had told Lu Guanyi to first have Master Zhineng arrange a tea ceremony setting. Once the arrangement of tea settings and the use of tea utensils spread throughout upper society, they would then sell the tea sets. It seemed Lu Guanyi had understood her meaning.

Tea, though a beverage consumed by everyone from royal nobles to common peddlers, the pursuit of its exquisite taste and brewing techniques belonged primarily to the wealthy, leisured scholar-official class with cultural refinement and artistic sensibilities. This pursuit had formed tea culture.

Since it was a culture, it had to be elegant, artistic, and necessarily high-end and prestigious. Therefore, to form and propagate tea culture, one had to start from the upper classes.

So these tea sets, from the beginning, needed to follow a high-end approach.

The reason why compressed tea cakes were sought after was not because they tasted particularly good, but because they represented refinement. The reason loose tea was not fashionable in the current Great Jin Dynasty was precisely because it couldn’t be associated with elegance, wasn’t it?

So they would start with the tea sets, then provide the scholar-officials opportunities to showcase their cultural level and aesthetic taste through tea setting arrangements. Finally, they would innovate in flavors, letting them discover that after experiencing one new tea, there were other new teas to explore, with various brewing methods for different types of tea.

This way, how could they not abandon the compressed tea cakes they had played with for decades and turn to the diverse loose teas?

She didn’t need an emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang to “abolish compressed tea and promote loose tea.” She could still make loose tea replace compressed tea, bringing everyone back to the original flavor of tea.

Looking at the style of these tea sets, which matched the designs she had drawn, Ye Yaming nodded and looked up at Lu Guanyi with a smile: “Very good, there’s nothing inappropriate. Lu Guanyi’s ability to find a master craftsman who makes sweet white porcelain and produce these tea sets in such a short time is truly remarkable.”

“Hey, you don’t know, but as soon as you showed the drawings that day, after leaving Chongshan Temple, he couldn’t even wait one night. He immediately dispatched people from Lin’an City, riding at full speed to Xinping Town in the south, found the best craftsman there to fire a kiln, and then rushed back without stopping. These tea sets arrived in Zimo’s hands less than an hour ago,” Qi Ji said.

Lu Guanyi did not contradict him, but only said to Ye Yaming: “People in the capital favor sweet white porcelain, so I had them made in that material. If Miss Ye has any other ideas, you can share them all.”

After a pause, he added: “Rest assured, we will pay for them.”

Hearing this, Adviser Wu glanced at Ye Yaming with surprise, his expression quite subtle.

Ye Yaming naturally understood his meaning.

She knew that at this time, people with some status considered it shameful to discuss money directly; only common peddlers would lower themselves to haggle. The Ye family, as merchants who had chosen to cooperate with Lu and Qi, should behave accordingly, especially since the Ye family was in a passive position in this cooperation.

Perhaps in Adviser Wu’s view, although he could lower himself to flatter the Ye family, that was only out of respect for Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji. And the Ye family, in front of Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji, should do everything possible to please them. Any good formulas or items should be completely handed over.

As for benefits, if Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji were generous, they would share some profits to compensate the Ye family for their contributions; if they weren’t generous and didn’t share the benefits, the Ye family shouldn’t have any complaints.

Master and servant, superior and inferior—the Ye family must clearly understand their position.

Understanding Adviser Wu’s thoughts, Ye Yaming maintained her composure without showing any discomfort, and she had no intention of changing her approach.

She came from an era that promoted equality among all people and did not possess the servile nature of people from this time. If at the beginning of the cooperation, the Ye family or she had bowed and scraped, assuming a servile position, they would never be able to stand straight again.

What she wanted was equal partnership and mutual benefit. The “fifty-fifty” split was not randomly proposed.

She returned a smile to Lu Guanyi and nodded: “Thank you, Young Master Lu.”

Seeing her attitude, not only the Wu couple but even Lu Guanyi slightly raised his eyebrows; Qi Ji was even more intrigued, finding it quite interesting.

Ye Yaming was different from all the women they had previously encountered.

“For the tea ceremony I arranged last time, because Master Zhineng’s meditation room was solemn and dignified, the theme I wanted to express was ‘Zen,’ so I used tablecloths, vases, and flower arrangements to complement this theme and atmosphere. The vase was ancient and simple, with withered branch arrangements, representing the withering and death in the tea leaf production process.”

“But when tea is stimulated by boiling water, it unfurls and releases its sweetness, like a phoenix reborn from the ashes—it comes alive again. This represents glory and life. So I chose white porcelain to brew it, creating a contrast with the color of the withered branches. There was also contrast and dynamism in the colors of the tea setting. This is the aesthetic and insight that the tea ceremony arrangement brings to people.”

Adviser Wu was a scholar. Although he had only passed the provincial examination without further advancement, he was still a literary man with an artistic and romantic side.

When he first heard Ye Yaming speak, he was full of disdain, wondering what profound insights a merchant girl who only cared about money could offer. Now, suddenly hearing such eloquent discourse, he was quite shocked.

Even Lu Guanyi, Qi Ji, and Ye Chongming, who had previously heard Ye Yaming’s views on the tea ceremony at Chongshan Temple, still found this speech refreshing.

It was difficult to imagine that such words came from a fifteen-year-old girl who had not formally studied. Even Master Zhineng, who had studied extensively and spent his life in enlightenment, could not formulate such a theory.

Of course, “not formally studied” was relative to scholars who had spent ten years in diligent study and had earned a jinshi degree or equivalent level of education.

Ye Yaming didn’t think she was anything special. She was merely standing on the shoulders of giants, speaking about the understanding of tea ceremonies and tea settings from future generations. Certainly, this understanding wasn’t merely copied but was what she had realized based on those theories.

She continued calmly: “So what if I want to represent the vibrant energy of spring? When spring tea emerges, full of greenery, with the breath of spring in the air; or the scorching summer days, needing a cool respite, with lotus flowers blooming on the lake surface; or in winter, the stunning moment when red plum blossoms burst forth amidst white snow. If we want to represent these in a tea ceremony, what kind of tea sets should we use?”

Everyone in the room seemed lost in thought.

Ye Yaming looked at Lu Guanyi, her eyes full of seriousness: “So tea sets are not uniform; their colors, textures, and styles can all vary. We can design them according to various themes. Only their function remains constant despite the myriad changes.”