After finishing her meal, Ye Yaming still went to visit Ye Yaqing’s courtyard.
“Second Sister, congratulations,” she said with a smile as soon as she entered the room.
Ye Yaqing blushed and gave her a reproachful look. “You rarely visit, and when you do, you tease me.”
Ye Yaming had been busy making jasmine tea recently and hadn’t seen Ye Yaqing for about a month.
Seeing that she had changed from her previous melancholy state, with joy on her face and her once thin face now becoming more rounded, Ye Yaming knew she was very satisfied with this marriage arrangement.
“Has the other family mentioned when the wedding will be?” she asked.
Ye Yaqing was seventeen, which wasn’t considered young in ancient times. However, the traditional betrothal gifts and ceremonies would take half a year, so the wedding would be more than half a year later.
Ye Yaqing lowered her head shyly and said, “They’ve checked the dates, and my mother has chosen early May of next year.”
“I’ll prepare a generous gift for Second Sister when the time comes,” Ye Yaming smiled.
Ye Yaqing thought of Ye Yaming’s nonexistent engagement and looked up at her with concern, wanting to comfort her but not knowing where to begin.
Ye Yaming pretended not to understand her unspoken words, changed the topic, sat for a while longer, and then took her leave.
…
With apprentices now handling the jasmine tea production, Ye Yaming didn’t need to exhaust herself making osmanthus tea this year. She only had to demonstrate once, and the apprentices could produce the tea well.
The Ye family had also reserved next year’s spring tea according to the usual acreage.
After the osmanthus tea season, the tea gardens could rest and recover, and Ye Yaming, who had been busy for most of the year, finally had some leisure time.
She drew the design for a gaiwan cup for Qi Ji.
“This is called a Sancai Cup. The lid represents heaven, the saucer represents earth, and the teacup in the middle represents humans… The Sancai Cup symbolizes the unity of ‘heaven, earth, and humanity,’ all nurturing the essence of tea together,” Ye Yaming explained the meaning and significance of the Sancai Cup.
Qi Ji had already experienced the benefits of tea “culture.”
Weren’t the teaware they sold successful thanks to that book *Tea Ceremony*? *Tea Ceremony* had given cultural significance to the teaware, which was why scholars and refined gentlemen sought after it, making it the trendsetter for tea drinking throughout the entire Jin Dynasty.
Therefore, for such a simple teacup with a lid and saucer, Ye Yaming could expound on various cultural significances, leaving Qi Ji completely in awe of her.
“Miss Ye, could you write another book? About this Sancai Cup?” Qi Ji asked.
Ye Yaming thought for a moment: “Sure, I’ll write another book, focusing on how to brew tea and introducing the Sancai Cup.”
Although loose tea had appeared long ago, it was previously used by poor people to quench their thirst, without much attention to brewing methods—they simply poured hot water over it.
But now that the court had abolished compressed tea cakes in favor of loose tea, officials, nobles, scholars, and refined gentlemen had all started drinking loose tea. To enhance the flavor of loose tea, not only were elaborate tea-making techniques required, but brewing methods also needed to be refined. Otherwise, even the best tea would be wasted if not brewed properly.
Recalling their first meeting at Chongshan Temple when Ye Yaming had brewed tea for them while explaining the process eloquently, leaving both him and Lu Guanyi stunned, Qi Ji clapped his hands: “That’s excellent!”
“Does Mr. Qi want to buy more tea mountains?” Ye Yaming asked.
Last year, they had spent most of their pooled money buying tea mountains in Huizhou and building teahouses.
After finishing the jasmine tea production this year, Ye Yaming had trained a batch of tea masters for both parties in the partnership. Qi Ji and a manager from the Ye family led these masters to process tea on Zhou Jiawang’s tea mountain.
Previously, the garden workers on the tea mountain had to pick the tea and process it into crude tea, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive. Now they only needed to pick the fresh leaves and hand them over to Qi Ji’s team. After Qi Ji’s team processed the tea, both parties would go through formalities at the government office, and then the transaction would be completed.
Therefore, the three-party cooperation of Lu, Qi, and Ye had profited from the end of the summer tea season and the entire autumn tea season. Combined with the considerable income from teaware, they had recovered the money they had spent earlier.
Having recouped their investment in less than a year demonstrated the enormous profits in this industry, so naturally, Qi Ji was tempted.
He asked, “Where does Miss Ye want to buy tea mountains? Huizhou again?”
“No, Fujian Province,” Ye Yaming replied.
She was interested in Fujian’s oolong tea.
Speaking of tea brewing arts, oolong tea brewing methods were essential. Then, purple clay teapots could be introduced.
Qi Ji hesitated.
If Lu Guanyi were home, and they went together like last year, that would be ideal. But now that Lu Guanyi was away, if he went to Fujian with Ye Yaming, despite Ye Hongrong being present as a chaperone, he worried that his brother might become jealous after spending so much time together.
“The journey is arduous, and Fujian is even farther than Huizhou. Miss Ye, you’ve worked hard all year. Why don’t you leave this matter to me? I’ll take people there.”
Naturally, they weren’t meeting alone; Ye Chongming was also present.
Hearing this, he agreed: “Yes, Mr. Qi is right. Let them go, Yaming. You should rest at home.”
Ye Yaming was also apprehensive about the transportation and hardships of travel in this era. In modern times, aside from airplanes and high-speed trains, even when driving a car, there were service areas at regular intervals where one could stop to rest and resupply. If tired of driving, one could exit the highway anytime, find a place, and check into a hotel to rest.
In ancient times, there was truly nothing like that.
Moreover, she understood Qi Ji’s concerns. Although she didn’t fear public opinion and believed that Lu Guanyi wasn’t the jealous type—if he were, it would be better to recognize it early and break off the engagement when he returned—she had to consider the brotherhood between Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji.
Given that Qi Ji was unwilling to travel with her alone, she naturally wouldn’t insist on accompanying him to Fujian.
At worst, when time permitted and the weather was suitable, she could lead a group to Fujian on her own, traveling more slowly to make the journey less tiring.
Fujian was a place she wanted to visit.
She said, “That works. I’ll call back my Fourth Uncle and Fang Xing, and have them go with you.”
She could write down the specific locations and what the tea trees looked like, then give it to Ye Hongrong and Fang Xing. They should be able to buy the tea mountains she wanted.
Ye Chongming said, “If Yaming isn’t going, Mr. Qi, you don’t need to go at this time. Fujian is far, and you might not make it back for New Year, and traveling in winter is truly miserable. Why not wait until spring next year when it’s warmer? After all, you don’t need to process the tea, and managers can handle other matters. There will be plenty of time for the round trip, and traveling by water will be much more comfortable.”
“Yes, exactly,” Ye Yaming agreed. “I suggested it now because this is when I have free time. I was originally planning to go myself. Since I’m not going now, you all can go next spring.”
Qi Ji, being a young nobleman, naturally preferred to avoid hardship when possible. With both the Ye grandfather and granddaughter suggesting this, he certainly agreed.
After discussing this matter, he proactively told Ye Yaming: “There might be some changes in the capital recently. However, it won’t affect Lin’an here, so you needn’t worry.”
When Ye Chongming heard this, he became nervous immediately: “What kind of changes? Should I call Hongchang back first?”