In just three years, she would have tea gardens with yields twice as high as these old tea gardens, and the quality of the fresh tea leaves would be better, producing dried tea with superior taste.

So, not to mention the Wu family wanting to exchange tea mountains for tea-making secrets, even if they gave her the tea mountains for free, she wouldn’t want them.

Although this uncle and niece from the Ye family were merchants like everyone else, they spoke more firmly than anyone. Their attitude made Master Wu hesitate.

The Ye family was traveling with the two young masters, Lu and Qi, and the two young masters treated them with great respect. Additionally, he had heard that the Prefect’s daughter had come once but was scared away by Miss Ye. Could it be that the Ye family had even greater backing beyond Master Lu and Master Qi?

After turning these thoughts over in his mind, Master Wu’s expression changed slightly. Finally, he managed to produce a stiff smile, “Miss Ye, everything can be negotiated. If you don’t want tea mountains, then name your price. How much silver would you accept?”

“Not for sale,” Ye Yaming answered particularly quickly and decisively. “If Master Wu and Manager Zheng wish to buy tea from us, then find Steward Fang to sign a contract. However, the price is the price. We sell to teahouses under the Princess Imperial’s name in the capital at this price. We cannot possibly sell it to you for less just because we’re here.”

She looked at Master Wu, her gaze calm but carrying a certain pressure: “Forgive my frankness, Master Wu, but you do not have enough standing to negotiate price with me.”

After speaking, she picked up her teacup, “Steward Fang, see the guests out.”

“Master Wu, Manager Zheng, please,” Fang Xing made a gesture.

Master Wu was stunned by Ye Yaming’s aura and words.

He looked at Ye Yaming, got up without a word, and walked out.

Seeing the two leave with their tails between their legs, Ye Hongrong smiled and was about to say something to Ye Yaming, but was stopped by her gesture.

He understood and stood up, going out to the corridor.

He had planned to watch Master Wu and Manager Zheng leave before speaking with Ye Yaming, but he found that the two had exchanged a few words with Fang Xing and then gone to the gatehouse.

It seemed they had ultimately chosen to sign a pre-sale contract for osmanthus tea with the Ye family.

He returned to the room and told Ye Yaming about this.

Ye Yaming nodded, not at all surprised by Master Wu’s actions.

She had seen too many people like this in her previous life.

The more knowledgeable and capable a person was, the more humble they became, because they knew all too well that there were always others better than themselves. Sometimes this “better person” might not seem outstanding, might appear ordinary, or might even seem somewhat incompetent. But when it mattered, the person who could ruin your plans might just be them.

Conversely, those with little knowledge, limited intelligence, and lacking in power or wealth, because they had spent their whole lives in small places, thought they were the best in the world, incredibly impressive, and didn’t respect anyone, not even the highest authorities.

This was the typical case of “a full bucket doesn’t make noise, but a half-empty one sloshes around.”

This Master Wu belonged to the latter category.

However, someone who could build a business of this size was certainly not a fool. Even if he lacked experience, he knew there were many in this world far more powerful than Assistant Magistrate Liao.

His earlier behavior was probably because he saw her as just a girl, and her relationship with Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji wasn’t very clear, so he tried to intimidate her, thinking he might get lucky.

Now that he knew it wouldn’t work, he immediately tucked his tail and behaved himself.

Shortly after, Fang Xing came in and reported, “Master Wu has pre-ordered two hundred jin.”

At this point, he smiled and said, “He had originally intended to order only one hundred jin, but when he heard that Wang Jiang Lou had ordered one hundred and fifty jin, he immediately added another hundred jin.”

Ye Yaming asked, “How about the other teahouses?”

“So far, out of the eleven teahouses in Xin’an City, seven have pre-ordered osmanthus tea. The remaining four are smaller establishments with more cautious owners, who probably want to see how the other teahouses fare next year before deciding.”

Ye Hongrong, listening on the side, interjected, “Yaming, these teahouses that have pre-ordered tea leaves haven’t paid any deposits, right? Why not ask them to pay?”

In Lin’an City, many teahouses didn’t have their own tea gardens or tea-making techniques. Therefore, they wouldn’t go to the Tea Monopoly Bureau to buy raw tea for processing. Instead, they would purchase tea in bulk from tea shops owned by families like the Ye and Yang families.

When they pre-ordered tea leaves, they always paid deposits. Not to mention, deposits of thirty to fifty percent were mandatory. Otherwise, after going to the trouble of transporting the tea, if they said they didn’t want it anymore, wouldn’t that be toying with people?

Now Ye Yaming wasn’t collecting deposits, and Ye Hongrong couldn’t understand why.

Ye Yaming said, “We’re outsiders. If we want them to pay deposits, we need a guarantor. We don’t know anyone here, so who would act as our guarantor?”

This guarantor wasn’t as simple as a witness. If either party breached the contract, the guarantor would have to compensate all payments on behalf of the breaching party. Not to mention strangers, even acquaintances wouldn’t easily guarantee someone else.

“Besides, even without their deposits, we don’t lose anything. We’re not making tea in Lin’an and shipping it to Xin’an for delivery; we’re making it right here. Also, it’s not like I’ll sell them two hundred jin just because they say they want to order that much. The contract states that it depends on our production.”

Ye Hongrong didn’t quite understand the intricacies of this arrangement.

But since Ye Yaming had considered it, he had nothing more to say.

The uncle and niece rested at the inn for half a day. After dinner, Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji returned.

“It’s settled,” Qi Ji had drunk some wine and was visibly excited. “Prefect Lü is willing to take shares and join our venture.”

“Really?” Ye Hongrong was overjoyed.

Upon learning that Lü Yan had taken an interest in Lu and Qi, but the two men were unwilling to marry into her family, he had thought the business deal would fall through.

Lu Guanyi said to Ye Yaming, “Tomorrow, Prefect Lü will send a steward with us to Yi Mountain. With his people present, it will be more convenient for us to buy tea mountains.”

“Good, thank you for your hard work,” Ye Yaming smiled.

She didn’t ask them for details, nor did she ask if they needed to sign a contract with Prefect Lü.

Such a contract was unnecessary; signing would be disadvantageous to Prefect Lü, and not signing wouldn’t affect their side’s fulfillment of the agreement. Unless they didn’t want to do business here, they would have to give Lü Xuanlin twenty percent of the profits on time every year.

The two had drunk quite a bit. Lu Guanyi seemed fine, showing no visible changes, but Qi Ji’s face was somewhat flushed, and he was talking more than usual. After conveying the information, the two took their leave.

Ye Hongrong volunteered to escort them back to their rooms.

Upon returning, he told Ye Yaming, “From what I gathered from Young Master Qi’s words, the Lü family hadn’t yet expressed interest in marriage when Master Lu explained his family’s difficulties to Prefect Lü and Madam Lü. He also mentioned that Madam Qi had already selected a girl for Young Master Qi, a daughter from a noble family in the capital, and they were just waiting for the mourning period for the girl’s grandmother to end before getting engaged. After hearing this, the Lü family and Miss Lü abandoned the idea of marriage.”