She raised her head and looked earnestly into Lu Guanyi’s eyes. “I know our funds are limited. The mountain land we bought today wasn’t expensive, but because it’s so vast, it still cost us ten to twenty thousand taels of silver. We still need to hire people to clear it, buy servants to build the estate, and we need to build a teahouse in Xin’an. Every aspect requires money.”
Originally, when the two parties agreed to cooperate, opening a teahouse wasn’t included in their agreement. But Ye Yaming wanted to use the teahouse as a central hub for managing the tea gardens and trading tea in the local area. She also needed Lu and Qi to maintain relationships with the local officials. This was not just a matter for the Ye family, but an issue for both cooperating parties.
However, with time being so tight earlier and everyone busy traveling around buying tea mountains, Lu and Qi hadn’t felt comfortable bringing it up proactively, so the matter had never been clarified.
Now that Ye Yaming had made the teahouse construction clear, Qi Ji felt relieved.
Nevertheless, he still confirmed, “Miss Ye, do you mean the teahouse will be our joint partnership?”
Ye Yaming smiled, “Of course. If not for your connections with the officials, the Ye family alone could never establish this teahouse, and even if we did, it would quickly fail. The reason Magistrate Lü is willing to accept that twenty percent silent partnership is because of your involvement.”
Lü Xuanlin would never cooperate with merchants to open various shops. Once that precedent was set, the consequences would be serious. If all the shops in Xin’an City offered him silent partnerships, he might become wealthy overnight, but trouble would soon follow, and his official hat would be quickly lost.
The reason he was willing to cooperate with them was solely because of Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji’s status.
These words made Qi Ji feel completely at ease.
To be honest, as the son of an aristocratic family and a second-generation official, he had never had to humble himself like this before. This time, he had to swallow his pride to seek cooperation, and if the money earned had nothing to do with him, he would never do it again, even if it killed him.
Now thinking about having a share in the teahouse’s profits and being able to earn a substantial family fortune through his own abilities, he felt energized throughout his body and thought that even smiling obsequiously and acting subservient was acceptable.
This made him appreciate Lu Guanyi’s insight even more.
Ye Yaming had grand ambitions and a long-term vision; she was someone who could accomplish great things, stronger than many men. No wonder his brother had feelings for such a woman.
He turned to glance at Lu Guanyi and indeed saw unusual brilliance shimmering in his eyes.
Qi Ji lightly coughed and nodded, “Then we’ll accept without hesitation.”
Lu Guanyi continued, “Miss Ye, you needn’t worry about silver. We haven’t spent much of what we pooled together, and the profits from selling tea sets during the New Year period were quite substantial. If you think the land in Qimen is good, spending another ten to twenty thousand taels of silver to buy tea mountains is no problem. Spring tea will soon be ready, and you mentioned making new tea, which will bring in more income. We don’t lack money in our accounts; building the teahouse won’t be an issue.”
“That’s good,” Ye Yaming smiled.
She had a rough idea of the money in their accounts. But spending so much money to buy tea mountains required some explanation to avoid creating rifts with her partners.
Having taken on these miscellaneous matters, Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji naturally couldn’t rest the next day. They began buying and hiring people, and Ye Hongrong was also driven by Ye Yaming to go with them to attend to these arrangements.
On the third day, they went to Qimen.
After staying in Qimen for three days and purchasing a piece of mountain land, the mission of this journey was considered complete.
Although Huizhou had many areas suitable for tea production—famous teas like Taiping Houkui, Lu’an Guapian, and Huoshan Huangya all came from Huizhou—their financial and mental resources were limited; they couldn’t accomplish everything at once.
Profit moved people’s hearts, and if she brought out too many teas, even Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji’s current power couldn’t protect them. It would be a curse rather than a blessing; people shouldn’t be too greedy.
So Ye Yaming planned to introduce pan-fired green tea and dark tea this year. If circumstances allowed in three years, she would then introduce Qimen black tea. As for other tea varieties, they could only be determined based on the situation.
“Miss, Fang Xing has returned,” Bai Rui reported.
“So quickly? Quickly ask him to come in,” Ye Yaming said with surprise.
When they had departed from Fuxi, Fang Xing hadn’t accompanied them to Qimen but had gone to Xiuning instead.
Ye Yaming had originally thought that Fang Xing would take a few more days to catch up with them on their return journey, but unexpectedly, he returned before they even set out.
“Miss,” Fang Xing entered and bowed.
Seeing him covered in dust from travel, Ye Yaming said, “You’ve worked hard.”
Then she asked, “How did it go?”
Fang Xing shook his head. “Nothing. I inquired in Xiuning; there is a mountain called Songluo Mountain with several temples on it. I checked each temple one by one but didn’t find the Monk Da Fang you mentioned.”
Ye Yaming asked further, “Do they produce tea there?”
Fang Xing shook his head again. “No. The monks and nuns on the mountain all buy tea from the foot of the mountain.”
Ye Yaming fell silent.
Before coming to Huizhou, she had sent people to look for Monk Da Fang at Huqiu Temple in Suzhou but hadn’t found him there either.
Indeed, with the dynasty having changed, those familiar dynasties, emperors, and famous figures from history couldn’t be found in this timeline, so how could there be a Monk Da Fang?
She exhaled lightly and said to Fang Xing, “Go rest now. We’ll set off tomorrow, and you can rest well in the carriage for a couple of days.”
After Fang Xing left, Guan Ting curiously asked, “Miss Ye, why were you looking for this monk?”
Bai Rui and Lu’E also looked over.
“Oh, I read in a miscellaneous book that a monk called Da Fang was very skilled at making tea, so I wanted to see if he existed or if the author made him up,” Ye Yaming said.
“That must be made up,” Guan Ting said dismissively.
Ye Yaming smiled without saying anything.
Osmanthus tea was a reprocessed tea with untraceable origins, only said to have been consumed by palace ladies during the Tang and Song dynasties to enhance their bodily fragrance. However, Monk Da Fang, the creator of pan-fired green tea, had a name and was closest to the era she had traveled to.
She wouldn’t feel comfortable claiming the title of creator of pan-fired green tea without sending someone to look for him.
As a time traveler, bringing knowledge and skills from the future and causing some things to appear ahead of their time was inevitable.
She could use Lu Yu as the author’s name for “The Classic of Tea,” but she couldn’t say that pan-fired green tea was created by Monk Da Fang from Songluo Mountain, could she?
If there was a Monk Da Fang on Songluo Mountain, that would be fine, but now there wasn’t. If she said pan-fired green tea was created by Monk Da Fang, would anyone believe it if several Monk Da Fangs suddenly appeared on Songluo Mountain tomorrow?
Not all monks were free from desires, let alone the various forces that might be involved behind this.
To avoid unnecessary disputes and troubles, she had to brazenly claim that she created pan-fired green tea herself, just like the osmanthus tea.
By the time they returned, it was already the second month, and the weather had warmed considerably. On sunny days, Ye Yaming would even come out of the carriage to ride horseback for half a day, making their journey much faster than when they had come.
“Hey, hey, Ming’er, slow down, be careful not to fall!” Ye Hongrong watched anxiously as Ye Yaming raced horses with Guan Ting, constantly calling out from behind.