After the meal, they waited for a while. Ye Yaming, seeing that the fresh tea leaves had been adequately spread out, went back to her room and changed into old clothes that were convenient for working. She also wrapped her head with a cloth.

When she came out, everyone couldn’t help but laugh at her appearance. Ye Chongming teased: “People say that wearing dragon robes doesn’t make one look like a crown prince; but even in a farmer’s clothes, you don’t look like a farmer.”

His granddaughter, probably guided by the ancestors, had undergone a tremendous change in demeanor. She was not only poised and dignified but also possessed a noble quality and the bearing of a person in authority. When she gave orders, he instinctively obeyed.

Ye Yaming instructed Shui’e: “Light the fire.”

In this era without gas or electricity, controlling the fire required someone dedicated to tending it. When Ye Hongsheng made tea, Shui’e was always in charge of the fire. With just a word, he could adjust the flames according to requirements.

Therefore, for this tea-making session, Ye Yaming had him tend the fire.

Although all the servants remaining in the courtyard were trustworthy, to be safe, Ye Chongming only kept Bai Rui and Shui’e, sending everyone else away.

Keeping Bai Rui was also in case Ye Yaming needed assistance or service during the tea-making process.

Soon, the fire was blazing. Placing her hand at a certain distance from the iron wok and feeling the degree of heat, Ye Yaming poured a portion of the fresh tea leaves into the wok. After wrapping her hands with two layers of cloth, she began to stir-fry the tea leaves with her bare hands.

Ye Hongsheng watched with unwavering attention.

First firing, second firing, and sifting—it took Ye Yaming over half an hour to complete the tea-making process.

Looking at the flat, smooth tea leaves with a hint of fire scent in the small porcelain jar, Ye Hongsheng asked Ye Yaming: “Is it done now?”

“It’s done. However, to achieve the best flavor, it needs to be stored for a day or two until the fire scent dissipates. But you can taste it now.”

Upon hearing this, Shui’e immediately moved the fire to a small red clay stove. Bai Rui brought a kettle of water, placed it on the stove to boil, and began preparing the tea utensils.

Soon the water boiled, and Ye Yaming personally made a pot of tea, pouring cups for Ye Chongming and Ye Hongsheng.

What hit them first was a tea fragrance completely different from the traditional steamed green tea. As the tea entered their mouths, the distinct layers of tea aroma and fresh, sweet, mellow flavor filled their entire mouths.

Ye Hongsheng’s eyes widened as he pointed at the teacup: “This taste, this taste… You just simply stir-fry it like that, and it makes the tea taste so much better?”

As a master of tea production and tasting who had sampled countless teas in his lifetime and possessed abundant knowledge, he naturally had no shortage of vocabulary to describe tea flavors.

But at this moment, he was so stunned that he couldn’t utter a single word of praise.

Ye Chongming’s face was filled with delight.

Ye Yaming could understand Ye Hongsheng’s feelings and deliberately teased him: “How can you call it simple stir-frying? Is this merely simple stir-frying? There’s profound knowledge in this process.”

“Hey, I misspoke.” Ye Hongsheng slapped his forehead and stared at Ye Yaming, asking, “Can you explain the principles behind this to me?”

Ye Yaming shook her head: “I can’t explain. I only know that I dreamed of someone teaching me this way. So I followed their instructions.”

“Blessings from the ancestors, blessings from the ancestors!” Ye Chongming knelt and bowed toward the sky.

Ye Hongsheng, who had been savoring the tea, had to put down his cup and stand up with a speechless expression.

His father had already knelt, so should he kneel or not?

Ye Yaming went to help Ye Chongming up, saying: “Grandfather, the Qingming Festival will soon be here. We can pay our respects then.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Ye Chongming stood up, nodding repeatedly.

Ye Hongsheng’s mind was completely occupied with tea-making. Unable to comfort his father, he stared intently at Ye Yaming: “Can I learn?”

“Of course.” Ye Yaming then explained the process to him.

Fortunately, the garden workers had delivered two more baskets of fresh tea leaves, which Bai Rui and Shui’e had spread out according to Ye Yaming’s instructions.

Father and daughter, one teaching and one learning, made two more batches of tea.

Of course, since there weren’t many fresh leaves, these two batches were smaller, only about half the amount of Ye Yaming’s first batch.

For the first batch, Ye Hongsheng directly scorched the tea.

The second batch wasn’t scorched, but when tasted, it was still far inferior to Ye Yaming’s.

Now Ye Hongsheng finally understood why Ye Yaming hadn’t answered when he had asked if it was difficult.

This pan-frying method seemed not particularly difficult, at least the technique was simpler than steaming tea. But in another sense, it was indeed difficult because the quality of the tea depended entirely on one’s hands and intuition.

He had always been in charge of quality control at the tea factory, and now he asked with a serious expression: “If everyone becomes proficient, will the tea they make taste the same as yours?”

Ye Yaming smiled: “That’s impossible.”

The hand-fried tea relied entirely on the tea master’s intuition and experience. Even the same experienced tea master, if in poor physical condition, bad mood, or affected by adverse weather conditions, would produce tea with a different taste.

This was why, in later generations, most tea was machine-produced.

Although machines couldn’t produce the stunning flavor of handmade tea, they provided consistency. And consistent quality control was the key to a tea enterprise’s success.

As father and daughter continued with the teaching and learning, Ye Chongming, after his excitement and imagination about the future, began to ponder the issue Ye Yaming had raised.

They couldn’t use the tea masters, but they could use their apprentices. These apprentices were generally their sons, nephews, or those who were seen as clever, talented, and of good character, and thus taken as disciples.

These apprentices had been making tea alongside their masters since the day they were accepted. Sometimes the tea masters would only give verbal instructions, while the apprentices did all the work.

Based on his experience, Ye Chongming could immediately see the future of this new “pan-fried green tea” his granddaughter had created.

Given the current trend where compressed tea was declining while loose tea was gaining popularity, this pan-fried green tea might leap forward and surpass both types.

If that happened, those tea masters who had made tea for the Ye family all their lives would certainly feel very dejected. Some with narrower minds might not only be unwilling to continue making tea wholeheartedly for the Ye family but might also cause trouble.

Ye Chongming decided to let the tea masters choose some people from among their apprentices to learn the new tea-making method from Ye Yaming.

If they couldn’t make the new tea themselves, but their sons, nephews, or beloved apprentices could, they would probably have no objections.

When Ye Yaming’s teaching session was coming to an end, and Ye Hongsheng was left to figure things out on his own, Ye Chongming shared his thoughts with her.

“Do you think this is feasible?” he asked.

Ye Yaming nodded: “Fine, let’s do it that way.”

No matter what, these people were familiar with the nature of tea. Having worked in the tea factory for so long, their character was evident. They were certainly better than people with unknown backgrounds.

“Then how many people do you need?” Ye Chongming asked.