Ye Yaming felt relieved. “That’s good.”

After thinking for a moment, she instructed Bai Rui: “Go to the storage room and see if there are any nice little trinkets to send to the Fifth Miss to play with.”

Bai Rui acknowledged and left.

It was already noon, and Zi Yuan and Qing Zhi had brought back food in containers. Ye Yaming had a simple lunch.

After the meal, Bai Rui returned to report, detailing what items she had sent to Ye Yayu.

“The Fourth Miss received the items. The Fifth Miss won’t see anyone except the Fourth Miss. The Fourth Miss said to assure you that she will take good care of her fifth sister.”

Ye Yaming smiled.

After some thought, she picked up her brush and wrote down methods for making fried fresh milk and cake. She handed it to Bai Rui: “Take this to the kitchen and have them study this recipe carefully. If it doesn’t work, they can adapt it as needed. I saw this recipe in a book. Tell them that if they succeed and the Fourth and Fifth Misses enjoy it, I will provide them with more recipes in the future.”

Fried fresh milk required breadcrumbs, which didn’t exist in this era, so in her recipe, Ye Yaming wrote to use crumbled mantou instead. As for fresh milk and an oven, the Ye family had these.

She wrote out clear instructions for beating egg whites. As for how the kitchen maids would actually execute it and how the final product would turn out, they were professionals after all, and with some experimentation, they would produce something reasonably similar.

In modern times, Ye Yaming had a well-known hobby: she loved to eat. Whenever she traveled for business, her assistant would always book the best local restaurants for her, or if she was too busy, would bring back takeout. Hosts would also entertain her at the finest restaurants.

She not only enjoyed eating but also researched how these delicacies were made. This was a topic she often discussed during social interactions when conversation ran dry.

In her leisure time, she also liked to watch food videos or livestreams.

Since coming to ancient times, she had been busy and unable to turn her culinary theories into practice. It made more sense to write recipes for the kitchen maids to research.

Life in this world came down to food and clothing. Clothing was for others to see, but food was truly for oneself. Of all things in the world, only delicious food should not be wasted. Perhaps, fine food could also comfort Ye Yayu’s anxious heart after losing her mother and familiar environment.

This was all she could do for the little girl now.

Bai Rui took the recipe and put it away, then said to Ye Yaming, “Miss, the storage room is filled with items. Would you like to move to a larger room for storage?”

Ye Yaming blinked, feeling slightly disoriented.

It had already been half a year since she transmigrated to ancient times. Had the twenty-square-meter storage room already been filled up as time passed?

The original owner had given all her good things to the Song family. When Ye Yaming first arrived, she saw that the storage room was nearly empty, with only some less valuable items: a used zither, gifts from elders during festivals, and some childhood toys.

Since Ye Yaming’s arrival, due to her significant contributions to the family, Old Lady Ye and Madam Tao alone had given her many pieces of jewelry, and Ye Chongming, Ye Hongsheng, and Ye Hongsheng had also given her numerous gifts. She had also received many presents during festivals.

She had kept some of the tea sets she had designed herself, especially those with exquisite styles, storing them in delicate wooden boxes, which also took up considerable space.

Before the Qingming Festival, Princess Imperial Yuning had invited her for a meeting, and she had sent a set as a gift. When the Princess Imperial received the tea set, she treasured it like a precious jewel.

She picked up her brush again and drew a design for a shelf, handing it to Bai Rui: “Have a carpenter come in to measure and make several shelves like this. Leave enough space between the shelves for people to place and retrieve items. Once the shelves are ready, reorganize everything, and that should free up some space.”

Every mistress in the Ye family had their storeroom for their dowry. Although Madam Yin’s dowry was modest, she was not denied a storeroom.

If Ye Yaming requested a storeroom, she would certainly be given one. But with just these few possessions, it wasn’t necessary. If her belongings were spread across two rooms, the maids and servants would have to divide their attention when guarding them, which wouldn’t work either.

Originally, the items in the room were placed on three display shelves. Display shelves were aesthetically pleasing but not practical. Switching to ordinary wooden shelves, especially ones that reach a height of two and a half meters, would at least double the storage capacity.

Bai Rui took Ye Yaming’s drawing and left the courtyard, returning shortly after to inform Ye Yaming: “Miss, Sun An has come to report.”

“Show him in.”

Soon, Bai Rui led Sun An inside.

“Miss, the Qi estate’s steward has helped us purchase the people, thirty-two in total.”

Previously, Ye Yaming had only given an approximate number, between twenty and forty people, depending on quality. If more met the standards, they would take more; otherwise, fewer.

Now that they had purchased thirty-two people, it was quite in line with her expectations.

“How many men and how many women?”

“Twenty men and twelve women, including five married couples. Two of the couples have three children between them, but the children aren’t counted in the thirty-two,” Sun An said.

Ye Yaming’s criteria for people had been those between thirteen and twenty years old. In this era, people married early, so having five couples wasn’t surprising.

“Are these people all from the same place?” Ye Yaming asked further.

Sun An shook his head: “Some are from the north, some from the south, and a few are locals from Lin’an. The Qi estate’s steward has verified that they all come from respectable backgrounds and have good character.”

Ye Yaming nodded.

When they went to Huizhou earlier, she had mentioned buying people and, out of curiosity, had asked Qi Ji and Lu Guanyi where these servants came from.

Qi Ji explained that the Great Jin Empire was vast, with some regions suffering from drought while others experienced floods. When disaster struck, common people had no choice but to sell their children.

Merchants in this business would buy people in disaster areas and transport them to prosperous, unaffected big cities like Lin’an to sell. Every year, countless servants were brought from other regions, given basic training, and then sold.

As long as one found reliable middlemen, there was no shortage of good servants to buy.

Normally, Ye Yaming would have stopped inquiring at this point. She thought that Ye Chongming and Old Lady Ye would have their usual middlemen, and she could ask them to facilitate the purchase when needed.

However, Qi Ji had volunteered to buy people for her. Ye Yaming thought that if government officials were overseeing the process, the quality of the people purchased would naturally be better, so she agreed.

Now it seemed indeed good.

Considering whether to send gifts to the Qi estate, she asked: “Have they all been settled at the farm?”

“Yes,” Sun An said. “Winnowing baskets, sieves, bamboo baskets, and other items have been made according to the quantities and requirements and delivered to the farm.”

“Good,” Ye Yaming nodded. “Tomorrow I’ll have Steward Lei and Auntie Lin go over to teach them the rules. Arrange who will teach what. Please work a bit harder these days, observe, and see if any of them are unsuitable. If any don’t meet our requirements, I’ll have them work on the farm.”

“Yes,” Sun An acknowledged.