Qi Ji seemed very pleased that she asked this question. He smiled at her and said, “He’s doing extremely well. He’s earned merit and been promoted—he’s now a fourth-rank military official. Once the situation in the capital settles down, the Marquis of Xianwu will likely petition to have him named as heir.”

Hearing this news, Ye Chongming’s face lit up with joy: “Really? That’s wonderful.”

Ye Yaming, however, frowned: “Was there fighting at the border? Was Lu Guanyi injured?”

Based on what Qi Ji had just said, that person called Bater from the Jin Dynasty must have been exposed and, like Duke Weiguo, must have become desperate when cornered.

And since promotions don’t come without achievements, the fact that Lu Guanyi had been directly promoted to a fourth-rank official indicated that he had performed a great service. Supporting the Crown Prince’s efforts against Duke Weiguo’s faction wasn’t something that could be publicly acknowledged, so it was very likely that Lu Guanyi had fought a battle at the border.

Qi Ji looked at Ye Yaming with great admiration and nodded in confirmation: “Indeed, there was fighting. Bater heard rumors and hastily raised troops to seize power. After failing, he fled to the border, planning to plunder villages there for supplies while seeing if he could establish a foothold and create an independent state.”

“Zi Mo led troops to eliminate them and successfully brought back Bater’s head. The court immediately conferred upon him the title of General Mingwei, a fourth-rank position.”

Ye Yaming asked, “Was he injured?”

“He suffered some minor injuries, but they’ve long since healed.”

Qi Ji spoke with evident happiness for Lu Guanyi.

Throughout their journey to Fujian, whenever Qi Ji mentioned Lu Guanyi, Ye Yaming had shown no maidenly shyness, speaking of Lu Guanyi no differently than she would of anyone else. This had made Qi Ji clearly understand the situation between Ye Yaming and Lu Guanyi.

Although the two were betrothed, it was entirely one-sided on Lu Guanyi’s part, while Ye Yaming remained disconcertingly calm.

Now, seeing Ye Yaming concerned about Lu Guanyi, realizing she wasn’t completely indifferent to him, Qi Ji felt relieved.

He continued, “After Zi Mo went to the border, he intended to write to you. But as you know, at the border, sending letters without a reason is prohibited. Especially written correspondence, which is not allowed to be transmitted.” This was to prevent the leakage of military secrets.

“However, when I returned, I heard a message he had relayed through several people, saying that you had previously mentioned making tea bricks that the border tribes drink. Now that the Jin Dynasty is renegotiating the reopening of the tea-horse markets with the border regions, he asks if you have any of those prepared tea bricks, and whether you could give me a few to have someone deliver to him. He has important use for them.”

Ye Yaming appeared quite pleased to hear that Lu Guanyi wanted tea.

“I do have some. They’re at home, though, so I’ll go back and get them for you.” As she spoke, she stood up, ready to return home.

Normally, she could have just sent a servant to fetch them. But since Qi Ji said this involved border negotiations, it must be tea intended for high-ranking Jin officials. Such tea couldn’t afford the slightest error. Otherwise, if it sparked warfare between the two countries, it would be her fault.

So she decided to go herself to retrieve it.

Not only Qi Ji but also Ye Chongming was curious about what these so-called “tea bricks” were. He had never heard Ye Yaming mention this before.

Before long, Ye Yaming returned, bringing with her more than a dozen square bricks.

Seeing these brick-like tea blocks, Qi Ji hesitated to speak.

Ye Yaming, being as perceptive as she was, immediately understood that he was surprised by the tea’s shape and was wrestling with something.

She smiled and said, “The court has just abolished compressed tea cakes in favor of loose tea, and now I’m producing this tea, which will certainly raise questions, right? That’s why I made them into tea bricks rather than tea cakes.”

She opened the wrapping paper, revealing the dark, shiny tea inside, then used a specially crafted tea needle to gently pry off a piece of the tea brick and put it into the gaiwan in front of her.

“Has Chu Yang ever seen the border-trade tea that the Jin Dynasty sends to the Jin people?” she asked.

Qi Ji shook his head, puzzled: “Shouldn’t it be the same as the tea we drink?”

“What do you think would happen if we transported our tea leaves, like the previous loose tea or our current Dragon Well tea, to the Jin Dynasty?”

Qi Ji had never considered this question.

Ye Yaming’s question left him stunned.

Last autumn, when he went to Fujian with Ye Yaming, they naturally brought tea leaves to drink on the journey, and also prepared some so they would have tea to drink after arriving in Fujian.

After tasting Dragon Well tea, he could no longer tolerate other teas, always finding them too bitter and astringent, with insufficient aroma.

But the Dragon Well tea he had brought along had been soaked by rain on the journey, grown moldy, and spoiled, forcing him to throw it away. He had been so heartbroken that he tossed and turned for quite a while before falling asleep that night.

Fortunately, upon reaching Fujian, the Tieguanyin tea that Ye Yaming produced had soothed his wounded heart.

His gaze fell on the tea bricks before him.

“Are you saying that these teas are made this way for ease of transport?”

Ye Yaming gave him an appreciative look: “Exactly.”

When she had entered, she had instructed Zan’er to boil water, and now Zan’er knocked on the door and brought in the boiling water. Ye Yaming took the teapot and poured boiling water into the gaiwan, covering it but leaving a small gap, then quickly poured the water from the gap into a waste water container.

Seeing Ye Yaming pour out the tea-brewing water, not only Qi Ji but also Ye Chongming was puzzled.

Qi Ji, being quick to speak, asked, “Why did you pour out the tea water?” Wasn’t this a waste?

“This is rinsing the tea, which also serves to moisten it,” Ye Yaming explained.

“The raw materials for black tea are usually older leaves and stems, which can withstand multiple steepings. Rinsing it once or twice won’t affect the flavor of the tea soup. Instead, this rinsing process allows the tea leaves to be properly soaked, resulting in a better tea soup.”

As she spoke, she rinsed the tea once more before pouring in boiling water again. After waiting a moment, feeling that the tea soup’s concentration was just right, she poured the tea soup into the fair cup.

“Is this tea called black tea?” Ye Chongming asked.

“Yes.” Ye Yaming pointed to the tea brick she had just pried a piece from. “Look at how dark and glossy this tea is, that’s why I call it black tea.”

The difference between black tea and Pu’er tea lies in the tea variety—the former uses medium to small leaf varieties, while the latter uses large-leaf varieties from Yunnan—and in the fermentation and processing techniques.

Ye Yaming couldn’t go to Yunnan. In this era of inconvenient transportation and uncertain safety, it wasn’t realistic to travel to Yunnan, a region populated by ethnic minorities. Without a special reason, she had no plans to develop Pu’er tea.

However, it was feasible to use the coarse, old leaves and stems left after picking the tea buds for green tea to make black tea.

She didn’t know how far the border-trade tea from Yunnan and Sichuan had developed at this time. But if following the original timeline’s historical development, Pu’er tea would not yet be mature. She hoped that by introducing black tea processing methods, she could stimulate the development of Pu’er tea.

As a seasoned tea drinker, after trying various teas over time, she had come to prefer only Pu’er and aged white tea; she would drink some green tea when spring arrived, and she also enjoyed the mellow flavor of black tea, but rarely touched other types of tea.

Fuding white tea originated in Fuding City, Fujian Province, which was the next project she wanted to develop and one of the reasons she had endured hardships to go to Fujian.

Without Pu’er, black tea became an essential tea type for her. Therefore, not long after her transmigration, during her first visit to the tea garden with Ye Chongming, she had people pick coarse old leaves and stems, and she made some black tea bricks for herself.