Ye Chongming was momentarily stunned: “So soon?” Then he felt a heart full of resistance.

But despite his resistance, he knew his granddaughter was already seventeen and it was time for her to marry. Even if they chose the later date in the twelfth month, she would still have to leave home. He couldn’t prevent it.

He said, “Three months, though the time is tight, should be enough to prepare a dowry.”

Although he and Old Lady Ye wanted to prepare a generous dowry for Ye Yaming, they had to be fair. Madam Tao was already resentful because the position of family head had been taken from her husband and son by Ye Yaming. Now, if the elderly couple favored Ye Yaming over Ye Yaqing in their weddings, Madam Tao would certainly cause trouble.

So the family’s contribution to Ye Yaming’s dowry would be similar to Ye Yaqing’s. When they had prepared for Ye Yaqing’s wedding, Old Lady Ye had also prepared a portion for Ye Yaming. After all, Ye Yaming was already engaged, and at her age, marriage would come soon.

Therefore, even though the time was tight now, there wouldn’t be much chaos.

“You added so generously to Qinger’s dowry; for your own, you must prepare well. The family’s contribution isn’t much, so add more yourself,” Ye Chongming instructed.

“Mm, alright,” Ye Yaming nodded.

She had come back to find Ye Chongming to discuss another matter: “When meeting with Official Chen tomorrow, you should still be the main representative. The price we originally gave them was half a silver per catty, or 450 wen if we don’t have to transport it to the border.”

“During this time, I’ve been in the mountains teaching apprentices to make tea. I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to the situation there. For this black tea to reach the quality level I gave you to taste, which is fully mature, it needs to undergo seventy days of pile fermentation. During this period, there can be no operational mistakes. Once there’s an error, the tea is ruined. So although its raw materials aren’t very expensive, the effort required is substantial.”

“Seventy days?” Ye Chongming was shocked.

Watching Ye Yaming make Longjing tea, osmanthus tea, and other teas, it all seemed quite effortless, with tea being produced in less than half a day.

He had never imagined that the method for making black tea was so complex.

Ye Yaming nodded: “Not only is it time-consuming, but there’s also wastage, so our price definitely cannot be too low. It shouldn’t go below 380 wen.”

She had calculated before that the cost of this tea was less than 100 wen, but that was based on her being experienced and making no mistakes. When apprentices learned to make tea, there would inevitably be errors, and she had to account for that.

She had said she wouldn’t compete for profits with the court and wouldn’t make money from the court on black tea. But initially, she couldn’t set the price too low.

Human thoughts are the most complex. Even if she set the price at 100 wen, some would still think the Ye family was making too much profit and try to push the price down further. So, initially setting the price higher would give the court room to negotiate.

Next year or the year after, when Chen Zhen was promoted or transferred, and a new official came to manage this matter, he would certainly try to lower the price of the Ye family’s black tea to demonstrate his achievements, showing he was more outstanding than Chen Zhen.

She was quoting a high price now to leave room for future price reductions by successor managers.

Furthermore, the method of making black tea couldn’t be kept secret forever. The stakes were too high; although tea merchants in Lin’an wouldn’t dare to get involved, officials and powerful figures in the Capital would certainly scheme to get involved.

So in a year or two, when the pressure became unbearable, she would still sell the tea-making method. Others would have a higher error rate in tea production, and she needed to leave some profit margin for others. Otherwise, after these people went to great lengths to obtain the tea method, if they couldn’t make a profit, they might resent the Ye family out of humiliation and anger.

Why should she suffer the resentment of petty people by giving benefits to the court and not making money herself?

So the price of this tea couldn’t be too low.

When Ye Chongming heard that he would have to haggle with Chen Zhen, his scalp began to tingle.

He said, “Tomorrow, you come and talk to him. I’ll tell him you’re the future family head, and this matter should be discussed between you two.”

Ye Yaming shook her head and said seriously, “Grandfather, if the Emperor hadn’t bestowed marriage between me and Lu Guanyi, there would be no problem with me negotiating with Official Chen. But now that I’ve been imperially matched, I’m a fourth-rank commanded lady. Official Chen will certainly use this reason to pressure me to give the court benefits. If I don’t agree, it will affect Lu Guanyi’s career.”

Ye Chongming froze: “Ah? They… how can they be so treacherous?”

He had thought this imperial marriage was requested by Lu Guanyi and had been overjoyed and excited—

Marriages bestowed by the Emperor generally couldn’t be easily dissolved, which was a layer of protection for Ye Yaming. Additionally, those noble ladies in the Capital could no longer ridicule Ye Yaming for her merchant background. After all, the Emperor had praised Ye Yaming as “talented and beautiful, respectful and intelligent,” a worthy match for Lu Guanyi. If others said Ye Yaming wasn’t worthy of Lu Guanyi, wouldn’t that be slapping the Emperor in the face?

He hadn’t expected that the court would grant this marriage to silence the Ye family.

This truly left Ye Chongming at a loss for words.

“They’ve even calculated this; when the time comes to speak, I’m afraid I won’t be able to withstand it,” he said with a worried face.

Ye Yaming analyzed it for him: “Official Chen will certainly say how difficult it is for Lu Guanyi at the border, and that if Great Jin has a large amount of low-priced black tea to sell to Great Jin, the people of Great Jin won’t have difficult lives due to buying tea, which plays a great role in stabilizing the border. So he’ll ask you to consider the bigger picture and not compete for profits with the court. Since this black tea is made from the old leaves and stems left over from making Longjing, you’ve already made a profit on Longjing. Moreover, the Emperor has designated Longjing as tribute tea. Now that the court needs it, you should do your part for the court by selling it at a low price.”

“Even if you say 380 wen is the cost price, he might also use the price of Longjing tea to make his point, suggesting that the price of Longjing could be raised, while the price of black tea could be lowered.”

The court pays for Longjing tea that has been designated as tribute tea. But the tribute Longjing is already premium tea, and how much can there be in total? In comparison, the volume of black tea is much greater. No matter how high the price the court gives for Longjing tea, it can’t compensate for the loss on the black tea side.

But once they’ve said this, how could a small merchant like you dare not to give face? So you could only submit.

Ye Chongming was indeed intimidated by Ye Yaming’s hypothetical scenario.

“Then… if he says that, what should I do?” He felt he definitely couldn’t withstand it.

After all, having been a merchant all his life, having to bow and scrape before officials, it was too much to ask the old man now to stand tall and negotiate face-to-face with high court officials.

“If he talks about difficulties, you talk about difficulties too,” Ye Yaming said. “Just tell him that although the raw materials for this black tea aren’t expensive, turning such materials into such a delicious tea requires a tremendous amount of effort in the tea-making process…”

Ye Yaming analyzed it bit by bit, teaching him how to respond.

Ye Chongming was an experienced old man who had been in business all his life. Under Ye Yaming’s analysis, his heart also settled down.

“Good, tomorrow I’ll do as you say and stand firm on the price. The court has its difficulties, but they can’t expect us to lose money and not survive, right?”

“Exactly, that’s it.” Ye Yaming was very satisfied with the effect of her persuasion.