He was now managing the business affairs in Huizhou, where he had to think of everything and make all the decisions himself. This was completely different from his time in Lin’an, when he could only follow the orders of his father and elder brother. Over these two years, he had grown rapidly. When facing issues, he would think more carefully, considering whether practices from Huizhou could be adopted.

Seeing Ye Yaming put so much thought into this teahouse, he still couldn’t understand its purpose.

“In the future, all new teas produced by our Ye family will appear here first. For example, the Tieguanyin tea we sent out recently—you can’t buy it elsewhere, but you can drink it here,” Ye Yaming explained.

The Tieguanyin tea she had brought back from Minzhou—half of which she had given to major customers—had naturally received an extremely strong response. Tieguanyin’s elegant orchid fragrance and mellow taste could instantly capture the hearts of tea enthusiasts.

But the small amount she had given out was quickly consumed. Because of this, these major customers frequently approached Ye Chongming or went to the Jihong Tower in the Capital to find Ye Hongchang, willing to pay high prices to purchase more.

However, the remaining half was already limited in quantity, and deciding who to sell to and who not to would only create problems. Moreover, the tea mountains in Minzhou couldn’t produce tea in large quantities yet. Having started this tea business without a sustainable supply made things even more complicated.

So she simply kept it all without selling any, intending to use this tea to attract customers to the newly opened teahouse.

“We’ve already signed a contract with the court for black tea, and the reputation of black tea will gradually spread. By then, black tea will also be served here at the teahouse. Currently, it’s not available for retail; it can only be consumed here.”

“Moreover, when I opened this teahouse, the focus wasn’t on drinking tea but on discussing business,” Ye Yaming said. “Think about it—in Lin’an City, if you want to meet friends for tea and chat, wouldn’t you want to find a quiet place? Do you think Jihong Tower is suitable for business discussions?”

Ye Hongrong shook his head.

Jihong Tower was lively, suitable for listening to storytellers, boasting, and chatting—a place for idle people to pass time, the most bustling spot in the mortal world.

But if one truly wanted to gather with friends and speak from the heart, one would need to find a quiet place, not somewhere as noisy as Jihong Tower.

“Not only is it not quiet there, but conversations can easily be overheard by people in the adjacent private rooms,” Ye Yaming said.

These so-called private rooms were merely spaces separated by screens or wooden partitions that blocked sight but not sound. Any discussion would be overheard by others.

Ye Yaming had collected intelligence, much of it gathered from teahouses.

“In any case, we’re targeting high-end customers here, so naturally, the costs will be higher. But we won’t lose money. If it stops being profitable, we can always sell this property.”

In plain terms, this was the difference between an ordinary restaurant and a private dining establishment.

Ye Yaming turned to Madam Yin with a smile: “Mother, please ensure the pastries are well-made. This teahouse’s pastries depend on you all.”

To create a high-class teahouse, the pastries naturally needed to be top-tier. She had written down about ten pastry recipes for Madam Yin. These pastries weren’t for external sale but exclusively for use in the teahouse.

“Don’t worry, I’ll supervise them to make them well,” Madam Yin said.

Her pastry shop was doing excellent business, earning three to four hundred taels of silver each month, and she was planning to open a branch.

This income wasn’t much compared to the Ye family’s overall business, and it had to be shared with Ye Yayin and Ye Yayu. But for Madam Yin, having a monthly income was excellent. After all, she didn’t worry about food and clothing; this was just for her enjoyment.

…

By now, Ye Yaming had many capable people under her. Those she had identified a year ago and sent to the Jihong Tower in the Capital to learn from the manager had all been called back to manage this new teahouse.

During her time in Minzhou, she had also asked Ruonu and Shui’e to train a batch of tea masters for her.

So, on an auspicious day, the teahouse named “Jihong Pavilion” by Ye Yaming officially opened.

News of the teahouse’s opening had already been sent to the batch of major customers who had tasted Tieguanyin tea. Thus, many people came on the opening day of the teahouse, all attracted by the Tieguanyin tea.

With the teahouse newly opened, it wouldn’t be proper for the owner not to welcome guests. Since Ye Yaming couldn’t appear in public, Ye Hongsheng, who had no tea to produce anymore, had to return to his old profession and receive the guests.

Ye Hongsheng wasn’t reluctant; in fact, he quite enjoyed it.

Ye Hongsheng loved tea and enjoyed talking about it with others. Since returning from the Capital, he had either been making tea himself or teaching apprentices to make tea, and hadn’t chatted about tea with others for a long time. After reading “The Art of Tea” and “The Way of Tea” written by Ye Yaming, he gained new insights about tea. Now, having the opportunity to discuss it with others, he was also very pleased.

Additionally, Ye Hongsheng was a tea brewing expert, as were his two servants, Shui’e and Ruonu. The tea masters were all their disciples. With them leading the newly appointed tea masters to manage this teahouse, Ye Yaming couldn’t be more at ease.

As for the teahouse in the Capital, Ye Yaming planned to open it after her marriage and arrival in Beijing. By then, Ye Hongsheng would bring Madam Yin, Ye Yayin, and Ye Yayu to stay in the Capital, returning to Lin’an for the New Year.

With the experience of opening a new teahouse in Lin’an, and with two months’ time in the Capital, it would be enough for him to set the Capital’s teahouse on the right track.

…

The business of the teahouse and tea shop continued daily and wouldn’t close due to the downfall of all the accountants. In this era, not everyone knew how to use an abacus. Even if managers and assistants could calculate, they would be at a loss with slightly complex numbers.

Ye Yaming didn’t want to interfere with the accounting matters, but Ye Chongming wasn’t confident about accountants recruited from outside. Moreover, recruitment would take time. Left with no choice, he directly promoted two apprentices who had been learning accounting from Shen Zhongyi and Xu Shen, pushing them into the role of accountants. He also pleaded with Ye Yaming to let Jiang Huan supervise them to prevent errors.

Ye Yaming said to the two, “You need to learn eventually. Mr. Jiang can’t be with you forever. Let’s set one month. If after a month you can’t handle this job independently, you’ll be removed and replaced.”

In front of them, she said to Ye Chongming: “One month should be enough for you to find capable people.”

Ye Chongming had the same thought and nodded: “Good.”

He wasn’t running a charity; he couldn’t let these two occupy the position if they weren’t capable. Having learned from Xu Shen and Shen Zhongyi for so long, and with Jiang Huan’s dedicated guidance for a month, those with the ability should be able to take on the responsibility.

These two were home-born servants who had signed lifelong contracts. If they could manage independently as accountants, he would be relieved.

Ye Yaming then had Lu’E bring out a stack of account books: “From now on, use the new account books to record, following the format I’ve outlined here.”

She pointed to Jiang Huan sitting nearby: “If there’s anything you don’t understand, ask Mr. Jiang.”

Jiang Huan nodded.

He had come to the Ye family to work as an accountant not only because Ye Yaming was sincere and offered high wages but also because of these account books. By recording accounts in this format, outgoing and incoming goods, unit prices, and total prices would all be clear at a glance.