“Oh my, I love that tea. The Ye family seems to have recently produced an especially good tea. I tried it at a friend’s house—what was it called? Tieguanyin. Their osmanthus tea and jasmine tea are also my favorites.”

“No wonder they’re so wealthy and can afford such a lavish dowry. With all those excellent teas, how could they not have money?”

Nearby, someone who loved to belittle others to elevate themselves became displeased hearing these comments. They sneered, “This dowry may seem substantial, but how much is it worth? Those estates could be located anywhere. Estates outside the city are practically worthless. And tea mountains are even less valuable—just wild, barren hills. You could probably buy an acre for one or two taels of silver.”

A contentious bystander instinctively argued back: “Do you know how much tea mountains outside Lin’an cost per mu? Dozens of taels of silver per mu, and you can’t buy them even with money in hand. They’re extremely valuable. I have relatives who know tea is profitable and wanted to purchase some tea gardens, but they couldn’t even buy tea leaves at a high price from existing gardens, let alone buy the gardens themselves. Everything was pre-ordered a year in advance, and at very high prices.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely!”

“My goodness, how much could this Young Mistress’s dowry be worth then?”

“Those might not be tea gardens from outside Lin’an. But since her family is in the tea business, even if their tea mountains aren’t worth as much as those near Lin’an, they still must have significant value.”

“…”

After the impressive display of more than ten large estates and over ten tea mountains, the subsequent twenty-six sets of gold and jade jewelry and accessories that followed—which were quite valuable—didn’t seem to generate much discussion.

Ye Yaming’s dowry appeared to be only three li of red trousseau, but since no one had ever displayed a dowry in this manner before, it generated even more discussion than a ten-li red trousseau would have. After all, if displayed conventionally, it would have stretched for more than twenty li.

In a teahouse along the route, people were also discussing the wedding procession below: “Why do you think they didn’t arrange it in the usual way? With one estate per load and one tea mountain per load, wouldn’t it appear that the dowry is extremely small if people don’t pay close attention?”

“Indeed, several hundred loads of dowry would have been much more impressive.”

“The Ye family truly has a keen sense of propriety. No wonder their business is so successful. Think about it—if they had displayed several hundred loads of dowry, how would the noble ladies from the capital react?”

At this remark, many people nodded in agreement: “Brother, you’ve hit the nail on the head.”

Those noble ladies from the capital, while seemingly from prestigious families, often came from households with numerous descendants, both legitimate and illegitimate. Most family assets naturally went to the sons, leaving little to be divided among the many daughters being married off.

If a merchant’s daughter like Ye Yaming, whose status was inherently lower, displayed hundreds of loads of dowry in a ten-li procession, surpassing most noble ladies from the capital, wouldn’t the Ye family earn widespread resentment and offend all the noble wives?

As things stood now, they had honestly displayed the dowry while maintaining a humble attitude, indicating that they recognized their lower status and weren’t trying to compete with the noble ladies. This approach was extremely clever.

In another private room of this teahouse sat three young ladies with several maids and elderly female servants.

One of the young ladies watched the tall, upright figure riding on horseback at the front of the wedding procession. As she followed the departing procession with her eyes, all around her were the sounds of teahouse patrons discussing and marveling, while her lips were bitten almost to the point of bleeding.

Beside her, another young lady looked at her with concern and softly consoled her: “Fourth Sister, don’t be upset. It simply means you two weren’t destined to be together.”

The woman addressed as “Fourth Sister” was named An Jingning, daughter of the Great General of the Northern Garrison. As both families were military officials, the An family and the Lu family were old friends, and An Jingning had known Lu Guanyi since childhood. To ensure his grandson would have more protection, Old Master Lu, when alive, had frequently taken his grandson to visit the Northern Garrison’s Great General An Ting. An Ting greatly admired Lu Guanyi.

Currently, Lu Guanyi still serves under the Northern Garrison’s Great General.

Lu Guanyi’s fiancée had died early, and his subsequent marriage arrangements had repeatedly fallen through. Many in the capital joked that Lu Guanyi would likely become the son-in-law of the Northern Garrison’s Great General, which would prevent the Duke Weiguo’s household from targeting him, allowing him to successfully become the heir and have a promising future.

An Jingning, just awakening to romantic feelings, heard these remarks and looked at the handsome, imposing Lu Guanyi, whom her father praised endlessly. How could she not be moved? Gradually, her heart became attached to Lu Guanyi.

Just as Duke Weiguo’s household fell from power and there seemed to be no more obstacles to Lu Guanyi’s marriage, a sudden thunderclap came out of the blue—the Emperor unexpectedly arranged a marriage, giving Lu Guanyi a merchant’s daughter as his bride.

If Lu Guanyi had married another noble lady, that would have been one thing, but marrying a merchant’s daughter? How could An Jingning resign herself to that?

So when she heard that today was Lu Guanyi’s wedding day, she came to this teahouse to see what kind of person Lu Guanyi was marrying.

Unexpectedly, she witnessed the ostentatious three-li red trousseau.

“I just feel it’s unfair for Brother Lu,” An Jingning said resentfully. “What does it mean to be wealthy without virtue? That’s what merchants are. This woman comes from a merchant background, and all she has is the stench of money. We descendants of military families kill enemies on the battlefield, risking our lives—how could we value such dirty money? This is simply an insult to Brother Lu.”

“Indeed,” her two cousins agreed. Seeing that the wedding procession had gone far and An Jingning’s expression wasn’t as pained anymore, they tentatively asked, “Shall we go back?”

“No,” An Jingning suddenly stood up with determination. “Let’s go to the Xuanwu Marquis Mansion. I want to see what this bride looks like.”

As Lu Guanyi was subordinate to the Great General of the Northern Garrison, even though the General wasn’t in the capital, Lu had sent invitations to the Northern Marquis Mansion’s relatives and female family members to attend the wedding.

The wife of the Northern Marquis was currently at the Xuanwu Marquis Mansion.

An Jingning had initially been sulking and didn’t plan to attend, and the Northern Marquis’s wife, knowing her daughter’s inner conflict, had let her be.

Now that An Jingning had changed her mind about going to the Xuanwu Marquis Mansion, there was naturally no problem.

…

Ye Yaming, in the bridal sedan chair, was unaware that a “rival in love” would be coming to see her. After being carried around nearly half the capital in the sedan chair, it finally stopped in front of the Xuanwu Marquis Mansion.

A large hand with distinct knuckles reached in from outside the sedan, extending under her veil to before her eyes.

She placed her hand in Lu Guanyi’s large one, and at his signal, she stepped over a vermilion-lacquered wooden “saddle.” Before her foot could touch the ground, Lu Guanyi swept her up in his arms and, amidst the cheers of the spectators, carried her into the Xuanwu Marquis Mansion.

At the entrance to the wedding hall, he finally set her down. He led her by a red silk ribbon, with the wedding attendant and Madam Zhou supporting her on either side as they entered the hall.

“First bow to Heaven and Earth… Second bow to the parents… Husband and wife bow to each other…”

Just as Ye Yaming and Lu Guanyi were bowing to Heaven and Earth, An Jingning, who had arrived on horseback, also reached the Lu mansion and pushed her way to the front of the wedding hall to watch the couple complete their bows.