These four people were not only attentive but also had certain martial skills. They would conduct daily inspections for safety hazards. Should any danger arise, they would step forward to handle it.

Wen Xiu had previously managed a silk shop for Madam Qi. Although she knew that food businesses required special attention to hygiene and food safety, she hadn’t considered personnel and environmental safety. After Ye Yaming pointed this out, she was startled and remained tense about it.

Only after Ye Yaming assigned these four people did she finally relax a bit.

Ye Yaming continued: “In the beginning, you’ll be more nervous and inspect things more carefully. But as time passes, you’ll grow lax and think there won’t be any problems. That’s when accidents are most likely to happen. So I’ll send people for random inspections from time to time. If we find you’ve become negligent, you’ll be punished at minimum or dismissed at worst. I hope you’ll follow the regulations strictly.”

Everyone tensed up and responded in unison: “Yes.”

Ye Yaming waved her hand and only then walked inside.

People in ancient times lived at a slower pace, and the lady of the house had many household matters to arrange in the morning. Although Ye Yaming had set the opening time as nine o’clock in the morning, she didn’t expect anyone to arrive that early.

Unexpectedly, shortly after the firecrackers at the entrance had finished, a doorman came to report that Princess Imperial Yüning and her party had arrived, so she hurriedly went out to welcome them.

Princess Imperial Yüning was just getting down from her carriage with Fan Yu’s assistance. Seeing Ye Yaming, she waved and smiled: “Yaming.”

Ye Yaming went forward to greet them: “Your Highness Princess Imperial, Prince Consort Fan, welcome to both of you.”

Before she finished speaking, Lu Guanyi’s tall figure appeared behind her, saying the same words.

Princess Imperial Yüning couldn’t help but clap her hands and laugh: “Oh my, I didn’t expect General Lu to be here greeting guests as well. Truly newlyweds, unable to be apart for even a moment.”

“Haha, young General Lu, I didn’t expect you to be like me, doting on your wife. We’re both men who follow our wives’ leads,” Fan Yu said, patting Lu Guanyi’s shoulder.

Lu Guanyi’s face reddened at their teasing. Just as he was about to speak, he saw another woman getting down from a carriage behind them, and Princess Imperial Yüning was already walking in that direction.

“Come, come, Yaming, let me introduce you. This is my elder sister, Princess Imperial Yü’an. She’s been cooped up at home all day, so I brought her out to get some fresh air.”

Ye Yaming and Lu Guanyi exchanged glances.

Just yesterday, they had mentioned Princess Imperial Yü’an, and today, they were meeting her.

She quickly stepped forward to pay her respects.

The royal family members were all genetically modified over generations, so there were no ugly people among them. Princess Imperial Yü’an was also a beauty, with a gentle temperament, and she didn’t look her age. At forty-six, she appeared only about thirty-six, not looking much older than Lu Zhongyong from her appearance.

She reached out to help Ye Yaming up and smiled: “Young Master’s wife, please don’t stand on ceremony. I’m imposing on you today.” Her voice was also gentle.

As a daughter-in-law examining a prospective mother-in-law for her father-in-law, Ye Yaming approved on his behalf.

If the Emperor truly intended to arrange a marriage with Princess Imperial Yü’an, Lu Zhongyong wouldn’t be getting a bad deal by marrying her.

Just as Ye Yaming was about to lead them into the teahouse, several carriages arrived one after another, and various men and women alighted. Some had been to Lin’an with Fan Yu, while others were unfamiliar.

Princess Imperial Yüning came forward and introduced them to Ye Yaming.

The people who could come to a teahouse to pass the time and were invited by Princess Imperial Yüning and Fan Yu to drink tea together were all those without official positions in the court, either noble or wealthy, and with some achievements in literature and arts.

These people weren’t as bound by class consciousness and behaved more casually. They had all read Ye Yaming’s “Tea Settings,” “Tea Art,” and “The Way of Tea,” and knowing that Longjing and other teas came from Ye Yaming, they greatly admired her expertise in tea.

Now, meeting her, everyone was polite, showing no signs of looking down on her.

Seeing this, Lu Guanyi finally relaxed and led everyone into the teahouse.

“This teahouse is well-built.”

The scenery in the garden was similar to what they had in their gardens, so they didn’t find it particularly novel, only that the style was different, leaning more toward the Jiangnan style. But when they entered the rooms and saw each one decorated so elegantly, with tables set with different styles of tea arrangements that complemented the views outside the windows, everyone’s eyes lit up with delight.

“I like this room,” Tan Xuan exclaimed as soon as he entered one of the tea rooms.

The theme of this room was “Tranquility.”

Outside the window stood a gnarled dry tree with strong branches, and a moss-covered stone path extended into the distance. On one side of the path were round stones and sand, on the other were several unevenly trimmed small trees, shrubs, grasses, and moss, the entire scene embodying the “dry landscape” garden design concept.

The tea setting inside the room was, naturally, in Zen style.

Tan Xuan was a painter who deeply loved Buddhism and Taoism. As soon as he saw this room, he was extremely pleased and asked Ye Hongsheng: “Hongsheng, can I drink tea here later?”

“Of course,” Ye Hongsheng replied with a smile. “Everyone can choose the private room they like, either to drink alone or with friends.”

Tan Xuan was immediately delighted and walked to the table, sitting down on the cushion: “I’m not leaving. I want to drink tea here.”

Fan Yu looked at him with disdain: “You’re not going to see the other rooms? There might be one you like even more.”

Hearing this, Tan Xuan thought it made sense and quickly got up: “Then let’s look around first.”

The group went to another room.

The theme of this room was “Brightness.”

The room was much larger than the previous one, but with fewer furnishings. The east and west white walls each had only three black frames hanging, with white porcelain plates inset, each plate bearing just a few brushstrokes of landscape painting.

In the center of the room was a large table with a cushion facing the window. Three cyan silk lanterns hung from the ceiling beams above the large table. On the red wooden table was a set of snow-white tea wares, and a black glazed vase with a branch of parasol tree flowers. Besides these, there was nothing else in the room.

The window faced a stream flowing through a cluster of maple trees. The stream flowed over jagged, oddly-shaped rocks into a distant pond. Half of a pavilion with upturned eaves was visible beyond the pond, and even further away was the famous Leiyin Mountain, with the faint outline of Leiyin Temple’s pagoda visible.

Without saying much, sitting in this room, everyone felt their vision expand and their minds clear and bright.

“Ah, I like this room too,” said Tan Xuan.

Fan Yu didn’t bother to mock him this time, instead curiously asking Ye Yaming: “This room is just a few steps away from the previous one, yet how is the scenery outside the window so completely different?”

“This is a technique of garden landscaping. The previous room used the ‘framing view’ technique, using a cluster of trees and bamboo fences to block the views on both sides, focusing one’s gaze on the immediate scenery. This room uses ‘borrowed scenery,’ borrowing the views of Leiyin Mountain and Leiyin Temple, making this space feel open and distant, capturing infinity within finite bounds,” Ye Yaming explained.