“Yes, yes, yes.” Fan Yu also came to his senses, “Let’s drink tea.”

He asked Ye Yaming, “What good teas do you have today?”

Ye Yaming replied, “Apart from Tieguanyin, there’s also black tea.”

“Black tea?” Fan Yu’s eyes immediately lit up, “Master Zhineng was boasting to me in a letter some time ago, saying he drank an exceptionally good tea. The name ‘black tea’ is indeed well-renowned. I didn’t expect to have such good fortune today. Wonderful.”

The imperial court’s negotiations with the Jin Dynasty, cooperating with the Ye family to supply black tea to the Jin, were no longer a secret in court.

Everyone present had someone serving as a high official in the imperial court. They had naturally heard of black tea and were all extremely curious about it.

Of course, at that time, there was a rumor that black tea was made from the worst tea leaves and stems, that it was the lowest grade of tea, even worse than coarse tea. But Chen Zhen, who had tasted this tea, highly praised it, saying it was even better than Longjing.

This made people particularly curious about this type of tea.

Now hearing they could drink black tea, everyone suggested, “Why don’t we drink tea first, and then stroll around afterward?”

“Excellent, excellent.”

Tan Xuan, mindful of his favorite private room, first asked Ye Yaming, “Where shall we drink tea?”

“In the main hall of the front courtyard,” Ye Yaming smiled, “I’ll brew tea for everyone, and talk about how to properly brew Tieguanyin and black tea.”

Hearing they could enjoy tea brewed by Ye Yaming herself, Fan Yu and the others were immediately delighted, “Wonderful!”

So the group moved to the main hall of the front courtyard, arranged their seating with polite gestures of “after you,” and sat down.

Ye Yaming went up to the platform, first bowed to everyone, apologized for any offense, and then sat down.

This platform was specially designed at Ye Yaming’s request, using mirror reflections to direct a beam of light from above to shine onto the center of the platform, creating a stage lighting effect.

Being in the honeymoon period, she wore a red dress today. Ancient dresses had bordered collars and cuffs with embroidery. Her red dress was half a shade darker than true red, which on her not only didn’t appear too prominent but accentuated the three-dimensional features of her face and the depth of her eyes, blending harmoniously with the predominantly red-wood display platform.

It was now the hour of the Snake (9-11 AM), and the autumn sunlight reflected through the roof and fell upon her. She sat composed, her eyes like a painting. Beside her, the kettle with a lifting handle on the small clay fire stove of the side table emitted billowing steam, making her appear as if surrounded by celestial mist. The whispered discussions below ceased, and all eyes were focused on her.

Ye Yaming was at ease and composed.

As the zither began to play behind the screen, she folded her hands on the tea table and performed a tea ceremony bow to the audience. Then she took up the tea needle, made a decorative pattern on the gaiwan, used the needle to flip each lid one by one, lifted the kettle to pour water into each, used the needle to flip them back, then picked up the gaiwan and gently rotated the cup, pouring the water into the water receptacle.

The entire process was flowing and elegant, like a graceful dance.

Opening the tea caddy, taking tea and adding it, pouring hot water from high above—the tea fragrance spread through the air with the mist of the boiling water.

Though there was music playing, everyone felt a serene quietness in the room. Everyone’s attention was fixed on Ye Yaming and her pair of slender, delicate white hands. All were captivated by her.

Yet Ye Yaming remained calm and composed, like the cup of tea she was brewing—elegant, relaxed, and fragrant.

Looking at Ye Yaming on the platform, the last bit of reluctance in An Jingning’s heart completely dissipated. She suddenly felt she was being ridiculous.

How could she compare to the woman on the platform? In beauty, in talent, or temperament and demeanor? The only thing she could surpass her in was probably status.

But status was the most unreliable thing. Though young, she had witnessed people rise to great heights and fall, clouds forming and dispersing in just a few years. The glory and prosperity of the Duke Weiguo’s mansion seemed like yesterday, yet now the grass on the graves of the Shi family was already several feet tall.

Princess Pingyang gazed intently at Ye Yaming on the platform, her eyes so bright they could emit light.

She tightly gripped An Jingning’s arm, holding her breath, until Ye Yaming raised her hand and maids dressed in matching attire took the tea trays to serve the crowd below. Only then did she exhale deeply and say to An Jingning, “Jingning, I like her.”

An Jingning: “…”

She pressed her lips together, and after a while said, “Didn’t you say she was falsely claiming credit?”

“Ah, that’s because I hadn’t seen her before and didn’t know she was so impressive. Now I believe those three books were written by her, definitely by her,” Princess Pingyang clenched her fist and declared with certainty.

She was completely captivated by Ye Yaming’s dazzling presence on the platform.

Even though she was a princess and her father a prince, she couldn’t display herself with such elegant composure under the public eye. A person’s innate temperament and bearing cannot be deceived. She must possess outstanding talent and depth to have such grace; her heart must be sufficiently confident and strong to have such bearing.

On the platform, Ye Yaming didn’t know that a young girl had changed her attitude toward her just because she had demonstrated the oolong tea ceremony.

She picked up the aroma cup, placed it near her nose, and sniffed it, saying, “Tieguanyin has an orchid-like fragrance, which is why we created the aroma cup. Everyone can use it to experience the high-temperature aroma, medium-temperature aroma, and cold aroma.”

Below the platform, the audience followed her example, putting the aroma cups to the tips of their noses to smell, and a subtle fragrance permeated their hearts. Then, imitating her again, they moved the aroma cups away, shook them at their sides to cool them quickly, to experienced the medium and cold aromas.

Ye Yaming put down the aroma cup, picked up the tasting cup, and taught everyone how to properly taste a cup of tea.

“This Tieguanyin that was sent to me—I’ve brewed it countless times, yet never knew it should be brewed this way. Madam Lu’s tea is immeasurably better than mine. Indeed, the art of tea is truly important. The taste of a well-brewed versus a poorly brewed cup of tea is vastly different,” Fan Yu remarked with feeling.

Others nodded in agreement.

“Madam Lu, what about us? We don’t have tea yet,” called out those sitting at the lower seats, seeing that several people of noble status had been served while they hadn’t.

Ye Yaming smiled apologetically, “I can only brew eight cups at a time. Originally, the tea masters were to brew together so everyone could be served simultaneously. But since you’ve all come to honor my Ye family today, I must personally brew tea for you to express my gratitude. Please wait a moment, I’ll continue brewing for everyone now.”

As she spoke, the tea utensils she had just used were cleared away by the maids and replaced with new ones. The small fire stove also had another kettle full of boiling water placed on it.

“Perfect, perfect. I was so immersed in Yaming’s elegance that I didn’t see how she brewed the tea. Now watching a couple more times, perhaps I can learn something,” said Princess Imperial Yuning.

These words resonated with everyone.

“Indeed, indeed,” Tan Xuan agreed.

Ye Yaming smiled gently, bowed, and began brewing tea again.