Upon hearing this, Princess Imperial Yuan immediately shook her head: “Your business is doing well on its own. There’s no need for me to get involved.”

Ye Yaming said with some embarrassment: “To be honest, inviting Your Highness to join the business is also because there are too many officials and nobles in the Capital. Our Ye family has no foundation here. We’re fortunate to have a noble son-in-law, but the Young Lord spends most of his time at the border and can’t help us much. Having Your Highness as a partner would allow us to use your name to shield against potential troubles.”

She bowed to Princess Imperial Yuan: “I’m being presumptuous and my request is excessive. Please forgive me.”

Hearing this, Princess Imperial Yuan began to hesitate.

People of royal blood like her never lacked money. She had never engaged in business and didn’t know how to run one, which was why she initially didn’t want to take advantage of others. But if Ye Yaming was asking for her help…

She turned to look at Princess Imperial Yuning.

Yuning knew that Ye Yaming was trying to help her widowed sister out of respect for her. If Ye Yaming could open such a large teahouse, how difficult could a pastry shop be? As for connections, the teahouse’s customers would become the Ye family’s network. Especially with these membership cards, the Ye family would capture the top two hundred most powerful families in the Capital in one fell swoop.

Ye Yaming spoke this way only to prevent her sister from feeling burdened.

So she urged: “Second Sister, just agree to help Yaming. You’re my older sister, and I treat Yaming like my own younger sister. You have nothing to do at home anyway, so why not help her?”

Princess Yuan had the gentlest disposition. Her birth mother had not produced any sons and was therefore not favored, leaving her without any foundation at court. She had always been virtually invisible in the palace. To survive, Princess Yuan had tried to maintain a low profile in the palace.

Yuning, on the other hand, was born of the Empress and was greatly favored. On one occasion, she witnessed Princess Yuan being bullied by eunuchs and palace maids. The imperial younger sister not only helped her seek justice on the spot but also reported the matter directly to the Emperor.

The reason Princess Yuan’s subsequent life in the palace became more comfortable was because of this imperial sister.

Later, when she suffered mistreatment from her husband after marriage, it was again this imperial sister who helped her.

She kept Princess Imperial Yuning’s kindness deeply in her heart. She wouldn’t hesitate to do a small favor like this, or even a much bigger one.

She said: “Alright, fine. I’ll take a share in the business.”

Only then did Princess Imperial Yuning release her and wink at Ye Yaming.

Ye Yaming knelt and bowed: “Yaming is most grateful to Your Highness, Princess Imperial Yuan.”

At that moment, more people came out from inside. Yuning waved to Ye Yaming and said, “Well, we’re leaving now. I’ll send an invitation in a few days for you and Young General Lu to visit my residence for a gathering.”

With that, she waved her hand and efficiently pulled Princess Yuan onto the carriage.

Tan Xuan was a food lover. When he learned that the food here was something he had never tasted before, he insisted on staying for lunch.

Princess Yuning was concerned that staying too long might irritate Princess Yuan, causing her to avoid returning in the future. Upon learning that the men wanted to stay for a meal, she had her servants inform Fan Yu, then took Princess Yuan and left first, leaving her husband behind.

By now, most of the female guests had departed, with only An Jingning and Princess Pingyang remaining. Ye Yaming suspected that An Jingning was avoiding her, which was why she hadn’t left.

She said to Bai Rui: “I’m going to rest in the residence at the back. If anything comes up, you can find me there. If Princess Pingyang and Miss An from the Northern Marquis’s household say not to disturb me, there’s no need to inform me. Just see them off directly.”

“Yes, miss.”

Because this property was far from the city, employees stayed here rather than returning home. Land was also cheap here, so Ye Yaming had specifically built two residences next door—one for the employees and one for the masters to rest in.

Although the two residences were connected to the teahouse, the doors were usually kept locked.

Ye Yaming went to the residence.

After she had eaten and taken an afternoon nap, it was almost four o’clock when Lu Guanyi returned.

“Are there still guests?” Ye Yaming asked.

“No, they’ve all left.”

Today was the grand opening, and only those who had received invitations were present. There were no walk-in customers. Starting tomorrow, the teahouse will be open all day.

“Where are my father and Mr. Qi?” Ye Yaming asked again.

“They went to rest in the front courtyard. They’ll return to the city with us later.”

Lu Guanyi washed his face and hands, changed his clothes, and came over to embrace Ye Yaming: “How was your day? Did anyone bully you?”

With him present, and with Fan Yu’s group being very friendly to Ye Hongsheng, naturally none of the male guests dared to cause any trouble.

The female guests were a different matter. Lu Guanyi and Ye Hongsheng, father-in-law and son-in-law, had been worried all day, fearing that Ye Yaming might be bullied.

But due to the separation of men and women, and with many nobles at the teahouse, there were many taboos. They couldn’t even send servants to gather information, so they could only restrain themselves and entertain the guests on their side.

“How could that happen?” Ye Yaming smiled. “Princess Imperial Yuning was protecting me the whole time.”

“However…” She told Lu Guanyi about Chancellor Li’s wife asking for the recipes.

Lu Guanyi snorted coldly: “You did the right thing. Civil officials and military officers are naturally in different camps. If you had given her the recipes, that would have created real trouble.”

Ye Yaming nodded, as she was certainly aware of this.

She then told him about what she had discussed with Princess Imperial Yuning and the others regarding the adopted son-in-law arrangement and Lu Guanyi’s proposal.

She was an extremely rational person when it came to emotions. Although she had married Lu Guanyi and the two seemed to be deeply in love these days, she always maintained a clear mind.

But in her two lifetimes, this was her only marriage. Barring any unexpected circumstances, she would have to spend her entire life with Lu Guanyi in this ancient era. A harmonious relationship was certainly better than facing each other with coldness every day.

So despite having her reasons for what she said and did, she wanted to explain things clearly to Lu Guanyi to avoid misunderstandings.

After finishing, she explained: “You married a merchant’s daughter, and there must be many people in the Capital who are very curious about me. People should think I’m a simple-minded person to know I’m a formidable one. Our Martial Valor Marquis’s household cannot have another formidable mistress.”

Lady Shi was the youngest daughter of the Duke of Wei and the younger sister of Empress Shi. With strong family support and environmental influence, she was extremely proud and strong-willed.

But after managing to marry Lu Zhongyong, his frequent and prolonged absences made her understand his feelings, causing her to harbor resentment. Her temperament became increasingly extreme, and she turned into a very domineering woman with ruthless methods.

Now that the Martial Valor Marquis’s household had a daughter-in-law, she didn’t want the word “formidable” that she had heard from Qi Ji’s mouth to become her label.

Wasn’t Princess Imperial Yuning formidable? When faced with problems, her methods might leave people astonished—no one who came from the palace was truly naive. But what she presented to the world was an image of straightforwardness and lack of scheming. Everyone was willing to associate with such a person.

Ye Yaming also hoped that her first impression on the noble ladies of the Capital would not be one of shrewdness and deep scheming, but rather an image similar to that of Princess Imperial Yuning.