As the Tieguanyin tea, filled with the aroma of orchids, entered their mouths, everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Their taste buds, nearly ruined, were finally rescued.

For today’s tea tasting event, the Jixiang Teahouse in Lin’an had closed for the day, and all its tea doctors and attendants had been dispatched here.

Xu Zan, Bai Rui, and several others had also arrived.

Now, seeing that everyone had finished tasting the tea and put down their cups, they split up and directed the attendants carrying bamboo baskets of tea. They distributed white porcelain tea canisters, each containing half a jin of tea, to the six people on stage and to Princess Imperial Yuning and the others below.

As for the tea merchants from Lin’an’s tea market, they received nothing. These people had ill intentions and wanted to ride on the reputation of the Ye family’s tea to elevate themselves; how could the Ye family possibly give them tea?

Ye Chongming was sitting with Jin Baoshan.

He leaned close to Jin Baoshan’s ear and said, “I’ll have someone send half a jin to you later.” Then he turned to the other two people and smiled, “You’ll get some too.”

Jin Baoshan and the other two were upright people who had originally not wanted to participate in this tea tasting event. But Prefect Qi had interfered, turning Wang Kuan and others’ scheme into a Longjing tea evaluation event, requiring all those in Lin’an who had purchased the Longjing tea recipe to participate. Jin Baoshan and the others had only joined the competition after consulting with Ye Chongming.

Ye Chongming was extremely dissatisfied with Zhou Qingsong and others, but very pleased with the performance of Jin Baoshan and his two companions. His expression of satisfaction was naturally in the form of tea.

“Thank you, thank you,” the three responded.

The remaining people looked at each other with unpleasant expressions.

Those who hadn’t bought the tea recipe had initially been concerned that the Ye family might be holding back crucial details when sharing the method. They wanted to wait and see. Additionally, they weren’t financially well-off.

Later, when they learned that Zhou Qingsong had sold four tea masters to Wang Kuan, they became very interested. They thought about perhaps three families partnering together, each contributing two tea masters to learn, and then teaching others upon their return. This would save a considerable amount on tuition fees.

Now, after this incident, everyone had abandoned this idea.

“Wang Kuan, don’t forget about our wager. When you return, send Qin Sixiang’s family and their contracts to me,” Ye Chongming said to Wang Kuan.

His voice wasn’t loud, but everyone present heard him.

Wang Kuan’s face turned pale, and he was about to deny it.

Ye Chongming didn’t give him a chance to speak, continuing, “Everyone in the tea market knows about this matter; you wouldn’t renege, would you?”

Originally, Ye Chongming had wanted Prefect Qi or Secretary Wu to witness this, but worried that it would frighten Wang Kuan too much, so he hadn’t brought him before the officials. However, he had still informed everyone in the tea market about the wager.

Wang Kuan was also afraid that Ye Chongming would back out if he lost, as Wang couldn’t contact the people from Prince Zhennan’s mansion, and in terms of power, he couldn’t compete with the Ye family. With the same mindset, he had spread word of the wager.

Now that Ye Chongming had brought up this matter in front of the Imperial family member and Prefect Qi, Wang Kuan knew he couldn’t back out. With a gray, defeated expression, he said, “I accept my loss and won’t renege. Tomorrow I’ll send Qin Sixiang’s family to you.”

Ye Chongming gave him a deep look: “Qin Sixiang learned tea-making at our home, and Hongsheng knows him. Don’t try to pull any tricks.”

Wang Kuan had indeed been thinking about this, planning to send some random family and claim the man was Qin Sixiang.

Now that Ye Chongming had exposed his intentions, he sighed: “Rest assured, I won’t.”

Only then was Ye Chongming satisfied.

The salt merchant who had been one of the evaluators asked Prefect Qi if the tea tasting event had concluded.

Upon receiving confirmation, he stood up and addressed everyone: “Distinguished guests, I am Shen Hui, the owner of this garden. It is truly my honor and good fortune to have all of you grace my humble abode. I have prepared a banquet in the adjacent Qinghui Garden. Would you do me the honor of staying for a simple meal?”

As he spoke, he turned to Master Zhineng: “Master, I have arranged a vegetarian feast for you and your disciples.”

Master Zhineng exchanged a glance with Fan Yu, then nodded: “Thank you for your kindness, patron.”

Shen Hui was delighted and bowed toward Princess Imperial Yuning and Ye Yaming: “Your Highness, Lady Ye, Madam Qi, a banquet has been prepared for you at Qinfang Pavilion.” He pointed in one direction, “Would my wife have the honor of accompanying you?”

They looked in that direction and saw a middle-aged woman in a sapphire blue dress standing under a covered walkway to the west, bowing to them from afar.

“How thoughtful of Lord Shen,” Princess Imperial Yuning smiled.

So everyone moved, going separately to Qinghui Garden and Qinfang Pavilion.

Madam Shen led the ladies to Qinfang Pavilion, making small talk along the way.

“Lady Ye, you’re pregnant? How many months?” she asked.

“Just over four months,” Ye Yaming touched her slightly protruding belly.

“You were still making tea while pregnant? That must have been difficult,” Princess Imperial Yuning remarked.

Hearing this, Ye Yaming quickly glanced at Madam Qi.

Regarding the pregnancy, she could have excused keeping it from Madam Qi before three months due to the custom of not announcing early pregnancies. But continuing to hide it from her after three months would be offensive.

After all, apart from Lu Zhongyong, his rather distant father, Madam Qi was Lu Guanyi’s closest relative as his maternal aunt.

Therefore, after she came down from the mountain, Ye Yaming had told Madam Qi about her pregnancy.

Madam Qi had been extremely upset.

Lu Guanyi was her sister’s only bloodline. He was now at the border, and Madam Qi worried daily, fearing that something might happen to him without him leaving behind any children, ending her sister’s lineage.

When Ye Yaming returned from the capital, she had wanted to ask if she was pregnant. But since they had only been married for a short time, she was concerned that Ye Yaming might think poorly of her for asking such a question, so she had forcibly restrained herself.

She never expected that Ye Yaming would conceal her pregnancy from her, even going up to the mountain to make tea for over a month while pregnant!

Madam Qi had wanted to scold her on the spot.

In the end, out of concern for her health, she had gritted her teeth and held back. But afterward, she had not shown Ye Yaming a pleasant face.

Princess Imperial Yuning, being perceptive, immediately understood the situation when she saw Ye Yaming’s reaction and Madam Qi’s dark expression.

She sighed, holding Ye Yaming’s hand: “Ah, Longjing is a tribute tea, so you had to personally oversee its production to be at ease. Fortunately, you did personally handle it; otherwise, today’s competition might have turned out differently. In that case, not only would it have reflected poorly on your family, but also the palace. You were considering the bigger picture.”

Hearing these words, Madam Qi’s expression softened slightly, but her tone remained harsh: “If your family hadn’t sold the tea recipe, wouldn’t all these issues have been avoided?”

Ye Yaming shook her head and smiled bitterly: “We were forced into it.”

She recounted how people had used various methods to steal the tea recipe, saying, “I was worried that my family members would be harmed because of this. Compared to the tea recipe, the safety of my family is most important. So after much consideration, we resorted to this less-than-ideal solution of selling the recipe.”