His grandson had a lively temperament, and Ye Chongming had previously doted on this eldest grandson. But now, seeing his seemingly carefree face, Ye Chongming couldn’t help but sigh.
This grandson of his fell far short when compared to that girl Yaming.
Ye Jiaxing was still unaware that his doting grandfather had disappeared, and a grandfather who hated to see potential wasted and intended to be more strict was about to emerge.
He curiously asked, “Grandfather, are we not going to address the rumors in the city?”
“Do you think we should?” Ye Chongming asked in return.
“I think we should send someone to spread the word about the amount of tea we ordered today. Only the tea merchants present know about what just happened. If they don’t tell others, wouldn’t that be…”
As he spoke, Ye Jiaxing’s voice gradually trailed off.
He discovered that his normally kind grandfather was now looking at him expressionlessly.
“Are you worried about losing face when you go out to eat and play with your friends?” Ye Chongming asked.
Ye Jiaxing, his thoughts exposed, didn’t dare deny it. Lying was not permitted in the Ye family.
Sheepishly, he said, “That’s not entirely it. It’s mainly about our family’s reputation. Those tea customers gossip all day, which isn’t good for our business.”
“Haven’t you noticed that some tea customers, out of curiosity, have been frequenting our teahouse lately? And some regular customers, not wanting our business to fail, come to support the teahouse every day. There are more people in the teahouse now than ever before?”
“Ah?” Ye Jiaxing suddenly realized, “So that’s the reason! I was wondering about that.”
Ye Chongming used to enjoy teaching his grandson. Now he simply closed his eyes and his mouth, not wanting to speak anymore.
Because everyone was concerned about the Ye family’s affairs, by the end of the day, news that the Ye family had ordered the same amount of tea as in previous years spread rapidly among those interested in the matter.
Taking advantage of the tea customers who were still supporting the Ye family, whether actively or passively, Ye Chongming, after consulting with Ye Yaming, decided to launch the osmanthus tea the very next day. Following Ye Yaming’s instructions, he used rice paper to write a notice on the door board, informing everyone that the Ye family had introduced a new osmanthus tea.
Meanwhile, another batch of osmanthus tea had been transported to the Mei family the previous night. Early this morning, Ye Hongsheng had left the city and met at the city gate with the guards who had transported the tea the night before, as well as Guan Canghai and others who had been hired for protection, all heading to the Capital.
Accompanying them was the injured escort from the Capital who had been recovering at the Huichun Hall. Now that his injuries were healing, he wanted to return to the Capital. The weather was mild, and after an examination, the physician found no issues and agreed he could return.
As for the two injured escorts from Guan Canghai’s convoy, they had been taken home by their families to recover soon after they were out of danger.
In front of Ji Xiang Lou, someone looked at the notice and asked puzzledly, “Osmanthus tea? What kind of tea is this? Is it tea brewed with dried osmanthus flowers?”
Someone beside him appeared to have a sudden realization: “I remember now, some time ago, people were collecting osmanthus flowers everywhere. While riding in a carriage, I even saw children knocking down osmanthus flowers by the roadside. Could it be that the Ye family bought them to make osmanthus tea?”
“I saw that too. My wife led the women in our household to pick the osmanthus flowers to sell. She said the flowers would wither in a few days on the trees anyway, so it was better to sell them and earn some silver to add a good dish for the servants at home. I never expected that the Ye family was buying them and would turn them into osmanthus tea.”
When collecting the flowers, Ye Chongming didn’t want to attract Meng Chengwei’s attention and create complications, so he had entrusted familiar people to go around the streets and alleys shouting to buy osmanthus flowers.
The tea customers who came to Ji Xiang Lou daily were mostly from wealthy backgrounds. Even if they hadn’t sold osmanthus flowers themselves, they had heard the purchasing calls or their family members had mentioned it.
Now someone raised a new question: “Are these dried osmanthus flowers good for brewing tea? If they were tasty, wouldn’t someone have made osmanthus tea hundreds of years ago?”
“Exactly. I’ve heard of using osmanthus flowers to make osmanthus sugar and such, but never heard of them being directly brewed to make good tea. In Lin’an city, if not every household, many families grow osmanthus. If simply brewing them like this were delicious, people would have been collecting, drying, and keeping them for tea long ago.”
Those who trusted the Ye family’s tea-making skills said, “If it were that simple, the Ye family wouldn’t present it directly as a type of tea. They must have used some tea-making techniques to process it. With Second Master Ye involved, the taste must be excellent.”
As he spoke, he walked in: “Come on, let’s go taste it.”
So a group of people entered, some going to the first floor, some to the second, all intending to order a pot of osmanthus tea to taste.
When they called over a waiter to inquire, they found that osmanthus tea was not cheap. Though not as expensive as high-grade cake tea, it was priced similar to medium-grade cake tea, and considerably more expensive than loose or powdered tea.
Some complained about the price: “Osmanthus flowers are very cheap, just a few wen per jin. How did it become so expensive after being made into tea?”
The waiter smiled and said, “Sir, although osmanthus flowers are cheap, our master has extracted the essence of the flowers and incorporated it into loose tea using a secret method. If you order a pot and taste it, you’ll see that while it looks like ordinary loose tea, it has a rich osmanthus fragrance, and the flavor is better than drinking loose tea alone.”
This explanation was, of course, provided by Ye Yaming to mislead those who might want to imitate the osmanthus tea.
“Really?” The customer hesitated.
The waiter continued, “Anyway, you are all regular customers who know each other. Why don’t you share a pot of tea to taste? A pot of tea is ideally shared among four people.”
His suggestion immediately received approval from the customers. Groups of acquaintances gathered together, with every four people ordering one pot of tea.
Some didn’t mind the expense and trusted the quality of Ye family tea, ordering individual pots.
Before long, the tea masters had prepared the tea and served it.
Unlike in later generations when commercial red and green teas were machine-harvested, at this time all tea had to be picked by hand.
To balance quality and price, the Ye family classified tea picking very strictly: spring tea was harvested only as one bud with one leaf or even just the bud, which was used for high-grade cake tea; the remaining older leaves were made into medium and lower-grade cakes or loose tea. Summer and autumn teas were harvested as one bud with two leaves or paired leaves to make steamed green tea or loose tea, with the remaining older leaves made into coarse tea.
Due to strict harvesting classification and Ye Hongsheng’s excellent tea-making skills, even the Ye family’s loose tea tasted better than others’. Of course, it was also more expensive.
When making osmanthus tea, the Ye family didn’t have enough loose tea and needed to buy tea from other producers to process together. Other families’ tea wasn’t harvested so meticulously—the tea leaves varied in size, the processing skills weren’t refined, and the taste wasn’t as good as the Ye family’s loose tea. Based on the quality of the tea base, Ye Yaming had divided the osmanthus tea into three grades—high, medium, and low—with prices varying accordingly.