At Chongshan Temple, Ye Chongming—who had just been mentioned by the tea customers—was following a young novice monk along with Ye Jiaxing and Ye Yaming, the brother and sister, into Master Zhineng’s meditation chamber.

Upon entering the chamber, Ye Yaming was momentarily stunned.

Inside the room, besides an elderly monk, there were two young men. These two were none other than Lu Guanyi and Magistrate’s son Qi Ji, whom she had met when delivering tea with Ye Hongsheng some days ago.

Both parties exchanged greetings and introductions.

When Ye Jiaxing and Ye Yaming were introduced to everyone, Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji merely exchanged pleasantries with them, not mentioning that they had met Ye Yaming before.

Ye Yaming breathed a slight sigh of relief.

If they had mentioned their previous meeting, they would have had to bring up her visit with Ye Hongsheng to the Lu residence to reclaim the cake tea. Master Zhineng was the shrewdest of the shrewd. Without much elaboration, just a few words, he could have guessed that the Ye family was reclaiming poor-quality private tea.

Although this matter had been reported to the Magistrate, the fewer people who knew about it, the better. After all, it wasn’t something to be proud of and would damage the Ye family’s reputation.

Upon hearing Master Zhineng’s introduction that the somewhat martial-looking Lu Guanyi was the first legitimate son of the Marquis of Xuanwu from the Capital, Ye Chongming was startled and hurriedly raised his hands in greeting: “I’ve long admired your reputation.”

Ye Yaming wasn’t particularly surprised.

Living in such a mansion and being close friends with the Magistrate’s son—and judging from their seating positions before they rose, Lu Guanyi had been seated in a position higher than Qi Ji—it was clear that he not only had wealth but also a certain status.

The identity of being the legitimate eldest son of a Marquis’s household was not surprising.

However, since Lu Guanyi had already come of age and was the legitimate eldest son of the Marquis of Xuanwu, shouldn’t he have been bestowed the title of heir apparent? Shouldn’t he have been introduced as “Heir Apparent” rather than “legitimate eldest son”? Why did Master Zhineng introduce him only as the “legitimate eldest son”?

This matter didn’t concern her, so the doubt merely flashed through her mind and was gone. After Lu Guanyi, Qi Ji, and Ye Chongming had modestly settled the seating arrangement, she sat down at the last seat.

Ye Chongming had sent someone with a visiting card the day before, saying he had good tea to bring for Master Zhineng’s appreciation.

So after exchanging pleasantries, Master Zhineng asked, “What good tea has Elder Ye brought? This poor monk is eager to taste it.”

“Haha, Master Zhineng should taste it first. As for whether it’s good tea or not, it’s up to Master to decide. I can’t say,” Ye Chongming replied.

Ye Jiaxing stood up at this point and handed the box he was holding to the young novice. The novice opened the lid of the box and presented it to Master Zhineng.

Master Zhineng looked inside: “Loose tea?”

He wasn’t surprised. He was a pure tea aficionado who didn’t like cake tea with its complex manufacturing process and true flavor masked by spices; he was accustomed to drinking only loose tea.

The reason he had a relationship with Ye Chongming was because his favorite drink was the Ye family’s high-grade loose tea, which he purchased from the Ye family every year.

Chongshan Temple had a tea garden behind it that produced some tea each year. However, Master Zhineng and the monks’ tea-making skills were still inferior to Ye Hongsheng’s, and the loose tea they produced tasted slightly inferior, which is why Master Zhineng purchased from the Ye family.

Given Master Zhineng’s status and position, his connections with many powerful figures, and his reputation as a tea enthusiast, his fondness for the Ye family’s loose tea was beneficial in enhancing the Ye family’s prestige and reputation.

Therefore, although Master Zhineng said he was purchasing, the Ye family refused to accept payment. Even when they did accept it, they would donate it back to the temple as incense money, and they donated more than he had paid for the tea.

Additionally, whenever the Ye family made any good or new tea, they would send some to Master Zhineng for tasting.

This was how Master Zhineng and Ye Chongming had developed their relationship. Though their friendship wasn’t deep, Ye Chongming always had a place at Master Zhineng’s.

Now, seeing that Ye Chongming had brought loose tea, he wasn’t surprised, just curious.

He reached out to scoop up a handful of tea leaves and held them to his nose to smell.

“Oh?” He looked up at Ye Chongming with surprise. “Osmanthus fragrance?”

Ye Chongming nodded with a smile and pointed to Ye Yaming, saying, “This was developed by my third granddaughter.”

Master Zhineng also had a friendship with Ye Hongsheng and greatly admired his tea-making skills. Only because tea-making techniques were the Ye family’s core expertise did he refrain from asking Ye Hongsheng for instruction; otherwise, their friendship might have been deeper than with Ye Chongming.

Ye Chongming knew this, so during the introduction, he had specifically mentioned that Ye Yaming was Ye Hongsheng’s eldest daughter.

Master Zhineng was surprised and carefully looked Ye Yaming over a few times, then nodded in approval: “A tiger father has no dog daughters. Miss Ye is so accomplished at such a young age—truly remarkable.”

He turned to instruct the young novice: “Quickly brew some for tasting.”

Ye Chongming had brought Ye Yaming today not only to pay respects to Master Zhineng but also to show off his granddaughter’s tea-brewing skills.

Now, seeing Master Zhineng call the young novice to brew the tea, Ye Chongming turned to look at Ye Yaming.

Ye Yaming, however, slightly shook her head at him.

Although Ye Chongming was puzzled, he had grown accustomed to following Ye Yaming’s lead, knowing she must have her reasons. So he abandoned the idea and turned back to watch the young novice brew the tea.

This exchange of glances between grandfather and granddaughter was naturally observed by Master Zhineng, who gave Ye Chongming a look.

Master Zhineng was born into the royal family and was a cousin of the current Emperor, not beyond the fifth degree of kinship. His status was prominent. However, he had been weak and sickly from a young age, nearly dying several times before the age of ten. An enlightened monk said he had an affinity with Buddhism, and his parents, to save his life, had him enter monastic life.

Having entered monastic life and thus stepping outside the mundane world, he was very impatient with entertaining visitors who came with various ulterior motives. He would only meet those relatives who were difficult to refuse or those who had relationships with his parents or relatives.

Those who could meet him even once were naturally of significant status. This gave rise to the saying among outsiders that “Master Zhineng associates only with the powerful and wealthy.”

Ye Chongming had a place with him not only because the Ye family’s tea could please him and Ye Chongming was a man of good character, but also because Ye Chongming was sensible and tactful.

He never came to disturb Master Zhineng too often, at most twice a year. Even when he wanted to visit, he would first send someone with a calling card, and only when Master Zhineng agreed would he come for a meeting.

Unlike some people who, under the pretext of burning incense at the temple, would either “accidentally wander in” or plead with the monks to introduce them. They would also “tirelessly” send visiting cards.

And their targets were not the monk himself but the so-called “important people.”

To prevent Ye Chongming from developing such ambitions, Master Zhineng always met with him alone. Even if there were occasionally unavoidable visitors, he would always send Ye Chongming away first before meeting them.