Ye Yaming said, “I feel that Master Lu’s purpose is the same as Meng Chengwei’s—he wants to cooperate with us. Master Zhineng said those words to reveal this information to us, allowing us to understand the situation and go home to consider whether or not to cooperate with him.”
“But why?” Ye Chongming couldn’t understand.
If the Crown Prince wanted to continue opening the Tea-Horse Market, then let him open it. Even if he wanted to arm-wrestle with the Fourth Prince, he could directly use his tactics in court. Where the tea in the Customs Office would go depended on which side had more skillful and forceful methods. What did this have to do with him, an ordinary tea merchant from Jiangnan?
He could understand why Meng Chengwei wanted to cooperate with him—that fellow probably wanted to sell private tea.
But since Lu Guanyi had brought up cooperation in front of Master Zhineng, he definitely wouldn’t be selling private tea. So why would he need to cooperate with the Ye family?
Ye Yaming rubbed her chin, “Master Lu must have recognized our Ye family’s tea-making skills. Back then, he bought ten cakes or ten jin of each type of tea from our shop. His purpose was probably to taste our tea and assess whether our tea-making skills were suitable for cooperation.”
If that was the case, his actions made sense.
He likely hadn’t just bought the Ye family’s tea leaves but also purchased tea leaves from other merchants to see which family had better tea-making skills, and how much better the Ye family’s tea tasted compared to other merchants.
Later, when my father and I went to his place to exchange tea, he suspected the Ye family was selling private tea and had concerns, which is why he didn’t make a decision. But later, he may have investigated us further and learned that the private tea matter wasn’t your intention, and that you had even reported it to the authorities. So he rekindled his thoughts of cooperation and planned to talk with you. That’s why we met here today.”
When Ye Yaming mentioned the private tea matter, Ye Chongming broke out in a cold sweat.
Fortunately, we reported to the authorities at that time. Otherwise, if Master Lu had discovered it, cooperation would be the least of our concerns. If he had the same intentions as Meng Chengwei and used this to coerce us into cooperation, we would completely become slaves making tea for him.”
Ye Yaming shook her head and smiled, though the smile didn’t reach her eyes. “Don’t forget that he is very close with Young Master Qi. If he truly had such intentions, do you think the Prefect would protect us or help him? At that point, it wouldn’t just be coercion—they might even throw you in jail for a few days until we handed over all our tea-making methods and tea products, and signed various contracts, before letting you out.”
Hearing this, both Ye Chongming and Ye Jiaxing were deeply shocked and filled with retrospective fear.
After a moment of silence to calm their emotions, Ye Chongming finally expressed his relief, “Fortunately, this Master Lu is a man of principle. Not only did he not have Prefect Qi force us, but he also let us understand his situation through Master Zhineng, so we could consider whether to cooperate with him.”
He looked at Ye Yaming, “Ming’er, you once said we should find a righteous person with a kind heart to cooperate with. Isn’t this Master Lu exactly what we’re looking for?”
Ye Yaming sighed lightly, “If Master Lu simply wants to do tea business in his capacity, then he would certainly be an excellent partner. But if he has deeper intentions that are entangled with the Crown Prince’s tea policies, then he is not a good partner.”
“But with Master Zhineng and Prefect Qi’s face at stake, it seems we have no room to refuse,” she added.
Ye Chongming heaved a heavy sigh, “Indeed, we can’t refuse.”
Seeing Ye Chongming’s worried expression, Ye Yaming consoled him, “Grandfather, look on the bright side. Being entangled with the Crown Prince and involved in court struggles is certainly not good. But it’s precisely because the Crown Prince is backing him that Master Lu can stand against Meng Chengwei, who has concubines supporting him in the background.”
“Court struggles are too distant from us—we don’t even qualify as minor players. Even if storms rage at court, the waves won’t reach us. But Meng Chengwei is a present danger. We’ve already ‘failed to appreciate his favor’ and offended him before, and now we’ve produced osmanthus tea. How could Meng Chengwei let go of the Ye family, such a fat piece of meat? If we don’t cooperate with Master Lu now, who else can we turn to? Who would be more suitable than him?”
Ye Chongming nodded, “Good, we’ll cooperate with Master Lu. Behind him is not only the Crown Prince but also Master Zhineng and Prefect Qi.”
As he spoke, he explained to Ye Yaming, “You probably don’t understand who Master Zhineng is. Not only is his status high and his position transcendent, but he’s also someone who despises worldly entanglements and is unwilling to be involved in any secular matters. Today, that Master Lu could persuade him to come as a mediator—either it’s due to the Crown Prince’s face, or this Master Lu’s elders have some connection with Master Zhineng.”
“As for Prefect Qi, Master Zhineng doesn’t even regard him highly. When he comes to the temple, Master Zhineng might at most meet him once, but won’t agree to anything else.”
The Prefect of Linan City changed every few years, coming and going. With Master Zhineng’s status and position, he truly didn’t need to give them face.
Ye Yaming smiled, “It’s good that you’ve made a decision, Grandfather. Since we’ve decided to cooperate, we shouldn’t act haughty, but we also shouldn’t appear too eager. Tomorrow, you should write a letter thanking Master Zhineng for his hospitality, and also praise Master Lu and Young Master Qi.”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
Ye Chongming felt that talking with Ye Yaming was like drinking a bowl of hot chicken soup on a cold winter day—it warmed every part of his body. Many things didn’t need to be explained in detail; she immediately understood, responded, and promptly offered corresponding suggestions. And these suggestions invariably matched his thoughts.
The feeling was simply wonderful.
The next day, Ye Chongming indeed wrote a letter to Master Zhineng. That afternoon, Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji went to the third floor of the Jixiang Tea House to visit Ye Chongming.
Ye Chongming had a pleasant conversation with the two of them. After seeing them off, he returned home and told Ye Hongchang, Ye Jiaxing, and Ye Yaming about the matter.
With a smile on his face, he said, “That Master Lu is extremely candid. He said that although he is the eldest legitimate son, his birth mother passed away when he was six months old. His stepmother entered the family six months later and gave birth to a son the following year. His stepmother is someone who hides daggers behind her smile—if not for his grandparents protecting him, he wouldn’t have survived until now.”
“Now that his grandparents have passed away one after another, his stepmother is sharpening her knives. He doesn’t care about the title and family property at all, so he left a letter and came to Jiangnan.”
“Madam Qi and Master Lu’s mother are sisters born from the same mother. He and Young Master Qi grew up together and have deep feelings for each other. Master Lu’s coming to Jiangnan is, firstly, to seek refuge with his maternal aunt and be with his cousin; secondly, to do some business and acquire some property of his own.”
After finishing, he asked everyone, “What do you think of this matter?”
Hearing this, Ye Yaming didn’t speak but looked toward Ye Hongchang.
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*Monthly votes are doubled from the 1st to the 7th. Please check if you have any base monthly votes and cast them during this time. Requesting monthly votes~*
*Also, let me mention the historical Tea Wars: In 1572, the Ming Dynasty’s Prime Minister Zhang Juzheng closed the tea border trade to investigate private tea. The Mongols and Jurchen tribes in the north strongly condemned this in memorials, demanding the reopening of the tea trade. The leader of the Jianzhou Jurchen was even willing to be a hostage for the reopening of the tea market, but was refused, which triggered the Qinghe Fort War. The war lasted three years with heavy casualties on both sides.*
Besides this, there’s also the famous Opium War, which was a Tea War. Those who are unclear can check the history.