Wen Tao said, “The prime land was ten taels per mu, the middle-grade land was eight taels per mu, and the low-grade land was six taels per mu. Including the estate households, it cost a total of nine thousand two hundred taels of silver.”
Old Lady Ye patted her chest. “Fortunately, we brought enough silver.”
Wen Tao smiled. “If we hadn’t brought so much, we naturally wouldn’t have bought this estate. At the time, Fang Xing was hesitant, worried that the young miss would be in too much debt, but it was I who insisted on buying it.”
“You’re so generous when spending my money, but when the household needs some funds, you keep saying there’s hardly any money left in the accounts,” Old Lady Ye teased.
Ye Yaming couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing this.
It seemed that whether in ancient times or modern times, financial personnel had similar characteristics.
She said, “Grandmother, in a while I’ll have Bai Rui bring you two thousand two hundred taels of silver. I’m borrowing three thousand from you, and I’ll repay you when I have money.”
Although she had earned another three thousand taels later, the New Year was approaching, and she needed to keep some money for herself and for buying gifts.
“There’s no rush. Return it when you have it,” Old Lady Ye said.
Ye Yaming then said to Fang Xing, “Can you help oversee the estate manager there? If he’s not suitable, replace him. Also, pay that experienced chrysanthemum-growing farmer to instruct the estate workers on how to grow chrysanthemums. I’ll entrust this matter to you. First, enjoy the New Year at home, and it’s not too late to go after the New Year.”
After a pause, she continued, “Among the servants who worked with you before, if there are two you think are good and they’re willing, bring them on as your assistants. I’ll have other tasks for you in the future, so you need to be able to delegate the estate management.”
“Yes,” Fang Xing replied.
Zhou Xiang was standing behind Ye Chongming at this time. Hearing these words, a trace of envy flashed in his eyes.
Although he and Meng Ji were the Old Master’s attendants, everyone in the household tried to curry favor with them. When they said something, even Steward Li Fu dared not easily contradict; when they assigned tasks, no servant in the entire household dared to refuse.
However, their status ultimately remained that of servants, and they didn’t have subordinates who truly belonged to them.
…
In the Capital, at Princess Yuning’s Mansion.
After several days of heavy snow, the plum blossoms were in full bloom. The Prince Consort Fan Yu, renowned as a great talent, had specially invited seven or eight close friends to enjoy the plum blossoms at the mansion.
The guests were gradually led to the garden.
Although Fan Yu had not yet appeared, the guests didn’t mind. The garden had a heated pavilion with warm walls, hot tea, and snacks of all kinds, with red plum trees visible outside the windows. Since they were all close friends who usually enjoyed composing poetry and painting together, even without Fan Yu present, they could entertain themselves with wine and poetry for a whole day.
They were drinking wine, admiring the plum blossoms, and discussing setting a theme for everyone to compose a poem, with the winner receiving a plum branch and the loser treating everyone to the next round of drinks.
While they were discussing excitedly, suddenly they heard the clear, resonant sound of a xiao flute drifting in. Everyone turned to look and saw a group of people walking through the snow, led by Prince Consort Fan Yu.
He wore a white satin cloak trimmed with fox fur, followed by a maid dressed in white satin on top and a red skirt below. Most wonderfully, the maid was carrying a vase with vigorously branching red plum blossoms in it. Behind them was a line of servants, each carrying various items.
Fan Yu walked to the most splendidly blooming red plum tree outside the window, but didn’t enter the room. Instead, he bowed towards both the left and right.
The guests walked to the window and looked out, only then seeing that there were two men on each side under the red plum trees. One was standing on the right playing the xiao, while another sat on the left beside a small table with a zither in front of him.
The servants very quickly set down what they were carrying, arranged everything, and then disappeared from view.
The large room with heated walls where everyone was gathered had been built specifically for enjoying plum blossoms. A large window opened to the south, and because it was sheltered from the wind and had warm walls, even with the window wide open, it wasn’t cold inside. When admiring the blossoms, the window was propped open, facing several red plum trees in the garden that were in full bloom.
Now outside the window frame, a maid placed the vase at the right corner of a long table and also retreated from view along with the servants, while another maid stood at the left corner holding a vase.
The friend skilled in painting was already about to exclaim in delight.
These two branches of red plum blossoms, one tall and one short, one in motion and one still, were divided into two halves by the horizontal line of the long table, forming diagonals. With the vessels of varying heights arranged artfully on the table, and the window frame decorated with carved flowers at the four corners, this was simply a perfect composition for painting!
His desire to paint was overwhelming.
But before he could act, the motionless Fan Yu walked to the table and sat down. The cloak he had been wearing had somehow been removed, revealing his moon-white brocade robe.
At this moment, steam suddenly rose from a spot beside the table, and everyone could now see clearly that it was a red clay brazier with a clay pot sitting on it. The water in the pot had boiled, and the steam added a lively atmosphere to what had been a static scene.
The xiao, which had fallen silent, began playing again, and after a few notes, the melodious sound of the zither joined in. Fan Yu lifted the teapot and began brewing tea.
He wasn’t far from everyone, and they could all see his every move.
But by now, no one cared what he was doing.
The purple sandalwood table, the tea sets of pottery and porcelain arranged with exquisite taste, the warm brazier, the steaming mist, the vigorous red plum blossoms in the vase, the elegant young man, the fully blooming red plum trees in the distance, snow covering the ground and sky, occasional snowflakes falling from the trees or the sky, and the intermittent fragrances of plum blossoms and tea…
This scene was so wonderfully beautiful that it inspired admiration.
“Quickly, paper and brush,” someone instructed his page boy.
Awakened by this voice, everyone went to the large table in the room. Those who painted began painting, those who wrote poetry began writing, with inspiration flowing and their brushes dancing across the paper.
After everyone had finished creating and put down their brushes, cups of hot tea were brought to them by the servants.
Looking at the teacups, everyone was surprised to see that there was a plum blossom floating in each one. They were astonished and took a light sip of the tea, filling their mouths with the fragrance of plum blossoms and tea, followed by a sweet taste.
“Is this brewed from plum blossoms?” someone asked in surprise.
They were all well-known scholars and wealthy leisured gentlemen in the Capital. Seeing the beauty of plum blossoms before, they had tried brewing them as tea, but the taste wasn’t as wonderful as imagined, and the plum blossoms didn’t look good after being steeped, earning mockery as “boiling zithers and cooking cranes” (destroying something beautiful).
But today’s cup of tea completely overturned their impressions.
“Haha…” Fan Yu had entered the room at some point.
He laughed and said, “Not at all. This is the first-picked pre-Qingming loose tea. After brewing the tea, a plum blossom is placed on top, merely for aesthetic effect. The tea flavor still comes from real tea.”
“Loose tea?” Hearing this, everyone was very surprised.
In their view, loose tea was only used by peddlers and porters to quench their thirst and wasn’t worthy of refined settings. Only compressed tea could fully display wealthy elegance and refined taste.