Ye Hongrong pursed his lips: “It’s only because our family upholds proper values that we don’t have such sordid affairs. Look at other families—stepmothers killing the original wife’s children, mothers-in-law tormenting daughters-in-law to death, sisters-in-law fighting violently, younger brothers-in-law committing adultery with their sisters-in-law… Aren’t there plenty of chaotic situations? If Ming’er marries into the Lu family, who knows how she might die.”

“If you truly care for Ming’er, abandon any thoughts of marrying her to Young Master Lu early on. What I’ve told you today, don’t breathe a word of it to anyone, not even to Father. His mind is filled with thoughts of the Ye family’s prosperity; he might well sell Ming’er in exchange for the Ye family’s glory.”

Old Lady Ye often criticized her husband, but she wouldn’t tolerate her son being unfilial.

Hearing her son’s words, she slapped him on the forehead: “I’ll beat you to death, you unfilial son! How dare you speak of your father that way?”

Drawing back her hand, she nevertheless said: “You’re right, though. Your father puts family interests above all else, always wanting to make the Ye family flourish under his management. If he learns of this, he might not be willing to let it go.”

She nodded at her son: “I’m your mother. Don’t you know me by now? When have I ever failed to keep my promises to you?”

Ye Hongrong secretly pursed his lips again.

She was his birth mother after all, so he didn’t talk back. After reminding the old lady once more, he rose to leave.

Old Lady Ye stopped him: “Wait a moment.”

Ye Hongrong turned to look at her.

Old Lady Ye first frowned in thought, then beckoned to her son. When Ye Hongrong came closer, she said softly: “Find an opportunity to casually mention Ming’er’s matchmaking event to Young Master Lu or Young Master Qi.”

As she spoke, she winked at Ye Hongrong.

Ye Hongrong looked at his mother, a smile slowly spreading across his face, and gave her a thumbs up: “The old ginger is indeed spicier.”

Old Lady Ye looked pleased: “Of course.”

…

At the tea factory, Ye Chongming was introducing the tea masters to Ye Yaming: “This is Master Pan, this is Master Yan… This is Master Wei Guanzhong, and this is Master Wei Zheng, the younger Master Wei.”

At this point, Ye Chongming smiled and said: “Young Master Wei is Master Wei’s son, carrying on his father’s profession, surpassing his father’s skills.”

By now, all the tea masters were examining Ye Yaming with complex expressions.

When the osmanthus tea was first marketed, Ye Hongsheng was very proud and had specially brought some for them to taste.

To be honest, while it was indeed good, most of them didn’t think much of it.

It was merely mixing osmanthus flowers into the loose tea they had produced, adding the osmanthus fragrance to the tea leaves. This was just a clever trick, not true skill.

Without the tea they had produced, could the Third Miss Ye have created this so-called osmanthus tea?

However, some with fair minds thought that the Ye family’s Third Miss was quite clever.

They had been making tea for so many years and had never thought of adding osmanthus flowers to the tea leaves. She had come up with the idea, and it had been approved by tea customers—that was indeed a skill.

Ye Third Miss was the owner, and she wasn’t competing for their rice bowls. They were all grown men, each older than the second master Ye Hongsheng, so what was the point of being jealous of a young girl?

But regardless of their previous attitudes, they didn’t pay much attention to Ye Yaming at this moment.

The young miss had merely achieved some success and wanted to visit the tea factory. Once she discovered that this work wasn’t something she could do, she would also abandon her flag and drum.

Young Master Wei was in his early thirties, the youngest among the tea masters who were mostly in their forties, fifties, or even sixties.

He stepped forward, made a bow, and smiled: “This humble one has tasted the osmanthus tea made by Third Miss, and the flavor is truly excellent.”

His attitude was the most enthusiastic among those present.

The other tea masters, perhaps concerned that praising Ye Yaming would make her too inflated and think of herself as a tea-making prodigy who could then boss people around in the tea factory, only gave Ye Yaming a faint bow and called her “Third Miss” without saying anything more.

They refrained from mentioning the three words “osmanthus tea.”

Seeing Young Master Wei’s behavior, the others looked at him with varying expressions.

Ye Yaming smiled and nodded: “Thank you.”

This poised and graceful attitude was quite unexpected for the tea factory staff, and everyone’s hearts eased a bit.

It seemed this Third Miss had a steady temperament and probably wouldn’t cause trouble.

Among the tea masters here, three were the same age as Ye Chongming, and they had dealt with him often since his youth when he took over the Ye family business.

Ye Chongming knew exactly what these people were thinking.

He spoke solemnly: “You are all long-standing masters of the Ye family. When the Ye family prospers, so do you. I believe everyone understands this point.”

He pointed to Ye Yaming: “As for my granddaughter’s tea-making skills, they will be evident when the fresh tea leaves arrive. You may not be convinced now. But let me be clear: if you don’t follow her instructions, or if you slight her or show disrespect, you’re going against me, Ye Chongming, and the entire Ye family. Don’t blame me then for disregarding decades of cordiality.”

Several tea masters’ expressions changed at once, and they looked at Ye Yaming with gravity, their concerns growing.

Ye Yaming, however, didn’t pay attention to them and turned to ask Ye Chongming: “Are all of our tea masters here?”

Ye Chongming had only introduced about thirteen people.

“Yes, all the formal tea masters are here. However, each of them has several apprentices. When making tea, they each work with their apprentices.”

Ye Yaming nodded.

In Great Jin, due to the tea monopoly system, tea had to pass through the hands of the Tea Monopoly Office, so fresh leaf trading was naturally not possible. By the time garden owners harvested from the mountains and transported it to the Monopoly Office, finally reaching the tea producers, at least one or two days would have passed. By then, the fresh leaves would be unusable.

Moreover, tea gardens were in the mountains with difficult transportation, and garden owners couldn’t possibly run half a day or a full day to the Tea Monopoly Office to sell after picking a small amount.

Therefore, garden owners themselves performed rough processing on the fresh tea, namely lightly boiling the freshly picked leaves to soften them, then drying them to make rough tea. After all the fresh tea was picked and processed into rough tea, they would transport it all together to the Tea Monopoly Office for trading.

This kind of rough tea could be preserved for a short time without problems, so when the tea factory further processed it, the time wasn’t very pressing. These dozen or so tea masters were sufficient.

“For the upcoming spring tea processing, I’ll trouble all the masters,” Ye Yaming said politely, then turned to Ye Chongming and Ye Hongsheng, “Grandfather, Father, let’s go back.”

Just meeting face to face and then leaving? What about the tea processing area and tools? Weren’t they going to look at those?

Ye Chongming and Ye Hongsheng were puzzled, but Ye Chongming had already formed the habit of listening to Ye Yaming in everything.

He didn’t ask, simply saying: “Alright, let’s go.”

The three left the tea factory, got into the carriage, and Ye Chongming asked: “Is there something wrong with the tea factory?”