At that time, the original owner had just gotten married, and the Ye family had not yet fallen into trouble. When Song Yifeng spoke those words, she believed him without doubt.
It wasn’t until later, when the Ye family was raided and the Song mother and son tried to force her to die, that they revealed this matter through the mouth of a concubine, intending to make her lose all hope.
Although Ye Yaming had been extremely studious in her previous life, she had studied business and was a merchant at heart. Unlike the original owner who appeared strong but was actually fragile, liked to indulge in melancholy thoughts, and loved to fantasize—a typical artistic young woman.
So she didn’t want to keep that inkstone. If she needed money, she planned to convert it to cash. She believed Ye Hongsheng and Madam Yin would also prefer to turn it into silver.
But since Old Lady Ye kindly offered to lend money to the Second Branch, she naturally had to accept this goodwill.
That inkstone could stay for now. However, it needed to be kept safely in her room, lest Madam Yin have a moment of confusion and give it to her father, Old Yin—that would be a huge loss.
She asked Governess Yu, “Have Grandfather and Grandmother retired for the night?”
“Not yet,” Governess Yu replied. “The Old Master said they couldn’t keep Master Lu waiting too long, and should give a reply tomorrow or the day after. So the Old Master is still discussing this matter with the Old Madam, and they’re also waiting for your answer, Miss.”
“Then I’ll go speak with the two elders,” said Ye Yaming.
When she arrived at the main courtyard, she indeed saw it brightly lit. Ye Chongming and Old Lady Ye were sitting in the hall talking.
Ye Yaming entered, paid her respects to both, and said, “Thank you, Grandfather and Grandmother, for your understanding and consideration toward our Second Branch. And thank you, Grandmother, for being willing to lend us silver. I am extremely grateful.”
“No need for such formality with your grandparents!” Old Lady Ye beckoned to her. “I thought you might come over, so I had the kitchen make sweet rice wine tangyuan. Have a bowl first. You’re young, and you’ll have to walk back in a while—you won’t get indigestion.”
Previously, Old Lady Ye hadn’t known what her third granddaughter liked to eat. Lately, she had been paying special attention and discovered that Ye Yaming particularly enjoyed the cook’s sweet rice wine tangyuan, so she had specifically ordered the kitchen to prepare it.
Ye Yaming was indeed delighted when she saw it.
She had loved this dish in the modern world. After arriving in ancient times, she discovered that the cook at the Ye household didn’t use the sweetest rice wine to cook tangyuan, but rather wine that was slightly past its prime with a hint of sourness, then cooked with brown sugar—the taste was just perfect.
The small tangyuan weren’t filled but solid, only about the size of a pinky finger. The glutinous rice was mixed with something unknown, making it not too soft but slightly chewy, especially delicious.
Therefore, whenever this sweet soup appeared on the dining table, she would always have two bowls—the bowls used by the ladies of the Ye family were quite small, so two bowls was nothing. If not for Madam Yin nagging each time, saying that eating too much glutinous rice could cause indigestion, she might have gone for a third bowl.
After the sweet soup was served, Old Lady Ye naturally wouldn’t let her husband and herself just sit and watch, so she also had the kitchen bring up two portions of congee.
Thus, the three sat at the table and began their late-night meal.
There was no rule of “no talking while eating” at the Ye family table. Ye Yaming explained: “I was thinking, if Grandfather agrees to my proposal, tomorrow I’ll have my mother return to the Yin family to borrow some silver from my maternal grandfather and uncles, and take my mother’s and my sisters’ jewelry to the pawnshop.”
She playfully winked at Old Lady Ye and continued, “If we still can’t gather enough, I’ll brazenly borrow from Grandmother. After I break off the engagement with the Song family and get back the silver we’ve given them over the years, we should be able to fill this hole.”
Since Old Lady Ye was lending money to the Second Branch, she planned not to mention the inkstone to anyone. Now she had to explain why she originally had the confidence to say each branch should contribute ten thousand taels of silver. Otherwise, the two elders might think the Second Branch couple had used some means to hoard silver.
Heaven and earth knew that Ye Hongsheng was truly honest, each month just taking his allocated allowance. Unlike Ye Hongchang and Ye Hongrong.
Ye Hongchang managed teahouses in the capital, handling thousands or tens of thousands of taels in cash flow each month. If he skimmed just a little here and there, he could pocket several thousand taels a year.
As for Ye Hongrong, while he didn’t manage much business, he was always clamoring to buy this and that, withdrawing silver from the accounting office. Because the Old Lady indulged him, though he didn’t dare take much, he could still withdraw one or two hundred taels each month. Even if this silver was spent, the valuable items purchased could still be worth something—at least if pawned, the Fourth Branch’s possessions would be quite valuable.
As for the comparison between Madam Yin and Madam Tao, and Madam Zhang, the contrast was even more stark. Those two women had substantial dowries, and the annual income from their fields and shops was quite considerable. No wonder Madam Yin always felt somewhat inferior when facing these sisters-in-law.
In short, the Second Branch being the poorest was a fact.
Old Lady Ye was very pleased upon hearing Ye Yaming’s words.
For some reason, although her third granddaughter had become formidable, she always felt that Ye Yaming maintained a certain distance from them.
Now that Ye Yaming was willing to dispense with formalities and borrow silver, this was a sign of closeness, which she deeply desired.
She said, “Good, good, good.”
Finally, she added, “Whatever amount you’re short, just tell me. Your grandmother has managed her dowry well and has some savings.”
Ye Chongming glanced at his wife.
Usually, she claimed they had no money, but now she seemed eager to provide all the silver needed for the Second Branch.
Ye Yaming could feel the old lady’s affection for her.
She was someone who responded to kindness with even greater kindness—for every bit of goodwill shown to her, she would return threefold.
She affectionately moved closer to Old Lady Ye and said, “Alright, tomorrow I’ll have my mother see how much silver we can gather, and for whatever we’re short, I’ll come to Grandmother.”
“Good, good, good.” Old Lady Ye was satisfied.
Concerned about indigestion, the late-night meal portions were small, and they finished quickly.
After wiping their mouths and hands with handkerchiefs, the three returned to sit in the hall.
Ye Yaming asked Ye Chongming, “Grandfather, when will you reply to Master Lu and the others? I’d like to go with you to discuss the share proportion issue with them.”
“What issues are there with the share proportions?” Ye Chongming asked.
“What if my father and I develop new tea formulas in the future? How many shares would these formulas be worth? Besides formulas, I might also design some new tea utensils for promotion. How many shares would these be worth? I think we should clarify these matters beforehand to avoid unpleasantness in the future.”
Ye Chongming was stunned, unsure how to respond to Ye Yaming’s question.
He hadn’t considered this issue before because for generations, the Ye family had only refined their existing tea-making techniques, slightly improving the flavor, without creating any new types of tea.
In Ye Chongming’s view, being able to produce osmanthus tea was already a stroke of good fortune for the Ye family. When Ye Yaming said she could make jasmine tea, that was of the same category as osmanthus tea and couldn’t be considered another innovation.
As for chrysanthemum tea, that was something more like a medicinal drink and couldn’t be counted as a tea variety, let alone an innovation in tea.
And besides these, could Ye Yaming create other types of tea?