Chapter 20: Changing Perspectives

Now, the family needs to reserve money for next year’s spring tea, which is a significant amount. Additionally, the tea factory, tea workshop, and tea house must maintain operations, and the shopkeepers and workers must be paid monthly. The Ye family, including servants, has over a hundred people, and the monthly living expenses and allowances are also considerable. In short, money is needed everywhere.

If the tea workshop and tea house still have good tea to sell, they can recover some funds, at least enough to support the family’s and tea factory’s expenses. Otherwise, the Ye family must sell jewelry, land, and shops.

Ye Chongming sighed deeply, his face full of worry, “Exactly. The tea workshop only has San tea and coarse tea made from summer and autumn tea. The tea house doesn’t have much spring tea or tea cakes, barely enough to satisfy some old customers.”

He said angrily, “That Meng Chengwei must have chosen this season to strike on purpose.”

He had been the head of the Jiangnan Tea Trade for many years, and many opponents had tried to bring him down, but none had used such insidious and despicable methods as Meng Chengwei.

“Now is the season when osmanthus flowers are in full bloom. Grandfather, you should collect some osmanthus flowers. I’ll see if I can make some osmanthus tea with loose tea,” Ye Yaming suggested.

“Also, chrysanthemums are called ‘Thousand-Petal Jade Exquisite’ by the ancients and are excellent for drinking. I read in a book recently that the white chrysanthemums from Tongxiang, Jiaxing, are crystal clear and fragrant when brewed, with benefits for the liver, eyes, spleen, and stomach. How about you let my father and I go to Tongxiang to find some? We might be able to buy good white chrysanthemums.”

“Osmanthus? Chrysanthemums?” Ye Chongming was intrigued and momentarily forgot his worries.

After thinking for a moment, he nodded, “If tea cake can have spices like musk and sandalwood, it can also have floral scents. Combining osmanthus with tea might indeed create a new type of tea.”

Then he shook his head, “No, no, we don’t have raw tea. How can we make tea cakes with loose tea?”

“It’s not tea cakes; it’s still loose tea, but with the fragrance of osmanthus,” Ye Yaming explained.

“Actually, those of us who regularly drink tea and love tea know that tea cakes, because of the added spices, have their tea aroma and flavor masked. True tea lovers may not necessarily like tea cakes; it’s just that wealthy families pursue it and keep some for entertaining guests. But what they drink themselves might be loose tea.”

Ye Hongsheng nodded and said to Ye Chongming, “Father, that’s indeed the case.”

Although he didn’t manage affairs, he could talk knowledgeably with true tea enthusiasts because of his obsession with tea. He understood the thoughts of genuine tea lovers.

“Moreover, since Meng Chengwei has targeted us, who knows what tricks he might play in the future? The most likely scenario is that he will bribe people to block our tea permits. Our family only does tea business, making it easy for others to block our path. If we can establish a chrysanthemum tea business and diversify into other areas, it would be more stable.”

Ye Chongming’s eyes widened, and he stared fixedly at Ye Yaming.

This gaze made Ye Yaming’s heart skip a beat. However, she remained calm on the surface and looked at Ye Chongming with confusion, “Grandfather, what’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”

She didn’t want to reveal her abilities too quickly; a gradual approach would be more prudent. But some things couldn’t wait to be said.

Wolves and tigers were circling.

Now, Ye Hongrong had been deceived, Ye Jiaxing was injured, and next, Ye Hongchang would be injured, and the tea money would be robbed. In Lin’an City, there were also tea merchants like the Yang family waiting for the Ye family to fall so they could divide the Ye family’s cooperative gardens and tea shares and seize the position of tea trade leader.

She couldn’t wait for everyone to make their move and for the Ye family to reach a desperate situation before taking precautions. That would be too passive, only taking hits. She needed to find a few paths for the Ye family in advance.

Ye Chongming murmured, “Why aren’t you a boy?”

He withdrew his gaze and sighed deeply, and his face was full of regret.

Ye Yaming’s vision and intelligence were unmatched in the entire Ye family, except for him and the eldest, Ye Hongchang.

Even he and Ye Hongchang, at Ye Yaming’s age, were far inferior to her. They had gained their current vision and methods through many years of life experience and business struggles. But such a capable descendant turned out to be a girl. In a few years, she would marry and become part of another family.

Compared to her, Ye Jiaxing was far behind. The Ye family had no successors.

Thinking of this, Ye Chongming felt an indescribable pain.

Ye Yaming: “…” She could understand Ye Chongming’s thoughts.

It wasn’t his fault for favoring boys over girls. In ancient times, women were not independent in politics and economics. Even if Ye Chongming wanted to entrust the Ye family’s business to her, it would be unclear who the business ultimately belonged to. And she didn’t want to work hard all her life only for the family property to end up with Ye Jiaxing and his brothers. She had no interest in working for others.

“Grandfather, I don’t have to get married. My parents don’t have a son, so I can stay at home and bring in a husband,” Ye Yaming said seriously.

“You can’t say such things,” Ye Chongming glared at her.

Song Yifeng was a great catch, and many people envied him for finding such a good grandson-in-law. The Ye family wasn’t lacking in male heirs, so how could he let his granddaughter stay at home and bring in a husband instead of marrying out?

What kind of person would agree to be a live-in son-in-law? He didn’t want to wrong Ye Yaming.

However, these words did comfort Ye Chongming.

Song Yifeng was about to achieve great success and become an official. The Ye family was ultimately a merchant family. If Ye Yaming was too naive and inexperienced, she might not be able to handle Song Yifeng.

Seeing that his granddaughter was intelligent and capable, he realized that with Song Yifeng’s status, she could help the Ye family in many ways.

Thinking of this, he became happy again.

“If you want to go to Tongxiang, go with your father. If you find it too tiring, let your father take someone else. Tongxiang is not far from Lin’an; if you leave in the morning, you’ll arrive by evening.”

“Thank you, Grandfather.” Ye Yaming was very happy to hear that Ye Chongming agreed to let her go out.

In modern times, she was a world traveler. In ancient times, she was worried that the Ye family would confine her to the inner chambers and not let her go out easily.

Although she wouldn’t let others control her, it would be troublesome for the family to quarrel over this matter. Now that Ye Chongming allowed her to go out and participate in business matters, she had achieved her goal.

“I really want to go out. Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. Going out more often can broaden one’s horizons,” Ye Yaming explained.

“But now is the season when osmanthus flowers are in full bloom. If we miss this time, it will be difficult to make osmanthus tea later. Time waits for no one, so I’ll stay at home to make osmanthus tea. As for chrysanthemums…”

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