Chapter 19: Redemption

Tea cake is flavored with spices, making it very expensive and a symbol of wealth, which is why it is so popular among the upper class.

The Ye family has been in the tea business for generations, relying on their tea-making skills. Ye family’s tea cake is famous even in the capital.

Meng Chengwei targeted the Ye family instead of directly buying tea from the Tax Office because the tea from the Tax Office is raw tea. This raw tea needs further processing to be made into other types of tea that can be sold at a good price. Meng Chengwei valued the Ye family’s tea-making skills.

However, Ye Yaming, who is used to drinking pure tea in modern times, is not fond of this spiced tea cake.

As the head of a tea company, she knows how to make tea cakes. Many modern tea researchers have replicated and studied the Song Dynasty’s tea cake. On the way back in the carriage today, she carefully asked Ye Hongsheng about it. Although she didn’t have time to visit the tea workshop, she gained a good understanding of tea cake production.

She thought that since tea cake is made from tea juice, if Meng Chengwei mixed moldy tea directly into the tea leaves to make tea cake, the entire tea cake would have a moldy taste. Not to mention the old customers who buy tea, even Ye Hongrong wouldn’t be fooled.

Although Ye Hongrong is a prodigal son, he comes from a tea family and has been forced by Ye Chongming to train in the tea factory and workshop since he was a teenager. He can distinguish good tea from bad. Otherwise, Ye Chongming wouldn’t dare to let him manage the tea workshop.

Moreover, typical tea cake has a hole in the middle, like a coin, with the hole being square or round for easy handling and carrying. Tea cake is usually small, with one piece being a single serving.

However, this batch of tea from Meng Chengwei is solid in the middle and slightly convex, larger than usual. When the seller gave it to Ye Hongrong, the explanation was that it was to accommodate the beautiful mold. This batch of tea cakes was pressed into the shape of a peony, with the convex part in the middle being the flower core, making it look very beautiful.

People in this era drink tea cake by first roasting it over a fire, then placing it in a paper bag, using a small hammer to crush the tea through the paper bag, then grinding it into powder with a millstone, sifting it, and whisking it into foam to drink. Therefore, even if there is only a small moldy part in the middle of the Tuan tea, it will be fully integrated when drinking, and the moldy taste will only be discovered when drinking.

Thinking of this, Ye Yaming took a small knife and planned to pry open the tea cake to see the situation inside.

However, the tea cake is bonded with glutinous rice paste or licorice paste, making it very hard and solid. Ye Yaming called a strong maid, and after much effort, they finally pried open the tea.

Once the tea cake was pried open, a small piece of dark-colored tea was revealed.

This piece of tea was obviously made a long time ago, a hard little cake, and then made into new tea with other tea juice, so it was distinctly different from the outer tea. Ye Yaming checked the tea connected to it and found that the tea in that area did not have a moldy taste.

She put the separated tea into a paper bag and had the maid roast it, grind it, and taste it carefully.

Because this tea cake had spices, the spice flavor was quite strong, masking the moldy taste. In the end, she didn’t taste any mold.

Ye Yaming asked the maid to call Ye Hongsheng over and showed him the separated tea.

As soon as Ye Hongsheng touched the tea, he seemed like a different person; even his demeanor changed. Looking at the separated tea, he was focused, and his scholarly and elegant temperament became more apparent.

It was around five o’clock, but in mid-autumn, it was already getting dark.

He asked the maid to light two lamps and carefully examined the tea, finding that there were indeed no mold spots and no strange smell.

After brewing a cup and tasting it, he was delighted to find that the tea tasted good. He said, “This tea can still be processed and sold as loose tea.”

Ye Yaming nodded, “Yes, reducing some losses is good.”

In this era, loose tea is made from failed attempts at making tea cake or for other reasons, dried, ground, and sold in boxes. The price is naturally much lower than tea cakes.

Tea cakes are not like modern tea cakes, which can be steamed and repressed to save some of it, though the taste may not be as good as the original. This hard stuff can’t be reprocessed and can only be handled this way.

“Let’s go, take this tea, and let’s find your grandfather,” Ye Hongsheng stood up and said, “Tell him the good news early so he can sleep well tonight.”

The Ye family suffered heavy losses today. If something happened to Ye Hongchang and they couldn’t get the tea money back, the Ye family would be greatly affected next year. Now, recovering some losses is a comfort to Ye Chongming.

Father and daughter took the tea to the main courtyard.

Ye Chongming, who valued health, would walk around the house after dinner every day. Today, after a major incident at home, he had beaten Ye Hongrong with a dozen boards and quarreled with Old Madam Ye. Feeling unwell, he planned to rest in the study in the front courtyard.

On the way to the front courtyard, he met Ye Hongsheng and his daughter.

“Let’s go to the study,” Ye Chongming said, not wanting to see Old Madam Ye.

In the study, Ye Hongsheng explained the situation and showed the tea to Ye Chongming.

As long as his second son approved the tea, Ye Chongming knew it was good without looking or tasting it. He nodded, “Alright, do as Ming’er said.” He turned to Ye Hongsheng, “Tomorrow, take this batch of tea to the tea factory and have the workers process it.”

Now that the tea-picking season was over, the tea factory workers were idle. It was a good time to process this batch of tea.

Ye Yaming noticed that Ye Chongming’s tightly furrowed brows had not relaxed much and asked, “Grandfather, do we have much good tea left to sell in our tea shops and tea houses?”

Although Ye Hongrong’s mistake was compensated for, the Ye family spent a lot of money on silk as compensation. If that batch of tea hadn’t had the moldy part, it would have been high quality and low price, and Ye Hongrong bought a lot of it. The number of tea customers wasn’t large, but those who bought this tea were looking for a bargain and those who bought a lot stored dozens or even hundreds of boxes, possibly planning to resell them.

Therefore, the compensation paid by the Ye family was not a small amount. Since merchants don’t keep a lot of idle money, they usually invest in land, shops, or tea gardens. Ye Yaming estimated that the Ye family might have spent most of their savings this time.

If Ye Hongchang couldn’t get the tea money back, the Ye family’s losses would be even greater.