Chapter 68: Consideration

The most important thing is that with so much money invested, the tea in Jiangnan is already saturated, and even with money, they can’t buy tea leaves. They will have to take the tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy tea from other regions, and the local government and forces will have to rely on Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji’s power and connections to get through. This is another form of invisible investment, balancing the invisible resources of the Jiangnan tea gardens controlled by the Ye family. In this regard, Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji are not taking advantage of the Ye family.

Even so, they give the Ye family sixty percent, showing great sincerity in this cooperation. It seems that what Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji value most are the Ye family’s tea-making recipes and the Ye family’s tea brand.

Ye Hongchang frowned upon hearing this, “Should our pre-ordered spring tea be included in the joint business? We are doing well with this business. Why should we let them take a share?”

Ye Chongming quickly said, “That’s just the first method; the second method is that we invest money and take shares based on the amount of money.” He spread his hands, “But we can’t come up with that much money to invest right now. If our share is too small, it’s not worth it.”

Although the tea silver Ye Hongchang brought back was not robbed, it was used to fill the hole left by Ye Hongrong, make osmanthus tea, and some was put into the Baofeng Money Shop for people to exchange, so there is not much left now.

It would be fine with one or two thousand taels of silver, but seven or eight thousand, or even tens of thousands of taels, the Ye family absolutely cannot come up with that amount.

Ye Chongming sighed, “The problem now is that if we don’t use raw tea leaves to invest and instead use silver, there is no tea to buy in Jiangnan. The tea in Jiangnan has long been divided up. Over the years, how many troubles have arisen from competing for tea? Where can we buy so much tea with tens of thousands of taels of silver? So, we might really have to invest in raw tea leaves. Otherwise, this cooperation cannot proceed.”

Ye Jiaxing became anxious and asked, “Grandfather, did you agree to their terms?”

Ye Chongming shook his head, “No, I said I would discuss it with the family first. But Mr. Lu suggested going to other regions to buy tea. They would go through official channels, deal with local tea bureaus or local powers, buy raw tea leaves, transport them to our tea factory for processing, and then sell them to other cities.”

“Of course, since our tea factory is not part of the cooperation, they can pay us processing fees,” Ye Chongming emphasized again.

Hearing this, both Ye Hongchang and Ye Jiaxing frowned, “Will it work?”

Jiangnan is a prosperous place, and its tea has been famous since ancient times. People in Jiangnan take pride in their tea and believe that tea from other places is not as good as Jiangnan tea. So for many years, the Ye family has remained in one corner. Even though the competition for Jiangnan tea has become increasingly fierce, the Ye family has never planned to expand elsewhere.

Ye Chongming turned his gaze to Ye Yaming, who had been silent, “Yaming, what do you think?”

“I think it’s feasible. The investment and share ratio are quite reasonable,” Ye Yaming said. “Mr. Lu’s latter suggestion is exactly what I wanted to propose to Grandfather and Uncle. Moreover, I don’t suggest taking sixty percent, just fifty percent is enough. After all, we will need to rely on them to deal with officials and local powers in the future. Giving up ten percent of the profit will only benefit us.”

Ye Jiaxing became anxious, “They said we could still negotiate, meaning we could take a larger share. Why don’t you consider taking more instead of giving up ten percent? That’s not how we do business.”

Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang, however, were thoughtful.

Ye Yaming smiled reassuringly at Ye Jiaxing without saying anything and looked at Ye Chongming.

Only then did Ye Jiaxing notice that neither his grandfather nor his father refuted his sister’s words but were deep in thought. So, does that mean his sister’s suggestion is reasonable? Is he the one who doesn’t understand?

Ye Jiaxing couldn’t help but ponder the matter.

At this moment, both Ye Chongming and Ye Hongchang understood. Ye Yaming’s words were so clear that they naturally realized that Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji were not taking advantage of them. Instead, they valued their tea-making recipes and the rarity of Jiangnan tea, giving them an extra ten percent share.

A fifty-fifty share between the two parties is reasonable, and no one is taking advantage of the other. But taking advantage is not easy. After all, the Ye family has no power or influence. In the future, whether in Jiangnan or elsewhere, they will have to rely on Lu and Qi’s status and connections. Over time, regardless of how Lu and Qi feel, they themselves will feel insecure, fearing that Lu and Qi might turn against them and swallow them whole. Human nature is fickle. Who can say for sure when it comes to interests?

It’s better to take a step back from the beginning and gain Lu and Qi’s goodwill.

With all the recent events, Ye Yaming’s previous words about ‘walking on one leg being too dangerous’ were still ringing in their ears. Ye Chongming was moved by Lu Guanyi’s words. Most importantly, he was terrified by Meng Chengwei’s ruthless methods and was eager to cooperate with Lu Guanyi and Qi Ji to solve the problem of Meng Chengwei.

So, even if he didn’t care about tea from other regions, he would agree to cooperate with them. Moreover, Ye Yaming’s words from a few days ago were still fresh in his mind.

Even if the quality of raw tea from other regions is not as good as Jiangnan tea, the tea business is profitable, and with the Ye family’s tea-making skills as a guarantee, making money is not a problem.

Making money, having a backing, and no longer fearing those so-called ‘nobles’ sharpening their knives against the Ye family, why not?

However…

Recalling Ye Yaming’s earlier words, Ye Chongming quickly asked, “You suggested we adopt the second plan? That is, you suggest we invest money directly and not use tea leaves to invest?”

Ye Hongchang’s eyes lit up.

Jiangnan tea is the foundation of the Ye family, and it is profitable. He really didn’t want to turn it into something shared with others. Otherwise, would Ye family tea still be Ye family tea? Wouldn’t his father become someone else’s puppet?

Ye Yaming nodded.

Ye Chongming had the same thoughts as Ye Hongchang. This was also why they had struggled for so many years and were unwilling to cooperate with others. If it weren’t for Meng Chengwei’s excessive pressure, he wouldn’t want to cooperate with Lu and Qi.

He sighed deeply, “I want that too, but where can we get so much money?”

“We can use half of the tea leaves to invest. Then we can gather six thousand taels of silver, and that should be enough,” Ye Yaming said.

She added, “They are cooperating with our family not only because of the tea-making recipes but also because of Jiangnan tea. Not offering any tea leaves is unreasonable. Don’t forget that those tea gardens are not the private property of the Ye family. Mr. Qi’s father is the Prefect of Lin’an. If they really wanted those tea gardens, it would only take a word from the Prefect to the village head. They are now formally negotiating cooperation with us and are so sincere. Not offering any tea leaves is absolutely unacceptable.”