Chapter 71: How Much Are New Recipes Worth in Shares?

At that time, the original owner had just gotten married, and the Ye family had not yet encountered any trouble. When Song Yifeng said this, she believed him without a doubt.

It wasn’t until later, when the Ye family was raided and the Song family’s mother and son tried to force her to die, that they revealed this through a concubine’s mouth, making her completely despair.

In her previous life, although Ye Yaming was very good at studying, she studied business and was a merchant at heart. Unlike the original owner, who appeared strong but was actually weak, loved to lament and fantasize and was a typical literary young woman.

So she didn’t want to keep the inkstone. If they lacked silver, she planned to sell it. She believed that Ye Hongsheng and Madam Yin would also be willing to turn it into silver. But since Old Madam Ye kindly offered to lend money to the second household, she naturally accepted the goodwill.

The inkstone would be kept for now. However, it needed to be stored carefully in her room to prevent Madam Yin from impulsively giving it to her father, Old Yin, which would be a significant loss.

She asked Nanny Yu, “Have Grandfather and Grandmother gone to rest?”

“Not yet,” Nanny Yu replied. “Old Master said it wouldn’t be good to keep Mr. Lu waiting too long, so it’s best to give a reply by tomorrow or the day after. He is still discussing the matter with the old madam and is waiting for your response.”

“Then I’ll go and speak with the elders,” Ye Yaming said.

When she arrived at the main courtyard, she saw that it was still brightly lit, and Ye Chongming and Old Madam Ye were sitting in the hall talking.

Ye Yaming entered, greeted them, and said, “Thank you, Grandfather and Grandmother, for your kindness and understanding towards our second household. And thank you, Grandmother, for being willing to lend us silver. I am very grateful.”

“No need to be so polite with your grandparents!” Old Madam Ye beckoned her over. “I guessed you would come, so I had the kitchen make sweet rice wine dumplings. Have a bowl first. Young people can walk back later and won’t have to worry about indigestion.”

Previously, Ye Madam Ye didn’t know what her third granddaughter liked to eat. Recently, she had paid special attention and found that Ye Yaming particularly liked the sweet rice wine dumplings made by the cook, so she had the kitchen make some.

Seeing them, Ye Yaming was indeed delighted. She had loved this dish in modern times. In ancient times, she discovered that the cook at the Ye family didn’t use the sweetest rice wine to cook the dumplings but let it ferment a bit longer, adding a slight sourness, and then cooked it with brown sugar, making the taste just right.

The small dumplings were not filled but solid, only the size of a pinky finger. The glutinous rice was mixed with something else, making them not too soft but slightly chewy and very delicious.

So whenever this sweet soup was on the table, she would have two bowls—the bowls used by the ladies of the Ye family were very small, so two bowls were nothing. If it weren’t for Madam Yin’s constant nagging about eating too much glutinous rice causing indigestion, she might have had a third bowl.

With the sweet soup served, Old Madam Ye naturally wouldn’t let her husband and herself just sit and watch, so she had the kitchen bring two bowls of porridge.

The three of them sat at the table and had a late-night snack.

There was no rule of ‘no talking while eating’ at the Ye family table, so Ye Yaming explained, “I was thinking that if Grandfather agrees with my proposal, I could ask my mother to go back to the Yin family tomorrow to borrow some silver from my grandfather and uncle, and pawn my mother’s and my sisters’ jewelry.”

She playfully winked at Old Madam Ye, “If it’s still not enough, I’ll shamelessly borrow from Grandmother. Once I break off the engagement with the Song family and get back the silver we’ve given them over the years, I can fill this gap.”

Since Old Madam Ye was lending money to the second household, she decided not to mention the inkstone to anyone. She needed to explain why she was confident that each household could come up with ten thousand taels of silver, so the elders wouldn’t think the second household couple had used any underhanded means to gather silver.

In all honesty, Ye Hongsheng was very honest and only took his regular monthly allowance, unlike Ye Hongchang and Ye Hongrong.

Ye Hongchang managed the tea house and tea shop in the capital, with monthly revenues of thousands or tens of thousands of taels. Even if a little leaked, he could gather a few thousand taels a year.

As for Ye Hongrong, he didn’t manage much but always demanded money for various purchases, going to the accounting office for silver. Since Old Madam Ye indulged him, he could always get one or two hundred taels a month. Even if the silver was spent, valuable items were always bought, and at least when pawned, the fourth household’s items were worth a lot.

Comparing Madam Yin with Madam Tao and Madam Zhang, the difference was even more pronounced. The latter two had substantial dowries, and their annual income from land and shops was considerable. No wonder Madam Yin always felt a bit inferior when facing her sisters-in-law. In short, it was a fact that the second household was the poorest.

Old Madam Ye was very pleased to hear Ye Yaming’s words. For some reason, although her third granddaughter was impressive now, she always felt a sense of distance from her. Now that Ye Yaming was willing to borrow silver without being polite, it showed closeness, which she was eager for.

She said, “Good, good, good.”

She added, “Tell me how much you need. Your grandmother’s dowry has been managed well, and there are some savings.”

Ye Chongming glanced at his wife. She always claimed to have no money, but now she was eager to give all her silver to the second household.

Ye Yaming could feel Old Madam Ye’s affection for her. She was someone who responded well to kindness. If someone treated her well, she would return the favor threefold.

She affectionately leaned closer to Old Madam Ye and said, “Alright, I’ll let my mother see how much silver we have tomorrow, and if there’s a shortfall, I’ll come to Grandmother.”

“Good, good, good,’ Old Madam Ye was satisfied.

Worried about indigestion, the late-night snack was small, and they finished quickly. After wiping their mouths and hands, the three of them returned to the hall.

Ye Yaming said to Ye Chongming, “Grandfather, when will you reply to Mr. Lu? I want to go with you to discuss the share ratio.”

“What’s the issue with the share ratio?” Ye Chongming asked.

“What if my father and I develop new teas in the future? How much of a share will these recipes get? Besides the recipes, I might also create new tea utensils for promotion. How much of a share will these get? I think we should clarify these things in advance to avoid any future disputes.”

Ye Chongming was momentarily stunned, not knowing how to answer Ye Yaming’s question. He hadn’t considered this issue before because, for generations, the Ye family had only refined the existing tea-making process, making the tea taste slightly better without creating new types of tea.

In his view, creating osmanthus tea was already a great achievement for the Ye family. Ye Yaming said she could make jasmine tea, but that was similar to osmanthus tea and couldn’t be considered another innovation.

As for chrysanthemum tea, it was more like a medicinal drink and couldn’t be considered a new type of tea.

Besides these, what other different teas could Ye Yaming create?