Glory

Even if a book were written in delicate, upright script with just a few lines per page, ten thousand characters would likely be enough to bind into a volume. And the knowledge and insights stored in her mind far exceeded tens of thousands of characters.

Moreover, she intended to promote the fame of Lu Yu, Xu Cishu, and others in this era by disseminating their works like The Classic of Tea and Tea Commentary.

Of course, she planned to include some of her own ideas along the way.

"Anyway, I'll give it a try. Once it's written, you can judge whether it's acceptable or not. There's no harm in trying."

Seeing his granddaughter so full of confidence, Ye Chongming felt equally expectant and naturally did not object.

"Very well. If you need anything, just let your grandfather know. If you require someone with exceptional literary talent to assist you, I can find a suitable person for you," he said.

Ye Yaming understood the implication behind Ye Chongming's words. He was worried that her abilities might be insufficient to write the book and wanted to arrange a ghostwriter.

However, her purpose in writing was not only to legitimize the knowledge she brought forth but also to popularize a few pen names, allowing them to lead the tea culture of the Great Jin Dynasty.

She planned to remain behind the scenes and avoid the limelight. But if circumstances ever demanded that she step forward to claim authorship of these pen names, she would do so without hesitation, preventing others from falsely taking credit. How could she allow someone else to write in her stead?

At the very least, these books were brought from another world. Aside from The Classic of Tea and Tea Commentary, she intended to write the other books herself. Every word and sentence were the result of her diligent study of predecessors' theories in her past life, combined with practical experience and her own insights. Why should she let opportunistic individuals falsely claim credit for them?

She didn't even want an editor. What if that person proved untrustworthy and claimed the books as their own? Faced with fame and fortune, how many could resist such temptation?

Although the books were still mere ideas and it was uncertain whether they would make even a ripple in the Great Jin Dynasty, let alone lead trends in tea culture, preventing problems before they arose had always been Ye Yaming's way of doing things.

Ye Yaming then brought up another issue: "As for your concern about the difficulty of managing distant locations, I think many areas in Huizhou Province are known for producing fine tea, and Fuzhou is relatively concentrated as well. We only need to open one tea house in each of those provincial capitals, then purchase mountains and land in the tea-producing prefectures and counties to cultivate tea, sending housekeepers to manage them."

"With the reputation of Ye Jia, as long as the tea tastes good, there will be no worry about sales. As for the housekeepers, both our family and the two young masters can each assign one to supervise each other, ensuring there are no issues. Even if management is somewhat lacking, it wouldn't be a serious problem."

"After all, the tea from those regions is of high quality, and their reputation will inevitably grow over time. By then, those tea mountains will become as precious and hard to acquire as the ones in Baiteng County. If we buy them early at very low prices, even if the tea cultivation doesn't yield much profit, we can still make a fortune by reselling the land."

Ye Chongming had been in business all his life, always hands-on in his approach. Merely managing the family's existing assets had exhausted him, and he often lamented having few grandsons and only one promising son.

Now, Ye Yaming was telling him that by simply deploying housekeepers and silver, they could make money—and he found it remarkably feasible. This was truly astonishing.

He stared at Ye Yaming for a long time, until she touched her face and asked, "Grandfather, what's wrong?"

Ye Chongming heaved a deep sigh, lamenting for the hundred and eighth time: "Why weren't you born a boy?"

Ye Yaming:In truth, she herself felt quite regretful. As a woman in modern times, she never felt there was anything particularly disadvantageous; but in this ancient era, she felt constrained at every turn.

Sometimes she even lamented why she hadn’t been reborn as a man.

While Ye Yaming peacefully stayed at home reading and writing, the weather gradually turned colder, and winter quietly arrived.

After two months of searching, Old Mrs. Ye still hadn’t found a suitable groom who lives with the bride's family for Ye Yaming.

"This one surnamed Ma has five sons at home, and the matchmaker recommended the fourth son. I saw the young man—he looks decent, articulate and quick-witted, and at first glance seemed quite good. But after talking with him for a while, I realized he’s a bit slick-tongued and not an honest sort."

"This one surnamed Chen is indeed honest, doesn’t talk much, and is quite shy. But his mother is not an easy one—her eyes dart around, and she treats her daughters-in-law very poorly at home. Even if we marry into his family with a groom who lives with the bride's family, we can’t very well forbid him from caring for his parents. If his family comes knocking every other day looking for handouts, that would be a nuisance."

"This one surnamed Gu has neither father nor mother and grew up relying on the kindness of others. But people like him are said to have a tough fate, and his birth chart is inauspicious—who knows if he might bring misfortune to his relatives?"

Old Mrs. Ye listed seven or eight candidates in total—all decent-looking, neither foolish nor dull, and generally close to Ye Yaming’s standards. Yet there was always some flaw or another.

Finally, she sighed, "Ah, why can’t we find a single one that’s truly satisfactory?"

At that moment, seated in the hall were the elderly couple Ye Chongming and Old Mrs. Ye, along with Yin Shi and her daughter Ye Yaming.

Yin Shi had no objections to Old Mrs. Ye personally selecting a groom who lives with the bride's family for Ye Yaming. She knew her own judgment was shallow and that she wasn’t as skilled at assessing people as the old lady. If the old lady was willing to take on the task, she was more than happy to let her.

After hearing about the candidates Old Mrs. Ye had mentioned, Yin Shi had no particular thoughts and turned to look at Ye Yaming.

"If they’re not satisfactory, just keep looking," Ye Yaming said, seeing everyone’s eyes on her. "Eldest sister hasn’t even been betrothed yet, and I’m only fifteen—what’s the rush?"

Seeing her indifferent attitude, Yin Shi worried that Old Mrs. Ye might be displeased and scolded, "Your grandmother has worn herself out worrying about your marriage—what kind of attitude is this?"

It was as if she were talking about someone else’s affair.

Ye Yaming also felt her tone had been too casual. She scratched her cheek and looked innocently at Old Mrs. Ye. "Grandmother, don’t worry. Perhaps my destined match hasn’t arrived yet."

Old Mrs. Ye couldn’t help but smile and said to Yin Shi, "The child just hasn’t awakened to such matters yet."

Ever since the broken engagement, whenever the topic of marriage came up, Ye Yaming had always shown an indifferent attitude, lacking the shyness typical of a young girl. In Old Mrs. Ye’s view, this was because she had been deeply hurt by Song Yifeng.

However, she couldn’t say this outright and could only attribute it to Ye Yaming not yet having awakened to such matters.

Ye Yaming added, "Grandmother, I won’t marry until I’m at least eighteen, so this matter really isn’t urgent. During this time, I didn’t stop you because families like the Yangs, Lis, and Lins all sent matchmakers to propose. By putting on a show of selecting a groom who lives with the bride's family, we could avoid trouble. Now that they’ve all given up, you can rest from the search. If a suitable one comes along, we can discuss it then."

In the past, the original host had been betrothed to Song Yifeng from an early age. Tao Shi had extremely high standards for Ye Yaqing’s marriage prospects and was also looking toward scholars. When tea merchants sent matchmakers to propose several times and saw that the Ye family wasn’t interested, they eventually gave up.