Glory

However, thinking about Ye Hongchang's words, he still quite agreed with the reason why the Second Master was accepted by Imperial Consort Fan and others.

Indeed, after being in the business world for so long, they had learned to speak differently to different people and act somewhat slick and oily in their dealings. Imperial Consort Fan didn't even like those in official circles, let alone them.

Ye Hongchang looked at Ye Hongsheng talking with Fan Yu, sighed, and added: "When business was bad before, we worried; now that business is too good, we still worry. Look, with the New Year approaching, Second Brother and I were supposed to return to Lin'an, but now tea sets have suddenly become popular. I expect many people will come to buy tea sets in the coming days. It's fine if I'm not here, but if the Second Master isn't present, it would really be difficult to manage."

Huang Yaozu had been working with Ye Hongsheng during this period and had come to understand the Second Master's temperament.

He said: "The Second Master definitely wants to return for the New Year. He wouldn't stay in the capital just to sell more tea sets."

Ye Hongchang had been struggling with this dilemma, but upon hearing this, his hesitation vanished. He laughed: "That's true. My Second Brother is someone who values family and kinship deeply.For the Gathering Fragrance Pavilion in the capital now, the most important person wasn't him as the major proprietor, but rather his younger brother who had been poor at speaking since childhood. Since Second Brother wanted to return for the New Year, he naturally had to go back as well.

Thus, on the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month, Ye Hongchang and Ye Hongsheng hurried back from the capital.

The entire household was delighted.

"Father, you have no idea how famous our Gathering Fragrance Pavilion has become in the capital now," Ye Hongchang said excitedly after sitting down. "With the New Year celebrations, every household is hosting banquets, right? If they can purchase a tea set from our Gathering Fragrance Pavilion, arrange a tea setting according to Second Brother's method, brew some tea, and accompany it with qin and xiao music, praises for their elegance will naturally follow. Our tea set business is booming."

It should be noted that their tea sets weren't cheap. Mass-produced sets cost one hundred taels of silver each; particularly exquisite designs, limited to only five sets, could sell for five hundred taels of silver per set.

But the capital had many nobles and wealthy people. The higher the price, the more it showcased their status and wealth. Especially for people like Fan Yu and Tan Xuan - when they encountered something they particularly liked, they were willing to pay even more.

With their influence, the prestige of Gathering Fragrance Pavilion's tea sets was established. Everyone took pride in owning a set.

Particularly after that "Classic of Tea" spread through Fan Yu and his circle, capital nobles no longer dared to claim that loose tea was inferior and that only pressed tea could demonstrate status.

Ye Chongming immediately looked pleased and asked: "How did they evaluate that 'Classic of Tea'?"

Ye Hongchang recounted the praises he had heard. And the usually modest Ye Hongsheng, despite the book being written by his daughter, didn't remain silent but repeated what Fan Yu and others had said.

Ye Yaming had to reiterate: "I really didn't write this book. I dreamed of a man named Lu Yu writing it."

However, while writing this book, she had inserted her own additions.

During Lu Yu's era, pressed tea still dominated. If she had copied it directly, it wouldn't have suited Ye Yaming's purposes. So after the original content of "The Fifth: Brewing," she added a section on methods for brewing loose tea; after Lu Yu's criticism in "The Sixth: Drinking" that tea boiled with scallions and ginger was like "water discarded in drainage ditches," she added praise and endorsement for the flavor of loose tea.Additionally, since the Great Jin Dynasty is a fictional era, the "Seven Matters" section of The Classic of Tea had to be removed. Although Ye Yaming had gained some understanding of Great Jin's history through reading, it remained superficial, and her knowledge of its tea history and Tea Administration was particularly limited. Not daring to attempt rewriting this section, she simply deleted "Seven Matters" entirely.

She also made additions and revisions to parts where the tea descriptions did not align with Great Jin's reality. When she presented the completed work to Ye Chongming and Master Zhineng, she repeatedly emphasized that the book was authored by Lu Yu in her dreams. Yet, they still attributed the authorship to her. She eventually gave up arguing, as everyone had agreed—at her request—not to publicly claim she wrote it.

After they all passed away, only Lu Yu’s The Classic of Tea would remain in Great Jin’s tea history.

The Ye family had learned not to dispute this matter with Ye Yaming. Whether it came from a dream or not, since the book originated from her, it was considered written by a daughter of the Ye family.

Even if the true author wasn’t disclosed now, Master Zhineng knew, and eventually, it would be discovered. This would greatly benefit the reputation of Ye family’s tea.

"Did you finish writing the other book you mentioned? The Imperial Consort Fan has been pressing me for it. I told him the book was left in Lin’an and not brought along, but when Da Bo goes to the capital after the New Year, he’ll surely ask again," said Ye Hongsheng.

"It’s finished," Ye Yaming replied. "It’s about Tea Arrangement."

Growing up in a family business centered on tea, she had memorized The Classic of Tea, Tea Records, and Tea Commentary from a young age.

The earlier Classic of Tea only required her to transcribe from memory and make minor edits, costing little time or effort. With nothing else to do recently, she had focused solely on writing.

She had already discussed theories on Tea Arrangement extensively in letters to Ye Hongsheng. Organizing these ideas into a book of about ten thousand words wasn’t difficult for her. She drafted it in two or three days, revised it, and completed it within a week.

Since publishing didn’t require official approval or book numbers at that time, she simply wrote it, had Ye Jiaxing make three copies, bound them, and distributed one to Ye Chongming, one to Master Zhineng, and one to the capital.

Ye Chongming and Ye Hongsheng mentioned the book to tea enthusiasts at the Gathering Fragrance Pavilion in Lin’an and the capital, and soon people borrowed it to make copies. Thus, the book gradually spread.

Ye Yaming planned to focus on these two books for now, delaying others. Once spring arrived and she produced Pan-fired green tea for the market, she would release additional works.

"It’s finished? Let me see," Ye Hongsheng said eagerly.

Ye Hongchang was also looking forward to it.

Ye Chongming instructed Meng Ji, "Fetch it from my inner study."

Meng Ji hurried off and soon returned with the book.

Ignoring everything else, Ye Hongchang and Ye Hongsheng first checked the author’s name. Seeing "Ye Meng" written there, they both glanced up at Ye Yaming.

"Meng" referred to the dream source, and "Ye" was her surname. This pen name felt more appropriate and meaningful than "Lu Yu."

"This name is well chosen. It clearly indicates it was written by someone from our Ye family," Ye Hongchang finally expressed satisfaction.He had strong opinions about the author's name in "The Classic of Tea." Regardless of what the given name was, shouldn't the surname at least be Ye? If Ye Yaming wrote these books, wouldn't it make the reputation of Ye Jia tea more prominent and lend it more prestige? What was the meaning of naming the author "Lu Yu"?

He even speculated whether Ye Yaming admired Lu Guanyi so deeply that she wished to marry him and become Madam Lu. In that case, Ye Yaming would become Lu Ye Shi, so she might have preemptively used the surname "Lu" for the book.

If Ye Yaming knew how wildly he was speculating, she would undoubtedly be utterly speechless.