Glory

Pressed tea is infused with spices, making it extremely expensive and a beverage only the wealthy can afford. It is hailed as a symbol of prosperity, which is why it is so highly sought after by the upper class.

The Ye family has been in the tea business for generations, relying on their tea-making craftsmanship. Ye family's pressed tea is renowned even in the capital.

The reason Meng Chengwei targeted the Ye family instead of buying tea directly from the Tea Monopoly Bureau is that the bureau only sells crude tea. This crude tea requires further refining and processing into other tea varieties to fetch a good price. Meng Chengwei was after the Ye family's tea-making expertise.

However, Ye Yaming, who is accustomed to drinking pure tea in modern times, had little appreciation for this spiced pressed tea.

As a leader in a tea enterprise, she was familiar with how pressed tea was made. Many modern tea researchers had replicated and studied the pressed tea of the Song Dynasty. On the carriage ride back today, she had questioned Ye Hongsheng in detail. Although she hadn’t had time to visit the tea house, she had gained a thorough understanding of the production process of pressed tea.

She reasoned that since pressed tea is made by compressing tea juice, if Meng Chengwei mixed moldy tea directly into the tea leaves to form the tea cakes, the entire cake would carry a moldy odor. Not only would long-time customers notice, but even Ye Hongrong would not be fooled.

Although Ye Hongrong was a spendthrift, he came from a family of tea experts. Since his teens, Ye Chongming had forced him to train in the tea factory and tea house, so he could distinguish good tea from bad. Otherwise, Ye Chongming would not have dared to appoint him as a housekeeper in the tea house.

Moreover, typical pressed tea usually has a hole in the center, much like a coin, with the hole being either square or round for easy handling and carrying. Additionally, pressed tea is generally small, with one cake being a single serving.

However, Meng Chengwei’s batch of tea had solid centers that were slightly raised, and the tea cakes were somewhat larger than usual. When the seller had presented them to Ye Hongrong, the explanation given was that it was to accommodate an attractive mold. These tea cakes were pressed into the shape of a peony, with the raised center representing the flower’s stamen, making them quite visually appealing.

In this era, people prepare pressed tea by first roasting it over a fire, then placing it in a paper bag and using a small hammer to crush it through the bag. The crushed tea is then ground into powder in a mortar, sifted, and whisked into foam in a tea bowl before drinking.

Therefore, even if only a small moldy portion was hidden in the center of the tea cake, it would blend into the mixture during preparation, and the moldy taste would only be detected when drinking.

Thinking this, Ye Yaming took a small knife, intending to pry open the tea cake to inspect its contents.

However, pressed tea uses glutinous rice paste or licorice paste as a binder, making it extremely hard and compact. Ye Yaming called for a strong maid, and with great effort, they managed to pry the tea open.

Once the tea cake was split open, a small, dark-colored portion of moldy tea was revealed.

This portion had clearly been pre-formed into a hard, small cake and then combined with other tea juice to create the new tea, so it remained distinctly separate from the outer layer. Ye Yaming examined the tea adjacent to it and found that the surrounding tea had not absorbed the moldy smell.

She placed the separated tea into a paper bag, had the maid roast, grind, and whisk it, then tasted it carefully.

Because the pressed tea contained spices, and the spice flavor was quite strong, it masked the moldy taste. In short, she couldn’t detect any moldiness.

Ye Yaming then sent the maid to summon Ye Hongsheng and showed him the separated tea.The moment Ye Hongsheng came into contact with tea, it was as if he had transformed into a different person—even his demeanor changed. Gazing at the separated tea leaves, his expression was intensely focused, and the scholarly elegance of a researcher became even more pronounced.

It was around five o'clock in the afternoon, but in mid-autumn, the sky had already darkened.

He had a maid bring two lamps over and meticulously sifted through the tea leaves, discovering that indeed, there wasn't a single speck of mold on them, and they carried no unusual odor.

After brewing a pot and finding the flavor quite acceptable, he exclaimed joyfully, "This tea can still be processed and sold as powdered tea."

Ye Yaming nodded, "Yes, it's good to reduce the losses as much as possible."

In this era, powdered tea referred to tea powder—tea that had failed during the production of pressed tea due to improper shaping or other reasons, which was then roasted, ground, and packaged for sale. Naturally, its price was much lower than that of pressed tea.

Pressed tea wasn't like modern tea cakes, which could be steamed and re-pressed to salvage some value, albeit with a diminished flavor. These hard, solid blocks were impossible to reprocess and could only be handled this way.

"Come, let's take this tea and go see your grandfather," Ye Hongsheng said, standing up. "We should give him the good news early so he can sleep peacefully tonight."

The Ye family had suffered heavy losses that day. If something went wrong with Ye Hongchang's efforts to recover the tea silver, even if the family didn't collapse entirely, next year's business would be severely impacted. Being able to recoup some of the losses would be a comfort to Ye Chongming.

Father and daughter took the tea and headed to the main courtyard.

Ye Chongming was particular about his health and would take a walk around the residence every day after meals. That day, however, with the family crisis, having returned to discipline Ye Hongrong with a dozen lashes and then quarreling with Old Madam Ye, he was feeling unwell and intended to rest in his study in the front courtyard.

On his way there, he encountered Ye Hongsheng and his daughter.

"Let's go to the study," Ye Chongming said, unwilling to see Old Madam Ye again.

Once the three of them were in the study, Ye Hongsheng explained the situation and showed the tea leaves to Ye Chongming.

If his second son vouched for the tea, Ye Chongming didn't need to inspect or taste it to know it was good.

He nodded, "Alright, let's do as Ming'er suggested." Turning to Ye Hongsheng, he added, "Tomorrow, take this batch to the tea factory and have the workers process it."

The tea-picking season on the tea mountains had ended, and the workers at the tea factory were idle. This was the perfect time to handle this batch of tea.

Noticing that the furrow in Ye Chongming's brow hadn't eased much, Ye Yaming asked, "Grandfather, do our tea house and tea shop now have very little quality tea left to sell?"

Although Ye Hongrong's mistake had been rectified, the Ye family had spent a considerable amount on silk to compensate for it. The batch of tea, if not for the moldy portion, was of high quality and bought at a low price, and Ye Hongrong had purchased a large quantity.

Though the number of tea buyers wasn't high, those who bought this tea were bargain hunters, with some hoarding dozens to hundreds of chests, likely intending to resell them.

As a result, the compensation paid by the Ye family was no small sum. Since merchants typically didn't keep large amounts of idle cash on hand—preferring to invest in land, shops, or tea gardens—Ye Yaming estimated that the family might have nearly exhausted their savings this time.If Ye Hongchang fails to retrieve the Tea Silver, the losses to Ye Jia will be even more severe.