Glory

Ye Chongming took his position at the head of the room before smiling at Jin Baoshan. "Brother Jin, no need for formalities. Please take a seat."

Jin Baoshan breathed a sigh of relief and sat in the seat below Ye Chongming.

Meng Ji directly fetched a chair from an unoccupied spot for Ye Yaming, having her sit to the right and slightly behind Ye Chongming.

The others, observing this, took their seats with varied thoughts.

To break the awkward atmosphere in the room, Jin Baoshan made small talk: "Chongming, is this your granddaughter?"

Ye Chongming replied, "Ming'er, greet Elder Jin and the uncles." He then introduced everyone present one by one.

Ye Yaming rose and bowed to the group. "Yaming pays her respects to Elder Jin and all the uncles."

"Haha, no need for such courtesy."

"You're too kind."

"What a dignified and graceful niece. Elder Ye, your family truly has fine features."

The room filled with polite exchanges.

Eager to ease their earlier guilt over speaking ill of the Ye family and to foster goodwill, the guests began pulling out jade pendants and other small trinkets they carried, intending to give them to Ye Yaming as meeting gifts.

"No need," Ye Chongming interrupted their rummaging. "My granddaughter Yaming is the next head of the Ye family. There's no need to treat her as a junior—meeting gifts are unnecessary."

Except for Jin Baoshan, who already knew, the others were so shocked they nearly dropped their jade pendants.

"What? Brother Ye, are you serious? Isn't your eldest son Ye Hongchang the next head of the Ye family?" Yan Zhengtao, the only other elder in the room besides Ye Chongming and Jin Baoshan, asked in astonishment.

Those quick-witted immediately recalled the mysterious marriage that had set Lin'an abuzz with gossip.

"The head of the Ye family is chosen by capability. Hongchang voluntarily stepped aside, yielding the position to my third granddaughter."

At the mention of "third granddaughter," everyone confirmed that this young lady was indeed the one involved in that marriage—Third Miss Ye, the eldest daughter of the Ye family's second branch.

What kind of marriage had this Third Miss Ye entered into? To have displaced her uncle, the current head, and taken control of the entire Ye family assets at such a young age—she was truly formidable.

Jin Baoshan laughed heartily. "Third Miss Ye is accomplished beyond her years. At a young age, she authored 'Tea Arrangement,' earning much praise from scholars and connoisseurs in the capital. I've also heard her tea-making skills are no less than her father's. Compared to Third Miss Ye, my sons and grandsons seem utterly unremarkable. Capability determines leadership—the Ye family truly lives up to its century-old legacy as a tea dynasty."

His words triggered a flurry of effusive praise in the room. Each person sounded utterly sincere, as if they hadn't been indignantly condemning the Ye family moments earlier.

Ye Chongming raised a hand. "I'm here today for several matters. Besides announcing that my third granddaughter is the next head of the Ye family, I also want to assure everyone that our spring tea orders next year will remain unchanged from previous years. There's no need to worry about me taking more than my share or cursing me behind my back."

His words left the guests looking sheepish, but inwardly, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"Additionally, all of you here have tasted our Dragon Well Tea, haven't you?"

The mention of Dragon Well Tea shifted the room's atmosphere subtly.

Jin Baoshan said, "Naturally. I sampled it as soon as your Pre-Qingming Tea was released and later bought some to savor slowly."He sighed, "Truly worthy of being Tribute Tea, the flavor is beyond compare. Even the autumn tea currently flooding the market tastes better than our pre-Qingming loose tea."

Someone behind him secretly curled their lips in disdain.

This old fellow Jin Baoshan, if nothing else, was a master of flattery. Today, he seemed determined to kiss up to the Ye family and sing their praises.

But Ye Chongming's next words stunned the half-formed sneer on that person's face: "If any of you want the secret tea-making recipe, I'll sell it to you for thirty to fifty thousand taels of silver. My second son will personally teach it—

Thirty thousand taels for three apprentices, fifty thousand for six. Each batch teaches twelve people, first come first served." Upon hearing this, everyone was incredulous.

"Th-thirty to fifty thousand?" someone stammered.

"Yes," Ye Chongming nodded.

Jin Baoshan's eyes immediately gleamed with gold, and he shouted, "I'll buy the fifty-thousand-tael one!"

His shout jolted the others awake, and almost simultaneously, they cried out: "I want the fifty-thousand-tael one too!"

"I also want to buy it!"

No wonder they were shocked. Ever since the Ye family hinted they would sell the tea-making recipe, everyone had been guessing the price. Estimates ranged no lower than a hundred thousand, with some guessing over two hundred thousand taels.

After all, this was a secret tea-making recipe—something that could be passed down as a family heirloom. The reason they could be tea merchants was precisely because they possessed such recipes.

Many knew the methods for making pressed tea and loose tea were like this, let alone the unique Dragon Well tea recipe that had just been designated as Tribute Tea.

Thirty to fifty thousand taels—and it wasn't just handing over the recipe for you to figure out on your own, with success depending entirely on your own skill. Instead, Ye Hongsheng would teach it personally. This was practically a steal! Was the Ye family running a charity?

Someone who had remained silent earlier, thinking themselves the only sober one in a drunken crowd, voiced skepticism: "Fifty thousand taels? With Second Master Ye teaching personally? What other conditions do you have? Lay them all out now, so no one feels they're getting too good a deal."

This stirred doubt in everyone's hearts.

"No other conditions. Just fifty thousand taels to teach six people," Ye Chongming said.

"How many days of teaching?"

"Ten days. We guarantee teaching until mastery. As for how well the tea turns out in the end, that's something my second son can't promise. You're all in this trade—you know some have natural talent, others don't. Even with the same tea-making method and the same master, some apprentices' tea just doesn't capture the right flavor."

Everyone nodded.

This was true. Sometimes, one master teaching two apprentices could produce results as different as heaven and earth.

As for ten days—this timeframe was acceptable to everyone. Pressed tea involved complex steps, and ten days was enough to produce one batch. Moreover, Ye Chongming guaranteed teaching until mastery.

"I understand your concerns. Let me be clear upfront: I'm not selling this tea-making recipe to just one or two people. I'll sell it to anyone who pays. From now on, Dragon Well tea will become a common commodity."At this point, his expression darkened as he swept a glance around the room: "Do you think developing a secret tea-making recipe is easy? My second son and this granddaughter of mine have spent years working on it, barely eating or sleeping, before finally perfecting this Dragon Well Tea. And what happens? You just reach out to take it—resorting to all sorts of despicable tricks to steal or snatch it recently. I’ve been forced into a corner, left with no choice but to cut my losses and sell the tea formula cheap. Take it or leave it!"

"Brother Shen!"

"Hmm!"

As Shen Changqing walked along the road, he would greet acquaintances he met with a nod or a brief exchange.

But regardless of who it was,

everyone’s face bore an expression devoid of excess emotion, as if indifferent to everything.

To this,

Shen Changqing had grown accustomed.

Because this was the Demon Suppression Division, an institution dedicated to maintaining the stability of Great Qin. Its primary duty was to slay demons, monsters, and supernatural beings, though it also handled some side endeavors.

It could be said

that every person in the Demon Suppression Division had blood on their hands.

When one has witnessed life and death too often, they become indifferent to many things.

When Shen Changqing first arrived in this world, he found it hard to adjust, but over time, he grew used to it.

The Demon Suppression Division was vast.

Those who could remain in the Demon Suppression Division were either formidable experts or individuals with the potential to become experts.

Shen Changqing belonged to the latter category.

Within the Demon Suppression Division, there were two main roles: the Garrison Envoy and the Demon Subduing Envoy.

Every person who entered the Demon Suppression Division started at the lowest level as a Demon Subduing Envoy,

advancing step by step, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Garrison Envoy.

Shen Changqing’s predecessor had been a probationary Demon Subduing Envoy in the Demon Suppression Division, the lowest rank among the Demon Subduing Envoys.

With the memories of his predecessor,

he was very familiar with the environment of the Demon Suppression Division.

It didn’t take long for Shen Changqing to stop in front of a pavilion.

Unlike the other solemn and murderous areas of the Demon Suppression Division, this pavilion stood out like a crane among chickens, exuding an unusual tranquility amidst the pervasive bloodshed of the division.

At that moment, the pavilion’s door was wide open, with people occasionally entering and exiting.

After only a brief hesitation, Shen Changqing stepped inside.

Upon entering the pavilion,

the atmosphere abruptly changed.

The scent of ink, mingled with a faint trace of blood, assailed his senses, causing him to instinctively furrow his brows before quickly relaxing them.

The scent of blood that clung to everyone in the Demon Suppression Division was almost impossible to wash away completely.