Glory

"Alright, that's enough for now. Bai Rui, light an incense stick and call me when it burns out." Ye Yaming said, picking up a book and settling onto the soft couch by the window to read.

Lü E was a year younger than Bai Rui and had a more lively temperament.

Following Bai Rui out the door and walking a distance away, she glanced around to ensure no one was nearby before whispering: "The way the young lady is making tea... it doesn't seem reliable to me, does it?"

Neither of them were Household Serfs of Ye Jia but rather children of Estate Holders from the Ye family's Tea Garden. They had watched their parents process tea since childhood and had never seen methods that involved neither steaming nor roasting.

Bai Rui shot her a glare: "The young lady has her reasons for doing it this way. Do you think you're wiser than her?"

Lü E puffed her cheeks: "I never said that."

She rolled her eyes: "Speaking of which, haven't you noticed the young lady seems different these past few days? It feels like she's changed."

Though Ye Yaming had tried to mimic the original host's habits, speech patterns, and mannerisms since crossing over, she ultimately wasn't the same person.

These subtle differences might escape Yin Shi and other Ye family members who only saw her once or twice a day, or even Xia Momo who had always kept some distance from the original host. But they couldn't escape the notice of Bai Rui and Lü E, who attended her closely.

The changes were minimal, and though Lü E felt puzzled, she dared not speak of it, thinking she might be overimagining things. Now, stirred by Ye Yaming's ability to make Osmanthus Tea, she couldn't help voicing her doubts.

Bai Rui grew even angrier at this: "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll tell the young lady."

Seeing Lü E's defiant expression, she sighed: "The young lady was gravely ill recently. After waking, she said she'd wandered near the gates of the underworld. In her delirium, she dreamed that Ye Jia fell into ruin, she was tortured to death by the Song family, and we both died too."

Lü E's face paled instantly: "Ah?"

Bai Rui quickly covered her mouth and glared.

Only when Lü E signaled she wouldn't make another sound did she release her, continuing: "They say visiting death's door changes a person's nature. Isn't it normal for the young lady's temperament to shift? Besides, people change as they grow, especially after trauma. Yet you keep inventing theories. If others overheard, who knows what trouble might arise."

Being more observant than Lü E, Bai Rui had noticed Ye Yaming's subtle differences earlier. But with Ye Yaming's explanation and her own reflections, she quickly accepted these changes.

Moreover, she knew that if these differences became known, it could cause turmoil. With Ye Jia already facing enough troubles lately, she buried her suspicions deep, never mentioning them to anyone.

After all, she could feel the young lady's kindness toward her and that she still trusted her deeply—that was enough.

Lü E hurriedly said: "Sister, don't worry. I only whispered this to you and will never mention it to another soul. But hearing you explain it, and thinking carefully, I believe you're right. After such a severe illness, having a great awakening and changing temperament is completely normal."

"Exactly."

At this, Lü E felt somewhat displeased: "Why did the young lady tell you those things but not me?"

"Isn't it because you're too careless and sometimes loose-lipped? That's why the young lady doesn't confide in you," Bai Rui retorted.Lve E quickly covered her mouth, her large eyes blinking rapidly. Bai Rui found this amusing and couldn't resist reaching out to poke her forehead.

Bai Rui went inside to fetch her embroidery hoop and settled on the beauty bench beneath the corridor eaves. While listening for any movement from Ye Yaming's direction, she watched the burning incense inside the room and began embroidering flowers with occasional stitches.

Inside the room, Ye Yaming waited until she heard the two maids fall silent before retreating with relief to the daybed beneath the northern window. She sat down and lowered her head to seriously read her book.

The original host, influenced by her maternal grandfather and Yin Shi, and being engaged to Song Yifeng, believed that poetry and literature represented true elegance. She strove to emulate great scholars, devoting most of her time and energy to studying classical texts. Ye Yaming, possessing her memories, had naturally inherited this knowledge. However, modern knowledge and vernacular Chinese dominated her thinking. To properly absorb and digest the poetry of this era, she needed to reread the books to reinforce her understanding.

Fortunately, books in this era were expensive and scarce. Since Ye Jia wasn't a scholarly family, their collection was extremely limited—the original host had only about a dozen books available to read. Ye Yaming could easily read through them multiple times with some effort.

After more than two hours, Bai Rui came to remind her that the time was up.

Ye Yaming stood up and approached the tea pile, feeling its temperature. Noticing it was slightly warmer than body temperature, she instructed the two maids to open up the tea pile and turn it over to allow heat dissipation.

Once the temperature had dropped somewhat, she gathered the leaves back into a pile for the second scenting process, ensuring the tea leaves evenly absorbed the fragrance.

"Like this," Ye Yaming explained to the two, "when the osmanthus flowers become wilted and turn purplish-red, and the tea leaves feel soft without sticking to your hands, it's ready."

Since both maids would remain with her until after her marriage before being released from servitude, and the osmanthus tea production would still require their assistance, Ye Yaming saw no reason to withhold the technique of making scented tea from them.

Within two or three years, Ye Jia could change its destiny and establish itself through this scented tea. By then, whether the technique spread elsewhere would matter less.

In modern times, everyone knows how various teas are made—one could even buy a tea-making machine to produce tea directly. Yet each family's tea tastes distinctly different, with prices varying greatly due to branding.

Therefore, teaching the two maids didn't worry Ye Yaming about potential negative impacts on Ye Jia's tea business after they married or left the household.

"Lve E, go add some charcoal to the stove in the corridor and light the fire. Bai Rui, help me sift out these spent flowers," Ye Yaming instructed.

The two maids immediately set to work.

After all the tea had been roasted into Osmanthus Tea and left to cool naturally indoors, the Osmanthus Tea was essentially complete. All that remained was to jar it at this same time tomorrow, finalizing the entire Osmanthus Tea production process.

...

Deep down, Ye Chongming didn't believe Ye Yaming could successfully produce Osmanthus Tea. Five generations back, Ye Jia were merely ordinary Estate Holders on tea mountains with just over a dozen mu of Tea Garden. Through gradual savings and generations of effort, they had accumulated their current wealth. Having produced tea for generations, the essence of tea had seeped into their bones.

Yet throughout all these years, they had never developed a new tea variety. Their most talented tea maker, Ye Hongsheng, had only managed to slightly improve the flavor of Ye Jia's tea. He tinkered constantly, striving for innovation, but always failed.

Now, fifteen-year-old Ye Yaming—who had never made tea before—suddenly wanted to try her hand at tea production. Ye Chongming considered it mere mischief.The idea seemed brilliant in his mind, but putting it into practice proved far more difficult, and the final result was utterly disappointing. Generations before him had also been young and hopeful about creating new teas, yet they too had been thoroughly disheartened in the end.