Glory

Ye Chongming was taken aback. "So soon?" he said, immediately feeling a wave of resistance.

Yet despite his reluctance, he knew his granddaughter was already seventeen—it was indeed time for her to marry. Even if they stuck to the original date in December, she would still have to wed. There was no way he could prevent it.

"Three months is tight," he remarked, "but it should be enough time to prepare the dowry."

Although he and Old Mrs. Ye wished to provide Ye Yaming with a generous dowry, they had to be fair. Tao Shi was already resentful that her husband and son had lost the family head position to Ye Yaming. If the elderly couple showed favoritism now, with Ye Yaqing and Ye Yaming marrying so close together, Tao Shi would surely cause trouble.

Thus, the dowry from the family coffers for Ye Yaming would be similar to what Ye Yaqing had received. Back when they were preparing Ye Yaqing's dowry, Old Mrs. Ye had also set aside a portion for Ye Yaming, since she was already betrothed and of marriageable age, with her wedding approaching soon.

So, even with the tight timeline, things wouldn't be too chaotic.

"You gave Yaqing such lavish additions to her dowry," Ye Chongming reminded her. "For yourself, make sure to prepare well. The family's contribution isn't much, so you should add more on your own."

"Yes, yes, of course," Ye Yaming nodded.

She had come to see Ye Chongming about another matter: "Tomorrow's meeting with Official Chen should primarily be handled by you. The price we initially quoted them was half a tael of silver per jin, or four hundred and fifty wen if we don't transport it to the border."

"Lately, I've been up in the mountains teaching the apprentices how to make tea, so I'm not sure if you've been keeping track of the situation. To achieve the level of Dark Tea I let you taste—fully fermented—it requires seventy days of pile fermentation. Any mistake during this process will ruin the tea. So, even though the raw materials aren't great, the effort involved is substantial."

"Seventy days?" Ye Chongming was astonished.

Watching Ye Yaming make Dragon Well Tea or Osmanthus Tea had always seemed effortless, taking less than half a day to complete. He never imagined the process for Dark Tea would be so complex.

Ye Yaming nodded. "Not only does it take time, but there's also loss involved. So, we absolutely cannot set the price too low—it shouldn't be less than three hundred and eighty wen."

She had calculated that the cost of producing this tea was under a hundred wen, but that was based on her being skilled and making no errors. Once the apprentices started learning, mistakes were inevitable, and she had to account for that.

She had promised not to profit from the court with the Dark Tea, but she couldn't start with too low an offer.

Human nature is complicated. Even if she quoted a hundred wen, some would still think the Ye family was making a hefty profit and try to drive the price down. By starting higher, she left room for the court to negotiate.

Next year or the year after, if Chen Zhen was promoted or transferred, and a new official took over, they would likely try to lower the price of the Ye family's Dark Tea to boost their own achievements, claiming to outperform Chen Zhen.

Setting a higher price now would give future administrators room to negotiate it down.

Moreover, the method of making Dark Tea couldn't be kept secret forever. The profits were too tempting; while tea merchants in Lin'an might not dare to act, officials and nobles in the capital would surely scheme to get involved.Therefore, the method of making Dark Tea would still be sold off when it couldn't hold up after a year or two. Others would have a higher error rate in tea production, so she had to leave some profit margin for them. Otherwise, if these people went through great lengths to obtain the tea formula but ended up making no profit, they might bear a grudge against Ye Jia out of spite.

Why should she give up her own profits to the court, only to incur the resentment of petty people? What was the point?

So the price of this tea couldn't be too low.

When Ye Chongming heard that he was to negotiate with Chen Zhen, he felt a chill run down his spine.

He said, "Tomorrow, you should talk to him. I'll tell him you're the next head of the family, and this matter will be handled by you."

Ye Yaming shook her head and said seriously, "Grandfather, if the emperor hadn't betrothed me to Lu Guanyi, it would be fine for me to negotiate with Minister Chen. But now that I've been granted the marriage, I hold the title of a fourth-rank Imperial Mandate. Minister Chen will surely use this as leverage to pressure me into yielding profits to the court. If I refuse, it could affect Lu Guanyi's future."

Ye Chongming was stunned. "What? How... how could they be so cunning?"

He had thought the betrothal was something Lu Guanyi had sought, and he had been overjoyed—marriages granted by imperial decree were generally difficult to annul, which provided an extra layer of security for Ye Yaming. Moreover, the noblewomen in the capital could no longer look down on her for being a merchant's daughter. After all, the emperor himself had praised Ye Yaming as "talented, beautiful, respectful, and dignified," a perfect match for Lu Guanyi. If outsiders still claimed Ye Yaming was unworthy of Lu Guanyi, wouldn't that be slapping the emperor in the face?

He never expected the court's betrothal was meant to silence Ye Jia.

This left Ye Chongming at a loss for words.

"They've even calculated this far. When the time comes, I'm afraid I won't be able to hold my ground," he said with a worried expression.

Ye Yaming analyzed it for him: "Minister Chen will surely say how difficult things are for Lu Guanyi at the border. If the Great Jin sells large quantities of low-priced Dark Tea to the Great Jin, the Jin people won't suffer hardships from buying tea, which greatly contributes to border stability. So he'll urge you to prioritize the greater good and not compete with the court for profits. Since this Dark Tea is made from old leaves and stems leftover from Dragon Well Tea production, you've already made a profit from Dragon Well. Moreover, the emperor has designated Dragon Well as Tribute Tea. Now that the court needs it, you should do your part by selling it to the court at a low price."

"Even if you say 380 coins is the cost price, he might use the price of Dragon Well to argue, suggesting you raise the price of Dragon Well and lower the price of Dark Tea."

The court paid for designating Dragon Well as Tribute Tea, but the tribute tea was already premium grade—how much could there be? In comparison, the volume of Dark Tea was much larger. No matter how high the price the court paid for Dragon Well, it couldn't make up for the losses on Dark Tea.

But if they put it that way, how could a mere merchant dare not comply? So one would have to yield.

Ye Chongming was indeed intimidated by Ye Yaming's hypothetical scenario.

"Then... then if he says that, what should I do?" He felt certain he wouldn't be able to withstand the pressure.

After all, having been a merchant all his life, he was used to bowing and scraping to officials. Now, to stand tall and negotiate face-to-face with a high-ranking court official was truly asking too much of the old man."He mentioned difficulties, so you should mention difficulties too," Ye Yaming said. "Just tell him that although the raw materials for Dark Tea aren't expensive, turning such ingredients into such a delicious tea requires tremendous effort in the tea-making process..."

Ye Yaming analyzed the situation point by point, teaching him how to respond.

Ye Chongming was an experienced old hand who had been in business his entire life. Under Ye Yaming's analysis, his mind settled.

"Alright, tomorrow I'll do as you say and hold firm on the price. Even if the court has difficulties, they can't expect us to operate at a loss and struggle to survive, right?"

"Exactly, that's the way," Ye Yaming said, quite satisfied with her persuasive effect.