Glory

Upon hearing this, Princess Yu'an shook her head: "Your family's business is doing perfectly well. There's no need for me to get involved."

Ye Yaming replied somewhat apologetically, "To be perfectly honest, inviting Your Highness to join the business is also because there are too many powerful officials and nobles in the capital. Our Ye family has no foundation to speak of. Though we're fortunate to have an influential son-in-law, the young master is often stationed at the border and can't help us much. By inviting Your Highness to partner with us, we hope to use your esteemed name to ward off potential troubles."

She bowed to Princess Yu'an: "It was presumptuous of me to make such an excessive request. Please forgive my impertinence."

Hearing this, Princess Yu'an began to hesitate.

As members of the royal family, they never lacked for money. She had never been involved in business before and didn't know how to run one, originally wanting to avoid taking advantage of others. But if Ye Yaming was asking for her help...

She turned to look at Princess Yu Ning.

Princess Yu Ning, however, understood that Ye Yaming was doing this for her sake, wanting to help her widowed elder sister. If they could open such a large teahouse, how could they not manage a pastry shop? As for connections, the customers of this teahouse would naturally become the Ye family's network. Especially with the membership cards they introduced - the top two hundred most powerful families in the capital would all be captured by the Ye family.

Ye Yaming was only saying this to prevent her sister from feeling burdened.

So she urged: "Second Royal Sister, please agree to Yaming's request. You're my elder sister, and I treat Yaming as my own younger sister. Since you have nothing to do at home anyway, why not help her?"

Princess Yu'an had the softest disposition. Her biological mother, having borne no sons, was not favored and had no foundation in the court, making her practically invisible in the palace. To survive, Princess Yu'an had always tried to maintain a low profile.

Princess Yu Ning, being the Empress's daughter, was the most favored. Once, when she happened to see Yu'an being bullied by eunuchs and palace maids, not only did the younger princess immediately stand up for her, but also reported the incident directly to the Emperor.

The reason her later days in the palace were so comfortable was entirely due to this younger royal sister.

Later, when she suffered mistreatment from her husband after marriage, it was again this younger sister who helped her.

She held deep gratitude for Princess Yu Ning's kindness toward her. Not to mention such a small favor - even if it were a much greater request, she wouldn't hesitate.

She said: "Alright then, I'll take a share."

Only then did Princess Yu Ning release her, winking at Ye Yaming.

Ye Yaming curtsied: "Yaming thanks Your Highness, Princess Yu'an."

Just then, more people emerged from inside. Princess Yu Ning waved at Ye Yaming: "Well, we'll be going now. I'll send an invitation in a few days to invite you and General Lu for a gathering at my residence."

With that, she waved again and briskly led Princess Yu'an to their carriage.

Tan Xuan, being a food enthusiast, insisted on staying for lunch after learning that the food served here was something he had never tasted before.

Princess Yu Ning, concerned that staying too long might annoy Yu'an and prevent her from coming again, instructed her servants to inform Fan Yu after learning the men would stay for lunch. She then left first with Yu'an, leaving her husband behind.

By now, most of the female guests had departed, leaving only An Jingning and Pingyang. Ye Yaming guessed that An Jingning was avoiding her and hadn't left yet to avoid confrontation.

She said to Bai Rui: "I'm going to rest in the rear residence. If anything comes up, you can find me there. If Princess Pingyang and Miss An of Zhenbeihou say not to disturb me, there's no need to report to me. Just see them out directly."

"Yes, miss."Because the estate was far from the city, the employees would stay here without returning home. Since the land here was cheap, Ye Yaming had specifically built two additional residences nearby—one for the staff and another for the masters to rest in.

Although these two residences were connected to the teahouse, their doors were usually kept locked.

Ye Yaming went to the residence.

After she had eaten and taken a nap, it was nearly Shenshi (around 4 p.m.) when Lu Guanyi finally returned.

"Are there still guests?" Ye Yaming asked.

"No, they've all left."

Today was the opening day, and only those who had received invitations were invited. Therefore, there were no walk-in guests. Starting tomorrow, the teahouse would be open for the entire day.

"What about my father and Qi Gongzi?" Ye Yaming asked again.

"They went to rest in the front courtyard. They'll return to the city with us later."

Lu Guanyi washed his face and hands, changed his clothes, and came over to embrace Ye Yaming. "How was your day? Did anyone bully you?"

With him present and Fan Yu's group being particularly friendly to Ye Hongsheng, naturally, no one among the male guests dared to cause any trouble.

However, the situation was different among the female guests. Both Lu Guanyi and his father-in-law, Ye Hongsheng, had been worried all day, fearing that Ye Yaming might be mistreated.

But given the distinctions between men and women, and with many distinguished guests at the teahouse and numerous taboos to consider, they couldn't even send too many servants to inquire about the situation. They had no choice but to restrain their anxiety and focus on socializing.

"How could that be?" Ye Yaming laughed. "Princess Yu Ning has been protecting me all along."

"But..." she then told Lu Guanyi about Madam Li, the wife of the Prime Minister, asking for the recipe.

Lu Guanyi snorted coldly. "You did the right thing. Civil officials and military generals are naturally not on the same side. If you had really given her the recipe, it would have caused trouble."

Ye Yaming nodded. Of course, she was aware of this.

She also told him about her conversations with Princess Yu Ning and the others regarding matrilocal marriage and Lu Guanyi's marriage proposal.

Emotionally, she was an exceptionally rational person. Although she had married Lu Guanyi and the two had seemed deeply in love these past few days, she always maintained a clear head.

This was her only marriage across two lifetimes, and unless something unexpected happened, she would spend the rest of her life in this ancient era with Lu Guanyi. Having a harmonious and amicable relationship was far better than constantly being at odds.

Therefore, even though her words and actions had their own reasoning, she needed to explain them clearly to Lu Guanyi to avoid misunderstandings.

After finishing, she explained, "You married a merchant's daughter, so there must be many people in the capital who are very curious about me. It's better to let people think I'm simple-minded than to know I'm shrewd. The Xuanwu Marquis Household can't afford to have another formidable mistress."

Shi Shi was the youngest legitimate daughter of Duke Wei and the biological younger sister of Empress Shi. With strong family support and environmental influences, she was extremely proud and strong-willed.

However, after going to great lengths to marry Lu Zhongyong, his constant absence from home made her realize his feelings, which led to resentment. Her temperament grew increasingly extreme, and she became a very domineering and formidable woman.

Now that the Xuanwu Marquis Household had a mistress, she did not want the label of "formidable," which she had once heard from Qi Ji, to become her own tag.

Was Princess Yu Ning not formidable? Perhaps when faced with challenges, her methods could be astonishing—after all, no one who came from the palace was naive. Yet, the image she presented to the world was one of straightforwardness and lack of cunning. Such a person was someone everyone was willing to befriend.Ye Yaming also hoped that her first impression on the noblewomen of the capital would not be one of shrewdness and cunning, but rather an image akin to that of Princess Yu Ning.