"What’s wrong?" Elder Gu asked, puzzled.

"It’s nothing."

Ye Qianning raised her hand to pour tea for the two of them. "Have some tea to calm down."

Dean Chen casually picked up his teacup. He had been worrying about the girl’s future marriage for some time now, thinking he should start making plans early. Who would have thought that things would come to a head just half a month later?

The moment the tea touched his lips, he froze. As he savored it, a look of utter surprise filled his eyes.

"Little girl, if you want to deal with the Prime Minister’s estate, you don’t have to worry about the Gu family. Prime Minister Gao’s daughter is of truly terrible character. I will absolutely not allow her to be entered into our family’s ancestral records." Having witnessed the affair with the Xiang family’s old matriarch, Elder Gu had become much more cautious about the women his descendants married.

He had seen Gao Yunyue’s conduct for himself that day. The Gu family were merchants, while the Prime Minister’s family held official, high-ranking positions. Naturally, the Gu family couldn’t compare.

One could only imagine the chaos Gao Yunyue’s temperament would cause if she married into their family; the Gu family would be in constant turmoil.

"It’s better to tear down a temple than to ruin a marriage. If they are truly in love, Elder Gu, you shouldn’t stand in their way so vehemently." Ye Qianning felt that part of the reason for Elder Gu’s strong opposition was because of her.

Gao Yunyue’s character was indeed poor, but in this era, wasn’t a wife supposed to defer to her husband after marriage? Take Gao Yunqin, for example. The moment she saw things were going wrong that day, she fled quickly.

Because she knew that if she had gotten involved, the Yunnan Marquis would have been implicated as well.

"Sigh." Elder Gu sighed, deeply agitated.

"Drink your tea. As they say, your children will make their own way in life. You’re getting on in years; wouldn’t it be nice to just focus on your health and go fishing?" Ye Qianning nudged his teacup toward him.

Elder Gu always did love listening to the little girl. He picked up his cup and downed it in one gulp.

"I would love to just tend to my flowers and go fish— Huh?" Belatedly, he smacked his lips a couple of times. The flavor was rich and mellow, with an endless aftertaste.

He smacked his lips a few more times, his gaze falling to his cup. This tea was simply incredible—even better than the tribute teas.

He had downed it all without savoring it, so he couldn’t even tell what kind of tea it was.

Dean Chen, on the other hand, was savoring it carefully. The more he drank, the richer and more mellow he found it. "What kind of tea is this?"

"It’s not any special kind of tea. It doesn’t have a name," Ye Qianning said.

The tea leaves were tender shoots picked from a tea plant she had grown in her space a few days ago. She had originally wanted to save more to roast in the large cauldron. However, when the pills were finished three days ago, the cauldron was still quite hot, so she had tossed the tea shoots she had on hand in to roast as well.

’It’s not really a fine tea, so I never thought about giving it a name.’

Dean Chen and Elder Gu exchanged a look.

"If this doesn’t count as a fine tea, then what does?" Elder Gu was a great tea lover. He had tried teas from all over the country and had even drunk plenty of tribute teas, but he had never tasted one this good.

Dean Chen agreed. "It’s even more fragrant and mellow than the tribute teas."

"If you like it, I have a few more packets." Ye Qianning hopped off her chair and walked toward the bookshelf. When the two men weren’t looking, she took the tea leaves out of her space.

Elder Gu and Dean Chen took the tea, opened the packets, and sniffed the faint, pleasant aroma.

"Where did you buy this? The Gu family also deals in tea, but I’ve never seen this variety before," Elder Gu asked.

"Luo Wen bought it. I don’t know where the tea is from, either. For now, Elder Gu and Master can have these. When I find something better, I’ll prepare more for you both." Ye Qianning knew that old men loved tea. Her space was too small, so she had only planted one bush.

’I could have made much better tea leaves. But I just took advantage of the leftover heat a few days ago and made this rough batch. If I had roasted them carefully, the flavor would have been several times better than this.’

’Since it wasn’t a fine tea, I hadn’t planned on giving it to them. I never expected they would like it so much after just one cup.’