Original subtitles

So many people.

What time is it already?

My legs are going numb from standing.

Me too.

My young lady is taking the Imperial Academy exam,

so she had me come early before dawn to buy tea.

She said she needs Qing Ruxu tea

to clear her mind.

Can you believe it?

They're opening! They're opening!

Don't rush, don't rush.

Everyone, please wait a moment.

I'll take five jin of Five-Colored Beauty.

And ten jin of Luo Qiuxian.

I was here first!

I want fifteen jin of Hongchen Dream and Qing Ruxu.

Everyone, everyone, please!

Everyone.

There is a limited amount of tea today.

Only ten jin.

Please, take your time.

Take your time.

Make way, make way!

No, I want it all!

Don't rush, don't rush.

I was here first!

Ten jin is way too little.

I am from the imperial merchant Lin family.

We have a business deal worth over two thousand taels

to discuss with your boss.

Our Han family is willing to offer two thousand taels of silver

just to meet the owner of the Tea Pavilion.

Two thousand taels just for a meeting?

The Han family truly is the top family in Dajing.

Even the Han family is getting involved.

Looks like we have no chance now.

This...

I can't make the decision on this.

I'll go ask for instructions first.

Sorry, everyone, please wait a moment.

Young Master

Young Master

A lot of guests have indeed arrived outside.

I told them everything as you instructed.

But some of them not only want to buy tea,

they also want to discuss business with you.

As expected.

Dabai

Just focus on selling tea.

The rest has nothing to do with us.

But people from the Han family have come too.

They even brought two thousand taels of silver.

They want to meet you in person.

What’s so special about the Han family?

Aren’t they all just trying to take over my tea house?

They’re no different from other merchants.

You really do have great ambition.

You even ignore the Han family’s offer.

You don’t take it seriously at all.

Jiang Yun

It’s settled.

But they don’t trust me.

How could that be?

You’re not like those outsiders who want to take advantage.

You’re different.

How much?

There are hundreds of royal shops across the entire region.

Do you know what status my Han family holds?

How could a small tea house like yours

afford to be negligent?

I’m truly sorry.

Our young master

does have important matters to attend to.

Sorry, sorry.

Now that he's gone, I want to—

I want to, I want to—

Don't rush, don't rush. Everyone, calm down.

Hundreds of royal shops.

How did you manage that?

My father helped me with it.

Who's your father?

That's a secret.

It's related to Dajing's security.

Confidential personnel.

There's something I don't understand.

The tea brewed at Nung Tea Pavilion—

has already spread through the Eighth Poetry Gathering

and become known throughout all of Dajing.

The idea of drinking tea and reciting good poetry

has deeply taken root in people's hearts.

So that scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants across Dajing

are all eager to buy it.

But why do you

only sell ten jin to the public each day?

Wouldn't that

be wasting the profits you could make?

You don't get it, do you?

Other tea shops

always try to sell quickly for a good price after becoming famous.

They all want to cash in fast.

But Nung Tea Pavilion

can actually resist such temptation.

It seems they have bigger plans.

This is called "hunger marketing."

Hunger marketing?

See, so many people want to buy it but can't.

Those who really want to drink it

will find other ways to get it, won't they?

Of course, we'll raise the price for upgrades.

You mean,

once our branch stores open,

and Tea Pavilion is all over the region,

that's when the real profits come in.

At that time, we just need to

raise the price by about twenty percent.

We can't make it so regular people can't afford tea.

Then we'll divide the tea

into high, medium, and low grades.

So everyone can benefit.

Young Master Xiao, you are truly kind.

Young Master,

I'm getting more and more interested in him.

So next,

since we can't meet,

let's try inviting him another way.

A gentleman makes money the right way.

But you,

helped me solve the supply issue.

That's how we got rich overnight.

If you don't let me down,

I won't let you down either.

Alright.

Miss Jiang,

you're truly my lucky star.

Young Master Xiao, let go.

Again?

If I don't hit you harder,

you'll never learn your lesson.

I got too excited, way too excited.

Sorry about that.

You're my top partner.

Young Master Xiao is solving the people's problems in the region.

As one of the owners of Tea Pavilion,

doing what I can

is only right.

I have something to do, so I'll go first.

You're leaving already?

I haven't finished talking yet.

I gave you three years.

The Su family's salt tea business

and you let it end up like this.

Only ten jin sold in seven days.

Patriarch.

It's mainly because of the milk tea from Nongcha Pavilion.

Our salt tea business

has indeed been affected.

You make it sound easy.

Is it just "some" impact?

This concerns whether the Su family next year

can remain among the top three imperial merchants.

Patriarch.

I will go and ask Young Master Wei.

His father is the Assistant Minister of Revenue.

I'm willing to bring generous gifts to request a meeting.

Ask him to grant the salt tea trading rights of the three southern Su prefectures

all to the Su family.

We agreed to meet at Shen hour.

Why the unexplained delay?

Let me have a sip of water first.

What about the tea attendants you asked for before?

They've all been hired.

With so many shops,

how can we get them all running?

Young Master Xiao.

Have you already come up with a plan?

Of course.

Great.

Reliable.

Why don't we make an agreement?

What kind of agreement?

We keep calling each other "Young Master Xiao" and "Miss Jiang,"

which sounds distant and troublesome.

Why don't we just use each other's names?

Xiao Ning.

Jiang Yun.

Xiao Ning

There's something I don't understand.

I heard you've already married.

Why have you never mentioned your wife?

Jiang Yun, you don't have to spare my feelings.

I'm a live-in son-in-law.

Even as a live-in son-in-law, a couple can still get along.

But the Su family doesn't think much of me.

I'm just a bankrupt Xiao family's son-in-law to them.

If I weren't worried about making things hard for my father,

I would have moved out of the Su family long ago.

Do you all know

what's most important in the art of tea?

Is it the tea-making skills?

Wrong.

Is it the quality of the tea?

Wrong.

I know!

It must be the tea philosophy that Young Master Xiao often talks about.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

It's beauty.

In the service industry,

the most important thing

is to make the guests feel beauty.

The tea tastes good, the people look good,

and the manner is elegant and graceful.

Only these can let the guests

enjoy themselves during the tea tasting.

and feel happy.

Don't just stand there like wooden dolls.

You are the first group of tea ladies

at my Tea Pavilion.

I'm counting on you

to go all over the country

and train students for me.

Alright, alright.

Just follow my lead and learn.

Come on.

Chin up.

Chest out.

Look straight ahead.

Give a flirty glance.

Xiao Ning.

Slow down.

That was a bit too rough.

Why are you still buying so much salt tea?

Didn't you say before

that we'd lose money selling salt tea?

Look at these.

It's true that salt tea in Shangdu

is heavily affected by Nong Tea Pavilion.

But Young Master Wei helped us

get the business rights for the three counties in southern Su.

Many people from the three southern Su counties are placing orders.

What you see here

is just a small part

of the salt tea stockpiled by our Su family.

Alright, alright.

I've said everything I could, good or bad.

You decide for yourself.

This last batch of tea

is finally well supplied.

Now, all the branches across the entire region have opened.

The tea from Nong Tea Pavilion on the market

has, thanks to your hunger marketing,

already increased tenfold in price.

It's all because

the wealthy and powerful families have driven up the price.

After seven days, when sales open across the region,

we'll monopolize this industry

and those bloodsucking families

won't be able to profit anymore.

Now, Nong Tea Pavilion has finally achieved some success.

I can finally give Father

a big surprise.

Come on.

Go move the ancestral hall on the west side for me.

Ruin the feng shui of this place.

Yes, sir.

Nobody move.

Who are you, sir?

Why are you tearing down our house for no reason?

Isn't this the third son's family?

The son-in-law who married into the Su family, right?

What,

Did they kick you out and send you back?

Dad.

Dad.

Stop shouting.

Xiao Hetai already sold this house to me a long time ago.

If you're looking for your dad, why are you here?

Go to the north of the city.

He's in that thatched hut.

Go take a good look.

What are you standing around for?

Smash it for me!

Yes.

Sir.

This is rice soup I traded for.

Drink it while it's hot.