After leaving the Dingbei Marquis Mansion, Ye Chutang didn’t go straight home. Instead, she took Xiao Wu and headed to the tea shop.

The moment their carriage stopped at the entrance, a sharp-eyed servant hurried forward with an eager greeting.

"Esteemed gues—Miss Ye?!"

The servant hastily bowed, utterly shocked.

Everyone in the Capital City knew that Ye Chutang had suffered a terrible fright after being taken hostage by Han Yao a few days prior. She had been recuperating behind closed doors ever since. Who would have thought she would suddenly appear here!

"I was just passing by and thought I’d drop in for a look," Ye Chutang said as she walked inside. "You can all go back to what you were doing."

The servant bowed in assent, but he didn’t dare actually leave.

’The last time Ye Chutang came, she threw the Shopkeeper right out!’

The tea shop was now rightfully hers. And with the backing of both the Dingbei Marquis Mansion and the Long Princess Mansion, the servants beneath her naturally did as they were told, not daring to harbor any other intentions.

Besides... there really wasn’t much to do in the shop at the moment.

Ye Chutang’s eyes swept across the room. The tea shop’s business seemed to have dwindled even further than before.

It made sense. After the previous Shopkeeper resigned in a huff, no one had taken his place. Although Ye Chutang had Yan post a recruitment notice, finding a suitable replacement wasn’t something that could be resolved in a short time.

As a result, aside from a few servants, no one else stepped foot inside the shop.

Xiao Wu rested her chin in her hand, her little brow furrowed.

’This is so worrying! Every day the tea shop goes without income is a huge loss for us!’

Ye Chutang hadn’t tried to hide her movements, so before long, news of her arrival at the tea shop had spread. On the street outside, people would "pass by" every now and then, slowing their steps to a crawl and casting sideways glances toward the entrance.

After all, who in the entire Capital City didn’t know Miss Ye’s name by now? Everyone assumed she wouldn’t be seen out in public for some time, yet here she was, appearing at her own tea shop!

Some were curious; others were there to watch the joke unfold.

It wasn’t hard to find out that this tea shop had been a losing venture from day one. For the past three years, it had only scraped by thanks to Ye Heng’s backing and the occasional "business" that actively came to its door.

Now that the shop was back in Ye Chutang’s hands, it was seen as completely hopeless, even though it had rightfully returned to its original owner.

Not to mention that Ye Chutang had already driven the Shopkeeper away. With no one to even take charge, her situation was all the more difficult.

"You have to feel for Miss Ye. This place belonged to her parents, so it’s only right she got it back. But she’s just a young woman, how can she possibly manage a business?"

"If you ask me, she’d be better off not even trying to run it! If she sold the storefront, she could at least get some Silver Coins out of it!"

"That’s true, but it is what her parents left her. I imagine she can’t bear to part with it..."

"What good will sentimentality do? She’s a single woman with several younger siblings to support. Where doesn’t that cost Silver?"

The words were harsh, but true.

Although Ye Zheng had passed the imperial examinations at a young age and enjoyed a smooth official career, he was a man of integrity and righteousness—an honest official who certainly couldn’t be called wealthy.

Especially after Ye Heng took over three years ago and practically plundered the place, how much could possibly be left?

To put it bluntly, Ye Chutang and her siblings didn’t even have enough savings to squander.

Ye Chutang, however, turned a deaf ear to the gossip outside. She simply turned her head and instructed:

"Go fetch the canister of tea and the tea set I brought in the carriage. Also, clean up a private room upstairs. An honored guest will be arriving in half an hour."