The Tea-Picking Chronicles Series (Complete in 4 Volumes)

The Ying and Nan families had both been tea dynasties for eight generations. The Ying family focused on making tea, while the Nan family excelled at business.

In the tenth year of the Qianlong reign, Lu Xun, the fifty-fourth-generation male descendant of the Tea Sage, named the Nan family's tea estate the best in the land in his celebrated work, A Diary of Tea Brewing. Before long, the head of the Nan family leveraged Prince Heqin's influence to become the leader of the greatest tea merchants' guild in the land.

Nan Di grew arrogant and wanted to take Wei Qingyue, the widely renowned daughter of the Wei family, as his second wife. But Wei Qingyue had set her heart on Ying An, the Ying family's third son, and firmly rejected him. The following year, the Ying family, famous for its Wuyi rock tea, defeated the Nan family's unmatched Biluochun with their own Biluochun, bringing great shame upon the Nans. Nan Di held a grudge and recommended Wei Qingyue to Prince Heqin. The prince fell for her at first sight and took her by force. With her wet nurse's help, Wei Qingyue escaped and married Ying An. She gave birth to a daughter, Ying Yu, whom Ying An treasured dearly and raised as a son.

The Qing court's policy of trade through a single port meant the choice of chief of Guangzhou's merchant guild was tied to the interests of many factions. The Ying family was drawn into a power struggle between Empress Dowager Ulanara and Prince Heqin. To bring down the Ying family, Nan Di told Prince Heqin that Wei Qingyue had escaped and married Ying An. The prince tricked her into returning to his residence and again took her by force. Prince Heqin's principal consort knew how her husband felt about Wei Qingyue and feared losing her own position. She devised a vicious scheme: the Ying men were all thrown into prison, and the Ying family was forced to drown Wei Qingyue. Ying An went insane as a result, while the daughter he and Wei Qingyue had together, Ying Yu, set out to rebuild the family business and avenge them.