66 Yunshang Tea House

"It seems that Cheng will not have this good fortune today."

The tea room was unusually quiet.

Song Jinyi had already told Cheng Xia about her plan and was waiting for the result silently. Cheng Xia did not speak for a long time. She stared boredly at the bronze hollow incense burner on the high table, which was burning with white incense.

She thought absentmindedly: Is this incense sandalwood or pear blossom? It smells nice. When I have the chance, I will buy an incense burner and use it to make some fragrance in my room.

The incense in the incense burner changed from thick white mist like an inverted waterfall to thin wisps like a stream, and was about to burn out.

After a long while, Cheng Xia finally spoke, "This method is very interesting!" He looked at her with a smile and said, "I was right. Madam Song is a wonderful person."

Song Jinyi said modestly, "This is nothing. If it weren't for Zui Liuxia's actions that forced me into a desperate situation, I wouldn't have resorted to such a desperate measure. I'm sorry to have embarrassed Manager Cheng."

"The worst option? In my eyes, it's the best option. Zui Liuxia relied on her wealthy family to bully a young lady like you, but she didn't expect that she would kick a stone, which is hard and painful." She covered her mouth and smiled silently.

This Yunzhou City has always been a battleground between their two families. Now someone is helping her to deal with Zui Liuxia, giving her a good show to watch. Why not do it?

Although Song Jinyi appeared to be warmer to her, she was still unsure in her heart. She asked tentatively, "Thank you, Manager Chen, for your consideration. I'm grateful for your care regarding the Yunshang Tea House."

Cheng Xia clapped his hands and said, "My uncle has a cold temper and has always disliked outsiders. There are also many managers in the village who want to bring people to him for some trivial matters, but they dare not cause trouble for him.

If it were anyone else, I would definitely not want to provoke them, but Madam Song's idea is very tempting to me, and I think my uncle would also be moved to meet you. However, whether Madam Song's request can be fulfilled after entering depends on her own luck.

Song Jinyi thanked him and left.

That evening, Cheng Xia sent someone to deliver a message: Three days later, at noon, a carriage from the Yunshang Tea House would come to pick them up at Xiaolu Pavilion outside the city.

*****

Three days later.

Song Jinyi and Xu Ruolan were waiting at the Xiaolu Pavilion. She was holding two bags of spring pancakes wrapped in oil paper, which she made herself.

You can't go to someone's house empty-handed when asking for help. Yunshang Tea House is a large and prosperous business, so it must have everything it needs. It was the beginning of spring, and the spring pancake business was booming in the city, with people buying them to give to friends and family.

It was made by hand, and was different from those made on the street. She and Li He were good at making pastries. The dough was kneaded to be chewy and not easy to break when rolled out. It could be rolled out to be a little thinner than rice paper.

After steaming, take out a piece, it is crystal yellow and translucent, and the taste is needless to say, the crust is soft and glutinous, and it tastes good no matter what filling it is filled with.

The filling is also different from his. It is a mixture of bean curd skin, bean sprouts, leeks, shredded onions and shredded eggs. The green and yellow are mixed together, and under the transparent spring pancake, there is a sense of spring.

Before long, they boarded the carriage of Yunshang Tea House.

The carriage drove into the country road and walked into a paradise created by green plants. Surrounded by green mountains, there was an ancient building with traditional red brick and green tile color scheme, which was much larger than an ordinary house.

An eight-foot-high fence was built around the teahouse, and the carriage was parked at the bamboo gate at the foot of the slope.

Behind the door, two maids were weeding with scissors. When they saw a guest coming, they exchanged glances and led the guest to the village on the hillside.

The air in the tea garden is very good, with fresh tea fragrance and a slight earthy smell everywhere. It is not unpleasant, but a natural smell.

The tea trees are arranged in neat rows. When you look down from the hillside, it feels like you are in a green ocean, and the different slopes are like waves.

It was just the beginning of spring, and the weather in Yunzhou was warm. The tea trees had already sprouted a few tender yellow buds, and in a month they would be ready for picking. By then, a group of tea pickers, dressed in vibrant colors, would dance among the tea trees like butterflies.

Song Jinyi could imagine how beautiful the scene was.

The maid led them through the hall and to a tea room at the back.

The teahouse is backed by a mountain, with mountains stretching out behind it and shrouded in clouds and mist, like a fairyland. The door of the teahouse is retracted, leaving the four sides empty and covered with bamboo curtains.

After a while, a housekeeper came and said that Song Jinyi should stay alone to discuss something.

Song Jinyi lifted the curtain and walked in. Sitting inside was a tall, strong middle-aged man with yellow cheeks and gray hair on his temples. When his eyes swept over her, she was reminded of Song Zhangye. His gaze was sharp, and he looked at her casually, but it seemed as if he could see through the bones and blood and see into people's hearts.

This is the owner of Yunshang Tea House - Cheng Bushi.

Song Jinyi said, "Hello, Mr. Cheng," and then fell silent. Just as she was thinking about what to say, she heard Fang say, "Manager Song, huh? I heard about your method from Cheng Xia."

Song Jinyi's method is: let people open shops, name them "Chayuan", pass on the secret recipes of the shop to other shops, and provide technical guidance and tea sources, but the profits and losses are at their own risk.

This method allows "Chayuan" to expand rapidly at a lower cost, occupy the market and increase its visibility by continuously opening new "Chayuan".

Compared with the traditional self-operated model, transferring financial risks to new stores reduces operating risks and can generate multiple incomes. In addition to the initial franchise fee, there are also profits from material purchases and craft training fees...

In this way, the risk is small and the benefits are high.

Later on, even if her initial "tea relationship" was no longer there, it did not affect her from making money.

"Young people are very creative," Cheng Buxi praised.

Song Jinyi said, "I'm ashamed. I just came up with a stupid idea in a hurry. There are still many immature aspects. I need your advice."

Cheng Buxi narrowed his eyes and smiled. "You are very smart, but what's even more rare is that you are neither arrogant nor impatient. You have the temperament to accomplish great things. That's very good. Your method is also very good. There is no need to ask me for advice."

It’s just business, there are some things that need to be clarified between the two parties before we can cooperate with confidence.”

Song Jinyi nodded, "You ask."

He asked a question and Song Jinyi answered it.

"While tea drinks are constantly being innovated, they're not as complex and difficult to replicate as dim sum dishes, which require a lot of work. How can you guarantee that other restaurants won't learn your craft and start their own business?"

This first question was so sharp that Song Jinyi slowed down and said, "This business model sells not only the product, but also the reputation. Some people buy dim sum from Zui Liu Xia without even trying it. This is not only because it tastes good, but also because of the reputation it has accumulated over the years."

Although our shop isn't as famous as Zui Liu Xia in Yunzhou City, it still has some reputation, and the number of customers is steadily increasing every day. If someone adopts my method, our reputation will only grow. Forgive my frivolousness, but in a few years, it will definitely be no worse than Zui Liu Xia.

She added, "Mr. Cheng is right to worry about someone copying our product, but with your help, combining Yunshang tea with my exclusive secret recipe, I can guarantee that our 'Chayuan' drink will be absolutely unique in Yunzhou City, and there won't be another one on the market."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Buxi raised his eyebrows and glanced at her. Although his expression did not change, she keenly felt that the other party was interested.

Then he continued, "Madam Song, you know that our business at Yunshang Tea House is usually with the nobles, and we rarely interact with merchants. Every year, we keep some surplus tea for the people in the house to drink. If people below us use it for themselves or give it away, we don't care. As long as it doesn't leave our Yunshang Tea House openly, it's fine."

Song Jinyi pondered this carefully, realizing that Yunshang Tea House's products were luxury goods, meant for the nobility. Song Jinyi's tea, on the other hand, was ordinary. Giving her the tea would mean opening it up to the common people.

This was bound to cause dissatisfaction among some of Yunzhou's nobles. They had spent a lot of money, so how could they drink tea with the common people? Isn't this degrading to their status?

Just like the emperor, in order to show his class privilege, wore a dragon robe himself and did not allow others to wear bright yellow; he had a self-proclaimed title and did not allow others to use it.

Song Jinyi thought for a moment and said, "When Elder Cheng asked me this question, it reminded me of a story from the past: There was a woman from a wealthy family who accidentally got a gold bracelet. Although the bracelet was not heavy, the craftsmanship was extremely good. It was woven and twisted by a master craftsman in the palace using gold wires thinner than a hair, and it was worth a lot of money.

It happened to be a family dinner, and she was flirting, eager for everyone to see her bracelet and flatter her. Among the crowd was a distant cousin who lived in the countryside, living in poverty and had come to seek refuge with her. She had never seen gold before, and immediately asked, puzzled, "Why are you wearing copper pieces, cousin?"

The woman wanted to show off, but she met someone who didn't know her worth, and she was furious.

Cheng Buxi laughed out loud twice: "Madam Song, this story is very interesting."

Goods are divided into different grades for the purpose of pricing, and people are divided into different grades to show their own nobility, which is another meaning of "pricing".

If ordinary people had never seen those fine things, how could the nobles show off? Only when ordinary people saw them and knew how expensive they were could they have a real sense of the class differences.

It is indeed an interesting statement.

Cheng Buxi held the tea set, and just as his mouth touched the rim of the cup, he slowed down his movements, put down the teacup, and said, "I have always heard that Madam Song's drink is delicious, but I have never had the chance to taste it. I wonder if I can enjoy it today?"

"nature."

******

The thing that Yunshang Tea House has the most is tea, and it is good tea. When Song Jinyi entered the house, she saw two plots of Zhengshan Xiaozhong tea planted on the right side of the tea garden.

She called the maid to ask for last year's old tea. Zhengshan Xiaozhong is a type of black tea, which will become more mellow than fresh tea after being stored for a period of time.

She twisted the tea leaves and smelled the unique pine smoke aroma of Zhengshan Xiaozhong. This grade of tea was many times better than that of Manager Zheng. If she could reach an agreement with Cheng Bushi and have this grade of goods, who would she be afraid of?

The maid next to her had worked in this manor for seven or eight years, and had seen the master Cheng brew tea and his wife Cheng make tea. Each step was very complicated, and the tea in their hands seemed like a work of art, which had to be carefully polished, processed, and refined before it could be produced.

And now... she watched Song Jinyi take a small pot and boil black tea.

She opened her mouth slightly, her heart stagnating as she looked at the tea leaves in the pot, feeling that it was a waste of resources.

Then I heard Song Jinyi asking for milk.

What? She asked again uncertainly, "Milk? Is Madam Song hungry and wants to drink some, or do you want to make a separate dessert?"

Song Jinyi smiled and said, "It's for making drinks."

The maid was stunned for a moment, swallowed the words that were about to come out of her mouth, turned around to get the milk, and when she reached the middle of the road, another maid asked her about the situation inside. She thought about the scene just now, said nothing, and just shook her head.

Song Jinyi boiled the black tea over medium heat until the water was slightly boiling. After boiling over high heat, she immediately turned off the heat and filtered the tea, leaving only the brown-red tea soup.

Then pour the milk brought by the maid into the pot, add appropriate amount of sugar, and boil it over low heat. There is no thermometer here, so she can only observe the temperature of the milk with the naked eye. If the milk is overheated, it will affect the taste.

She stirred the sugar at the bottom of the milk from time to time, and turned off the heat when the sugar melted and the milk was slightly wrinkled.

Pour the filtered tea into the milk. The clear brown-red tea flows into the milky white and thick milk, which is like the tones of medieval oil paintings, warm and textured.

After it is completely blended, it turns into a beautiful caramel color, and under the sunlight, the surface has a slight luster.

When she carried the finished product back to the tea room, she keenly noticed that Cheng Bushi's pressure was one or two degrees lower than before.

Could it be because she took too long to make the drink?

"Mrs. Song's sweet water shop stands out from the crowd of drink shops by constantly innovating. I heard that they use a combination of fruit and flower tea. Although it's peculiar, it's acceptable. Now..." He paused here and shook his head.

"It seems that Cheng will not have this good fortune today."

【Author’s words】

Finally wrote about milk tea~~~

Please take a look at the pre-collected article "After the divorce, my ex-husband was cold and cold, and he was cremated at the crematorium"