Chapter 66 Studying Tea Ceremony and Li Yang's Business - Product Optimization (...)

Li Yang was stunned upon hearing this. She could not usually taste the subtle differences in tea, but she was well aware of Zi Yan's expertise in the art of tea.

I still remember the moment when the two first met, her focused figure in red teaching the children to look at the water in the earthen courtyard, and I knew that what she said was true.

"Sister Ziyan, do you think this tea is not good?" she asked humbly.

Upon hearing her question, Ziyan's eyes flickered for a few moments before she simply put down her cup.

She knew that the young Mrs. Chen in front of her had no interest in refined pursuits, except when it came to accounting, in which she was quite shrewd. Otherwise, General Manager Chen would not have entrusted her with the tea shop's accounts, and there would have been no subsequent series of events.

Thinking of this, she changed the subject, "Zhaozhao, do you know what percentage of this shop's daily revenue comes from tea and snacks?"

What percentage do they each take? Li Yang was taken aback. She had been so busy running around these days that she hadn't even looked at the accounts since the flower shop reopened.

Seeing Li Yang speechless, she gently suggested, "Tea and snacks, tea comes first in the end. Why don't you ask Yuan Yuan whether pastries or tea are more profitable?"

"It's tea." Li Yang already knew the answer when the business was converted into a teahouse, but he still didn't understand. "Since tea is so profitable, shouldn't we be focusing on increasing the profits from pastries?"

Ziyan covered her lips and chuckled, "Your flower arrangement and Ruyi Pavilion are quite similar. Do you know which item in Madam Sang's ledger has the most income?"

Li Yang tentatively asked, "Could it be... tea?"

“Silly girl, who drinks tea at Ruyi Pavilion? The tea leaves that Madam Sang brews are all made by the girls themselves in their rooms.” Ziyan’s eyes sparkled. “Those snacks, light music and dancing are just to complement the fine wine in the jar. It’s the same principle with your flower party. What really supports the revenue is always the tea itself.”

Is that really the case?

"The business of Ruyi Pavilion is all about selling alcohol?" Li Yang asked again, stunned. "Isn't it about the income from the courtesans...?"

“No,” Ziyan looked at her, “just like your flower stall, it’s all about the drinks. Do you really think the money comes from those flower girls? Half of the profits from Ruyi Pavilion’s nightly business comes from the drinks. The flower girls are just playing tricks, like the waiters in your shop who adorn themselves with flowers.”

Is that so?

Li Yang suddenly felt ashamed. He had been so busy these past few days that he hadn't thought about the flower shop's business at all. Today, he was caught red-handed by Sister Ziyan, and only then did he start to think about the flower shop's business.

Ziyan's words were like a wake-up call. She was the owner of this gambling den, yet she spent all her time running around to Gao County. It's said that one must be strong to succeed; if the gambling den wasn't doing well, no matter how cleverly one won the bets, it would still be a disgrace.

Moreover, a large part of the flower shop's profits these days is due to the calligraphy of the flower seller and Mr. Zheng. She knows in her heart that business cannot always rely on a single boom; if the hype dies down, the flower shop will face difficulties again. She still needs to find a way to make the flower shop operate better.

Now that Ziyan had mentioned the tea, it suddenly made her see the light.

"Sister Ziyan, I've made up my mind. I want to learn about tea!"

Upon hearing this, Ziyan chuckled. Although Zhaozhao had gone through a lot these days and seemed much more composed, her habit of jumping to conclusions still surfaced from time to time.

She took a small sip of tea and said, "Since I'm going to run a teahouse business, I should learn about tea."

Upon hearing this, Li Yang immediately summoned Zhong Qian and Fang Yuan. After making some arrangements, he assigned the task of delivering clothes to Gao County to Zhong Qian, while he and Fang Yuan devoted themselves to learning tea ceremony from Zi Yan.

The next day at noon, Chen Junbo waited for his family's carriage in front of the county government office, but only saw Zhong Qian get off the carriage with a food box.

"Where is the young mistress?"

This was the first time Zhong Qian had seen Chen Junbo since he was fired, and he felt a little flustered. Upon hearing this, he quickly wiped the thin layer of sweat from his forehead and said, "Young Master, the master is diligently studying the art of tea for the three-month period of the Flower Bureau, and recently he has been learning the art of tea brewing from Miss Ziyan."

"Purple smoke?" Chen Junbai's brows furrowed suddenly.

This woman is far too idle, actually pestering Zhao Zhao to study some refined tea ceremony. Now, Zhao Zhao doesn't have time to come to Gao County to see him anymore.

With a cold face, he ordered Bi Fang to take the clothes, and when he turned around, his eyes were already frosty. He left without saying a word.

That night, letters suddenly arrived at the Chen family home like snowflakes—or more precisely, at the Chen residence, in the Lanxin Pavilion, west wing. Each letter was addressed to "To Miss Ziyan, for her private opening."

When Li Yang came to find Zi Yan with her newly acquired "The Classic of Tea," she saw a mountain of documents piled up on her desk. Zi Yan cast a resentful glance at her from among the pile of books. She quickly said, "Sister, please attend to your business first."

Watching Li Yang retreat to the door with his books, and as soon as the footsteps faded away, Zi Yan slammed the door shut.

The desk was piled high with documents, the ink still wet and the books still exuding the distinctive smell of old paper.

She ran her fingertips over the vermilion seal of 'Chen Junbai' on the page, and suddenly chuckled. "Well done, Mr. Chen." She picked up the thickest volume and waved it in the candlelight. "He doesn't dare say anything when he can't see his own wife, but he's already giving me the cold shoulder."

Back in Gao County, the head merchant surnamed Chen spent the entire afternoon in his tent, and none of the officials complained. This was because he had "tirelessly" taken time out of his busy schedule to draft a comprehensive list of matters related to "welcoming the imperial entourage," covering every detail. After finishing the draft, he sent all the relevant documents to Ziyan urgently.

No matter how angry Ziyan was, the matter of welcoming the emperor could not be neglected. After that day, Liyang could no longer tolerate her having any free time.

As dusk settled, Chen Junbai received a letter from home, learning that Ziyan was now secluded and diligently pursuing her studies. A smile finally appeared on his lips. Little did he know that his beloved wife, now without Ziyan's help, was deep in thought, her head in her hands.

Of all the people Li Yang knew, only Xiao Lu and Fang Yuan were related to tea, but they… Li Yang thought of the tea shop in Fang Yuan's tea house that his own tea house used, and couldn't help but shake his head… As for Xiao Lu, because of her young age, she hadn't even learned her mother's tea-frying skills…

After thinking it over, I decided to ask Manager Zhou. Although Yanlou doesn't mainly serve tea and snacks, it should still be a bit more upscale than Fang Yuan's place.

However, Manager Zhou... Li Yang hesitated again. This old thief was very shrewd. If he asked him, he might be swindled out of a basket of silver first.

No, no, unless absolutely necessary, we shouldn't even think about going to Yanlou.

After thinking it over, Li Yang couldn't find a suitable candidate, so he slumped onto the table in dejection, regretting his decision too late.

When she was young, her mother had considered having her learn to drink tea, but no one knew why her mother was always different from the mothers in the neighborhood. Ahua's mother only taught her how to thresh rice, but her own mother insisted that she learn how to smell the aroma and taste tea.

She was restless and couldn't sit still for refined pursuits like tea brewing and flower arranging. Before long, she would run off to play in the fields with Ah Hua and the others. After a while, her mother resigned herself to it, saying, "You don't need these things," and simply picked some flowers from the garden to make some scented tea for her, and that was the end of it.

If only I could have learned more from my mother back then.

Li Yang thought to herself that her mother was always quiet and gentle, and the farmhouses and courtyards of other families in the back hills were full of chickens and ducks, and they also grew some scallions and garlic.

In the small courtyard in front of her house, various flowers bloom all year round. Her mother said that opening the door to see spring is one of life's greatest joys. When the weather is nice, she would wipe the tables and chairs clean and sit in the courtyard or play the zither.

At this time of day, Li Yang would always sneak off to the back mountain to catch fish and shrimp...

Now she's suffering the consequences of her actions! If her mother knew, she'd surely laugh at her. Alas, one only realizes how little one knows when the need arises; she'd better go buy some books and study them.

The next day, she went directly to the study in the south of the city.

The shopkeeper was an old gentleman with white hair and beard. Seeing her standing in front of the tea book shelf, frowning as she flipped through the books, he asked, "I wonder what kind of books this lady wants to buy?" He looked her over, unsure of what to say.

Li Yang: "Shopkeeper, do you have any books here that teach people how to make tea?"

Shopkeeper: "Yes, we do have some. But I wonder if you'd like a picture album or a book of calligraphy?"

"Both picture albums and booklets are fine," she told the shopkeeper, then added after thinking for a moment, "Picture albums are better." After all, picture albums are more visually appealing.

Seeing this, the shopkeeper smiled and indicated that he understood. He then explained in more detail that the contents of the book were more comprehensive, and recommended several tea books that were widely circulated among the scholars of Jiangnan, such as "Da Guan Tea Treatise", "Tea Treatise", "Boiling Spring Essays", and "Tea Manual".

Shopkeeper: "Madam, these books cover tea selection, tea making, water sources, and tea tasting. They should be the books you are looking for."

Seeing Li Yang flipping through a book, looking thoughtful, he took out a rough-edged booklet from under the counter.

“If you want to understand more, young lady, why not try this?” He pointed to the ink marks on the title page and said with a smile, “Although ‘Tea Records and Supplements’ is not written by a famous author, it records the folk ways of drinking tea in the twelve prefectures.”

Li Yang turned the yellowed pages and saw that the pages were full of simple records such as "picking the first shoots at the Spring Equinox" and "roasting over charcoal three times." Her eyes lit up. This was more like it! She didn't have time to look at those fancy formalities. What she needed right now was this book of folk records, each word a gem.

As she was leaving, the old shopkeeper, perhaps pleased that the old book had finally been sold, stuffed seven or eight oil paper packets into her basket: "What you learn from books is never enough. These loose teas range from twenty coins to two taels of silver. Young lady, brew some and compare."

After paying readily, Li Yang returned to the flower shop with the books, asked Zhong Qian to arrange a pavilion for her, and prepared tea utensils. She then began to study them on her own.

She would diligently learn anything related to making money.

When she first decided to open a wonton shop, she spent countless hours alone in the back hills studying the taste of the wontons her mother used to make.

Now all she has to do is follow the book's instructions, try different teas and waters, and taste their different flavors.

That afternoon, Li Yang was able to sit still for once, but Zhong Qian was so tired from all the commotion that she couldn't straighten her back.

The young mistress kept asking for different things: well water, spring water, tea before the rain, and tea before the Qingming Festival. By the time Zhong Qian had made his tenth round trip and delivered the tea before the rain to the pavilion where Li Yang was, his legs were trembling.

"Young...Young Madam." He put down the tea leaves, leaning against a pillar of the pavilion, panting heavily. "Longjing tea, Longjing tea is back. And these too, all different teas from nearby provinces."

In one go, Zhong Qian laid out five or six kinds of tea on the table. Looking at Li Yang's focused expression, Zhong Qian was glad that he had bought all the good teas he could find in the shop in advance, otherwise he would have had a lot more to do this afternoon.

Without even looking up, Li Yang simply said "Thank you" and poured water from the small stove into the cup, then wrapped the cup lid around the cup.

Seeing this, Zhong Qian turned and went to the front hall. Suddenly, he heard a "ouch" behind him. If he wasn't mistaken, another cup had broken.

Seeing the cup lid shatter on the ground, Li Yang simply sighed, then replaced it with another teacup and continued practicing.

That night, the backyard of the flower shop was brightly lit. Following the instructions in the booklet, Li Yang placed various types of tea into white porcelain cups, watching the curled leaves slowly unfurl in the boiling water. At first, she only felt a bitter taste in her mouth, but when she tried the seventh type, she suddenly tasted a honey-like sweetness in her throat.

“So that’s how it is…” She raised her teacup to the candlelight, watching the silvery buds rise and fall in the amber-colored tea. “So that’s what Sister Ziyan meant by ‘water bones’.”

As the night deepened and the dew grew heavy, Fang Yuan and Xiao Lu arrived with lanterns, finding Li Yang scribbling something in a book. Looking closer, they saw the pages filled with nonsensical phrases like "the third boiled water for cloud and mist tea" and "the fragrance lingers longer in a purple clay teapot." They couldn't help but chuckle, "Is our boss going to switch careers and become a tea master?"