Chapter 67 The Business of the Persian Merchant Li Yang - Product Optimization (...)

"Young Madam." Xiao Lu stood outside the pavilion, her almond-shaped eyes wide open, so astonished by the sight before her that she forgot to take a step.

These days, she volunteered to go with Zhong Qian to Gao County to deliver food and clothing. She sat inside the car, while Zhong Qian drove outside, and neither of them wanted to see the other. When they returned to Songshan Town, she went straight to the Chen residence, ostensibly to prepare dinner.

She disliked both managers of the flower shop, so she found an excuse to never set foot there again.

Today, since Liyang had not yet appeared even after 5 PM, I went to the Flower Market. In less than half a month, the small world of the Flower Market had changed completely.

The pavilion looked like a complete mess at that moment!

The stone table in the center of the pavilion has long lost its original appearance. On the side facing Liyang, a mountain of books has been piled up, and three or five round stools have been dragged over to serve as bookshelves. The open books are turned over by the wind with a rustling sound.

The tea tray was squeezed into the gaps between the stack of books, with seven or eight teacups scattered among them.

The most eye-catching thing was the table piled high with tea bags. Various colored oil papers were stacked into a small mountain, with a ceramic stove perched precariously on top, and a teapot on the stove was bubbling and puffing out white steam. A breeze swept through the pavilion, and a few green tea leaves rolled out from the gaps in the paper packets, scattering sparsely on the bluestone ground.

The deer's gaze swept over the buckets scattered on the ground, then suddenly fixed on the hem of Li Yang's skirt, where a few pieces of broken porcelain lay like scattered jade fragments, their glaze a bluish-gray.

"Young Madam?" Xiao Lu carefully stepped forward, lifting the hem of her skirt. "This is..."

The person in the pavilion looked up at the sound, her cheeks flushed with the color of the sunset, her eyes filled with spring water, and she still held half a tea leaf between her fingers: "Little Deer," her voice was as soft as honey, "look, these... these are what we tasted today."

"My goodness!" Little Deer gasped. "You...you actually drank so much tea?!"

Li Yang rubbed his sore neck and got up. His fingertips had just touched the tea bag when Xiao Lu hurriedly stopped him.

"Young Madam! Drinking so much tea will harm your health!" The maid snatched the paper package from her hand, her voice trembling. "Go and rest, leave these to me to clean up."

Li Yang was pulled and staggered, stepping on a shard of broken porcelain.

"Young Madam, this is no way to drink tea! You're going to suffer tonight if you drink so much tea." Xiao Lu complained to Li Yang while quickly tidying up the table in the pavilion and pulling her to go back to the mansion.

This young mistress is really something. Who drinks tea like that? If she catches a disease later, the young master will blame her again.

The night breeze carried the aroma of tea, and Li Yang found that Xiao Lu was unusually noisy today.

But when the night grew deep and the dew was heavy, retribution came.

She tossed and turned on the canopy bed for two hours, her eyelids heavy as if weighed down by weights, but her mind was wide awake, and she just couldn't fall asleep. She tried covering her head with the blanket, but she only ended up sweating profusely.

Finally, she couldn't bear lying there any longer, so she simply threw off the covers and got out of bed, walking around the room in circles.

While pacing around the empty room, I realized that the bridal chamber was pitifully plain.

Aside from the essential furniture, the only other thing was a few scrolls of calligraphy and paintings crammed into the display shelf. Upon closer inspection, they were all works by Mr. Zheng. Back then, when she borrowed a painting from Chen Junbai, what did that young master Chen say to her? He blamed Mr. Zheng for not painting frequently enough, saying he had only managed to snatch one painting, and that he could take her there if needed… He had been lying through his teeth, just to trick her into going to the theater with him.

Li Yang chuckled at the signature: "Chen Junbo...you're good."

She kept finding ways to relieve her boredom while staying in the room.

At this moment, she had neither the energy to read those tea books nor the ability to control her body to fall asleep. In the end, she slumped down on the threshold, watching the inky sky gradually fade to a pale white, and the chirping of birds drifting over the eaves.

As the first wisp of smoke rose amidst the sounds of people, she finally conceded to the morning mist—drinking too much tea really can cause problems! When you drink too much wine, you become dizzy and can't wake up; when you drink too much tea, you become drowsy and can't fall asleep.

"Young Madam didn't sleep all night?" When Xiao Lu came in carrying a copper basin, she saw her leaning against the door frame in a daze, her face as pale as the leftover food in the cupboard, and she was still wearing the same clothes she had worn since last night.

“From now on…” Li Yang’s voice was hoarse as he stood up, leaning against the door, “I will never drink tea like this again.”

“Yes, young mistress, although this tea is refreshing, drinking so much tea throughout the day will make it hard to sleep. Back in the tea shop, the tea masters would only taste a little tea before cleansing their palates.” Xiao Lu washed a handkerchief in front of the water basin and handed it to Li Yang. “Young mistress didn’t sleep well last night, are you going to the flower shop again today?”

"Let's go." Li Yang used the cool handkerchief to wake himself up. "I can't sleep anyway, so I might as well go to the flower shop and see if I can come up with anything."

Besides, as Little Deer just said, if you only hold the tea in your mouth to savor the flavor and then cleanse your mouth, there won't be any problems. That way, I won't have to drink so much tea and be unable to sleep tonight.

As the morning light streamed into the pavilion, Manager Zhong arrived with tea samples that had been sorted and packaged in jars, and then hurried off to Gao County.

He was more careful yesterday and bought several extra portions when he went shopping. Last night, he also sorted the different types of tea into porcelain jars and brought them over on a tray, which was much more convenient than having them scattered in paper packages yesterday.

Xiao Lu took a day off today to stay close to Li Yang, grinding ink, laying out paper, and serving tea and water. Her main reason was that if something went wrong, and Young Master Chen started nagging her, she would at least be credited for her hard work, even if she didn't get any credit.

The weather is terribly muggy today; even the wind seems to have stopped.

The deer tiptoed and pulled back the gauze curtains around the pavilion, revealing several pavilions in the distance, half-hidden and half-rolled. The thin gauze, hanging half-rolled in the damp air, added a touch of fairyland to the gloomy garden.

Today, Li Yang deliberately chose a crimson vest paired with a light pink ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), thinking that since she hadn't slept all night and her complexion was probably not good, wearing a bright color would help improve her appearance. Surprisingly, it worked out perfectly; in this gloomy weather, she looked like a splash of vermilion in a traditional Chinese ink painting.

Most of the scholars who came and went wore dark blue robes, but only her pavilion was constantly bustling with waiters, her crimson skirts fluttering as she drew frequent glances from those around her.

But she was completely unaware. At that moment, she was bending over, staring at the teapot, her fingertips lightly brushing the steam above, while her other hand held a pen to record the color of the tea. Xiao Lu was waiting by the side with a spittoon in her hand, and every time she saw the tea leaves unfurl, she would rush forward and say, "Young Madam, be careful not to swallow it."

"I hope this young lady is well."

A stiff official voice suddenly rang out. Li Yang turned around and saw the person bowing as they passed through the curtain. As the person straightened up, the entire pavilion fell silent.

The man's skin was almost translucent, with faint blue and red veins visible beneath. His narrow, long face was framed by cat-like golden eyelashes, and his blue eyes resembled jewels reflected in spring water. Most striking was his high, straight nose, which, far from being out of place, added a touch of mystery to his face, reminiscent of ancient texts from the Western Regions.

"Young Madam!" Little Deer exclaimed.

Li Yang then noticed that the tea had overflowed the rim of the cup, and water was dripping down the folds of her skirt. Seeing her flustered appearance, the man's lips curved into a shy smile.

After the young lady had finished getting ready, he called out again, "Greetings, Miss." His Mandarin had a foreign accent.

"You, you're alright." Li Yang hurriedly stood up, his gaze still lingering on those blue eyes. When Xiao Lu took the kettle, her fingertips were still damp with warm steam.

"My name is Lu Jie. I came from Persia on a merchant ship and recently stopped at the Guazhou ferry. I heard that there are famous paintings and calligraphy works in this flower shop, so I came to take a look." He pointed to the pavilion in the distance. "Seeing that this place is bustling with activity, may I ask what is going on here?"

Lu Jie's Mandarin had a peculiar rhythm, and upon hearing that he was tasting tea, his blue eyes suddenly lit up: "Tea? Our Persian caravans are very familiar with it. Nowadays, even the nobles in Britain drink wine with a pot of Wuyi black tea."

As he bent down to examine the tea canister, his tall figure almost enveloped the entire tea table. The little deer, startled, gripped Li Yang's sleeve tightly.

The girl who grew up in the tea mountains had never seen a foreigner with such gleaming eyes.

"May I take a closer look?" Lu Jie's fingertip hovered over the celadon jar.

Li Yang brushed aside Xiao Lu's hand, which was trying to dissuade her, and nodded with a smile. The ability to judge people that she had honed in the marketplace over the years was not wrong; those clear blue eyes were more trustworthy than the dark pupils of many merchants from the Central Plains.

Lu Jie opened the teapot, took a pinch of tea leaves, brought it to his nose, and then held half a leaf between his lips. As he closed his eyes in contemplation, his long eyelashes cast golden shadows on his porcelain-white skin. After a long while, he spat the tea leaves onto a silk handkerchief.

Looking up, Li Yang couldn't help but sigh inwardly: This person is really tall; she could barely reach his armpits. In the courtyard of their house on the back hill, there was a magnolia tree, which also required one to crane their neck to see.

"What does Lu Jie think?" she couldn't help but ask as she watched him taste all the tea canisters.

“These two jars are just about right.” He pointed to two of the celadon jars with his slender fingers. “If you are interested, I have plenty of tea on my merchant ship. I can bring it here for you to taste tomorrow.”

"Perfect!" Li Yang clapped his hands and chuckled. This was like a pillow sent to someone who was sleepy! Judging from how knowledgeable this Persian merchant was about tea, he might be able to learn a lot from him. It was just what he wanted.

"Young Madam." Little Deer hid behind Li Yang, nervously tugging at her sleeve, and said timidly, "Let's go back early."

The Persian merchant knowingly took a half-step back: "Tomorrow at noon, I will await your arrival." As he turned, his golden hair drew a streak of light in the twilight.

Little Deer stared anxiously at the figure disappearing into the distance, tugging at Li Yang's sleeve. "Young Madam, are you perhaps possessed? Do you really want to see that eerie-eyed demon again?"

"A charlatan?" Li Yang chuckled. "Look at his focused expression while sipping tea. Isn't he more genuine than those students who let a pot of tea go bad?"

Li Yang watched the receding figure and said, "Besides, have you ever seen a monster who can tell the difference between Taiping Houkui and Liuan Guapian? His eyes are clearer than grapes, where does he get that demonic aura?"

When the master and servant returned to the Chen residence, each with their own thoughts, the evening drum had just sounded its third beat.

Just as she passed through the hanging flower gate, she saw the candlelight flickering inside the carved window lattice of Lanxin Pavilion, cutting out unfamiliar outlines from the familiar window panes. Xiaolu gasped, but before she could speak, Liyang had already lifted the hem of her skirt and stepped onto the corridor.

The wooden floorboards of the second-floor corridor made a slight creaking sound as she practically burst open the half-closed door.

Inside, the familiar scent of agarwood filled the air quietly. Chen Junbo sat upright at his desk by the window, his profile sharply defined by the flickering candlelight. His head was slightly lowered, and his wolf-hair brush moved calmly across the rice paper, the soft, steady sound sending a chill down one's spine. Only when the page was nearly full, the ink still glistening, did he put down his brush and look up at the person who had just arrived.

Li Yang, slightly out of breath, leaned against the doorframe. The heat from her hurried walk hadn't subsided, and the stray hairs at her temples were damp with sweat, clinging to her slightly flushed cheeks. She gazed at his flickering profile in the candlelight. "You're back?!"