Upon hearing the news, Li Zheng happily accepted the tea leaves handed to him by San Wang and said, "This was made by your mother. Oh, this bag is beautiful."
Jiao couldn't wait any longer and snatched the tea leaves from Li Zheng's hand, tearing off a packet as she went: "Oh dear, her aunt sent these over, so we should try them right away. She's such a fussman!"
Jinxia really knows how to serve her mother-in-law. When she saw that her mother-in-law wanted to make tea, she quickly brought over the kettle, poured boiling water into the teacup, and then put the lid on.
Li Zheng was still chatting with San Wang: "By the way, San Wang, is your family's cold jelly business still delivering to Qiongxianlou?"
Sanwang nodded: "Yes, that's right. Business at Qiongxianlou is not good. I heard that one of the chefs was offended by Manager Yu, and now they can't find a suitable chef!"
"It's not the cook's fault. The problem is that Manager Yu's management might be inadequate. There are cooks everywhere; can't we find someone else?"
"I guess the restaurant is out of money. Lately, it's been the outside suppliers coming to the restaurant asking for payment. But we don't need to worry. Luckily, my mother said it would be paid in cash that day, otherwise, we would still be chasing after this Manager Yu for money."
The tea was brewed, and Jiao brought over a cup, handing one to Lizheng and another to Sanwang: "Try it quickly, your tea tastes really good, you can smell the fragrance even before you've tasted it."
Li Zheng picked up the glass, took a sip, and nodded: "Hmm, it's really good. It has a faint fragrance, the fragrance of ground pepper."
"It would be even better with some sugar, it would be so sweet," Jiao said.
Li Zheng glared at Jiao Shi fiercely: "What do you know? How dare you say such things? Whose tea is sweet? Besides, this sugar costs 12 wen a pound now, it's very expensive. Do you think you can just make it sweet whenever you want?"
Sanwang simply followed Liang Shuyan's instructions, remembered their words, and turned around to say, "Uncle, Aunt, now that the tea has been delivered, I have to get back to work. My mother said that the tea also needs to be delivered to everyone in the village."
Li Zheng saw Sanwang out and whispered, "Don't take your aunt's words to heart. Women are often short-sighted, so please don't be offended."
"No, Uncle, I'm going now!"
Next to Li Zheng's house is the home of Chen Lengzi, a villager receiving the five guarantees. There are some firewood stacked neatly in front of the door.
A wooden door was ajar, and the yard was spotless; not a single piece of firewood could be seen.
Sanwang peeked out from the doorway. Just then, Chen Lengzi's mother came out, wearing a black coat, coughing incessantly, and walking as if she were unsteady on her feet.
Sanwang came in and quickly stepped forward to support her: "Auntie, what's wrong? I haven't seen you for days, how come you're so sick? Where's my brother Lengzi?"
The woman coughed twice and said, "Sanwang, it's you! Come in quickly, it's windy outside! Your brother Lengzi went to the market and took some radishes from the cellar, saying he wanted to sell them to buy some medicine for this old woman."
Upon hearing this news, Sanwang didn't know what to say. He simply poured the old woman a glass of water and handed it to her, saying, "Auntie, look, this is the first batch of tea produced in our family's tea workshop. My mother asked me to bring you some so you can try it."
The woman coughed for a while, then said, "Your mother is really capable. She runs a cold noodle business and now she's started a tea business. But I'm not feeling well right now, so I'll leave the tea there for now and let your brother Lengzi brew some for him to try when he gets back."
Sanwang felt sorry for the woman, so he put down the tea and left!
When they arrived at Aunt Liu's house, Aunt Liu was drying cow dung at the door. When she saw Sanwang arrive, she quickly came up to him and said, "Sanwang, didn't you go to town to deliver cold noodles today?"
"Auntie, you're back. Didn't I bring you some tea? My mother said to deliver some to each household so they can taste it."
Without any hesitation, Aunt Liu pulled Sanwang into her house and called out to Old Liu, "Old Liu, boil some water, Sanwang brought us some tea."
Old Liu was adding hay to the cows in the backyard when he heard the sound, so he put down his basket and came out.
"Oh, it's Sanwang! Come in quickly, I'll boil some water for us right away. Want to try your mother's tea?"
Yinxia came in, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and said breathlessly, "My sister is really something, she always sides with her mother-in-law. If I get married and have a mother-in-law, I will never be like my sister, she's so infuriating!"
"What's wrong? How can you speak so shamelessly without even greeting Sanwang?"
Speaking of Aunt Liu's daughter, Yinxia, she had admired Sanwang since she was a child. At first, Aunt Liu was unwilling, thinking that Sanwang's family was too poor and that his brothers had to divide their wealth. She wondered what family property would be left for Sanwang. She was selfish and did not allow Yinxia to associate with Sanwang.
Gradually, Sanwang realized this and stopped associating with Yinxia. Later, when Ruyan came to Liang Shuyan's house, he completely cut off contact with Yinxia. When they met, they would only exchange a few pleasantries and nothing more.
Since Sanwang started doing business in town, he has become more shrewd and knows how to dress himself up. Liang Shuyan's family has also undergone tremendous changes. First, they had a cold noodle business, then they took over a martial arts school, and later a tea workshop. As Sanwang's family was getting better day by day, Aunt Liu didn't know how to face him.
"Oh, Sanwang, what brings you to our house?"
As time went on, Yinxia also became more easygoing and seemed to have lost the feelings she used to have for Sanwang.
Aunt Liu was furious, glaring at him: "How can you talk like that? Does that mean Sanwang can't come to our house anymore? Why is this child's personality so strange?"
Sanwang knew what was going on and seemed rather embarrassed: "It's alright, Auntie. It's just that Yinxia has grown up and it's getting late. I still have to go to Uncle Wang's house to deliver tea."
Aunt Liu was still planning to have Yinxia take the initiative and have a good talk with Sanwang to see if she could find out if Sanwang had any intention of marrying Yinxia. Unexpectedly, Yinxia's words left the conversation unfinished.
"You good-for-nothing! How can you talk like that? Didn't you used to really like your brother Sanwang? Now that you've been given a chance, you're not going to take it. You just chased him away with a single sentence!"
Yinxia dug at her hair with both hands and glanced at Aunt Liu: "Mother, what are you thinking? Before, you looked down on my aunt's family for being poor, saying that even if they divided the family property, they would still make the family poor, and that Sanwang was not promising, etc. Now that they have Sister Ruyan, you want me to do something like poaching her. I am not that kind of person."
Aunt Liu was so angry with Yinxia that she couldn't say a word for a long time.
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