Chapter 86 Hearing is not believing, seeing is believing
Zhao Huan got off the carriage, and less than a quarter of an hour later, he saw a meatball rolling towards him from a distance.
As we got closer, we could see clearly that this was no meatball at all. Instead, it was a middle-aged man in red silk clothes, not tall, but very broad, and extremely plump and round.
"This must be Landlord Zhou. He's truly extraordinary. In this age of paleness and thinness, he's able to eat himself into a ball. You can imagine how wealthy he is."
Zhao Huan secretly observed the ball, then heard the fat landlord's chuckled voice: "Here comes Mr. Zhao Wuji from the Imperial College. I am your junior student, Zhou Chunfu. I have long heard of your great name. It is truly a great honor to meet you today."
Zhao Huan coughed lightly, maintaining a condescending attitude.
Shao Chengzhang, who was standing beside him, stepped forward at the right moment and took over the fat landlord Zhou Chunfu's words, responding: "You are talking about our master."
No matter how domineering a man looks, his voice always has a hint of sharpness and a yin-yang tone, which can be easily distinguished. Zhou Chunfu lived not far from the emperor and had seen some of the world. He could tell as soon as Shao Chengzhang opened his mouth.
"Eunuch? Accompanied by someone from the palace, this Zhao Wuji is truly not comparable to ordinary royal relatives." Zhou Chunfu pondered this in his heart, and the smile on his face became even brighter: "Eunuch, hello! Hello!"
Without making a sound, a gold ingot slipped from Zhou Chunfu's sleeve into Shao Chengzhang's sleeve. Shao Chengzhang shook his sleeves. A gold ingot weighing ten taels was a big deal.
"I heard that you are very knowledgeable about food. This time, we have come here specially. Enjoy your meal. The master will reward you generously. Even though you are just a scholar, it is not difficult for the master to reward you with an official position."
Shao Chengzhang gave Zhou Chunfu a look that meant, "We have no connection. It's all thanks to your money. If you pay me, I'll be honest with you. We're just here for a meal. If you serve me well, there's a generous reward."
Zhou Chunfu also understood that his status was not high enough, so he stopped talking to Zhao Huan and led the way, guiding Zhao Huan and his group to his own house.
Under the feet of the emperor, no matter how rich you are, you have to abide by the rules.
Zhou Chunfu was a scholar. Eight generations ago, the highest-ranking official he had was only a sixth-rank official. There was nothing much to say about the ancestral house.
He led Zhao Huan to the main hall, obediently gave up the seat of honor, and stood sideways below until the maid brought tea. Then he spoke carefully, "When it comes to tea, green tea has always been the most respected, but I love flower tea. Many people disdain flower tea, and even say it is the common tea. But I don't see it that way. The flower tea I have here is made from real flowers, which are dried before being added to the tea. I believe this kind of flower tea is the best tea. Please try it. If you don't like it, I will change it immediately."
Zhou Chunfu's worries were justified. In the Song Dynasty, the most popular way of drinking tea was making tea by making tea.
The "drip-tea" method involves first crushing a tea cake, placing it in a bowl, and then pouring a small amount of boiling water into the bowl to mix the tea into a paste. Then, using a teapot, pour the water into the teacup while rapidly stirring the tea with a whisk until it foams. This method allows people to savor the tea's true flavor.
As long as it is not the serious business of governing the country, there is nothing that Song Huizong is not good at, such as making tea, burning incense, arranging flowers, and hanging paintings.
Song Huizong considered green tea the finest of all teas—unparalleled. After meticulously detailing the location and weather, he also elaborated on the process of tea picking: "Pick tea at dawn and stop when the sun appears." "One spear and one flag is for bud selection; one spear and two flags is second best; and the rest is the worst." Green tea is a distinct specialty, distinct from regular tea. Its leaves are thin and translucent. It grows by chance in the mountains and forests, though it's beyond human control.
What the ruler likes, the people below will like even more. It can be said that during the nearly 20 years of Emperor Huizong's reign, green tea was the dominant tea.
This guy Zhou Chunfu actually took a unique approach and was the first to invent the method of frying tea. He not only fried green tea, but also fried scented tea. He also knew how to use natural drying methods to preserve the original flavor of the flowers. From this perspective, he is also a talent.
The true method of tea frying only began in the Ming Dynasty. They considered the extremely complicated tea-drinking methods of the Tang and Song dynasties to be a show of skill, adding a multitude of ingredients that lost the original flavor of the tea. These Ming dynasty figures even openly criticized the Tea Saint Lu Yu.
Take tea, for example. During the Tang and Song dynasties, tea was ground into paste, wax, Jingding, and Longtuan, sometimes to the point of being delicately ground and costing hundreds of thousands of yuan. These were truly prized items. However, the more elaborate the grinding, the more the tea's essence was lost, let alone when it was mixed with aromatics. This was far inferior to modern practices, which only focus on roasting and frying, without compromising the tea's essence. Therefore, one can imagine the style of Sang and the Classic of Tea, which are considered the pioneering works. However, their methods of pounding, grinding, and sieving are hardly worth imitating.
"You have a good eye for the rabbit-hair pattern teacups from the Jianyang kiln."
The rabbit-hair tea cup is the most famous variety of black-glazed tea cups in the Song Dynasty, especially those produced by the Jianyang Kiln in Fujian. Because the cups have brown or rust-colored stripes inside and outside, the best ones are those with slender silver stripes, which resemble rabbit hair. Therefore, they are called rabbit-hair tea cups. The rabbit-hair tea cups of Jian Kiln are the best in the country.
Zhao Huan poured the tea directly from the pot into the bowl. Suddenly, a refreshing plum blossom fragrance filled the air, refreshing and pleasant. The pale red tea, translucent and shimmering, looked alluring.
Zhao Huan picked up the rabbit-hair patterned teacup and took a sip. Immediately, a stream of heat flowed down his throat. The warm feeling invisibly dissipated a lot of the chill that had just occurred outside.
Then, a faint plum blossom fragrance, accompanied by a sweet taste in his mouth, was exhaled from his lungs. It seemed as if all the pores in his body were opened. Zhao Huan felt indescribably comfortable. He couldn't help but say subconsciously: "Good tea, it is indeed good tea!"
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