Firmly uphold
The next morning, Chi Zhuo still had to hold a meeting.
In the afternoon, he took Lin Tingyue to the tea garden as promised.
This tea garden is located on a hillside, with layers of tea trees winding along the mountainside, and the air is filled with the fresh aroma of tea.
An elderly tea farmer greeted them; he was the owner of the teahouse that Lin Tingyue had met the day before.
"So it was you?" Lin Tingyue exclaimed in surprise.
The shopkeeper smiled and looked at her and Chi Zhuo: "It seems you were able to appreciate some of the flavor of yesterday's tea."
Chi Zhuo was somewhat puzzled, so Lin Tingyue briefly explained their encounter the previous day. After listening, the old tea farmer gave Chi Zhuo a meaningful look: "Young man, doing business is like tasting tea; you can't rush it, nor can you be slow."
Chi Zhuo seemed to be deep in thought.
The old man led them on a tour of the tea-making process, from picking to fixing, rolling, and drying, with each step meticulously executed.
Lin Tingyue watched intently, while Chi Zhuo patiently kept her company.
"The life of tea lies in the control of the heat," the old man said while frying the tea. "Too fast and it will burn; too slow and it will become astringent. Just like the relationship between people, it needs the right temperature and time."
After strolling around the tea garden, Lin Tingyue also tried her hand at picking tea leaves. However, her movements were not as good as those of the tea pickers in the garden. She stood on the ground, learning the movements little by little from the people next to her, asking them about the techniques, without complaining at all.
Chi Zhuo felt a little sorry for her and couldn't help but ask, "Why don't you come up and have some water?"
She waved her hand while wearing a hat, "Let me finish this one today, I'm almost there."
When it came to the final weightlifting, Lin Tingyue was not the last one to fall behind.
The tea plantation manager kindly brought over drinks and some souvenir gifts, which Lin Tingyue nodded in satisfaction.
"I've had some success today!"
On the way back, Lin Tingyue couldn't help but ask, "Do you think what that boss said makes sense?"
Chi Zhuo stared intently at the road ahead: "Yes. I was too hasty when I was young, and now I'm slowly realizing that some things can't be rushed."
He turned to look at Lin Tingyue and asked, "You were quite focused today. I thought you were just going to experience it, but I didn't expect you to stay until the end. That was unexpected."
"I figured that since I've started, I should see this through to the end. Besides, I'm genuinely interested in tea and wanted to test my abilities to see how far I could go."
"And now?"
"Not bad." Lin Tingyue smiled with satisfaction, glancing tentatively at Chi Zhuo, as if hoping to hear his approval as well.
What about you? How do you feel?
Chi Zhuo agreed without hesitation, "Great! It exceeded my expectations."
Upon hearing this, Lin Tingyue excitedly wiggled her body, then happily hugged the gift box and said, "These are all teas I picked myself today. I'm going to stir-fry them myself when I get back."
Chi Zhuo glanced at her slightly flushed cheeks and smiled slightly: "Okay."
Back at the hotel, Chi Zhuo was called away to handle some matters, leaving Lin Tingyue alone at the hotel.
When he returned, Lin Tingyue was no longer in the room. Just as he was about to make a call, he received a message from Lin Tingyue.
"When you're done, you can come and check out the kitchen on the seventh floor."
Following the information, Chi Zhuo could smell a faint aroma of tea from afar.
In the kitchen, Lin Tingyue was intently watching the frying pan, carefully turning the tea leaves inside. Fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, but her expression was extremely serious.
"What are you doing?"
Lin Tingyue was startled, almost dropping the spatula in her hand. "You're back? I was trying to stir-fry tea." She was a little embarrassed. "I wanted to surprise you, but it doesn't seem to have worked very well."
The tea leaves in the pot were uneven in color, some already slightly burnt. Chi Zhuo walked closer and took a look: "It looks like it's been overcooked."
“I know.” Lin Tingyue sighed. “In the afternoon, it seemed so easy when I watched others do it, but I found it so difficult when I tried it myself.”
Chi Zhuo took off his suit jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves: "Let me try it on."
Lin Tingyue watched in surprise as he took the spatula; his movements, though not practiced, were remarkably steady.
He turned down the heat, gently stirred the tea leaves, and observed the color changes from time to time.
How do you know this?
“I don’t know either. I just used to hear my grandfather talk about these things often. He also liked to take me to tea factories to check them out.” Chi Zhuo focused on his hands. “To do business, you have to know a little bit. I only have a superficial understanding. I’m just feeling my way across the river.”
Lin Tingyue's eyes suddenly changed, showing some appreciation. "Then you know quite a lot."
Hearing the unexpected praise, Chi Zhuo looked up at her, smiled, and then quickly lowered his head again.
The two were busy in the small kitchen, the tea leaves slowly curling in the pot, releasing an even richer aroma.
Lin Tingyue stood beside Chi Zhuo, looking at his focused profile, and suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of warmth in this moment.
After roasting, Chi Zhuo poured the tea leaves onto prepared paper to cool. Lin Tingyue brewed a pot of tea; the tea soup was clear and had a fragrant aroma.
"Want to try it?" she asked Chi Zhuo expectantly.
Chi Zhuo took a sip and raised an eyebrow slightly: "Not bad."
Lin Tingyue tasted it herself; the tea was slightly astringent, yet had a unique flavor. "This is our first collaborative work," she said with a smile.
Chi Zhuo gazed at her radiant smile, his eyes softening: "Yes, the first time."
Lin Tingyue said excitedly, "How about we give this work a name?"
"Sure," Chi Zhuo nodded. "What name do you want to suggest?"
Lin Tingyue thought about it carefully and suggested, "How about we call it 'Gong Cui Sheng'?"
“Gong-Cui-Sheng…” Chi Zhuo carefully savored the name word by word, praising it highly.
"Very good, full of life, like a work of art that has come to life."
In the evening, after Lin Tingyue finished washing up, she was sitting on the sofa scrolling through her phone, with a face mask on.
At this moment, the trending topics on the internet caused a change in Lin Tingyue's expression.
#Jiang Shaoyang's low-key travel attracts attention#
#Jiang Shaoyang was reportedly dumped after dating a socialite#
#Jiang Shaoyang's New Lover Suspicion#
Most of the pictures were taken when Lin Tingyue and Jiang Shaoyang entered and exited hotels and high-end clubs, and her part was blurred out.
But she could tell her own appearance at a glance.
The comments section was also in an uproar. Lin Tingyue scrolled through some of the more popular comments.
A die-hard fan, "Summer Sunshine," commented: "It's just a private trip for my brother, please don't bother him... Focus more on the Jiang Group's new projects!" [12,000 likes]
A passerby, a "frontline observer," commented: "This is what you call low-key? That watch on his wrist could buy a house. But speaking of which, the girl next to him, whose face is blurred, seems to have an unusual figure and demeanor." [9852 likes]
Gossip blogger "Celebrity Circle Unveiled": Replying to @GossipOnlineCrowd: "The person upstairs has a good eye. She's supposedly a true top-tier heiress, from a family equally wealthy and powerful as the Jiang family. It was the woman who broke up with him first, apparently because she cheated. You know how gold-diggers are, you know what I mean." [23,000 likes]
Hater "Can't Stand the Young Master": "Hahahaha, I'm truly amazed that there are people in this world who can distort the truth. Even a scoundrel like Jiang Shaoyang has a group of fans defending him?" [15,000 likes]
A long-time fan, "Jiang Shaoyang's Girlfriend Outside the Entertainment Industry," commented: "Please stop spreading rumors! Our Shaoyang is so great, how could he be dumped? It was the other person who cheated; our Shaoyang is the complete victim, OK?" [8763 likes]
"Emotional Analyst V": "This actually indirectly proves Jiang Shaoyang's charm. The fact that he can attract such outstanding women who aren't dependent on him speaks volumes about the quality of his social circle. Being 'dumped' actually helped him shed his 'pure playboy' image, which is quite interesting." [18,000 likes]
A passerby, "Happy Little Biscuit," posted: "Am I the only one who thinks the censored ex-girlfriend is more mysterious and has more charisma? I want the original photo!" [21,000 likes]
...
Lin Tingyue scrolled for a while, then got so angry she almost vomited blood.
When Chi Zhuo finished washing up, he found Lin Tingyue with her head tilted back, eyes closed, and not saying a word.
"Face masks are not suitable for being left on for too long."
After he finished speaking, Lin Tingyue remained silent.
He frowned and glanced at the sofa, thinking the other person was asleep. Just as he was about to move, he saw Lin Tingyue sit up listlessly and walk towards the bathroom like a puppet.
"Lin Tingyue?"
Chi Zhuo called her name.
Upon hearing this, Lin Tingyue paused, then slowly turned around.
"What's wrong? Are you tired?"
Lin Tingyue shook her head.
Chi Zhuo saw that she was tired but was too embarrassed to say anything, so he just gestured for her to go wash her face.
"Then go wash up quickly, I'll wait for you."
Lin Tingyue was stunned again and turned around, slowly walking towards the restroom.
A short while later, Chi Zhuo received the message.
Lu Tingyuan directly sent the trending topic to Chi Zhuo.
Chi Zhuo immediately understood Lin Tingyue's reaction; she must have seen those things just now.
He looked closely at the photo; the two people were behaving intimately and seemed to be in the "honeymoon phase."
However, the comments under the trending topic were all personal attacks about infidelity. People believed everything they heard and used every language to join in the rumors and rebellion, completely disregarding the facts.
"Mr. Chi, should we remove all these trending topics? It seems someone recognized the woman in the picture as Mrs. Chi."
Chi Zhuo quickly pointed out the core issue: "Go and check if the Jiang Group has any new projects underway recently. Also, find out which company Jiang Shaoyang has found to be the scapegoat this time."
"Yes." Upon receiving the message, Lu Tingyuan promptly went to arrange the work.
A few minutes later, all the trending topics were cleared, including discussions involving names, which were all blocked.
Scattered and fragmented, only some discussions and speculations remain about these topics, but there are no official entries, and they are just some unimportant complaints.
Someone privately reminded everyone: "Everyone, in this situation, there's usually more juicy gossip to come. Just wait and see, there might be a major twist later."
A comment that followed immediately: [OMG, I felt like that badger jumping around in the melon patch, forgive me for laughing so hard... [GIF of someone eating melon.jpg]]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
