Lu Xunguang frowned.
How could there be a woman in this world who would voluntarily give up her husband?
Seeing the suspicious look on his face, the senior master said in a deep voice, "The private salt case of the River Transport Gang involves a wide range of people. Now that Lady Lian has been brought to justice and this old case is being revisited, the court will surely look into it. They'll need to find another scapegoat. Xun, it's not easy for our bank to have been in business for so many years. Now that you've taken over as the head of the family, don't get involved in these sordid affairs. Just play dumb."
Not willing to tell the whole truth, Lu Xunguang looked unhappy. Just as he was about to say something, a panicked servant's report suddenly came from outside the door.
"Senior master, young master, something terrible has happened! There's a big problem in the shop!"
He knelt on the ground with a thud and said fearfully, "It's Lady Lian... Lady Lian ordered a batch of new tea a few days ago. We didn't pay much attention at that time. But when we checked the warehouse today, we found that the tea was all broken!"
After Lady Lian was imprisoned, the tea shop under her name was taken over by the Lu family.
The clerk rushed excitedly to take inventory of the goods, but as soon as he opened the warehouse door, he stared in shock.
The mountains of tea leaves in the warehouse were mostly broken, and most of the rest were damp!
The clerk had never seen such a sight before. He was stunned and didn't know what to do, so he had to hurry to report to the two masters.
What made things even more difficult was that Lady Lian knew she had fallen out of favor with the senior master and feared that all was lost. But she was not willing to admit defeat. Taking advantage of the little power she still had, she secretly tampered with things!
She didn't have much money, so she simply borrowed money from several banks in the name of the Ping An Bank.
The batch of tea she bought with a huge sum of money had only a thin layer of intact new tea on the surface, while the inside was filled with broken and worthless tea!
The bank was just starting to recover. How could it withstand such a storm?
If they couldn't sell this batch of tea smoothly, the banks might come knocking on their door. Then, the capital turnover of the Ping An Bank would become a problem.
Lu Xunguang bought this tea shop from Lady Lian because he thought that Li Ying's tea art had made tea-drinking popular in the town.
He thought it would be a good idea to help her make the tea shop business thrive.
He never expected that Lady Lian would leave such a mess. Without delay, he rushed to the tea shop.
Several clerks and the shopkeeper were looking worried. When they saw him coming, they quickly bowed and said, "Young master!"
Lu Xunguang nodded slightly, bent down to pick up a few pieces of broken tea, and frowned immediately.
These damp and broken tea dregs were greatly inferior in both aroma and taste. If they were sold, it would surely damage their shop's reputation.
Shortly after, Li Ying also got the news and rushed over in a hurry.
Lu Xunguang was about to order the servants to sort out the broken tea and keep the intact and dry ones, but Li Ying reached out to stop him.
"Xunguang, you can't do this."
"Lady Lian has gone to great lengths to give us such a 'gift'. We must make good use of it. How can we let her have her way?"
Li Ying took a small handful of Qimen black tea, put a clay pot on a small clay stove, and roasted it slowly over a low fire. After slightly roasting the tea to make it fragrant, she poured in milk and brown sugar and boiled them together.
She also roasted a few red dates beside the clay stove. After peeling them and removing the pits, she boiled them in the milk tea pot until it was fragrant and delicious. This pot of "clay pot roasted milk tea" was the most suitable for warming up in the slightly cool early autumn.
"This is called tea-boiling by the stove. Besides milk and black tea, you can also use dried tangerine peel and white tea, jasmine roasted milk, sugarcane roasted milk. You can also boil osmanthus, rose, and mulberries together."
As Li Ying was talking, she listed several recipes for tea-boiling. The smell of the charcoal fire from the clay stove covered up the faint dampness of the tea leaves. Compared with ordinary dry tea, it was less likely to burn.
If you put an iron net on the clay stove, you could also roast some snacks to go with the tea. Soft and sweet persimmons, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and chestnuts were all seasonal foods in autumn, with a simple and warm taste.
If you wanted to be more particular, Li Ying also prepared various snacks.
The rice cakes were skewered on bamboo sticks and roasted over a low fire until they were golden brown. Each piece was puffed up high. Under the crispy outer shell was the soft and sticky glutinous rice aroma. It was very delicious when paired with dry fragrant soybean powder, moist osmanthus honey, or thick red bean paste.
The dried fish slices and shrimps sun-dried by the fishing village were crispy and delicious after being roasted. They were more suitable as snacks for chatting than melon seeds and peanuts.
If you liked savory food, there were also thinly sliced farmhouse steamed buns. Brush them with a thin layer of rapeseed oil and roast them until they were full of the aroma of wheat. Just sprinkle a pinch of pepper salt on them, and they would be very delicious.
If you wanted to be more particular, you could also add some very thin slices of meat and make this simple "Chinese sandwich" which was both warming and filling.
Tea-boiling by the stove didn't require extremely high-grade tea leaves. What people were after was the elegance of chatting with a few good friends.
The clerks listened to her eloquently and smelled the faint tea aroma in the air. They couldn't help but get excited and were about to order a batch of special clay stoves according to her instructions and sell them in the village.
Li Ying quickly stopped them and said, "No. This tea-boiling by the stove can only be promoted among the wealthy families in the town. As for ordinary people, there's no need to waste so much effort."
Seeing the puzzled looks on the clerks' faces, Li Ying explained seriously, "Think about it. Tea-boiling by the stove is about enjoying a delicate and elegant leisure. Ordinary farmers are still busy making a living. How can they have such free time?
"Moreover, this charcoal-roasted tea is a very rare and novel thing in the eyes of the young ladies and wives of wealthy families. But farmers use earthen stoves every day and are already used to it. If they really want to taste the flavor of this boiled tea, they can just do it on their own stoves. Why would they spend a lot of money to come to our tea shop?"
This made sense, and the clerks secretly remembered it in their hearts. They cleaned up the tea leaves but hesitated and said, "But, Miss Li, are we just going to abandon those ordinary people who can't afford good tea? There are not many wealthy families in this town after all."
Li Ying was not in a hurry. She turned to look at Lu Xunguang and asked with a smile, "Has the new jasmine tea from the Lu family's tea shop been on the market this year?"
Seeing Lu Xunguang nod, she calmly said, "Mix this batch of broken tea with the tea dregs sifted from the new tea. Grade them into tea hearts, high-grade broken tea, and high-grade tea dust, and sell them at a low price to restaurants. There are many tourists in the town recently. They may get impatient while waiting for their seats. Offering them a cup of fragrant tea will help soothe their emotions.
"Besides, you can also wrap the broken tea in gauze into a zongzi-shaped tea bag. This kind of tea bag has a higher content of tea polyphenols, is more refreshing, and is very portable. It's most suitable to sell to scholars and merchant caravans."
In previous years, these tea dregs were just casually discarded. It was the first time for the people in the town to hear about "high-grade broken tea". They could taste the flavor of top-grade tea at a very low price. Why not?