A Man gobbled down her food to fill her stomach. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she said to Li Ying, "Sister, I've come this time to discuss an important matter with you."
She rarely looked so serious. Li Ying put away her casual look and tilted her head, waiting for her to continue.
"Sister, I've been helping Father check the desolate fields of our tribe over the years. There are several trees that seem to be tea trees. I wasn't sure, so I brought some tea here for you to take a look."
It was extremely difficult to store fresh tea during a long journey. So on the way, A Man found a tea shop, spent some silver, and asked someone to pan - fry the tea to make it.
She couldn't wait to get up and rummage through her bag for the tea. While rummaging around, she suddenly let out a startled cry of "Ouch!"
"Sister, it's bad!"
Li Ying heard A Man's voice drop a few notes, with obvious frustration. She quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
A Man had a gloomy face. She shuffled slowly in front of Li Ying and then hesitantly handed over a box in her hand.
"Sister... I stored the tea properly at first, but who would have thought it would turn out like this..."
The tea leaves were pitch - black and almost compressed into a tea brick. There were still faint yellowish spots on it, obviously moldy.
A Man looked dejected and whispered, "Sister, it's all my fault..."
She looked so aggrieved that it was really endearing. Shi Hu couldn't help but start to explain.
"Boss Li, this tea is really strange! We were extremely careful on our journey and never let the tea get damp! It has nothing to do with Miss A Man. If you want to blame someone, blame me for not taking good care of it!"
He was eager to take the blame on himself. A mischievous smile flashed in Li Ying's eyes. She joked, "Shi Hu, I originally thought that since you've been an apprentice in Deji Hall for many years, you wouldn't make any mistakes in transporting medicinal materials, and you'd surely handle the tea properly. But I didn't expect you to let me down. It's really disappointing."
Shi Hu hung his head obediently. A Man got anxious and hurriedly shouted, "Sister! It's not Shi Hu's fault! I've always carried this tea with me. Sister, please punish me instead!"
Seeing the two of them blushing simultaneously and vying to excuse each other, Li Ying smiled slightly, put away her joking mood, and said seriously, "Alright!"
She carefully smelled the tea brick. Indeed, just as the two of them had said, there was no musty smell that comes with dampness. Instead, there seemed to be a unique mellow aroma.
She broke off a lump of tightly compressed tea leaves. The golden dots that came into view were like stars dotted in the night sky and were even a bit beautiful.
Li Ying had a vague guess in her mind. She could hardly contain her ecstasy. With great effort, she managed to lower her voice and said, "A Man, this really can't be blamed on you two. If I'm not mistaken, this tea has fermented."
The tea A Man brought was very similar to the dark tea she had tasted in her previous life. Those golden dots were the product of fermentation, which gave the tea brick a unique "aroma of fungal flowers". The climate and environment of Xikang and the Hu regions also corresponded one by one.
Most people at that time only drank black tea, green tea, and white tea. Dark tea was extremely rare.
Li Ying felt her heart pounding. Could it be that God was so kind to her? After the coastal tea, He even gave her this unique golden - flower dark tea?
"A Man, don't blame yourself. I should even thank you!"
Li Ying spoke sincerely. Seeing her look so sincere, A Man finally let out a sigh of relief, still a bit skeptical.
The golden flowers in this dark tea were not formed step - by - step according to the ancient method of building tea and promoting flower growth. Naturally, she didn't dare to brew it and drink it. But Li Ying was thinking about this new business and immediately lost the mood for feasting. She just wanted to go to the Xikang Hu tribe as soon as possible to take a look.
However, for the time being, she still had to prepare the feast for Lord Xu's inauguration and take the opportunity to promote the coastal tea to the market. She was really stretched thin.
After much thought, Li Ying settled A Man, Shi Hu and the others. Then she took the semi - finished product of the "golden - flower dark tea" and excitedly went to find Master Ge, the tea master.
Master Ge was good at making green tea. But all tea drinks in the world had something in common. With his experience, he must be able to tell the quality of this dark tea.
Knowing that Master Ge was also a gourmet, Li Ying packed some cured pork ribs and quickly stir - fried a dish of shrimp with tea aroma.
Coastal tea should be brewed with boiling mountain spring water. When brewing, a shallow porcelain cup must be used so that the tea aroma can spread without bringing out the bitterness in the tea and maintain the taste.
When the oil was 50% hot, she added the marinated shrimps and stir - fried them until they turned a light pink.
She poured in the tea soup and tender tea leaves. After stir - frying evenly, she also drizzled a thin layer of crystal - like thickening sauce. The shrimps were tender and were shiny, wrapped in a crystal - like shell. They were crystal - clear and very attractive.
The stir - fried shrimps had a simple and bright color, were plump, sweet, and crispy, and left a fragrant aftertaste in the mouth. The light tea aroma was just there to set off the dish, refreshing and pleasant, not overpowering. You could taste the faint tea aroma in every bite, giving a feeling of "both plain and elaborate makeup suit her perfectly".
She packed all the dishes into a food box and then rushed out.
Master Ge had been busy packing his luggage these days to go and take a look at the bamboo forest where the coastal tea grew. He hadn't gone out. When he heard that she had brought a delicious dish with tea and a unique new tea in the world, he immediately became very interested. He invited her to sit down and waited with eager eyes.
Li Ying's cooking skills were self - evident. Master Ge gobbled up a plate of shrimp with tea aroma and still wanted more.
He stretched his limbs and let out a long, comfortable sigh, looking a bit lazy.
The so - called "feeling sleepy after a full meal" was probably like this.
Li Ying quickly presented the "dark tea" at the right time. Master Ge took out a tea knife, carefully cut off a piece, frowned, and sniffed it carefully over and over again.
After a long time, he stood up and without hesitation picked up the purple clay teapot and brewed the broken tea directly in the tea cup!
"Senior, you can't!"
Li Ying was about to stop him, but Master Ge just waved his hand indifferently.
"If I don't taste it myself, how can I tell the quality of the tea soup?"
He was crazy about tea, and this dark tea was something he had never heard of or seen before. Even though Li Ying tried to persuade him kindly, how could he listen?
Li Ying couldn't stop him and could only wait nervously. Master Ge calmly drank the tea soup in the cup in one gulp. After pondering for a moment, his eyes finally lit up.
"Interesting! Really interesting!"
"Miss Li, how many more strange ideas do you have that I can't even think of!"
Hearing him say this, the stone in Li Ying's heart finally fell to the ground.
"Senior, I guess you can also supervise the production of this golden - flower dark tea, right?"
She asked tentatively. Master Ge put down the porcelain cup, frowned, and slowly shook his head.
"No."