"Lady Lan, Li Ying has come to pay you a visit."
"I know I'm an insignificant person and have no right to ask you to spare your precious time to listen to my defense that I'm not a heartless and overbearing official's daughter. I just thought that since you've been staying indoors, you might be hungry. All I'm good at is cooking, and my culinary skills are just passable. I've specially made a Taiji tea soup to warm you up. If you don't mind, please have a taste. Don't be hard on yourself. It's not good to damage your spleen and stomach."
Li Ying stood still in front of the thatched cottage on Wuli Slope, took a deep breath, and spoke in a full - throated voice.
After she finished speaking, without waiting for Lady Lan's response, she really put down the red clay stove and the tea soup, bowed respectfully to the cottage, and then left with A Man.
"Sister?"
A Man was confused, and a look of unwillingness flashed across her face.
"Sister, this tea soup is sure to resolve Lady Lan's heart knot. Shouldn't we wait a bit longer instead of leaving like this?"
Li Ying just smiled without saying a word. Seeing that the weather was extremely cold, she was afraid that A Man would catch a cold, so she immediately took her back to the carriage to rest.
The door of the thatched cottage was tightly locked and showed no sign of opening.
A Man peeked out from behind the curtain and saw that the burning stove gradually went out, and the steam from the tea soup stopped rising. Presumably, it had already turned cold.
"Sister, it seems that Lady Lan is determined. What shall we do now?"
Before her voice faded, Li Ying calmly took out a chopping board and a kitchen knife from the back of the carriage and started preparing skillfully.
The tea soup was not difficult to make. She didn't spend much time and soon made another plate. She added some high - quality silver - silk charcoal and kept it warm on the clay stove.
This went on several times. Just when A Man was worrying about the several bowls of cold tea soup that had been replaced, the door of the thatched cottage finally creaked open. Lady Lan stood at the door with a straight face, looking thoughtfully at the still - warm tea soup.
She had been waiting in the room for two hours. It was freezing outside, but the soup was still warm. She guessed that Li Ying must have come secretly several times to replace it.
People are not made of wood or stone. Finally, her expression softened a bit. She said seriously, "You still claim that you're not a luxury - loving official's daughter. To persuade this old woman to come out of seclusion, you've spent so much silver - silk charcoal, and those leftover soups will probably all go to waste!"
Li Ying sensed that there was a loosening in her words. She quickly walked out with a smiling face and bowed politely to her.
"Lady Lan, the silver - silk charcoal is indeed expensive, but your unique skill of making golden - flower dark tea is priceless. If a few measures of silver - silk charcoal can show you my sincerity, then this money is well - spent."
"As for the tea soup, it's really a headache. If you had met us an hour later, I'm afraid our whole family would have to eat these leftovers for three meals a day for the next three to five days."
She gave a charming smile, and finally, there was some expression on Lady Lan's stiff face.
She glanced at the soup and asked casually, "Where did you learn to make this soup?"
Although she tried hard to suppress her emotions and not show any strange expressions, the glint in her eyes easily betrayed her.
Li Ying smiled slightly and said softly, "The person who taught me how to make this tea soup claimed to be an old acquaintance of yours. He hasn't seen you for many years and wonders how you've been."
Although Lady Lan had already had a guess in her mind, hearing it from someone else's mouth still shocked her.
"He, he..."
Her face changed greatly, and her lips trembled, but she couldn't utter a single word. Her eyes showed regret, joy, and resentment all at once, a complex mix of emotions.
"Lady Lan, you've known Master Ge for many years and must be aware of his character. The tea he likes will surely have a promising future. Lady Lan, I'm just an orphan girl who started from scratch in a fishing village. Now I'm doing business in the capital. Firstly, it's to make a living, and secondly, it's to let more ordinary people and poor families drink real affordable good tea."
"Lady Lan, please come out of seclusion and help me!"
Her words were sincere. Lady Lan had already been touched by her sincerity of adding charcoal to keep the soup warm. But thinking that if she agreed to this job today, she would inevitably meet Master Ge in the future, a look of hesitation appeared on her face.
She gritted her teeth and finally said coldly, "No. Just act as if you never saw me today."
"That man and I have long since severed our ties. Although I, Lan Caiwei, am just a woman, I have my own integrity. I came here today to pay respects to my late master just out of gratitude for the teachings in the past. On the day I was forced to leave the master's door, I had no more affection for the Ge father and son. Moreover, the late master repeatedly emphasized that fermented dark tea should never be made. Miss Li, I appreciate your appreciation of my talent, but please leave."
Without saying more, she turned around and was about to go back into the room. No matter how hard Li Ying chased after her and tried to explain that in the future, she and Master Ge would be in charge of different types of tea and would have no interaction, Lady Lan was determined and refused to go with her.
"Miss Li, I can tell that you're a kind - hearted person. In that case, I have a message for you to convey."
"Back then, he abandoned me to save his father's life. It was his duty as a son, and I don't blame him. But from then on, we'll go our separate ways and each find our own happiness. Now that we're both in our twilight years, let's not act like young lovers anymore!"
Li Ying frowned tightly. It seemed that Lady Lan harbored a lot of hatred for the past events, which was very different from what Master Ge had said, that she had "left with a letter, carefree and unrestrained."
Was there a hidden story, or had Master Ge lied and not told the whole truth?
A big doubt arose in Li Ying's mind. She shouted at Lady Lan's back, "Lady Lan, don't leave in a hurry! Please wait here for a while. I'll find out the truth and then come back to discuss it with you!"
Lady Lan didn't give a definite answer, but Li Ying took it as her tacit consent. She rushed back to the mansion in a hurry. Lu Xunguang was already there, sipping tea leisurely.
Seeing that they had returned defeated and A Man was full of disappointment, he knew that they must have been rejected again. He couldn't help raising his eyebrows and smiling.
"A Ying, come here."
He patted the mahogany chair beside him, which was already covered with a soft and warm wool felt.
He beckoned her to snuggle comfortably beside him and then calmly took out a dossier from his bosom.
"All the inside information you want to know is in here."
Li Ying took it dubiously. When she unfolded it, a look of surprise appeared on her face.
"Lu Lang, when did you find out all this?"
What was clearly recorded in the dossier was the entanglement between Master Ge and Lady Lan in the past.