The three sisters were busy savoring the tea snacks. It was the little spirit cat, Maomao, that, seemingly feeling neglected, meowed restlessly.
Its fluffy little cat head rubbed back and forth against Li Ying's feet. Li Ying ruffled its small ears and patted the back of its head, then continued to ponder the recipe for the dessert.
Maomao meowed anxiously. What on earth was this place? Back in the fishing village, it was a fearless leader, soaring through the sky and ruling over numerous "little followers"! Now in the capital city, Granny Sun was busy taking care of Mianmian and couldn't spare any time for it. Li Ying, Lu Xunguang and the others all had their own pressing matters. This once mighty little cat now had to stay obediently in this small mansion. It was really boring!
Seizing an opportunity, Maomao tucked its tail and slipped out of the gate silently.
By the time Li Ying finally finished all the chores at hand, the little cat was nowhere to be seen.
She thought to herself that something was amiss. She blamed herself for not having had time to play with Maomao recently.
The little cat was so intelligent that it must be angry.
Li Ying quickly put on her outer robe and was about to go out to look for it. But unexpectedly, as soon as she reached the yard, she saw a dark mass covering the sky above. The fluttering of wings was incessant.
A flock of pigeons fluttered down into the yard and walked around cooing. Their round beady eyes sized up Li Ying curiously.
"Maomao?"
Li Ying looked up in confusion and saw Maomao sitting on the bluestone, licking its paws proudly.
The little spirit cat squinted its eyes and let out a long meow. Its soft tail tip swayed slowly, clearly showing its pride.
"You mean we can use these pigeons to deliver the tea snacks? My Maomao is so amazing! In just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, you caught such a large flock of wild pigeons and trained them so well!"
Seeing Maomao tilting its head with those big glass-bead-like eyes that seemed to be saying "Praise me", Li Ying couldn't help but laugh. She quickly grabbed a handful of dried fragrant small fish to reward the little guy.
Maomao then found a corner contentedly and lay down comfortably in the sun.
Li Ying grabbed a handful of fresh grain and scattered it for the pigeons in the yard. It seemed that she had to build a pigeon coop as soon as possible to settle these furry little messengers.
She also stayed up all night to order a batch of small red flags embroidered with the name of the tea snack shop. As long as customers bought a box of any tea cakes sold in the shop, they could join the membership for free. By storing value in their membership cards, they could not only enjoy a 20% discount on each order and free delivery, but also receive the latest tea snack posters and free samples every month, and get a small flag.
As long as they inserted the small flag outside their doors, the pigeons from the tea snack shop would fly to their homes to receive orders and deliver goods, which was extremely convenient.
"Pigeon post" was not really something rare. The difficult part was that one had to hire a pigeon farmer to train the carrier pigeons for a long time.
But with Maomao in charge, and cats being natural enemies of birds, Li Ying didn't have to worry about training the pigeons at all. The pigeons were really punctual and always delivered their missions.
This novel delivery method made many families in the capital city exclaim in delight. The tea snack shop was extremely busy.
Li Ying had expected this. Lu's bamboo-sealed tea became even more famous.
Thanks to the canned food from the fishing village being sold all over the place, many people in the capital city had already tasted the deliciousness of the bamboo canned food and were amazed by it. Now when they saw the bamboo-sealed tea, they immediately thought of the canned food. Hearing that they were from the same place and that the coastal tea was a special product of the fishing village, they trusted it more. After a little thought, they generously bought some to taste.
Granny Sun brought Mianmian to watch the excitement. Seeing the customers scrambling to buy and the goods being in short supply, she said sincerely, "A Ying, I'm really convinced by you! I never dreamed that those worthless bamboo poles in our village could be so useful!"
Li Ying just smiled faintly.
Since she saw the large bamboo forest left by Mrs. Lu, she had made up her mind.
One day, she would make sure that whenever people all over the world saw the word "bamboo", they would think of the fishing village, the Lu family, and her, Li Ying. Bamboo would be her best signboard!
The coastal tea and the golden flower dark tea were like two dark horses, charging into the circle of tea merchants in the capital city irresistibly, sweeping away all obstacles.
For a while, literati and scholars vied to drink Lu's tea as a sign of elegance. There were even some rumors in the streets. It was said that the newly crowned top scholar, Su Buchi, had been promoted three levels in just a few months after entering the capital city and had become a new noble in the court.
There was also the newly appointed vice-minister of the Court of Judicial Review, Lord Xu. He was just an ordinary person with mediocre qualifications. It was said that it was because of the bamboo-sealed tea gift he presented at the inaugural banquet that caught the eye of the prime minister. The old minister praised it highly and even thought more highly of him. He even arranged some trivial cases for him to investigate, and he seemed to be on the rise.
Such rumors naturally made Lu's tea shop even more crowded.
Li Ying finally managed to see off a group of customers. Her lips were sore from smiling. Just then, she heard a rather cautious voice from outside the door.
"Is Boss Li free now?"
She looked up and saw that it was the old shopkeeper who had sold the tea snack shop to her a few days ago.
He was wearing a clean set of clothes, and his face showed a rather unnatural look of timidity. Li Ying didn't have any ill feelings towards him, so she greeted him in with a smile.
"Why are you free today?"
The old shopkeeper blushed and chatted with her for a few words. His hand in his sleeve twitched. After a long time, he finally seemed to make up his mind. He gritted his teeth and said awkwardly, "Boss Li, I'm here today on someone else's behalf..."
It turned out that several other small tea shops in the capital city, without the support of any powerful families, were struggling to make a living. Now seeing the coastal tea and the golden flower dark tea from Lu's tea shop booming, they also wanted a share of the pie.
They didn't dare to deal with Lu Xunguang, that cold and heartless person. So they made several detours and found the old shopkeeper of the tea snack shop, and finally came to Li Ying.
"Boss Li, you can rest assured. I've known these tea shops for a long time. Their characters are trustworthy! It's not easy to make a living in the capital city. They also want to use genuine materials and hate those so-called 'famous teas' with inflated prices. But the tea market is firmly in the hands of a few big tea shops. If they don't follow their pricing, they will be secretly harassed. We common people have no choice..."
What the old shopkeeper said was true. Lu Xunguang had also told her about the complicated profit exploitation in the tea market in the capital city. Li Ying remained calm, but her mind was secretly stirred.