After sending Zhong Xiaomei back, Shen Xuan returned home. As he reached the doorway, he saw Xue Fenglin already waiting there.
Spotting him from a distance, Xue Fenglin stepped forward and said, "Why did you suddenly go out so late? I was a little worried."
Shen Xuan had left in a hurry earlier, and Xue Fenglin was tidying up inside, so he'd forgotten to tell him.
Now, being gently chided by Xue Fenglin, he felt a bit embarrassed but also touched by the unexpected concern.
He quickly took a few steps forward but, due to the darkness, didn't see a large pit in the road and misstepped.
Just as he was about to fall, he felt an arm around his waist. Shen Xuan was then pulled into a warm embrace, stumbling for two steps before finally regaining his balance.
The oil lamp in his hand had gone out. Shen Xuan looked up and saw the moonlight falling on Xue Fenglin's face, making his handsome features appear even fairer and more attractive in the soft glow.
His heart fluttered, directly feeling the impact of Xue Fenglin's striking looks. The hand on his waist was warm and strong, making Shen Xuan's face flush crimson.
Fortunately, it was dark, so it wouldn't show! Shen Xuan breathed a sigh of relief and gently took a step back, moving out of Xue Fenglin's embrace.
"Lin Ye, I'm sorry. I left in a hurry earlier and forgot to tell you. It won't happen again," Shen Xuan apologized to Xue Fenglin.
His eyes sparkled brightly in the darkness, looking very sincere. Seeing this, Xue Fenglin's heart softened, and his brow unfurrowed as he smiled,
"Come in quickly. You've been busy all day. I wonder what was so urgent that you had to do it after dark."
Shen Xuan then told Xue Fenglin about Zhong Xiaomei's situation and added, "From now on, housework like laundry and chopping firewood, just let her do it. You don't need to labor yourself."
Xue Fenglin heard this, and recalling Brother Zhong's incident, he remained silent for a moment before saying,
"With Zhong family's parents being like that, their children might not turn out well. Do you really want to help her with this?"
Shen Xuan didn't know about the past events between Brother Zhong and Xue Fenglin, so he smiled upon hearing Xue Fenglin's words.
"I don't particularly like Zhong Xiaomei either, but an orange tree growing in the south will produce good, sweet oranges, but if the same orange tree grows in the north, it will produce bitter, inferior trifoliate oranges. She's only fourteen this year; she might still have a chance to change."
He added, "Now that she's realized she needs to earn money for herself, she has an ambitious spirit, which is surely better than someone like Wang Xiaolian, right?"
Xue Fenglin didn't refute him, merely nodding and saying, "If you have a plan, that's fine."
Being from a Marquis's residence, many of his household servants had tragic backgrounds, and unlike Shen Xuan, he felt little sympathy for such people.
However, Shen Xuan was different from Xue Fenglin; if he lacked sympathy, he wouldn't have brought Xue Fenglin back after finding him collapsed at the entrance of Yunshui Village.
Xue Fenglin only hoped that Zhong Xiaomei wouldn't disappoint Shen Xuan's kindness as her brother had.
***
Shen Xuan's stall business on Jinli Street had gradually gained traction these past few days.
Apart from the first day when he only sold 150 cups, he had sold out all 200 cups every day since.
Because his tea tasted good and its name was auspicious, initially only students from Lezhou Academy bought his tea.
Gradually, even the academy's teachers came to know the reputation of Honey Scholar Tea.
Master Qin was one of the teachers at Lezhou Academy. Recently, after every class, his students would ask their male attendants to buy a cup of Honey Scholar Tea near Caohua Alley.
They said the tea tasted excellent, and only 200 cups were sold daily, so if you went too late, you couldn't get any.
As teachers at the academy, to maintain their authority, they generally didn't eat or drink with the students.
The academy hired cooks for the teachers, who prepared lunch, and provided mid-range tea already brewed, so they didn't need to buy extra.
But after hearing so much about Honey Scholar Tea and seeing students constantly carrying green bamboo cups, Master Qin also started to crave it.
He particularly loved the taste of jasmine tea, but the academy's uniformly purchased tea was always Biluochun, which always lacked a certain flavor.
The Honey Scholar Tea held by the students, however, happened to have a jasmine base. Just by passing by, Master Qin could smell the fragrant jasmine in the tea.
'This Honey Scholar Tea uses really good tea leaves', Master Qin thought.
So, one day, taking advantage of a lighter afternoon schedule, Master Qin left the academy early, determined to buy a jasmine-flavored Honey Scholar Tea to try.
To his surprise, as Master Qin arrived at Shen Xuan's stall, he saw him packing up.
"Stall owner, give me a cup of jasmine Honey Scholar Tea," Master Qin eagerly said, pulling out ten wen.
Shen Xuan looked at Master Qin apologetically and said, "Master, I'm truly sorry. All the tea at the stall is sold out today. Please come earlier tomorrow!"
Master Qin: "..."
'How could it sell out so fast?'
He felt even more regretful, and his desire to drink the Honey Scholar Tea grew stronger. The next morning, Master Qin woke up early.
Before class, even before breakfast, he was the first to arrive at Shen Xuan's stall. Shen Xuan recognized the middle-aged man as the academy teacher who had wanted to buy tea the day before.
He quickly smiled and said, "Master, you came very early today! Do you still want a cup of jasmine tea?"
Seeing that Shen Xuan remembered him, Master Qin nodded and said, "That's right."
Soon, Shen Xuan made a cup of tea and presented it to him, saying, "Master, if you like it, please come again next time?"
Master Qin nodded, gave Shen Xuan ten wen, and took the teacup. At the academy, Master Qin settled down at his desk and eagerly took a sip.
A rich jasmine fragrance permeated his senses, and the sweet and sour fruity flavor filled his entire mouth.
Master Qin's eyes widened. He hadn't expected the tea to taste this good; it was even more refreshing and delicious than he had imagined.
No wonder the students wanted to buy it every day and worried about missing out if they arrived late.
He couldn't resist taking several large sips. Only when he couldn't drink anymore did he place the cup on his desk and prepare for the day's lesson.
Master Qin taught his students for a while. During the break, he returned from the classroom and, wanting to continue savoring his Jasmine Scholar Tea, found that the half-finished cup of tea on his desk, along with the cup itself, was gone!
Master Qin was shocked and immediately exclaimed loudly, "Where's the teacup on my desk?"
"What teacup? Isn't it on the desk?" Master Shen, who was nearby, asked.
"Not that one, the green bamboo cup," Master Qin quickly clarified.
"Oh, wasn't that a student's cup?" Master Shen finally realized, then said apologetically, "Just now, the cleaning lady from the academy came by, and I thought it was a cup a student had carelessly left behind, so I told her to take it away."
Master Qin felt a pang of regret but couldn't say much to his colleague, so he simply said, "No matter, I'll just buy another cup later."
"What tea is so good that even you're so infatuated with it?" Master Shen couldn't help but ask, also growing curious about Honey Scholar Tea.
"The taste is truly indescribable," Master Qin told Master Shen.
"Although it's sweet and sour, it doesn't have the astringency of sour plum soup, and it still retains the tea's aroma. It's even better than Guiyun Tower's Cloud Top Maojian tea."
"Really? That tea isn't expensive, yet it earns such high praise from you?"
Master Shen was also tempted and decided to go with Master Qin to buy a cup to try. So, at noon, when the academy teachers were eating, they found Master Qin and Master Shen each holding a green bamboo cup, both filled with Honey Scholar Tea bought from outside.
A few days later, all the teachers in the entire academy would collectively send someone out each noon to buy a cup of tea from Shen Xuan.
Seeing this, the students at the academy further promoted Honey Scholar Tea. They said it was tea that even the teachers loved to drink, and even students who hadn't been very interested before went to buy and try it.
***
Because this tea became famous at Lezhou Academy, its reputation gradually spread to the yajis at Guiyun Tower.
The teachers at Lezhou Academy were all talented scholars with some influence among the literati of Lezhou City.
Hearing that they had recently grown fond of the Honey Scholar Tea from the stall, some guests at the yaji followed suit, sending their male attendants to buy it.
And these guests, after tasting the tea, often became Shen Xuan's regular customers. Whenever they went to the yaji to meet friends, they would spend money to buy a cup of Honey Scholar Tea.
For a while, Shen Xuan's tea sold so fast that sometimes it was completely sold out just after noon.
Widow Ge, seeing Shen Xuan's business doing so well, advised him to sell more each day. However, Shen Xuan insisted on selling only 200 cups per day, not one more.
After all, he was running the stall alone, and selling 200 cups a day was already exhausting. If he were to add more helpers and didn't have reliable people, it was better to sell less and make his tea a rare commodity.
For example, recently, because noble guests from the yaji specifically asked him to save a cup of tea, he received tips twice.
These tips, typically one or half a taels of silver at a time, were equivalent to selling dozens of cups of tea, which was a kind of virtuous cycle.
Today, Young Master Wu, the son of the Prefect of Lezhou, was hosting a banquet at Guiyun Tower.
He had reserved the most luxurious private room, ordered the best dishes and Cloud Top Maojian tea from the restaurant, and invited scholars and literati from all over Lezhou City to discuss ancient and modern affairs.
However, halfway through the banquet, he noticed many guests sending their male attendants outside Guiyun Tower to buy other tea from a stall.
'Could it be that the tea I ordered isn't good enough?' Young Master Wu frowned and asked his male attendant to inquire about the situation.
After some investigation, he learned that a new tea stall had appeared on Jinli Street, selling a Honey Scholar Tea.
It was said to taste excellent and was sold in limited quantities daily. These literati and scholars eagerly sought it out, often sending their male attendants to buy this tea.
Young Master Wu heard this and simply had all the remaining tea at Shen Xuan's stall bought out, telling his guests not to hold back and to drink freely.
After tasting it himself, he realized the tea truly tasted excellent. He also specially packed a few cups to give to his father, Prefect Wu, as a filial gesture.
As a result, Shen Xuan's Honey Scholar Tea became even more famous. Not only students and literati from Jinli Street, but also some noble and official families specifically came to the area just to drink a cup of Shen Xuan's tea.
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