Chapter 166: Tea Duel Competition [Third Chapter: Requesting Subscriptions and Monthly Tickets]

"Mmmmm?"

"Little Fuli, tell me—who was the one who suggested going to Muzucheng for a foot soak yesterday?" Chen Peipei's tone carried a hint of annoyance as she questioned the newly awakened fox via phone.

A foot soak at Muzucheng wasn't a big deal to Chen Peipei; running a business or handling sales inevitably involved some social obligations. If there were absolutely no such events, that would be the real problem.

With years of marital trust, Chen Peipei still had faith in him, so last night she'd asked on WeChat whether Yu Zhenghong would leave the door unlocked.

But this morning, when Yu Zhenghong returned, Chen Peipei saw the receipt—though marked "complimentary"—showing over four thousand yuan spent at Hailinglong, and she couldn't help complaining that his feet weren't gilded or polished enough to justify that price.

Yet Yu Zhenghong dug in his heels, insisting it was Fuli Lao Ye who wanted the foot soak, and that a low price wouldn't show sincerity.

They'd always given five thousand to Mazu before; now, with two people and a fox spending only four thousand, they were already being extremely frugal.

Yu Zhenghong didn't consider yesterday's foot soak a foot soak.

In the old man's fixed mindset, it was an invitation to a deity—how could Fuli Lao Ye's affair be called a foot soak? Vulgar!

"Who suggested it? Wasn't it me? I saw Old Chen working hard drying tea leaves, his back and waist aching, so I suggested a foot soak to relax—and luckily, Old Chen had a Hailinglong VIP card."

The fox thought to itself and mumbled into the phone: "Don't worry! I'm watching Old Deng—he won't cheat. Plus, I got us a complimentary service by my own merit. Next time you go to Hailinglong for a foot soak, just say my name."

Right after the fox finished mewing, Yu Xueqing's mind received a translation of the message.

"It was Huhu! Yesterday it was Huhu's idea! Huhu saw the village chief sweating while drying tea leaves, his back and waist aching, so Huhu wanted to massage him! Wow—last night, in that dark room, it was terrifying! So many sisters came to touch me!"

"After they touched Huhu's belly, they wanted Huhu to trade meat for it! Huhu worked super hard and chased them all away—they didn't get Huhu!"

"Mom, I asked about it," Yu Xueqing said, her expression strange. "Last night, the fox saw the village chief working hard drying tea leaves, his back and waist sore, so he said he'd give the village chief a massage—and then went for a foot soak."

After saying that, the fox added complaints about the technicians touching its belly and cheeks, and then asking it to pay afterward—it was stunned.

An Sheng was furiously ranting inside: the Hailinglong technicians had turned heaven upside down.

"Is that so? Then it's fine. I'll go boil some water and wash your dad's feet. Gotta go for now." Chen Peipei hung up after getting the answer.

"My parents' relationship is so good," Yu Xueqing said, looking at the fox spinning in circles on the bed, ranting about the technicians, then at the darkened phone screen, filled with wistful admiration.

An old couple, supporting each other, growing together until they built a successful business and raised children.

She wondered if she'd ever meet a partner who treated her with such mutual respect.

Yu Xueqing, lost in thought, had no idea that near noon, Chen Peipei posted a photo message on her WeChat Moments.

In the photo, Chen Peipei crouched before the toilet, scrubbing Yu Zhenghong's feet with a steel wool pad.

In the basin, Yu Zhenghong's feet were curled up, clearly tensing his muscles to resist the steel wool's abrasion.

Chen Peipei's caption read: "A foot soak isn't a problem—but going out and ignoring calls, then coming home acting righteous? This young comrade has serious ideological issues."

Yu Xueqing's lips twitched as she saw the post.

Her toes instinctively curled, as if experiencing a phantom pain, a strangely familiar sensation.

It reminded her of middle school, when she'd gone to a classmate's house to play computer games and forgot to tell her mom. The next morning, she ate plain wheat noodle porridge with no seasoning—unbearably bland.

And she hadn't eaten fast enough—the porridge kept piling up.

……………

At home, after fertilizing the tea plants she'd grown in the flowerbed, An Sheng looked at the tea tree, now sixty centimeters tall, with a hint of approval.

"Looks like my skills haven't rusted. Old Deng's mountain tea trees burned down? I planted mine by peeing in the flowerbed—and mine are better than his."

The fox wore a smug expression, lifted its head, and leapt onto the wall, flipping over the courtyard to land on the road.

An Sheng headed toward the ancestral hall to check on the tea leaves undergoing withering in the constant-temperature room.

On the way, he encountered Bai Tao, the teacher of moral cultivation, who was lying in wait outside his door, trying to bump into him.

An Sheng glanced at her and immediately quickened his pace, sprinting past the homes of Su Qiyuan and Bai Tao.

Bai Tao was shocked and hurried after him.

"Little fox, don't run! I've prepared some premium snacks for Fuli Lao Ye at home—come over for a visit!"

"Mmmmm!"

Snacks? No thanks—you're just trying to trick me into studying for the postgraduate exam! An Sheng mentally grumbled and dashed into the ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall was off-limits to Bai Tao; she could only watch as the fox's big tail vanished through the doorway.

An Sheng entered the constant-temperature room and examined the tea leaves spread on bamboo trays. He'd chosen not the traditional one-bud-two-leaves, but one-bud-four-leaves from the tree.

One-bud-two-leaves tea has abundant polyphenols and catechins, delivering a crisp, fresh, tender taste immediately.

But Old Deng's tea bushes were too tender—the buds were just drenched in irrigation water; where were the polyphenols?

To preserve aroma and flavor, and to handle the steeping challenge during the tea competition, An Sheng chose slightly older one-bud-four-leaves. More leaves mean lower polyphenol content—and thus lower value.

But tea-making demands adapting to local conditions—selecting raw materials and techniques according to circumstance.

One-bud-four-leaves has high water content; if improperly processed, drinkers might experience what it's like to have Grandma Rong sticking needles on their tongue.

Still, An Sheng preferred these leaves—because they were cheap to buy, and the finished tea brought high profit.

"Start shaking—"

After inspecting all the tea leaves and confirming the moisture had begun to evaporate, the fox stood upright, picked up a bamboo tray from the constant-temperature room, and began shaking.

The purpose of shaking is to revive the tea leaves.

In academic terms, it's enzymatic oxidation; in plain terms, it's forcing moisture out of the leaves and allowing water stored in the stems to flow back into the blades, reducing bitterness.

Because he was using one-bud-four-leaves, he'd need to repeat the shaking process four to five times.

The fox held the tray and began shaking; the tea leaves spun clockwise, colliding with each other, triggering enzymatic reactions that hardened the softened leaves.

The leaves began to jump on the tray; from afar, it looked as if An Sheng had rolled them into a ball.

As he shook each tray, An Sheng knew there were mechanical shakers nearby, but the one in the ancestral hall was a bamboo roller type—hard to observe the leaves properly.

He preferred the hard work over having to redo it.

…………

Over the next several days, Fuli Lao Ye, the famous street loafer of Zhangxizhen, spent most of his time making tea—except for nights when he copied the last words of the deceased onto the hospital's white walls, stuck postage stamps on them, and mailed them to their families, and when he took brief moments to reply to Lin Ying's messages on his phone.

Making tea wasn't hard for him; the hard part was teaching the process to Old Chen, so Old Chen could pass it on to A Qing.

He couldn't let the competition tea be different from the tea sold on the market.

If that happened, the official Nongye Bureau and aid organizations wouldn't hesitate to issue fines—and would ban the tea farmer from competing for five years afterward.

An Sheng had been fined before in his past life; though it didn't drive him to ruin, it nearly pushed him into making AVs.

The fox was busy making tea and gathering wish energy.

Meanwhile, A Qing was working on a project, trying to generate buzz for livestreaming during the tea competition.

A Qing and Mo Yiqing were brainstorming programs; A Qing had even called Chen Zhiyu and Qiu Lingling, hoping to host a pet-themed special to attract young fans.

The tea mountain's reputation needed promotion; livestreaming channels needed to be seized.

Meanwhile, Yu Zhenghong learned from Old Chen that Gaofeng Consulting had collapsed—and rejoiced wildly.

"F***! Good riddance! That guy did so many things that deserved to be cursed with no anus—he finally got his comeuppance, went bankrupt, and sank into the sea! Selling fake goods? He deserved it!"

(End of Chapter)