Chapter 180: Can Xia Dong

"Fuck—"

Looking at the teacup placed before him, Old Chen from the tea factory blinked in bewilderment and muttered a curse under his breath.

Not just Old Chen—all the tea drinkers and tea merchants gathered around the tea stall—stared blankly, mouths agape, utterly stunned as they watched the fox.

They simply couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.

A little fox had brewed a pot of tea for everyone.

Forget whether it tasted good—just the act of a little fox brewing tea was enough to shock everyone into silence.

"Sss Liu."

After the initial shock, Old Chen looked at the teacup offered by Ah Qing—the tea liquor was golden, leaning toward deep brown; though slightly cloudy at the bottom, that was normal, since this was a test batch meant only to check the process, not to use premium tea leaves.

Though the color wasn't the classic golden hue, the rich fragrance of orchid and roasted peanut already curled through their nostrils, stirring their desire to taste.

The first sip carried the flavor of deep roasting; as the smoky char faded, the taste buds reopened, and a subtle coconut aroma and natural clarity spread gently through the mouth—utterly delightful.

The lingering aftertaste at the finish made Old Chen's face light up with astonishment.

Overall, this deeply roasted Tieguanyin met the standard for market sale—it was a legitimate product, not the earlier bitter, alkaline test batch.

"Jianzhan. The aftertaste comes from the Jianzhan, not the Tieguanyin itself!"

After a brief tasting, a tea merchant who had sampled both the test batch and the blended Tieguanyin softly spoke up, revealing the secret behind the change in the tea's character.

As professionals in this field, they needed more than just tea knowledge—they had to understand the related accessories too.

The closest companion to tea was, naturally, teaware.

The Jianzhan's function was to retain heat and alter water quality; when tea liquor flowed through it, chemical interactions gave ordinary tap water the sweet clarity of mountain spring water.

"Oh? You've got some chemistry knowledge—but that's outdated. In our past-life circles, we used ozone generators to pump ozone into the water, changing its quality and removing off-flavors."

Seeing someone uncover the secret of the aftertaste, An Sheng flashed a sly fox grin, proudly declaring:

Water is the mother of tea.

For example, when drinking Longjing from its core production area, you can't use ordinary water—you must use the local Hupao Spring. Brewed with it, Longjing doesn't just enhance its original flavor—it gives the tea a slight viscosity, like congee, allowing the aroma to linger.

In the end, playing tea is all about playing water.

"Holy shit."

After all the tea drinkers and merchants had tasted An Sheng's blended traditional and high-tech Tieguanyin, they all stared, jaws dropped.

Whether the tea was good or not—once tasted, it was obvious.

An Sheng could turn shit into tea that was not only drinkable but met official product standards.

"Xiao An."

After tasting, Yu Xueqing stared fixedly at her little fox, her gaze probing.

"It was all Old Chen teaching me! When we were roasting tea, he kept muttering in my ear: 'How could a Fuli Elder from Zhangxizhen not know how to brew tea?' He taught me everything!"

Facing Ah Qing's clear, innocent face—like a sweet girl next door—An Sheng unhesitatingly pinned his skills on Old Chen.

'I know! I know this one! When we processed tea leaves back home, Foxie watched—wow! The village chief grabbed Foxie and said, 'How could a Zhangxizhen fox not know how to brew tea?' Foxie finished reading *Recognizing Tea, Brewing Tea, Tasting Tea*, *Ancient Chinese Tea Anthology*, *Food Aroma Blending Techniques*, and *Herb and Spice Cooking Diary* in three days!'

Translated into Yu Xueqing's mind, the fox's words left her stunned.

But.

An Sheng wasn't entirely lying—he'd once worked for a truly corrupt tea company that treated employees like beasts, forcing even sales staff to pass certifications just to switch roles or get promoted.

He really did hold certifications as a food safety officer, food flavorist, and tea artist—but when he couldn't switch roles, he fled fast and started brewing his own cyberpunk tea leaves.

"Ah Qing, we need to run. If we don't go now, I'm afraid Old Chen will want to enroll me in social insurance."

An Sheng didn't care about the expressions of the tea drinkers or merchants—he was focused entirely on his livestream.

Ah Qing wanted to put on a show? Fine. He was the rightful Fuli Elder of Zhangxizhen—so what if he could brew tea? Wasn't that common knowledge for every three-year-old in Xia Dong?

He was the cyber-tech faction; they were all traditionalists—or worse, corrupt flavor-blenders.

"Wait, your eyes are weird!"

An Sheng noticed the tea stall owner's gaze—it seemed to ask: "Which insurance plan do you want? I'll get you medical coverage and a bonus, okay?"

An Sheng's tail twitched in panic—he scrambled off the tea table and leapt onto Ah Qing's shoulder, urging her to hurry.

Work?

Didn't I work enough in my past life? Two years as a grunt, four as a sales rep, one year trekking mountains, three selling tea leaves.

I'm perfectly fine with Ah Qing feeding me—I really don't need a job slot reserved for me.

"Uh, sir, we're off now. Foxie says the future of process improvements lies in blended drinks—they seem more promising."

Ah Qing picked up her little fox, bowed to Old Chen, then swung through the crowd like Xiang Yu wielding his Bawangji, carving a path backward against the tide until she vanished into the street.

Old Chen stared at the spot where Ah Qing had disappeared, then at the messy tea table—he suddenly slapped his thigh: "Damn! I was so busy watching the show, I forgot to note the ratios!"

An Sheng's blending method wasn't new in tea art.

Some tea types already preserved the first rinse infusion for blending purposes.

An Sheng's blending technique fell squarely into flavor-artistry territory—ratios were crucial.

Especially correcting a bad tea by adding similar leaves—this was a skilled craft.

In his past life, An Sheng couldn't have done this without artificial flavorings.

But now, as a fox with an acute sense of smell, even before the tea steeped, he could identify every aroma—and using his past-life knowledge as a flavorist, he blended the tea's fragrance perfectly.

"Xiao An is amazing! He knows how to blend drinks! But the village chief is mean—he tricked Xiao An into memorizing books!"

The tea stall had become a mob scene due to the fox's blending performance; Yu Xueqing squeezed out, scooped up the little fox, and rubbed her cheek against his, kissing his tiny face gently to show affection.

"Huh?"

Nearby, Old Chen, patrolling the area, faintly heard Ah Qing mention him—he blinked, confused, staring at Ah Qing and the Fuli Elder she held aloft:

"What did I do now?"

(End of Chapter)