Chapter 244: The Tea Competition? You Better Kneel at the Ancestral Hall!

"Is the tea competition a brawl? Wait for me, I'm coming to lend a hand!"

Hearing Yu Xueqing's account, Mo Yiqing, who had been lying on the bed, immediately got up, pulled on his clothes and pants, and hurried after her to lend a hand too.

It's a fight!

Whether you can fight or not is another matter, but your momentum must not lose to the opponent before the match even begins.

An Sheng's expression turned peculiar as Yu Xueqing grabbed the back of his neck and dragged him out in a rush.

"Xueqing, come look at my toes—they're all curled up."

"Guess why they're curling."

"You don't need a helmet for fishing, but we've got to bring one for Old Deng—he's likely to get mobbed by righteous fists."

An Sheng let out a soft whimper, silently grumbling about what was happening with Yu Zhenghong.

That so-called black-market tea—wasn't it the oolong I roasted for Old Deng to enter in the competition?

And what is Old Deng doing?

He's actually calling friends and gathering them in person!

An Sheng couldn't even imagine how many big men would be piled onto Yu Zhenghong once the official information got unblocked.

The group of relatives and friends Old Deng summoned will soon turn into boomerangs slamming back into him.

Before leaving, as they got on the electric scooter, An Sheng's tail reached out and wrapped around the helmet beside the vehicle.

Old Deng may be clueless, but we can't leave him to rot.

Yu Xueqing floored the accelerator and arrived quickly at the tea competition site in the small agricultural market.

The tea farmers and merchants who should've been setting up stalls were now all gathered in the competition zone—crowds stretched endlessly, easily numbering seven or eight hundred people.

Foreign tea merchants and tourists stood bewildered at the periphery, watching the mob surging toward the event organizers.

The official tea masters and event staff ran back and forth, trying to calm the furious crowd.

Especially the residents of Zhangxizhen—they were yelling the loudest.

Yes, the tea competition was officially organized, but the venue, sponsors, performances—all were secured by the Zhangxizhen Village Committee. They'd planned to make it grand and dazzling, but now the tea competition had become a massive scandal right here in Zhangxizhen.

"Xueqing, over here!"

As soon as they entered the venue, Yu Zhenghong, who had been on the phone, spotted Yu Xueqing and waved urgently:

"Perfect timing—the village chief got drunk last night and hasn't woken up yet. You handle the calls here; I'm heading to the Village Committee to help. Look at what's happened—our faces are completely ruined."

The tea competition held in Zhangxizhen had just been exposed for fraud.

And it happened right under the eyes of all the elders—such a ridiculous farce, their dignity was utterly shattered.

The Zhangxizhen Village Committee had exploded—unless this was cleared up properly, it wouldn't end.

"."

An Sheng, perched on Yu Xueqing's shoulder, heard Yu Zhenghong's words and twitched his lips slightly, silently grumbling:

"The top prize for light-aroma oolong tea causing a scandal? That's as reasonable as hanging King Louis XVI's portrait on a highway."

Earlier on the phone, An Sheng had imagined the scene was chaotic—maybe even Grandpa had been dragged out, the neighborhood committee uncle stripped to his waist and lined up for battle.

But

Judging by the current scene, everyone was just demanding an explanation, wanting the truth out—not actually preparing to start a riot.

The tea competition had been running for nearly twenty years and still held strong public credibility.

An Sheng understood: everyone just wanted an official answer—was the winner of the light-aroma oolong really from their county?

"Local" here didn't mean the tea farmer or merchant's household registration—it meant the tea's origin.

One of the criteria for village-level tea competitions was that the tea had to come from tea fields within the county's villages, or use tea leaves harvested from those villages.

Just like Da Hong Pao wouldn't enter this competition.

Using premium tea leaves from a top origin to compete in village or city-level contests? That's just crushing victory.

What's the point of competing? It's just a money contest.

"Xueqing, let's just sneak away! Or maybe we should change our household registration—we can't even imagine how embarrassing it'll be when the results are announced."

"Holy crap, I'm gonna have to go on stage and get inspected by seven or eight hundred people one after another." An Sheng whimpered in protest.

"Ying ying~ So many people! Huhu feels everyone's staring at my little bell—I think they all harbor serious ill will toward my little bell."

"Don't worry, Xiao An, I won't take your basket." Yu Xueqing called Old Chen, who still hadn't answered, and gently scratched the little fox under the chin with an apologetic smile.

The competition zone was packed; the little fox was frightened by the unfamiliar environment, and Yu Xueqing understood that.

But there was something urgent to handle now—once the village chief arrived to mediate, there'd be nothing left for them to do.

"Huh?"

Mo Yiqing froze at the word "bell," stepped back slightly with a peculiar expression, and stared at the object half-hidden beneath the fox's tail: "I already knew Xiao An was male, but I'm still curious—why does a male fox have a double row of buttons?"

"You don't think males will grow breasts to nurse if females can't, do you?"

"Huh?"

Yu Xueqing blinked after hearing Mo Yiqing's words, looked at An Sheng's face covered in black lines, and after a moment's thought said:

"Maybe… everyone's using the same male mold?"

An Sheng stared at Mo Yiqing, face dark with irritation: "I'm just a fox. Don't ask me such deep, complicated questions. If you're truly bored, go online and fetch me some spicy pictures."

"Xueqing, what did the little fox say?"

"He said he'll turn you into a spicy picture."

"Huh?!"

…………

As An Sheng and Mo Yiqing argued over who would make better spicy pictures,

Old Chen's call connected.

Yu Xueqing told the village chief everything about the tea competition.

"What?"

On the other end, Old Chen fell silent for a moment, his drowsiness and slurring vanishing instantly as he exclaimed:

"Don't joke! The Qing'an Oolong is from our village!"

"Don't you remember? I told your dad to hire some tea masters to help make it—that Qing'an Oolong was crafted personally by a master I invited!"

"Damn it! I told you not to drink, not to drink—drinking ruins everything! Xueqing, go tell your mom to pin Ah Hong down and beat him senseless with military boxing! I'm on my way now!"

"D Dududu ——"

Old Chen hung up. Yu Xueqing stood frozen after hearing his words.

She instinctively turned her head toward the front of the Zhangxizhen Village Committee office.

Her father stood on the steps, delivering a motivational speech to other respected elders of the village.

Yu Xueqing couldn't hear the exact words, but she could faintly catch "fairness," "justice," and similar terms.

"."

When Yu Xueqing had rushed out, she'd only thrown on a pair of canvas shoes.

Inside those shoes, her pale, slightly pink, rounded toes had curled tightly, slightly lifting the shoe's upper.

Yu Xueqing stared blankly at her phone and called her mother, who was still at the Village Committee.

"Mom."

"Dad's exploded."

Chen Peipei: "???"

(End of Chapter)