Qiuyun scooped out the tea leaves with a tea scoop and spread them on a fine mesh strainer.
The tea leaves were tender, like sparrow tongues, with curled buds resembling unopened blooms. Their color was a delicate green tinged with a hint of goose-yellow.
"Let me take this one! 'A little lotus has just shown its pointed tip,'" the extroverted young lady eagerly answered first.
According to the rules of the literary duel, the younger generation spoke first, while the elders held back. She felt her literary skills weren't strong enough, so she quickly recited the poem she knew, anxious not to be beaten to it.
Professor Feng shook his head. "You never study properly, girl. Don't embarrass yourself now."
"Grandpa! If you keep this up, I'm not going back tomorrow!"
Qiuyun was startled.
So this young lady was Professor Feng's granddaughter. She had probably chosen to sit in the living room to avoid the adults' table and the secondhand smoke.
"Fine, fine. The Longjing tea leaves are shaped like sparrow tongues, so that's fitting enough." Professor Feng conceded.
Then, Qiuyun used a tea needle to separate the leaves.
Feng Lianqing scoffed. With an attitude of "If I'm going down, you're all coming with me," he called out, "Hey, that one—Zhou Ci, Grandpa Yang's apprentice—you take the second line."
Ever since Qiuyun had spoken, deliberately steering the conversation toward what the literary giants preferred, Pei Cizhou's gaze had been fixed on her.
"After the fresh rain in the empty mountains, spring grass grows by the pond. Guanyin holds a jade vase, drops trickling till dawn," he recited slowly, his eyes following her.
The group burst into laughter, turning to Old Yang. "As expected of your apprentice—blending four poems into one without a hitch!"
Old Yang grunted. "What's wrong with it? Resemblance in spirit, form, spirit itself, and sound—has any element come up short? My apprentice doesn't just write well—his poetic talent is extraordinary!"
Qiuyun, who was roasting the tea, looked up, surprised by how fitting Pei Cizhou's description was.
This guy—his unpleasant personality clashed so sharply with his exceptional literary refinement.
"The tip of the cardamom branch, early in the second month," replied Old Qian's student.
Professor Feng praised, "Not bad, not bad. As Tian Rucheng wrote in A Tour of West Lake: 'Longjing tea hides the fragrance of cardamom flowers.' So now the scent's properly accounted for too."
Next, in step after step—sieving the tea, dropping it in, pouring hot water, controlling fire intensity with civil and martial flames, boiling, and decanting—each move Qiuyun made drew someone's poetic description or literary exchange.
Finally, when it came time to serve the tea, Qiuyun deliberately placed pine needles beside Professor Feng's tea coaster.
She had noticed that—whether at the courtyard's welcoming pines or the potted bonsai pines indoors—pines made up most of the greenery in the Feng residence. The host family must really like them.
Professor Feng took the teacup, gave it a light sniff. "Excellent craftsmanship! First the scent of cardamom, then chestnut, and orchid after that. The three fragrances of Shifeng Longjing have all emerged."
Old Yang, beside him, took a sip and looked at Qiuyun with surprise.
She looked quite young, but her tea-making skills were genuinely impressive. Still—she wasn't good enough for his apprentice!
Faced with everyone's praise and recognition, Qiuyun's face remained calm. "Professor, you flatter me."
Still pretending.
Pei Cizhou snorted softly, yet his gaze still couldn't tear itself away from her.
As dusk fell, the banquet ended, and it was time to leave.
Zhao Jinshu was handing out return gifts to the guests. Sister Zhou followed Yu Xiang to fetch hers. Qiuyun waited outside the courtyard when, just then, Pei Cizhou pushed open the door and stepped out.
Seeing him approach, Qiuyun's once-relaxed nerves immediately tensed. She greeted him politely. "Are you leaving now, Xiao Zhou?"
The surroundings were quiet and still. Pei Cizhou gazed at her steadily, then walked over a couple of steps and leaned against the red compound wall of the courtyard gate alongside her.
"You're the first person who's made me feel like I can't figure you out. Like there's a sense of mystery you get when you try to part the fog, but it's still hazy."
?
Qiuyun tilted her head, struggling to make sense of his random comment.
Pei Cizhou turned sideways to look at her. "Do you have a secret?"
Qiuyun withdrew her gaze indifferently.
Got it.
He was here to pick a fight.
"Everyone has secrets," Qiuyun responded evasively.
Pei Cizhou nodded, looking up at the pitch-black night sky. "Yeah. Everyone has secrets."
For a moment, they both fell silent. The only sounds were the gentle evening wind rustling the leaves and the warm goodbyes coming from the courtyard inside.
"Xiaoqiu?" Madam Jiang's voice came from inside.
"I'm here." Qiuyun got up, walked briskly to open the gate, and said, "The driver will be here in a minute."
"Good. Here, this is from the teacher and his wife." Yu Xiang handed her a paper bag.
Qiuyun was surprised. "I get one too?"
"Of course you do." Yu Xiang lowered her voice. "They really liked the gift you gave."
"Madam Jiang." Qiuyun shook her head helplessly. "That was from you. I just took payment for it."
"Haha, as long as it made the teacher and his wife happy, it doesn't matter who gave it." Just then, the car arrived. Without seeing Young Master Pei, hidden in the shadows outside the courtyard gate, Yu Xiang opened the door and got in.
And Pei Cizhou kept watching from over there—until, just before Qiuyun got into the car, she glanced in his direction and gave a slight nod of farewell. The corners of his mouth involuntarily lifted.
The car slowly pulled away. At least she still remembered someone was standing there.
---
After the two birthday banquets, Qiuyun finally had some free time to focus on her Internet venture.
Teacher Fang, who had added her earlier, had been granted permission to use the hairstyling tutorial Qiuyun had created, but on the condition that she credit and tag Qiuyun's account—a technique known in the online world as "traffic funneling."
Sure enough, with the backing of a major influencer, even though Qiuyun's account had no videos posted yet, she had accumulated just a little over six hundred followers. And just in time, the mannequin head she had purchased arrived, so she could start recording videos.
Qiuyun had always been the type to plan carefully before acting. Before deciding to post videos, she had done plenty of research on how to be a content creator.
Moreover, her goal in setting up an online account was to share stories of the Da Qi dynasty—a dynasty that had never existed in this world. Da Qi came after the Song dynasty, but unlike in this world's history, it wasn't replaced by foreign invaders; instead, the Han Chinese continued to unify the Central Plains. In some ways, it resembled the Ming dynasty.
So she chose to film without showing her face, only demonstrating her techniques and adding explanations.
"Sister Xiaoqiu! I brought the clothes!" Jiang Chuling came carrying her school uniform, dress uniform, and training uniform. Qiuyun had promised earlier that she would embroider little rabbits on them for her.
She showed the girl the crocheted rabbits she had made. "Will these do?"
Considering how young the girl was, Qiuyun had searched online for some cute cartoon rabbit images, and sure enough, the girl loved them.
"Yes, yes! Love them, love them!"
After getting the girl's approval, Qiuyun also posted the tutorial for embroidering little rabbits on her account. Since she didn't show her face, focused purely on delivering useful content, and only taught, her videos gained followers slowly. The fans were mainly people interested in hairstyling and embroidery, visiting to learn.
But since this was her very first attempt at a new career in this new society, Qiuyun was satisfied to have some people who liked and supported her.
That day, she had just finished the girl's embroidery work and was headed to the laundry room when she ran straight into a furious Sun Assistant Manager.
"Assistant Qiu." Sun's face was dark. "Isn't it enough to keep the friction between us just personal? Why bring it into the job?"
?
Qiuyun was totally confused. But she responded politely, "What's wrong, Sun Assistant Manager? Did something happen?"
"You still ask that?" Sun pulled out her phone. "I called you and you hung up, and now you've blocked me? What's that about?"
Qiuyun immediately understood. "I'm sorry, Sun Assistant Manager. I've been stung by telecom fraud before, so I never answer calls from unfamiliar numbers."
