The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#277 - Good tea

The girl in green hesitated for a moment, but finally accepted Lu Jing's suggestion and nodded to him.

"Then please wait here for a moment. My courtyard is quite messy and not suitable for receiving guests. I will brew tea for you here after I put down what I'm holding."

"Thank you for your trouble," Lu Jing naturally had no objections to this.

In fact, not entering the courtyard suited him perfectly. Who knew if he might accidentally trigger some strange side quest after going in? It was safer to quietly drink tea outside like this, and he could continue to enjoy the serene scenery of the forest.

The girl in green didn't say much more and went straight into the courtyard.

After a moment, she came out again, carrying a small table and two small grass cushions to the open space outside the door. Then, she went back inside to get a set of tea utensils.

Lu Jing wasn't idle either. While she was busy, he gathered some dry branches and piled them up, preparing them for the girl in green to use for brewing tea later. Then, he volunteered to fetch mountain spring water in a wooden bucket.

By the time he returned, the girl in green was already sitting on a grass cushion, arranging the tea utensils and lighting the pile of firewood. Then, she pointed to the two celadon-glazed, carved mallow-shaped teacups on the table.

A small piece of tea cake had already been placed inside.

Lu Jing was no longer the bumpkin he had been when he first arrived. Seeing this, he picked up the teacup in front of him, first looked at the color and shape of the tea cake, and then brought it to his nose to smell the tea fragrance.

Only then did he put down the teacup and praised, "Good tea."

He wasn't just being polite, but the tea was indeed very good. Even someone like him, who only had a superficial understanding of tea, could tell that it was not ordinary.

If it were sold on the market, it would probably fetch at least ten taels of gold.

This already exceeded the price of the basket of fruits and vegetables. Calculating it this way, Lu Jing had gotten a good deal.

However, this also showed that the girl in green really didn't like owing people favors.

After Lu Jing put down the teacup, she crushed the tea cake in the cup. Meanwhile, the spring water in the pot had already been boiled, so the girl in green began to brew the tea.

The custom of tea competitions was very popular in the Chen Dynasty. Its process was roughly similar to the King of Glory in Lu Jing's previous life. From princes and nobles to common people, they all enjoyed it.

However, tea competitions were ultimately a rather expensive entertainment activity. Both tea leaves and tea utensils were costly. Some people would travel thousands of miles to find a good spring for brewing tea, even if they only brought one or two servants and stayed in ordinary roadside inns, it was still a considerable expense.

Therefore, most famous masters in this field came from official or wealthy merchant families.

For example, the current emperor, although there was suspicion of flattery from below, was indeed very skilled in tea competitions. Gu Caiwei came from an official family, so she had also practiced brewing tea.

She had even personally brewed tea for Lu Jing to drink, and Lu Jing had found it pleasing to the eye at the time.

But now, looking at the girl in green, her movements were obviously more skilled. She measured the tea, poured in the water, and adjusted the mixture until it was like melting glue. Her hand was light, the whisk was heavy, and her fingers circled and her wrist rotated.

From the tea surface, she poured down, circling around, quickly pouring and quickly lifting, while the tea surface remained still.

When the second infusion was added, the color gradually opened, the pearls were distinct and bright, then gradually becoming light and even, circling and repeating, inside and outside were clear, millet patterns and crab eyes, floating and gathering, the tea color was about six or seven out of ten.

After the seventh infusion, the clear and turbid were separated, the milky mist surged, overflowing from the cup, circling and solidifying without moving, which was called biting the cup.

"Please drink," the girl in green said, handing the teacup to Lu Jing.

"Then I won't be polite."

Lu Jing had already seen that the girl in green should be from a noble family. If she hadn't been cultivated since childhood, she wouldn't have been able to practice brewing tea to this level.

However, Lu Jing didn't pry into the girl's past. At this moment, he was just regarding himself as a tea drinker. After appreciating the girl's tea art, he brought the teacup to his lips.

He couldn't help but let out a soft exclamation after only taking a small sip.

Because unlike the teas he had drunk before, this bowl brewed by the girl in green was very special. It didn't have any astringency at all, and it was quite mellow on the palate. When he swallowed it, he could actually feel a warmth, just like drinking wine.

However, it didn't have the after-effects of wine. Instead, it was replaced by the fragrance of tea leaves, which spread between his lips and teeth.

Lu Jing had never imagined that tea leaves could have such distinct layers.

Although he had already decided to leave after drinking the tea, without looking or asking too much, Lu Jing couldn't help but ask, "How did you brew this tea?"

The girl didn't hide anything and replied, "Oh, this is a method I figured out myself. The key is not the tea leaves, but the water used to brew the tea."

"But I fetched this spring water. It's just ordinary spring water," Lu Jing recalled the girl in green's actions when brewing the tea earlier, and suddenly realized, "I see, you took out a paper packet and added something to the pot."

"That's right. The thing I added is a medicinal herb called Fire Lantern Grass, which is produced in the Western Regions. However, it's best not to add it casually when you brew tea yourself, because Fire Lantern Grass is poisonous."

In addition, the newly built thatched hut in front of him also showed that she had not been in the valley for too long, and Dongmen Wuce's daughter had been missing for five years.

With the strength of top righteous sects such as the Sword Washing Pavilion and the Hanging Temple, it was almost unimaginable that they hadn't heard any news about her for so long.

Of course, if she had already entered the academy and become a paper figure in Mirror Lake Valley, that could explain it.