Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Tuan Tuanyi was not very forceful since the nettle tree was not fully grown. After confirming that there was only one customer who wanted to buy it, he went in with a small amount in the basket. To be honest, he was a ruthless salesman, but he was also worried. The leaves of the nettle tree looked a bit like willow leaves and looked very ordinary. Except for being extra green, he couldn’t even smell the smell when he put it in front of his nose. He really didn’t have the confidence that this thing could become the main product of their sect like the jujube.
Butler Zhou had heard him mention it a few times when they were picking the leaves just now. He knew that the leaves needed to be processed after being picked. Thinking of the price Tuan Tuanyi had just quoted, he felt that this item was probably quite precious, so he became a little cautious: “Mr. Tuan, if the tea leaves need to be roasted, should I ask someone to buy some tea roasting equipment right now?”
Tuan Tuanyi was interrupted from thinking, but he still felt unsure. He looked around the kitchen and waved his hand in a friendly manner: “No, no, just find a pot and wash it for me.”
Butler Zhou: “…”
“Oh, right.” Tuan Tuanyi raised his head and asked solemnly, “I don’t know how to stir-fry tea either, so I’d better not use my hands. Could you please find me a spatula?”
Butler Zhou: “…”
Then he skillfully turned on the fire, poured the basket of leaves into the pot, and stirred it back and forth with a spatula like frying eggs.
Butler Zhou felt very uneasy after seeing this. To charge such an expensive price for tea, wasn’t the production process a bit too sloppy?
However, what he didn’t expect was that while Tuan Tuanyi was frying the tea like eggs, an unprecedented aroma actually slowly emanated from the messy pan, which gave him a thrill.
As time went by during the frying process, the nettle leaves became drier and drier, and the wonderful fragrance became stronger and mellower, gradually drifting out of the kitchen and into the yard.
The sound of the ladies’ laughter in the yard gradually died down, and many people began to look around, looking at each other and asking, “Where does the smell come from?”
The fragrance was so soothing, just like being in one of those famous natural oxygen bars, making people involuntarily relax and indulge in it.
“Wanrong.” Someone finally found the source and shook Shu Wanrong, who also looked puzzled. “It seems to be coming from your house.”
Before Shu Wanrong could react, the door of the house opened from the inside. The fragrance suddenly became stronger as the door opened, and everyone couldn’t help but stand up. They looked back and saw Tuan Tuanyi walking out of the house with a small paper bag in his hand, smiling. This seemed to be the source of the wonderful fragrance.
“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. The tea-making process is quite complicated, so it took a while.” Tuan Tuanyi handed the paper bag to Mrs. Liu and said, “I just weighed it, and there are about 60 grams in it. Do you want all of it? Or do you want to buy some to try first?”
Mrs. Liu was holding the fragrant bag, looking stunned. Before she could answer, she heard the little sister beside her interrupt and ask, “Xiao, Xiao Tuan, do you have any extra of this tea? It smells so good, fry some for me, too.”
Unexpectedly, Tuan Tuanyi looked at the tree and replied apologetically, “I’m sorry, because this is a new product, and the tree hasn’t grown well yet. We are just trying it out now, and we don’t have any extra. At present, we only have what Mrs. Liu is holding. It may take some time before the others can be officially sold.”
There was silence for a while, and then several eyes slowly fell on the paper bag in Mrs. Liu’s hand.
Liu Taijing clenched the paper bag in her hand, turned around and walked towards the door: “…I have something to do at home, you guys chat, I’m leaving first.”
Shu Wanrong: “…”
All the sisters at the same table chased after her. She sat in the empty yard for a while with a dull expression on her face. Then she stood up silently and went back to the villa. As soon as she entered the house, she saw Tuan Tuanyi who was in the kitchen practicing flipping the pot and wielding the spatula.
Had everyone become insane?
More than ever before, at this moment, she missed her normal and peaceful life.
….
But what she didn’t know was that the senior disciple in Taicang Sect who cooked up the first pot of the new nettle leaf tea was actually not living a very happy life.
Before he even had the time to calculate how much money he had made from this account, he was taken to the study by his master and fellow apprentice and informed of a piece of news that he wasn’t sure whether to consider as good news or bad news.
His Master finally decided to teach him some skills.
Tuan Tuanyi was extremely happy at first. To be honest, he was quite uneasy because his master had never mentioned classes since the apprenticeship ceremony, except for forcing him to work and taking him to witness various ghost-catching and ghost-eating scenes. He didn’t know any other survival skills except sneaking and begging on the street. He was always trembling around his master, especially when he later got a beautiful and capable second apprentice brother, which made him seem even more useless as the elder apprentice brother.
So when he heard the news, he was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes: “Master, what do you want to teach me? I will definitely study hard and never let you down!”
Seeing his disciple working so hard, Wei Xi couldn’t help but touch his overly large head with satisfaction: “Then I will teach you how to draw spells first.”
Tuan Tuanyi thought of his master’s ability and asked with great interest, “Okay! Master, what principle should we learn first?”
Wei Xi replied as a matter of course: “Huh? What principle? There is no principle. Just draw it the way it should be drawn.”
Tuan Tuanyi’s excitement cooled down a bit after hearing this. He felt something was not right. Was this how you learned spells? It seemed a bit crude and crude, without any rules.
He soon realized that his guess was correct, because the master who had always been gentle and kind to him started beating people.
….
The table was covered with a mess of yellow paper, and a pool of bright red cinnabar was in the corner.
“Stupid! How can you be so stupid!” Tuan Tuanyi was slapped on the head, and he covered his head with tears in his eyes. He saw that after the master scolded him angrily, he picked up a pen and dipped it in cinnabar ink, pulled out a piece of yellow paper, and drew it in one go. Then he threw the completed talisman in his face in a bad mood, “Just draw it like this! How can you not learn such a simple blessing spell? Are you studying seriously?”
Tuan Tuanyi stared at the colorful heavenly book and felt very aggrieved: “Master, I am really serious, but you have to tell me what this symbol means, why this dot and this frame are here!”
“It should be here, of course it is here! Why are there so many whys?”
Wei Xi was so exhausted from teaching that he almost wanted to clean up the mess. How could his eldest disciple be so stupid that he even asked why for such a small question? Wasn’t drawing a talisman just about drawing it according to the desired effect? This idiot couldn’t learn something he knew from birth after studying for so long.
As they were talking, Tuan Tuanyi drew the wrong picture again. Wei Xi was so angry that he slapped him on the head several times. What a fool! If he wasn’t his apprentice, he would have swallowed him up seeing that he was this stupid.
Tuan Tuanyi sobbed, “This is too difficult! How can I possibly learn this?!”
Wei Xi looked at him with dismay and called the second disciple who was watching quietly on the side: “Lu Que! Come here! Draw for him!”
Tuan Tuanyi saw his fellow apprentice silently step out of the line, casually pick up a pen, and calmly draw a perfect talisman.
Wei Xi wanted to find a stick to hit his eldest disciple on the head: “Look at this! Look at this! It’s such a simple thing!”
Shuo Zong: “…”
Shuo Zong pinched his brows. He was not very happy to be praised. It was the first time he saw someone teaching a disciple in this way. He could no longer bear it and stopped the furious Wei Xi: “…Is there no method for enlightenment in your sect?”
“Why are you looking at that!” Wei Xi was furious. “Shouldn’t spells be something you’re born knowing? How did you learn it?”
“…” Shuo Zong said dryly, “It’s natural.”
Wei Xi: “That’s it! Your senior brother is such an idiot!”
Shuo Zong really felt tired and gave up explaining to Wei Xi the differences between humans and him: “…Since you know he is stupid, that’s it. An idiot naturally needs to read a book before learning spells.”
Tuan Tuanyi burst into tears after hearing this, thinking to himself that I really am a fool.
Wei Xi felt that what the second disciple said seemed to make some sense, but he couldn’t help but get even angrier. Really, he thought the eldest disciple was a smart one, but the first time he accepted a disciple after coming out of the mountains, he turned out to be such a stupid one!
….
However, Wei Xi didn’t know where to get the enlightenment books. Fortunately, his second apprentice was very resourceful. After going out, he brought back a pile of books that was as tall as a person.
Wei Xi really didn’t want to teach a fool anymore, so the responsibility of enlightenment naturally shifted to the second apprentice. Tuan Tuanyi saw his junior brother casually pull out a brick-thick book and throw it to him, coldly ordering: “You must memorize this book within a month and learn the spells after you have memorized it.”
Tuan Tuanyi was confused when he saw the Book of Changes. After he opened it, he was even more confused. How could he not understand a single word of it?
“One…one month to memorize this book?” Tuan Tuanyi asked his junior brother exhaustedly, “Are you serious?”
Then he saw his junior brother looking at him calmly: “Why don’t you learn the spell from him first?”
Tuan Tuanyi covered his head which was hurt by the beating from his master, and thought seriously for a long time before he reluctantly decided to save his life: “… No, I think I’d better memorize the book first.”
This Book of Changes almost cost Tuan Tuanyi his life. He felt dizzy from memorizing it so much that he only had time to catch his breath occasionally. For a while, he became enthusiastic about everything except studying, and he became more active in doing business.
Fortunately, at this time, a pair of unexpected visitors finally appeared outside the Wei family’s door.
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