Wang Shijing came back after inviting Patriarch Sun over. He had already gotten to the bottom of the matter with Patriarch Sun, so as soon as Patriarch Sun entered the room, shopkeeper Xu got off the kang and greeted him with a kind attitude. When the two sides sat down, Patriarch Sun said, “Shijing told me what Manager Xu had entrusted to him, so I will not hide. My Sun family and Yongning Hall’s contract indeed says that the chrysanthemum tea can only be sold to Yongning Hall. Since my uncle and the owner of Yongning Hall are good friends, this matter is really difficult.”

Shopkeeper Xu sighed, “I embarrassed Patriarch Sun.” Patriarch Sun said, “Shopkeeper Xu, why don’t you buy from Shijing and Yunan? The contract between my Sun family and Yongning Hall is only limited to us but it has nothing to do with Shijing and Yunan. The contract my brother signed only said that as long as it does not affect the business of our family Yunan can still sell chrysanthemum tea to others. Also chrysanthemum tea made by Yunan is better than the one we make at home.”

Shopkeeper Xu’s hopes were immediately raised again as he looked at Shao Yunan. Shao Yunan only said helplessly, “Boss Xu, Shijing and I have no energy to spare for this business. If I sold chrysanthemum tea, it would be at most two kilos at a time. Would that be enough?”

Shopkeeper Xu became distressed. “Two kilos is certainly not enough. I can also guarantee that this chrysanthemum tea would not be sold in Yongxiu province. Since my boss is from the capital, we want to try selling it in the capital. I don’t want to argue with Yongning Hall, but I don’t believe that they will be able to sell the chrysanthemum tea in the capital.”

Hearing this, Patriarch Sun said, “Yunan you should talk with shopkeeper Xu. I’ll go back first. Shopkeeper Xu also has a point. With the amount of tea produced by the Sun clan, the farthest Yongning Hall can sell the tea is Chinan Province. So you and Shijing should think about it carefully. You shouldn’t give up money you can make.”

“Yes. I’ll give it some thought and not let Patriarch Sun worry about it.” Patriarch Sun got off the kang bed and put on his shoes. While Wang Shijing sent him out, shopkeeper Xu looked at Shao Yunan pitifully. Shao Yunan had a headache. He had something that could make a lot of money, so why should he bother with something like chrysanthemum tea? However, he has no plans to expose Longjing tea for now.

“Little Brother Shao, please help me.” Shopkeeper Xu was very moved by  Patriarch Sun’s words. No matter what, he had to get the chrysanthemum tea today. Shao Yunan rubbed his forehead. “Shopkeeper Xu, my family does not plant chrysanthemums on its land, but there are still some chrysanthemums in the mountains on the west of the village. There aren’t many of them. The rest were already taken by Patriarch Sun’s family. I don’t have the manpower, energy, or materials, so you’re making it difficult for me.” 

“Little Brother Shao, think of something. I am willing to pay 10 taels of silver for a kilo.” Shao Yunan smiled. “Aren’t you afraid of losing money?” Shopkeeper Xu just smiled mysteriously. “If you take this thing to the capital, you can only earn more money. It will never be a loss.”

Shao Yunan sighed. Not because he was moved, but because he was really too lazy to do this business. But with shopkeeper Xu’s attitude, if he didn’t give him the chrysanthemum tea, he wouldn’t leave. He thought about it for a moment and finally said, “Shopkeeper Xu, why don’t we just take the high-end route?”

“What is the high-end route?” Wang Shijing came in and quietly sat next to Shao Yunan and listened to his next words. “I make chrysanthemum tea purely for my hobby, mainly for my house’s needs. It’s for family to drink or to send to friends, so I could only give you up to 50 kilos of chrysanthemum tea a year.”

“However, I can guarantee that the chrysanthemum tea I give you would be absolutely unique in terms of taste and appearance. Because of this, shopkeeper Xu should sell this chrysanthemum tea as a flower tea and not as a medicine. As a flower tea you only need to pay attention to its packaging and content. Adding its unique appearance and taste, not to mention whether you have money you would also need to have status to have the luck to buy it.”

Shopkeeper Xu’s heart beat a little faster. “Wait a minute, Shopkeeper Xu.” Shao Yunan got out of bed and went out of the room. Shopkeeper Xu, who saw him leave, turned his head after him. Then he said to the expressionless Wang Shijing, who sat on the opposite side. “Brother Shijing really married a capable wife!”

The corner of Wang Shijing’s mouth immediately raised. “My wife is really capable.” Meanwhile Shao Yuanan returned to his own room and locked the door before entering his space. From his collection, he dug out a pure wooden box containing tea leaves, then he dug out another box containing wolfberry and added it to the first wooden box. Then he also added a few red dates, before finding a white porcelain jar from his large collection of tea leaves. After checking it, he left the space.

Holding the box and a jar, Shao Yunan returned to the next room. Sitting down on the kang, he said, “Shijing, bring some more chrysanthemum tea.”

Wang Shijing went to get the chrysanthemum tea, while shopkeeper Xu looked greedily at Wang Shijing pouring out some golden dried chrysanthemums from the tea pot by the window and almost couldn’t stop himself from grabbing them.

Shao Yunan opened the wooden box and poured the wolfberry and red dates on the table. Then taking out two dried chrysanthemums, he shaped them before placing them together with a few wolfberries and two red dates beside them. The red dates he chose were small golden dates so they would not take over the taste. Meanwhile, shopkeeper Xu and Wang Shijing’s expressions were curious, not knowing what would happen next.

Edited by: Jaisland

Proofreader: 

Support translation: