Chapter 177 Not Everyone Can Drink My Tea
“Who’s that?”
Zhang Shuming is the first who comes back to himself though his eyes are drifting. Zhang has been in love with Xia Bingyan for years. His persistence origins from the fact that he never wins her love, as well as the reality that Xia’s beauty is stunning. Most men are visual creatures. Zhang is stunned when he sees Lin Luoran.
Zhang is not the only one who is standing in amazement. Xia Bingyan’s coldness is mostly arrogance due to the pursuit of lots of boys. Xia’s temperament is nothing like Lin’s. Xia is proud of her appearance and she becomes insolent and supercilious. This is also the reason why Xia turns up her nose at the picture Pei Yuan posted. She believes firmly that the picture was a fake which Pei Yuan posted to create a topic.
However, the woman in the picture is right here in front of her eyes!
Xia Bingyan can’t fully understand what mood she is in. She is just glad that her baseball hat has covered most of her expressions.
“Pei Yuan, is this the fairy you keep talking about?” One of Zhang’s followers asks with disdain. Still, he fails to hide his surprise.
Xia Bingyan’s roommate comes back to herself from the shock. She becomes jealous and her words get meaner, “Pei Yuan, don’t you know the so-called fairy? Why doesn’t she invite you to sit with her?”
Even Pei Yuan has a good temper, he can’t help being sick of the girl. The reason why Xia Bingyan believed so firmly that he was lying was that the girl named Jiang Ping never stopped instilling the idea into Xia’s mind — as a matter of fact, Jiang Ping only did that because Pei Yuan didn’t send gifts to her like Zhang Shuming did. When Pei and Xia were still friends, Jiang Ping satirized Pei every time they saw each other. This is just too much!
Pei would just let it go if this were a normal situation… Really, he would. However, the “fairy” he came across is right there. At the moment which his name will be cleared, Jiang Ping’s words make Pei clench his fists—
For the first time, Pei Yuan forgets to worry about Xia Bingyan. The only thought in his mind is whether their discussion will offense the fairy… The fairy must don’t know that a picture of her is on the Internet. Pei Yuan starts to feel sorry because of his vanity.
Expressions on Pei’s face start to change quickly.
In fact, Lin Luoran has been listening to the conversation of these students for a while.
Lin now has a photographic memory. Besides, the student called Pei Yuan was the first person she saw after she got out of the dungeon. Fate has brought them together. Lin Luoran is in a good mood right now because Luodong has made so much progress during the trip. Did they say that Pei Yuan posted a picture of her on Goldie’s back on the Internet?
Are his friends mocking at him?
Lin Luoran figures out what is going on immediately.
She doesn’t care about being posted on the Internet. After all, it was not a picture of her killing anybody. The government should be responsible for guiding public opinions, not her!
Besides, Pei Yuan is just a college student… When she was in the same age as him, she would also want to share this kind of encounter with the world and gain acceptance.
Pei Yuan stands still and his face turns red. His friends are mocking at him. Seeing this, Lin Luoran follows her heart. She says to Luodong,
“Luodong, do you mind that I invite someone here to have breakfast with us?”
Luodong has just stopped crying. He feels that his heart is relieved. Though Luodong has not become a completely different person, he looks forward to making new friends.
Luodong nods. Lin Luoran smiles and waves to the students,
“Pei Yuan, you must be tired after climbing up here. Come and have some tea!”
What? Did the woman just call Pei Yuan’s name? Does she really know him? Zhang Shuming becomes envious.
Xia Bingyan feels uncomfortable. Jiang Ping sneers, “Hey, Pei Yuan. You really know the woman. Did you two plan to meet here so that you can prove you didn’t lie? Also, where is the golden hawk?
Xia says, “Jiang Ping!”
Jiang sticks out her tongue and says, “Alright, our beauty is getting angry. I’ll just stop talking!”
Xia Bingyan looks at Pei Yuan. She has known him for a long time. She believed that Pei would lie because of vanity, but he could never plan for the “encounter” in order to make a scene in front of all his friends.
Pei Yuan’s face turns red. He stands still and is at loss. Pei Yuan remembers clearly that the woman in front of him used to wear an ancient costume and she flew right to him on the back of a golden hawk. She pointed to those Kareans, who fell down immediately. Pei Yuan is in so much shock now, and he is having a hard time believing that the fairy-like woman knows his name and she just invited him to have some tea…on the top of Mount Hua!
Pei Yuan doubts that maybe his ears are not functioning properly.
Lin Luoran raises her voice, “Pei Yuan!”
Pei Yuan wonders if there is another person around called Pei Yuan? Jiang Ping covers her mouth with her hand and laughs, “Pei Yuan, your fairy is calling you!”
Pei glares at Jiang and completely comes back to himself. He tidies his clothes and walks to Lin.
Luodong has packed the tent so there are only a tea table, a foldaway table, and three straw cushions on the mat. Pei Yuan has no idea what to do with his hands and feet. Lin Luoran says with a smile, “Just take a seat.”
Though Pei doesn’t dare to talk to this woman who rode on a hawk, he feels that Luodong is cute. Pei fumbles in his bag and takes out a bag of dried sweet potato slice and hands it to Luodong.
“Thank you, brother Pei! Please sit here!” Luodong offers Pei a straw cushion. Pei sits down. The cushion is so soft. Sitting on it feels more comfortable than lying on a leather sofa — is the cushion really made of straw?
Pei doesn’t dare to look Lin Luoran in the eye. He stares at the tea table in front of him.
Is he dreaming? Is this salmon? Are these peaches, apples, grapes, cheese, and fried eggs? There is even a whole tea set! Turns out the fairy is not joking by inviting him to have some tea. Did the fairy buy these from the store on the top of the mountain or did she carry all these up here? This is such a hearty breakfast — college students like Pei Yuan seldom eat breakfast. Pei mostly has some bread and a bottle of yogurt for breakfast. He has never seen anyone make tea for breakfast.
“Let’s go and have a look.” Seeing that Pei Yuan has sat down with the woman, Jiang Ping suggests. Xia Bingyan agrees.
Xia walks to Pei. She hears the woman saying, “Pei Yuan, we haven’t seen each other for a month. How are you doing?”
Pei Yuan is stunned. He notices that his friends are coming and realizes that the fairy is actually trying to help him build a reputation!
He is moved and panic. He nods and answers, “Thank you for your concern. I’m quite well… Also, I’m so sorry for posting the picture of you on the Internet…”
Lin Luoran waves her hands and says, “Forget about it. Have a taste of the tea I just made.”
Though Lin has known tea ceremony not for long, she has savvy about it. Washing hands, setting tea set, cleaning tea set, boiling water, washing tea leaves, making tea… Lin does all of these steps fluently. Her moves are just pleasure to the eye.
More importantly, Lin Luoran’s temperament suits tea ceremony so much. This is almost like a scene in ancient paintings.
To Pei’s astonishment, the water the fairy used to wash her hands just appears out of nowhere. Also, he can see clearly that there is no coal under the tea pot. Why is the water in it boiling? Are these spells?
With a slice of salmon in his mouth, Pei Yuan almost chokes when Lin Luoran asks him to taste the tea.
The salmon is so delicious…
Lin Luodong is laughing kindly, which makes Pei less reserved. Pei Yuan holds the tea cup in his hand and takes a sip. The tea is golden red and it doesn’t taste bitter at all. There is also an aftertaste of caramel. The tea smells so nice… How can a cup of tea be so fascinating?
“What tea is this? It is so delicious.” Pei Yuan takes a deep breath and says. His mouth is filled with the fragrance of orchid.
Before Lin Luoran says anything, Luodong answers, “Grandpa Mu said that this was the Dahongpao tea from the seed tree on Mount Wuyi. Brother Pei, do you like it?”
Lin Luoran smiles and adds, “You can take some tea leaves if you like. Only that I received these from a friend so I don’t have much.”
Though Pei Yuan works as a part-time tour guide, he doesn’t know much about tea. He has heard of the fame of Dahongpao tea from Mount Wuyi, but he never realizes how valuable the tea leaves from a seed tree is. Since the fairy offered, he just accepts.
Pei Yuan is going to take another sip of the tea when Zhang Shuming starts to talk.
Zhang says, “Pei Yuan, the fairy friend of yours is quite generous. Dahongpao tea from the seed tree on Mount Wuyi is priceless. A few grams of the tea will be sold at millions on an auction. There are only seven seed trees of Dahongpao tea on Mount Wuyi, and most of the tea leaves will be directly sent to the leaders of the state. This is the first time I’ve ever heard about giving out this kind of tea leaves for free.”
“Zhang, you know so much…” Jiang Ping chuckles. She thinks that Pei Yuan is so pretentious. Dahongpao tea from Mount Wuyi is valuable. If Pei did have a rich friend, why would he work as a tour guide?
Pei Yuan is stunned. He doesn’t doubt the authenticity of the tea leaves. He is hesitating about whether it is inappropriate for him to take such an expensive gift.
Lin Luoran picks a grape. Pei Yuan’s schoolmates are too unfriendly… They all go to the same school. Why do they act like that in public? Lin doesn’t appreciate their behaviors.
People who are close to Lin Luoran all know that she seldom hates somebody or something. However, if she does hate someone, she will not show any respect.
Therefore, when Zhang Shuming asks Lin for a cup of tea, Lin raises her eyebrow and asks differently, “Sorry. Who are you?”
Eh—
Everybody is surprised. Jiang Ping reacts most quickly, “Hey, are you afraid that your lie will be exposed by Zhang?”
Lin Luoran casts a glance at Jiang. Jiang gets scared and hides behind Xia Bingyan.
Lin’s expression is gentle, but these students have never seen a person with such a strong temperament. They stop talking immediately. Meanwhile, Lin smiles and says,
“Not everybody can drink my tea… Pei Yuan, are they your schoolmates?”
