In the blink of an eye, the day of the tea competition arrived.
Fu Jingxuan rose early, washed his face, donned the clothes he had laid out the night before, and went over to the window.
Fang Zesheng had woken up earlier than him. He stood by the window looking at the withered scenery in the courtyard draped in a dark cloak. In Linhuang Prefecture, the cold was bitter and the ground froze, making it hard for flowers and trees to survive; only a handful of emerald-green pines and cypresses stood among the rocks, their branches gently swaying.
Fu Jingxuan settled onto a wooden chair under the window, his hair messy and tousled. Fang Zesheng casually found a peachwood comb and came behind the chair to bind his hair for him.
“Where is that jade pendant you exchanged with me when we were young?” Fu Jingxuan twirled the jade-rabbit wooden hairpin Fang Zesheng had given him a few times. Suddenly remembering that object, he turned around to sit astride the chair and asked.
Fang Zesheng blinked as if he couldn’t remember for a moment. “Which jade pendant?”
Fu Jingxuan took off the ornament at his waist and dangled it before his eyes: “The other half of this one.”
Fang Zesheng hesitated for a long while. His eyes, which could have looked at him directly, flickered. “I left it at home.”
At home?
Fu Jingxuan didn’t believe him. Seeing him cough once or twice discreetly, he narrowed his eyes with suspicion.
At the third quarter of the Chenshi[mfn]Approx. 7:45 AM.[/mfn].
The horn for the tea competition resounded from Zhaorong Terrace.
A multitude of foreign guests had gathered, silently awaiting the tea masters’ appearance for the competition.
Xiao Heng had invited several Central Plains merchants who had traded in Linhuang Prefecture for many years, as well as several local tribespeople who loved drinking tea, arranging them to sit together and judge this tea session. He did not fear that these people would fail to appreciate fine tea as the quality of the tea and the hue of its brew were all recorded in the ancient volumes of the “Tea Records.” They only needed to compare what they saw against these ancient texts to help observe the quality of the soup color and determine the winner.
Fang Zesheng had no objections to this decision. After all, being in Linhuang Prefecture without the means to invite someone of Lord Song’s stature, the fact that Xiao Heng had managed to secure several Central Plains merchants as judges was already regarded as remarkably fair.
Hu Yunshan still needed to take the stage today; he had to compete against Wang Pu first. If he beat Wang Pu, he would then compete against Xiao Heng; if he lost to Wang Pu, Fang Zesheng would take the stage instead. Pu Ling kept pacing around him; he was even more nervous than if he were the one holding the kettle himself. Over the past year, the two had grown very close, caring for and supporting one another, while their skills had greatly improved through their shared efforts.
Seeing his worry, Hu Yunshan comforted him. “It’s alright. Even if I lose, my Master is still here.”
Pu Ling said, “You won’t lose, you won’t lose. Although Xiao Heng’s true depth is still unknown, Wang Pu is definitely not as good as you.”
Hu Yunshan nodded and secretly clenched his fists. He had matured a great deal and realized that there are always a higher heaven and a more talented person out there. If even a foreign prince was so dedicated to the tea affairs of the Central Plains, how could he; surrounded by thousands of fragrant teas, become flighty just because of a little talent? Once he returned, he had to practice tea earnestly; under no circumstances could he allow an outsider to outshine him again.
After three blasts of the horn, Xiao Heng arrived late, accompanied by Li Da and Wang Pu. All three looked sleep-deprived; their eyes shadowed with deep dark circles, leaving one to wonder what they had been up to during the night.
In this foreign land, there were no young tea boys. Instead, a mighty warrior clad in wolf fur held up a wooden plaque with red lettering and shouted into the crowd: “Today’s Tea Competition officially begins!”
“The first trial: The Tea Tasting Round!”
The so-called tea tasting involves observing the tea, identifying the color, tasting the freshness, and discerning the flavor by using different water qualities to brew the tea and ultimately determining which household and garden the tea originated from. This round followed the same rules as the Tea Tasting Convention, but to show off his skills, Li Da had increased the difficulty. For the final two rounds, the contestants were required to be blindfolded while the spectating tribespeople chose five different types of tea to be mixed together. Whoever could identify more varieties would be declared the winner.
He had not initially realized that Fu Jingxuan was last year’s Tea Tasting Convention champion and was confident in his own chances of victory. Now that he knew, he felt a bit uncertain; still, having stayed up all night with Wang Pu and the Third Prince for some last-minute preparation, he shouldn’t perform too badly today.
Additionally, Central Plains people were all timid. Take Pu Ling, for instance; every time Li Da glanced at him, the boy’s limbs shook with fear. Fu Jingxuan wasn’t much taller than Pu Ling, so if a single glare could also unsettle him, that would be for the best!
On the square, a high stage stood two long, high-waisted tables, upon which sat three cups of brewed tea. Li Da and Fu Jingxuan took the stage at the same time and bowed to each other.
On his side, Li Da’s eyes widened like copper bells as he exclaimed fiercely, “If you don’t want to lose too embarrassingly, you’d better step down now. I have already learned your Central Plains tea arts inside and out; there is nothing new left for you to dig up.”
Fu Jingxuan raised an eyebrow and said with a beaming smile, “The match hasn’t even begun, so how can you be so sure that I will be the one losing embarrassingly?”
Li Da had not expected this kind of reaction. He slammed the long table, his expression growing even more menacing. His scowl and exaggerated attempts at fierceness reminded Fu Jingxuan vividly of Fu Jingye. Feeling a sudden wave of mischief, Fu Jingxuan surveyed him from head to toe before formally starting the match.
In the first round, the two were evenly matched. Li Da proved quite skilled, even identifying each cup of tea a step ahead of Fu Jingxuan. If this were the Tea Tasting Convention, he might have already claimed victory, but by insisting on the blindfold rule, he had unnecessarily handed Fu Jingxuan an advantage. Fu Jingxuan remained unhurried throughout; even with his eyes covered, the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned. The Wang clan had previously used this exact method to test his depth so Li Da was merely repeating an old trick; how could it possibly stump him? The moment the tea touched his palate, he could tell which households had been blended. It felt as though the round was almost over before it had truly begun.
By the time Second Master Fu lifted his blindfold, Li Da was still smacking his lips, savoring the flavors. The round had a set time limit, and it wasn’t allowed to end early. Fu Jingxuan didn’t wait; he picked up a brush and paper, wrote the names of the five teas, deliberately circled around Li Da, and then stepped down from the stage. Only then did he pull the folding fan from his back waist and leisurely return to Fang Zesheng’s side.
Fang Zesheng gave him a helpless look, tapping his forehead just as he used to do when he caught him being mischievous as a child.
Shrouded by the blindfold, Li Da had no sense of what was happening. He still had one tea flavor he couldn’t identify; the sweetness of this particular tea wasn’t unique, and there were seventeen or eighteen varieties with similar profiles. Unable to decide for the moment, he took another sip. Before he could discern the taste, he heard whispering from below the stage, which grew louder and louder until it finally erupted into a roar of laughter!
Li Da frowned, and just as he was about to set down the teacup and remove his blindfold, he felt a chill in his lower half; a gust of cold wind was blowing against the hair on his thighs!
Could it be… his pants had fallen?!
Li Da hurriedly ripped off his blindfold and looked down. Sure enough, his pants were sliding down his legs and were already reaching his lower calves!
“Stop laughing! Everyone, stop laughing!” Li Da threw down his teacup and grabbed his pants, preparing to bolt off the stage. Amid the laughter below the stage, Fu Jingxuan called out, “Brother Li hasn’t written down the names of the teas yet. Does that count as a forfeit?”
Hearing this, Li Da stomped his feet in anxiety. He returned to the tea table while clutching his pants with one hand and hurriedly scribbled the names of the five tea varieties. Then, with a bright red face, he shouted a few curses at Fu Jingxuan and ran off the stage.
The nomadic people did not wear long robes; most wore short-sleeved tunics convenient for labor. Although wealthy families in the capital had begun to imitate Central Plains’ citizens by switching to long robes in recent years, many still found them troublesome and stuck to short jackets and trousers.
Li Da was wearing such an outfit today; the short jacket couldn’t cover his backside, and he had been completely exposed for all to see!
The laughter on the stage was incessant, only gradually quieting down when the second trial; the tea whisking round began. There was little suspense in this round: Wang Pu was no match for Hu Yunshan, but Hu Yunshan ultimately could not defeat Xiao Heng. Fang Zesheng had long expected this. He ascended the high stage step by step, stood opposite Xiao Heng, bowed, and said, “My wife was being mischievous just now; I hope the Third Prince can show some leniency.”
Xiao Heng had clearly seen that Li Da’s pants were sabotaged by Fu Jingxuan, but he didn’t take it to heart. “It’s fine. Li Da was the one who mocked him first and insulted the Central Plains tea arts; it’s only natural that your wife stepped in to give him a lesson.”
Fang Zesheng offered his thanks and made a gesture of invitation.
Xiao Heng nodded. “Actually, rather than Li Da making a fool of himself, I am more interested in seeing how Young Master Fang’s skills truly are. I heard years ago that the Fang family’s Young Master has exquisite skills with the kettle. I wonder if I might have the honor of seeing them now?”
Fang Zesheng said, “Fang fears that I may disappoint the Third Prince. I have rarely picked up a kettle these past few years. Compared to before, I have regressed quite a bit.”
Seeing that he didn’t seem to be merely modest, Xiao Heng’s heart, which had been anxious for days, finally settled back into place. He said with a smile, “A competition is still a competition. I ask that Young Master Fang give your all and not slacken even a bit.”
Fang Zesheng nodded calmly. “Then Fang shall obey your command.”
