"This tea cake is quite interesting..."
The little fox poked its head out, circling around the palm that Ah Qing extended, conducting a curious investigation.
A tea cake with a diameter of about two centimeters, very delicately packaged, clearly targeted at the consumer market.
Puer tea is quite nice, but if there's one downside, it's probably that before drinking tea, you need to use a tea pick to pry open the tea cake. And the tea pick, whether used by novices or veterans, has a certain probability of causing the "blood tribute" incident, the evil tea tool.
The juvenile tea cake in Ah Qing's hand weighs exactly eight grams, which is the standard amount for one brew.
"Hehe..."
Listening to the little fox's words of praise, Ah Qing couldn't help but reveal a trace of pride on her cheeks and said:
"Right, right! I found it really cute, so I bought twenty tubes to bring back as local specialty gifts for my classmates at school."
Xiaolan, as the fox trained by the village chief, is superior to Dad in tea knowledge.
Huhu sniffed the tea cake and immediately confirmed his taste in tea selection with praise, making Ah Qing feel proud of her choice.
"Indeed, in some staple tea types, achieving a qualitative change through quantity alone isn't feasible. As a business owner, enhancing profit margins by raising the unit price will allow more money to safely land in the pocket, and the guests will even thank us!"
Ansheng nodded earnestly, glancing at Ah Qing with a slight nod to indicate what she learned.
When it comes to making money, indeed, it still relies on the marketing department talents on the large company's side.
"By the way, are you guys shopping?"
Having received praise, Ah Qing, full of joy, snuggled her cheek with the little fox and curiously looked at the two foxes and Ah Bai, wondering what they came out to do.
"We're seeking vengeance. The Arctic Fox got stung by a bug in its sleep on its backside, so we're going to deal with it!"
Ansheng pursed her lips, pointing at the Arctic Fox dressed in a lady's coat with its hat on.
"Whimper!"
The Arctic Fox squatted in front of Ah Qing, showing an expression of joy and whimpered to express its agreement.
"Ah, I see...!"
Ah Qing nodded knowingly; indeed, being woken up by a bug bite is quite annoying, especially those buzzing mosquitoes that hover near your ears without biting, seemingly playing games.
"Then let's go!"
"Let's go back to the tea stall first and introduce the location to the friends in the livestream, then..."
Ah Qing smiled, looked at the little fox, and said, "Tonight, the little fox is in for a treat. Sister Zhuyyu just called to tell me about a celebration dinner, and she's inviting us along with Sister Lin and Sister Lingling, as well as another female friend, to enjoy the hot spring and have a buffet."
"Most importantly, it's pet-friendly—our little fox can dog-paddle in the hot spring too."
Just finished the opening ceremony livestream, accompanying Qiu Lingling to report to the police station, Ah Qing placed the little fox on her shoulder, announcing some good news.
There is a lively gathering of familiar faces tonight!
Sister Zhuyyu seems to have held some opening ceremony, and now that it's concluded successfully, she's inviting some close friends to join the evening's friendly gathering.
Ah Qing made it to the invitation list because her live stream with the whale-blast effect had made the resort popular.
Now, even the World Record Committee is planning to issue a certificate to Ah Qing!
Qiu Lingling is also on the invitation list, since as a fisherman, buying fish from the market after a fruitless effort is not shameful. After all, even the fishing ground owner's fish are purchased from the wholesale market, in certain way they share the same root.
Chen Zhiyu is acquainted with Qiu Lingling, and quite a portion of the fish in the resort was supplied by her.
Fishermen baiting aggressively, coupled with the high number of anglers and excessively low fishing rates, means the lake's fish get thoroughly fed; they don't even bother to open their mouths—just be eaten like piglets.
Forced by circumstances, Chen Zhiyu has to buy thousands of pounds of skinny fish every few days to toss into the lake for the fishermen to catch, activating an infinite loop of inadequacy.
Sometimes, the lack of catches isn't really your fault; it's the other anglers on the opposite side with their unawareness causing the fish to be overfed.
If only they used a few less packets of bait, one could then start the crazed pulling routine.
On Chen Zhiyu's invitation list, Lin Ying and Lin Bingyun were also prominently included.
Lin Ying is a shareholder in the fishing resort and the chairman of Australia Island Ocean Eco Resort.
"Got it..."
Having heard Ah Qing talk about the hot spring, the expression on Ansheng's face turned into a look of understanding.
Lin Ying's invitation to the hot spring sure does seem reasonable and something Ah Qing finds hard to refuse...
Direct invitations from Lin Ying likely means Lao Deng and Chen Peipei would have Ah Qing held down. The Lin's wild youthful days are well-known; even the village chief respects them with a cigarette.
But by making a detour, letting Chen Zhiyu speak up and paint the invitation as a friendly gathering.
Indeed, it's thoughtful of Sister Lin Fu.
[Can I join the hot spring? My psychological gender is also a beautiful big sister...]
[I'm a blind scrub master, V me 50 for travel costs and I'll be on standby anytime tonight.]
As Ah Qing spoke, she didn't shy away from the live audience; as the hot spring gathering was mentioned, a flood of teasing comments appeared on the public screen.
"I don't know, I'm just going with the little fox to mooch off a meal. If you want to go, you'll have to ask Sister Zhiyu if it's okay."
Seeing the audience inquiries, Ah Qing shrugged, jokingly teased the live audience with a smile.
......
Ah Qing returned to the tea stall joyfully; Lao Deng and Chen Peipei began their work, the temporarily hired staff also heading out with their insulated bottles of tea soup to start customer hunting.
Some tea merchants whom they met at the prior tea competition also came to visit "Qing'an Tea Industry," to savor the new competition tea mentioned by Yu Zhenghong to see its quality.
"Mom, Dad, I'm going out for a livestream, and tonight I'm going to a friend's house for dinner, so no need to reserve my meal."
After introducing the tea at her stall to the live audience, Ah Qing turned around to inform her parents before heading out with Qiu Lingling to roam the streets of Tea Capital.
When she encounters interesting teas available for tasting, Ah Qing grabs a spoonful and stuffs it into the little fox's mouth.
The little fox smacks its lips, slurping with a composed face, making a whimpering sound.
"Oh, the little fox says this place's rock tea has excellent quality, but the owner isn't particular. Despite using the chilling spring of Dragon Tiger Rock to enhance the rock's charm, they use a pressure cooker when brewing, affecting the oxygen level in the water..."
Ah Qing, with a joyful expression, offered Master Hu's critique, but as she spoke she gradually showed a quirky expression, poking the little fox's chest fur and asked in a low voice, "Have you...ever tasted the Dragon Tiger Spring? This sounds quite fantastic."
"And about this pseudo-hard water, why would you want to put a fish tank oxygenator in it..."
The owner's tea is genuine tea, but perhaps for customer service purposes, instead of using a constant temperature kettle, he used a high-power commercial water heater.
The little fox said the water quality is poor, making the water lose its vitality, forming some kind of pseudo-hard water, suggesting he add some oxygen.
Ah Qing listened in confusion; the little fox's talk of oxygen level and high conductivity seemed like professional jargon from a chemistry experiment...
"?"
The tea stall owner discreetly peeped out, listened to Ah Qing's words, and then shrunk his head, pretending nothing happened. Water is the mother of tea, and when tea customers are unsatisfied with tea quality and start playing with water, the owner can only say: You be the boss, I'm off work.
Water-playing tea customers, from a certain angle, are already pondering microbes, molecular formulas, and tea tree varieties and soil—just shy of going up the mountain to be tea farmers.
Serving these tea customers is purely a waste of water and electricity; without knowing, they might already be more knowledgeable than the owner.
Ah Qing is taking the little fox for a street tour, with the little fox offering critiques.
The owner pricks his ears to hear them badmouth him, peeks, listens to Ah Qing translating fox language, silently shrinks his head back, and rolls his eyes.
Dude, this tea is hundreds per pound, just drink it what's up you trying to levitate?
Gradually, time edges towards the evening.
Ah Qing closed the livestream, tagging along with Qiu Lingling heading to the parking lot, ready to drive to Changping Mountain for a hot spring soak.
Having read the location Chant Zhiyu sent.
Ah Qing raised a big question mark above her head, looking at Qiu Lingling and said: "In the neighborhood...is there a hot spring to soak?"