"Off you go!"
"Next time, I'll have to charge you!"
The roughly 190-ton blue whale surged forward with the wind and waves, stranding itself straight on the beach, startling Master Fuli, Lin Ying, and Lin Bingyun into speechlessness.
What Master Fuli did next left Lin Ying speechless, staring at the beach.
Just like when he released the orca, Master Fuli ran to the side of the blue whale, holding its body to help it turn around, facing the sea, and gave it a hefty push. The entire blue whale glided a considerable distance on the sea surface before slowly sinking into the water.
"Woo—"
The exhilarating pushback sensation hit, the blue whale widened its eyes, opened its mouth to inhale sharply, experiencing a novel sensation never felt before.
The blowhole on the blue whale's head emitted a melodious tune, immediately making it turn back and look towards the beach.
"Woo—"
Brother Fuli, again! Twice, please! I think there's a shipwreck from hundreds of years ago at my place. The monkeys said the porcelain and gold inside are quite valuable.
I'll drag it over for you later.
If blue whales had arms, it might already be reaching into its pocket, pulling out an ATM card to swipe it in front of Master Fuli.
"You actually have a secret stash?" Master Fuli widened his eyes slightly, an expression of surprise on his face.
The blue whale swam happily, spurting a stream of water from its blowhole to show it wasn't lying.
"Lin Ying..."
"Lin Ying! You come here quickly! No, go find a legal expert for advice. Say, if a blue whale pushes an antique-grade member into my home, can we showcase it as a spectacle?"
Master Fuli pondered briefly, then called out to Lin Ying and Lin Bingyun.
"Hm?" Lin Ying was taken aback, gestured to the housekeeper to ask the legal department, or check if the public relations department is on break.
"This lawsuit might be a bit tricky. Master Fuli is currently promoting improvements in our country's wildlife and pet management conditions..." Lin Bingyun said with a wry smile while making a phone call, and commented to the young lady.
"As long as Master Fuli is happy." Lin Ying smiled noncommittally, watching Master Fuli hopping on the beach.
"Is there still ice-cold Coke? Get me a bottle." Lin Ying sat on the roadside steps quietly enjoying the sea breeze.
"There is." Lin Bingyun stood behind Lin Ying, returned to the car, and brought back a bottle of ice-cold Coke.
The two sat on the beach, watching Master Fuli riding on the orca and surfing with Ah Bai at sea.
The Spirit Beast Gang's important meeting lasted until three o'clock, until Ah Bai had to go home.
"Ah Bai is such a bore, going home at three." Master Fuli showed an expression of disdain as he watched Ah Bai leave in the ground effect vehicle, commenting.
"I was just about to suggest we go scuba diving later." Master Fuli shook his head, returning to Lin Ying, landed on all fours and shook off the seawater, and said, "Let's go to the chapel to take a shower, and go home to rest!"
"Alright..."
Lin Ying smiled in agreement, then Ansheng returned to the Tea Capital Hotel with a strange expression, lying on Lin Ying's bed.
"...Ah Qing's room seems to be next door."
"Yes, I specifically booked a hotel room next to Ah Qing's room." Lin Ying looked at Master Fuli, smiling, "When dawn comes, Housekeeper Lin will knock on Ah Qing's door, informing her you're here with me."
"And I will tell Ah Qing I was just passing by to purchase some tea. I happened to run into you, invited you to my room to hang out since you were tired, and didn't bother Ah Qing since it was so late."
"With the expectations in the morning, by evening, Master Fuli, you can directly attend to your matters. Meanwhile, I can explain to Ah Qing that perhaps you were being playful and sneaked onto the business car, and now we are heading on the Lingnan highway, so we may only be able to bring back little fox by tomorrow night."
Lin Ying casually explained, clarifying Ansheng's opportunity to use leave tomorrow.
"...What you say makes sense, but upon returning home, Ah Qing might grab Master Fuli with a mid-air scissors kick, and spin me three thousand six hundred degrees, landing with a naked chokehold on my neck on the bed."
Ansheng's mouth twitched lightly; he could already imagine how terrifying Ah Qing's expression would be upon returning home, assuming she whined, her voice might be even louder than his.
"Master Fuli, get some rest early? It's already late tonight..."
With Master Fuli's teasing voice echoing in her ear, Lin Ying didn't offer any more suggestions, but she thoughtfully pulled up the blanket to cover Master Fuli.
It wasn't as serious as Master Fuli made it out to be. Lin Ying felt that Ah Qing would at most just pinch his cheek.
And then, give him a good talking-to.
Even though she couldn't see that scene, Lin Ying could imagine it herself, with Master Fuli squatting on the sofa, looking full of mistakes yet still with a defiant expression.
As Master Fuli closed his eyes, he suddenly felt a tightening at the back of his neck, and upon opening them, he saw Ah Qing squatting by the bedside, grinning mischievously as she raised her hand.
"...Why are you patting my shoulder?" Ansheng let out a strange whine towards Ah Qing.
"See! The little fox hates it most when someone casually raises a hand to pat his shoulder. As soon as that happens, he wakes up immediately; it's like an on switch for Huhu...."
With a confident look, Ah Qing said to Lin Ying, who was squatting next to her, "Next time, if Huhu goes crazy playing, just pat his shoulder, and he won't be so exhausted that he collapses and falls asleep on the ground..."
"I see..." said Lin Ying seriously as she squatted there, documenting the "Huhu User Manual" word by word.
"Although I don't know which tradition this comes from, I've heard people say that patting someone on the shoulder brings bad luck. Isn't it a bit abnormal?"
Ansheng rolled his eyes dramatically, stretched lazily on the bed, rolled off, and landed on Ah Qing's crouched thighs, saying, "Do you have any plans today? I've had enough sleep!"
"Yes, today we're going to the tea factory on the next street for a visit. Also, viewers in the live stream said they want to see us check out the fishing uncle's fish nets....." Ah Qing said, picking up the little fox and talking about today's live stream plan.
The officials didn't have any special restrictions on Ah Qing's live streaming, just encouraged her to explore and share tea knowledge, except for things that really can't be broadcast, almost anything was allowed.
Yesterday, while strolling down Tea Street, those older tea vendors didn't seem very chatty, very dull, rolling their eyes at her when she approached, unwilling to speak.
So today, Ah Qing planned to go to the next street to show the audience the tea-making process, to counter the frequent rumors in the live stream about pesticide residues and stepping on tea.
Now, none of those rare things exist; tea leaves are tossed into the machine, rolled over a few times, and it's done.
"Well then... Sister Lin, we're off. I'm taking the little fox to stream next door."
Ah Qing bid farewell to Lin Ying and, with the little fox in tow, left the hotel and headed towards Tea Capital's tea-making area.
While heading to the tea factory area, Ah Qing's nose twitched slightly, catching a whiff of caramel scent, accompanied by the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes.
"Huh? Are roasted sweet potatoes sold here? Xiaolan, how about we have roasted sweet potatoes for breakfast?" Ah Qing asked Ansheng, looking over.
".....That's someone roasting red tea. It's probably all export goods."
Caramel scent... no, it should be honeyed sweet potato scent, a distinctive feature of red tea. The air filled with caramel aroma directly overshadowed the honeyed sweet potato scent. Ansheng sniffed the air and explained to Ah Qing:
"In the red tea making process, some teas have sugar added to enhance sweetness and reduce bitterness. However, given the strong caramel aroma in the air, I can tell it's likely for export to the Brits or the Americans, as their traders usually request such a large amount of sugar....."
Though red tea is meant to be brewed, the Brits and Americans habitually microwave it, and what results can't even be described as capturing the flavor, more like being aggressive.....
The market drives the tea factories to modify their techniques, birthing the red-tea-with-sugar process.
A sprinkle of sugar is likely for domestic use, a bag probably for the Brits or Australians, and sugar substitute is most likely for the Americans or Jamaicans.
Through a glance at the sugar-coated tea leaves for export, Ansheng could roughly guess their destination.
"Sugar... tea leaves can have sugar added?" Ah Qing looked at the little fox in shock; except for milk tea, if she dared to add sugar to serious tea, she'd likely be out of luck.
"Can we broadcast about these things....?" Ah Qing swallowed nervously and asked, "Won't someone come after us if we broadcast it, tie us up, put us in a barrel, and dump us in the river?"
"There's nothing we can't broadcast. This process has industry standards. Tea factories don't care whether you broadcast or not, although some tea merchants or plantation owners might curse you."
"With a single sprinkle of sugar, your tea is no longer worth one or two hundred per jin, but transforms into five or six hundred per jin Golden Junmei red tea." Ansheng grinned.
"We'll broadcast, and if someone comes to cause trouble, I'll slap them twice."
"Well... alright!" Ah Qing nodded gently, turned, and walked towards a nearby breakfast shop:
"Boss, two big bowls of beef noodle soup, a bowl of Fuzhou fish balls, a dumpling, and soy milk, please." Ah Qing ordered breakfast and looked eagerly at the little fox.
It's nice to have a dining companion, you can eat more that way.