"Uh..... Boss, can I have an extra order of red sugar rice cake packed to go?"
Having just finished a bowl and a half of beef rice noodle soup, half a bowl of fish balls and dumplings, Ah Qing asked for an extra order of red sugar rice cake while munching on roasted rice dumplings at the checkout, then left the breakfast shop, satisfied.
The breakfast shop owner had a strange expression, glanced at his own signboard with the words [Large Portions and Filling], [Open 24/7], scratched his head, and muttered quietly, "I didn't give the wrong bowl..."
"Ah Qing, the boss is dumbfounded....." Ansheng, lying on Ah Qing's shoulder, noticed the odd look from the breakfast shop owner behind them and teased Ah Qing.
Ah Qing isn't big herself, but her appetite is quite large, especially fond of all kinds of fried rice and glutinous rice products.
The food Ah Qing likes, if waved in front of someone with diabetes, they'd have to jab themselves with insulin twice just to catch their breath.
"Huh? What's up with the breakfast shop owner?"
Ah Qing was puzzled, glanced back but couldn't find anything strange, then raised the final bite of red sugar rice cake in her hand and offered it to the little fox:
"Come on~ try some red sugar rice cake. I remember you haven't had it before, it's sweet and delicious."
"No, it sticks to the teeth..." Ansheng looked at the red sugar rice cake being offered in front of him with disdain, raised his little fox paw to push it away: "If it sticks to my teeth, you're not helping me remove it, what's the point..."
"Huh? Is there actually a sweet you don't like?" Ah Qing was surprised to hear this, didn't expect the little fox to dislike red sugar rice cake, and joked that if she placed it in front of him again, he'd bite his own backside.
"Alright! But remember, you can't bite my backside while I'm bathing tonight, okay? It's a bit dirty....."
"......." Ansheng rolled his eyes, not sure how Ah Qing misinterpreted his words.
Ah Qing teased the little fox on her shoulder, and as he hadn't made a sound, she hummed and strolled to a tea processing factory and knocked on the big door.
"Is the owner here? I'm the tea contest participant from the neighboring street..." Ah Qing began introducing herself to the people inside who were having breakfast, when suddenly a man sitting at a small table for breakfast put down his bowl and cutlery, stared wide-eyed at Ah Qing, and said aloud:
"Wow! The living fish king Qing ——"
"Me... me?"
Hearing the odd name, Ah Qing was stunned, raised her hand to point at herself: "My surname is Yu, my full name is Xueqing, everyone generally calls me Ah Qing, I don't belong to the surname....."
"I know, I know, your surname is Yu, you live in Changxi, and the fur fox by your side is called Xiaolan...."
The man, who was probably in his early forties, couldn't hide his excitement, got up from the dining table despite surprised expressions from colleagues, hurriedly went to the desk to find a marker.
And took out a short plush fishing rod storage bag, handed it to Ah Qing, speaking with an excited tone: "I've watched every fishing stream of yours, especially the one where you pulled up 'Kyogre', wow, that was epic!"
"Don't mention other stuff, just sign it first, when I have time to fish this weekend, I'll bless it first...."
The tea factory man was exceedingly enthusiastic, his words like machine-gun fire stunned Ah Qing, who signed her name in a daze and even lifted the little fox's paw to stamp it.
"This time, Master Fuli blesses..."
The man from the tea factory was thoroughly satisfied, only after collecting his fishing rod bag did he remember that Ah Qing seemed to be here for something.
"Sorry, I got too excited. I've been fishing for over a dozen years, from ditches to the sea, even fishing in Australia and Jamaica, but my luck is just not good, I've never caught a rare fish."
"What did you want to ask just now? I got so excited I didn't catch it. My surname is Yang, called Yang Qingfeng."
Ah Qing herself didn't feel anything, but currently in Xia Dong, especially in Jiule City's fishing circles, she's already considered a grandmaster, a pride of Jiule City's anglers.
When their fishing team goes out for tournaments or sea fishing, earlier the anglers from Jiule would say a few more sentences for introduction, now they directly say [I'm from Jiule City], and the others immediately recognize: [Oh, the one who fishes whales].
Even though she didn't catch the whale herself, hearing others say that adds a spontaneous sense of pride and glory to Yang Qingfeng.
Our hometown has a celebrity too!
"Hello Uncle Yang....."
Ah Qing scratched the bottom of the little fox's paw, relieved her bewilderment, organized her thoughts and said: "It's like this, I'm preparing to livestream some tea-making craft today, but I heard from the fox about caramel aroma, sugar color.....but I don't know."
Ah Qing felt a bit awkward not knowing how to continue at this point.
```
Tea leaves mixed with sugar is said to enhance the taste, making cheap tea able to flatter the big shots.
But to put it bluntly, isn't this just fraud? It's outright deceit to swindle consumers.
"Livestreaming sugar roasting? Does anyone watch that?" Yang Qingfeng was baffled after hearing Ah Qing's explanation: "I don't think anyone would watch it, right? I've posted on both Notes and Overseas Notes before, and the highest views were only a few thousand."
"And I was even thinking about boosting business volume. Damn, I spent tens of thousands on promotion, but got no business at all."
"Hmm?"
Listening to what Uncle Yang said, Ah Qing widened her eyes and slowly typed a question mark: "Is this... something that can be said?"
"What's there to not say? The water quality in some countries is just particularly hard, even with a water purifier, it's hard to mitigate the impact. It's worse than ginseng when making tea."
"This is optimization for the market. As you young people say, it's something big. If we don't add sugar, the traders won't even want it, and they won't be able to sell it."
Yang Qingfeng invited Ah Qing to the tea factory, starting to introduce her to the equipment in the factory and the sugar-adding process.
The so-called "sugar roasting" isn't really about vigorously mixing white sugar into the tea leaves. Instead, after the black tea goes through the rolling process, during the drying stage, a thin layer of sugar water is sprayed on using a spray bottle.
During the drying, the sugar water evaporates, blending with the flavor of the black tea to form a rich caramel sweet potato aroma.
Tea with added sugar is easy to identify; one sip reveals an unnatural sweetness, and the leaf dregs also show an abnormal stickiness.
Aside from fooling newcomers, sugared tea isn't popular in the domestic market. It's too sweet, without the tea flavor, even with the astringency from tea polyphenols and alkaloids leading to a sweet aftertaste.
It's a product optimized for local market traits and isn't mainstream.
Yang Qingfeng explained everything to Ah Qing, from the process and principles to how to avoid buying so-called "sweet teas."
"That's about it; there's nothing that can't be broadcast. But don't go filming next door at Lao Fan's tea factory. That's where you'll run into real trouble broadcasting."
After finishing the introduction, Yang Qingfeng invited Ah Qing to the tea room for a drink, having learned from the tour that Uncle Yang was the owner of this tea factory, primarily dealing in various black tea and floral tea.
"Next door..." Ah Qing was a bit confused, giving Yang Qingfeng a puzzled look.
"Ah, I don't know what to say about that guy. He just has his daughter selling tea on Notes all day, claiming it's a small workshop that can't afford tea-making machines, so they have to use traditional methods."
"His daughter is very pretty, and those tea leaves in the factory really do follow traditional methods, but they're all kneaded by a bunch of older folks in rubber boots. Damn, watching those guys with cigarettes dangling from their mouths gives me a headache..." Yang Qingfeng commented, advising Ah Qing not to film next door to prevent their workers from getting into a fight.
The next-door Notes account has tens of thousands of followers, featuring videos of beautiful twin daughters, one in black stockings, the other in white, sitting on the bench kneading tea with their feet.
But the reality in the tea factory is burly men with legs strong enough to pull strings, wearing rubber boots, "heaving and hoeing" as they knead the tea leaves.
Tea priced at four hundred per catty sells for seven hundred, and customers still thank the owner for the fair deal.
"This... this is too perverse, isn't it? It's food for heaven's sake!"
Ah Qing was stunned, despite hearing her dad mention the "market of girls pressing tea with their feet," and often receiving private messages asking if she had traditional craft tea for sale.
But seeing it really being mass-produced was still shocking for Ah Qing.
"Don't curse, Ah Qing. If you keep it up, I, Ansheng, might just jump up and kick..." Ansheng silently muttered, seeing Ah Qing in disbelief.
The traditional craft tea next door, although slightly unconscionable in its advertising, doesn't violate food safety laws.
Meanwhile, Ah Qing's "Qing'an Tea," in a certain sense... doesn't quite comply with food safety laws.
After all... even if Master Fuli washed his hands, scrubbing them with soap several times, he's still essentially a fox.
Tea kneaded by a fox?
The food safety law and the wildlife protection law might just hold a joint enforcement action.
Ansheng listened to Ah Qing's rant, twitching at the corner of his mouth.