QT: Heroine Arrives, Woman Rapidly Retreats! (continuation of Arc 8)

Arc: Cross-dressing Female General vs Alluring Malicious Beauty (10)

They rode the horse carriage for a while, and finally stopped.

Gu Shengyin rose and brushed the curtain to the side, and realized that they were no longer in the imperial city.

She collected herself, and glanced at Jiang Huan, only to realize he had already opened his eyes and sat up.

Gu Shengyin laughed, and didn't say much, turning to dismount the carriage.

Jiang Huan followed after.

They were at a rather large manor. Seeing that it was kept perfectly clean, and the gardens were well maintained, Gu Shengyin knew that there were servants working here all year round.

Jiang Huan led the way for Gu Shengyin: "This was the manor my Empress Mother chose for me in the past, she liked the quiet environment here, and how there were no outsiders that would be able to bother me."

The coachman was no longer with them, and had probably brought the horse carriage away. The manor had servants to lead their way.

Servants had already prepared fresh fruits and snacks in the courtyard, and the two of them sat down and relaxed.

Jiang Huan ordered: "Go and get my good tea."

He smiled and said to Gu Shengyin: "It's not very appropriate to drink at this time of day. When it's evening, I'll have the servants prepare a good meal to pair with wine so Yunzhen and I can drink gaily under the moonlight."

Gu Shengyin smiled and nodded: "As Shi'an says."

The tea came quickly, but it was not brewed. Instead, a servant brought a small stove and a complete tea set. It seemed like Jiang Huan would personally prepare the tea himself.

Jiang Huan truly felt that the more he looked at Gu Shengyin, the happier at heart he felt. It was really rare to find someone that felt like old friends at first meeting.

"The servants are too unrefined, I will brew a pot of tea for Yunzhen."

Gu Shengyin watched him with a smile as he brewed the tea step by step with motions like floating clouds and flowing water before placing a cup before her: "Try it."

Gu Shengyin raised the teacup, inhaling the scent, and took a light sip. Her eyes lit up: "It's the superior quality Longjing before the rain?"

Jiang Huan originally only wanted to express the importance he placed on his friend. He had thought that Gu Shengyin, as a military commander, would not be too particular about the tea ceremony. He didn't expect that the other person would instantly be able to taste the type of tea.

His surprise came along with an even greater pleasure. After all, it was like you originally thought that someone was a congenial friend, and then later on you discovered, not only had you been instant friends, but that they could also praise the flowers and appreciate the moon together, and they had so many more common topics to talk about.

Jiang Huan nodded: "I never expected that Yunzhen would have knowledge of tea ceremony."

Gu Shengyin did not answer this question directly, but said with a smile: "Not only do I know that this tea is the best pre-rain Longjing, but I also know that the water you used to brew the tea is mountain spring water from Gaoling."

Jiang Huan looked at Gu Shengyin as if she was a rare and priceless world treasure.

Gu Shengyin smiled secretively: Fu Yunzhen truly didn't know anything about tea, but Jiang Lingzhen did, Liang Chenyu did, and the system did too.

She was willing to increase the number of topics she and her lover had in common to talk about.

Please read this at tranquil library dot com.

The two of them sat and chatted for a while, after which Jiang Huan took Gu Shengyin for a tour around the estate.

When the sun set and the two returned, Jiang Huan could hardly wait to grasp the hand of this new friend and become sworn brothers. (tn: ahem, brothers from another mother hehe)

In this world, how could there be someone who could match you so well? No matter what topic they veered off into, he (GSY) could always follow along his (JH) tangent.

Throughout all this, of course Gu Shengyin was doing it on purpose, but it was undeniable that she and Jiang Huan got along very joyfully.

Servants had already set up steaming dishes in the courtyard, along with an old aged wine.

Jiang Huan dismissed the servants, and pulled Gu Shengyin along by the hand: "Come, Yunzhen, today I demand that you can't return home 'til drunk!"

Ari's Corner:

in case anyone's interested, here's a
the tea preparation can differ based on type of tea as well as if it's fresh or dried, when it was picked, etc; in the video, she's using a dried tea (but personally i like fresh tea leaves it's really great uwu); but fresh teas can be really expensive, especially certain types of higher quality tea leaves (i love tea); if u want a basic explanation on what she's doing during the tea ceremony, feel free to hmu in the discord

also fun fact, as a tea nerd i know that the pre-rain Longjing tea they're drinking here is the second best quality of the best tea; basically it's the highest quality tea picked at the second best time, which is just after the early spring harvest (Qing Ming); the TOP quality is picked before Qing Ming; but pre-rain is about the same quality, just less expensive;;; (pre-Qing Ming is about 20-30$ per ounce or so, for reference)
my family actually has a lot of pre-Qing Ming tea but idk if we have any Longjing so i'll probs go searching for that lol

Gaoling is quite pretty, you can google '高岭风景区' and see some nice mountain and river images