Chapter 436 - 435: Failing to Get the Tree, He Asks for Tea Instead

The aroma was even more fragrant and delightful than the tea he’d had at a top official’s place.

"This tea..."

The moment Yun Zijin smelled the aroma, she knew the staff had used the Lingwu tea she kept in the tea room to brew it.

She rarely served this tea, but she had told the staff that if she was entertaining particularly close guests, they were allowed to brew the Lingwu tea for them.

Since she had brought Lu Yunque home today, and the staff likely saw that he was her boyfriend and also kept calling Yan Shutang "Uncle," they must have decided he was an honored guest who warranted the Lingwu tea.

"It smells wonderful, doesn’t it? This is an excellent tea I came across by chance, and I don’t usually serve it to others. Please, have a taste, Minister Yan."

With that, Yun Zijin picked up her own cup and took a sip.

Lu Yunque had tried Lingwu tea before, so he immediately picked up his cup and took a delicate sip.

Yan Shutang lifted the teacup in front of him, took a sip, and savored it carefully. His eyes lit up.

"Excellent tea!"

Yan Shutang was at a loss for adjectives to praise it. In the end, a thousand compliments could only be condensed into that one phrase: "Excellent tea!"

A smile spread across Yun Zijin’s face. She knew it—no one could resist Lingwu tea.

Even people who didn’t normally like tea would be completely won over by it.

"Zijin, do you have any more of this tea? Could you spare a little for me?"

Even Yan Shutang himself felt a bit embarrassed as he asked.

Tea of such high quality surely had a very limited production. Even if Yun Zijin had some, she couldn’t have much to spare.

But he didn’t have many other hobbies, and drinking tea was one of his favorite things to do in his leisure time.

Now that he’d discovered Yun Zijin had such fine tea, Yan Shutang had no intention of letting the opportunity slip by.

"Don’t worry, I won’t take it for free. Just name a price, and I’ll buy it from you."

Yan Shutang was a public official, after all. The rules stated he couldn’t take so much as a needle or thread from the people, so he had to pay for the tea.

Otherwise... there could be trouble.

"I have a little left. If you’d like some, I can pack up two liang for you to take home."

"There’s no need to pay. I got it from someone else, and I didn’t pay for it back then either."

’It was true she hadn’t paid for it, because it was a reward from the system.’

Of course, Yun Zijin couldn’t tell Yan Shutang the truth; she could only say she’d gotten it from someone else.

’As for who she got it from, she’d just have to say that the person was an eccentric who didn’t like making public appearances.’

’She controlled the narrative, so it wasn’t like Yan Shutang could go against the person’s wishes and demand a meeting, could he?’

’If Yan Shutang turned out to be that kind of person, she would take back the Lingwu tea she was about to give him.’

"No, that won’t do. It’s your business whether you paid for it or not. Public officials are forbidden from taking so much as a needle and thread from the people. That’s the rule."

Since Yan Shutang was so insistent and even cited official regulations, Yun Zijin had no way to argue.

But Yun Zijin didn’t know much about tea and had no idea how to price it. "I don’t know much about tea, so I wouldn’t know how to set a price."

"Why don’t you estimate a value? Whatever you think is fair is fine with me."

It wasn’t as if Yun Zijin needed the money from selling a bit of Lingwu tea; she just didn’t want to put Yan Shutang in an awkward position.

"This tea of yours is even better than the Da Hong Pao from the mother trees that I drank at a top official’s home. Based on past auction prices, that tea goes for about 10,000 yuan per gram. My own savings aren’t that extensive, so let’s call it 20,000 yuan per gram for yours. Two liang is 100 grams, so I’ll transfer two million to you."

’Two million yuan for two liang of tea... Yun Zijin hadn’t expected that.’

"Minister Yan, why don’t we just go with 10,000 yuan per gram? I don’t rely on selling tea to live, so a little more or less makes no difference to me."

Yun Zijin had originally thought Yan Shutang would make a token offer of a hundred or two hundred thousand yuan, and that would be that. She never imagined he would jump straight to a price of twenty thousand yuan per gram.

’If she ever really ran out of money, she could live a very comfortable life just by selling Lingwu tea.’

’But... running out of money was impossible. She still had a weekly spending quota of 18 million yuan to meet.’

Yan Shutang, however, rejected Yun Zijin’s counteroffer. While he might not have a lot of personal savings, that didn’t mean his family was without means.

He could still manage to come up with two million yuan.

Yan Shutang already had Yun Zijin’s account number. After settling on the two-million-yuan price for the two liang of tea, he immediately contacted his bank to arrange the transfer.

Furthermore, the moment he mentioned Yun Zijin’s name, the bank manager became even more enthusiastic.

Before long, Yun Zijin’s phone chimed with a DING-DONG, announcing a text message notification.

Yun Zijin opened her phone and saw it was a notification for a two-million-yuan deposit.

"Minister Yan..."

"Don’t call me Minister Yan. You’re Yunque’s girlfriend, so just call me Uncle like he does."

Having known her for some time, Yan Shutang was aware that Yun Zijin had a knack for producing amazing things out of nowhere.

It was just that nothing before had truly captured his interest. The Lingwu tea, however, struck a deep chord with him.

So, after tasting the Lingwu tea, Yan Shutang started thinking of ways to build a better relationship with Yun Zijin.

Only by being on good terms with her could he be the first to find out about any new things she acquired.

That way, if any new treasures appeared, he could learn about them before anyone else.

"Uncle Yan."

Yun Zijin was agreeable and went with the flow. It was just a title; to her, it was no big deal.

Lu Yunque sat at their side, his expression unchanging, but inwardly he was rolling his eyes.

’It’s a good thing Zijin doesn’t sweat the details. Otherwise, Uncle Yan’s blatant attempt to cozy up to her wouldn’t have worked so easily.’

But since Yun Zijin herself didn’t mind, Lu Yunque didn’t say anything.

After all, he called the man "Uncle"; he had to show him at least that much respect.

However, if Yan Shutang intended to get more benefits from Yun Zijin, Lu Yunque would be keeping a close eye on him. He would absolutely not allow her to be taken advantage of.

Having received the two million yuan from Yan Shutang, Yun Zijin proved she wasn’t stingy. She immediately led both him and Lu Yunque to the tea room and, right in front of them, opened the cabinet where the Lingwu tea was kept.

Opening the cabinet revealed a silvery-white canister inside.

This was a hallmark of the system’s rewards—the canisters for the Lingwu tea were all a futuristic, high-tech-looking silvery white.

If Yun Zijin hadn’t personally opened the cabinet in front of them, no one would ever have guessed that these silvery-white canisters actually contained tea leaves.

From a nearby cabinet, Yun Zijin took out a small bamboo canister. From inside it, she retrieved a delicate little scale, weighed out slightly more than two liang of Lingwu tea, placed it in the bamboo canister, and handed it to Yan Shutang.

"I noticed there seemed to be quite a few of those canisters in the cabinet just now. Zijin, you have quite the stockpile."

’Why do two liang suddenly seem like so little?’

But then he remembered the two million he had just spent, which had left his personal slush fund nearly empty. Yan Shutang forcefully suppressed the urge to place an additional order.

’If I’m careful, two liang should last a good while.’

’After a while, my wallet will recover. I can just buy more from Zijin then.’

Yan Shutang’s plan was perfect, except he’d completely failed to consider one thing: what would he do if Yun Zijin refused to sell to him next time?