Today at Defeng Trading House, chaos reigned. First, the Provincial Governor came to shake them down for money, then the customs foreigners came for a surprise tax inspection. Business at the storefront completely stopped, and they hung up the closed sign early. Even after the sun set in the west, the clerks were still busy putting the shelves and counters back in place, cleaning up the garbage left behind by the officials and their entourage.
But work in the back warehouse hadn’t stopped yet. Several hundred dan of fresh Wuyi Mountain tea leaves they’d newly acquired were being enthusiastically roasted and processed.
Of course, without the shopkeeper’s supervision and urging, the workers were quite leisurely and relaxed. It wasn’t until near the end of the day, when they stood up to stretch, that they noticed a figure wearing a hood outside the small window, standing on tiptoe and peering in suspiciously.
The tea-roasting master initially thought it was one of his drinking buddies, coming to call him out for drinks and gambling after work. When he walked over to greet him, he realized he didn’t recognize the person.
The figure had an upright posture, his hat brim pulled down low, wearing a pair of light, soft shoes, his face not visible.
Seeing that someone had noticed him, he quickly left without letting anyone catch up.
The tea-roasting master remembered the shopkeeper’s recent instructions to “strictly guard against strangers,” and didn’t dare be negligent. He quickly reported it, also to show that he’d worked loyally and dutifully that day.
After hearing the report, Wang Quan’s face darkened, his temples twitching. He burst into the kitchen and dragged out his newly acquired female apprentice.
Lin Yuchan held up half a chicken leg and blurted out: “There’s no evidence! Plenty of people wear hoods – it might not be that Young Master Su!”
But these words lacked conviction. She clearly remembered that Su Minguan, knowing that Defeng Trading House’s tea-roasting secret recipe was confidential, had persistently proposed to visit, and had used “not pursuing the matter of the burnt tea leaves” as leverage to extract information about the tea workshop’s vulnerabilities from her.
Today, a suspicious stranger had appeared outside the workshop. Su Minguan was naturally the prime suspect.
Lin Yuchan had informed him about the tea workshop’s work schedule, making her somewhat of an “accomplice.” Of course, she had to cover for him; otherwise, wouldn’t she be selling herself out too?
Wang Quan didn’t trust this newly acquired female apprentice. He snatched the chicken leg from her hand and tossed it back onto the plate, saying coldly: “Think again. Last time you saw that Su fellow, did he have any suspicious behavior? If you’re deliberately concealing something… hmph, don’t forget you’re a bonded slave. Deceiving your superiors – believe it or not, I’ll throw you into the Pearl River! Think again!”
Lin Yuchan quickly put on a frightened expression, stealing a moment to grab the chicken leg and take another bite, mumbling: “Alright, alright, let me think…”
She swallowed a mouthful of chicken and felt a hard little object in her clothing pocket.
It was the lead bullet Su Minguan had removed from the foreign gun. He probably hadn’t had time to deal with it and had casually tossed it to her to play with, treating her like a curious child.
Thanks to this lead bullet, she also clearly remembered what he had said at the time.
He had said – Has your shopkeeper already become suspicious of me? If Defeng Trading House’s secrets are leaked, A’Mei, you’d be the one who let the wolf into the house, and you probably couldn’t escape responsibility either, right?
Lin Yuchan hadn’t understood his meaning at the time, only feeling that this Su fellow was quite unreasonable – if he wanted to do bad things, so be it, but why drag her down too, and without any guilt.
But now she seemed to understand a bit.
If Young Master Su hadn’t “hinted” at this, then when Wang Quan interrogated her, considering their past life-saving relationship, she would probably have stubbornly denied everything.
Her first reaction just now had indeed been denial, selflessly helping Su Minguan clear the suspicion.
But Su Minguan had specifically reminded her with that comment, warning her not to be too clever, not to try to fool the shrewd Shopkeeper Wang.
For some reason, he seemed not to mind exposing his intentions.
…
Lin Yuchan quickly sorted through the logic and decisively betrayed her teammate.
Looking up to face Wang Quan’s threatening gaze, she hesitantly changed her story.
“…Well, he did seem to mention wanting to visit the workshop several times… Though I refused him, I didn’t dare ask too many questions, in case I offended a customer and we lost business. That’s what you taught me, Shopkeeper…”
Wang Quan’s expression relaxed somewhat, and he snorted.
Lin Yuchan breathed a quiet sigh of relief and continued: “But… but in my opinion, the window outside the workshop is too small. Even if he wanted to steal our techniques, he might not be able to see clearly. Besides, he’s just someone working for a foreign company – what use would it be for him to steal our tea-roasting secrets?”
Wang Quan irritably removed his glasses and wiped them vigorously, sneering: “I thought you were so clever! You can’t even figure out this simple logic! It’s not him who wants to steal – it’s the foreigners who want to steal!”
Lin Yuchan still didn’t quite understand but didn’t dare ask more questions. Foreigners bought finished tea from China and resold it to European countries at high prices, already making huge profits. They did not need to personally handle the “tea processing” step – that would be too costly.
Wang Quan originally had no patience to waste words with her, but today for some reason – perhaps because she had successfully dealt with the foreigners, or perhaps because he had inexplicably promoted her to apprentice – today he found this servant girl more pleasant to look at than usual.
He rarely softened his attitude and said: “You don’t know – foreigners love drinking tea. In the past, only our Great Qing could produce quality tea, so foreigners could only bring out silver to buy from us. But later, the British discovered quality wild tea trees in a province in India called Assam, and they tricked tea farmers from China into going there, making them sign indentured labor contracts and forcing them to work there. In just a few years, those tea trees have grown to scale.
“That Assam tea is good in every way, except for one thing – using ordinary crude roasting methods, they can’t produce the kind of fragrance that our Chinese tea has.”
Lin Yuchan listened attentively and immediately understood: “So they want to steal our techniques!”
Wang Quan said solemnly: “That India is a British colony. If they can produce fine tea there and ship it directly to Britain, costs would naturally drop greatly. Then would our Great Qing’s tea still have a market? Therefore, Guangdong – not just Guangdong, but all the tea trade guilds in the southeastern provinces have issued orders that we absolutely cannot let foreigners steal our techniques.”
Wang Quan’s last few words rang with conviction, and his greasy face radiated patriotic glory, making him not quite so detestable.
Lin Yuchan finished the last bite of chicken meat and stood up.
“I understand. Next time I see Young Master Su, I’ll advise him to stop.”
But Wang Quan waved his hand, hesitating for a moment. He found half a bottle of French wine from the packed leftovers, took a big gulp from the bottle, and said slowly: “No, no. That would make the foreigners resent us, wouldn’t it? I have a plan – why don’t we turn the tables on them…”
Several days later, at a teahouse beside Wuxian Temple, Lin Yuchan strolled up to the second floor and generously slapped fifty wen in tea fees on the table.
“Young Master Minguan, please.”
Of course this counted as normal “client entertainment” expenses, fully reimbursed by Wang Quan. Considering that she was penniless, he had given her the full advance.
Of course, Wang Quan didn’t know that Kou Laicai had left in such a hurry that he’d left several silver coins hidden under the shelves, with no time to take them. These silver coins had already been “inherited” by Lin Yuchan as his “estate,” carefully hidden away.
So Lin Yuchan had private savings inside and public funds outside, making her unprecedentedly wealthy.
Su Minguan wasn’t polite either, smiling: “Please.”
He carried a document bag with him, stuffed with various papers. Though young, he already had the bearing of a “successful businessman.” He must have been busy with business, making quite a bit of money for Jardine Matheson & Co. that morning.
Since he was taking time from his busy schedule to honor her with his presence, Lin Yuchan had reported to Wang Quan and didn’t dare neglect him. She chose a teahouse with some class – clean tables, chairs, and floors, well-dressed tea patrons, and at every table, one could hear different topics of learned discourse. It was quite elegant.
Su Minguan was very satisfied with this environment. He put down his small bag, found a quiet seat, and ordered a pot of Longjing tea from the tea master.