Translator: Google Translate

Editor: Sai Hiroto

After eating the barbecue, it was already past one in the afternoon. Cheng Lang glanced at the time and asked Shen Huaiyu, "I asked you to practice making tea, how is your practice going?"

Shen Huaiyu immediately responded, "I have been practicing these days when I have time."

Cheng Lang smiled and said, "Let's go back to school."

Shen Huaiyu asked curiously, "You asked me to practice making tea, is it also to promote the milk tea shop?"

"Of course." Cheng Lang said, "There are too many milk tea shops on the market now. Without some special competitiveness, how can we stand out? We have to think of some way to make those customers willing to come to the store to consume."

"But," Shen Huaiyu still didn't understand, "What does this have to do with ordering tea?"

"Of course, it has something to do with it!" Cheng Lang looked at Shen Huaiyu and said with a smile, "Haven't you heard of the saying, beauty is a feast for the eyes?"

Shen Huaiyu looked at Cheng Lang, and his face gradually turned red.

Cheng Lang called the waiter to settle the bill. After returning to school, Cheng Lang urged Shen Huaiyu to change into a set of white ancient costume robes that he borrowed from the ancient-style studio opposite the school. He sat in front of the computer, exported the recordings in the recorder, and uploaded them to the cloud space and several other social accounts for preservation.

"I'm done." Shen Huaiyu came out of the bathroom and looked at Cheng Lang blankly, "Is this how I wear it?"

Cheng Lang turned around and felt his eyes brighten. He saw Shen Huaiyu standing at the door of the dormitory in a white robe. The wide-sleeved long gown made him look even more ethereal. He was really a gentleman like Jade, elegant and graceful.

Cheng Lang applauded in amazement. He couldn't help but sigh that those who study archaeology and read literature have a good temperament. The scholarly air that came over him was much more handsome than those handsome men in ancient costumes on TV.

Shen Huaiyu looked at the clothes on his body and couldn't help asking, "Which dynasty is this clothing from? I studied it in the bathroom for a long time, but I still couldn't figure it out."

Shen Huaiyu's question stumped Cheng Lang, "... I don't know either. I just picked it randomly in the studio."

The two looked at each other. Cheng Lang said, "Forget it. This question is not important. It's okay as long as you look good in it."

Cheng Lang turned off the computer, "Let's go! Let's go to the milk tea shop."

There were no classes on Saturday afternoon. There were still many students coming and going on campus. As soon as Shen Huaiyu and Cheng Lang, dressed in ancient costumes, came out, they attracted the attention of countless classmates. Some people even raised their phones to take pictures secretly.

Shen Huaiyu felt a little uncomfortable and hid behind Cheng Lang subconsciously. The two hurried out of the school gate and came to the milk tea shop. Cheng Lang opened the electric rolling shutter and posted the recruitment notice he had just typed on the door.

"The landlord gave us a month to prepare." Cheng Lang introduced to Shen Huaiyu, "During this month, we need to find a good market positioning for the milk tea shop and do the relevant preparations and publicity. What we want to do is to open a stylish internet-famous milk tea shop."

Shen Huaiyu seemed to understand.

Cheng Lang brought out the tea-making utensils that he had prepared long ago. 

There were six items in total: a teapot, a teacup, a rabbit hair cup, a tea whisk, a teaspoon, and a tea towel. The teapot and teacup were both made of white porcelain, and they looked lovely and warm to the touch. 

Cheng Lang placed the tray in front of Shen Huaiyu and then went to set up the camera and lighting board. Shen Huaiyu sat beside him, watching Cheng Lang busying around, and hesitated to speak.

Cheng Lang glanced at Shen Huaiyu, who looked troubled, and asked with a raised eyebrow, "Why, are the tools I bought incomplete?"

Shen Huaiyu glanced at the things in the tray and said, "... Not bad. Do you need my help?"

After spending some time together, Cheng Lang basically understood Shen Huaiyu's way of speaking, "Really incomplete? I checked online and saw that they all bought these things. What else is missing?"

Shen Huaiyu explained, "I make tea art at home, and I grind tea powder with tea paste myself. But here is ready-made tea powder. It's okay."

"It's OK as long as it can be done." Cheng Lang He smiled and said, "Practice with this first. Let's take a video. Don't show your face, just take a video of your hands and the tea in the teacup."

"Today is too hasty, and we haven't prepared everything. We can slowly add more things when we have the chance in the future. Not only tools for making tea, but also various gadgets for you to use when studying archaeology and repairing cultural relics. If you like, you can prepare a set and put it in the milk tea shop. Whether our milk tea shop can have its own theme and characteristics depends on how much effort you put in as the boss."

Shen Huaiyu nodded, rolled up his sleeves a few times, and started to make tea.

Cheng Lang found the right angle and started shooting. In the saturated lens, a fair and well-proportioned hand with distinct bones was holding a white porcelain pot, and the other hand was holding the bottom of the pot with a tea towel, circling the teacup, and pouring the water in the pot into the teacup to warm the surface of the cup.

The bright sunlight poured in from the French window. In the saturated sunlight, the hands and the exposed wrists looked even more beautiful in the lens, even whiter and more slender than the white porcelain pot. The camera moved in, and the hand picked up the tea whisk and stirred it evenly in the rabbit-hair cup.

Cheng Lang watched Shen Huaiyu's movements and suddenly wanted to eat egg custard.

Cheng Lang swallowed his saliva. He watched Shen Huaiyu pour out the water in the rabbit hair cup. Then he picked up the teapot and scooped two spoonfuls of tea powder into it. Shen Huaiyu's technique is a special technique for making tea. He was born with a good life, and his hands are also very delicate. Coupled with the good light in front of the camera, this set of smooth movements actually has a bit of gentlemanly and humble ancient rhyme.

Next is the key point of making tea. Shen Huaiyu subconsciously glanced at Cheng Lang. Found that Cheng Lang was staring at the camera with full concentration. Then he lowered his head, picked up the teapot, and poured a little water into the rabbit hair cup. Then use a tea whisk to stir quickly, mix the tea powder and hot water together, and stir up a lot of foam. From Cheng Lang's perspective, it looks a bit like a cappuccino.

"Is the next step to make latte art?" Cheng Lang asked curiously.

Shen Huaiyu, who just picked up the teaspoon, couldn't help laughing and curled his lips.

"Yeah." Shen Huaiyu responded softly. His voice was as light as a breeze on a warm spring day, full of smiles.

In the high-definition camera, a slender hand with clear bones holds a bamboo tea spoon and writes and draws in the foamy tea soup. Soon, the boat that has been riding the wind and waves appears in the camera. Shen Huaiyu painted lightly and easily, and also wrote two poems beside it—there will be a time to ride the wind and waves, and set sail to cross the sea.

Because the surface of the bowl is limited, Shen Huaiyu used the hairpin flower small regular script to write the inscription. It is difficult for laymen who don't understand tea opera to imagine how difficult it is to write an inscription on such a small bowl.

Cheng Lang glanced at Shen Huaiyu and suddenly sighed.

"What's wrong?" Shen Huaiyu was a little nervous, "Is it because I didn't write well enough?"

"No." Cheng Lang shook his head. He didn't expect Shen Huaiyu's skills to be so superb at this time.

Cheng Lang turned off the camera and ended the filming. While importing the content from the camera into the laptop, he said to Shen Huaiyu, "Thank you for your hard work."

"Not hard." Shen Huaiyu shook his head.

Cheng Lang suddenly had an idea, "You just said that you like to grind the tea paste yourself when you do tea art. Then do you have a way to incorporate milk tea into it?"

Shen Huaiyu: "?"

Cheng Lang said, "You see, those who go to the coffee shop to drink coffee all like to draw a flower on the coffee. When we make milk tea, can we also draw a flower on the milk tea? You can find a way to invent a simple tea-making technique and teach it to the staff during employee training. This can also be regarded as a gimmick of our milk tea shop."

Shen Huaiyu blinked, "I'll try."

Cheng Lang raised his thumb at Shen Huaiyu, "Come on. I believe in you."

Shen Huaiyu looked at Cheng Lang and nodded seriously.

Cheng Lang put away the camera and lighting board. These things were borrowed from the studio, and he would return them later.

On the table, the tea ordered by Shen Huaiyu was still warm. The aroma of tea filled the air, Cheng Lang felt thirsty, and asked casually, "Can I have this?"

"Of course." Shen Huaiyu raised the teacup with both hands and handed it to Cheng Lang.

Cheng Lang took the tea and drank it all, looking at the smudge at the bottom of the cup, and said with a smile, "Not bad."

Shen Huaiyu looked at Cheng Lang's action of taking the cup and was slightly startled.

"What's wrong with you?" Noticing Shen Huaiyu's gaze, Cheng Lang wiped his mouth with his fingers, "Is it dirty?"

"No." Shen Huaiyu wanted to ask Cheng Lang if he really didn't know how to make tea, but hesitated for a while and finally didn't ask.