Song Tan’s Chronicle - Chapter 79

“Goodness gracious!”

A group of middle-aged men cursed and muttered, “I suggested playing cards, and you didn’t come! Old Wu suggested fishing, and you declined… When asked what you were doing, you said you were at home savoring tea!”

Retired middle-aged men either wear hiking jackets and dominate various scenic spots with similarly retired old ladies or squat by the water with a single-minded focus on fishing.

If neither of those, they’re at the card table, gambling in small amounts of one or five yuan.

Their plans were disrupted, and Old Sun, with his mysterious air, made it seem like he had some supreme Big Red Robe tea.

One by one, they pressured him into revealing this supposed exceptional tea.

Old Sun, always making a fuss, initially acted reluctant. How much could a group of them drinking a cup each consume? At most, an ounce?

Yet, he hemmed and hawed.

Were it not for their long-standing friendship and the situation pressing them, they wouldn’t have had this chance to enter his home.

After all the build-up and anticipation, Old Sun finally retrieved a small packet of tea from his freezer!

That packet—looked very familiar. Isn’t that the same packet Old Sun usually uses for carrying his tea around?

Tsk!

The group showed their disdain.

Feeling insulted, Old Sun shouted, “What do you know? This tea, though it’s only an ounce…”

Alright, it’s not even a full ounce now. He secretly brewed a cup this morning. The moment the hot water hit the leaves, the room was filled with a wonderful fragrance. Even his wife, who never drinks tea, asked, “What tea is this? It smells so good.”

How thrilling, how exciting! Old Sun managed to brush her off.

That one cup of Maojian, he steeped it seven or eight times, and finally chewed and swallowed the leaves. Only then did he reluctantly put the cup away.

Who knew that showing off a bit outside would attract these guys?

Attracted, they came. Old Sun was prepared for a significant sacrifice, ready to see their admiring eyes.

Yet, they didn’t believe him!

Hey! Old Sun got mad: this afternoon, he would make them understand what real tea was!

He huffed, “Do you know how much this little packet costs? One thousand yuan! I used my entire five hundred yuan card-playing fund and my accumulated private savings of five hundred yuan to get it first!”

That’s why he couldn’t let his family know.

A thousand yuan for an ounce?

Don’t be fooled by the seeming ease of their 2-3 thousand yuan monthly pensions. Nowadays, what can that money do?

They also have grandchildren to support from time to time.

Even the pickiest among them only spends about a thousand yuan a year on pre-rain tea, getting about two catties to enjoy.

Local tea isn’t famous, and even at five hundred yuan per jin, it’s already considered very good.

Learning that Old Sun silently spent a thousand yuan on tea and only got an ounce, they immediately perked up.

They each found a seat in his old unit house and automatically pulled out several glass cups from under the tea table.

“Come on! Let us see what this thousand yuan per ounce tea is like.”

They exchanged glances, silently balancing their expectations for the tea with their thoughts that Old Sun might have been swindled.

Old Sun, having spent so much time with them, knew they had no taste. He snorted:

“Wait, I’ll boil some water first.”

After boiling the water, Old Sun, unsatisfied with the transparency of his guest cups, took them to the sink and scrubbed them meticulously with toothpaste.

Once everything was ready, he even considered checking the water temperature with a thermometer. His friends had already grown impatient, but Old Sun finally opened the sealed bag.

His hands shook with reluctance as he handled the tea leaves. Balancing between pride and thrift, he suddenly felt a pang of regret.

To avoid embarrassment among his friends, he changed the subject, “Smell this. This is freshly fried tea, doesn’t it smell good?”

It wasn’t even steeped yet, but the dry tea leaves in the cup emitted a faint fragrance.

Not strong.

But for dry tea to have this aroma was already quite impressive.

The experienced tea drinkers swirled their transparent glass cups, examining the leaves’ shape and color while inhaling the aroma. They concluded:

“Old Sun, your thousand yuan might have been well spent.”

Local tea drinkers often wash their Maojian tea: putting dry leaves in the cup, filling it a third with water, swirling it briefly, and then pouring it out.

Then they formally steep it.

Typically, this washing water is discarded, but today, the fresh aroma convinced them to watch Old Sun pour the first steeping into another glass without protest.

When he officially steeped the tea, the leaves swirled and unfurled, the buds standing upright. The vibrant green color infused the water, creating a spring-like green hue, and the refreshing fragrance filled the room…

Everyone took a deep breath.

“It smells wonderful!”

Just then, the door clicked open.

The group shuddered.

Old Sun’s wife, holding a vegetable basket, entered and was startled by the sight of the men lined up in the narrow living room.

“Oh my.”

She exclaimed.

Old Sun inwardly groaned and instinctively shifted his teacup, as if that would lessen his presence.

His wife laughed, “What brings you all here? You should’ve let us know in advance… Anyway, I bought some wild vetch this morning. Stay for dinner!”

The middle-aged men, understanding the potential storm from a thousand yuan per ounce tea, weren’t interested in the wild vetch. They nervously moved their cups closer.

This small move made them feel even more awkward.

After all, it was a thousand yuan per ounce. Now split among them, even with Old Sun’s stinginess, just covering the cup’s bottom, there were only about thirty grams left.

Calculating it, each sip cost dozens of yuan.

Realizing that her grocery wasn’t enough, Old Sun’s wife set down her basket and prepared to head out again:

“Keep chatting. I’ll buy some cold dishes. We’ll have a casual dinner.”

Seeing her turn and grasp the doorknob, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

But their collective exhale seemed too obvious. Old Sun’s wife sniffed the air, turned back, and asked:

“Old Sun, I wanted to ask this morning. Where did you get this fragrant tea, and how much did it cost?”