The Nine Cauldrons Book 6: Traveling the World on Horseback - Chapter 4: Tea House

Chapter 4 Tea House
In the restaurant.
The other people were discussing incessantly and some were even talking about Teng Qingshan, while Teng Qingshan himself was eating rapidly. Soon, Teng Qingshan placed his chopsticks on the table.
“Hei Zi, I will be going to the Tea House. Enjoy your meal.” Teng Qingshan stood up.
“The Tea House will close at night, why are you in such a hurry?” Hei Zi smiled and stood up to send Teng Qingshan off. After he saw that Teng Qingshan was holding his luggage, he immediately volunteered, “Brother Qin, I will watch over this luggage you used to store your clothes. Wouldn’t it be tiring to carry a luggage when you are going to the Tea House..”
After flashing a mysterious smile, Teng Qingshan said, “This luggage of mine cannot leave my sight. I will start worrying if other people carried it for me.”
“Oh.” When Hei Zi heard Teng Qingshan, he immediately understood.
Looks like Teng Qingshan hid his money in the luggage.
……
Teng Qingshan was wearing an odd felt hat and a thick cotton cloak with a bent blade at his waist. His body had a muscular and his skin was slightly tanned. He looked like a native of Youlan. Youlan was the second prefecture and was called a bitter and cold place. The natives of Youlan were extremely fierce. The many protracted battles between numerous tribes at the great prairie created these fierce natives of Youlan. The people of Youlan were very straightforward and they were the kind people who would kill as soon as when there was an disagreement!
Therefore, on the land of the nine prefectures, outsiders normally wouldn’t want to provoke the people of Youlan.
Because of that, some merchants who were not natives of Youlan would dress up as the people of Youlan. Their appearance could at least intimidate people.
“Whew, Whew~~~”
Even Though a cold wind was blowing, there were still many pedestrians on streets of Hua City.
Teng Qingshan carried his luggage as he walked leisurely. It was dinner time currently so many of the surrounding people were entering diners to eat.
“Second sister, is that Teng Qingshan really as handsome as you said?”
“Little sister, you don’t believe me? Although I am a fringed disciple, when Commander Teng and Commander Zhang Feng were having a competition, I went to see the competition. Commander Teng…….Tsk,tsk. He doesn’t look like those ugly martial artists. Surprisingly, he looked really delicate. With his Spear Art! After a few strikes, he was able to fight Commander Zhang Feng off the stage. In Gui Yuan Sect, female disciples who wanted to marry Commander Teng were many. But, we won’t get a chance.
Sound came from Teng Qingshan’s side.
Teng Qingshan looked aside and saw that a man and a woman walking towards the same direction as him. The one speaking was a young girl who wore a red fur coat, ”She is from Gui Yuan Sect?”
“Xiao Lian. Right now that Teng Qingshan is now being pursued by the whole world, as if he is a dog that lost his abode. You are still thinking about him?” Behind her, a cotton-cloaked young man smiled calmly as he said.
“How can you say that!” The red fur coat wearing girl furrowed her brows, “Commander Teng is being chased by Qinghu Island and the whole world! That’s because many Law Enforcing Elders from Qinghu Island died in his hands……Qinghu Island and our Gui Yuan Sect are already enemies. Commander Teng’s actions were a great service! Furthermore, under the heavens, how many people can make Qinghu Island act like this? Young Master Hua, if you can even attain ten percent of Commander Teng’s achievements, I will agree even if you ask me to be your concubine, let alone asking my hand in marriage. If you aren’t capable enough, then don’t talk about this.”
The other thick eyebrowed man laughed and said, “Do you feel humiliated? Xiao Lian and the other disciples of Gui Yuan Sect were the ones that couldn’t stand when someone talked bad about Teng Qingshan.
The cotton-cloaked young man could only apologized with a bitter smile, “Xiao Lian, I am wrong, okay?! Ten percent of his achievement? I would already feel satisfied if I can reach the Innate Realm.”
Soon, the two couples entered a big restaurant.
When Teng Qingshan heard this, different thoughts and emotions surged in the bottom of his heart and he thought, “At least, the disciples of Gui Yuan Sect don’t think of me as a traitor!”
These years, no one was stupid.
From many things, everyone could guess what had happened. In Gui Yuan Sect, Teng Qingshan was not a traitor. On the contrary, his actions caused many disciples of Gui Yuan Sect to respect and admire him even more.
After walking for while, Teng Qingshan arrived at Qing Yang Tea House.
The four words, Qing Yang Tea House, could be seen on the gold plated board which hung on top of the doors of the Tea House. In front of the Tea House four guards were standing. Teng Qingshan walked straightly towards them.
One of the guards raised his hand: “In this Qing Yang Tea House, we only sell wholesale of tea. If you want to buy tea leaves, go to the tea shop or stalls in the front.”
“I am a merchant from Yanzhou.” Teng Qingshan smiled, showing a mouthful of white teeth. That Youyan region’s accent caused the guard to lower his hand and laughed out loud, “So you are from the distant Yanzhou. This is the Qing Yang Tea House and we have many good tea bricks. Please come in.”
That guard immediately led the way.
To be able to come from the northernmost Yanzhou, it must be a big business. No one would travel a long distance of twenty thousand miles just to buy a small amount of supplies.
Big tea houses like this only did big transactions.
“Master Zhou, this is a merchant from Yanzhou.” The guard brought Teng Qingshan to a big lobby where an elder wearing a luxurious black fur coat was standing. The elder came up to him and cupped his hands as he said, “My surname is Zhou and you are?”
“Qin…Qin Wei.” Teng Qingshan said with a Youyan accent.
Teng Qingshan was able to speak the Youyan accent fluently because……the Youyan accent was similar to the modern day northeastern accent of China. As a professional killer, this was one the dialects he could speak. Hence…… this disguise was an easy task to Teng Qingshan.
“Brother Qin, please be seated.” Master Zhou and Teng Qingshan sat down at the same time. At this moment, the maid lifted a tray and placed two tea cups before Teng Qingshan and Master Zhou.
“Drink some tea.” Master Zhou smiled and said.
Teng Qingshan raised his cup and took a small sip, “To be able to leave such a strong fragrance on the lips, while having the bright colours of red and yellow, this is a good quality tea.”
“Brother Qin, so you are also a professional in this field.” Master Zhou smiled and said.
“It’s just to earn a living. If I don’t know a little, how can I sell it? Master Zhou, would you mind telling what tea bricks Qing Yang Tea House has?” Teng Qingshan said with a smile.
“Oh, I don’t know, which grade tea does brother Qin want?” Master Zhou became serious, “In our Qing Yang Tea House, tea-bricks are mainly categorized into five grades. The price of every grade’s has a huge difference between them. The lowest grade ones, which commoners usually drink, consists of some junk tea roots and condensed under high temperatures, are quite cheap. The higher the grade, the higher the price. For example, our third grade tea bricks which weigh around one jin will cost about five to six silver taels. One jin of second grade tea bricks will cost twelve to thirteen silver taels. Because there are differences between the types of tea, there are some small differences between their price! About our first grade tea bricks, around the size of one jin, they will cost about fifty to sixty silver taels.”
When Teng Qingshan heard this, he praised, “This tea bricks are more valuable than silver.”
A jin of first grade tea bricks was like fifty taels of silver which was five jin of silver!
“The most expensive tea bricks will cost around two hundred silver taels, if they were to be custom ordered, they can even cost more than gold!” Master Zhou smiled. “But, these tea leaves are rare so, our tea house could only get small amounts every year. Most of our best tea leaves were already ordered away by big figures.
Teng Qingshan smiled as he nodded his head.
Some extremely precious tea leaves were sold at a price of ten taels of gold for a tael of leaves. A single tael of some extremely precious tea leaves could cost ten taels of gold. There were teas like that! However, those kind of tea could not be be compressed into tea bricks.
“Second grade tea bricks!” Teng Qingshan smiled, “To the tribes of the prairie, second grade tea is considered extremely good……But the goods are too many and shipping would be very troublesome.” The shipping of cheap tea bricks were very troublesome, therefore, those that did business alone would normally buy much more valuable tea bricks.
“Oh? Brother Qin prepared to sell the tea bricks to the prairie?” Master Zhou was slightly surprised as he said, “That place is very chaotic.”
“I am putting my neck on the line to earn some money.” Teng Qingshan smiled and said, “How many kinds of second grade tea brick do you have?”
“Our second grade tea bricks comes in three types. If you’re going to be selling them at the Great Prairies, according to their tastes, I think you should choose the Lilac Fang Tea Brick! The dwellers of the great prairies tend to like this type of tea the most.” Master Zhou suggested honestly.
Teng Qingshan nodded: “Hmm, This Lilac Fang Tea Brick, can you offer me the price for one jin?”
“One jin will cost thirteen silver taels!” Master Zhou replied
“Master Zhou, the normal tea shops outside are only asking for a slightly higher price. Give me a honest answer here!” Teng Qingshan smiled, “Furthermore, the amount of stock i’m buying is also a bit plentiful, we can all make a profit here.”
“How many are you buying?”Master Zhou asked.
“Eight hundred bricks!”Teng Qingshan replied.
Master Zhou’s eyes started to shine. This was a big transaction! Most commoners could only make ten to twenty silver taels a year! One jin of these tea bricks would cost thirteen silver taels, it was obvious that only the wealthy could enjoy them. And eight hundred bricks as well…….This was indeed a big transaction.
“What price do suggest?” Master Zhou asked.
Teng Qingshan said bluntly: “ten silver taels for one!”
“But, that’s too low.” Master Zhou replied.
Teng Qingshan shook his head: “Master Zhou, this isn’t a low price. Even the locals would buy it for only slightly higher than my price. But I’m here to buy eight hundred grade two tea bricks! My journey to the Great Prairies is also perilous and full of danger. Help me out a bit. I would also like to purchase a Scarlet Flame Horse for a thousand silver taels! Alright?”
Master Zhou thought for a bit, then smiled: “Alright, Brother Qin. eight hundred grade two tea bricks, along with a Scarlet Flame Horse. A total of nine thousand silver taels!”
To be honest, Master Zhou was hesitant to sell the tea bricks for ten silver taels each. However, Teng Qingshan was also purchasing a Scarlet Flame Horse. With the Scarlet Flame Horse deal, he could make a profit of two hundred to three hundred silver taels. Therefore, looking at his total profit, he nodded his head.
……
Within the warehouse, two big boxes were placed with their lids wide open.
Master Zhou, Teng Qingshan, and many people from the tea house were there.
Teng Qingshan opened the small luggage in his hand. The luggage was filled with clothes and other normal necessities. Teng Qingshan took out some silver notes from one of his pockets, as well as some other silver notes from the inner pockets of a shirt. Master Zhou wasn’t surprised about this, since merchants usually hid silver notes in many different places.
“Please put my luggage next to these big crates.” Teng Qingshan placed the box vertically next to the big crates, “Alright, everyone can start moving the tea bricks. Place less tea bricks on the crate on the left, so I can have an access to my apparel box. The crate on the right can be filled to the brim.”
“Yes.”
The people from the tea house immediately started moving the tea bricks into the crates one after another. Teng Qingshan also picked one randomly. Opening the paper packaging, he sliced a small part from the tea.
“This Lilac Fang Tea Brick, is definitely good tea.” Master Zhou said as he helped make the tea.
Once the tea was made, Teng Qingshan took a sip. And nodded his head in satisfaction.
To disguise as a merchant, one must act like one from the beginning to the end.