Staring at the tough yet luxuriant spiritual tea tree, and thinking of the spiritual plants in his own sect that were carefully tended to yet would drop leaves and wither at the slightest thing, Ke Chongbo's eyes went green with envy.
"Should I tell them not to coddle them so much?" He asked for the others' opinions.
"Or you could just find a few more spirit beasts to torment them," Chu Jingzhuo patted his shoulder and joked, "maybe after being beaten a lot, they won't be so delicate?"
Ke Chongbo: "…"
He couldn't replicate that!
His father had a fourth-rank spirit beast, and there were also some ordinary spirit beasts in the sect.
But those spirit beasts were all carefully cared for, with even more attention than the spiritual plants.
Spirit beasts wouldn't run around outside and pee wherever.
As for spirit beasts being as unrestrained and wild as these few, that's impossible.
At their place, spirit beasts and spiritual plants were kept separately, for fear the plants would be ravaged by the spirit beasts, and also fear the spirit beasts would be poisoned by the plants.
"Alright, don't think about it too much, let's hurry up and pick tea leaves," Chu Jingzhuo urged.
"Alright, let's pick the tea leaves!"
The situations were different and truly couldn't be replicated. Ke Chongbo could only helplessly toss that idea aside.
They began picking leaves.
Although it had only been a few days, quite a lot of tender new leaves had already grown on the tree, and these tender leaves could be roasted into a good amount of tea.
Everyone worked together, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they had already picked several baskets of tender leaves.
Based on the previous roasting, they should be able to roast two jin of tea. After giving some to Ke Chongbo, they themselves would also be able to drink for a while.
"Are there more leaves than before?" Jiang Yunnuan looked at the spiritual tea tree and said.
"Mm." Qin Yiwei nodded, "Quite a bit more than last time."
Hearing this, Ke Chongbo turned back to look at the tree again, his eyes going green once more. "It's growing really well!"
The others: "…"
"Alright, let's go!"
Chu Jingzhuo pulled him forward, not letting him continue muttering.
"Hou wu~"
"Ying~"
"Moo~"
They hadn't even seen Master yet when they heard the cries of several cubs.
Several little ones surrounded Mu Shiyue, trying to grab what was in her hand, so anxious they were hopping up and down.
Seeing them return, Mu Shiyue tossed the ball in her hand, and the three cubs rushed off to chase it.
"Master, the leaves have already been washed clean," Xin Jinrui said respectfully.
As soon as they were picked, they used a simple Dust-Clearing Technique to clean the leaves.
"Good."
Mu Shiyue looked at the tea leaves and nodded, "Alright, let's begin."
Thus, the group turned toward the kitchen.
Ke Chongbo, however, stopped, not following along.
"What's wrong?" Everyone looked at him in puzzlement.
"I shouldn't see this, right?" Ke Chongbo said in a low voice.
Roasting tea wasn't easy, and with the same tea leaves, each person's roasting method would differ in taste and effect.
Those who could roast good tea were all master-level alchemists.
—There were also some master tea makers who specialized in roasting tea.
Other than personal disciples, everyone else had to turn away.
Ke Chongbo had never seen tea roasting before, he only knew such things had to be kept secret.
But to his surprise, Mu Shiyue shook her head, "It's fine. If you want to watch, then watch. It's really not that hard. Once you learn it, you can roast it yourself later."
"This… I can?!" Ke Chongbo was both delighted and at a loss. "It won't affect you?"
"Of course not." Mu Shiyue smiled. "It's not some secret."
"How can you say that!" Ke Chongbo's eyes widened at once. "This is a secret! Every master has their own secret method!"
Seeing how serious he was, Mu Shiyue froze for a moment.
Right, this world wasn't the same as her first life.
In many respects, this world was more closed off.
There's no internet here, no different kinds of videos, and even less people sharing their recipes and production processes for free.
Hugging one's broom and clinging to old ways could be used to describe many people.
Perhaps to Ke Chongbo, he only knew the tea leaves were "roasted", but as for how to roast it, and what to add when roasting, he didn't know, since he'd never seen it before.
Even a disciple of a large sect like Ke Chongbo hadn't seen it, let alone ordinary people.
This wasn't a world where, if you wanted to cook a dish, you could just search online and find a pile of tutorial videos.
These methods would be guarded tightly by each household.
Even if some methods were very simple, if they hadn't seen them, they wouldn't think in that direction.
"It's fine, it's really simple." Having lived through the era of information explosion, Mu Shiyue had no desire to hide such things.
Besides, she wanted Ke Chongbo to learn how to roast tea, so he could roast it himself after going back and not trouble her.
After all, it's not like she made a living off tea leaves, there's no need to hide it.
"Really?" Ke Chongbo still couldn't quite believe it.
"Master said it's fine, so it's fine!" Xin Jinrui said sternly with a straight face.
"A-alright, I understand." Ke Chongbo nodded obediently.
Very soon, the group reached the kitchen door.
The kitchen wasn't big, so Xin Jinrui moved the iron wok outside.
They even quickly set up a stove outside.
Watching their movements, Ke Chongbo was a little dazed.
Was tea roasted like this?
But no matter how many questions he had in his heart, he didn't dare speak.
Only, when Xin Jinrui, under Mu Shiyue's guidance, put the leaves into the wok, and when Jiang Yunnuan lit the fire and began stir-frying, Ke Chongbo was directly stupefied.
How was roasting tea the same as stir-frying vegetables?!
When Mu Shiyue told Xin Jinrui to pour in water, then cover the lid and blast it on high heat, he was dumbfounded.
Tea was roasted like this?!
Ke Chongbo suffered blow after blow, and was directly numbed.
Although he had never seen tea roasting, his parents had mentioned it in passing.
He didn't know the specific operations, but the various procedures were quite complicated.
Some master tea makers would even bathe and change clothes before roasting tea!
As for the tools for roasting tea, there were all sorts.
Using a big wok like this and just frying it, this was his first time seeing it!
When a waft of scorched bitterness drifted out, he finally came back to himself.
It seemed this was the smell!
However… it seemed a bit lighter.
When the lid was lifted, the tea leaves looked about the same as last time.
"It should be fine," Mu Shiyue, based on her previous operation, guided Xin Jinrui in roasting the tea.
Repeating the previous process, the final result was indeed about the same as before.
"Brew it and try."
"Yes!"
They immediately brought over the prepared hot water.
Very soon, the tea was brewed.
Smelling the familiar scorched bitterness, they kept straight faces and drank it down in one gulp.
But they were a bit surprised, "It doesn't seem to be as bitter as before!"
"It does seem less bitter."
If the bitterness of the previous tea was one hundred percent, then this tea's bitterness was at most eighty percent.
The gap wasn't huge, but there's still a difference.
Then they began to feel the spiritual power in their bodies.
They were even more surprised, "It indeed isn't as good as the tea Master roasted herself!"
"Where did it go wrong?"
"Was Senior Brother's frying not perfectly right, or was Third Senior Sister's fire not hot enough?"