Chapter 358

With the Si Clan's wealth, they could naturally provide better quality tea sets. However, Si Ming only intended to go through the motions and had no intention of winning the championship, so he just picked a tea set to make do.

"Hey, get serious! Didn't you say yourself that you could go from nothing to the top in just five days? Is this the top-level skill you're going to demonstrate?"

Hearing the harsh, encouraging look in Si Ming's eyes, he turned around and saw that it was the girl surnamed Lu. He was surprised, thinking that she had long forgotten their agreement after losing to Si Huaruo. He didn't expect that she not only remembered him, but also came to watch his performance, even though they had only met once.

"Ha, those who need fine teaware to demonstrate their skills are nothing but mediocre. True masters can brew the most fragrant tea even with the simplest teaware."

"That sounds nice, but I think you're all talk and no action. Let me remind you, although I don't specialize in tea ceremony, I am still Lu Lineage, and I have developed a considerable appreciation for it through my upbringing. You can't fool me with your acting skills. If you make a mistake during the tea brewing process, don't blame me for humiliating you in public."

"Whether I'm a diamond drill or a pewter tip, you'll have to wait and see."

Si Ming was confident. He had spent an entire day learning tea-related skills, and if tea brewing were a martial art, he had already reached perfection.

In fact, Si Ming originally planned to study while reading on the day of the competition, but later felt that doing so would be too ostentatious and would easily give people the impression of disrespecting the competition, so he had to give up this tempting idea.

After the referee announced the start of the match, Si Ming first recalled the process of yesterday's practice, then cut a piece from the fine dragon cake provided by the Lu Lineage, briefly soaked it in boiling water, scraped off one or two layers of the outer oil, clamped it with a bright gold scepter, and gently dried it over a low flame.

The process was fairly standard, with no highlights or flaws. Other contestants generally followed a similar approach, the difference being who was more skilled.

"His movements don't look smooth at all. Could he really have been a complete novice five days ago?"

The girl surnamed Lu was suspicious, but she also found the idea too unbelievable. Even if the other person was truly ignorant and fearless, after these five days of learning, they should know how ridiculous their thoughts were. If they didn't want to embarrass themselves in public, they wouldn't have participated in the competition.

Si Ming paid no attention to what others thought; his focus was entirely on the tea cake. He watched as the steam from the roasting process gradually increased in intensity and then decreased again. He moved the tea cake around to ensure even heating, and when only a thin wisp of steam remained, he gently shook the tea cake in the wind until the last wisp of steam dissipated into the air.

Seeing this, the judges nodded in approval. The step of roasting tea may seem simple, but it is a watershed moment that clearly distinguishes the four levels of novices, beginners, those who have entered the hall of knowledge, and masters. Being able to achieve even heating without making any mistakes means that one has at least entered the hall of knowledge.

Next, Si Ming carefully wrapped the tea ball in clean paper, then picked up a golden hammer and gently hammered it a few times, pouring out the broken tea. He then placed a large piece of white silk on the bamboo mat around the tea grinder, took out a fine gold millstone, and quickly began grinding.

Meanwhile, the other contestants had also reached this stage, so they first put on a clanging ensemble of metal instruments. Later, the sound of the metal grinding became more and more urgent and louder, until for a moment, only a rumbling sound remained.

After the tea was strained, Si Ming placed it in a cup, then boiled water and waited for it to steep. The others did the same. So the only sound in the room was the occasional crackling of pine charcoal, accompanied by the rolling green flowers and rising mist from the silver tea grinder, creating an indescribably pleasing and refreshing atmosphere.

Not long after, the teapot began to hiss. Most of the contestants, ignoring the scorching fire, would stand up from time to time to lift the lid and examine the tea. Only Si Ming remained calm and composed, sitting in his seat with a detached expression, as if he wasn't worried at all about whether the tea would be overcooked.

Is it genuine confidence, or just a show of suspense?

Many judges, including the girl surnamed Lu, had the same idea.

Su Dongpo's poem "Brewing Tea in the Examination Hall" reads, "The crab-eye tea has passed, the fish-eye tea is emerging, and it whistles like the wind in the pines. Fine beads fall from the millstone, swirling and dancing like light snowflakes around the bowl. The silver bottle pours the soup, boasting itself as second best, but it doesn't understand the ancients' intention in brewing water."

The phrase "the crab's eyes have passed and the fish's eyes are emerging" describes the scene when water boils, and using water at this boiling point is the best time to brew tea.

Si Ming didn't use his eyes to check the water temperature, because his Blazing Sun True Qi inherently possessed the property of influencing temperature. When he felt that the temperature was about right, he lifted the lid of the pot, and sure enough, the fish-eye pattern on the edge of the pot had already reached the center.

He immediately picked up the teapot, gently shook it, held it against the rim of the cup, carefully avoiding the tea powder in the center of the large cup, and slowly poured the hot soup from the teapot along the inner wall of the bowl, while gently stirring the tea powder with a tea whisk as he poured.

A tea whisk is a small bamboo brush, somewhat like the tool vendors use to scrub pots at street-side fried rice stalls.

On the judges' panel, Dengbulishao stroked his long white beard and said, "The broth is the master of tea. When it boils like fish eyes, making a slight sound, that is the third boil. When it bubbles like a string of pearls around the edge of the pot, that is the second boil. When it surges and swells, that is the third boil. The first boil is too immature, called the infant boil; the third boil is too old, called the longevity soup; when the surface is covered with pearls and the sound is like the sound of pine trees, that is the second boil, which is just right."

This passage is from "On Tea." Although everyone knew that this old master had a deep understanding of Huaxia civilization, it was still strange for an outsider to be quoting classical texts and talking about traditional cultural knowledge that many Chinese people did not know.

The girl surnamed Lu also found it strange, but her target wasn't Dengbulishao, but Si Ming.

"Even though the movements and postures are at a novice level, why is the effect perfect, and why is there no mistake in any step?"

This feeling is like a Go player using three fingers to hold a Go stone and place it, with a posture that is even worse than a beginner's, yet somehow plays at a master level, defeating a group of professional experts.

Si Ming stared intently at the tea. Once all the tea powder had dissolved into the water, forming a uniform, viscous green tea paste, he raised the teapot, positioning its spout directly in the center of the teacup. As he poured water, he swirled and whisked the tea with the long-handled gold whisk. In no time, the amount of milky foam in the cup gradually increased, and its color became lighter and lighter until it finally covered the entire surface of the cup, obscuring the tea itself completely.

One judge nodded and said, "The best tea has a pure white foam and the water droplets remain visible evenly at the bottom. I didn't expect such a skilled person to emerge from the first group. I wonder if he can bite the cup in the end. If he can, regardless of the taste of the tea, he's already one foot in the finals."

The others nodded in agreement. Biting the teacup was no easy feat; even top experts weren't entirely confident and it depended on luck. If there was even the slightest mistake in the previous steps, or if the heat wasn't properly controlled during roasting, it would affect the quality of the tea foam, making it impossible to bite the teacup.

As the green foam gradually turned white and piled up in small beads, Si Ming slowed down his movements, changing from striking to swirling. At the same time, he slowly lifted the pot to pour water again until the cup was seven-tenths full. Only then did he abandon the pot and focus on stirring the tea whisk.

With each gentle turn of the tea whisk, countless white-green, millet-like, crab-eye-shaped froths appeared. After a few more turns, the froths began to slowly turn white, like snow and mist rising from the rim of the cup. Only when the froth stood tall like a snow mountain atop the cup and clung tightly to the bowl's walls, its edges resembling teeth, with no more falling, did Si Ming remove the tea whisk and let out a long breath.

"It's gone!"

Even though he had mastered the entire tea-making process with his talent, reaching a level comparable to a master, he still found it tiring after completing the entire process. Watching others do it might seem interesting, but doing it himself felt too troublesome. For everyday tea drinking, it was much more convenient to simply brew tea leaves directly.

Of course, a complete tea-brewing process is an art in itself, and even Tea School masters will decide based on the occasion, rather than doing the whole process every time they want to drink tea.

It's like singing; some people shout with a dry throat, some sing in karaoke, and some rent music rooms to make sheet music. Art and life should be treated separately.

Si Ming recalled that in his previous life, many Chinese people clamored that tea culture had disappeared in China, and that the essence of their ancestors had been inherited by the Japan. The evidence, he said, was that the art of preparing tea with tea powder was now only preserved in Japan.

Looking back now, these statements are utter nonsense. Perhaps no one in modern China truly understands the ancient art of tea brewing, but the Japan only learned the basics of stirring and whisking the tea. They didn't learn any of the complex processes like roasting, grinding, sifting, or boiling, so it's far from being a true inheritance.

The Japan tea ceremony is essentially about whipping matcha into froth. The best performance is when the froth covers the surface of the tea. However, in the Song Dynasty, such a level of skill would likely be ridiculed as amateurish and considered the lowest quality. Only when the froth is thick enough to resemble a cloud of white foam is it considered worthy of being served to guests.

Of course, in Si Ming's opinion, "white poop" might be a more accurate description; look at this huge lump, shaped like a spiral pyramid...

Among the contestants in this group, Si Ming was the fastest; the others either failed to finish or gave up halfway and had to start over.

He was about to serve tea to the judges to finish the competition when Si Shuiyun suddenly ran to his side, grabbed him, and ran away.

"Hey, men and women shouldn't touch each other. Even if you want to stop me from showing off, there's no need..."

"The young lady has disappeared!"

Si Shuiyun's words silenced Si Ming's questions.

"Where did she go? Weren't you with her?"

"A butler came earlier, claiming that the Lu Lineage elder had invited me, and that he only wanted to see Miss. I didn't suspect anything, so I stayed where I was and watched Miss go into the Tea-Tasting Manor with him. But half an hour later, Miss still hadn't returned. I asked around and found out that the Lu Lineage didn't have this butler at all, and that the Lu Lineage elder had gone into seclusion three days ago and hadn't appeared in public since, let alone wanted to see anyone."