However, Li Suzhen did not heed her mother's words. The two lines of lyrics that a female opera singer sang at the end of the play when she was taken to see the play by A-Quan from the fruit shop floated into her mind. She did not understand the meaning of the lyrics when she heard them that day, but the emotionless smile that Song Tianyao gave to his parents just before he turned around made her feel that she suddenly understood the meaning of the two lines of lyrics.
My beloved is gone, and our vows have been broken.
Chapter 126 Murderous Intent
After Zhang Yulin and the others delivered the Painting of Sailing Against the Current," they got out of the car and, with their assistant Chen Fu, walked up to Zhou Xiyu's garden Western-style House halfway Mid-Levels. Compared to the Britain, Foreign Devil preferred Tai Ping Shan, the China person paid more attention to feng shui. The feng shui of Caughton Road in Mount Gough should be very good, because the three Big Brother Cantonese businessmen all chose to build their residences in the Mid-Levels Mount Gough after they became wealthy.
The Zhou Family's servants had probably received instructions from Zhou Xiyu beforehand. Upon seeing Zhang Yulin, they led him directly to Zhou Xiyu's study. Chen Fu was also led by a servant to a side room to rest and have tea.
On Zhang Yulin's way to the Zhou Family, Zhou Xiyu had already told Chu Yaozong, who was sitting opposite him, waiting intently for Zhou Xiyu to start brewing tea, about what had happened on the phone. However, judging from Chu Yaozong's devout expression, he had no air of being the president of the Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce. Dressed in a gray linen long gown, his eyes were fixed on the spring water in the copper kettle on the stove, which was about to boil. He had the demeanor of a typical tea house connoisseur, as if he hadn't heard a word of it.
Just then, the Zhou Family's butler led Zhang Yulin in. Zhang Yulin greeted the two elders politely with a polite smile, and after taking his seat, he said, "Chairman Zhou has acquired some fine tea from the Daoguang era, and I happened to know about it, so I came here specifically to ask for a cup to taste. I've only ever tasted a tea cake from the Xuantong era once at Guanying Tea House."
Upon seeing the water boil in the copper kettle, Zhang Yulin also fell silent, just like Chu Yaozong, quietly waiting for the host to personally prepare the tea. Zhou Xiyu completed a series of steps, including rinsing the kettle, wetting the cups, washing the tea leaves, adding the tea leaves, and brewing the tea. After serving the tea to the three of them, and after each of them had admired the bright red tea soup and the thin layer of auspicious cloud-like mist on top, a characteristic only found in high-quality aged Pu'er tea, Zhou Xiyu finally picked up his teacup. "Please, please have some tea."
Chu Yaozong was much more impatient than Zhang Yulin at this moment. He picked up the teacup, smelled its aroma, and then tasted it. It seemed that he had just come out of his trance as a tea connoisseur. Seeing that Zhou Xiyu and Zhang Yulin were still savoring the taste, he spoke first, his tone like that of a competitive young man:
"It's not as good as the drink I treated you to last time."
After carefully tasting it, Zhou Xiyu actually nodded seriously without refuting, but he was unwilling to admit defeat. "The taste is indeed slightly inferior to your last tea cake, but it is older, dating back to the Daoguang era, while yours was from the Guangxu era."
Pu'er tea has been popular in Hong Kong for many years, mainly because Yunnan Pu'er tea is the cheapest and was used as complimentary tea in teahouses and tea rooms of all sizes. Later, as the price of Pu'er tea rose, teahouses stopped providing complimentary tea, but this fostered the habit of drinking Pu'er tea among Hong Kong. Wealthy Chinese businessmen not only considered the taste, origin, and type of Pu'er tea cakes, but also began to value aged teas, with older Pu'er tea cakes commanding higher prices.
After drinking several more cups of tea, Zhou Xiyu glanced at Zhang Yulin bowed as he sipped his tea. He nodded slightly and asked Chu Yaozong, "Do you remember what I just told you?"
"Yulin, Chairman Zhou just told me what you said on the phone. You mean all the All-Hong Kong Pharmaceutical Company were seized by Customs British Army? Not just the Zhang Family's?" After receiving Zhou Xiyu's tacit admission of defeat, Chu Yaozong looked at Zhang Yulin and slowly asked, "What does the Customs seizure have to do with Ah Sin's Likang? Likang's warehouse should have been seized as well."
Zhang Yulin gave a bitter laugh, "Chairman Chu, I'm young, and my limited skills won't last long against your influence. In short, this time it's the Zhang Family's fault. A-Liang and Young Master Shun had a few words because they were drunk. A-Liang acted like a child fighting, intercepting the batch of deworming tablets from Likang's Gaili Subsidiary Company ahead of time. A-Liang was indeed wrong. I'll have A-Liang apologize in person, and the medicine will be transferred to Likang at the original price. Should we mobilize the British Forces in Hong Kong, Customs, and police, and coordinate with the Oxfam founding ceremony to embarrass the Zhang Family in front of the Governor's wife without any mercy? That's not all; reporters from major and minor newspapers are also preparing to publish it tomorrow."
"Hmm." Chu Yaozong looked at Zhang Yulin: "Chairman Zhou specifically asked you to come over when I came to his house for tea, simply because he wanted you to hear me say something. So I'll say it: this matter has nothing to do with the Chu Family or the Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce, only Ah Sin... never mind, anyway, wait..."
Just then, Uncle Yan, the steward of the Chu Family, hurriedly walked over, apologized to Zhou Xiyu and Zhang Yulin, and then leaned down to whisper a few words to Chu Yaozong.
After Uncle Yan finished speaking, Chu Yaozong's eyes were fixed on Zhang Yulin's face.
Zhang Yulin almost shivered from that gaze, and the teacup he was holding trembled slightly, causing a ripple to spread across the surface!
Previously, Chu Yaozong had acted like a kind and gentle elder from Chiu Chow. Now, he was still dressed in that inconspicuous linen robe, but his eyes were as sharp as a hawk's, fierce and sinister, with murderous intent surging forth. With just a sudden change in his gaze, Zhang Yulin felt a chill run down his spine, as if he were being watched by an old ghost who was ready to snatch his soul and take his life at any moment.
"..." Zhang Yulin could no longer calm down. He had already opened his mouth, wanting to ask Chu Yaozong why he had suddenly turned hostile. But Zhou Xiyu deftly picked up the copper kettle and rinsed the teaware in front of the three of them with boiling water. The rising steam blocked Chu Yaozong's view and allowed Zhang Yulin to quickly come back to his senses and breathe a sigh of relief. Zhou Xiyu glanced at Chu Yaozong and said calmly, "Chairman Chu, you're a tea connoisseur, are you waiting for a junior Yulin to remind you that the tea is cold and to offer more tea?"
Chu Yaozong slowly withdrew his gaze and rose from his seat. "A junior from Chiu Chow has come to visit. I'll go and meet him."