Li Ping'an held a leaf up to his nose and sniffed it, looking slightly surprised.
"Oh~"
It was actually a tea tree.
Li Ping'an immediately stood up, ready to pick some tea leaves.
Picking tea leaves required a special technique: pinching the middle of the tender stem between the index finger and thumb, then using the spring of those two fingers to snap the leaf off.
The time of picking mattered too, with noon to before three in the afternoon being best.
Different teas also required picking different parts. Picking a terminal bud and the first leaf beside it was called one bud, one leaf.
Picking an extra leaf was called one bud, two leaves, and there was also one bud, three leaves... there was a whole art to it.
"Is this stuff worth a lot?" Ge Erdan asked.
"Not particularly." Li Ping'an had asked around before; the people of Bear Valley Cheng did not seem to have a habit of drinking tea.
"Then why pick it? It takes up space too."
"To drink myself."
"Heh."
Ge Erdan shook his head. He truly could not understand this oddball, Li Ping'an.
He passed up valuable things, yet insisted on collecting useless ones.
He tried persuading Li Ping'an a few times, but although Li Ping'an agreed with a smile, his hands never stopped moving.
Ge Erdan said no more, merely muttering, "Bookworm~"
He guessed that Li Ping'an had most likely been a scholar before, and might even have taken the imperial examinations.
Only later, he had either failed the examinations or something else had happened, forcing him to leave Great Sui.
Otherwise, why would a scholar without the strength to truss a chicken insist on leaving Great Sui?
He must have gotten into trouble and had no choice but to leave.
As