Central Starskiff Haven, [ Sleepless Earl ] Teahouse
Ye Yan sat there comfortably, enjoying a wonderful morning tea.
"Oops~ Sir, you're up way too early." Mengming rubbed her eyes, looking like she wasn't fully awake yet.
"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise... The landlady should understand this better than I do." Ye Yan blew on the steaming tea. "An apple a day keeps the Healer at the Alchemy Commission right."
"Uh... how did we suddenly get onto the topic of health and wellness?"
However, considering that Ye Yan's age was still unknown, she stopped thinking about it.
Ye Yan smiled. The moment the tea touched his tongue, a refreshing aroma swept over his taste buds, and it was as if the verdant green of spring mountains was spreading before his eyes.
"This tea..."
Perhaps because I drink too much milk tea regularly, I'm not used to drinking this authentic Xianzhou tea.
Mengming's eyes lit up. "Ah! You noticed it, sir? Following Sister Tingyun's suggestion, I improved the varieties of Scalegorge Spring, Shaded Mountain Green, and Morning Dew Buds, and created a new tea."
"Its flavor is sweet, refreshing, and lingering; it was specially named after my elder sister, and is called [ Cloud-Quelling Song ]."
"Sigh~ I never expected Sister Tingyun to encounter such a misfortune... No, no, that sounds Curiosity!"
Mengming shook her head. Tingyun is perfectly fine now... A few days ago, she heard Mr. Xiyan explain the ins and outs of the Luofu crisis.
A Lord Ravager, known as the "Extinction Lord," actually plotted to dismantle Luofu from within, and even targeted Miss Tingyun, temporarily replacing her for a period of time.
The thought that Miss Tingyun, who had visited [ The Sleepless Earl ] before, was Lord Ravager made Mengming feel a chill of fear.
Fortunately, with the help of the Astral Express and the Church of Eternity, this crisis was averted, which is truly commendable.
On Tingyun's side, because the [ Whistling Flames ] merchant guild was too busy with work, they didn't have time to try Mengming's newly made tea.
Since she couldn't enjoy the tea, Mengming invited Ye Yan to have a cup. Unexpectedly, upon hearing that there was a free tea tasting session, he came to her early in the morning.
Mr. Xiyan hasn't come to read books yet, but Ye Yan has already come over. He's up really early.
"Wait, sir, you don't get up this early every day, do you?!" Mengming just realized.
Seeing Ye Yan nod, Mengming understood why she hadn't seen Ye Yan open his shop for so long.
So you deliberately choose such unlucky times to open your shop every day? No wonder you have so few customers. You've completely missed the prime opening hours, deliberately choosing times when hardly anyone goes. In this situation, you're lucky if you get even one customer.
"Financial freedom is wonderful..."
"Cough cough cough~ Hearing these words from the young proprietress is quite a strange feeling."
"Let's not talk about that anymore. How does this cup of tea taste?" Mengming got straight to the point.
"Mmm~ It's like a refreshing sensation, like clouds and rain caressing the tip of the tongue, or a fledgling drinking Sweet Dew. Such a fine product... If it doesn't charge me any Strale or Credits, it would be an injustice if the little proprietress's teahouse didn't become a hit!"
Ye Yan raised his teacup high, regarding this cup of [ Cloud-Quelling Tea ] as a precious treasure, and was about to continue praising it when...
"Did you take all my Faunus Red-Fleeced Sheep?!"
A sudden argument shattered the surrounding tranquility. He paused, the teacup he was about to bring to his lips froze in mid-air, the clear tea sloshing around.
"Oh no! They're arguing!"
Ye Yan rushed to the scene upon hearing the noise, only to see a familiar figure there.
"Wow... March 7th really wasn't lying to me, I actually bumped into a big shot." Xing came to Ye Yan's side, she just wanted to go out for breakfast, but she ended up seeing such a dramatic scene.
After exchanging a glance, they openly stood next to the two arguing individuals and began to watch the drama unfold up close.
"Stop causing trouble here, or I'll report you for defamation to the Earth-Balance Commission." The shop owner, with fox ears, stood with his hands on his chest, clearly displeased with the purple-clad woman who had come to cause trouble.
"What?! You didn't arrest my Faunus Red-Fleeced Sheep, then why are there so many lamb dishes in your shop lately?"
"This is the season for sheep to be sold! I've received quite a few top-quality sheep, so naturally there will be plenty of mutton dishes."
"Besides, there are plenty of mutton restaurants in Luofu, why are you bothering me here?" The shop owner was puzzled; why would there be a customer deliberately causing trouble?
He worked tirelessly from dawn till dusk to tidy up the shop, and that's how his first customer got into this mess—he was incredibly unlucky.
"The mutton there isn't as good as yours. How can you expect me to believe that your mutton is just ordinary boiled mutton!"
"A restaurant like ours, [ Garden of Plentiful Delicacies ], with its refined cuisine, would never catch wild goats of unknown origin to cook with."
"It's not some [wild sheep of unknown origin], it's Faunus Red-Fleeced Sheep!" the female debater emphasized repeatedly.
"I don't care what law or sheep you're talking about, it's none of my business. Stop causing trouble here... Hey, have you guys had enough?" The shop owner's gaze shifted to Xing and Ye Yan.
"I've seen enough."
The shop owner was so overwhelmed by this sudden sincerity that he stood there for a few seconds, thought for a moment, and then left grumbling.
"Alas, my poor Faunus Red-Fleeced Sheep! I've only been away from the cruel pen for a few days, and haven't even had a chance to enjoy a few days of carefree bliss before... Alas, Lord of Abundance, who saves us from suffering, please don't punish me for this!"
Seeing the strange woman suddenly start praying, Xing assumed she was another member of the [ Disciples of Sanctus Medicus ] infiltrating Starskiff Haven, and immediately pulled out a mimicry baseball bat.
"Hey, hey, hey... what are you doing? Are you one of that guy's thugs?!" The strange woman was clearly startled.
"It's hard to imagine that I would hear anyone utter the words ' Lord of Abundance ' on this Xianzhou."
"Shh! Could you please keep your voice down? Although there are only a few of us around, I'm just a law-abiding citizen residing here, and I have absolutely no connection to the [ Disciples of Sanctus Medicus ]."
She quickly explained, otherwise the gray-haired guy would beat her up with a baseball bat!
"Hello, my name is Beina. In my spare time, I sometimes release small animals back into the wild with some friends from outside the community." Beina tried to salvage her image by politely introducing herself.
"Let me tell you, I'm not like those scoundrels who kill and rob under the guise of ' Abundance.' On the contrary, my friends and I are putting the benevolent aspects of the ' Abundance ' principle into practice!"
In a corner where Beina couldn't see, Ye Yan and Xing simultaneously turned on their phones to record audio.
"Then why are you bothering the shop owner?"
"Because the Faunus Red-Fleeced Sheep I released went missing! Those bright red lambs were on the verge of extinction in their homeland, so I spent a lot of money to buy a whole bunch of them, intending to release them into the Scalegorge Waterscape..."
"Where?"
After hearing this, Xing unconsciously rubbed her earlobe with her fingertips. After a moment, her gaze slowly turned to the other person as if she had regained focus.
" Scalegorge Waterscape... do you want those flock of magic sheep to return to the embrace of the sea?"
The memory of a bar of soap falling into the water is still vivid in his mind; the legendary life of the Galactic Baseballer almost ended on that day!
"It's Faunus Red-Fleeced Sheep!"