Tea people's commune.
The house hadn't been renovated for a long time and looked a bit dilapidated and old. A few worn-out tables and chairs were placed randomly and had no aesthetic appeal.
Remote and clean, these are probably the few advantages of this teahouse.
There were no other guests in the teahouse except Fang Yan who had just walked in and there was only a waiter who was dozing on a rattan chair.
Fang Yan deliberately stepped harder, hoping to wake up the waiter. Unexpectedly, the waiter was sleeping soundly, and he didn't know if he heard the footsteps, but just turned over and continued to sleep.
Fang Yan had no choice but to shout, "Hey, bring me a pot of Longjing tea."
The waiter finally woke up. He was a middle-aged man in his thirties, with slightly curly hair and a pale face. He wiped the water stains from the corners of his mouth, adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, looked at Fang Yan and asked, "What do you want?"
"Bring me a pot of Longjing tea." Fang Yan said again.
"No," said the clerk.
"So what kind of tea do you have here?" Fang Yan asked.
"Do you want Maojian tea? We only have Maojian tea. We grow it at home and roast it by hand. No spices or tea essence are added." The middle-aged guy began to advertise his product.
Fang Yan looked at the middle-aged man carefully and asked, "Are you the boss?"
The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and said, "That's right, buddy."
"What's your name?" Fang Yan asked.
"Zhu Jian." said the middle-aged man.
Fang Yan stood up again, walked up to the middle-aged man, and said with a smile: "I am Fang Yan. I asked you to meet."
"Teacher Fang?" Zhu Jian looked at Fang Yan in shock. "Are you Teacher Fang Yan?"
Zhu Jian couldn't help but be surprised.
Zhu Jian received a phone call today. The caller claimed to be Fang Yan, the current Chinese teacher of Class 9 of Suzaku High School.
Although Zhu Jian didn't want to have any contact with that school anymore, the other party kept persuading him and said that they could find a way to restore his reputation. Zhu Jian hesitated again and again, but finally agreed to meet with Fang Yan.
That incident was like a thin, sharp thorn stuck in his throat, making him lose his appetite and unable to sleep well.
Intellectuals value their reputation and integrity, and the heavy burden of hooking up with female students made it almost impossible for him to raise his head in front of his family and friends.
He needed relief, a chance to travel light.
Fang Yan's words hit the nail on the head, making it hard for him to refuse.
He originally thought that Fang Yan would be a middle-aged man like himself. But, wasn't this young man in front of him too young and immature? Wasn't the purpose of Suzaku High School to run a school for the elite? How could they just randomly recruit people
"It's me." Fang Yan said. He saw the deep thought and questioning in Zhu Jian's eyes and said, "Shall we sit down and talk?"
"I'll make you a cup of tea." Zhu Jian said.
Maojian tea is not as fragrant as Tieguanyin, nor as elegant and graceful as Longjing tea, but it has its own unique charm.
The tiny Maojian tea leaves tumbled in the boiling water for several times and slowly spread out. A layer of tiny white hairs floated in the glass. At first glance, it looked like the tea leaves were not cleaned. In fact, these white hairs are the essence of Maojian tea.
Tea lovers call it "white hair", which contains a lot of substances that are beneficial to the human body. When drinking tea, you should drink the white hair into your stomach.
Fang Yan picked up the glass and took a sip of the tea, savoring it carefully, then said with a smile, "Good tea."
Zhu Jian had a blank expression on his face, not taking Fang Yan's praise seriously. How many of the words on the scene were worthy of trust
"If I'm right, these tea trees grow on the top of a mountain. They are exposed to wind, rain, and sun, so the leaves don't look green, but rather old." Fang Yan took another sip and commented, "However, the tea pickers put a lot of effort into picking only the young buds of each tea leaf. This extracts all the essence of a tea tree."
"The tea roaster is also a master. He uses burnt charcoal ash to roast the tea leaves, not using too much fire or too much force, which preserves the tenderness of the tea tips and the natural fragrance of the tea leaves. As you just said, although there are no spices or tea essences added, the taste of this tea is even better because of this."
Zhu Jian was deeply shocked and said, "Teacher Fang is a master of tea ceremony. This tea was planted by my father, who was allocated a tea mountain at the top of a mountain. It is difficult to water the tea trees on the top of the mountain. It happened that the weather in southern Henan has been dry in recent years, so the color of the tea leaves is gray and ugly. In order to sell it at a good price, I asked my parents to only take the tips, that is, the young buds of the tea tree, and then go back to roast and fry them myself. Later, I lost my job and thought about my usual love of drinking tea. So I opened a teahouse at the entrance of this community. As you can see, due to insufficient capital and the remote location, it was very difficult to make a living."
Just now Zhu Jian had looked down on and doubted Fang Yan, but now he no longer treated him perfunctorily just because Fang Yan looked young.
Fang Yan smiled and said, "I'm not here to drink tea with Teacher Zhu. I guess Teacher Zhu is not in the mood to drink tea right now."
Zhu Jian smiled bitterly and said, "Indeed."
Fang Yan looked at Zhu Jian seriously and asked, "Teacher Zhu, is the rumor in the school true?"
Zhu Jian did not answer, but looked at Fang Yan thoughtfully and said, "I don't understand why you ask me this question? Who do you represent? Yourself? Suzaku High School?"
"I represent myself." Fang Yan said.
"Out of sympathy? Or curiosity?"
"I feel sympathy and curiosity," Fang Yan said frankly. "And understanding."
"understand?"
"An understanding of sharing the same suffering." Fang Yan said.
"What do you mean?" Zhu Jian was puzzled.
"Some time ago, I was almost expelled from school because of an incident of dancing with a female student in a bar. Of course, if the media reported it extensively, it would probably be more than just a simple expulsion from school," Fang Yan said.
"You were dancing with a female student in a bar?" Zhu Jian looked at Fang Yan with a look of vigilance and contempt. Who is this person? Do you think I am the same as you and come here to seek comfort
"There is another hidden story." Fang Yan explained. "The matter is actually very simple, not as sinister as the outside world speculates."
"Why didn't the media report it?" Zhu Jian asked. "Don't media like this kind of news the most?"
"Because there are many upright people who stand up to speak for me." Fang Yan said with a smile, playing with the glass in his hand. "They don't believe I would do such a thing."
"It seems you are much luckier than me." Zhu Jian sighed. His story became known to everyone, causing him to be excluded from the entire Huacheng education community. The female student was unwilling to be humiliated and transferred to another city to study.
He knew they were innocent, but who was willing to believe it
"I don't deny that." Fang Yan said. "My luck has always been good."
"Because you have been wrongly accused before, you want to come and listen to my story. If possible, will you try to help me overturn the verdict?"
"The most important thing is to clear your name." Fang Yan said. "This hat is too heavy. It will weigh on a person's head forever. And that female student - although I have never seen her. But if she was really wronged, then this incident may have ruined her."
"Yes." Zhu Jian's face was filled with pain. He covered his face with his hands, tears flowing out from the gaps between his thin fingers. His fingers were wet, and the tears flowed to the back of his hands. "You ruined her."
Fang Yan sighed softly.
After a long time, Zhu Jian moved his hands away from his face, but tears were still visible in his eyes.
"I can tell you clearly that we are innocent," Zhu Jian said. "I swear on my character -- no, everything I have."
"I believe it." Fang Yan nodded. "What happened?"
"You are the head teacher of Class 9. Do you know Zheng Guodong?" Zhu Jian asked.
"I know him." Fang Yan nodded. "Are you related to him?"
"I just took over as the language teacher of Class 9, and I had many conflicts with him. He skipped classes to drink, beat up classmates, and was the bully in the class. He also had contacts with some hooligans in society, and his behavior was not like that of a student--"
"He was molesting a female student by the Que River, and I happened to see him. I yelled at him and chased him away, then took off my coat and put it on the girl. I didn't expect that this scene was photographed and became evidence of me doing indecent things with a female student by the river."
Zhu Jian punched the thick tabletop and shouted, "I, Zhu Jian, have read a lot of books, how could I do such a beastly thing?"
"Have you explained it to the school?" Fang Yan asked.
"Who would believe it?" Zhu Jian screamed with red eyes. "Who would believe it? Zheng Guodong's father is the school director, who would believe it?"
Fang Yan was silent.
Zhu Jian's case was indeed tricky. On the one hand, he was photographed just like me. And what was even more careless than me was that his clothes were on a girl. He walked out of the woods with the girl in his arms. If he said that he had no relationship with the girl, I'm afraid few people would believe him.
Of course, if that were the case, if Zhu Jian and the injured girl came out at the same time to accuse Zheng Guodong, there would still be a chance for things to turn around.
The most critical issue is that Zheng Guodong's father, Zheng Tiancheng, is the director of Zhuque School. Who would be willing to offend Zheng Tiancheng and still stand up to overturn Zhu Jian's case when there is irrefutable evidence
"I believe it." Fang Yan said seriously. "I believe you are innocent."
Zhu Jian looked at Fang Yan with surprise.
"I will help you overturn the case and clear your name." Fang Yan continued.
"Why?" Zhu Jian asked. He had said it clearly, Zheng Guodong's father was Zheng Tiancheng, why was he willing to risk his life
If he offended Zheng Tiancheng because of his own affairs, would he still be able to stay as the Chinese teacher of Class 9? Would he be afraid that he would end up being expelled from the school like himself
"Because we are all scholars." Fang Yan said solemnly. "They don't believe that scholars talk about spirit and that literati have integrity. I believe that."
(PS: Sorry, I just finished the third chapter. I have to write the fourth chapter tonight. Don’t wait, get up early tomorrow and read it.) (To be continued)