AVRL 32

The image of Yu Tingzhi kneeling half on his knees in front of him surfaced in his mind. Meng Chi felt the tips of his ears burning hot; while his mouth wanted to say I don’t know, I don’t know anything, his mind was savoring the memory instead: Yu Tingzhi had way too little self-awareness—how could that level of flexibility be called “average”? It could only be described as extraordinary.

Besides, how could he talk dirty right in front of little children? Was this something a teacher of the people ought to do?

Thinking of this, Meng Chi knitted his brows and shot a fierce glare at Yu Tingzhi.

“Know when to stop; don’t corrupt the little kids.”

Yu Tingzhi: “Okay.”

After reprimanding Yu Tingzhi, Meng Chi turned around and said to the taller kid, “I’ll count this round as your win, kid. You sure have a lot of tricks up your sleeve.”

The taller kid shook his head with delight: “This is nothing. My dad can even tie a knot in a cherry stem with his tongue!”

Tying a knot in a cherry stem.

Meng Chi’s expression froze, instantly recalling how Chen Yan used to flirt with bartenders at bars using the cherries on cocktails.

Holy shit, what on earth is this kid’s dad teaching him every day?

“That’s very dangerous; you guys mustn’t learn that,” Meng Chi put on a stern expression. “In case it gets stuck, you’ll never be able to eat cherries ever again.”

The taller kid nodded proudly: “I know! My dad told me—he said I can only learn it once I’m an adult, and I can even use it to get a girlfriend.”

Meng Chi’s lips twitched; this time he truly couldn’t hold it together anymore.

This brat’s dad really had no taboo whatsoever—how could he say just about anything? At least he had a slight sense of safety awareness; it was hard to tell whether to call him reliable or unreliable.

“Forget finding a girlfriend; go play with your Iron Man,” Meng Chi reached out and pinched his nose, instructing him, “And don’t show off your flexible little tongue everywhere in the future either.”

The taller kid gave him a dissatisfied look, glanced at Yu Tingzhi, pouted, and stayed silent. Yu Tingzhi had a cold demeanor, so the two little kids didn’t quite dare to act recklessly; seeing that he wasn’t leaving, they bounced and skipped off to play on the other side by themselves.

Once the two noise sources left, this small corner quieted down. Meng Chi quietly grumbled a complaint: “Kids nowadays are really incredible—every single one of them is an old head on young shoulders.”

Yu Tingzhi sat down on the rattan chair beside him and suddenly asked, “Why can tying a knot in a cherry stem help one find a girlfriend? Is that some kind of pursuit tactic?”

“……?”

Meng Chi looked at him sideways, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Teacher Yu, are you playing innocent with me here or what?”

Yu Tingzhi’s gaze was sincere: “What do you mean?”

Meng Chi narrowed his eyes, looking at Yu Tingzhi suspiciously, feeling both that Yu Tingzhi was playing dumb, and that an artist like Yu Tingzhi might indeed be ignorant of such frivolous tricks used in places of pleasure.

Then he recalled his proficiency in oral skills—whether it was kissing or oral techniques, he didn’t look like a novice driver no matter how one viewed it.

As his thoughts drifted off track, Meng Chi quickly shifted his gaze away: “Nothing special. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get it—it’s not like you’re looking for a girlfriend anyway.”

“Then what if I’m looking for a boyfriend?” Yu Tingzhi asked. “Won’t you teach me?”

The evening sunlight had shed its searing heat, adding a touch of haziness instead. The dense orange glow reflected in Yu Tingzhi’s pupils, making him appear focused and deeply affectionate.

As Meng Chi gazed at him, he suddenly felt as if his eyes were dazzled. He blinked, surreptitiously took a deep breath, and calmed his suddenly accelerating heartbeat.

After a two-second silence, a smile floated back onto Meng Chi’s face: “Teacher Yu, I haven’t even found a boyfriend myself—how am I supposed to teach you?”

At his words, Yu Tingzhi’s eyelids fluttered slightly, the shadow cast by his long lashes fleeting in an instant while his pupils remained bright. His lips parted slightly, and just as he was about to speak, a call of “Teacher Yu” came from outside the courtyard.

The two followed the sound and saw a man wearing sportswear standing at the entrance of the courtyard, looking to be in his early thirties with rather delicate features.

Meng Chi recognized him as Yu Tingzhi’s colleague, having seen them eating together before. Before Yu Tingzhi left, he gave the box of pastries in his hand to Meng Chi, saying it was a specialty snack he bought on his way back that the students all said was delicious. Yu Tingzhi had bought two boxes and gave one to him.

It was a box of peach blossom pastries—the very peach blossom pastries Meng Chi had wanted to eat earlier but hadn’t managed to get.

Looking at the delicately shaped pastries in his hands and smelling the fragrance of peach blossoms mixed with milky aroma at his nose, Meng Chi actually felt a flutter in his heart for a moment.

That tiny, negligible regret in his heart had been fulfilled by Yu Tingzhi without him even knowing it.

Having stayed here for a week, Meng Chi had almost finished collecting the spring tea needed for Youran Tea House. On the other side, Du Feng had also followed Yang Zhengfeng to participate in two events, one of which was a tea ceremony performance where Du Feng even took the stage as the main protagonist.

Meng Chi timed it right and gave Du Feng a call just as they finished.

“Ah, let me tell you, I was so nervous! When changing clothes, I even buttoned my shirt wrong, but thankfully it felt a bit off to the touch so I corrected it in time.”

Although he was talking about his own embarrassing blunder, Du Feng’s voice was filled with excitement throughout—it was clear he was genuinely happy.

“You only buttoned your shirt wrong; back when I took the stage for the very first time, I almost covered the wrong teacup lid.” Holding his phone, Meng Chi offered both comfort and congratulations, “With this experience under your belt, our Master Du will be able to take charge on his own from now on.”

“Pfft, still a long way off from that.” Du Feng remained modest, pausing before adding, “Since you’re almost done collecting tea, just come back. You should still be the one going for the upcoming competitions; I brought it up with Master, and he didn’t say no either.”

Hearing this, Meng Chi remained silent for a moment before saying, “No rush, I still need to make a trip to Qingfeng Mountain to see Grandmaster.”

“Oh right, that’s true, I almost forgot.” Du Feng instructed again, “Remember to bring back some handmade tea—Master loves drinking it.”

Yang Zhengfeng’s master was a famous tea master in Xichi; back in the day, the tea he made was hard to buy even for a fortune. Now that he was practicing secluded cultivation at Qingfeng Mountain, the tea he made in his spare time was no longer sold to the outside world—he kept it for his own consumption. Every year, regardless of who came down to the countryside from Youran Tea House, they had to go up the mountain to pay their respects to him, and conveniently pocket some handmade tea to bring back.

As Yang Zhengfeng’s disciple, Meng Chi naturally wouldn’t forget to visit Qingfeng Mountain, nor would he forget what kind of tea his master loved to drink.

Qingfeng Mountain was the least famous among the eight major peaks of Xichi, situated in a relatively remote location. The flatter surrounding peaks were all planted with tea, so aside from a Qingshan Temple, there was no other place worth visiting here. Naturally, no dedicated tourist bus routes were developed, and very few people went there.

Jiang Hong’s father-in-law had a tea plantation over there and mentioned he was going back early tomorrow morning, so Jiang Hong told Meng Chi to catch a ride with his vehicle tomorrow. Meng Chi agreed and didn’t arrange any other ride for himself.

Unexpectedly, those two little nephews were having so much fun here that they didn’t want to go back. Jiang Hong’s father-in-law couldn’t win them over, so he made a last-minute decision to stay two more days—and thus, Meng Chi’s plan to hitch a ride fell through.

Rides to Qingfeng Mountain were hard to book, and last-minute ones like this were even harder to find. Jiang Hong probably felt apologetic and guaranteed that she would definitely help him solve the problem.

Meng Chi didn’t pin his hopes entirely on Jiang Hong either, trying to call a ride using ride-hailing apps himself. While waiting for a driver to accept the order, he clicked into his Moments and scrolled through, seeing that Jiang Hong had even posted a Moment about this matter.

It really was difficult to book a ride in the middle of the night. Meng Chi refreshed his Moments for several minutes—scrolling all the way to a video Yu Tingzhi had posted around noon—yet still no driver had accepted the order.

The video featured that same little black cat again; this time, the caption read: 【He is still very cold to me, what should I do?】

Seeing the pronoun “he,” Meng Chi subconsciously thought he had made a typo, but then quickly realized it might be a male kitten.

The little kitten had its head lowered drinking water from a porcelain bowl, its pink little tongue making “nia~ nia~” sounds in the water, looking very much like a creature who was “deaf to all outside affairs, wholeheartedly focused on drinking water.”

In the comment section, Meng Chi saw Song Min comment: 【Buy some good food to coax him~】

Yu Tingzhi did not reply.

Meng Chi also withdrew his hand that was about to hit like, thinking to himself: Did Yu Tingzhi bring the cat along with him on his business trip? However, when he examined the video closely, he noticed slogans like pet boarding centers in the video’s background.

By the time Meng Chi finished scrolling through Moments, he still hadn’t managed to hail a ride. Fortunately, Jiang Hong was resourceful—she sent him a WeChat message saying the ride issue was resolved, dropping him a license plate number and telling him to just wait at the entrance at five o’clock tomorrow morning to get on the bus.

Meng Chi breathed a sigh of relief, put down his phone, and went to sleep.

The next day, Meng Chi yawned as he located the bus using the license plate number, only to see a group of bright, youthful boys and girls carrying drawing boards, along with Yu Tingzhi as the team leader.

Only then did Meng Chi realize that the ride Jiang Hong had found for him was the very transfer bus Yu Tingzhi was leading for his students’ sketching trip.

Besides Yu Tingzhi, there were two other team leaders—one male and one female; the male teacher was the one who came looking for Yu Tingzhi yesterday.

The three of them displayed no surprise whatsoever at Meng Chi’s appearance, arranging for him to sit right in the front row by the window, clearly because Jiang Hong had given them a heads-up in advance.

The chattering students were extremely curious about him, an outsider, poking their heads out and looking around. Even after the doors closed and Yu Tingzhi sat down beside Meng Chi—blocking out most of their gazes—Meng Chi could still hear students discussing him, saying he was the handsome guy who was with Teacher Yu yesterday.

“I didn’t expect you guys to go to Qingfeng Mountain for sketching; even tourists rarely go there,” Meng Chi said.

Yu Tingzhi said, “One of the team leaders said painting the same scenery every year gets a bit boring, so we found an uncommon place.”

He didn’t mention who found the place, and Meng Chi didn’t ask either.

After the vehicle started, some students chatted, some caught up on sleep, and others were eating. A mixture of food smells drifted through the bus, causing Meng Chi to knit his brows; he disliked mixed odors inside automobiles.

Leaving in a hurry this morning, Meng Chi had packed the peach blossom pastries Yu Tingzhi bought yesterday into his bag as breakfast. Although he disliked the food smells circulating in the cabin, Meng Chi was indeed enticed into feeling a bit hungry. When he pulled out the peach blossom pastries, he even asked Yu Tingzhi if he wanted any.

Looking at the box that was half empty, Yu Tingzhi asked him, “Is it good?”

“Mm, delicious.”

Looking at Meng Chi’s puffed-out cheeks, a subtle smile surfaced at the corner of Yu Tingzhi’s lips as he opened a bottle of mineral water and handed it to him.

“Thanks.” Meng Chi had a dry mouth, so he didn’t refuse Yu Tingzhi’s thoughtfulness.

After filling his stomach, Meng Chi’s brows remained furrowed. He wanted to open the window to let in some fresh air, but out of the corner of his eye were all students hunching their necks to catch up on sleep; the cold morning breeze was truly unsuitable for disturbing their peaceful slumber.

“What’s wrong? Motion sick?” Yu Tingzhi noticed his knitted brows and asked.

“No.” Meng Chi shook his head while wrinkling his nose, “It’s just that my nose feels a bit uncomfortable.”

The driver drove very smoothly, so after passing the initial phase of excitement, the students on the bus had all quieted down, causing Meng Chi to intentionally lower his voice when speaking.

Yu Tingzhi had heard Yang Zile mention that Meng Chi had a very sensitive sense of smell, which was precisely one of the points Yang Zhengfeng favored at first—when evaluating tea, he only needed to take a single sniff to tell the good from the bad and the superior from the inferior.

The mixed odors inside the bus were indeed somewhat uncomfortable for Meng Chi.

“You can open the window a bit to get some air,” Yu Tingzhi said, reaching out to open the window.

Meng Chi gripped his arm, shaking his head: “It’s fine, don’t blow them awake.”

Because they were close, Meng Chi could still smell that faint, fresh ocean fragrance on Yu Tingzhi despite the mixed odors, and with the gentle breeze stirred up as he raised his hand, that faint fragrance rushed right to his nose.

Meng Chi didn’t dislike this fragrance to begin with, and right now he found the scent even more richly fragrant.

“What brand of perfume are you wearing?” Meng Chi twitched his nose, “It smells pretty nice.”

“Mm? I didn’t spray perfume,” Yu Tingzhi thought for a moment, then added, “It’s probably hand cream.”

Meng Chi was no straight guy; he not only did skincare, but also maintained his hands—after all, for a tea artist, hands were the face of the tea artist.

Thus, he had no objections to Yu Tingzhi applying hand cream, and even hoped he would care for them more, considering those were the hands of his dreams.

When Yu Tingzhi extended his hand in front of him for him to smell the fragrance, Meng Chi lowered his head slightly, sniffing that fresh aroma.

Just as the vehicle passed over a speed bump, amidst the bumpiness, Meng Chi’s warm lips pressed right onto the back of Yu Tingzhi’s hand.

The fragrance suddenly grew intense; Meng Chi was slightly stunned, his heart skipping a beat.

Beside him, Yu Tingzhi was also startled for a moment by this accident. Soon after, his pupils shifted slightly; catching sight of Meng Chi’s slightly dilated eyes, he suddenly curled the corners of his lips again and said softly:

“You’re taking advantage of me.”

At his words, Meng Chi’s lowered long lashes fluttered gently. Just when Yu Tingzhi thought he would awkwardly pull back, Meng Chi suddenly raised his hand and grabbed his hand. Looking up again, his eyes held only a relaxed, composure-filled smile.

Tightening his five fingers, he drawled out a call of “Teacher Yu,” and said: “Clearly it’s you who’s framing me.”