"Yunna, try this tea. It's this year's new batch. It's not as good as the one from Fengdu, but for Yixian, it's already considered good," Xael said, handing her the cup.
Yunna thanked him, took it, and had a sip. It was bitter and astringent. Was this really considered good tea?
Here, the scholars and nobles loved drinking tea, playing chess, practicing calligraphy, playing music, and painting. If she wanted to make money, maybe she could try something related to these.
When she was looking for a way out after falling off the cliff, she seemed to have found two or three tea trees. Also, nobody here seemed to use flowers to make tea. Maybe she could give that a try.
Back in the modern world, she had sold tea as a side job. She knew a bit about how to make and brew tea.
Tea was very expensive in this world and mostly only available to rich and powerful people. Regular people rarely came to tea houses.
She still needed to prepare a betrothal gift for Xael. If she could make better-tasting tea than this, she might be able to earn some silver. She also wanted to make something for Xael with her own hands. She planned to paint a picture for him.
In university, she had taken painting as an elective. She wasn't very skilled, but it should be good enough here.
From what she had seen, the painting level in this world wasn't that high. She didn't need to be great. Just good enough to be acceptable.
"Yunna, is the tea not good? Should I ask the waiter to brew a new pot?" Xael asked when he noticed she hadn't said anything.
"No need. Xael, I wanted to ask, the mountain where you went hunting, does it belong to anyone?" Yunna asked.
"Of course not. Yunna, don't you know the government strictly controls land sales? Even in Fengdu, our Yang family only has a hot spring estate near the capital. But the mountains outside the estate still have to be open for the nearby people to use."
"Oh, I didn't know that," Yunna said, surprised. She thought mountains could be bought and sold freely.
"There's not much land suitable for farming in Fengluan. Most of it is already owned by nobles. If even the mountains are sold, the people nearby won't be able to survive," Xael explained.
"Then the emperor's rule makes sense," Yunna said with a smile, understanding the problem.
"Why are you asking about that mountain?" Xael asked.
"I plan to go there tomorrow. I have something I want to do." She had marked a tree at the time. It wasn't far from the foot of the mountain. She wasn't sure if she could still find those three tea trees.
"The mountain isn't very safe. Do you really need to go?" Xael asked, frowning.
"Yes. I have to. If things go well, I'll bring you a big surprise," Yunna said with a smile.
"I'll go with you then."
"Okay. Let's go back and get ready for tomorrow," Yunna said cheerfully and stood up.
"Now I really want to know what's up in that mountain that makes you so excited," Xael said as he stood.
"If everything goes smoothly, you'll love it."
As Yunna and Xael stepped down to the second floor, a voice called out.
"Sister, where have you been these past few days? Father and I have been sending people to find you," Yurra said, sounding pitiful.
When Yunna heard Yurra's voice, she paused. All the terrible things the original Yunna had experienced because of Yurra, the lies, the bullying, the humiliation, flashed through her mind like a movie. Her body shivered slightly.
That was the original Yunna's emotion. Fear and hatred for Yurra, now mixed with resentment.
Xael noticed Yunna's pale face and quickly reached out to support her.
"Yunna, who is this?"
"This young man is?" Yurra asked sweetly. "I am the second daughter of the Su family, Yurra."
"Sister, you…"
"I'm not your sister. Yurra, don't call me that. I've already been removed from the Su family. If you keep calling me sister, are you saying you disagree with the family head's decision and are challenging her publicly?" Yunna asked with a cold face, holding back the original owner's feelings.
"How can the eldest miss say that? The second miss was only worried about you," said a weak voice from one of the men behind Yurra.
Yunna looked at the two men standing behind him.
"I just realized! My two good attendants are now noticed by Lady Yurra. No wonder they didn't want me to touch them before! Turns out, they belong to Lady Yurra!" As Yunna finished speaking, the people around gasped.
The younger sister taking the attendants from the older sister sounds terrible. Nowadays, men are not hard to find. Which girl would do such a bad thing?
"Sister, how can you say that? They willingly followed me after you left. When you were at home, didn't everything come to you first?" Yurra lowered her head and wiped her tears.
"Oh! If they want to follow Lady Yurra, that's fine. But why doesn't Lady Yurra dress the way they like? I remember when I was in the Su family, they always encouraged me to wear bright red and green clothes. They said girls should stand out, especially with flashy makeup so people would remember them right away."
Someone suddenly laughed quietly.
"They also said that as the eldest daughter of the Su family, I could take anything I liked when I went out. The Su family has money. They said I should lose my temper at home sometimes so Mother would remember and care for me. Why doesn't Lady Yurra go to the gambling house? They said our Su family has deep roots there. If we lose, Mother won't be angry."
"Did younger sister do everything the attendants told her?"
"I asked the master. He said the attendants were right. If I do what they want, Mother will like me," Yunna asked with innocent big eyes.
"So, those bad things Yunna did were all because of the attendants' influence?"
"And the Su family master agreed?"
"Look, today Yunna looks much prettier than usual. Before, her face looked like she put on too much powder."
"You noticed too? When she came in, I didn't even recognize her as Yunna."
"Is the Su family master Yunna's stepfather?"
"Seems like it."
"So, were the attendants the ones pushing Yunna to do all those things?"
"..." People on the first and second floors whispered quietly.
Yurra's face turned pale after hearing this.
"Sister, you liked those things yourself. You've only been away a few days. Which young man have you set your eyes on now? He's probably not from a good family, maybe from a brothel," Yurra tried to change the subject.
"Heh, Yurra, do you not understand human speech? I have been kicked out of the Su family. Hearing 'sister' from you makes me sick. You have five or six attendants, but I only had those two after you. They should have been loyal to me since they grew up with me, but they don't care about me at all. Why?"
"Although I acted badly before, I was always kind to those two. The hairbands and clothes they wear were all bought by me," Yunna said sadly.
The two men following Yurra looked pale and nervous. Most of what they used and wore was indeed bought by Yunna.
Yurra had many attendants and did not care for these two. Bringing them out today was probably to anger Yunna.
"Also, this is my fiancé, Xael. I have not looked at any other young men. He comes from a proper family, and I want to live well with him."
"I have left the Su family and am no longer the Yunna I was. If I offended anyone before, please forgive me. If not, that's fine, but don't attack my fiancé, or I will be angry." Yunna bowed toward the first floor and pulled Xael to leave the second floor without even looking at Yurra.
At the first floor, Yunna and Xael left the teahouse under many eyes.
Yurra bit her teeth and glared at Yunna leaving, then angrily slapped the two attendants who belonged to Yunna before and left in a bad mood.
People gasped at her behavior and looked at her with new suspicion. Yunna's words clearly seemed suspicious. If the Su family did not treat the sisters differently, why did the older sister have only two attendants and the younger sister four or five?
Yunna was nice to the two attendants. Why didn't they leave with her? Yurra took them in, so it means Yunna never had feelings for them?
Then Yunna was still...
Everyone in the teahouse was wealthy and could guess the truth. Many people left to go home and find out more about Yunna's situation.