Chapter Thirty-One: Stunning

  This small private leisure club, inconspicuous among the large-scale Tang-style buildings on the right side, was where Li Sansheng would go to work part-time every Sunday during his three years of high school. At first, it wasn't impressive, just an ordinary tea house that also sold some high-end tea leaves, and the people who came were all ordinary too.

  Later, Li Sansheng coincidentally met the owner of this private leisure club - Zhao Yi, when he saw Zhao Yi, he had a kind of unknown familiarity, or maybe it was just a passerby who brushed shoulders in a busy urban street, and only felt like he knew her.

  Aunt Zhao somehow took a liking to this place and wanted to turn it into a private leisure club, so she thought of finding someone who knew the advantages of this location to understand the specific situation. So, she chatted with an industry insider in this teahouse about some relevant content. When Li San Sheng was pouring tea, he inadvertently heard their conversation and casually said, "Wanting to create a top-notch private club is no easy feat."

  Little did she know that the speaker was unintentional, but the listener had a mind. At that time, Zhao's aunt didn't know whether it was her own blood or wanting to get some real information from the insider's mouth, or just adding a little fun to life. So she asked Li San Sheng to sit down and talk about it in detail.

  Li Sansheng started from the local culture, interpersonal relationships, and Feng Shui layout at the time. He poured out a series of practical operations and promotions that he had summarized in his daily life to Zhao Yi. The more Zhao Yi listened, the more interested she became. Later, it was unclear whether she had already made up her mind or was moved by Li Sansheng's words, but she bought this place without hesitation and brought Li Sansheng over. As a result, there is now a private club with surprising and Feng Shui layout details everywhere.

  As she entered the door, Yueran inadvertently overheard the conversation between Lao Guo and Ya Jing, and learned that the magnificent screen in front of her was created by this man's own hands, which was quite shocking. Her mouth curled up into a perfect arc, just like Li San Sheng's, as she took another look at him, wondering how many more secrets this man had.

  After entering the second gate with a strong European style, Liu Yiran was shocked by the huge contrast and became a little dazed. Just now it was still the outer hall of the Tang-style building, but now in the inner hall on the first floor, the style had completely changed to a European layout with a Spanish flavor.

  Renaissance oil paintings on the walls, and sculptures by a few Spanish masters at the corners, pairs of Italian white sofas in between, bookshelves with Greek mythological patterns all around, all in European style. In the inner hall, urban beauties and business elites sit in twos and threes, reading books and chatting in low voices.

  Yuri casually scanned the milk-white bookshelf with ancient Greek gods embossed on it, row by row of dust-free books, many of which she had never heard of or read before. There were bestsellers, new releases, and classic works from abroad that spanned several centuries. Most of them were literature, philosophy, and psychology books, without any professional textbooks. This was not a library, but rather a leisurely retreat where one could calm their mind.

  Next to the pure white European-style door is a medium-sized bar, on which are some expensive coffee and coffee beans, with several coffee makers, the indoor lighting is relatively soft and warm, the decoration style is more warm and cozy, all in warm tones.

  It's indeed a great place, and it has distanced itself from those monotonous imitation Tang Dynasty buildings outside, showing off its uniqueness.

  Liu Yiran followed Li San Sheng to continue moving forward, stepping on the European-style staircase to the second floor. On the corner of the stairs, the floor had a mysterious and inexplicable esoteric pattern with a violent beauty. The ferocious appearance of the Buddha inside made people dare not look at it for more than a few glances. Liu Yiran was still puzzled as to why the European-style staircase would have such an inconsistent esoteric pattern that didn't match the overall environment. When she looked up, everything above had changed into an ancient Chinese style with a nostalgic flavor, and the stairs had turned into red wooden carvings and railings.

  After going up to the second floor, the overall layout is basically the same as the first floor, but all the layouts have changed to Chinese style. Purple sandalwood, golden nanmu wood, and red wood furniture have transformed the entire second floor into a tea room with a strong book fragrance. There are still several people drinking tea, reading books, and chatting. Liu Yiran carefully looked at the books on the golden nanmu wood bookshelf, all of which had changed to a series of famous works, rare books, and unpopular books from ancient China to modern times, including banned books. This time, there was not a single foreign work.

  Especially some political books that are banned in China and can only be seen abroad, Liu Yiran also became curious about the background of the director of this leisure club.

  There's no going up to the third floor anymore. In the entire clubhouse, only a few trusted waiters can go up there because it's all private rooms upstairs and those are for people with connections.

  All the way, Li Sansheng was greeting people he was more familiar with. Maybe it's really strict here, so Li Sansheng didn't have much conversation with them, just nodding and smiling to show his intention. Many girls called Li Sansheng "Third Brother" or Sansheng, looking like they had a good relationship with him.

  "The moon is bright, and the art of qin has made progress again." Li San Sheng saw a delicate and elegant girl wearing a cheongsam dress in the place where the curtains were covering, playing with an ancient zither on the table, which was a Shen Nong ancient zither like the famous Song Dynasty's Ice Bucket Jade Zither.

  The clear and elegant girl who called Mingyue saw the man who called himself Li Sansheng, but she didn't get overly excited or have her mood fluctuate like the sound of a guqin. However, when she saw Liu Yiran behind Li Sansheng, she furrowed her brow, and the smile that was just on her face instantly disappeared without a trace.

  What was even more shocking to Liu Yi Ran was that although this girl looked like she was only 15 or 16 years old, her skills in playing the guqin were already quite high. It's estimated that it won't take a few years for her to be on the same level as him. Moreover, the piece she played, "Jasmine Flower", had a lot of flavor, with smooth fingerwork and a distant, lingering sound. She seemed like a pretty good seedling.

  Li Sansheng and the two waitresses on the second floor started chatting casually, and introduced Liu Yiran to them. Liu Yiran nodded and smiled in response, these girls all looked like they had a good temperament and were beauties, although not as stunning as Liu Yiran, but already considered top-notch beauties.

  Li Sansheng casually found a seat and sat down with Liu Yiran, followed by a girl called Zhuyin. Zhuyin was about 1.75 meters tall, similar to Liu Yiran's height. She had a small mole at the corner of her mouth, which added to her elegance and charm. She wore a cheongsam dress, her hair combed back smoothly like an Olympic Games ceremony hostess, except that the cheongsam was purple-red in color, perfectly showcasing her figure, especially her curvaceous silhouette.

  "Third Brother, would you like some tea?" Zhu Yun looked at Li San Sheng with a gentle smile and asked, feeling a bit shy.

  "What tea are you drinking?" Li Sansheng asked, turning his head to ask Liu Yiran who was about to take off her duck tongue hat and sunglasses.

  "Then Longjing it is," said Liu Yiran casually.

  "Zhu Yun, then let's brew the Longjing tea I've placed here at Meijia Walled Village." Li San Sheng instructed with a smile.

  From the beginning to now, these girls have not shown any disdain for Li Sansheng. It seems that they are already used to Li Sansheng's appearance and also understand what kind of person he is.

  Li Sansheng knew that these beauties were selected by Zhao Yi in the northwest region, many of whom were campus flower-level. Li Sansheng's habit of getting nervous when seeing beauties was also slowly suppressed here. No need to say, if you see so many beauties every day, you will also become numb.

  Girls who can come here must have temperament, height, and most importantly, be beautiful. They also need to have skills, any kind of skill is fine, as long as they have a specialty. The treatment is naturally not to be mentioned, Aunt Zhao gives these girls a monthly salary that is more than double that of urban white-collar workers, with most being over 10,000 yuan per month. The bonuses and benefits are also very good, which is also one of the reasons why few girls are willing to leave here. Such high salaries, only fools would leave, and more importantly, they might even catch a golden turtle son-in-law here. At worst, even if they are kept by someone else, it's still a powerful and wealthy master.

  Also, it's absolutely safe here, there are shuttle buses to take them to work every day, just to ensure safety, no guests dare to make a move on them in the club, everyone who comes here is civilized and has quality, what they are like behind their backs is unknown, but they all behave very well-mannered here. Also, nobody dares to offend Zhao Ayi, whoever dares to mess with the girls here will have to get past Zhao Ayi first, otherwise you wouldn't dare even if you had ten times the courage.

  Liu Yiran had already seen the shocking and stunning scene after taking off his duck tongue hat and sunglasses, with an aura that was unmatched by anyone. In an instant, he attracted the attention of most people on the second floor, Liu Yiran was calm and composed, while several girls were also shocked by Liu Yiran's beauty and temperament, and their admiration for Li Sansheng was even more overwhelming. The girl playing the guqin, named Mingyue, happened to be about to finish a piece of music, but she was also stunned by Liu Yiran's beauty and stopped abruptly.

  "Alas," Li San Sheng sighed intentionally.

  "I'm doing this for your sake too" Yueran said thoughtfully as she packed up her gear, causing Li Sancheng's heart to thump wildly.

  Li Sansheng smiled and took over the tea set and tea from Zhuyun, as well as hot water. Zhuyun understood that Li Sansheng wanted to brew the tea himself, so she didn't say anything, just gave a slight smile to Liu Yiran, implying that she was envious of Liu's good fortune in having Li Sansheng personally brew tea for her. In the past, only Zhao Niang and those two brats from her family had enjoyed this privilege at the club.

  "Can you make tea?" Liu Yiran asked curiously, but in an instant she felt that this man had given her the feeling that he couldn't do anything.

  "I learned from others, when I was young, to help my grandfather quit drinking, but whether it works or not, the old man still drinks like his life depends on it." Li San Sheng explained while skillfully arranging the tea utensils.

  "The fragrance of books doesn't require flowers, and the intoxication of tea doesn't need wine." Yuliran casually pulled out a copy of Jia Pingwa's "Abandoned Capital" from the bookshelf and said lightly.

  "That's just nonsense from the old man, tea and wine are different after all. A man can not smoke, but if he doesn't drink, then he's too cowardly." Li Sansheng remembered that this was what the old man said when scolding him.

  "Tea is divided into six categories: red tea, green tea, black tea, yellow tea, blue tea and white tea. Longjing tea is the most famous green tea." Li San Sheng explained tea culture while brewing tea, like Liu Yiran. Many people like to drink tea, but they don't have a basic understanding of tea, most are just following the trend.

  "China's tea ceremony prospered in the Sui and Tang dynasties, flourished in the Song and Ming dynasties, and declined in the Qing dynasty." Liu Yiran was quite familiar with these ancient Chinese cultures, and had also dabbled in the art of tea, so Li Sansheng's technique seemed to her like that of a master of the tea ceremony.

  "The main content of Chinese tea ceremony emphasizes the beauty of five realms, namely tea leaves, water, fire, tea utensils and environment, while matching with emotional conditions to seek the ultimate enjoyment of 'taste' and 'heart'. Japanese tea ceremony, also known as aesthetic religion, which inherits the spirit of Tang and Song dynasties, is based on the basic spirit of harmony, respect, purity and quietness. I prefer Chinese tea ceremony, seeking taste and heart, while that set of Japanese stuff is too fake. Li San Sheng said disdainfully, having no good impression of Japan at all, everything is a copycat, and they don't even admit it, shameless to the extreme."

  Li Sansheng's attainment in the art of tea is not ordinary. He can brew, compete and perform gongfu tea with great skill. Now, Li Sansheng is running a tea competition for Liu Yiran, which requires the ultimate goal of appreciating tea, needing to have color, fragrance, and flavor all at once.

  "It seems that your attainment in the art of tea is not ordinary." Yuliran felt that at this moment, Lisansheng was just like when he played the guqin, with a serious expression, his forehead would have fine wrinkles, his eyes would be fully focused, ignoring worldly distractions, although talking to himself, but never lifting his head.

  "In the Tang Dynasty, there were nine difficulties; in the Song Dynasty, there were three points and three non-points; in the Ming Dynasty, there were thirteen shoulds and seven shouldn'ts. These are all China's inherent tea culture, with a profound and complex tea way that has its own system of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. How can a small country like Japan possibly understand it?" Li San Sheng said in an overbearing tone.

  "Oh" Yuliran also just understood the surface, unlike Li Sansheng's profound and mysterious.

  "Alright, let's taste it." Li San Sheng finally lifted his head. During the time he and Liu Yi Ran were discussing tea, a pot of Longjing fragrance that everyone could smell had finally wafted out. Smiling, Li San Sheng handed a cup of tea to Liu Yi Ran.

  "When serving wine, fill it to the brim; when serving tea, leave three parts." Li Yiran was looking forward to Li Sansheng's craftsmanship and smiled slightly as he said this. He took over Li Sansheng's tea, closed his eyes, and savored a small mouthful. The flavor of Longjing tea immediately spread throughout his mouth, and he couldn't help but say that Li Sansheng had once again shocked him.

  "Ah, good tea. It's been a long time since I've had the chance to drink the San Sheng Pao tea from our house. I wonder if I'll have the fortune of drinking a cup of San Sheng Pao tea again." Just as Liu Yi Ran was about to speak, he heard a voice coming from the stairs, soft and comfortable, just like the Longjing tea in his cup.

  "Zhao Auntie!" Li Sansheng turned his head and called out respectfully as he saw the noblewoman coming down from the stairs.