Chapter 246: Becoming Famous (7) (1/2)

Even though Chu Lian wasn’t too fond of this half-sister of hers, it was the grand opening of her restaurant today, so she couldn’t really leave Miss Yuan hanging. She reached out and tugged at Miss Su’s sleeve with a smile as she said, “It’s about time now. Fifth Sister, Seventh Sister, Ninth Sister, the kitchen will send our meal over soon.”

Miss Su quickly shot a glance at the table behind them before looking at Chu Lian again. When she noticed that Chu Lian’s expression was calm, she inwardly heaved a sigh of relief before leading Chu Lian down to sit by the table.

As much as Miss Su and Miss Fu wanted to avoid creating any awkward situations, with Miss Yuan around, how could that be possible?

Miss Yuan sent another look at her handmaid. The handmaid then brought over a tray with the freshly brewed tea with an arrogant swagger to her walk. She kept her haughty expression even as she set a teacup in front of each of the ladies at the table.

Miss Yuan picked up the white porcelain teacup and lifted it to her nose. After a short sniff, she acted as if she was drunk on the smell of the tea. She then smiled and boastfully said, “Sixth Sister, I usually drink this Zhengshan tea at home, thanks to Grandfather and Grandmother’s love for me. After getting used to it, I just can’t drink any of this North Fujian loose-leaf tea of yours. I’m sure Sixth Sister has never had a chance to taste this Zhengshan tea before. Why don’t you try some?”

Chu Lian stared at Miss Yuan with her big, bright eyes- eyes that seemed like they could see through everyone’s hearts. Miss Yuan didn’t dare to meet that gaze and hurriedly looked away. Even though she should have been pleased with herself, there was a mysterious sense of guilt in her heart.

Miss Su and Miss Fu stiffened in surprise and turned to Chu Lian with peculiar expressions.

Chu Lian innocently blinked. “Thank you for the offer, Seventh Sister, but unfortunately, I don’t like sencha anymore.”

She had absolutely zero interest towards sencha. Forget Zhengshan; even if it was the highest grade of tea straight from the imperial tribute itself, Chu Lian still wouldn’t be interested. Seventh Miss Chu Yuan could slowly savour her precious Zhengshan tea by herself.

Chu Lian’s answer was completely out of Miss Yuan’s expectations. She stared at Chu Lian with wide eyes, her true emotions completely revealed on her face despite her best efforts to hide them.

How could that be? Back in the Ying Estate, Chu Lian had taken utmost pride in her sencha-brewing skill. Even Old Duke Ying had praised her for it once. At every special occasion or family banquet, she would always offer to brew some sencha to show off her skills and earn the favour of the older members in their family. However, despite her skill in tea ceremony, she still wasn’t able to get any high-quality tea in her hands. Miss Yuan always mocked her for that, even purposely wasting precious high-quality tea right in front of her eyes.

Today, she had gotten this Zhengshan tea specifically to provoke her. How could Chu Lian say that she didn’t like sencha anymore!

How could someone who had previously been so in love with sencha suddenly change her mind? Was that even possible?

All sorts of thoughts ran through Miss Yuan’s head for a while before she finally managed to calm down. She found the perfect excuse for herself and decided that Chu Lian was just hiding her real emotions. She was probably going mad with envy and jealousy inside, and only acting as if nothing was wrong on the surface.

Saying that she didn’t want to drink the tea was just to avoid feeling sad over it.