This old man talked a lot of nonsense, claiming to be Mrs. Sai's bosom friend, praising Mrs. Sai and not being inferior to himself. The meaning of his words was impenetrable, and he smiled after he finished speaking. His cunning mind was not comparable to the previous scholar.
Mrs. Sai was also full of smiles when she heard it: "Sir, you are flattering me. I am also a common woman who knows a little about tea etiquette, but I don't study it in depth. I am not as knowledgeable as you are."
"Hahaha, I also know a little bit, a little bit!" Mr. Jia was very happy and turned to Xia Shang and said: "Young man, I wonder what your opinion is? Don't just know how to take shortcuts, but have no real talent and knowledge?"
"That's right, please give me some comments, Mr. Xia." Sai E smiled and made a gesture of invitation.
Xia Shang did not rush to speak, but calmly held the celadon teapot in his hand and looked at it carefully.
"Madam asked you to taste the tea, why are you looking at the pot?" The previous scholar took the opportunity to interject.
Xia Shang glanced at him indifferently, as if he was looking at a fool, and then gently put down the teapot: "Madam said before that she had a rough understanding of tea etiquette, but Xia is a little skeptical."
"Oh?" Sai E was a little curious, "Sir, please try to speak."
"Then Xia will speak frankly. According to my observation, Madam only loves tea, but does not understand tea, and does not even know the most basic method of brewing tea."
After this was said, the two people on the left and right laughed secretly, thinking that this young man was so childish, and did not think about where he was. Regardless of whether it was right or wrong, embarrassing Madam Sai in public would not end well.
Looking back, Madam Sai's face was indeed a little gloomy.
Just now, she said that she had a rough understanding of tea etiquette, which was just a humble word. She loved tea for many years, tasted all kinds of famous teas in the world, and also studied the tea ceremony. Today, she was said by a kid who was still wet behind the ears that she could not even make the most basic tea. How could she not be angry?
However, with Sai'e's identity in front of her, she couldn't lose her composure in public, so she could only watch and see what else he had to say.
"Madam Sai, the tea you brewed today doesn't match the pot you used. How can you brew this flower tea in a porcelain pot? Porcelain pots have a sandy smell, and the brewed tea tastes strong and thick, but the flower tea tastes light and fragrant. Brewing it in a porcelain pot will make the flower tea taste turbid."
Upon hearing this, Madam Sai was shocked, and restrained her displeasure and asked: "Different teas also need different pots?"
"Of course! Everyone knows that different wines need different wine glasses, but they don't know that the same is true for tea. One tea, one cup, one pot, and one stove are naturally a perfect match. If one of them goes wrong, it won't taste right. The heavy process is not deliberately mysterious, but a paranoia that tea lovers follow in pursuit of the ultimate taste.
It was once said that it is better to eat without meat than to live without bamboo. No meat makes people thin, and no bamboo makes people vulgar. I see that there are clusters of green bamboo in this courtyard. I think Madam is also a person who is out of the ordinary. Since you love tea, you should pursue the ultimate tea."
"Tea The ultimate?" Sai'e thought, "I've never thought about it. Then what kind of pot should be paired with flower tea? What kind of tea should be paired with porcelain pot?"
"Porcelain pots should be paired with strong black tea, copper pots with green tea, silver pots with black tea, and as for flower tea... glass pots are the best match. As for the porcelain pot in front of me, it is not a good tea set. It has an exaggerated appearance and fancy patterns, lacking a sense of calmness and low-key.
A good tea set pays attention to the uniformity of the body, not vulgar or elegant, and does not use too many techniques and necessary decorations. It needs to be properly embellished and interprets the beauty of tea sets in the purest way. Only simplicity will not disturb tea, water, or people, and this can be called a good tea set. "
"What you said, sir, I have never heard of it. Today is really an eye-opener. Do you have any more high-level opinions?" Sai'e is a curious person. She was very surprised to hear what Xia Shang said. She was happy in her heart and her voice was a little excited.
"The tea has been brewed for a long time, and the water temperature is not high enough, so the taste is much worse. Madam is a tea lover, and you should know that tea is about the subtle changes in temperature and time. The tea is fragrant when the water is hot, and if the temperature is lost by half, the tea fragrance will be lost tenfold, not to mention the comfort when drinking tea. Restoring the temperature of tea is a basic respect for tea, and it cannot be sloppy."
"Restoring the temperature of tea is a basic respect for tea... Oh, wonderful, wonderful, sir, you really woke me up with one word. From now on, I dare not claim to be a tea expert. In the future, sir, please give me more guidance in the mansion..."
Before he finished speaking, Mr. Jia coughed twice: "Ahem... Madam Sai, didn't you say there were several questions before? It's unfair to let this person be selected based on only one question, right?"
Sai E realized her gaffe, calmed down, and got back to the topic.
"Okay, everyone has answered the first question of tea tasting. Let's move on to the next question of poetry."
There is nothing special about poetry, and it may be encountered in any occasion. This kind of exam is just like modern students writing essays. Everyone can do it, but it is difficult to write well. It is a direct reflection of basic skills and the easiest way to see the knowledge of literati.
The three people present were full of confidence and had no doubts.
But Sai E looked at the three people and smiled mysteriously: "Everyone, today's poetry test questions are a bit special, I'm afraid they are a bit difficult."
Mr. Jia didn't take it seriously, thinking that a woman's family could come up with any difficult poetry questions? It was nothing more than plum, orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum and other propositions: "Madam, don't worry, just ask questions, I will be able to handle them easily."
"Okay, everyone, please look."
Sai E took out a small wooden board with a few idioms written on it -
The icing on the cake.
The wind blows and the sun shines.
The beauty of the country.
Spring goes and autumn comes.
The grass grows and the warblers fly.
The three people looked at it and didn't understand.
What's going on?
Even Xia Shang was confused.
Sai'e explained: "Please choose one word from each of these five words to form a poem, and then complete a whole poem based on this poem."
The rules are simple, each chooses a word to form a five-character poem.
For example, all take the first word - Jinfengguochuncao. One of the four sentences of the poem must be composed of "Jinfengguochuncao".
After a little explanation, everyone understood. But this way of playing is unheard of and unseen, and its difficulty is much more difficult than the general proposition poem.
"Everyone, there is no time limit, let's see who can finish first among the three?"
After speaking, Sai'e looked at Mr. Jia who was full of confidence.
Mr. Jia looked helpless: "Madam Sai, isn't your question difficult for me? Who can solve such a tricky question? In my opinion, there is no solution in the world, right?"
The scholar immediately joined in: "Mr. Jia is right. There has never been a question like this in the world, how can anyone solve it? You are not selecting a teacher, you are clearly making things difficult for me."
Sai E explained helplessly: "This question was not written by me, but by my daughter. It is said that anyone who can solve the question can be her teacher, right? Then I won't be taught."
"Madam, how can you take a kid's joke seriously? This question is really unsolvable."
"Really?"
The scholar nodded: "Really."
As he spoke, someone behind him spoke: "Madam, the icing on the cake is made of flowers, the wind is made of wind, the beauty of the country is made of fragrance, the spring is made of spring, the grass is long and the orioles are flying. The whole poem is -
The late sun makes the mountains and rivers beautiful, the spring breeze makes the flowers and plants fragrant.
The swallows fly in the mud, and the mandarin ducks sleep in the warm sand."