Chapter 233: Chapter 179: Jiang Cai’Er’s Reading of Ten Thousand Books

The next day, some of Jiang Cai’Er’s classmates came to see the giant pandas. There were about forty to fifty of them, both boys and girls, and many had even acted with her in the short drama, *The Saintess’s Heart is Stirred, Ten Thousand Venoms Devour Her Body*.

The students arrived at different times, but they all gathered at Jiang Cai’Er’s house.

It had to be said, being number one in the school for both grades and looks came with a lot of popularity. Of course, many of her classmates were secretly green with envy.

But eventually, they were so thoroughly outclassed that they had no fight left in them. They all had to admit defeat.

Jiang Cai’Er wasn’t on the grind anymore. In the mornings, she no longer made a frantic dash to the classroom. Instead, she would first exercise on the sports field, then leisurely stroll in last, under the watchful eyes of the entire class.

When the teacher asked about it, her answer was perfect: "Your health is your most important asset."

She was also the first to leave evening study hall, no longer burning the midnight oil.

While everyone else was still cooped up in the classroom, she would head to the bathhouse to wash her hair, shower, and do her laundry. It was completely empty, so she could take her time and do as she pleased. By the time she was finished, a horde of students would rush in, fighting over faucets, washing machines, and toilets. The whole scene was a warzone.

And yet, she still placed first in every exam. First by a long shot, at that! She was even the first one to hand in her test!

Once everyone had arrived, Jiang Cai’Er led them to the milk tea shop in the garden scenic area.

The students were thrilled to find out there was free milk tea and eagerly placed their orders.

Li Xiang had already given instructions, so the young women working there got busy. Before long, a long line had formed.

Some passing tourists grew curious and joined the line too. ’What kind of milk tea is this? Is it really that good? Why are so many people lining up?’

"This milk tea is actually really good! The fresh fragrance of the tea and the rich aroma of the milk blend together perfectly. This is the best milk tea I’ve ever had." A female student’s eyes lit up after taking a sip of the green milk tea she had ordered, and she praised it immediately.

A young female employee explained, "Of course it’s delicious! We only use real, high-quality ingredients. We use this year’s freshly picked high-mountain new tea, brewed on the spot, and the milk is delivered fresh every morning from a local pasture."

In truth, although it was new tea from the current year, it was all picked after the Grain Rain period. It couldn’t compare to pre-Qingming tea, and it was even a notch below pre-rain tea. Even so, these were tender tips from high-mountain tea gardens, and their quality blew other milk tea shops out of the water.

What kind of tea did other milk tea shops use? Mostly just low-grade tea dust. And that was for the better ones—at least it was still actual tea.

Many others just bought tea extract directly. The raw material for that extract was usually what’s harvested by machines after the regular tea-picking season is over—sweeping cuts that gathered up old leaves, stems and all.

Worse still were the ones using tea-flavored essences, purely chemical concoctions—a true product of chemical wizardry and cheap tricks.

In contrast, the post-rain tender-tip tea Li Xiang used was actually good enough to be a daily drinker on its own. It would sell for one or two hundred yuan per half-kilo on the market.

As for the fresh milk, there were plenty of local pastures, and its cost was negligible compared to the tea.

Any leftover fresh milk was given to the employees and pets, or made into yogurt, cheese, and other products with a longer shelf life. The homemade yogurt and yogurt fruit bowls also sold quite well.

The cost advantage of his milk tea shop was likely the rent.

It was built on village land, a house he owned, so there was no rent to pay at all. In big cities, where every inch of land is worth a fortune, the rent would be sky-high.

All things considered, the costs for Li Xiang’s milk tea shop were much lower than those in big cities. This allowed him to invest more in the quality of his milk tea, giving tourists an unprecedented, high-quality experience.

As for even better teas, like the pre-Qingming and pre-rain varieties that sold for one or two thousand yuan per half-kilo, those were available in the National Tea House and sold online.

If you made tourists drink the products of chemical wizardry and cheap tricks in a mountain area with such beautiful scenery and fresh air, why would they bother coming all this way? Weren’t they here to seek out green mountains, clear waters, and natural, healthy products?

With a milk tea in hand, each student’s face beamed with a bright, youthful smile. Led by Jiang Cai’Er, they continued their tour, visiting the National Tea House, the National Style Tavern, the coffee shop, and other places.

They happened to arrive just as Zhao Xueqing was performing a tea ceremony and Yao Yao was performing a traditional dance. The two beauties, dressed in historical attire, left the students stunned.

Zhao Xueqing and Yao Yao were both undeniably gorgeous, the kind of girls who were considered class beauties or school beauties back in high school. But being pretty didn’t mean you were a great student, nor did it guarantee you’d perform well on exams.

During a chat once, Zhao Xueqing mentioned that her grades had been quite good in elementary and middle school. But in high school, she just couldn’t keep up for some reason. Maybe her mind had started to wander. She then did poorly on her college entrance exams and failed to get into any university.

After that, her family was poor, and she didn’t have the motivation to study for a retake year, so when a relative found her a job, she went to work in the provincial capital.

"Whoa, that girl is so pretty, and her dancing is beautiful!"

"That other lady’s tea ceremony is amazing too! Is she the one from last year’s village gala?"

Many students took out their phones to take pictures and videos to post on their social media, inadvertently giving the place a bit of free publicity.

Everyone was amazed at the changes in Li Family Village. To be honest, when they had visited last fall, only the backyard of Li Xiang’s house was even remotely decent; the rest of the place was in poor shape. They never imagined that in less than a year, it would undergo such a complete transformation.

’They’re this rich and developed now?’

It looked just like one of the Jiangnan gardens you see on TV. And on top of that, famous celebrities were coming here to film, and they were supposedly even staying at Li Xiang’s house.