The Precious Teahouse

by Suilan Lee

  San forked a piece of marbled egg and put into his mouth. Salty at just the right level, delicious, he smiled at Chen. “Did she teach you to cook?”

  “She taught me to run a kitchen.” Chen shrugged. “I’m a trained chef, but I learned how to run a specialized kitchen like this living with Ziyu’s mom. At the end of the day, she’d tell me, ‘better to be deprived of food for three days than tea for one’. Do you know what that means?”

  San frowned staring at his tea. “Take tea every day?”

  Chen laughed. “You’re too logical. It means habits are hard to break. Our Teahouse is full of very many habits. Jade’s family doesn’t pay attention to her. Ziyu lets her serve and run the dining hall because it makes her happy to do so. She meets friends and new people, and feels like she matters here.”

  San smiled as he realized his judgment had been right. Sentiment did run the teahouse.

  Chen winked. “Lee is a young man in search of himself. Ziyu took him off the streets where he was a pickpocket and gave him the important job of working here. His job while it might seem mundane to you, is a way to keep him responsible enough.”

  “What about you Chen?”

  She shrugged, “I’m sure Ziyu has told you my story. This is my home, and I love it so I give it my all. As for Ziyu, he hates waking up in the morning. Always has from childhood, as I understand. He sleeps late in the night doing the teahouse books, the past few months he worried for the future. Lately, he’s worrying how to proceed and what you really want. He carries everything with his heart, San.”

  San stared at his eggs. “How can I make him let me in?”

  Chen shrugged. “Find your place in the Precious Teahouse, San Meor. Understand us before you try to help.”

  She pushed back her chair and stood. “Want to come to the market with us?”

  San nodded, first time she’d offered. All other Sundays they’d left him to fend for himself. “I’d love to come along. Are you sure Jade won’t ask me to walk across the street?”

  Chen chuckled. “You’ll be just fine.”

  *****

  Drink your tea slowly and reverently,

  As if, it is the axis

  On which the world earth revolves – slowly,

  Evenly, without rushing toward the future -

  Thich Nhat Hanh

  Vietnamese Zen Buddhist Master

  Seven

  “Observe.” Ziyu said handing a package of fresh oolong tea leaves to San.  “What do you see?”

  “The leaves are dry enough,” San said.

  They sat at a table in a secluded area at the back of the teahouse dining room.  The afternoon sun streamed on to their secluded table through the open windows.  He’d spent the whole morning helping Ziyu sort through his stash of teas in the highly specialized storeroom.  The Precious Teahouse had a stunning inventory of teas leaves; Ziyu collected them as a museum would artifacts.

  Picking a pair of wooden tongs from the tray between them, he reached into the package and scooped out some leaves.  He put them on his palm and shook them.  He smiled when they rustled.

  “Smell,” Ziyu said encouraging him to bring his palm up to his nose.

  He met Ziyu’s gaze and took a good whiff of the tealeaves in his palm.  The leaves had a fresh fragrance, pure, without a charred taste or acidic smell.  He lifted a brow at Ziyu and Ziyu frowned with concern.

  “What do you think?” Ziyu asked, that intriguing frown dancing across his forehead.

  “Natural aroma, very clean, no trace of staleness,” San said his tone low.  Ziyu relaxed and he chuckled.  “Why are you so worried?”

  “I’m not worried.”  Ziyu picked up the teapot and opened the lid.  “I’m trying to impress you with our stock, San.  You’re making it very hard.”

  San hid a smile and put the leaves in his palm into the teapot.  Taking the tongs, he added more leaves from the package into Ziyu’s teapot.  He liked this business about impressing.

  Ziyu added water to the leaves and closed the lid on the teapot.  “Why are you staring at me like that?”

  “I’ve spent a whole month and a half trying to figure you out.”  San confessed watching Ziyu rinse the tea leaves expertly.  Taking Chen’s advice, he’d started studying the art of serving tea and learned the steps of gong fu cha.  He loved watching Ziyu serve tea because it always so elegant.  Ziyu emptied both their cups of the warming hot water and splashed them with the rinsing tea.

  Ziyu smiled and San studied the curve of his lips.  “What have you come up with after a month and a half?”

  San dragged his eyes away from Ziyu’s smile and met amused dark eyes.  He was glad to see the sadness in their depths was gone now.  Their friendship had grown, forged and nurtured by living together, trips to the market, sitting with suppliers and tea tasting in different factories around the city.  The best part about that small list being the living with Ziyu part, he was even starting to love Cha the cat.

  San sat back in his seat.  “I don’t have a clear picture yet.  I learn a new thing about you every day.”

  “A new thing,” Ziyu said adding more water into the teapot.  “What did you learn today?”

  “The museum curators should hire you.”  San told him with a grin.  “I don’t think you ever have to worry about not having tea leaves in this Teahouse.”

  Ziyu laughed and poured him tea into his cup.  “Drink your oolong tea, San.”

  “It’s the truth,” San said.  The tea in his cup was golden; he brought the cup to his lips enjoying the fresh mellow fragrance.  Taking a sip, he closed his eyes as the flavor swirled around his mouth.  He swallowed and immediately wanted more.  The tea had a long lasting flavor.  He opened his eyes and met Ziyu’s gaze.  Like the tea, San thought, spending time with Ziyu was something he wanted to make long lasting.

  Ziyu was his adventure.

  Ziyu cleared his throat and broke their gaze.  “Do you want me to tell you a tale?”

  There was another thing he’d learned.  Ziyu always had a story for his guests.  It was Ziyu’s way of connecting with his customers.  San shook his head and placed his cup on the table.

  “How about I tell you a tale today?”  San insisted and took pleasure in watching Ziyu’s wide-eyed surprise.  “Do you think I can tell one as good as you can?”

  Ziyu poured him more tea and shook his head.  “I don’t know.  Maybe that will be the new thing I learn about you today.”

  “Are you learning new things about me too?” San asked hopeful.

  “Maybe,” Ziyu smiled and picked up his teacup.

  “Fine,” San said with a small smile.  “My father told me this story when I was young and hated going to the farm to pick tea.  Legend is a boy named Wu Long was born into a family of tea farmers.  Growing up, he was very lazy and preferred to run off and have fun instead of pick tea.  His family would come home with baskets full of tea, but his basket would always be empty when he came home.  So his father got very angry one day and told the boy that if he didn’t come with a full basket of tea leaves, he would be punished.”

  “The next day, Wu Long woke very early and headed to the fields.  He collected tealeaves and filled his basket quickly.  However, when he was on his way home, he saw a rabbit and ran after it completely forgetting about the basket of tealeaves on his back.  Tealeaves are light, so when he ran, he lost about half of his tealeaves.  Sadly, the rabbit managed to escape him and Wu Long ended up returning home late with a half-empty basket.  His father was too angry to punish him so he told him to go to bed they’d talk the next day.”

  “How unlucky for Wu Long,” Ziyu said.

  “Not so unlucky,” San assured him.  “You see, the tea processors took his basket of tea leaves for processing.  They came back the next day early in the morning just as the father was getting ready to punish his son.  They wanted to know where the boy had picked the leaves because the tea they’d made from h
is tealeaves was amazing.  He said they were from the same trees that they normally picked from every day.  It turned out that while running, the leaves bruised on the edges, which gave the tea a fantastic taste and aroma.  The villagers figured out how to reproduce the bruising and they still process the tea in the same way today.  That is why this tea is called Wulong, or Oolong Tea.”

  Ziyu shook his head in amusement.  “So Wu Long discovered Oolong tea by mistake.”

  San grinned and Ziyu laughed.  “I bet you used to be that boy running off to have fun instead of helping your parents pick tea from the farm.”

  San put on an innocent expression and sipped his tea.  “I was a very obedient boy, Master Ziyu.”

  “I don’t think your father would have told you that story if you weren’t as naughty as Wu Long.  Where did you run off to?”

  San shrugged.  “I had a childhood friend in the neighboring farm.  We rode horses into the surrounding forests and spent our afternoons at the river swimming.”

  “Sounds like a lot of fun,” Ziyu mused.

  “Not so fun when I got home and found father waiting in the living room with a very scary expression.”

  “I can just imagine,” Ziyu said with a smile.  “I’d love to meet your father.  He sounds like an interesting man.”

  San nodded.  “He wants to meet you too.  One of the coming Sundays, you must promise to come with me to visit him.”

  “That would be a lovely trip.  I’d love to see where you grew up, and your tea farm.”

  San reached for the package of oolong tea.  Closing the package to preserve the leaves, he smiled.  “I have a question.”

  Ziyu drained the tealeaves in the teapot and poured them a last cup of tea.  “Shoot.”

  “Why don’t you offer some of those teas in your store to the customers?  Most tea drinkers love the taste but fear buying tea leaves out there because of getting fake tealeaves or bad quality.  If the Precious Teahouse offered tealeaves, customers would definitely love it. Buying tealeaves from an authentic teahouse means guarantees their quality.  You’d make a great profit.”

  Ziyu studied him for a moment.  “I’ve always felt a tea house branching off into retail would make it seem strange.  We focus on tea brewing and service to customers.”

  “I don’t think it’s strange, Ziyu.  You have treasure locked away in your storage room.  Even if you told yourself that all those high-end teas would end up on your menu, you’d still have money tied up in a storeroom.  Share your tea culture with your customers.”

  Ziyu narrowed his gaze.  “And where would you suggest we put the tea shop?  I’m not changing the dining room.”

  The habits that Chen had been talking about rearing their heads, San thought.

  “Finding space for the tea shop is not the problem here.  You not wanting change is, and I’d like to point out that’s the reason why Chacha Coffee house is taking over your customer base.  You have to evolve, Ziyu.”

  “I thought the best thing about us was our tradition and history.”

  “Tradition and history can be wrapped in new packages and still remain old and loved.  It’s not as if you have to go out and start looking for the product.  You’re changing how you sell the old product and reaching a wider net of customers.  Different options, like training the ordinary person out there how to appreciate tea at home.  Don’t you see the opportunity here?”

  Ziyu sighed.  “I’m not being difficult; it’s just hard to change how we do things.  I’m torn between keeping things as they used to be and-

  “Change comes whether we like it or not.  Ziyu, I see you and your love for what you do every day and I’m awed.  You’re passionate about this place, and I find that inspiring.  I can’t help thinking there are other people out there who share your love.  Wouldn’t it be awesome to meet some of them?”

  Ziyu smiled.  “Your father must have had a hell of a time when you decided to take over the tea business.”

  “I don’t back down.  Cave in already, Jade is going to fall over that screen if she stands there any longer.”

  Ziyu turned in time to see Jade gasp and rush off, the whisper of her blue skirts hard to miss.  Nothing remained secret in the teahouse.  No matter how hard one tried to whisper, there was always someone listening in the wall, at the door, by the window.

  “We’d have to come up with packaging,” Ziyu said turning to look at him.  “As for space, I hate to change the dining room.”

  San reached out and took Ziyu’s hand.  “You won’t have to change the dining room. We can work with the counter where Jade gives orders to Chen.”

  Ziyu frowned, his gaze falling to their clasped hands.  San refused to move his hand, his thumb gently caressing Ziyu’s palm.  He watched and waited…hoping…Ziyu turned his hand over and tangled their fingers tightly.  San felt his heart turn over at the small victory.

  “I’ll have to run this by the rest,” Ziyu said quietly.  “Include them in the changes.”

  “Of course,” San said.

  Ziyu stared at him for a moment, their fingers still tangled.  He smiled slightly and stood up.  “I need to get ready.  I have an important dinner party to host later.”

  San let go of Ziyu’s hand and sat back.  “Go ahead, I’ll clear the tray and return the tea leaves to the store.”

  ****

  Changes, Ziyu thought as he served gong fu cha to the group of tourists who’d requested the tea ceremony a week ago. He smiled as his guests passed the package of green tea he’d found especially for them to each other. It was always best to start new tea drinkers with a mild sweet taste. They asked questions, he answered them patiently.

  His thoughts firmly on San and his ideas, so many ideas, taking over his thoughts, he bit his lip. He’d thought about a teashop before, but his parents had worked to keep the teahouse free of retail. Wouldn’t he be breaking their hearts?

  He served the tea and invited his ten guests to drink.

  Wasn’t San taking on too much? He chewed on his lower lip and frowned.

  “Well, he has been right about everything else,” he murmured to himself.

  The tourists were San’s idea. He was surprised the idea had taken life so quickly. Offering tourists in Hanou the chance to taste gong fu cha, tea in the old way, his calendar was booked up for three months. Chen, Jade and Lee were starting to associate San with Midas.

  The day before he’d found San talking to Chen about making her recipes part of the menu. He’d asked her to think about running a fully staffed kitchen. Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner like a restaurant. The only difference would be that they’d concentrate on tea dishes like the tea-smoked duck she loved to make.

  Chen had promised to think about it, but in truth, she was deferring the decision to him. He knew she’d love a chance to show off her culinary skills, but that would mean adding staff.

  More changes, he thought sullenly.

  Ever since San had shown up at the Teahouse, they seemed to be spinning on a nonstop roller coaster. Hurtling through time toward a future, he couldn’t see. Thanking his guests for visiting him, he watched them shuffle out of the upstairs tearoom and sat back in his seat staring into the wet green tea leaves he’d used.

  He remembered how gently San had held his hand today. San with his elegant demeanor, graceful manners and warm personality was winning over his entire staff. He was slowly moving through the Teahouse like a warm breeze in spring coaxing flowers from the ground. Sinking into his heart, Ziyu thought with a pang. The fear San kept accusing him of had nothing to do with hating change.

  No, change was inevitable; he knew that better than anyone did. However, it would be hard to watch San come into their lives and become part of the house. Then watch him walk away when his time was done. Ziyu closed his eyes.

  That was his fear, losing San, as his sister had chosen to leave and go to the capital. As he’d lost his parents to a wild road accident, he
bit his lower lip. He might be over reacting to the situation, but this afternoon, San’s touch had felt right. He knew he couldn’t resist it much longer, but-

  “Ziyu,” Jade cut into his thoughts and he glanced up to find her standing at the doorway. “Time to close, Lee and I are leaving.”

  He nodded. “Thanks Jade.”

  “Are you alright?”

  He stood and stretched his arms above his head. “I’m good, Jade. Have a good night.”

  “Good, maybe we can talk about that shop you and San are planning tomorrow.” Jade’s eyes were wide with excitement when he glanced at her. “It sounds like a lot of fun. I made a few drawings for the packaging.”

  Ziyu smiled. “I can’t wait to see them. Go on home now, Jade.”

  “Alright,” she said returning his smile. “Good night, Ziyu.”

  She hurried away and he cleared the dishes he’d used with the tourists. He made sure the tearoom was neat and stepped into the hallway just as the lights downstairs turned off. Chen appeared at the bottom of the stairs to wave goodnight. She hurried out and he waited listening as she locked the front door with her key.

  Satisfied the ground floor was secure, he headed upstairs to the apartment. Cha greeted him at the door although she didn’t meow. Obviously, San had already given her food, he thought with a smile. He picked her up and sunk his fingers into her fur. She purred in bliss.

  “You look tired,” San said as he closed the door.

  His gaze fell on San who was reclined on the couch watching business news on the television. He looked comfortable in sweats and a t-shirt. One of the couch pillows tucked under his head. Ziyu stared at the space left beside San and wondered what the other man would say if he were to curl up.

  He cleared his throat. “You’re still up.”

  “I wanted to see you before you went to bed.” San sat up and beckoned him to sit beside him. “Come on, you look dead on your feet.”

  Ziyu sighed and carried Cha with him to the couch. “I don’t think I gave those tourists the best service at all. I smiled and answered questions, but-