Chapter 19: Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea Refinement Successful
Chen Lin was truly surprised. He handled this meat the way he normally would, yet his first cut did not go through.
“Xiao Han, what is going on with this meat?” Chen Lin asked in surprise, only managing to cut open the skin after adding more force.
“It is for medicinal cuisine, so it definitely is not ordinary meat. It came through a discreet channel,” Chen Han explained ambiguously, not answering directly.
If one really tried to investigate, it could not be explained.
Chen Lin was not someone who had to get to the bottom of everything. He nodded and focused on processing the meat, becoming more and more surprised as he worked.
This meat was too tough, unlike anything he had seen before, and it was truly laborious to handle.
Chen Han, meanwhile, uploaded to Douyin the video he had just recorded of inciting dog demon infighting again.
As the views began to increase, more comments complaining about him appeared, just as expected.
Chen Han did not care about those complaints. With each game system prompt showing an increase of 1 point of reputation, that was the best news for him.
As long as someone paid attention, it was enough.
With his uncle handling the dog demon meat on his behalf, he took a moment to scroll through a few videos and suddenly saw a new sword dance video uploaded by his junior sister. His eyes lit up. Her hanfu from last night already looked great, and her sword dance had real presence.
In short: junior sister was really beautiful.
Chen Lin soon finished processing the dog demon meat. After all, he was a sturdy middle-aged man, not panting for breath, and did not need multiple breaks.
Once the congee was cooked, the two finished eating. Then Chen Lin said, “Xiao Han, I am going to check the crucible we built yesterday.”
He took this matter very much to heart and headed out in a hurry.
He wanted to fulfill his elder brother and sister-in-law’s dying wish and help his nephew make the Chen Clan Ancient Architectural Complex tourism flourish.
He could sense that the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea his nephew was studying was very important.
After eating, Chen Han took out two stew pots and began preparing the medicinal cuisine, placing the dog demon meat and the medicinal herbs from his uncle’s cabinet into them separately. Just as he finished adding the water, Uncle Dagou and Uncle Shuisheng hurried in.
“Xiao Han, can we work on the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea today?” Chen Dagou asked as soon as he came in.
“Yes, when can we start?” Chen Shuisheng quickly nodded.
Both of them were full of eager anticipation for this matter.
If it succeeded, not only would they have stable jobs and salaries, but it would also create several job positions for the clan.
Seeing how anxious they were, Chen Han instructed, “Uncle Dagou, Uncle Shuisheng, move those bamboo leaves and bamboo leaf cores to the crucible my uncle built.”
“Alright.” Chen Dagou replied excitedly and immediately started moving with Chen Shuisheng in the courtyard.
Chen Han then lit fires under the two stew pots and started stewing the medicinal cuisine. He only needed to come back and add water after two hours.
He set an alarm clock, then went out with Uncle Dagou and Uncle Shuisheng to the crucible.
The crucible his uncle built had three stove openings in total. Two held large woks, and one held a grinding trough.
The large woks were for fixation, while the grinding trough was for rolling.
Chen Lin was circling the crucible to inspect it. Seeing Chen Han, he said in surprise, “Xiao Han, this is unbelievable. We only built this crucible last night, but when I came to check just now, the cement was completely hardened, as if it had been air-dried for several days.”
Chen Han naturally knew the reason. It was all because of the game system. He had received the prompt last night that the crucible was ready for use.
But such things could not be said openly, so instead he said, “Uncle, since you built this crucible, does that not just prove that your construction skills are excellent?”
Hearing this, Chen Lin could not help but curl his lips in a smile. “Xiao Han, that goes without saying. I have been doing this since I was little. Who in the clan does not know my skills?”
After flattering his uncle into a grin, Chen Han said with a smile, “Uncle, light the fire. Today we will try stir-frying a batch of Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.”
“Alright.” Chen Lin’s smile did not fade as he immediately put the prepared firewood into the stove and lit it.
Chen Han then checked the heat.
The first step, fixation, was to use temperature to destroy and inactivate oxidase and similar substances in the bamboo leaves, suppressing enzymatic oxidation.
In terms of the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea refinement steps, it meant: “Thoroughly remove the residual yin thunder water from the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Leaves, leaving only the spiritual energy in the Thunder Bamboo leaves.”
Therefore, for this fixation step the heat had to be a strong flame steaming.
They added water to the iron wok, placed a steaming rack above, and spread the bamboo leaves on it.
Under his instructions, Uncle Dagou and Uncle Shuisheng also began to work.
Of course, he also took out the Spirit Shadow Mirror to record images and said, “After a night, this family head has preliminarily used a spirit tool to remove the yin thunder water from the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Leaves. Now we will use the specially constructed crucible to refine the remaining yin thunder water in the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Leaves.”
“This crucible was personally set up by the family work hall elders and clan experts. They carved many refinement runes onto it, which have a miraculous effect on refining yin thunder water.”
Uncle Dagou and Uncle Shuisheng were no longer surprised by this.
Chen Lin, while feeling ashamed inside, also felt an inexplicable eagerness. Anyway, he felt that his nephew’s filming was quite fun.
As the bamboo leaves and bamboo leaf cores underwent fixation, steam began to swirl all around the crucible.
This process needed to last half an hour. When the time was up, he had Uncle Dagou and Uncle Shuisheng take out the bamboo leaves and bamboo leaf cores. Next, they were placed into the grinding trough and rolled using special rolling rods.
This process took time and required effort.
Naturally, this work was left to Uncle Dagou and Uncle Shuisheng.
Chen Han continued using his mobile phone to film the making of Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea. Of course, the video steps needed to be clear.
Mr. Zhao walked over. “Patriarch Chen, is this the beginning of making that Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea?”
He had been attracted by the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea yesterday and came early to take a look, not expecting the process to have already started.
“Yes, Mr. Zhao.” Chen Han nodded with a smile.
After a little more than an hour, Uncle Dagou and Uncle Shuisheng took turns finishing the rolling of all the bamboo leaves and bamboo leaf cores.
At that moment, the alarm on Chen Han’s phone went off.
He immediately instructed his uncle, “Uncle, the medicinal cuisine over there needs more water. Please go and handle it, and remember to add boiling water.”
“Alright.” Chen Lin nodded and returned to his own courtyard.
This drew Zhao Kang’s gaze and stirred his expectations. Both the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea and the medicinal cuisine had aroused his curiosity.
Just then, Xiao Yu’s voice sounded. She was leading Lin Nan and a group of people around the ancient architectural complex, passing by here. Five middle-aged women in hanfu were with them.
Yesterday, five families in the clan had received quotas. Those staying behind were all middle-aged and elderly. Waitress-type jobs were not suitable for middle-aged men, so only their wives had come.
For the current stage of the Chen Clan Ancient Architectural Complex, having older waitresses did not have any impact.
Xiao Yu was both guiding Lin Nan’s group and helping those women.
The unified hanfu work uniforms had been Xiao Yu’s idea. The outfits had been ordered earlier and would gradually be standardized.
Some might say they should wear daoist robes, but that was not accurate. The Chen Clan belonged to the Zhengyi sect. In this sect, ordained daoists who had joined the registry could cultivate at home and wear regular clothes. Non-direct-inheritance families like theirs were basically no different from ordinary people in most situations. Aside from special days, no one wore daoist robes.
By Chen Han’s generation, the Chen Clan was no longer officially registered. As non-main-branch members, they were not qualified to wear daoist robes. The main reason was to avoid their words and actions affecting the image of the Daoist Sect. At most, on special holidays, they could wear Daoist Sect blue robes; going beyond that would be disrespectful to the Daoist Sect.
The group naturally noticed what Chen Han and the others were doing.
Seeing Zhao Kang, Lin Nan curiously went over to ask, “Uncle Zhao, what is Patriarch Chen doing?”
Zhao Kang explained, “Patriarch Chen is making a type of Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea that is part of the Chen Clan Inheritance.”
Lin Nan did not know what Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea was, but he had eaten the Chen Clan Inheritance Medicinal Cuisine and knew how miraculous it was.
Now that this Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea was also part of the Chen Clan Inheritance, it definitely could not be simple.
For the moment, the group stayed around the crucible to watch, not in a hurry to tour the Chen Clan Ancient Architectural Complex.
At this time, Chen Han had already begun to light the fires under the two large woks again. Next came the final step in making Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea: stir-frying dry and releasing.
In the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea game steps, this was described as: “The thunder pattern defense on the surface of the Thunder Bamboo leaves and Thunder Bamboo leaf cores has been broken. The spiritual energy now has outlets for release. Using the crucible to refine them allows the spiritual energy to be released and adhere to the surface, so that when used, the spiritual energy can be infused out.”
In terms of real-world science, it was: “After the previous processes, the moisture in the bamboo leaves and bamboo cores is evaporated. Rolling breaks the cell walls. Then, through stir-frying until dry, beneficial substances from the cell walls flow out and solidify on the surface. When steeped in water, they dissolve, producing special effects.”
This step could not be done carelessly. The heat had to be between high and medium, at a level where the heated wok would produce a faint white mist when water was sprinkled in, but not instantly evaporate it.
A bit too much heat would burn the bamboo leaves; a bit too little would fail to achieve rapid condensation.
During this process, a special, fresh fragrance from the bamboo leaves would slowly spread, resembling the tea fragrance of tea leaves.
Moreover, Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea had the attribute of lingering fragrance, something ordinary tea fragrance could not compare to.
After several attempts, Chen Han finally adjusted the heat properly, then instructed Uncle Dagou to do the stir-frying. He was strong, and this job required significant physical strength.
Chen Han once again took out his mobile phone to film. “Now the Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea has reached the final refinement step. The thunder pattern defense on the surface of the Thunder Bamboo leaves and Thunder Bamboo leaf cores has been broken, and the spiritual energy has outlets for release. Using the crucible to continue refining allows the spiritual energy to be released and adhere to the surface.”
“This process requires mastering the true fire temperature for refinement and demands great power, so clan expert Chen Dagou is personally handling the refinement.”
These words instantly drew the concentrated gazes of Zhao Kang, Lin Nan, and the others.
In the era of short videos, filming the making of various things as short videos was normal, especially for heritage culture, which could be promoted this way to let more people know.
But Patriarch Chen’s words sounded off. They did not sound like cultural heritage promotion at all, but more like lines from a cultivation novel.
This…
Even Xiao Yu felt embarrassed on her senior brother’s behalf as she listened.
She had actually watched his dog demon videos and felt too embarrassed to comment on her senior brother.
Just then, she received a phone call. After answering, she said inside, “Alright, Mr. Sun, there is a parking lot in front of the Chen Clan. I will come out to meet you.”
Some people who had booked tickets online had arrived. She hung up and went out to welcome them.
At Shangyuan Village, two taxis could be seen slowly driving into the village. After hanging up, Sun Xin said to his girlfriend, Liu Yuanyuan, “Baby, the Chen Clan Ancient Architectural Complex is in this village.”
They had been attracted by the video of the ancient buildings that “Xiao Yu Za” had posted. Since his girlfriend was a photographer who loved shooting ancient buildings, he had quickly invited a few friends and booked tickets for the Chen Clan Ancient Architectural Complex together.
Liu Yuanyuan nodded. “I hope so. Nowadays all the ancient building promotions use filters and special effects. It is pure deception.”
As they spoke, the car entered Shangyuan Village. When it stopped in front of a stretch of ancient buildings, her gaze was completely captured.
The ancient architectural complex before her, with its simple and unadorned style and ornamental value, was exactly as in the video.
She hurried out of the car and began filming the ancient buildings with her mobile phone. Through the lens, that antique charm and visual appeal were undiminished, simply natural ancient architectural art.
Their companions who got out were also full of disbelief.
“These ancient buildings are really beautiful.”
“Indeed. The Chen Clan is a Daoist family, right? But this ancient charm seems stronger than places like Wudang.”
“Exactly. Even the ancient buildings in Wudang do not have this captivating antique charm.”
“…”
Xiao Yu had been waiting and quickly stepped forward to greet them when she saw Sun Xin and the others. “Everyone, welcome to the Chen Clan Ancient Architectural Complex. Please come with me to complete the procedures so we can arrange your stay first.”
Sun Xin and his group naturally recognized Xiao Yu the internet celebrity, as they had come because of the promotion on her “Xiao Yu Za” account. So they followed her inside.
Soon, Sun Xin and the others smelled a very rich, fresh fragrance. It was extremely charming, making one feel intoxicated.
“What is that smell?” Liu Yuanyuan asked curiously.
The others were curious as well.
“This smells so good.”
“Yeah, it is a light plant scent, very pleasant.”
“…”
Xiao Yu explained with a smile, “Everyone, this is our Chen Clan stir-frying the inherited Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.”
“???” Sun Xin and the others were obviously stunned.
Everyone understood tea. After all, they had all drunk tea.
But Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea? They were not sure it was even tea, and this pleasant fragrance clearly was not normal tea fragrance.
The key issue was the name Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.
What kind of tea name sounded that unserious?
Carrying their doubts, they walked only a short distance before seeing many people gathered around an open space. The fragrance seemed to be drifting from there.
This piqued their curiosity, and they headed over to have a look.
When they got closer, they saw a handsome young man holding his mobile phone and filming the large wok on the stove while saying, “This family head, together with clan experts, went through countless hardships to pick Thunder Bamboo leaves and Thunder Bamboo leaf cores from the Thunder Bamboo Forest and has finally succeeded in refining Thunder Bamboo Spirit Tea.”
“When the Spirit Tea is successfully refined, spiritual energy overflows, and the fragrance spreads in all directions, leaving everyone in shock.”
Sun Xin, Liu Yuanyuan, and the others were completely confused.
Were they filming some brainless and embarrassing short drama?
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