Yum Cha

This is a work I wrote for the HEAR Scenario Department that I belong to.
Every month, we decide on a theme and write works for each other.
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*This work is fiction.

◆

“This looks like a crow!”
my daughter said, pinching it with her fingers.
“I suppose so...” I said, shaking the basket with a smile.

◆

I looked at the distant mountains.
I believe it was around those mountains where Shao had collapsed.
It is easy to get lost on mountain paths.
Seeing the clothes and belongings he had when I found him, I thought he must have fled from the north.
Since two others had collapsed nearby, I called for help and we carried them to the village together, but only Shao survived.
Also, a young man who had slipped off a cliff and died was found nearby.
Shao wept, saying the deceased were
his parents and younger brother.
In the Central Plains, wars continue, and many people flee to this region from the north.
However, after long journeys, it is not uncommon for people to collapse from hunger and exhaustion.

◆

Shao ended up helping with the neighbors' fields, but he wasn't very good at farm work—or rather, manual labor—and didn't seem suited for it.
You need strength in your legs and lower back to tie up chickens, but he didn't seem to have that either.
To put it bluntly, I wondered how he had even survived with that physique.
When I asked what he had done in the north, he said his family ran a business.
“The only work here is basically farm work,”
I told him, and Shao looked down, clearly losing his spirit.
I thought he was a troublesome guy, but I couldn't say I didn't understand his feelings.
The language of the north is different from the language here.
Unless I interpreted for him, he couldn't talk to anyone.
He realized he had no work or role to play.
It was no wonder he lost his motivation.

◆

One day, Shao, who had been spending his days in gloom, raised his voice.
It was the first time I served him tea.
“You’ve had tea before, haven't you? Why are you making such a loud noise?”
I asked, and he replied,
“This is completely different from any tea I’ve ever had!”
“...Isn't it just a different variety? To say it's completely different is an exaggeration...”
I said, and he replied,
“If that were all, I don't think it would have such a dark color,”
and so on, and then he leaned in and asked,
“I want to know what kind of tree it comes from and how it's made.”
I replied,
“I can teach you, but you'll regret it, won't you?”

◆

Shao must have understood what I meant by regret.
The tea plantation was in the high mountains, up a steep and long slope.
Shao, looking pale, followed me and watched as I looked at the tea leaves and harvested them.
He offered to help carry the harvested tea, but I refused because it would be a hassle if he collapsed, so I carried the basket of tea leaves myself.
“By carrying them in the basket for a long time like this, the tea leaves get tiny scratches. Even after we get back, if you shake the leaves enough in the basket and then let them rest, the leaves will turn black.”
Shao listened intently and understood how to make the tea.

◆

“We should make more of that tea,” Shao suggested, but I raised my voice at him.
“You! Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to clear a field in the mountains? You have no idea how hard it is...”
Shao continued, frowning.
“I know it sounds presumptuous coming from a guy who's useless at manual labor, but the aroma and taste of that tea are extraordinary. We shouldn't just sell it in this neighborhood; we should sell it further away! We absolutely have to! It will definitely sell as a luxury item!!”

I must have looked quite skeptical.
Shao became even more determined,
“Don't look at me like that!
If we sell it in a big town, it will definitely sell for a high price!
If you don't believe me, just let me go sell what we have now!!”

◆

My foster parents opposed what Shao was saying.
They worried that if the tea leaves were truly valuable, he might just run off with the money.
I had thought of that too, but he said,
“You are my lifesavers.
I would never betray you, and I won't return to the north. I have nowhere else I want to go.
I intend to be buried here. I am a merchant, not a swindler, and I have no interest in returning evil for good. I’ve just been suffering because I couldn't find a way to repay you.”

Then, he looked at me seriously and said,
“I... want to live here with you, Xiaojie (young lady*), for the rest of my life...”

...Do I have to interpret this for my foster parents too? My face felt hot, and I was caught in a flurry of complicated feelings.

◆

When I was small, I moved to this mountainous region with my father, who had fled from the north, just like Shao.
However, my father passed away from illness shortly after we arrived in this village, and I became an orphan.
It was then that I was taken in by my foster parents, who had no children of their own, and they loved me as if I were their own child.
But perhaps because I had a stubborn and harsh way of speaking, I remained single for a long time.
I never imagined that now, holding Shao's child like this, my connection with the north would be rekindled in such a way.

"This looks like a crow!"
my daughter said, picking up one of the tea leaves.
"I suppose it does..." I said, laughing as I shook the basket.
My son pointed at it and said,
"It looks like a dragon, too!"
Come to think of it.
Seeing this scene reminded me of how Shao had been racking his brain, saying, "A name is important for business. Can't we come up with a good name for this tea?"

*Xiaojie... If you find "xiaojie" difficult to pronounce when reading aloud, you may read it as "young lady" instead.

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