Chapter 98: The Benevolent & Righteous Cat
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
What is being benevolent and righteous? To sacrifice life for the truth and for righteousness.
Song Jiang and Liu Huangshu both weren’t the most talented people; however, they finally reached exceptional achievements because they were benevolent to others and did righteous things. The stories in Outlaws of the Marsh and Romance of the Three Kingdoms may not be true, but they are great representations of how much ancient Chinese value benevolence and righteousness.
In the Chinese culture, piety ranks on top of all virtues. It might be difficult for some people to serve the country and at the same time take care of their aging parents. However, when it comes to treating friends, benevolence and righteousness are beyond everything.
The government always promotes benevolence while normal people value righteousness. For some reason, in China the pursuit of righteousness was always related to the pursuit of political power so it was not favored by the government.
A cat called the benevolent and righteous cat had to be somebody.
This is the third Elfin cat he had ever seen and the first time he could recognize the breed. Schrodinger’s quantum cat – Xinghai, was a pure spiritual Elfin that didn’t belong to any breed. The golden cat belonged to Cleopatra VII – Fina, was an ancient Egyptian cat from 2000 years ago. A normal person had never seen such a breed he didn’t recognize.
Zhang Zian confirmed her breed at first glance – she was truly a black stripe Chinese Dragon-Li, a perfect match to her super Chinese style name - the benevolent and righteous cat.
It was funny that she was wearing a grey vest and a bamboo hat.
Since she was wearing a bamboo hat, Zhang Zian could not see her face nor could he take a high definition picture of her.
She was laying by the fireplace with her hands tucked under her chest. With her head bowing down, she looked like she was getting warm or taking a nap.
Zhang Zian walked closer to take a look.
It was an older cat, at least 10 years old. Its hair was thin and already lost its shininess. Some muscles on her chest and belly were already sagging.
Cat’s average life expectancy is about 14 years. House cats, slim cats, and neutered cats generally live longer. A 10-year old cat is quite old.
She seemed extremely relaxed. If someone approached to take off her hat, she might be captured easily.
Zhang Zian was about to do so. Suddenly a game tip came up – it is highly risky to forcibly capture this pet.
Does it count as forcible capture if I took off her bamboo hat? Zhang Zian wasn’t sure. When the cat’s name came to his mind and thinking that some people would die for benevolence and righteousness, he felt a bit scared to approach the cat…
Snowy talked to him, "Mr. Manager, please come sit by me! Waitress, I’d like to order!"
The female owner and the waitress both looked at him with questions. They weren’t sure about the relationship between Zhang Zian and Snowy.
The waitress came over with a menu and asked, "What would you like to order?"
Jiang Qianxue looked over the menu and took a picture with her cell phone.
The broadcast room exploded immediately.
"What the f*ck?! The least expensive item, jasmine tea and rose tea are 388 Yuan a pot?!"
"The least expensive tea and dessert set is 588 Yuan."
"Red robe tea is 988 Yuan. Bi Luo Chun tea is 888 Yuan!"
"Tie Guan Yin is 1288 Yuan. Top graded Tie Guan Yin is 1888 Yuan!"
"I would only pay for that if the teapot is as big as a water tank…"
"Oh no! I couldn’t even afford to drink tea!"
"What’s so special about that tea?"
[Chuyu Rongzhi] Tipped two crabs and left a message, "Snowy, this is your tea money."
[Zhanshi Ouren] Tipped one crab and left a message, "Snowy, I will buy you a tea on behalf of all on-duty policemen."
[Binhai Tuzhu] Tipped five bear paws and left a message, "Snowy, you have to go for the best tea."
"Holy Sh*t! here comes a tycoon!"
"On-duty policemen? Is it real?"
"Does the tycoon need a friend? I volunteer to be one."
[Binhai Tuzhu] said, "I am not a tycoon, just a local."
Snowy pointed at the menu and told the waitress, "a top graded Tie Guan Yin and dessert set, please."
"Okay. 2888 Yuan. Please pay now. We accept cash, credit card and online transfer," the waitress nodded.
Jiang Qianxue transferred 2888 Yuan.
"It will be ready in a minute," after saying to Snowy, the waitress then yelled to the back of the teahouse, "new order! One top graded Tie Guan Yin and dessert set."
"Sure!" the female owner responded.
The waitress then walked to the back. It looked like she was also the chef.
The owner grabbed two bottles of Fiji water, quickly poured them all to the silver color tea kettle.
Someone spoke in the broadcast room.
[Art of Tea] said, "kettle and water are two key components for making good tea. The kettles on the counters are silver, copper, iron and ceramic kettles. A specific kettle is used for a particular tea and customer."
"Wow, there is an expert here!"
"Watch live show and learn something. Great!"
"Question to expert: what are the differences between various kettles? I can act like an expert next time."
[Art of Tea] said, "I am not so much an expert. The history of tea is long. I only know some of it. In short, iron kettles improve the texture and silver kettles increase the aroma. Iron kettles are best for deeply fermented tea such as black tea and Pu Er tea. Silver kettles can kill bacteria and soften water. They are great for lightly fermented tea such as Tie Guan Yin and green tea. Those tea kettles look fantastic. They look like the old handcrafted kettles from Fusang Workshop. I don’t use copper kettles so I don’t want to comment. Theoretically, they should be quite similar to iron kettles. Ceramic kettles are the best mate to iced berg water… however, I didn’t use a ceramic kettle because I was worried about getting a fake one that might be poisonous. The ceramic kettle in that high-end teahouse had to be a good one. I am guessing they would match it with Kunlun Mountain spring water and Diannan roast tea."
"Bravo! You are so knowledgeable!"
"With that said, considering the energy added to the water from carrying it up to the top of the mountain, 388 Yuan isn’t too bad for a pot of tea…I still couldn’t afford it."
"Here we go! A straight-A student!"
"Oh no! This teahouse is way out of my reach. I rather use the old kettle at home and save some money…"
"I thought that Mr. Manager charging 300 Yuan for self-service cat bathing was expensive enough. This teahouse is even more expensive than I would’ve imagined."
Some viewer suggested, "Snowy, have Mr. Manager look at the mane. Don’t forget to point your camera at him. Can’t wait to see his reactions!"
"Haha! You are so nasty but I like it!"
"Haha! I agree! Let’s see how he pretend to be rich this time."
"From my experience, I bet he would order the least expensive item – jasmine tea."
[Binhai Tuzhu] normally only commented when he tipped. This time, he also agreed with the crowd, "Yeah! I also want to see what he will do this time…"
The crowd was extremely excited about playing a trick on Zhang Zian so Snowy followed the flow and asked, "Mr. Manager, what would you like to order? Here is the menu."
Zhang Zian put his whole focus on how to capture the benevolent and righteous cat. He didn’t realize Snowy was talking to him after a while.
The waitress brought out a beautiful tray of desserts and dry fruit. She asked after putting down the tray, "Hi sir, what would you like to order?"
Everyone in the broadcast room was ready to see Zhang Zian’s reaction, including Jiang Tianda, who was the CEO of Jiang’s Group, who was waiting to see how Zhang Zian would make a fool out of himself.
Zhang Zian took a quick look at the menu and said peacefully, "An ice water, please."