Zhou Jinpeng led Fang Jinshi and Shi Hao to the Taibai upstairs. They saw that the upstairs was also empty. There was a piano placed across the table by the window and behind the stairs, and a middle-aged man in black was sitting there alone playing the piano.
There are two large pots of incense niches placed on the table. The entire white space in Taibai Tower is filled with the strong smell of incense. There are two rows of pots of chrysanthemums on the ground. However, at this season, the winter chrysanthemums have withered and the summer chrysanthemums have not yet Flowering, so these two rows of potted chrysanthemums have only leaves and no flowers. There is an exquisite small copper charcoal stove on the ground next to it, and a gray and white porcelain soup bottle is placed on it to boil water. There is a thin white smoke coming from the mouth of the bottle. When the water came out, it looked like it was about to boil. Everything looked very elegant and tasteful.
Fang Jinshi had only heard a woman playing the piano, but never heard a man playing the piano. The man in black clearly heard the footsteps of the three people going upstairs, but he didn't look back. He was still intoxicated by the sound of his own piano. Fang Jinshi turned around the pillar and came here. When I looked at the side of the person, I could see his face clearly, and I couldn't help but be surprised. It turned out that he was a bearded man with a thick face, a fat body, and big hands and feet. Fang Jinshi never expected that such an elegant person could look so fierce.
Zhou Jinpeng stood there without saying a word, quietly and patiently waiting for the man to finish playing this slow and monotonous piece of music, and then he raised his hands and praised: "Mr. Miyamoto is really good at playing the piano."
The big man in black bowed very politely, and then replied: "I don't dare to take it seriously, I don't take it seriously. It's hard for me to reach the level of elegance."
Zhou Jinpeng then introduced to Fang Jinshi: "This is Mr. Shizang Miyamoto. He has always cooperated with Prince Xiu in the business between Japan and Heishui Mohe."
Then Zhou Jinpeng introduced Fang Jinshi and Shi Hao to Miyamoto Shizo, a big businessman from Japan. Fang Jinshi heard that Zhou Jinpeng was very polite to him, and he specialized in business with Heishui Mohe in Northeast China and Japan. It's strange why Jin Peng deliberately came to introduce the two of them this week.
Miyamoto Shizo looked rough, but behaved elegantly and politely. Fang Jinshi had a good impression of this person. Zhou Jinpeng was more than satisfied with politeness. After the four of them sat down, he said to Miyamoto Shizo: "How about I ask the store to hold a banquet? "
Miyamoto Shizang smiled and replied: "I invite the young master to come over today. We will only drink tea, not wine." Zhou Jinpeng was stunned, and Miyamoto Shizang continued: "The young master is a refined guest and runs a tea business. He eats Wine is too vulgar, so it¡¯s better to drink tea.¡±
Zhou Jinpeng said: "Did Mr. Miyamoto bring some good tea?"
Miyamoto Shizang said: "There must be some good tea, otherwise I wouldn't dare to invite Young Master Fang. Young Master, how about we taste some tea first?"
Fang Jinshi said: "That's fine."
Miyamoto Shizo pointed to the soup bottle that was smoking white and said: "Young Master, how hot is this water?"
The most important thing when ordering tea is the degree of boiling of the water, which is called waiting for the soup. Waiting for the soup is the most difficult. If the water is not cooked, the foam will float, and if the water is overcooked, the tea will sink. Only by mastering the degree of boiling of the water can the color, aroma, and color of the tea be brewed. taste.
The difficulty in mastering the waiting for soup is that the water is boiled in a soup bottle with a round belly and a tall and thin neck. Even if the water in this bottle is boiled, the degree of boiling of the water cannot be observed with the naked eye. Fortunately, the bottle has a long and slender neck. There is a small air outlet in the opening, and the steam will make a sound when it rises. Experienced tea brewers will judge the degree of boiling of the water based on the different sounds they hear.
When the soup is boiling for three times, the tea needs to be brewed three times before it is fragrant and strong. Although Fang Jinshi also drinks some tea, when he makes some tea at home, it is always too old, bitter and astringent. He always couldn't control the soup at this time. When Miyamoto Shizo asked about it, he had to bite the bullet and said: "It's like water has just boiled."
Miyamoto Shizo listened attentively, then hurriedly placed four tea bowls containing extremely fine tea powder on the table, wrapped the handle of the soup bottle with a cloth and said: "The sound in the bottle is like a strong wind blowing loose trees and a stream leaking to the ground. It's already three boils." After saying this, he quickly picked up the soup bottle and poured the boiling water into the tea bowl with a graceful and agile movement.
As soon as the water enters the bowl, Fang Jinshi and the other four people immediately pick up the tea spoon and hit it quickly to fully mix the tea and water until floating tea foam appears. If you want to win or lose after tasting tea, who should let the tea foam stay in the cup? The longest time wins.
Among the four, Fang Jinshi was the worst at drinking tea, and naturally his tea foam disappeared and sank the fastest. Miyamoto Shizo said: "Young Master has lost another battle."
Fang Jinshi said: "Mr. Miyamoto is here to have a tea fight with me."
Miyamoto Shizo said: "I came down here because I want to cooperate with the young master."
Fang Jinshi picked up the tea bowl and drank a sip before replying: "How to cooperate?"
Miyamoto Shizo said: "When I set out from Japan a few years ago, I had already opened dozens of tea shops. However, most of the tea was loose tea, and there were few group teas, and there was no inventory. In the past, Prince Hideo provided tea to Japan. This year I also want to ship two ships of tea to Japan to try."
Fang Jinshi heard this and said: "When Mr. Cai Jing and Mr. Cai became prime minister, they had already liberalized the tea market. As long as you stick to theIn the tea class, the government issued a tea guide, but Mr. Miyamoto can collect the tea himself. How can we cooperate? "
Miyamoto Shizo said: "Normally, the price of group tea is high, and the profit is also high. It is the main business of the tea house, but it is the interests of all parties. The price of tea is not up to you and me, but the loose tea is different. As long as you and I use our brains, There must be a lot to do.¡±
When Fang Jinshi heard about the cooperation in the tea business, he immediately became interested. He moved his stool towards Miyamoto Shizang and said, "If you have any articles to write, please enlighten me."
Miyamoto Shizang said: "The price of loose tea is no more than that of Tuancha, but the number of tea lessons is the same as that of Tuancha. It is really unfair. Loose tea is sold on Lianghuai and Fujian Road. The only way out is to go to the official mountain farm. That is to follow the dark path of tea vendors and thieves. As long as you and I work together on these two paths, we will definitely make big profits."
Fang Jinshi didn¡¯t say anything, so Shi Hao said for him: ¡°How to do it?¡±
Miyamoto Shizang said: "Over there at the mountain farm, I have been operating properly. The official tea tea only produces long tea leaves, and does not sell short tea leaves. The loose tea has less profit. The small tea vendors cannot get the short tea leaves, and there is no profit. Go buy loose tea, and you and I will release the news at the same time that the price of tea will rise at the end of autumn, and tea farmers will not be able to sell loose tea, so they will store it at home and wait for the high price in autumn."
Shi Hao said: "What about the black road?"
Miyamoto Shizo said: "You and I contact the chariot and horse merchants and boatmen. If you transport loose tea, you and I will not cooperate with them in the future. The Sihai merchants have a broad business, and there are several chariot and horse merchants who will not give face to them." ?At the same time, you and I can come forward and pay some bounties to inform the government to vigorously arrest the smuggler tea smugglers. The tea farmers cannot sell the loose tea, so they can only sell it to you and me at a low price. In autumn, I am afraid that the loose tea will be Ten cents a pound is possible."
After hearing this, Fang Jinshi looked at Shi Hao, and then said to Miyamoto Shizang: "If we join forces to lower the price, first raise it and then suppress it, and the tea farmers believe it and make loose tea, they will definitely lose their money. If they can't survive, it may cause a civil commotion."
Miyamoto Shizang said: "Tea farmers make trouble every year. Are you afraid that there are fewer of them? Even civil commotion is a matter of the government. What does it have to do with you and me?" He added: "This matter was originally a matter of Meng Da. What I overdid is that Mr. Meng Da indicated that the tea business of Sihai Company is under the control of the Young Master, and Shopkeeper Zhou introduced him to discuss with the Young Master."
Fang Jinshi turned to Zhou Jinpeng and said: "Shopkeeper Zhou has been doing tea business for many years, what do you think?" Zhou Jinpeng immediately said: "How can I compare with the two of you in terms of net worth? I just want to cooperate with you in this small business to achieve a great cause." , but also because he is powerless, Zhou usually only makes group tea, not bulk goods."
Seeing Zhou Jinpeng's attitude, Fang Jinshi immediately understood the matter. Miyamoto Shizo was a businessman, and it was understandable to deliberately reduce costs in business. He was just using the government's monopoly on tea to maliciously short-sell and lower prices. For ordinary people who grow tea, it is really abominable.
In Fang Jinshi¡¯s mind, the original image of Miyamoto Shizo as being elegant and tasteful has been completely replaced by the image of a profit-seeking businessman.
At the same time, Fang Jinshi immediately realized that this was another trap set by Cai Meng. Mr. Meng Da used Liao money as Song money to give him, but he was still worried and asked Zhou Jinpeng to introduce the two of them by cooperating with Miyamoto Shizang. Knowing that, if Fang Jinshi was eager to collect tea and cooperate with him, then he would have received low-priced tea. When the public resentment boiled, Fang Jinshi's reputation would be ruined, and he would not be able to gain a foothold in front of Cai's consort and Zhao Kai.
This Miyamoto Shizang was a foreign merchant, and he did not accept tea directly, so he was not afraid of losing his reputation and being reviled by others. However, this Japanese merchant may not know the relationship between Fang Jinshi and Cai Meng, so he threw Cai Meng out in front of Fang Jinshi.
Fang Jinshi laughed and said: "Shopkeeper Zhou is running a small business. In fact, Mr. Meng Da only gave me 500,000 Guan Liao money. I want to cooperate with Mr. Miyamoto, but I think my capital is a little short."
Miyamoto Shizang squinted his eyes and said: "Young Master Fang is very capable. He has the ability to turn stone into gold. Changing Liao money into Song money is just a matter of inviting people to have a drink. Five hundred thousand Song money is already enough, but I wonder if Young Master Fang is willing to cooperate."
Fang Jinshi laughed and seemed not to have heard what he said. He picked up the tea bowl and took a sip and said: "Good tea, really good tea."
Miyamoto Shizang said: "I also have the world's best dragon group Shengxue here. You might as well give it to the young master for a taste."
Fang Jinshi pretended to be surprised and said: "Dragon Tuan beats Snow? This is a first-class tribute tea. How did Mr. Miyamoto get it? There are many imitations and fakes on the market, and I have only tasted fakes twice."
Miyamoto Shizang stood up and took out a gold-lacquered wooden box from the wooden box next to it, put it down in front of the stone and said, "Young master, take it back for tasting. You will know it as soon as you taste it."
Fang Jinshi said: "Mr. Miyamoto is a great gift, but I will not be respectful. I have other matters in the store, so please forgive me."
Miyamoto Shizang said: "If you have something important to do, young master, then you should be busy first. You can only ask the young master next time."Let¡¯s enjoy tea together. "
Fang Jinshi cupped his hands and stood up, saying, "Goodbye." He turned around and went downstairs, followed by Shi Hao.
Zhou Jinpeng originally sent them back, but Fang Jinshi refused. He and Shi Hao took Zhou Jinpeng's carriage back together. On the way, Shi Hao asked: "Can what Mr. Miyamoto proposed"
Fang Jinshi said: "What do you think?"
Shi Hao said: "You really have to think about it carefully and weigh the pros and cons. But when he said you have the Midas touch, it seems there is something else in his words."
Fang Jinshi said: "That's why I came back in a hurry. It's not appropriate to talk to this person too much at this time. Talking too much will lead to mistakes."
Shi Hao said: "Then what should we do?"
Fang Jinshi said: "Just wait and see what happens."