Chapter 21: The Little Tea Tycoons
It began with a whisper.
"We should start our own business," Su Lin said solemnly, standing atop a tree stump with his hands behind his back like a great general giving a speech.
Su Rui and Su Zhi sat below him, serious expressions on their small faces. Rui was chewing on grass, Zhi had dirt on his nose.
"Yanyue is going to be rich soon," Su Lin continued. "If we don't act now, we'll always be the side characters."
Su Rui frowned. "Aren't we the main characters?"
"No!" Su Lin pointed toward the house. "She's the big boss. We need to become little bosses before we're just background kids!"
Su Zhi raised his hand. "What's our business?"
"Tea," Su Lin declared. "We copy Auntie Yanyue's tea and sell it to other kids!"
"But we don't know her recipes," Rui said.
"That's why…" Su Lin looked around, then leaned in and whispered, "We sneak into the kitchen. Tonight."
Su Zhi gasped. "That's illegal!"
"It's called 'family borrowing,'" Su Lin corrected. "Totally different."
—
That night, while Su Yanyue and Yu Shiming were discussing tomorrow's delivery route, the triplets launched Operation Tea Storm.
Wearing mismatched capes made from flour sacks, they crept into the kitchen on tiptoes.
Su Lin lit a tiny oil lamp. "Alright. Dried leaves… check. Jars of sweet things… check. Secret boxes of weird-smelling stuff… check."
Su Zhi pointed at a brown jar. "That's licorice, I think."
Su Rui opened it, sniffed—and recoiled instantly. "That's foot-scented betrayal!"
Ignoring him, Su Lin scooped random dried herbs into a clay pot, humming proudly. "This one will be our best-seller. I call it: Triple Tiger Tea!"
"What does it do?" Zhi asked.
"Makes you run faster. Probably."
They labeled it with Rui's handwriting (which looked like chicken scratches) and wrapped it in old paper.
Satisfied with their "product," they snuck out to the village square just after dawn.
Their sales table? A stolen bench from the courtyard.
Their marketing? Su Zhi yelling: "MAGICAL TEA! ONLY ONE COIN! GROWS MUSCLES AND MAYBE WINGS!"
Children came running.
A few brave souls traded sticky rice cakes or marbles for a cup. One girl with twin pigtails took a sip, frowned deeply, and said, "This tastes like burnt leaves and sadness."
Su Lin beamed. "That's the flavor of power."
By midmorning, their table was a mess of tipped-over cups, muddy footprints, and one knocked-over jar of pickled radish (no one knows why).
Unfortunately, their operation ended abruptly when Su Yanyue appeared, hands on hips, flanked by an unimpressed Yu Shiming.
"What," she said slowly, "is this?"
"Entrepreneurship," Su Lin said bravely. "We were inspired by you."
Rui added, "We're independent now."
Zhi nodded. "We even wrote a poem about tea."
Su Yanyue glanced at the grimy cups, the stained bench, and a child now chasing a chicken in circles after drinking a "spicy blend."
Yu Shiming raised an eyebrow. "Shall I prepare the discipline scroll?"
"No need," Yanyue said with a sigh. "They'll be punished with… accounting."
That evening, the triplets were forced to count dried herbs, rewash every kitchen jar, and explain profit loss using stones.
Rui burst into tears when he realized they'd "accidentally sold our lunch."
Su Yanyue smiled behind her sleeve. "Little bosses, huh?"
Yu Shiming chuckled. "They're either going to become merchants… or warlords."