Chapter 32: Wrappings of a Rising Name
The morning mist clung gently to the eaves of the tea shop as Su Yanyue sat at her worktable, a cup of freshly steeped Phoenix Blend by her elbow and a neat pile of parchment spread before her.
Gone were the chaotic scribbles of the triplets' "branding committee" (which had, mercifully, been folded into paper cranes and hung from the ceiling). Today, Su Yanyue was planning something real.
Something worthy of her growing reputation.
"Auntie, are we redesigning the tea names again?" Su Rui asked, sneaking in from the courtyard with a hopeful expression.
"No," she said, "this time we're working on the packaging. People in Qinghe Town—and even the capital—are starting to recognize Phoenix Blend. We need our product to look as good as it tastes."
Su Zhi crept in next, hugging a spool of ribbon. "Can we still use sparkles?"
"No sparkles," Yanyue said firmly. "This is tea. Not a parade."
Yu Shiming entered, having just finished repairing a section of the fence. His sleeves were rolled, exposing strong forearms dusted with sawdust. "Should I be worried that Rui tried to trade chicken feathers for gold foil this morning?"
Su Rui coughed. "It was a test."
Yanyue laughed. "He's ambitious."
She turned back to the table, unrolling a sheet of thin parchment dyed pale jade and lightly scented with dried osmanthus. "I'm thinking of using handmade paper with light embossing—a phoenix feather motif, maybe. Clean, elegant, and something that won't crumple during delivery."
Yu Shiming approached and studied the sketch. "It suits you. Refined, but not gaudy."
"Thank you," she said, brushing a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "If this goes well, I'll hire someone from town to help make these in batches."
The triplets immediately perked up.
"Does that mean we're going into mass production?" Su Lin asked.
"And maybe franchising?" Su Rui added.
"We don't even have a signboard that doesn't wobble," Su Yanyue replied, dry.
Still, she couldn't help the thrill bubbling in her chest. She was building something real—something from the ground up. And not just for survival anymore.
By midday, she had created her first prototype: a slender paper cylinder sealed with twine and pressed with a hand-carved wooden stamp of a phoenix in flight. Clean. Elegant. Unmistakable.
Yu Shiming held it up to the light. "It looks expensive."
"That's the idea," she said, a little smug.
Su Lin peered over his shoulder. "Do we get one too?"
"No, you drink for free. You are—unfortunately—shareholders."
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That afternoon, Yanyue took her prototypes down to the village square to gauge reactions.
Old Farmer Zheng turned it over in his hands and whistled. "Looks too nice to open."
Mrs. Wen narrowed her eyes at the elegant twine and nodded. "People like fancy things nowadays."
Even the grumpy miller, who rarely spoke, muttered, "Stylish."
By the end of the day, several orders had come in not just for the tea—but for gift sets.
Gift sets!
"I should make a winter blend next," Yanyue murmured to herself that evening, brushing her fingers over the sample paper.
Yu Shiming, quietly fixing a lantern nearby, glanced over. "Snow and smoke, maybe? Something that warms."
She looked up, smiling. "That's... actually a good idea."
He shrugged modestly. "I observe."
Just then, a crash came from inside the kitchen.
Followed by Su Lin yelling, "Rui lit the test labels on fire!"
"I was testing flammability!" Su Rui shouted back.
Yu Shiming sighed. "And I observe disaster."
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