There were three large sandalwood chairs, and between each two chairs, there was also a small table with a plate of tea leaves. This was bitter sparrow's tongue tea[1], a famous local produce of Complete Reed Continent. There was no need to cook this tea using boiling water, and one could simply chew on the raw tea leaves. 2

It would taste slightly rough at the start, and this would gradually change into a bitter flavor. After six to seven minutes, however, it would surprisingly become far sweeter and much more refreshing than ordinary tea. Thus, people jokingly referred to this as the "six-minute fragrance tea".0

The battle was yet to begin, so with nothing better to do, Chun Shui explained the mysterious effects of the tea leaves to Chen Ping'an, who was already chewing on them.1

As it turned out, this kind of tea leaf could cleanse one's liver and improve one's eyesight. It was enjoyed by the wealthy clans in three continents, and literati and great Confucian scholars also liked to use them as gifts. In some empires and nations where tea was popular, many people would also use this type of tea as a kind of "refined bribery"[2]. For these occasions, people would gift large boxes of sparrow's tongue tea instead of only a few dozen grams. 1

When it came to seeing off banished officials or traveling friends, people would do everything they could to get their hands on some sparrow's tongue tea to use as gifts. In a sense, this carried the beautiful omen of sweetness coming after bitterness.2

Apart from this, there were also all kinds of expensive and exquisite fruits and desserts on the tables. Against the rare sparrow's tongue tea — even an ounce was extremely difficult to obtain — however, these fruits and desserts appeared far...0