Chapter 7: Great Tang’s Happy Milk Tea, So Delicious You Can’t Stop!

Soon, the last coarse porcelain bowl was set down heavily on the wooden table with a dull thud.

Li Lizhi straightened her back, feeling as though the arms she usually used to play the zither and flute no longer belonged to her.

Her ten slender fingers were soaked pale from the well water, with the greasy touch of lard still clinging to her fingertips.

She was the esteemed Eldest Princess of the Great Tang, yet for a few pieces of meat, she had been reduced to washing dishes for a common servant.

Shame, resentment, grievance, and the bizarre sense of satisfaction from a full stomach churned together in her chest.

“Done washing.”

Gritting her teeth, Li Lizhi shoved the sparkling-clean wooden basin forward, her voice cold enough to drop frost.

Su Mu was sitting with one leg crossed over the other on the woodpile, fiddling with a few dark, round little balls in his hands. Hearing the noise, he lazily stood up and strolled over.

He extended a finger and scraped it along the rim of a bowl.

“Passable.”

Su Mu delivered his verdict and reached into a nearby water vat to pull out an earthenware jar. Fine droplets of condensation clung to its surface, the result of chilling it at the bottom of the well for over an hour.

He took off the lid.

A rich aroma of tea mingled with the scent of milk surged forth with overwhelming intensity!

Unlike the bizarre milk broth of the Great Tang brewed with scallions, ginger, and salt, this scent was sweet, smooth, and caramelized. Just a single breath seemed to soothe away half the parching heat in her throat.

Li Lizhi had intended to fling her sleeves and storm off, but her feet were rooted to the spot.

Su Mu took two bamboo cups, scooped two spoonfuls of the dark little balls into them, and tipped the earthenware jar. With a splash, the brownish liquid poured in, frothing into a layer of dense foam.

“Here, your wages.”

Su Mu handed a cup over.

A refreshing chill seeped through the outer wall of the bamboo cup.

Li Lizhi hesitated for a brief moment before reaching out to take it.

It felt ice-cold in her hands.

She took a tentative sip.

There was none of the pungent gaminess she had braced herself for.

First came the slight bitterness of tea upon her tongue, instantly followed by an explosion of rich, creamy milkiness.

Best of all was that caramelized sweetness, not cloying in the least, but carrying a deep, mellow aftertaste born of high-heat simmering.

As the chilled liquid slid down her throat, the hot sweat she had worked up while washing dishes was instantly extinguished.

“Mmh?”

Li Lizhi’s eyes suddenly went wide.

Something had slipped into her mouth.

Round and soft.

She chewed instinctively.

Springy and chewy!

The moment her teeth bit through the little ball, a subtle sweetness of sweet potato spilled out. Soft, chewy, and bouncing between her teeth, this unprecedented texture sent a pleasant shiver through her whole body.

“Delicious!”

The word slipped out before she could even think.

Forgetting all propriety, Li Lizhi raised the bamboo cup and took another big gulp.

The chilled caramel milk tea swept several pearls along with it, tumbling wildly across her palate.

It was pure bliss!

This was a hundred times more delicious than the iced sushan bestowed by Imperial Father!

Beside her, Xiao Sizi had long been unable to wait. Clasping a bamboo cup larger than her face, she gulped it down with puffed-out cheeks, a milky mustache coating her lips like a kitten sneaking treats.

“So yummy… so yummy!”

Xiao Sizi let out a milky burp and narrowed her eyes in pure contentment, her little feet dangling in midair. “It’s sweet, and there are bouncy balls! Big bwother, what is dis?”

“Pearl milk tea.”

Su Mu spun a casual fib. “The black ones are pearls.”

“Pwearls?”

Xiao Sizi tilted her head and swallowed the ball she had been happily chewing. “Aren’t dose for weawing around your neck? I didn’t know pwearls were so tasty! We wasted dem all before!”

Su Mu couldn’t help laughing. He reached out and ruffled the little girl’s hair. “Don’t go gnawing on your mother’s jewelry in the future. You’ll chip your teeth.”

At the mention of her mother, the excitement on Xiao Sizi’s little face suddenly collapsed.

She set down the bamboo cup, twisted her little hands together, and looked up at Su Mu timidly, her large eyes filled with longing.

“Big bwother…”

“What now?” Su Mu asked as he packed up the earthenware jars.

“I… I wanna bwing a wittle bit to Mama.” Xiao Sizi sniffled, her voice soft and tender, lisping through the gaps in her teeth. “Mama keeps coughing and dwinking bitter medicine. She’s not happy. If she dwinks dis sweet water, Mama will definitely smile.”

Li Lizhi paused, the unfinished milk tea in her hand suddenly feeling remarkably heavy.

Empress Mother suffered from asthma and was frail in body; over the past few nights, her coughing fits had kept her from sleeping at all.

She looked at Su Mu, the haughtiness in her eyes fading and giving way to a hint of pleading. “Um… could you…”

“No.”

Su Mu refused flatly.

The two sisters’ faces fell instantly.

Su Mu turned around, retrieved another bamboo tube from the shady spot behind the stove, and brought out a smaller earthenware jar.

This jar hadn’t been chilled in well water; it was still warm.

“With her frail constitution, drinking something iced is asking for death, isn’t it?”

Su Mu muttered as he poured the warm liquid into the bamboo tube. “This one has less sugar, and I swapped the tea base for one brewed with dried tangerine peel and monk fruit to nourish the lungs and soothe coughs. Forget about pearls, though; those are too hard to digest.”

Finding a clean lotus leaf, he sealed the mouth of the bamboo tube, tied it tightly with straw rope, and casually tossed it to Li Lizhi.

“Hold it steady. If you spill it, no refills.”

Li Lizhi scrambled to catch it.

The bamboo tube was warm, and that gentle heat seemed to seep from her palms straight into her heart. She stared blankly at the man before her, clad in coarse hemp clothes with smudges of soot across his face.

This man… had a sharp tongue, but his heart wasn’t bad at all.

“Th-thank you.”

Li Lizhi’s voice was as faint as a mosquito’s hum.

Xiao Sizi’s eyes lit up instantly. She threw herself forward and wrapped her arms around Su Mu’s leg, rubbing her milk-stained little face against his trousers until she left marks all over them. “Thank you, pwetty big bwother! Big bwother is the best! Sizi will save all the good stuff for big bwother from now on!”

Su Mu pulled his leg free in disgust. “All right, hurry up and go. Those old fossils from the Imperial Kitchen will be making their rounds soon. If you get caught, don’t you dare rat me out.”

…

The sun slanted westward, casting long shadows across the palace’s red walls and glazed tiles.

Along the palace path leading to Lizheng Hall, two figures, one tall and one small, were sneaking stealthily along the base of the wall.

Li Lizhi clutched the bamboo tube tightly to her chest, terrified of bumping or dropping it.

Xiao Sizi trailed behind, constantly glancing over her shoulder. Her guilty, thief-like behavior was so obvious that anyone who wasn’t blind could tell something was amiss.

“Halt.”

A deep, authoritative voice suddenly thundered from up ahead.

Li Lizhi went stiff all over, nearly throwing the bamboo tube right out of her hands.

She stiffly raised her head.

There stood Li Shimin in plain robes, brow deeply furrowed, hands clasped behind his back in the middle of the path.

Having clearly just left the imperial court, his face was filled with exhaustion and irritation. His slightly chapped lips, in particular, revealed that the Son of Heaven of the Great Tang was currently parched and famished.

“Fa… Father.”

Li Lizhi hurriedly paid her respects, trying to conceal the object in her arms beneath her wide sleeves.

Xiao Sizi was half a beat slow to react. She bumped headfirst into her sister’s leg, clutching her forehead and about to cry out in pain, but when she looked up and saw her father’s dark face, she immediately tucked both little hands behind her back and stood ramrod straight.

“Hello, Father! Goodbye, Father!”

With that, Xiao Sizi turned to bolt.

A large hand caught the back of her collar with practiced precision.

“What are you running for?”