Sunlight spilled across the Tea Horse Road at the third quarter of the Chen hour, as a light mist danced softly. At the collar of Moli's cyan robe, a "Tea-Guarding Ghost Face" newly carved by Huwa was pinned—a smiling face holding a tea whisk, its abacus-bead eyes darting toward the tea bricks carried by the caravan. The abacus-bead pattern matched the pressing grooves of the tea bricks seamlessly. Zhang Yifan leaned against the Old Cyan Ox and chuckled, "Master Xiao's outfit here is more dazzling than the caravan's copper bells!"
"Cut the nonsense!" Moli flicked her sleeve and walked toward the teahouse, her sheepskin ledger slapping against the leather belt at her waist, startling several butterflies resting on the "Seedling-Guarding Ghost Face" into fluttering away—that was a smiling face Huwa had carved from a tea tree branch, its abacus-bead eyes fixed squarely on the tea seedlings in the bamboo basket. Amidst the ringing copper bells of the caravan, Tibetan locals were trading horses for tea bricks from Persian merchants; the Tibetan patterns on the saddles complemented the "ghost-face seal" on the tea bricks, creating a scene full of lively charm.
"Watch closely now," Zhang Yifan's abacus beads hopped merrily across the tea brick, the morning mist making them look like strings of sparkling dewdrops. "When Tibetans trade for tea, they look at the tenderness or maturity of the tea stems; a single brick of tea can brew three days of milk tea." Suddenly he pointed to a H…
Chapter 86