"Is nobody here?" I looked around and didn't see anyone else besides me and He Yuqing.

"It seems like the club president has already left, huh?" He Yuqing muttered, sounding disappointed.

Since there was nobody around, I began to reexamine the Tea Ceremony Club's arrangement. The floor was a muddy color, but even an outsider would find it a high-quality floor. There were several paper paintings hanging on the walls, with the most prominent being the character "茶" written with a calligraphy brush. There were also some poems praising tea written by ancient poets.

Besides that, there were a few tea tables made of fine wood, with utensils that were only used for brewing tea. And I must mention, the value of the chairs should not be underestimated either. It seems like this school has strong financial resources.

"Looks like we came late, Youjie," He Yuqing looked almost on the verge of tears.

"At this time, the club activities must have already ended. Weren't you also going back because the club activities ended?"

"I wish I could have brought Youjie here before the activities ended. Youjie would definitely love this place and become one of us," He Yuqing clenched his fist, tears almost falling.

Indeed, shota boys really do look weak and cry a lot. Although I don't want to admit it,

Based on my research on the internet and my own firsthand experience, the answer is beyond doubt: shota boys are really weak and cry a lot.

I don't want to become a shota or anything like that.

"Put aside whether you like it or not, this atmosphere is not suitable for leisurely tea drinking," I looked at the elegant environment and couldn't imagine it being matched with a bubble tea shop. In an instant, I thought of myself sitting upright, not daring to breathe.

"But the Tea Ceremony Club is the place where the other party can experience the unique aspects of tea drinking."

"Although you say that, I still can't understand."

"I guess you have to experience it firsthand before you can understand the charm of tea culture," as if to prove his point, He Yuqing went to another room, the separate room...

"Let me tell you the origin of tea from the beginning," I saw He Yuqing change his outfit. The wide sleeves resembled the robes worn by ancient people and were gray in color. I didn't expect the Tea Ceremony Club to have special clothes, and the separate room turned out to be a changing room.

"Now, I will tell you the origin of tea," He Yuqing prepared to start explaining, but I made a gesture to stop him.

"Stop! I think even if you finish, I won't need to sleep anymore."

"But I haven't even started yet. You should at least let me start," He Yuqing seemed unhappy with me interrupting him.

"Keep it simple, keep it simple. Since it's the Tea Ceremony Club, the main focus is definitely brewing tea, right?"

"Yeah, you're right. Let's not talk about the origin of tea and just get to the point."

"Please begin your performance," I made a gesture to invite him, hoping he would drop the idea of explaining the origin of tea. I felt relieved because I wasn't really interested in the origin of tea or tea culture. It reminded me of the history lessons taught by my teacher, or maybe even philosophy... it's too obscure and hard to understand.

"Well, then watch carefully," He Yuqing suddenly made a very serious expression. He took a deep breath and began to prepare. In that moment, I became interested in brewing tea, remembering how good Alice's black tea tasted. But just as I was immersed in it, an inappropriate sound interrupted me and shattered any interest I had in learning about brewing tea.

"Let me start from the beginning. I remember it started like this," I said, observing He Yuqing's panicked and confused expression, which raised my suspicions.

"You don't even know how to brew tea, do you?" I couldn't help but question.

"Haha... How could that be? I've been studying hard these past few days," he awkwardly tried to hide his lie, but it was ineffective.

"At least you should wash these cups and utensils with water, right? And heat up the water. Don't you have any tea leaves?"

"Ah... tea leaves," He Yuqing finally took out a tea cake wrapped in paper from the cabinet. I couldn't see the name because it was facing the other way.

"This is white tea... slightly fragrant with a hint of sweetness," he introduced the tea cake in his hand.

"I haven't heard of this before. The most common ones are Tie Guan Yin and Longjing," I replied.

"Youjie, you have limited knowledge. I know quite a bit," He Yuqing proudly said.

"Now, let's focus on how to brew the tea, not the types of tea," I interrupted him unsatisfied.

"Oh, I almost forgot what I was doing," He Yuqing finally resumed his tea brewing process. He used a small electric stove to heat up the kettle. He told me the water came from a mountain spring outside, as it would become troublesome to store, so they only used it once.

Soon, with the help of the electric stove, the water inside the kettle started to boil. After it boiled, He Yuqing shut off the power and poured some of the hot water into a special teapot.

After washing the cup and the tea strainer, He Yuqing opened the tea cake and suddenly froze for a moment.

"Why are you spacing out?" I asked, puzzled.

"Ah... I was thinking about using my hands to grab some tea leaves, but the kettle's spout is so small."

"Don't you know the procedure?"

"I... I do," doubt filled He Yuqing's eyes. After hesitating for a while, he directly used his hands to grab some tea leaves and threw them into the teapot. Seeing this method, I immediately lost my appetite.

"I washed my hands properly," He Yuqing hurriedly explained.

"That's not the issue I'm concerned about. Please hurry up, so we can go back," I couldn't bear watching him perform like this any longer.

"Brewing tea requires patience. Being in a hurry won't do any good. Youjie, you're always too impatient and will miss out on many interesting things," He Yuqing lectured me.

"Okay, okay. So how much longer will it take?"

"Next, we pour the hot water into the teapot, pour out the first round of tea soup, and then pour in hot water and let it steep. At this point, we are almost done," He Yuqing explained while performing the steps.

"Here... give it a try," he poured the tea soup into a teacup placed in front of me.

I picked up the teacup and took a sip. "It's hot..."

"You should wait a little bit or blow on it," He Yuqing demonstrated by lifting his teacup.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier and instead rushed me to drink it?" I complained. This time, I waited a bit longer, allowing the tea soup to cool down before reluctantly taking a sip.

"How is it? The taste," He Yuqing asked.

"So-so."

"I followed the steps strictly," He Yuqing was unsatisfied with my evaluation.

"I've given you a fair answer. I wanted to taste something different through my taste buds, but all I got was a strong taste without any special aroma or hint of sweetness."

"That's because Youjie's tongue is too ordinary."

"Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty, I can still taste them all."

"It must be a problem with Youjie's tongue."

"Excuse me, the club activities ended a long time ago. You two should go back."

Just as I was arguing with He Yuqing, the patrol officers came over and we were forced to leave the Tea Culture Club. He Yuqing also changed his clothes. Along the way, he remained silent, and I decided not to bother with him either. Suddenly, a strong sense of exhaustion surged through my body. Now I just want to rest properly.