Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1018: Chapter 1014: Successfully Swapped

Since it’s a tea bowl, naturally there must be tea served and water poured, to pay homage to the gods with tea.

Watanabe Yasu and two other presenters holding trays stood before the altar, presenting their respective tea sets on it, while a priest was already waiting on the side with a pot of boiling tea.

Following the normal procedures, the tea ceremony priest would pour tea into the tea sets, after which the presenters would bow, roll up their sleeves, and pour the tea before the incense-burning cauldron on the altar, symbolizing receiving blessings from the gods.

Because Watanabe Yasu kept holding the tea set, Huo Sining was watching from the side but hesitated to find an opportunity to swap the Secret-Color Porcelain Bowl. As she hesitated, she suddenly glanced aside and noticed a middle-aged man standing next to Watanabe Yasu.

The man was wearing a patterned haori and hakama as formal attire. At first glance, Huo Sining didn’t recognize him, but her gaze fell on the set of Hentustan Jade Tea Set on his tray, and she suddenly recalled that this person was the owner she met at the Yidao Pavilion with Nara Nigawa.

Upon closer look, the man in the kimono was indeed the owner of the Yidao Pavilion, and Huo Sining remembered that he had said at the Yidao Pavilion that he was invited by Meiji Shrine to participate in the New Year rites with this Hentustan Jade Tea Set.

However, Huo Sining also clearly remembered that the set of seven pieces was actually a forgery. While the set was made of Khotan jade, it was not antiquities but modern reproductions.

The most critical flaw was the tiny crack at the mouth of the teapot. Such a jade artifact is suitable as an ornament, but if used for brewing tea, the heat would cause expansion, enlarging the crack at the spout until the teapot bursts.

Feeling the icy cold aura of the Winter Island Country, Huo Sining foresaw the fate of this teapot. With the jade itself likely reaching freezing point in the icy weather, a sudden pot of hot tea might cause the entire teapot to shatter.

Thinking of this, Huo Sining shifted her gaze from the Hentustan Jade Tea Set to Watanabe Yasu and suddenly curled her lips into a bizarre smile.

”Tea ceremony!”

The emcee called aloud.

As soon as the words were spoken, the tea ceremony priest moved, holding his long-spouted iron kettle, and began adding tea to the tea sets of the three individuals on stage.

The first person’s tray contained a set of gold-silver tea ware, and without handling it, Huo Sining couldn’t discern its authenticity. However, judging by the craftsmanship, the tea ware appeared exquisite, luxurious yet not lacking elegance.

In ancient times, gold and silver utensils were favored; these precious materials could only be possessed by the aristocratic nobility.

The reason for using gold and silver to craft tea ware has its rationale.

Compared to porcelain and jade, while gold and silver tea ware may not bear the same aesthetic appeal, its practical effect is remarkably outstanding. When boiling water in gold-silver pots, the released silver ions and sodium ions can sterilize the human body, especially since the ancient emperor’s utensils were primarily made of gold and silver for this reason.

The thermal conductivity of gold and silver is the best among all metals. It is clean, odorless, stable in thermal chemistry, resistant to rust, and does not taint the tea with extraneous flavors. Most importantly, boiling water in gold-silver pots softens and thins the water. The ancients described it as ”like silk water,” meaning the water quality is soft and smooth as silk.

Of course, these aren’t what Huo Sining should focus on. Her gaze fixated on the kettle-wielding priest, because after pouring tea for the first presenter, next in line was the owner from the Yidao Pavilion.

Huo Sining’s eyes gleamed with anticipation and giddy delight, her body taut, ready to seize the moment.

The priest slowly approached the owner of the Yidao Pavilion, carefully opening the lid of the Hentustan Jade Teapot. Then he raised the long-spouted kettle high, and a thin stream of tea emerged from the spout, with intense heat and a strong aroma wafting forth.

However, this was no time for Huo Sining to appreciate the tea; her eyes were fixed on the spout aimed at Watanabe Yasu’s Khotan jade teapot. As more tea was poured, the tea level rose over a third of the pot, immersing the crack at the spout in the boiling tea.

The heat spread, but the tea kept flowing into the pot. According to ritual, the tea was to fill two-thirds of the teapot, so the priest didn’t stop pouring.

What was meant to happen would always happen; the change occurred in an instant. Just as the priest was pouring tea into the Khotan jade teapot, a strange sound emanated from one side of the teapot.

In a blink, the priest hadn’t had time to retract the long-spouted iron kettle when the exquisite Khotan jade teapot in the Yidao Pavilion owner’s tray seemed to be hit by something and burst from the spout.

The Yidao Pavilion owner had no time to react; the pot shattered with a ”bang” into a heap of jade fragments. The majority of the tea inside exploded, yet the owner was not affected due to the tray’s barrier.

But Watanabe Yasu, who faced the spout directly, was pretty unlucky, as a majority of the tea splashed towards him.

Though the tea had cooled somewhat from being poured from the iron kettle into the jade pot, it was still about eighty to ninety degrees. A pot full of tea splashing towards Watanabe Yasu hit right at his elbow holding the tray, making him cry out in surprise as his face twisted in pain.

Almost instinctively, he stood up from his kneeling posture on the altar, hurriedly placing the tray on the ground, and started rolling up his sleeve. Indeed, a large area of skin on his elbow was scalded red.

Watanabe Yasu’s face darkened immediately, his mind blank, anger overwhelming him too much to think. He dashed towards the Yidao Pavilion owner: ”What’s going on? Huh?”

The change happened too abruptly, with the tea set suddenly exploding. Several priests and shrine maidens were bewildered, and now witnessing Watanabe Yasu seemingly start a scuffle with the Yidao Pavilion owner, their heads were in a spin. Seven or eight people rushed over to separate Watanabe Yasu and the owner, causing chaos on the altar.

Nobody noticed that during this moment of chaos, someone who had long been waiting for an opportunity quietly reached out a sinister hand towards the tray left by Watanabe Yasu on the altar.