51. Places for Blind Dates (1)

  The teahouse is decorated in a very rustic style.

  Pushing open the door, it is a beautiful screen with paintings of high mountains, flowing water, cranes and green pines. On both sides of the screen are two porcelain vases over one meter high, painted with patterns of hundreds of birds paying homage to the phoenix.

  On the wall hung several paintings and calligraphies, including bold and unrestrained cursive script, elegant and precise running script, heavily inked landscape paintings, as well as lightly outlined and delicately colored flower-and-bird paintings.

  In the hall, many small compartments were separated by wooden boards. Each compartment had crystal curtains hanging from them. Through the curtains, one could faintly see the neatly arranged Eight Immortals tables and rattan chairs.

  A young man with a flat head in the counter saw the sack and, before he could speak, smiled and greeted him, "Sack, another blind date?"

  The hemp bag was stunned for a moment, and then quickly shook its head, "No, no, no, those two are my friends."

  "This is my friend Li Minghao. We usually call him Ah Hao. This teahouse was opened by him," said Ma Dai, introducing us to Lan Qi.

  "Hello, I'm Su Muxian," I said, shaking hands with Li Minghao who was introduced by Ma Dai.

  "My name is Lan Qi," Lan Qi also greeted Li Minghao.

  Li Minghao also warmly greeted me and Lan Qi.

  "Go upstairs to room 4," said Li Minghao, shouting into the hall at a young man holding a tray, "A Gui, take them to room 4 on the second floor."

  "Alright," said the young man called Ah Kwei, walking over with a smile all over his face.

  "Alright, Gunny brother, blind date again?" Ah Kui said with a smile as he saw Gunny and Blue Ribbon behind him, along with me.

  "You and Ah Hao, you're really worthy of being cousins. After seeing me, the first sentence is always 'Mazai, another blind date?' Can't you come up with something else?" Mazai shook his head helplessly.

  "Aren't you here for a blind date? Why are you dressed like that? And I saw the girl is about your age, I thought it was like last time, she brought her brother to check you out," Ah Gui said with a smile, leading us three upstairs.

  "Hmm, this morning my family arranged a blind date for me. I went back home at noon and didn't even have time to change clothes before heading out," said Mai Dai with a smile.

  "What about this time? Is there a possibility of success?" Ah Kui asked.

  "It's still those three words, no electricity," the burlap sack chuckled and lifted the curtain to enter compartment No. 4.

  I and Lan Qi also followed in and sat down.

  "It's not that I'm saying you're picky, but these girls nowadays, the conditions you're asking for, where can you find them? I think you should be more realistic and just find someone with a compatible temperament and character, as long as they can live a down-to-earth life together," Ah Kui said, handing over an exquisitely printed tea manual to Ma Dai.

  The hemp sack flipped through a few pages and looked up to ask, "Hmm, do you drink black tea or green tea? Or..."

  I smiled and said, "Anything goes."

  Lan Qie also nodded, "You're familiar with this place, you lead the way."

  "Alright, let's start with a pot of Iron Goddess tea. Hmm, this fruit platter, we'll take two of those. This dessert, we'll have three servings of that one. And this one, we'll also have three servings of it. And this one, I want a large serving," said Ma Dai.

  "Alright," Ah Kwei said with a nod, turned around and lifted the door curtain, went down.

  "Hemp bag, do you often come here for blind dates?" Lan Qi asked with a smile.

  "I came last week too, but not very often, maybe two or three times a month," said Ma Dai with a smile.

  "Burlap bag, have you seen those blind date shows on TV?" I asked.

  "At first, I still wanted to watch, but later on, I didn't want to watch anymore," said the gunnysack.

  "Why?" I asked.