Chapter 1. Not suspicious at all (oolong honey milk tea)

The weather by the sea was calm, with clear waters and blue skies. Situated at the border between the sand and the trees was a small house. There was no fence—at best, the rows of potted plants and vegetable plots served as a marker of the house’s extent.

Nguyễn Nam Phương’s sleeves were rolled up as he tended to his little garden plots. Fresh herbs were interspersed with flowers and all the manner of vegetables and grains.

In the distance, his sword was out chopping down firewood.

The flowers in the garden plot were a bit (very) wilted. Phương tilted his head, shifting his conical straw hat out of the way, and squinted at them. He had followed the instructions exactly. Why didn’t they look livelier?  It was seriously affecting the ‘idyllic’ pastoral nature of his retirement.

“…Tea room?”

There was a rush of wind before an immortal fairy cultivator stopped outside Phương’s house.

Indeed, at the front of the house, there as a small sign: tea & milk, with a drawing of a cup on the sign.

Phương straightened and took off his gardening gloves. “Hello,” he greeted, giving a casual nod. “Would you like some milk tea?”

The immortal fairy cultivator was dressed in white and blue robes. Her long black straight hair swayed slightly in an invisible breeze. She had a cold aura around her and an appearance that could definitely debut back in his old world, the kind where fans would call her ‘big sister’ and asked to be stepped on.

“I’m not in a hurry,” the fairy cultivator said with a sarcastic hint in her voice.

Phương knew she wasn’t mocking him. “Then take a seat.”

The immortal fairy cultivator’s gaze swept across the small round table placed in the garden and the larger table placed indoors. She took a seat outside and said, “Little brother, give me something strong.”

“I’ll make you something right away,” Phương said.

The house was small and modest. The front room had floor-to-ceiling glass folding doors. They were currently all folded to the side, opening the front room fully to the garden. Aside from the dining table, the kitchen was also set in the same room, making it a combined kitchen-dining space. A subtle array protected the kitchen area from the dust and insects.

The immortal fairy cultivator glanced at that strange kitchen, and then at the strange cultivator who was preparing her drink.

Phương brewed the oolong tea first. As it steeped, he prepared the other ingredients: honey, boba pearls, and a soy-based nondairy creamer.

Phương added the honey. The pale creamer swirled into the deep orange tea. He added the boba pearls into the serving glass and poured the sweetened milk tea on top.

Completed, Phương placed the serving glass on a round tray and added a long wide straw and a spoon on top of a clean napkin.

“A warm oolong honey milk tea,” Phương said, placing the tray in front of the immortal fairy cultivator. “You can use the spoon to scoop up the tapioca pearls at the bottom, or suck them up through this straw.”

The Immortal Fairy Tuyết pursed her lips. None of the ingredients contained unique spiritual energy—they were just ordinary. She took a sip. Warmth from the drink spread through her body.

Rather than forgetting the past, it made her remember a certain someone preparing a warm drink for her. The air around her swirled in agitation as grievance filled her eyes.

Phương gave her space. Since it was lunch, he made rice paper rolls using the fresh herbs and salad greens from his garden

It was only polite to offer the immortal fairy cultivator a few.

Phương didn’t expect her eyes to redden. After a beat, Phương took the chair opposite her. “Big sister, what seems to the problem?”

Immortal Fairy Tuyết couldn’t bear the concerned expression. “It turns out that my lover was the one who killed my family! I will never get to eat the rice paper rolls made by my mum ever again!” she choked out. Her fist clenched, eyes a bit wet as she spilled her tragic story of mistaken lovers and mistaken enemies and of a life upturned.

The person who had been her lover had secretly plotted and killed her family, all for her family’s treasures. And she hadn’t known for years, for decades, as her ex-lover had supported her past this tragedy to cultivate together.

It was only recently that she found out that the childhood friend who turned into man she disliked was still secretly good—he was the one who saved her back then!

Phương listened without saying anything aside from making affirmative noises. The immortal fairy slowly calmed herself down.

“I pretended to go into seclusion,” she said bitterly. “They shouldn’t expect me out for another few years. But how can I cultivate with this on my mind? If I attempt to, it’ll lead to distorted cultivation at best, and a heart demon at worse.” At this point, she had drunk most of the tea. Using the thin long spoon, she scooped out some of the tapioca pearls. Her eyes widened in surprise. “What is this?”

“Tapioca pearls. It’s made from tapioca flour and dark brown sugar.”

“Hm.” The immortal fairy chewed a few more pearls. Putting the cup and spoon down, she condensed a bit of her cold aura. “You must think I am stupid.”

“Either your lover lied to you, or your childhood friend lied to you,” Phương said, shaking his head. “It’s very hard to determine.”

“Heh.” The immortal fairy stared at the remaining pearls in her cup.

The cup was very clear. After drinking the tea, the pearls were revealed. Viewing them through the cup, the pearls were distorted. But viewing from above, it was clear how smooth and round they were.

Immortal Fairy Tuyết’s eyes flashed. Others’ words weren’t sufficient to satisfy her. She had to investigate the truth herself, clarify the past, and bring justice to her family.

Determination settled in Immortal Fairy Tuyết’s heart. She finished the tapioca pearls and placed a spiritual stone on the table as payment.

Phương stood up and accepted the spiritual stone. “Thank you. Best wishes for your endeavours.”

Immortal Fairy Tuyết glanced at the pitiful shop. “And best wishes for yours.” In a blink of an eye, she turned into a flash of white in the sky.

Phương cleared away the table. Seeing his sword deposit a large stack of firewood under the lean-to, he tossed it the spiritual stone. “No more work for the rest of the day.”

The sword bobbed happily. It deftly caught the stone on the flat of the blade and ran away to play.

Phương went back into the house. In the kitchen, he opened his most recent version of a dishwasher. After fiddling with its settings, he put the dishes in to wash.

It had been over thirty years since he transmigrated into this world.

Entering a major sect and learning to cultivate was fun at first.

But as Phương became stronger, the amount of politics, infighting and administration he had to deal with grew exponentially. Had he really died in his old world from overwork just to come here to overwork himself some more??!!

And because cultivator constitutions were strong, it was possible to work without sleeping or eating.

After Phương pulled a 0-0-7 week, he decided he had enough. He took a difficult mission, faked his death, and retreated to this beach to retire and live in seclusion.

He built a cozy little house (successful) and made a cozy little garden (debatable) and enjoyed his retirement life.

He hadn’t planned to set up a tea room.

It just happened when an unexpected traveller came by asking for some water, and then another traveller came by asking for some tea, and then another traveller came by asking for a brief place to rest.

He decided it might be fun to play shop for a while. After all, weren’t cafes really cozy? And he had already made a tapioca-pearl making machine for his own use; serving some to others was easy and his sword liked playing with spiritual stones he received as payment.

The best part of retirement was that he could sleep during the day. Phương closed the front doors, turned on the air-conditioner and went to have a nap.

Upon waking up, Phương went back out to the garden and stared at his wilted flowers again. He watered them and then stared at them some more.

…Perhaps he should find a gardener or give up on growing flowers.

He also glanced at the growing weeds in his vegetable garden. He had originally thought about growing enough crops to be self-sufficient but weeding was tedious.

He probably wasn’t suited to having a cozy garden. Well, he couldn’t be a genius in everything.

Phương finished watering everything else and headed into his workshop to do something more fun.

The workshop was as big as the house. There were several stations and refiners for handling metal, glass, wood, spiritual stones etc., piles of materials, and stacks of old prototypes.

Phương sat down at his work desk and began planning out his new creation. He tinkered in the workshop before finally emerging with his new automated irrigation system. He had figured it out—if he couldn’t garden well, he’d just refine devices and artefacts and systems that did it for him, easy!

Phương: *smug* You know what, I am a genius in everything!

Immortal Fairy Tuyết: This little brother’s tearoom is so pitiful, I’ll donate a spiritual stone.

Notes:

Tuyết: means “snow”

Nguyễn Nam Phương: Vietnamese names follow the pattern of [Family name] [Middle Name] [Given Name]. It’s common to call people (even senior adults) by their [Title] + [Given Name], rather than family name.

0-0-7: from hour 0 to hour 0, 7 days a week, aka, a work schedule of 24 hours, 7 days a week!