True Love Waits

Sheffield wore a sky blue casual shirt today, and the smile on his face was still that rakish smirk he always wore, a grin that hinted at danger. And he looked none the worse for Evelyn's harsh words, as if nothing happened yesterday. He was still so happy when he saw her.

His generosity embarrassed Evelyn. She nodded slightly and apologized, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asked in confusion.

"About yesterday..." she explained uncomfortably. "I had no clue the old woman's backpack was filled with dangerous goods."

"I've dealt with her kind before. Don't worry. Just be careful from now on. I have to go! See ya later!"

Before Evelyn could respond, Sheffield had already returned to his buddies.

Evelyn was a little disappointed when she saw him with his colleagues; talking, laughing, clapping each other on the back.

She shook it off and walked into the tea plantation with a wicker basket.

The plantation was located on a mountain. Evelyn's new sneakers were soon stained with clay, dirt, and who knew what else.

She took out a wet tissue and tried to clean them. A futile gesture, as after two minutes, they were muddy once more. At last, she gave up and decided to clean them after getting back to the guesthouse.

At the top of the mountain, a female tea leaf picker waited for her. She took her to a high-class tea plantation and taught her to pick the tender sprouts. The process involved finding the young and juicy leaves with a portion of the stem and a bud at the end. Then when she found that, she carefully picked it and placed it in her basket.

Evelyn really enjoyed this. It was relaxing, Zen-like. She stayed on the hilltop a while longer, her mood much improved.

Soon enough, her basket was half full. A familiar voice suddenly said behind her, "Hey! Need a break?"

It was Sheffield.

he had been standing there. When she turned around, he was smiling

basket of leaves and answered in a

looked at all the tea

she was having problems when she started. She had

It seemed he knew everything, and he didn't brag. It turned out that he was better

of lip tea?"

name sounded strange.

Royal Court. It was collected by teenage girls and stored in a wicker funnel. The young girls picked the tea leaves using their mouths, and warmed them with their body heat. So the pickers were also the brewers. Generally speaking, they were all

cast a sidelong glance at the serious expression on his

you." He looked into her eyes and smiled at her mischievously. "How about I pick some tea leaves with my mouth so that

fine. How about you pick some for

his mouth while he was

the sprouts, he said cheerfully, "Mmm, these are really good. You picked these yourself? Not bad for a novice. Much yummier than mine. Tell you what: if you pick them with your mouth and then use your body heat to warm them up... Okay, okay,

I'm almost 30. See if you have any better luck asking someone of that age."

about it for a while and said, "No one's said that to me in about 20 years. And they called me 'cute.' You weren't

put on a tough front to deal with them. The

do. I mean they don't know

that there was one kind of woman that was born to be admired, and

did he say? That was before Evelyn. He

today, he'd say he met one. More than that, he'd yell

continued what she was doing. "Hah! You're just saying that

them on a pedestal. But they're not worth it. You, on the other hand...

to get married one day, just tell me. I'd do

who was looking at her