Mandarin Chinese

Take a video call from Seattle: hear that Missus Lin has retired, congratulate her, hear that the buying is yours now, count twenty kinds of tea, ask for the budget, and promise to have it all bought before December.

Tell Master Chen and Missus Wang the news: hear that they know already, ask when and how they found out, hear last night, say you'll go to Anhui first, to Little Wu's family, and hear the master's advice.

Plan the trip with Lan: ask whether she has ever been to Anhui, say you never have, hear fast train first and then the coach, ask how long it takes, hear about five hours, and let her book the tickets.

Step off the coach in Anhui: hear that you've finally arrived, say you've found him, say you sat five hours and are a bit tired, refuse help with the luggage, and hear let's go home, his mother is waiting.

Arrive at the Wu family's house: greet Little Wu's mother, hear that the door is open, admire the white walls and black tiles, ask who is in the photographs on the wall, and meet Mei, Little Wu's younger sister.

Look at Little Wu's first tea: ask how the leaves can be so big, hear two leaves hold one bud, ask how it's made, hear that it's pressed flat by hand when it's just been picked, and ask to try.

Ask Little Wu's mother how Maofeng is made: hear first the hot frying, then the rolling, finally the drying, ask what the first step is, hear that the fire can't be too big, and that it takes a whole night.

Taste the samples with Mei and her mother: hear top grade and first grade, ask which is which, hear taste first and then talk, pick out the more fragrant one, hear the two prices, and order twenty jin.

Sit through the question every mother asks: hear that Little Wu is twenty-six already and it's time he married, ask whether he has a girlfriend, hear not yet, get the same question yourself, and hear Little Wu beg her to stop.

Climb the Yellow Mountain before dawn with Little Wu: hear get up at four to watch the sunrise, hear the climb takes two hours, see the sea of cloud, hear his dream of a brand of his own, and promise to talk on the way down.

Walk the Su Causeway after dark with Lan: say let's hold hands, say don't let anyone see, say nobody knows us here, keep your thing between you, and say her father would be angry.

Hear from Missus Wang that she knows about you and Lan: ask how she knows, hear she could tell long ago, follow at the time and later, beg her not to tell, and hear she said nothing.

Help Lan in a shop that has outgrown two people: hear the orders keep growing, say you can't keep up, say there's no time and the parcels go out tomorrow, and ask whether to hire someone.

Pack the evening's orders with Lan: put the tea into the box, ask how much goes in one, write the address clearly, send a case to Shanghai, and hear don't crush the tea.

Open the shop door to Travis, the importer from California: say long time no see, ask what brings him, offer him a seat and tea, hear he wants a talk with Master Chen, and hear he wants all of next spring's tea.

Sit in on Travis's offer to Lan's father: hear he wants all of next year's tea at three thousand a jin, paid in advance, hear that for the family there is no risk, and say a contract is for Master Chen to decide.

Hear Lan's father argue for the offer and Missus Wang against it: say I think it's a good thing, say Dad is getting old, say the money is in hand first, hear I hold that it won't do, and say the master decides himself.

Ask your master what he thinks of the offer: hear the tea has not even grown yet, say the buyer pays in advance, hear it is not a matter of money, hear he does not sell to people he does not know, and say you understand.

Tell Lan that Missus Lin wants the Chens' tea too: say one side is the family and one the shop, say you are the buyer and the apprentice, hear that as she sees it you must help both sides, and say you will think it over.

Give Travis the master's answer, politely: say sorry, say master-father has already decided, say you are afraid not, suggest going on year by year, and leave the door open for another time.

Take Missus Lin's autumn list on a video call: hear that it's time to buy Tieguanyin, ask where, hear that autumn tea is the most fragrant, order ten jin of each kind, and promise not to forget the test report or Chaozhou.

Spend the night in Old Su's tea room in Anxi: hear that tonight the leaves are shaken, ask how, hear four times in one night, ask whether he sleeps, offer to help, smell the fragrance that has come out, and say it's like orchids.

Drink the night's tea with Old Su at dawn and hear how it used to be: ask whether he shook leaves as a child, hear that back then there were no machines, that it was all rolled with the feet, that a jin was only a few mao, and that people today don't understand.

Buy like a buyer in the Su family's shop: hear top grade and first grade, ask where the tea is from, ask for the test report, hear there are no pesticides, ask the price, and hear that it is negotiable.

Turn down a cheaper batch in the Su family's shop without losing the friend: hear it's a lot cheaper, guess it isn't from Anxi, say sorry, you can't take it, say you only buy their own, and say you're still friends.

Sit down at Old Zheng's tray in Chaozhou: be offered gongfu tea, ask why only three cups, hear that Chaozhou people always use three, ask how long he has been brewing, hear fifty years, ask him to teach you, and hear that the water must boil.

Take the host's side of Old Zheng's tray: hear that today it's Dancong, Honey Orchid, ask whether you brew, be told you pour too slowly, hear that brewed too long it turns bitter, and ask to go once more.

Report to Missus Lin in December: say all twenty kinds are bought, hear her ask about the budget, say not only under budget but money saved, say how much, say the tea has all been sent off, and hear well done.

Walk the causeway with Lan on Christmas Eve: hear what night it is, give her an apple, hear a year of peace, say let's walk holding hands, hear that people are looking, say nobody here knows you, and wish her a merry Christmas.

Meet Lan's mother at the end of the causeway, hand in hand: hear Lan ask what she's doing here, hear her ask how long, say since summer, hear half a year already, say sorry, you didn't tell her, hear don't tell Dad yet, and hear we'll talk at home.