Li Nannan sent over an account ID.
The ID was a long string: "For black tea purchases, please contact me. I have a large supply of various black teas." The personal signature repeated this phrase.
Jiang Ye frowned. What was this?
Was the heat on? Was Li Nannan no longer accepting cash or transfers, and now wanted him to bribe her by buying black tea?
Jiang Ye looked at the account's social media feed. It posted over twenty times a month, all photos of lush green tea gardens, smiling tea-picking girls wearing conical hats, and various promotional messages:
"Tea polyphenols have multiple physiological activities such as antioxidant, anti-radiation, anti-aging, blood lipid lowering, blood sugar lowering, and antibacterial/anti-enzyme effects. Drinking more tea is beneficial to health. For good black tea, contact me..."
"What are coffee's seductive tricks? What are wine's slow poisons? Those who truly understand how to drink must drink tea. Tea is the noble beverage. For good black tea, find me..."
"Sincerely recruiting tea agents from all planets..."
"Multiple new teas, esteemed bosses, please patronize..."
Jiang Ye scratched his head. As far as he knew, that phrase had a certain ambiguity. But that ambiguity didn't seem applicable here; this social media feed was purely that of a dedicated tea vendor. Besides promotional tea posts, there was nothing else.
He couldn't help himself and sent a message to Li Nannan, "Commander, what's the meaning of this account... Is it your relative's tea shop?"
Li Nannan: "I forgot to tell you, the owner of this account is named Liang Wan. The Music City garrison has assigned the Xie Long Rapid Reaction Force's 1148th Independent Regiment here, and she is the new regiment commander. Add her and communicate with her about garrison matters."
Li Nannan: "This Liang Wan was my classmate at the military academy, but our relationship wasn't very close. She was only there for half a year before being disciplined and held back a year. She's quite beautiful. She skipped class to go to the cinema, and a guy insisted on sitting next to her. She changed seats, and the guy followed. He even reached out to touch her waist. She took out the surgical scissors she'd learned about in the military medical popularization class and gave the guy two jabs, aiming for his crotch and cutting off half of it. The guy bled so much he soaked the seats and nearly died in the cinema."
Jiang Ye: "What a savage."
Li Nannan: "She's received many disciplinary actions from the military too. I heard it was all due to her temper flaring up and making mistakes. Otherwise, she would have been promoted long ago and wouldn't still be just a small regiment commander. She's fought more battles than I have. I'm already a division commander and hold many other positions, but she only has the regiment commander role. I haven't seen her in years. I suspect her temper is still quite explosive. There are plenty of hot-tempered people in the military, but she's probably the most volatile among them. Be careful not to provoke her."
Jiang Ye: "I'll definitely serve her well. After all, she's a garrison dignitary, no, an empress dowager."
Jiang Ye thought for a moment. "So, why is her account for selling tea?"
Li Nannan: "It seems her family has a tea plantation, and it's quite large. She's helping her family sell their surplus tea. You're smart, I don't need to explain further."
Jiang Ye understood her meaning.
Tea could be an entry point, a way to tie her down.
Jiang Ye immediately activated the earpiece in his ear and called Feng Zhi Shuang, "Busy, Old Feng?"
"Just finished. What's up?" Feng Zhi Shuang's voice was groggy, like he had just woken up.
"Does Jiang Ye Star have any tea companies?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Tea companies... I remember a few. Which aspect are you referring to?" Feng Zhi Shuang's voice had rustling sounds, clearly indicating he had just gotten out of bed, followed by the shuffling of slippers. "Wait a moment, I'll check for you."
"I need all companies related to tea, with a focus on those that produce black tea," Jiang Ye said.
Soon, Feng Zhi Shuang had the results.
"Let me read them to you."
"The first company is called Rizhao Green Tea. It's a large enterprise with several hundred years of history. Its main business is the production and sale of various affordable teas, the kind you buy in paper boxes on supermarket shelves. Currently, this company only has one store in Binhai City, supplying to various supermarkets. Business is good. A few days ago, they submitted an application to establish a green tea production base on Jiang Ye Star. The review is nearing completion, and they plan to approve it within the next day or two once all procedures are complete."
"Don't approve it," Jiang Ye interrupted. "Don't approve it for now, wait for my word."
Feng Zhi Shuang was a bit surprised, but as astute as she was, she quickly guessed, "You're going into the tea business?"
"No, an important person might be. I need to leave space for her," Jiang Ye said. "Continue."
"The second company is called Snow Domain Cordyceps. Its main business is grinding cordyceps and reishi mushrooms into powder and making them into small tea tablets that are steeped in water and drunk. In reality, this company is more like a health supplement company or a pharmaceutical company, but they are registered as a tea company to avoid many restrictions and taxes," Feng Zhi Shuang said.
"This one is fine, let them operate," Jiang Ye said after thinking.
"Ancient Dragon Tribute Tea specializes in high-end tea gift boxes. They claim to be descendants of those who produced tribute tea for ancient emperors, but it's purely marketing. Their products are never below ten thousand yuan, targeting the wealthy," Feng Zhi Shuang said. "They have a wide variety of teas and support ordering different teas from various planets. As long as the money is enough, theoretically, you can buy any tea from Ancient Dragon Tribute Tea Company. The Billionaire's Club in Binhai City drinks this brand at every club event."
"How large is this company's scale on Jiang Ye Star?" Jiang Ye asked.
"Not large. They have one store in Binhai City and one in Petroleum City," Feng Zhi Shuang said. "They recently inquired about building a hotel, but they haven't submitted a formal application yet."
"Building a hotel?" Jiang Ye didn't understand.
"This company's business scope is very broad. Besides high-end tea, they also have high-end hotels, high-end jewelry, high-end amusement parks, high-end private spacecraft..."
"If they submit any application for expanding their tea operations, hold it back and don't approve it. Wait for my word," Jiang Ye said.
Feng Zhi Shuang introduced seven or eight more tea companies, all small local startups that were not yet influential and had no impact on the overall situation, so Jiang Ye ignored them.
"If you want to help a tea company, I can provide a list of ways to help," Feng Zhi Shuang said. "Several people in my workgroup have experience in this area."
"Okay," Jiang Ye agreed immediately. "Thank you for your trouble."
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Ye clicked on the account Li Nannan had sent and applied to add her as a friend.
The ID name was too long, so he set a remark: "Liang Wan."
After waiting for more than ten minutes, the friend request was finally approved. Perhaps this Liang Wan was quite busy.
"Hello Commander Liang, I am Jiang Ye, the Commander of Jiang Ye Star. I warmly welcome your troops to station in Music City for security work. I would like to communicate with you about specific garrison matters, such as when your troops will arrive, what specifications of military bases need to be built, and any other requirements. I will do my utmost to fulfill them."
Jiang Ye got straight to the point, polite but not overly so, as he was dealing with military personnel. Being straightforward and efficient was better.