Episode 1: How one cup destroyed 40 years of friendship
Estimated reading time: 3-4 minutes
The conference room is silent when I arrive.
Three displays dominate the mahogany table, each one carefully arranged like a museum exhibit. My breath catches as I recognize them—the complete "Lohas Three Pillars" collection I saw on the Leaf & Vessel website.
In the center On the left: Su Huan-jen's magnificent blue collection. The full three-piece ceremonial set gleams like the captured sky—cobalt swirled with azure, each piece crowned with a delicate gold rim that catches the light. Real gold, hand-painted with meticulous care. His matching two-piece daily set mirrors the elegance. Five pieces total, a symphony of blue and precious metal.
On the left: Yi Ye Shu's warm tan collection. The natural clay tones speak of earth and wisdom, each piece bearing the same real gold rim detail as Su Huan-jen's set—genuine 24-karat gold that gleams with unmistakable luxury. The three-piece ceremonial collection plus the two-piece daily set—five pieces that radiate quiet sophistication and undeniable value.
On the right: Something different.
Ye Hsiao-Chai's collection sits in stark contrast—a deep, rich black two-piece set. Just the cup and lid, no ceremonial extras, no matching teapot. No gold rim. The black isn't ordinary black—it's the deep obsidian of midnight, of shadows, of mysteries yet to be revealed. His scarred visage is etched into the ceramic, but in this darkness, the scar seems less like damage and more like... character. Still, the absence of that golden crown feels like a deliberate omission.
The visual is stark. Two elaborate five-piece collections crowned with real gold against one simple two-piece set without any precious metal. Not just different in quantity but different in materials—as if one was designed for royalty and the other for everyday use.
I'm still staring when the door opens.
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Su Huan-jen enters first, and I see him the way he truly is—not the legendary puppet, but the essence of the character made manifest. Tall, graceful, dressed in flowing white robes that seem to shimmer with their own light. His presence fills the room with calm authority. |
He stops dead when he sees the display.
"Oh." The word escapes him like a sigh. His eyes move from his elaborate blue and gold collection to the simple black set at the end. For a moment, something like shame flickers across his perfect features.
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Su Huan-jen enters first, and I see him the way he truly is—not the legendary puppet, but the essence of the character made manifest. Tall, graceful, dressed in flowing white robes that seem to shimmer with their own light. His presence fills the room with calm authority. |
He stops dead when he sees the display.
"Oh." The word escapes him like a sigh. His eyes move from his elaborate blue and gold collection to the simple black set at the end. For a moment, something like shame flickers across his perfect features.
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Yi Ye Shu walks in next, his black robes rustling. Where Su Huan-jen embodies serene leadership, Yi Ye Shu radiates intellectual power—the sage, the strategist. But when his gaze lands on the pottery display, his composed expression cracks. |
"Who arranged this?" His voice is tight and controlled.
"The studio," I manage to say. "They wanted to show off the collection while we discussed the reunion."
Both men stand frozen, staring at their lavish five-piece sets with their golden rims, then at that simple black two-piece collection.
The door opens a third time before another word can be spoken.
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Ye Hsiao-Chai enters, and my heart immediately breaks for him. He's smaller than the others, leaner, with silver-streaked hair and a jagged scar running from his left temple to his jaw. But his eyes—his eyes burn with the intensity of a man who has sacrificed everything for honour.
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He takes three steps into the room and stops.
His gaze locks onto the display. First at his own stark black set, then at the other collections with their gleaming golden rims. I watch as understanding dawns in his eyes—not just gold paint, but real gold. Actual precious metal adorns his brothers' pieces while his remains are unadorned.
I watch as forty years of buried pain surface in his expression, now mixed with fresh humiliation. His hands clench into fists. His breathing becomes shallow.
"You've got to be kidding me," he whispers.
Su Huan-Jen turns toward him, guilt written across his features. "Hsiao-Chai, we didn't know they were going to—"
"Display it?" Ye Hsiao-Chai's voice rises. "Show the world exactly how different I am from you two? How did I get the plain black set while you get the ceremonial collections with real gold rims? Actual precious metal while I got... nothing?"
Yi Ye Shu steps forward. "It's just pottery. It doesn't mean—"
"Doesn't mean what?" Ye Hsiao-Chai spins around, his scar catching the light. "Doesn't mean that while you got two complete ceremonial sets with all the fixings, with real gold rims—I got the basic black two-piece? No precious metal, no elaborate design, no luxury materials?"
The silence is deafening.
"Do you know what the collector's market calls my set?" His voice drops to a dangerous whisper. 'The Shadow Warrior Cup, not a collection, just a cup.' They market me as the mysterious one, the simple one, the one who doesn't need gold—real gold—to be special. But we all know the truth—. I got less as always, because I am less."
Su Huan-jen's face goes pale. "We never knew—"
"Of course you didn't know!" Ye Hsiao-Chai's control finally snaps. "Because no one asked! No one wondered why the fake “third pillar” got plain ceramic while you got real gold! No one cared that while you two got precious metal crowns, I got nothing but black clay with a blemish!"
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He stares at his black two-piece set, and I can see every year of being overlooked, underestimated, and reduced to the simple option. |
"Forty years," he breathes. "Forty years I've stood beside you. Fought beside you. Bled beside you. And this—" he gestures at the display "—this is how you really see me. As less than equal. As the damaged one who gets the leftover piece."
Yi Ye Shu reaches out. "Brother, please—"
"Don't." Ye Hsiao-Chai's voice is deadly quiet. "Don't call me brother."
The air in the room crackles with tension. I can barely breathe, my stomach twisted in knots as I watch decades of friendship disintegrating in real-time.
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Ye Hsiao-Chai walks to the table and picks up his black cup, holding it like evidence in a trial. The deep obsidian surface absorbs the light, creating an almost hypnotic depth. |
"You want to know why I haven't spoken to either of you in three months? Why I've avoided every meeting, every call, every attempt at reconciliation?"
He holds the cup higher.
The cup seems to pulse in his hand, the black surface reflecting hidden depths—beautiful but unadorned. It even had a scar, I thought a cup with a scar was so… and it looked...
My thought was interrupted when I heard Ye Hsiao-Chai blurted "Tomorrow, everyone will find out the truth."
(to be continued)
What will Ye Hsiao-Chai do next? The tension has never been higher…
[Coming Soon Episode 2]
THE PILI LEGENDS EXHIBITION
The Pili Heroes Collection, ceramic masterpieces, is now available. These three legendary characters are the crown jewel of Taiwanese storytelling culture. Preserved in this limited collection for the first time. Each Vessel, glazed with live water technology, enhances your beverage through molecular interaction, transforming your tea ritual into an act of cultural preservation.
Explore and Purchase Your Hero
Will you choose the ceremonial grandeur of Su Huan-jen? The wise elegance of Yi Ye Shu? Or discover the hidden power of Ye Hsiao-Chai's shadow collection?
