Qie Gua teapot

The Adventures of the Eggplant Gourd Teapot

Old Zhang had run his tea stall for thirty years, but he’d never seen anyone use a purple clay teapot as a weapon.

That afternoon, art student Wang Xiaopang burst into the stall clutching an eggplant gourd teapot—its plump purple clay body glistening like a freshly picked eggplant. “Uncle Zhang, save me!” Before he finished, three boys in basketball jerseys chased in. The leader pointed at Xiaopang, yelling: “Return my limited-edition star player card!”

Xiaopang slammed the eggplant teapot on the table, his face flushing. “I didn’t take it! It crawled in by itself!”

Old Zhang squinted at the teapot—he’d seen plenty of eggplant gourd styles, but none with a sliver of colorful paper peeking from the lid seam. He reached to touch it, but the boy in blue jersey snatched the pot, weighing it: “This lousy eggplant could hide a card?” He raised it to smash on the ground.

“Don’t!” Old Zhang and Xiaopang shouted in unison.

The teapot thudded onto the bluestone slab—unbroken. Instead, it bounced, “clicking” as something fell out—not a star player card, but half a chocolate bar. The blue jersey gaped: “Where’s my card?”

Then came a rustling from inside. Xiaopang grabbed the pot, tipping it upside down. A shower of odds and ends tumbled out: an eraser, paperclips, a rock-hard potato chip. Finally, a crumpled star player card flopped out.

“I knew it was with you!” The blue jersey lunged, but Old Zhang suddenly pointed at the pot’s base, laughing: “Look what’s carved here!”

They crowded around. Scrawled on the eggplant teapot’s bottom were messy characters: “Xiaopang’s Snack Vault.”

Xiaopang’s face burned. “I-I just stashed a few things…”

The red jersey smacked his thigh: “No wonder my eraser went missing yesterday!”

Old Zhang smoothed things over, brewing a pot of Biluochun and pouring each a cup from the eggplant teapot. The blue jersey smacked his lips: “Not gonna lie, this ‘purple eggplant’ makes good tea.”

Xiaopang hurried to return the card, hugging his teapot with a grin: “Grandpa made this. He said it looks like an eggplant—real good at ‘holding stuff.’”

Old Zhang eyed the plump pot, thinking: It’s not just “holding stuff”—it’s a trouble-making little rascal. After that, every art student knew: Wang Xiaopang had an “Eggplant Agent” that stored snacks and brewed tea.

Qie Gua teapot, 200cc, Purple clay