"Sir, look, is this how tea is grown?" A yamen runner carefully straightened the tea seedling at hand, fearing that he would accidentally break it.
Jiang Miao looked over and said, "Yes, that's right. There's no need to be so careful."
They had found these tea trees by searching the surrounding mountains. They had marked the places so that they could find them quickly and transplant them here.
There were more tea trees on the mountain than they had imagined, but not enough to fill the land they had cleared. So Pei Che had no choice but to send people to look for more while sending people to the south to see if he could buy some tea seedlings.
On the other hand, Jiang Miao was also thinking of a solution. He remembered that his friend had said that there were many ways to grow tea trees, but methods like division and grafting were not particularly suitable for the current situation. Jiang Miao decided to use layering and cuttings to propagate.
Unfortunately, he had only heard of these two methods at first, and had never actually practiced them. Now he could only improve them as he went along. After Jiang Miao inspected the mountain, he tied red ropes on some particularly strong branches. Once these tea trees survived, he would start layering experiments.
If you want to propagate by cuttings, you need to build a greenhouse and get some loose sandy soil so that it can survive in warm and humid soil. This way the chances of success will be greater.
Jiang Miao observed the surrounding environment and decided to build the greenhouse in a village at the foot of the mountain. There were not many people in this village, only 30 households in total. The village chief's house, which had the best conditions in the village, was also built with yellow mud and stones. There was nothing special about it except that it looked a little bigger than other houses.
When the village chief heard that the government was going to build a house here, he was so excited that he trembled and said on the spot that he would gather people as soon as possible to help them build the house.
Jiang Miao had previously asked someone to find out the current price of building a house. After hearing the village chief's guarantee, he told them his requirements and then took out a bag of silver.
The village chief looked at the bag of silver and his attitude became better. His old face smiled like a daisy. He originally thought that these masters would not give money, at least not so readily. He did not expect that this young official would trust him so much.
"Village Chief Huang, here are fifty taels of silver. After you help me build the house I requested, the remaining silver will all belong to you." Jiang Miao smiled and said something very tempting.
Village Chief Huang swallowed hard. The rest belongs to him? Even if there are only a few taels left, it is still a lot of income for him. What kind of work can earn a few taels in such a short time? However, this is the minimum. From the tone of this gentleman, it seems that he does not intend to send a supervisor. In that case, he will have the final say. At that time, hehe...
Jiang Miao kept smiling. He looked at the honest village chief's face, which showed his unconcealed yearning. He even wanted to remind him not to show his emotions so much. If one's calculations were obvious to others, how could one still calculate others
After being immersed in his own thoughts for a while, Village Chief Huang finally came to his senses and assured Jiang Miao sincerely: "Uncle Jiang, don't worry, I will definitely build the house here as soon as possible!" He just heard someone call him that.
"Then I'll have to trouble Village Chief Huang." Jiang Miao stood up and put the bag of silver into Village Chief Huang's arms, "But we have something to say in advance."
Village Chief Huang was holding the silver and smiling brightly, when he suddenly heard Jiang Miao say "but", his heart suddenly lifted: "Master Jiang, just follow your orders."
"It's not really an order, but this house must be built well, and no corners can be cut. If the house is not built up to standard, I will be very angry. When I get angry, I will do irrational things. For example, the corvée labor in your village in the next few years will be very difficult. Village Chief Huang, do you understand what I mean?" Jiang Miao patted Village Chief Huang's shoulder with a smile, then stood up and walked out, leaving Village Chief Huang sitting inside with a terrified look on his face.
These words undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on Village Chief Huang. The silver that was originally piled high now seemed like a hot potato. He wanted to take it but didn't dare to, and wanted to throw it away but couldn't bear to.
Jiang Miao said so and ignored this side. During the time waiting for the house to be built, there was good news and bad news.
The good news is that 90% of the tea trees they transplanted survived, and only some of them died because their roots were damaged when they were dug. The mountains they chose were all close to water sources, so they still needed to be carried up, but this was only the beginning. Once the tea trees are stable, they don't need to be watered so frequently. Cangzhou has plenty of rain, and they can use their roots to absorb moisture from the soil.
The bad news was that the people Pei Che sent to the south sent back a message saying that after asking all the major tea gardens, most of them were unwilling to sell tea tree seedlings. Finally, there was one that agreed, but it offered a high price of sixty or seventy coins per seedling, and they could not guarantee that the seedlings would survive after being transported over a long distance. This meant that they might not get a single tea tree seedling that they had spent a lot of money to buy.
Pei Che felt a little disappointed, but there was nothing he could do. Before Jiang Miao's layering and cutting method could take effect, they still had to search in these mountains again.
For safety reasons, they had previously searched in the outer mountains. These mountains were not very high, and there were not many people going into the mountains, so wild animals did not come here very often. Now that they thought about it, they should have sent more people to check out those deep mountains, so that they could at least have a better idea of whether there was any.
Before entering the village, everyone's attention was attracted by the big blue brick and tile house at the entrance of the village. It was not there when I came last time, but it was built in just over a month.
Village Chief Huang had been waiting here. When he saw them coming, he hurried over to greet them: "Master Jiang, take a look. Does this house suit your taste? If there is anything wrong, I can change it."
Jiang Miao didn't say anything. After looking it over inside and out, he spoke under the nervous look of Village Chief Huang: "It's okay. You noticed everything I mentioned last time. This house is well built."
Village Chief Huang breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't slept well for many nights because of this house. He was afraid that something might go wrong and harm everyone. Fortunately, God helped those who worked hard. Finally, no one could find fault with this house.
Thinking about the remaining 7 taels and 5 qian of silver at home, Village Chief Huang couldn't help but be distracted. His family had the most land in the village, and the annual harvest plus the income from selling mountain products only amounted to a dozen taels. After deducting the annual expenses of the whole family, if there were 4 or 5 taels left, it would be considered a blessing from God that the weather was good this year and the family was healthy.
Jiang Miao said, "Thank you, Village Chief Huang and all the villagers. Now that the new house is built, we will often interact with the big guys in the village. Let's take advantage of today to treat all the villagers to a meal and let everyone get to know each other."
Treating people to a meal was very tempting for the people of Tuyan Village who had been living on the poverty line for many years. The village chief took the money and went to various households to buy mountain products and vegetables. By the way, he also brought a skinny pig from his own home and sold it to Jiang Miao.
The women in the village came with tools to prepare the food, while the men went from house to house to carry tables, chairs and benches. It was obvious that they had always entertained guests in this way.
Soon, the yard was filled with the aroma of food. Everyone was sniffing desperately. Some of them showed a little annoyance in their eyes. If they had known that someone was hosting a banquet, they should have skipped the morning meal. This would have saved food and they could eat more on an empty stomach.
At noon, the banquet started to serve dishes. The simple farmers all ate from large earthenware bowls, and they were quite generous when they held their bowls. Jiang Miao and his friends were at the same table with the village chief. As one of the few respectable people in the village, he was more reserved than other villagers when he ate.
At the table, Pei Che began to inquire about the deep mountains. He wanted to know what terrifying things were hidden in the deep mountains that caused so many people to disappear.
When it comes to this topic, the village chief is obviously reluctant to speak. Considering that Pei Che is the guest brought by Mr. Jiang, he said: "There are all kinds of things in the mountains, and everything can kill people. It's best not to go in. In our village, two men disappeared in the mountains. The county government sent people to check and found two tattered clothes, and the case was closed. No one is alive, and no body is found. Their mother cried her eyes out."
After he finished speaking, he realized that he seemed to have said something bad about the government office. He couldn't help but glance at Jiang Miao nervously, fearing that the official would be angry and punish him.
Jiang Miao's face was solemn. He looked at Pei Che and decided to persuade him to give up the idea of sending people into the mountains to look for tea trees after he returned. The villagers who lived off the mountains were so taboo about the mountains. They were outsiders who were not familiar with the mountain roads and might encounter more dangers.
"Since they have always known that there are dangers in the mountains, why did those two men still go in?" Pei Che asked.
Village Chief Huang took a look at him and thought that although this gentleman looked strangely good-looking, the questions he asked were very interesting.
"Isn't it because of poverty? If you want to make big money, you have to go deep into the mountains. Many dealers dislike those things outside and keep the prices low." Village chief Huang had an ugly expression on his face when he mentioned these people. The things they were reluctant to eat were worthless in the eyes of those people.
"However, the mountains are dangerous, but not many people went missing in the past. Most of them were bitten by snakes, gored by wild boars, or caught by blind bears. Even if they couldn't come back alive, their bodies could be found. In recent years, no living people have been seen, not even dead people." Village chief Huang thought about it and felt that it was indeed a bit weird. It seemed that those people were right. They had collected too many things in the mountains and alarmed the mountain god, so he would teach a lesson to those who rashly entered the mountains.
Pei Che asked, "When did so many people start to disappear?"
Village Chief Huang recalled and said, "It should be seven years ago. I remember the first person to go missing was a hunter from Shangyan Village. His wife was from our area. Her husband's family didn't have many people, so she went back to her parents' home crying and begged them to accompany her into the mountains to look for her. Her brothers from her parents' home were also kind-hearted, so they packed up their things and followed them, but they only found a bloody piece of clothing, nothing else. Later, people went missing in several nearby villages, and the two people from our village who didn't listen to our advice also went missing after entering the mountains."
Village Chief Huang sighed, but Pei Che fell into deep thought. Seven years ago again? The previous mountain road collapse also happened seven years ago. What happened that year
(End of this chapter)