When Jiang Miao was in modern times, he thought that the Chinese New Year was just like that. He didn't care about eating, drinking, playing and sleeping. Those who made money went home to brag, while those who didn't make money were just a joke. Those who were married went home to be urged to have children, while those who were not married went to blind dates.
Every Chinese New Year, he would enumerate the disadvantages of the Chinese New Year in his mind, as if this way he could comfort himself, it was not that his relatives did not want him to go home for a Chinese New Year reunion, but that he just disdained to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
After coming to the ancient times, his attitude towards the New Year became the same as other ordinary people, full of expectations. Last year's New Year, he took Little Stone to his second uncle's house. The whole family was lively and the atmosphere that he had not experienced for many years made Jiang Miao smile when he went to bed at night. This year's New Year was also a big family. Although everyone was a little restrained because of Pei Che's presence, the atmosphere was always warm and harmonious.
After a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner, everyone sat together in the main hall to celebrate the New Year. Chan Yi and Wen Jing sat around the brazier, eating melon seeds and chatting in low voices.
Jiang Miao and Pei Che set up the chessboard, attracting some guards to watch and discuss, with some eagerness on their faces. Ever since Jiang Miao gave chess to Mr. Feng, this activity has become popular in Liangjing. At first, some people thought chess was very easy, and believed that as long as they memorized the few formulas that were passed down, even children could easily master it.
The person who said this regarded chess as a child's game. His words were condescending, and he belittled all chess lovers. This made Mr. Feng, who was obsessed with chess, very unhappy. He found an opportunity, found the young man who said this, and played a few games with him. From the beginning, he played a full board, then he was allowed one chariot and one horse, and then he was allowed two chariots and two horses. The young man played from a proud face to sweating profusely, but he still couldn't win a single game.
After the game was over, he looked pale. In the previous game, he felt as if he was on a battlefield, with the sound of chariots and cannons, and the beating of war drums in his ears. The more he played, the more panic he felt. Once he was panicked, he had no idea what to do. He kept abandoning his soldiers and cannons, losing his chariots and horses, until the old general became a commander without any troops, and he realized that there was no one around him who could be used.
In just one afternoon, his attitude towards chess changed from disdain to full admiration. I guess from now on, he will never dare to look down on other things casually again.
The adults were playing chess, and Pei Mu and Little Stone were also playing chess. They were playing Go with five pieces in a row. The two looked solemn, and their momentum was no less than that of the adults. Their eyes were full of desire for victory. Little White Spot lay beside them, and its amber cat eyes looked very energetic in the night. From time to time, it stretched out its furry claws to grab the round chess pieces on the chessboard, and it seemed that it also wanted to participate in the battle.
The night gradually deepened and everything around was pitch black. Only this small main room was still brightly lit and filled with laughter.
The Spring Festival seems to have been just yesterday, and in the blink of an eye, it is already spring and flowers are blooming.
The tea trees transplanted last winter became greener after being baptized by the cold wind. The tea seedlings cultivated in the greenhouse also grew strong rhizomes. After confirming that this method was feasible, Jiang Miao had people reclaim a large piece of land on the sunny hillside to cultivate tea seedlings.
Before the spring planting, Pei Che announced the content of this spring's corvée labor, which was still to reclaim mountain land and plant tea.
After a period of hard work, the hillsides near the villages in each county were planted with tea trees of varying sizes, thickness and thinness.
In addition to the tea seedlings cultivated by Jiang Miao, the others were found by Pei Che in the mountains. When the people first heard that they were going to the mountains to find seedlings, they refused. The mountains surrounding Cangzhou City were like a huge abyss with sharp teeth, swallowing up countless lives. They were not tired of living, so why would they go to the mountains for something that they didn't know whether it could make money or not
Pei Che felt helpless after hearing the report from below, but Jiang Miao came up with an idea and asked someone to take a message down, saying that the villagers should form a team to go to the mountains to find tea trees, and the extra mountain products found would belong to the individuals. In addition, he also let someone reveal that the people who disappeared in recent years were killed when they went up the mountain alone. The government would send an experienced hunter to go into the mountains with them, and as long as they did not separate, the risk in the mountains should not be great.
With all these additional conditions, the smarter ones started to make small calculations. If a group of people went into the mountains, there would be less danger, there would be more mountain products in the deep mountains, and the quality would be good, so the returns would be great. Thinking of the price of mountain products purchased by Fengshou Grain Shop, these people were excited. It was just to find some tea trees, wouldn't it be convenient? Anyone who didn't go would be a fool. After figuring it out, people from each village set out.
The experienced hunters sent by the government followed them up the mountain, seemingly looking for tea trees, but actually observing the terrain and other suspicious places. Although the prefectural government had not seen similar cases reported by the county town after the last disappearance, Pei Che had already sworn in his heart that as long as he was in Cangzhou, he would investigate such cases to the end. Regardless of whether those people were dead or alive, in short, they had to be found alive and dead.
Since those people's purpose is to prevent more people from entering the mountain, he must let the people go into the mountain. Only by continuously shrinking the space for their activities can the secrets of the mountain be brought to light.
Jiang Miao was very supportive of Pei Che's idea. With Pei Che's family background and wealth, there was no need for him to live in such a low-level position. Since he was an official, he had to be a good official. Pei Che had his wish, so he certainly could not object.
Pei Che was very pleased. He had no regrets even if he died because he had a close friend in his life. As long as Jiang Miao supported him, he would not change his mind even if others had objections.
With this belief, Pei Che was more attentive when handling official business. After finishing his official business every day, he would take time out to draw a simple topographic map according to the letter written by the mountain patroller.
During the more than half a year in Cangzhou, he also developed complex emotions towards the mountains surrounding Cangzhou, just like the people. He loved the rich resources, which allowed the people in Cangzhou, a barren land with scarce fertile land, to support their families and have enough food and clothing. He hated the vast land and sparse population, and the countless dangers in the mountains and forests, which could swallow up people's lives if they were not careful. Since he couldn't let it go, he had to conquer it. He believed that sooner or later, the people would be able to truly rely on the mountains for their livelihood.
Mingqian tea is naturally the tea picked before Qingming Festival. In ancient times, there was no solar calendar, so April in the modern solar calendar is generally around March in the lunar calendar. Every year, Qingming Festival is between the fourth and sixth day of March.
In order to pick Mingqian tea, Jiang Miao began to organize people to pick tea in the mountains as soon as March came. In order to prevent the tea pickers from damaging the quality of tea trees and tea leaves, Jiang Miao also specially trained them in advance, asking them to use other shrub leaves as examples. Only those with qualified skills can enter the tea mountains in each village to pick tea.
Most of the first batch of tea pickers were young women in their twenties or thirties. They were experienced, patient and meticulous, and not shy like young girls, making them the best candidates.
Before going up the mountain, Jiang Miao reiterated the picking standards. The tea leaves to be picked must have one bud and one leaf. Such tea leaves are the tenderest and the rarest. After being made into tea, they can be regarded as treasures among teas, and the selling price is naturally different from other teas.
Since we want to make tea a specialty of Cangzhou, the types must naturally be diversified, so as to attract more high-quality customers to come and purchase.
The picked tea leaves were extremely fresh and tender, and Jiang Miao carefully poured them out of the bamboo basket and spread them on the basket. Tender tea leaves cannot be piled up, but must be spread thinly. Several large baskets were placed under the eaves. It seemed like a lot, but in fact, Jiang Miao weighed them with water vapor and found that they were less than two kilograms.
Fortunately, after the tea leaves from other villages were picked, they were also delivered to Tuyan Village by horseback. Together, the tea leaves picked from these villages today weighed less than ten kilograms.
Everyone gathered in front of the basket and followed Jiang Miao to pick out the impurities and old leaves in the tea. Since it was to be a treasure, it was natural that these things could not affect its quality.
After being spread out to dry for about an hour, the moisture on the tea leaves had completely dissipated. Jiang Miao asked someone to light the stove in the middle of the yard, put a specially made large iron pot on it, and prepare to start frying the tea.
In fact, Jiang Miao was a little nervous. He had only worked in the tea garden for more than half a month. Although he was familiar with the procedures, he was still a half-baked person. In order to make up for his shortcomings, Jiang Miao read a lot of tea books collected by Pei Che this winter. These books were thick and thin, some were easy to understand and some were obscure. When Jiang Miao encountered something he didn't understand, he had to ask Pei Che to help him translate it. The process was extremely difficult.
Fortunately, the ending was happy. After a period of intensive study, he had mastered a lot of theoretical knowledge about tea and could talk about it clearly, just like an expert. Unfortunately, he had only a little practical knowledge.
Facing the big iron pot, Jiang Miao hesitated to go forward and stir-fry. He was afraid that the tender tea that everyone had worked so hard to get would be ruined by him. He even wanted Pei Che to rush to a place further south to kidnap a tea master, so that he would not suffer here.
Pei Che came in a hurry after finishing his official duties at the government office. Seeing that Jiang Miao was pretending to be calm but actually had the intention to back off, he went over and said, "A Miao, just stir-fry the tea. When it's done, we'll take it out to attract merchants. If it's not done well... I won't buy tea this year."
Jiang Miao couldn't help laughing when he saw him say the last sentence with difficulty. He deliberately said, "What if you can't even make the entrance?"
Pei Che said, "Then send it to your Jiang's shop. Tea eggs also need tea leaves."
Jiang Miao was shocked by his idea. Tea eggs made with one bud and one leaf of precious tea? You know, when he made tea eggs, he usually went to the teahouse to buy tea leaves and cooked them. Even this cost several coins per pound. Besides, tea eggs were usually cooked with black tea, and he only knew how to make green tea.
Although Jiang Miao complained in his heart that Pei Che was a bit of a spendthrift, he was comforted. At least he was no longer timid. He thought, even if the tea was ruined, someone would cover it, so it was okay to waste it. In addition, in the few days before he fried the new tea, he actually secretly picked old leaves to practice. Although they were not very good, they were not bad enough to eat.
After figuring it out, Jiang Miao walked towards the big pot. Whether Pei Che could buy the good tea he liked this year depended on this!
(End of this chapter)