In the tea mountains after the spring rain, the sky is as clear as water and the young leaves are green.
A few days ago, tea was also being picked, but only on a small scale by tea farmers.
The rain has increased in the past few days and new sprouts have sprouted in large numbers, so all nearby villagers must be mobilized.
Hundreds of men and women were scattered everywhere, carrying bamboo baskets around their waists, picking out new buds with their fingernails and throwing them in. Most people were concentrating on making more money, while a few tea-picking experts talked, laughed and sang.
There is also a tea collection point. After farmers pick a basket of tea, they will weigh it and calculate their wages.
Before weighing, you need to check first. If there are too many unqualified tea leaves, your wages may be deducted.
"Brother, Mr. Sanlang is here."
"where?"
"there."
The five Baiford brothers were also picking tea. All the nearby tea mountains were owned by Lao Bai. Those small-scale tea farmers had poor ability to resist risks and had long been forced into bankruptcy by the government.
A few acres of barren mountainous land can be given away by Mr. Bai on his own initiative.
If it were replaced by dozens of acres of tea hills, the old white man would have to plunder it!
The five Byford brothers became rich very late. They relied on their sister to serve as a surrogate wife for nobles. They bullied their neighbors for several years, and their sister sent money back. Now they only have about a hundred acres of land, and their parents are small and average.
Each person is spread out to less than ten acres of land.
There are only a few acres per person, and it includes mountainous land. To be honest, it is not wealthy.
Being a small landowner is not enough. The identity of a farmer is more suitable for them. They even have to work picking tea themselves every year.
"Give me the tea you picked!"
Bai Fudou gathered the tea leaves from several brothers, filled a bamboo basket, and pretended to go to weigh the tea. In fact, he wanted to get close to Bai Chongyan.
The guy walked away excitedly, and before he had gone very far, his smile suddenly disappeared because he saw the Zhu family and his son.
How do two foreigners who have settled down live together with Mr. Saburo?
After thinking about it, Byford decided to postpone the plan and not directly confront the Zhu family and his son. He is a smart person, otherwise he would have been finished long ago. After all, he has been causing trouble under the nose of the old white man.
"How are you, Mr. Sanlang!" Baiford nodded and bowed in greeting.
Bai Chongyan looked kindly and said with a smile: "Okay."
Baiford complimented: "Sanlang is so filial, he went home so many days in advance to wish the old lady a birthday."
"It's just the duty of descendants." Bai Chongyan said.
The two sides had nothing in common, and Baiford became more and more awkward as they chatted. Seeing that Baisanlang was impatient, he took the initiative to leave after saying a few words.
A breeze blew and the tea trees swayed gently.
Listening to the sound of tea-picking songs coming from time to time, Li Hanzhang couldn't help but get inspired by poetry. He wrote a poem on the spot: "It's not clear yet when the gongs and drums are played. I go up the mountain to pick tea and see my sincerity. When I sing a song in the spring breeze, the leaves are steaming with clouds and the jade sticks are new."
Jade sticks are spring tea.
“What a poem!”
Bai Chongyan clapped his hands and praised him. Although Ping Ping was a little unprofessional, it was not easy to blurt it out.
Li Hanzhang felt quite satisfied with himself, and felt that the poem could still be revised. He thought carefully for a moment, but he didn't know how to revise it for the time being, so he turned to Zhu Ming to study: "I heard that Zhu Dalang is full of talent and learning, so why not compose an impromptu poem based on the scene of picking tea in front of me?
How about one?"
Ju Ming politely refused: "I am not good at poetry."
"If you're not good at it, you're just a rough reader. You can do limericks." Li Hanzhang said with a smile.
He didn't want to make Ju Ming look bad, but he wanted to test Ju Ming's talent and see if the word "public and private" came to him by chance.
Bai Chongyan stood beside him, also smiling and saying nothing, having similar thoughts to Li Hanzhang.
Zhu Ming turned to look at his father, and Zhu Guoxiang turned to look at the scenery. Comrade Zhu could recite many Tang poems and Song lyrics, but he could not recite any of them related to tea.
Should we continue to "hide our clumsiness", or should we show it?
Ju Ming quickly searched the inventory in his mind. Although he had traveled through Golden Finger, he had not read many tea-picking poems. Not far away, a woman was busy picking, with a sleeping baby on her back. She was not afraid of the rain.
The mountain road was too slippery, so I guess there was no one at home to take care of the children.
Thinking again about Grandma Yan arranging flowers on her temples, Ju Ming suddenly had an idea and clapped his hands and said, "I have it!"
"Listen attentively to the masterpiece." Bai Chongyan looked forward to it.
Zhu Ming recited: "The white-headed old man wears red flowers in his hairpin, and the black-headed girl has three buns. She goes up the mountain with her child sleeping on her back. I have no time to pick mulberries and it's time to pick tea."
Li Hanzhang smiled and praised: "Good poetry and literary talent!"
Bai Chongyan commented: "Brother Ke Zhen's poems describe the emotions and scenes of the time. Zhu Dalang's poems specialize in writing about things and people. The combination of the two poems makes the interest renewed."
The poem copied by Zhu Ming is not considered to be of high quality, but it is just right to put it here - it shows off his talent without overpowering Li Hanzhang.
If you really want to recite a famous sentence that will last forever, how can this son of a state magistrate come to Taiwan?
A tea-picking poem was thrown out, and Li Hanzhang already recognized Ju Ming and determined that Ju Ming belonged to him.
We are all scholars, not ignorant.
Several people here laughed loudly. Baiford vaguely heard the movement, and instantly felt his head hurt. He told his brothers: "Don't mess around, these two foreigners are not easy to mess with."
"That's what the eldest brother said." The brothers agreed.
How did they know that just one word from Old Bai Yuan had already sentenced the brothers to death!
Bai Chongyan took everyone to continue touring the mountains, and met Mrs. Yan and Shen Yourong who were picking tea on the way.
They said hello to each other and left.
Bai Chongyan said to Li Hanzhang: "That is brother Shi Yu's widow. Since brother Shi Yu died of illness, she has been educating her young son with great care."
"It's extremely rare." Li Hanzhang said with emotion.
Both of them, as well as Shen Yourong's late husband, had studied under Guanzhong.
The relationship at that time was just a casual acquaintance. It was not until Li Hanzhang came to Yangzhou with his father that he and Bai Chongyan quickly became good friends.
After wandering around the tea mountain for a while, Zhu Guoxiang suggested going to see the land and finalizing the land sale as early as possible.
Bai Chongyan was not in a hurry and invited: "There is a deep valley ahead. I found a sweet spring in it and named it 'Lingquan'. I also built a pavilion by the spring and called it 'Biyun Pavilion'. Today is leisurely and the spring breeze is pleasant.
If you go to the pavilion first to taste the new tea."
The new tea is of course not picked today, but the Beginning of Spring tea more than a month ago.
The host invites the guest, and it is inconvenient for the guest to refuse.
The four of them took Bai Qi to enjoy the scenery and walked towards the valley in the mountains.
The stream falls to form a waterfall, which falls into the valley pool. A few hundred meters away from the pool are Lingquan and Biyunting.
The stone tables and chairs in the pavilion have been cleaned in advance.
Several servants were busy carrying charcoal, cooking utensils, tea cups and other items, as well as a complete set of tea-making equipment.
Bai Chongyan sat down and immediately shouted: "New tea!"
As soon as the words are spoken, there must be a response.
Several servants quickly came forward with tea leaves, including two kinds of mocha and wax tea.
Bai Chongyan smiled and said: "Here are four new teas, please choose as you like."
"Haha, brother Juncai, are you going to have a tea fight?" Li Hanzhang laughed heartily.
Bai Chongyan said: "It's all our tea. It's not interesting to fight. I just want Brother Ke Zhen to show off his tea skills."
Rich people in the Song Dynasty, especially elegant people, often gathered together to fight over tea and have fun.
Moreover, they often bring their own tea.
Li Hanzhang did not directly select tea leaves, but scooped out half a bowl of spring water. He carefully tasted the taste of the spring water, and then selected a suitable new tea. He observed its color, smelled its taste, and finally picked a ball of wax tea.
Bai Chongyan immediately laughed and said, "Brother Zhen has a good eye!"
Wax tea is the most valuable, and the tea leaves are strictly selected, and they must be the buds of early spring - the wax of the twelfth lunar month.
The Xiaolongfeng Tuan Tea, highly praised by the royal family of the Song Dynasty, is the best among wax teas. The tea buds are selected from the best. When picking, you must not touch them with your fingers. You must leave long nails to cut them off. You cannot put them in bamboo baskets after picking them, but must put them in immediately.
Enter the spring water you carry with you.
The production process is even more complicated. It is first steamed, then pressed, and ground into powder. During this period, there are procedures such as drying and baking. Some of the tea leaves are ground and boiled into tea paste, and many spices are added. Finally, the tea paste and tea powder are mixed
Mixing, there are several processes, and finally pressed into tea balls for storage and transportation.
"Brother Kezhen, please order some tea." Bai Chongyan raised his hand and said.
The tea ball was very small, so Li Hanzhang took the utensil and slowly ground the tea ball into powder.
Then use a tea dagger to take the powder and put it into a cup. The spring water has boiled. Gently pour some into it and start to mix the tea soup thoroughly.
He held his right sleeve with his left hand and the tea spoon in his right hand, acting elegantly and calmly. He put the tea spoon into the tea soup and gently flicked it back and forth, and a wonderful scene followed. As the tea spoon flicked, strands of silver threads floated on the surface of the tea soup.
Then various patterns are formed, like a picture of snow floating on the river.
Before you drink it, the aroma of tea hits your nose.
Li Hanzhang praised: "Good tea! The tea soup is pure white, the buds are fat and tender, and the preparation technique is excellent. Brother Juncai has a good tea master in his family."
As the man spoke, he flicked the tea spoon, and the pattern on the surface of the tea soup continued to change.
Bai Chongyan said proudly: "This tea is made after imitating Dragon and Phoenix Tea. The tea buds are all picked before the beginning of spring. Although it is not as exquisite as Dragon and Phoenix Tea, it is still rare. I will call it 'Jinghong Treading Snow'."
"Jinghong Treading Snow, it's really a good name!" Li Hanzhang admired sincerely.
When the water was no longer so hot, Li Hanzhang picked up the tea cup, poured the tea into the cup, and even poured a cup for the little brat Bai Qi: "Please taste the tea."
Ju Ming raised his glass curiously and tasted it. There was no strange smell, not bitter at all, and it was very fragrant. Although it contained tea paste, it didn't make people feel greasy.
There is even a hint of sweetness.
Just this taste can knock out the loose tea that common people drink.
"It tastes good, looks good, and smells great!" Bai Qi admired sincerely, and then drank the tea in one gulp.
Children's compliments are the most genuine, and both Bai Chongyan and Li Hanzhang burst out laughing.
…
Along the Han River.
A passenger ship docked, and the servant reminded: "Erlang, Shangbaicun has arrived."
A little fat man stretched himself, yawned, and walked out of the cabin while rubbing his sleepy eyes.
This guy is about 25 or 26 years old. He is dressed like a scholar. He has a fat head and is less than 1.6 meters tall.
Due to the slippery road after the rain, he fell down as soon as he got off the boat. He got up and continued walking, cursing.
On the way, he sent his servant to inquire about the residence of Mr. Bai, and then went to hand over his invitation.
The little fat man was dressed in silk, and the old concierge did not dare to neglect him. He hurriedly went in to inform him, and soon led the guests into the hall.
Mr. Lao Bai received him personally, bowed and asked, "Are you the husband of the family of Grand Official Zheng of Yangzhou?"
"When I'm at home, everyone calls me Zheng Er. This time I'm here to find Li Erlang (Li Hanzhang)." said the little fat man.
"The arrival of our distinguished guest is a long way off," Lao Bai said. "My family, Sanlang, and Li Erlang have gone up the mountain. Your distinguished guest can wait at home. They will be back before evening."
The little fat man waved his hand and said, "I won't wait any longer. I'll go up the mountain to look for them."
Old Bai immediately called his servants and led the little fat man up the mountain.
This old man, who was famous all over the country, dragged his sick leg with a cane and asked the servants to support him from left to right, and personally escorted the little fat man out of the front door.