Chapter 376 [Tea Farmer]

Further south, the temperature rises rapidly.

Even though it is the twelfth lunar month, you can wear unlined clothes here. And from the wind blowing, Fang Chang felt a breath of the sea.

However, the terrain here is really bad, rugged and difficult to walk, and the ground is not three feet flat.

And it's raining here in winter.

The weather was dark, the raindrops were gloomy and cold, mixed with the damp and heavy wind, the pedestrians on the road felt overwhelmed and began to look for places to shelter from the rain.

Fang Chang thought for a while, and he didn't go his own way. Instead, he walked to a village not far away like the pedestrians around him, and knocked on the door of a random person:

"Excuse me, is anyone there? Travelers want to borrow expensive places to shelter from the rain."

"I'm coming."

Someone inside wore a bamboo hat and walked into the yard, took a closer look through the crack of the door, and saw Fang Chang and felt kind. After confirming that he was not a dangerous person, the door creaked open, and the host wearing a bamboo hat looked at Fang Chang and said:

"It's not easy to travel far, guests please come in."

Fang Chang slightly cupped his hands in thanks, then walked across the yard into the house.

The momentum of the rain is gradually increasing, like a string of thin beads all over the sky, splashing water in the courtyard.

Inside the room, two young men were sitting on a small bench and were beating straw sandals. On the small square table next to them, there were only half-thinned straw sandals. It should be what the male owner of the house was doing just now. Seeing someone coming in with their father, they politely put down their work, stood up to say hello, and then resumed their work.

The two young people have reached the age of marriage, and the male host's hair is already a little gray.

The owner of the house took a new bench from the side and handed it to Fang Chang. Seeing the man in white looking at the straw sandals on the table, he said with a smile:

"As the saying goes, 'When it's raining, you'll be idle if you're idle'. Besides, it's winter and there's not much to do. Save more shoes for next spring when you pick tea. After all, it takes a lot of time to walk back and forth on the mountain Where are the shoes?"

Then he said: "Guests, I'll make you a pot of tea."

"Master, wait a minute." Fang Chang hurriedly called out, then pulled the backpack behind his back, opened it, took out a bamboo tube, poured out a handful of tea from it, and said to the host: "It's already a nuisance to come here to take shelter from the rain. If you can spend more money, use mine."

After all, this family seems to have an average family background. Although it sounds like they pick and grow tea by themselves, it is better to visit outsiders rashly.

"Then I won't be polite." The host said, and then took the tea from Fang Chang's hand, took a tin pot from the small clay stove next to him, and started brewing. For a while, the water mist curled up in the room, mixed with the faint fragrance of tea leaves.

While making tea, the host laughed at himself and said:

"I'm not afraid of jokes from guests. Although my family grows tea for a living, I usually don't like to drink it. Although the price of tea is very low, it can't be sold for much, but as the saying goes, 'Shoemaker walks barefoot, contemptuous craftsman sleeps on a plank bed'. For tea, of course you can only drink plain water.”

The two young people next to him laughed together, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became cheerful.

"Well, good tea, it smells really good." The host came over with a teapot and praised. He took a few teacups that had just been rinsed with clean water, poured them for all four present, and continued, "Although the production method is a bit too raw, and it seems that there are few processes, the tea leaves are really good."

After all, he picked up the teacup and tasted it first.

The tea rich in inspiration enters the stomach, making the middle-aged man feel light and healthy. He only feels that the taste of this tea is like eating ice cubes in the dog days, which makes his mind suddenly clear, so his eyes light up, and he continues to praise:

"Good tea!"

The family didn't know that this was a great blessing for them.

Produced on the edge of the Yunzhong Mountain cliff, the tea made by Fang Chang himself, after drinking it, is no different from a good medicine for curing diseases and prolonging life for ordinary people. It's just that they don't have the ability to see or perceive all of this, and the three of them just feel very comfortable and at ease.

"It's worth it in this life to taste this kind of good tea." The host thought to himself.

But he didn't say it, but Fang Chang said: "Thanks to Your Excellency, we are really lucky to be able to taste this kind of good tea."

Fang Chang smiled and said:

"Actually, just like you, I pick and make tea myself."

"Oh? No wonder!" The middle-aged man said in surprise, "It seems that you have some good tea trees. No wonder I just discovered that this tea has a super good base, but the production method is too immature."

As he said that, he looked at the hilt of the sword on Fang Chang's back: "Your Excellency is from the Jianghu? The main business is not like this. It's already very good to be able to make it like this."

Fang Chang immediately took this opportunity to ask the owner how to make tea.

When the two teenagers next to him heard this topic, they also started talking to each other, showing their sense of presence, but they were constantly scolded by the host, and they were a little shy for a while.

After chatting happily, the male host simply imparted his own experience, although they are all necessary skills for tea farmers.

In addition to learning how to make brick tea and fried tea, Fang Chang also heard a lot of chats about the daily life of tea farmers.

They have many mountains and little land, so it is difficult to live too many people. Fortunately, the mountains produce good tea, so the tea farmers here, year after year, go up the mountain every spring, and pick the tea leaves from the tea gardens that have been serving them for a year. Then come back to deal with the sale.

Because many of the necessities of life here, such as grain and salt, are purchased from outsiders, this gives merchants the opportunity to collude with bullies and buy low and sell high, so the tea farmers live a very hard life. The price of tea has been kept low, and the prices of daily necessities have been raised, so we can only suffer in silence.

And the tea tax collected by the government is not low, and tea picking and making tea are tiring. After years of busy work, they can't save anything, so they can only just live. Fortunately, the bully who previously monopolized the sale of local tea here was quickly taken down by the "recently changed magistrates" and sentenced to exile. It is estimated that next year's life will be much easier.

After chatting for a long time, Fang Chang estimated the time in his heart, and suddenly looked up to the sky outside.

The rain suddenly became weaker and then stopped. In a short time, the accumulated rainwater on the stone-paved courtyard ground lost its replenishment, and gushed out from the gutter, and quickly receded completely. It's just that the ground is still wet and mottled with tenacious moss.

Footsteps sounded, but it was the mistress of the house who came back from outside.

She complained as she entered the door: "Just chatting with my third aunt, it started to rain outside, and I couldn't come back in the rain. Fortunately, it stopped now... Hey, there are guests at home?"

The male host greeted immediately:

"Are you back? Come and taste this tea, it's really good. This is a river and lake person who came to shelter from the rain. He can't go on his way due to the heavy rain. His status is different from ours."

Thank you Mo Chen Wuming and user_风船 for the reward.