Transmigrating to the Qi Family - Chapter 148

Since everyone loves eating bayberries, over the next few days, Jiang Miao and the guards head back to the mountains to pick more.

Aside from the two bayberry trees they initially find, they search the area and discover several more trees. However, the fruit from these new trees isn’t as sweet, and the bayberries are not as large, perhaps because these trees face the shade while the original ones bask in the sun.

The first few times they return laden with bayberries, everyone is excited. Bayberries are a novelty in the North, and they eat them with great enthusiasm, savoring every bite. Even though eating too many makes their teeth feel sore, it’s a minor inconvenience they are willing to endure.

After several days, though, everyone starts dreading the sight of bayberries. Even hearing the word makes their mouths pucker and their stomachs churn. At this point, even if someone hands them a bayberry, no one will eat it. Jiang Miao even gives some to the neighbors, but there are still plenty left.

Jiang Miao dislikes wasting anything. Aside from the effort and time they spend picking them, the bayberries have value that he just can’t bear to ignore. Seeing the piles of fruit, he begins brainstorming new ways to eat them.

First up is bayberry preserves. Though the shelf life isn’t as long as in modern times, they should last at least ten days or so. He plans to have someone deliver them back to the capital for friends and family to enjoy.

Making preserves isn’t too complicated for Jiang Miao; the tricky part is keeping them from spoiling. In ancient times, there were no canning jars, and any exposure to air will cause the preserves to spoil.

After struggling for a few days, he realizes that the wine jars are quite airtight. So, he cooks the bayberries in them and immediately plugs the jars with wooden stoppers, hoping this will extend their shelf life.

Once the preserves are ready, Jiang Miao sends someone out of Cangzhou to a nearby provincial city to find a caravan headed to Liangjing and entrusts them to deliver the preserves.

The remaining bayberries, which are neither large nor very sweet, are soaked by Jiang Miao in the white wine he bought to make bayberry wine. Jiang Miao has made this before, and having a small glass with meals is a delightful treat.

Aside from bayberries, they also bring back a lot of pine mushrooms from the mountains. The last batch is used in meat stir-fries and soups, which turn out delicious. This time, Jiang Miao uses the two large baskets of mushrooms to make pine mushroom paste, mixing them with minced meat and seasonings. The paste is savory, slightly spicy, and perfect for mixing with noodles in the morning or eating with rice at lunch. Pei Che especially loves this mushroom paste, which puzzles Jiang Miao—didn’t he eat plenty of jars of it at the Imperial Academy before? How is he not tired of it by now?

Pei Che, in response to Jiang Miao’s question, scoops a big spoonful of mushroom paste into his bowl and mixes it with rice, demonstrating with his actions that he never gets tired of any of the mushroom pastes Jiang Miao makes. When a day off arrives, he even suggests going mushroom picking with Jiang Miao.

Perhaps moved by his sincerity, the heavens bless them with a heavy rain the day before their planned trip to the mountains. The mountain paths are a bit muddy afterward, and Pei Che regrets not waiting for better weather when he sees the mud sticking to his shoes. However, he quickly changes his mind, as the pine mushrooms are not only plumper and larger after the rain but also abundant.

The group, excited by the sight of so many pine mushrooms, enthusiastically transforms into eager mushroom pickers, bending down to gather them. The saying “many hands make light work” proves true, and by the time they are done combing through the small pine forest, not even a single large mushroom is left.

Even after finishing their mushroom harvest, Pei Che feels reluctant to leave. It’s rare for him to come up the mountain, so he doesn’t want to head back down so soon.

Jiang Miao notices his interest and suggests exploring deeper into the forest. With so many people and even someone carrying a bow and arrows, they might catch some wild game like pheasants or rabbits, which they can roast and eat on the spot. Jiang Miao has brought salt, and they can find other seasonings on the mountain, so the flavor is sure to be delicious.

They continue forward, and as they pass through a valley, Jiang Miao suddenly stops and calls out, “Look, there’s a tea tree over there!”

Everyone looks in the direction he’s pointing, but it’s not until Jiang Miao gestures more clearly that they notice the short, stubby shrub is indeed a tea tree. It’s something they’ve never seen before in Liangjing.

Jiang Miao walks over joyfully, plucking an old leaf and chewing on it. The leaf tastes slightly bitter and has a unique fragrance.

“Is this a tea tree?” Pei Che approaches the plant, leaning in to smell it. He picks a leaf and tries to recognize any resemblance to the teas he remembers.

“Yes, it’s a tea tree,” Jiang Miao confirms. He recalls that a friend of his once owned a tea plantation and invited him over one year. Jiang Miao had gone eagerly, only to end up working as a tea picker for over ten days, earning more than three thousand coins and learning the craft of tea-making—a very worthwhile experience. He still feels nostalgic thinking about it.

“Can we pick tea now?” Pei Che asks, clearly fascinated by the tree.

Jiang Miao shakes his head. “Not now. Tea leaves are harvested around Qingming or Guyu. These leaves are too old now, and tea made from them would taste bitter and unpleasant.”

Pei Che thinks for a moment and then asks, “Is this area suitable for growing tea trees?”

Jiang Miao doesn’t fully understand, so he looks around, scratching his head. “I guess it’s pretty suitable. Cangzhou isn’t too cold, and the locals say spring comes quite early here.”

“What do you think would happen if I planted tea trees all over the surrounding mountains?” Pei Che asks, pinching the tea leaf between his fingers and looking down.

A seemingly casual question, but Jiang Miao detects something significant in Pei Che’s words. He looks at Pei Che and says, “Are you thinking of helping the people of Cangzhou make a living by growing tea?”

Pei Che smiles. “You understand me well, Ah Miao.”

Jiang Miao turns his head and carefully observes the surrounding environment again, and then finds a few small ones not far from this tea tree.

Jiang Miao turns his head, carefully examining the environment once more. Not far from the tea tree, he spots a few smaller ones. “With just these few tea trees, I can’t really give you solid advice. It’s possible that only this particular valley is suitable for tea trees to grow.” When it comes to matters affecting people’s livelihoods, Jiang Miao doesn’t dare to make careless decisions. What if he says yes and Pei Che acts on it, only for the tea trees to fail? The whole community would have wasted their efforts for nothing.

“So you’re saying that if we can find more tea trees elsewhere in the mountains, it would prove that this area is suitable for tea cultivation?” Pei Che asks.

“Maybe,” Jiang Miao replies.

Pei Che sighs. “I’ve been thinking for days, trying to figure out how to make the people of Cangzhou prosperous. Cangzhou is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and there isn’t much fertile land. Every year, they have to buy grain from other regions just to have enough to eat. But once the grain reaches here, the price goes up significantly. The locals have to gather and sell mountain goods just to earn enough money to buy grain.”

“There are plenty of valuable goods in the mountains. They should be able to fetch a good price, right?” Jiang Miao suggests. “Take these pine mushrooms, for example. If they’re top quality, they could sell for at least 200 wen per jin, which could buy a decent amount of rice or flour.”

“Rarity makes things valuable. If only one or two families are selling, the merchants flock to buy. But if everyone has mountain goods to sell and there are only a handful of buyers, what do you think happens?” Pei Che asks.

“Well, they’d drive the prices down, of course. The lower their costs, the more profit they make,” Jiang Miao replies immediately, thinking like a merchant. But then he realizes the implication and asks, “Are those merchants forcing the prices down aggressively?”

Pei Che nods. Merchants seek profit, and with such obvious gains, how could they resist? They buy high-quality mountain goods at low prices, transport them, and resell them at a high markup, earning enormous profits. The people of Cangzhou have tried to resist. One year, they set a fixed price and vowed not to sell for less. But the merchants banded together, posting signs outside their buying shops that listed the daily purchasing price. If it was 20 wen per jin on the first day, it would drop to 18 wen the next day, and the longer they waited, the lower the price fell.

When the townspeople saw the sign, their previously united front quickly fell apart, each person desperate for their mountain goods to be purchased first. In this way, the merchants effortlessly shattered the community’s solidarity, becoming even more arrogant. Over time, the purchase prices keep dropping year after year.

“Why not just refuse to sell to them and look for other opportunities outside? If it were me, I’d rather eat the goods myself than sell them for such a low price,” Jiang Miao says indignantly, his chest heaving with anger. Just hearing about these merchants’ actions makes him furious.

Pei Che lets out a bitter smile. “Easier said than done. For ordinary people to venture out and seek new opportunities, they may end up being deceived even more badly without someone to guide them. As for eating the goods themselves, mountain products may be plentiful, but they don’t fill you up. Even if the people manage to survive on what they gather from the mountains, their elderly parents and young children wouldn’t last.”

Jiang Miao falls silent for a moment. Indeed, mushrooms and other mountain goods can’t replace the sustenance and nutritional value that grain provides. But do they really have to sell to those merchants?

Maybe before, but things are different now. He and Pei Che could recruit people to form a trading caravan to transport mountain goods out and bring in grain. Without the middlemen taking a cut, wouldn’t the people’s lives improve?

He shares his idea with Pei Che, expecting him to agree enthusiastically. However, Pei Che shakes his head, saying it wouldn’t work.

“Why not?” Jiang Miao asks, puzzled.

Pei Che explains, “I’ve been reading through many records over the past few days, and I found that the people of Cangzhou are simple and honest. Major crimes or strange cases are rare here, happening only once every few years. Do you know what the most common type of case is?”

Jiang Miao doesn’t understand why Pei Che has suddenly brought this up but makes a few guesses anyway. Pei Che just shakes his head at each one. When Jiang Miao can’t think of anything else, Pei Che finally reveals the answer: “It’s missing cases.”

“Missing?!” Jiang Miao is shocked. “Is it young women going missing?” His first thought is that someone might be abducting women and children for human trafficking crimes.

Pei Che replies, “Women usually go into the mountains in groups and rarely venture deep inside. Most of the missing are strong, able-bodied men. The deep mountains are full of dangers, and a single misstep could mean leaving no trace behind. If we recruit a trading caravan and raise the price of mountain goods, more people will be tempted to enter the mountains. That would likely lead to more deaths in these treacherous hills.”

Jiang Miao finally understands Pei Che’s deep concern. Since coming to Cangzhou, Pei Che has worked tirelessly, never slacking off or taking advantage of his position. He genuinely wants to improve the lives of Cangzhou’s people, not just for the sake of his own accomplishments. If he were only interested in his performance, he could have simply formed a caravan, raised the prices of mountain goods, and ignored the consequences for the community.