Transmigrating to the Qi Family - Chapter 165

When Jiang Miao is in modern times, he always thinks of the New Year as just another event. He doesn’t care much for the eating, drinking, playing, or sleeping. Those who make money go home to brag, and those who don’t play along as the comic relief. The married ones are pressured to have children, while the unmarried ones hurry off to matchmaking events.

Every time the New Year comes, he lists the disadvantages of the holiday in his mind, as if by doing so, he can convince himself that it isn’t because no one is waiting for him to return home and reunite, but rather that he simply doesn’t care for the New Year.

After arriving in ancient times, however, his attitude toward the New Year shifts to align with that of ordinary people—he becomes full of anticipation.

Last year, he spent the New Year at his second uncle’s home with Xiao Shitou, amidst a lively and warm crowd. The festive atmosphere he hasn’t experienced in years even brings a smile to his face as he falls asleep at night.

This year, it is the same big family gathering. Although everyone is a bit reserved due to Pei Che’s presence, the atmosphere remains warm and harmonious.

After a sumptuous New Year’s Eve dinner, everyone gathers in the main hall to stay up late. Chan Yi and Wen Jing sit around the brazier, cracking sunflower seeds and chatting softly.

Jiang Miao and Pei Che set up a chessboard, attracting a group of guards to watch and discuss the game, some of whom seem eager to try it themselves. Ever since Jiang Miao gifts the chess set to Master Feng, the game has become popular in Liangjing. Initially, some people think chess is overly simplistic, believing that as long as one memorizes the few formulas that are passed down, even a child can master it effortlessly.

Those who dismiss chess as a child’s plaything speak with condescension, belittling chess enthusiasts as if they are beneath notice. This greatly displeases Master Feng, who, obsessed with chess, seeks an opportunity to challenge one such young detractor. They play a few games. Starting with no handicaps, Master Feng gradually increases the odds, removing a rook and a knight, and eventually two rooks and two knights. Yet, the young man, despite his growing sweat and diminishing arrogance, can’t win a single game.

By the end of the matches, his face is ashen. During the games, he feels as if he is on a battlefield, the sounds of chariots and cannon fire ringing in his ears, war drums thundering. The deeper he delves into the game, the more panicked he becomes. In his panic, he loses his composure, sacrificing soldiers and cannons, losing his rooks and knights. By the time his general stands alone, he realizes he has no one left to command.

In just one afternoon, his attitude toward chess shifts from disdain to sincere admiration. Presumably, he will no longer look down on other things so casually in the future.

While the adults play chess, Pei Mu and Xiao Shitou are also engrossed in their own game. They are playing a variation of Gomoku with Go pieces. The two children wear serious expressions, their competitive spirits no less intense than the adults’. Their eyes are filled with an eager desire to win.

Meanwhile, Xiao Baidian curls up beside them. Its amber-like cat eyes gleam with liveliness in the night. Every now and then, it stretches out a furry paw, trying to swipe the smooth pieces on the board, as if it too wants to join the game.

As night deepens, darkness blankets the surroundings. Only the small hall remains brightly lit, filled with laughter and cheer.

…

The Lunar New Year feels as if it were just yesterday, and in the blink of an eye, spring arrives with its warm blossoms.

The tea trees transplanted last winter grow more vibrant after enduring the harsh winds, their leaves a deeper shade of green. Tea seedlings cultivated in the greenhouse develop thick, sturdy roots.

Once this method proves feasible, Jiang Miao instructs the preparation of large swaths of sunlit hillside to cultivate the tea seedlings.

Before the spring planting, Pei Che issues the year’s labor directive, which once again focuses on clearing mountain land for tea cultivation.

After some time, the hillsides near villages in each county become populated with tea trees—some large, some small, some thick, and some thin.

In addition to Jiang Miao’s cultivated tea seedlings, other trees are sourced by village teams sent deep into the mountains under Pei Che’s orders.

When the people first hear that they are expected to venture into the mountains to search for seedlings, they refuse. The deep mountains surrounding Cangzhou City seem like a massive abyss filled with sharp fangs, having swallowed countless lives over the years. They aren’t tired of living—why would they risk their lives for something with no guarantee of making money?

Pei Che feels helpless hearing the report of their resistance, but Jiang Miao comes up with a solution, spreading the word that villagers can keep any mountain goods they find while searching for tea trees. Additionally, he shares a subtle hint: most of the people who have gone missing in the mountains over the years are those who ventured in alone. To mitigate the risk, the government sends an experienced hunter to accompany each team, ensuring their safety as long as they stay together.

The combination of incentives begins to sway the villagers, especially the shrewd ones. A group expedition into the mountains reduces the danger, and the deep forests are known to yield high-quality mountain goods with significant profit potential. Thinking of the prices offered by Fengshou Grain Store for mountain goods, their hearts warm. Hunting for tea trees becomes a trivial task in comparison. Who would be foolish enough not to go? After coming to this realization, the villagers set out eagerly.

The government-assigned hunters accompany the villagers, ostensibly to help search for tea trees but also to scout the terrain and investigate suspicious areas. Since the last disappearance case, the prefectural office has not received similar reports from the counties, but Pei Che has made a personal vow: as long as he remains in Cangzhou, he will pursue such cases to the very end. Whether those missing are dead or alive, he will ensure that the living are found, and the dead accounted for.

The culprits clearly intend to deter villagers from entering the mountains, but Pei Che is determined to achieve the opposite. By encouraging more villagers to venture in, he aims to shrink the culprits’ territory and eventually expose the secrets hidden within the mountains.

Jiang Miao fully supports Pei Che’s ambitions. Given Pei Che’s family background and wealth, there is no need for him to settle for a modest position like this. Since he has chosen to become an official, he should strive to be a good one. As long as Pei Che has a goal in mind, Jiang Miao sees no reason to oppose him.

Pei Che feels deeply gratified by this. To have a confidant in life is a blessing so profound that one could die without regret. As long as Jiang Miao supports him, no amount of opposition from others will change his mind.

With this conviction, Pei Che becomes even more diligent in his official duties. After completing his daily work, he makes time to sketch simple topographic maps based on the reports from mountain patrols.

During his stay in Cangzhou, he develops the same complex feelings toward the surrounding mountains as the local people. He appreciates their abundant resources, which allow the people of this land—poor in fertile fields—to support their families and meet their basic needs. Yet he resents the mountains for their vast, sparsely populated terrain and the countless dangers lurking within that claim lives without warning. Unable to let go of this burden, Pei Che resolves to conquer the mountains. He firmly believes that one day, the people will truly live by the saying, “rely on the mountain to live off the mountain.”

…

In the warm spring month of March, it is the perfect season for picking tea. Since the tea trees were only transplanted last winter, there is very little tea available before the She-Qing Festival, and it is impossible to harvest. Jiang Miao regretfully decides to forego this opportunity. Otherwise, Sheqian tea, which is more sought after than Mingqian tea, would have been an excellent addition to the harvest.

(Translator’s Notes:  The She-Qing Festival (社日i) is a traditional Chinese festival dedicated to the worship of the Earth God (She Shen, 社神))

Mingqian tea, of course, refers to tea picked before Qingming (Tomb-Sweeping Day). In ancient times, the Gregorian calendar does not exist, so modern April typically corresponds to the lunar calendar’s March. Qingming usually falls between the fourth and sixth days of the third lunar month.

In order to prepare for the Mingqian tea harvest, Jiang Miao begins organizing workers to ascend the mountains at the start of March. To ensure the quality of the tea and avoid damage to the trees and leaves, he arranges for training sessions beforehand. Using leaves from other shrubs as examples, only those with the proper techniques are allowed to join the tea-picking teams on the village tea mountains.

The first batch of tea pickers consists mostly of young women in their twenties and thirties. With their rich work experience and patient, meticulous approach, they are the ideal candidates. Unlike younger girls, they are not shy or reserved.

Before going up the mountain, Jiang Miao reiterates the harvesting standards. This time, they must only pick buds with a single leaf. These are the most tender and rarest leaves, and once processed, they are considered a premium tea, commanding a significantly higher price than other varieties.

To establish Cangzhou tea as a local specialty, the product range must be diverse to attract more high-quality customers.

The freshly picked tea leaves are incredibly tender and vibrantly green. Jiang Miao carefully pours them from the bamboo baskets onto shallow bamboo trays. Tender tea leaves cannot be piled up; they must be spread thinly. A few large trays sit under the eaves, appearing to hold a considerable amount of leaves. However, after weighing them with the moisture content included, the yield is less than two pounds.

Fortunately, tea leaves from other villages are also rushed to Tuyan Village by horseback. Together, the harvest from the various villages today adds up to just under ten pounds of tea leaves.

Everyone gathers around the sieves and works with Jiang Miao to pick out impurities and old leaves from the batch. Since they are aiming to create a premium product, these imperfections can’t be allowed to affect its quality.

After spreading the leaves out to air for about an hour, the moisture on the surface completely evaporates. Jiang Miao instructs the workers to light the stove in the middle of the courtyard, setting up the specially made large iron wok to prepare for tea frying.

In truth, Jiang Miao feels a bit apprehensive. He has only worked at a tea plantation for just over two weeks and, though he understands the process, his experience is still limited. To make up for his lack of expertise, he spends the winter poring over tea manuals collected by Pei Che. These books range from thin to thick, some simple and some incredibly complex. When he encounters concepts he can’t grasp, he has to rely on Pei Che to help him translate or explain them, making the process painstaking.

Fortunately, the effort paid off.

After intensive study, Jiang Miao has accumulated a lot of theoretical knowledge about tea. He can now talk about it with great confidence, like a true expert. Unfortunately, his hands-on experience remains minimal.

Standing in front of the large iron wok, Jiang Miao hesitates to start frying. He is afraid of ruining the tender tea leaves that everyone has worked so hard to gather. The thought even crosses his mind to ask Pei Che to ride south immediately and fetch an experienced tea master, sparing him from this torment.

When Pei Che arrives after completing his official duties, he notices Jiang Miao’s forced composure and reluctance to proceed. He approaches and says, “Ah Miao, just go ahead and fry the tea. If it turns out well, we’ll use it to attract merchants. If it doesn’t… I just won’t buy tea this year.”

Jiang Miao can’t help but laugh at Pei Che’s difficult expression as he forces out the last part. Teasing him, Jiang Miao asks, “What if it’s so bad it’s completely inedible?”

Pei Che replies, “Then we’ll send it to your Jiang family shop. Tea leaves are still needed for tea eggs, after all.”

Jiang Miao is stunned by the suggestion. Using premium tea leaves, with one bud and one leaf, for tea eggs? He normally sources tea dregs from teahouses for his tea eggs, and even those cost a good few coins per pound. Besides, tea eggs are typically made with black tea, and he only knows how to make green tea.

Though inwardly criticizing Pei Che’s extravagance, Jiang Miao can’t deny he feels reassured. At least he no longer fears failure. He figures, even if he botches the frying process, someone is there to take the blame—and at worst, they’ll just waste some tea leaves. Furthermore, in the days leading up to this, he secretly practices with older leaves. While the results aren’t exceptional, they are at least edible.

Having worked through his nerves, Jiang Miao steps toward the large wok. Pei Che’s ability to enjoy tea this year now rests on this moment!