eurekapd Chapter 234 Tea Picking
Chapter 234 Tea Picking
Chapter 234 Tea Picking
Zhang Jinxuan laughed and said, "Mu Hua won't be taking you with him in his business dealings anymore. Won't you regret it?"
Xia Yichen shook his head with a faint smile, "Because of Mu Hua, I have become the richest emperor in the history of the Great Xia Dynasty. How could I possibly regret it?"
Putting everything else aside, the business he currently runs in partnership with Wen Yuxia earns in a year enough to cover the salaries of the court officials.
With taxes, commercial taxes, and his private property, this amount of money is more than enough to cope with natural disasters and wars. He should be content with what he has and give Wen Yuxia her freedom. There's no need to keep exploiting Wen Yuxia.
Zhang Jinxuan nodded in agreement, inwardly marveling that Xia Yichen was not only the richest emperor but also a wise ruler.
"Jinxuan, take these four deeds to Muhua and tell her they are birthday gifts from me to Youcheng and his three siblings," Xia Yichen said, taking four land deeds from the secret room and handing them to Zhang Jinxuan.
Zhang Jinxuan glanced at the land deeds and said in surprise, "Hot Spring Villa, you only have four of them. You're giving them all away without keeping a single one. You're really willing to do that."
Xia Yichen laughed and said, "My grandfather gave me two summer resorts, which have hot springs and waterfalls. There are also hot springs in the royal manor in the suburbs of Beijing. I have plenty of places to soak in hot springs, so what is there to be reluctant about?"
Nan Yi took the copy of "Water Margin" by Wen Yuxia to Yunyi Tower and returned with four land deeds. "Master, Zhang Dongjia asked me to bring these back. He said they are birthday gifts bestowed by the Emperor upon the young master and young ladies."
Wen Yuxia took the land deed, examined it closely, and then beamed with joy, muttering to herself, "It's actually a hot spring resort... Hehehe, what is Xia Yichen's intention in suddenly sending a resort as a birthday gift for the children?"
Seeing this, Nangong Wenrui, who was standing to the side, raised the corners of his mouth slightly and teased with a light laugh: "He must have taken too many advantage of us in the past and felt really bad about it, so he came to the manor as compensation."
The next morning, the steward of Jingyuan came to the door. Steward Tang led him to the study to find Wen Yuxia. "Princess, Steward Yang requests an audience."
"Steward Yang? Where is he a steward?" "With so many properties in the family, and Wen Yunhong usually managing them, Wen Yuxia really couldn't remember what Steward Yang's job was."
Butler Tang reminded her, "The steward of Jingyuan," Wen Yuxia remembered, the one who was promoted to steward by Wen Yunhong after Yang Zhuangtou of Jingyuan, "Oh, it's him, let him in!"
After entering, Steward Yang first bowed and greeted Wen Yuxia, then explained his purpose: "Princess, the tea production of the tea mountains behind Jingyuan is increasing..."
Behind the garden, there are several barren mountains where the previous owner planted many tea trees. However, because the tea produced could not be sold for much money, the previous owner abandoned the tea mountains.
After Wen Yuxia took over Jingyuan, the tea trees on the barren mountain grew more and more luxuriantly. Manager Yang then had people pick the tea and bring it back to Jingyuan for processing. This tea was sold at a very low price, and after deducting labor costs, the profit was not much.
The tea trees in Jingyuan are of excellent quality, and the tea produced each year is in high demand in Beijing. This year, the tea trees in Jingyuan are growing exceptionally well.
Manager Yang then wanted to abandon the tea leaves on the tea mountain and focus on processing the tea leaves picked in the garden. Manager Yang asked Wen Yunhong for advice, and Wen Yunhong told him to go find Wen Yuxia.
Wen Yuxia remembered the tea trees on the tea mountain; the trees were tall and the leaves were large, some leaves as big as her palm. Tea made with such methods certainly wouldn't fetch a good price.
Wen Yuxia pondered for a moment, then decided to go to the tea plantation. She got up and, along with the four Bei sisters, followed Manager Yang to Jingyuan. Pointing to the tea trees that were two or three zhang tall, she said:
"Manager Yang, go and find some people to pick the leaves from the trees. Except for the oldest leaves, you can pick all the others."
Soon, Steward Yang gathered his men and brought them to the tea mountain. These men were all villagers from nearby villages. Before they arrived, Steward Yang had instructed them to first pay their respects to Princess Wen Yuxia.
"Greetings, Princess!" The villagers knelt respectfully before Wen Yuxia, who smiled faintly and said, "No need for such formalities, please rise!"
After the villagers got up, they dispersed. "Watch your step, everyone, don't slip!" Manager Yang shouted loudly as he patrolled the area, afraid that the villagers would fall from the trees.
The harvested tea leaves were placed in bamboo baskets by the villagers. The baskets, filled with tea leaves, were all kept together in one place. After picking about twenty baskets of tea leaves...
Wen Yuxia gestured for Bei Yi to go find Manager Yang. Bei Yi obeyed and soon returned with Manager Yang. Wen Yuxia pointed to the bamboo baskets and said softly, "Arrange for people to send the tea back to Jingyuan."
Manager Yang led the villagers to carry bamboo baskets, while Wen Yuxia led the four Bei Yi sisters slowly down the mountain.
Bei Yi stared at the twenty baskets of leaves on the ground and asked curiously, "Master, you said these... uh, these leaves can really be used to make tea?"
Wen Yuxia replied calmly, "I don't know." Hearing this, Bei was momentarily stunned. Wen Yuxia turned to Manager Yang and said, "Call a few tea-making workers over."
Before long, Manager Yang arrived with the tea-making workers. Wen Yuxia instructed them to first kill the green in the tea leaves. The workers set up iron woks and skillfully killed the green in the tea leaves.
Afterwards, following Wen Yuxia's instructions, the tea leaves were steamed in a steamer until softened. Then, the steaming hot tea leaves were placed on a plate and pressed firmly into a round, flat cake shape.
Seeing this, Bei Yi, who was watching from the side, couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Hehe, tea cakes, tea cakes, they really do look like big pancakes."
Wen Yuxia's lips curled slightly, a hint of satisfaction flashing in her eyes. After all the tea leaves had been processed into tea cakes, she turned to Steward Yang and gave him instructions:
"After these tea cakes are completely dried, wrap them in oiled paper and store them in the warehouse," Manager Yang nodded respectfully, indicating that he would do so.
"Continue picking the tea leaves on the mountain and process them according to the steps we just discussed. Store all the tea cakes in the warehouse; there's no need to sell them this year," Wen Yuxia instructed before leading Bei Yi and the others away from Jingyuan.
On the way back to the city, Bei Yi asked curiously, "Master, why didn't you sell the tea cakes after they were made?"
Wen Yuxia smiled and said, "Raw tea cakes taste best when stored for five to ten years." Bei Yi seemed to understand and gave an "Oh."
Actually, there are two types of tea cakes: ripe tea cakes and raw tea cakes. Ripe tea cakes don't seem to need to be stored for several years, but she didn't know how to make ripe tea cakes, only how to make raw tea cakes.
During the following period, Wen Yuxia went to the tea plantation every day to inspect the tea plantation, to the garden to watch the workers making tea cakes, to transport the tea cakes stored in the warehouse back to the princess's residence, and to secretly store the tea cakes in her spatial storage.
Upon learning that there were wild tea trees on the mountain whose leaves could be made into tea cakes, Nangong Wenrui summoned his men to go into the mountain to pick tea leaves for Wen Yuxia.