The little girl is quite powerful, Zhiqiu smiled and wanted to pull her pigtails, but the little girl jumped away flexibly and glared angrily. Only then did she remember that she was wearing men's clothes, and withdrew her hand stupidly, "We are here to worship the sacred tree, and we made an appointment with your father yesterday." ”

"Oh, you're the boy who bought the golden rice!" Zheng Ling'er hugged her arms like a little adult, "Okay, follow me!" ”

Along the field path, came to a fenced courtyard, Zheng Shouyu had just returned from planting rice in the field, and saw his daughter bringing two people, holding a pergola and looking at this side.

"Daddy! They came to see the sacred tree! Zheng Ling'er flew into the courtyard like a little swallow, turned around and pointed at Xia Qingyun and the others.

"Two sons, I guess you're almost there, don't you just come back from the field, you drink water and rest first?" Zheng Shouyu let them into the house.

"No, we want to go to the Sacred Tree first." Xia Qingyun said with a smile.

"It's okay, you'll be back in a while, let's go." Zheng Shouyu led his daughter with one hand and opened the fence door with the other.

Not long after the early rice harvest was completed, most of the people in the village were busy planting late rice in the fields, and clusters of rice seedlings were thrown away, splashing patches of water. In the distance, I saw a small dirt bag in the middle of the rice field, and a small green tree grew on it.

"Is that the Sacred Tree?" Zhiqiu asked, pointing at it.

"Yes, it only grew a few years ago, maybe it was a seed pulled down by a bird, and it fell on the soil bag and germinated." Zheng Shouyu said as he walked.

"The first year was nothing, but since the year before, dozens of acres of rice around the area suddenly produced yellow rice grains, and we thought it was a disease, but we were reluctant to throw it away. I cooked porridge with it and tasted it. The taste is much more glutinous than ordinary rice. Within a few months of paying the public grain, an official came to inspect the village, called this rice golden rice, and announced that he would pay tribute to the emperor. ”

"Then you should have a better time?" Zhiqiu asked.

"Alas! Far from getting better, it's not as good as it used to be! ”

Zheng Shouyu looked around, saw that no one was paying attention to them, and said in a low voice: "Although the golden rice is good, the yield is not as high as before, and there is not much left after handing over the public grain." In addition to public rations, each family also has to pay taxes on a per capita basis. Each person has to pay five taels of silver a year! There are six people in my family. That's a full thirty taels! ”

Xia Qingyun was surprised: "Such a heavy tax? Our farmers in the southwest only pay one or two halves of silver every year, so why do they have to more than double here? ”

"Who says it's not, Jiangnan is rich in products, and it was only two taels earlier. Life is still passable. However, in recent years, taxes have been raised every year. By this year, I will have to pay five taels! Zheng Shouyu sighed. If it weren't for this year's harvest, I would have to sell something. ”

The peasants depend on the sky for food, and the harvest in the field is okay. If there is a disaster year, the grain collected is not enough to pay the public grain, how can there be extra money to pay taxes. It seems that even in the affluent Jiangnan, the life of the common people is not easy.

Walking to the small dirt bag, the tender green leaves exuded a burst of fragrance, she guessed well, it was a tea tree variety that Qingyun Tea Garden did not have!

In the previous life, the tea made from this tea tree was the alternative best of green tea - Taiping Houkui! Its yield is extremely low, and it has always been sought after by countless tea customers. It's just that this Taiping Monkey Kui was not born in the mountains, otherwise the tea produced would be of better quality.

Xia Qingyun took out the prepared red Yingluo, carefully hung it among the branches, and bowed down reverently. Zhiqiu picked tea in the tea garden, recognized it as a tea tree, and worshiped her example.

"Brother Zheng, I want to break a branch." She gestured with her hand.

"Hey, that's not going to work!" Zheng Shouyu's face changed, and he stopped in front of the tree, "Two sons, you worship and worship, if the tree god has a spirit, he will definitely bless you in high school." The branches must not be broken! Our village relies on it for the gold and rice to pay tribute, and if the sacred tree is injured and the ground does not produce gold and rice, it will be killed! ”

Xia Qingyun said something bad and swore that he would never hurt the Divine Tree, but he just didn't agree. When the villagers in the field heard that she wanted to break the branches, their faces changed one by one, and they surrounded the sacred tree. Some people also blamed Zheng Shouyu, saying that he shouldn't have brought people in casually.

In order not to cause trouble to Zheng Shouyu, Xia Qingyun hurriedly apologized, saying that he was too reckless. The villagers were suspicious and did not let the two stay longer, and insisted that Zheng Shouyu send them out of the village immediately.

I left like this, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for it. Xia Qingyun took out twenty taels of silver, "Brother Zheng, thanks to your blessing, I am fated to see the Divine Tree, and you have to accept this little bit of heart no matter what!" ”

Although he didn't get the tea branches, he found that the Taiping Monkey Kui was not in vain. But I feel unwilling to miss out on rare tea trees, which is a pity!

Xia Qingyun frowned, his lips pursed into a line, and he never said a word until the inn.

That night, she told Zhiqiu that she wanted to go to Tianyun Mountain.

According to Zheng Shouyu's description, there was no sacred tree in Taiping Pit before, which means that it is likely that it was a tea seed brought by a bird from elsewhere and fell to the ground to sprout.

The handlebar style also said that there is the remnant vein of Tianyun Mountain, and wild tea trees mostly grow in the misty mountains, so she deduced that the big tea trees of Taiping Houkui may be found on Tianyun Mountain.

Zhiqiu shrugged, anyway, she would go wherever Xia Qingyun went, and her task was to protect her.

The main peak of Tianyun Mountain is located one hundred and twenty miles northeast of Qionghai County, and the next evening they rushed to a small village at the foot of the mountain, there was no inn in the village, so Zhiqiu found a farmer to stay.

Hearing that they wanted to go to Tianyun Mountain, the farmer had an incredible expression. Wild beasts are infested on Tianyun Mountain, not to mention that scholars like them are unrestrained and powerful, even experienced hunters, and they don't dare to go into the deep mountains.

Seeing that they insisted on going, the farmer kindly asked a local hunter to show the two of them, but the hunter said that he would not go to the deep mountains, and would only take them to the foot of Tianyun Peak.

Tianyun Peak is a steep mountain, and the ancient cypress and miscellaneous trees and shrubs are staggered, and there is no way to follow at all. Xia Qingyun gritted his teeth and plunged into the forest. Zhiqiu followed behind her without landing a single step, and after walking not far, the hair of the two people was hung by the branches into a messy chicken nest.

"Miss Xia, I'm still in front." Zhiqiu said as she squeezed past Xia Qingyun, took out a foot-long dagger from her boots, and slashed it to open a passage a few steps long.

"Oops, how did you come up with such a good tool!" Xia Qingyun's laughter came from behind him, and Zhiqiu stumbled, tools? This is a weapon that sharpens iron like clay, right?

With the dagger to open the way, the speed of travel is noticeably faster. But after walking for more than two hours, they found that the scenery around them seemed a little familiar.

Zhiqiu sat on the ground with her buttocks, and the dagger was plunged into the soil fiercely, it was so embarrassing! I led the way and turned around and returned to the same place! (To be continued......)