Chapter Ninety-Eight: Hold the Universe in Your Hand
The deep mountains have produced talents since ancient times. With stunts, the world in the palm, the four seas in the cup, and the fragrance of tea.
In the depths of Yunwu Mountain, the old walls, old houses, old tiles, old beams, old tea, everything is still the oldest, but in it, it constantly glows with a new look and a new style.
Nong Tianyi's favorite is the old taste of his hometown under a small lamp. The old house, the bits and pieces of the past are sealed, and they are eager to try the future.
Time passed, and it was another twilight. The distant mountains left a long silk thread in the night, both floating and winding, and in the end they did not know where they went.
The old house, the smoke rises. On the tea mountain, there is a new round of green branches and young leaves. It is said that the tea trees in the mountain nest grow the best, and the feng shui is the best.
The smooth slip of the tea picking seems to be still echoing on the banks of the mountain beams stream:
Early in the morning the mountain red sunshine,
Pick up the bamboo basket and step on the mountains.
The girl and daughter-in-law pick tea diligently,
Full of fragrance to provoke butterflies!
After the Qingming Festival and before the Guyu Festival, it is the peak period of tea picking, and girls, daughters-in-law and children have become the main force of tea picking.
In the early morning, when a touch of sunshine has just emerged from the mountain, the tea-picking team has already set off, they are dressed simply, some sallow faces are full of smiles, carrying bamboo baskets, straw hats on their heads, new or cleanly washed towels are placed in the basket, carrying a pot of water, or simple dry food, inviting five shouts and six, trotting all the way to the tea mountain.
Tea pickers need to be patient, calm and calm, picking one by one, turning one tree at a time, and changing to another after picking one ridge. If you are fast with your hands and feet, your hands are like chickens pecking rice, and you can grab a lot of them. Those with slow hands, picking tea is like embroidering, pinching one finger at a time.
Approaching noon, those who will pick have filled the tea basket, after a stubble, the tea leaves that are picked up, the fast ones are already four leaves and five leaves, and the slow ones are also two leaves and one heart, some are green and faint, some are slightly yellow in the green, and some are still with dew, all of which are so fresh and tender.
When picking tea, tea picking women are often homely, the parents are short, or whose girl should find her mother-in-law, whose son should marry a daughter-in-law, so a lot of happy marriages are born in this season, although this life is clear, but laughter and slapstick add a kind of mountain fun.
In the afternoon, it is the time to sort out the tea leaves, put a handful of dustpans in front of each person, pour the tea leaves picked into the dustpans, and then pinch off, put the two leaves on one side, and put the rest on the other side, not to be confused.
The frying of tea leaves is not only a technical work, but also a physical work. First the iron pot grinding clean, spotless, and then a few cauldrons are opened, at this time the firewood burns vigorously, and when the iron pot is about to turn red, the pinched tea leaves are poured into the pot, each pot is up to four catties, and then a pot is fried. Then you will hear a crackling sound.
The sleeves of the roasters have been rolled up high, and some simply go into battle shirtless, constantly "uprooting" the tea leaves in the pot, raising flat eyebrows, sometimes raising them above their heads, and then shaking their hands, the tea leaves fall one after another, the heat is emitted, and the cycle repeats until the tea leaves wilt.
Subsequently, put the roasted tea on the pre-prepared board, or on the slate floor, spread out to dissipate the heat, wait until the roasted tea leaves are completely cool, and then gather together, rub them on the board, and continue to rub them, the water stains of the tea leaves are rubbed out, and become more soft.
After this process is completed, pour the kneaded tea leaves into the pot again, stir-fry over a simmer, and after reaching a certain level, the pot will be dissipated and cooled thoroughly, and kneaded again.
After several twists and turns, the fresh and tender tea leaves began to change color, from green to green black, and then to green daisy, fresh and tender to crisp. The aroma of tea is transparent.
In the whole process of tea making, the heat must be grasped for finishing, the heat dissipation must be grasped to be cool, and the strength of kneading must be grasped. In all the process of frying, if the hands are slow, the tea leaves will become charred, there will be more slag, the taste will be poor, and if you rub it if it is not cool, the tea stains will turn red. It will become a "waste tea", and it will be in vain.
The final drying process is the key, and the strength is the guarantee. If the fire is big, the tea paste taste becomes heavier, then no one needs the tea, if the hand is strong, the tea will become pure, and the face-shaped tea is worthless.
Therefore, the high-grade tea leaves, seeing green and yellow, the leaves with fine fluff, smell the fragrance, and the dry tea leaves should be hooked, lift one, and affect the whole. This is a technical job, and what you see is real kung fu.
Deep in the mountains and valleys, the rain pounds against the cliffs. In the mountains, it rains and shines. The tea plantations on the hillsides are full of ancient tea trees.
When the ancient tea tree gives a cup of tea soup a stunning expression, in fact, you can't forget the thousands of acres of tea mountains. In it, the history of the struggle of generations of tea people is recorded.
In China's modern history, the wars caused by tea have not stopped. Perhaps, the last battle of alternative cultivation, and the most dramatic, is that this time it will be tea to replace the opium poppy. The grievances and grievances of these two plants have been entangled in the history of international relations for many years, and there are still shadows left in the memories of generations of tea people......
Modern history – gives a land a deep memory and a common humiliation. This tea is a case in point!
The smoke of gunpowder dissipated, and a hundred years of secret war. After all, it was tea that defeated the poppy!
Outside the window, it was a torrential rain. After a few cups of tea, the rain stopped, and the mountains were as clear as washing. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, the rise and fall of the water and soil are written.
When Nong Tian woke up, he was already in the tea story of his predecessors.
In the depths of the Yunwu Mountain, this tea mountain, the tea planting area has been expanded again, and the mountain people, who have never renovated the tea trees, began to sawed off the trunks of the old tea trees for many years, so that it emits new branches and leaves, and the yield has increased.
At this time, the tea maker has the time to study how to make tea better. Since then, Sanjitang, Tianxin Tea, or Fengshan Tea, in the palm of these roasted tea masters, exquisite skills, make the tea more outstanding, its value doubled.
Time flies, some of the roasted tea masters have reached their old age, mentioning the tea-making skills of the year, the two old people looked at their calloused hands, fingers can no longer be straightened, full of vicissitudes of memory big hands, revealing infinite pride, but also showing great regret, shaking their heads and sighing......
If you go to the mountains again, you can see tea plantations at the edge of the fields, in the mountain cols, on the gentle slopes, and in Chongchong Bay, and if you go to the spring, you can also see the tea farmers who are picking tea and working, and occasionally you can buy a few catties of fresh tea leaves and take them home to taste.
Tea, because of the "Sanjitang" flourishing, in a certain period of time, has brought how much joy and joy to the kind and simple mountain people, how many folk masters have found a good opportunity to entertain themselves and show their skills, but also let them experience the sense of accomplishment and survival value of joy!
Now, when Nong Lu took Nong Tianyi and Bai Longjie to climb this tea garden again, he experienced incomparable comfort and freshness, but when his body and mind were relaxed, there would also be another kind of uneasiness quietly born in his heart......
At the foot of Fengshan Mountain, on the bank of the Fushui River, on the high mountain of Baima, standing on the top of the verdant mountain, the farmer seems to be raising his arms high, and is affectionately calling to the reckless Jing Mountain——
Yellow tea, my yellow tea, come back soon!