Since the old man gave tea seeds, Nong Wangnian has regarded "tea seeds" as "fairy seeds". He believes that this is his own business and has nothing to do with others.

From the moment the tea seeds were planted around the ancient tea trees of Tianxinyan, Nong Wangnian was like serving his own children, and he loved him very much. Nong Wangnian and his son changed shifts, stayed in the shack day and night to take care of it, and went to the place where the tea seeds were sown almost every day to see if the tea seeds were rising. In this way, he felt more steady.

One morning, Nong Wangnian was pleasantly surprised to find that the tea seeds showed sharp corners, and all five tea seeds had sprouted. He was overjoyed, and in his eyes, this little seedling was like a tea god. As the old man said, he had to wait patiently for it to come out of the tea, so that it would smell good.

Nong Wangnian believes that this is not a story, let alone a legend, but a real barley tea sapling, and now, it is thriving on its own tea mountain, which is real.

At the first time, he told his wife and children about the emergence of tea seeds, and the family was extremely excited, they were full of devotion as welcoming the God of Wealth, and there was a little worship. No, it should be said, it's prostration!

As soon as the seedlings emerged, Nong Wangnian made five sturdy wooden fences, and hurriedly surrounded the tea seedlings to prevent livestock or wild beasts from trampling on them.

For more than a month, the tea seedlings are growing. He found that this was significantly faster than the growth of home-grown tea seedlings, and he was overjoyed. If you continue like this, you will grow to the height of a person in less than a year. Thinking of this, Nong Wangnian only felt incredible. But he would prefer to see it happen.

He leaned on the edge of the tea seedlings and sniffed them, one by one...... He wants to watch the tea seeds transmute into small tea trees, and then grow into adult tea trees, and this transformation process is a kind of happiness and enjoyment for him. No matter how much effort he puts in, he willingly accompanies them through the ups and downs to see the world and grow all the way.

On this day, Xu Caiyun came to the farmer's house and said to Nong Wangnian: "Let's go, take me to see the tea tree." ”

"Okay."

The two went up to the tea mountain together. When I arrived at Tianxin Rock, I saw a tall and handsome ancient tea tree from a distance, this was the first time Xu Caiyun saw such a tall and lush tea tree, and he said "ah", because the general tea trees are short poke, so Xu Caiyun said: "What a god tea tree!" ”。

Nong Wangnian pointed to the ancient tea tree and said:

"It's been around for thousands of years."

"That's not a tea tree, it's a tea god!" After speaking, Xu Caiyun came to the ancient tea tree with a look of awe.

Subsequently, Xu Caiyun said: "I have to worship the god of tea and bless the prosperity of our tea market!" ”

"Okay, you can worship, the god of tea will make you."

Xu Caiyun was extremely pious, kneeling respectfully and kowtowing, still reciting silently in his mouth.

After the worship, Nong Wangnian pointed to the newly produced tea saplings and said:

"These are also my hearts."

Xu Caiyun saw the tea saplings raising their heads and said, "Qingxiu is beautiful, and the growth is gratifying." ”

Nong Wangnian told Xu Caiyun: "I will do it as soon as I have time, and after watching it, my heart will be steady." ”

Xu Caiyun praised, "Brother, good service!" ”

Subsequently, the two went down the mountain. Xu Caiyun came to the Flower Valley for the first time, and out of curiosity, he proposed to go to the Fir Temple to have a look, and Nong Wangnian said "good".

This fir temple is located about four miles northwest of Tianxin Rock. Halfway down the mountain, they turned most of the circle to the fir temple, entered the temple, saw a small novice, Xu Caiyun stepped forward and asked, "Where is the abbot of the temple?" ”

The little novice said, "Follow me." So he took them to the abbot.

After the briefing, the abbot came out with his hands folded:

"Two donors, what's the matter here?"

Xu Caiyun said: "We are here to visit the abbot. ”

"If nothing else, we might as well drink tea, Amitabha." So, the abbot took them to the tearoom.

After sitting down, warm the cup, throw the tea, brew, make the soup, divide the cup, serve the tea, the abbot said: "Please two donors to taste the tea!" ”

Nong Wangnian drank tea, with a few puzzled questions in his heart, and wanted to take this opportunity to ask the abbot, so he asked, "What is tea?" ”

"Buddhism believes that tea has three virtues, and when you sit in meditation, you can't sleep all night; When the stomach is full, it can help digestion; Tea is a non-fat thing that can suppress libido. Monks quench their thirst, sit in meditation, pray, and have tea ceremonies. ”

They were amazed to hear such a wonderful statement for the first time.

In our country, monks have a long history of drinking tea, because tea has "three virtues", which is conducive to jungle practice, and the "virtue of tea" gives birth to the Zen tea ceremony. It has become a tradition for monks to grow tea, make tea, drink tea and develop famous tea.

Xu Caiyun asked curiously: "What is the tea ceremony?" ”

The abbot replied: "The tea ceremony is derived from the virtue of tea, and if the virtue and ceremony are matched, then life can be achieved." ”

They nodded yes.

Nong Wangnian continued to ask: "What is the explanation of Zen tea?" Because when he entered the monastery just now, he occasionally saw this sentence and felt that he didn't understand it very well, so he asked.

The abbot explained: "Zen is a realm, Zen is the mind, tea is the spiritual bud of matter, and the heart and tea are connected and blended with each other. ”

When they heard this, they were filled with admiration. It turns out that the relationship between tea and Zen is so profound.

Chinese Zen tea culture is profound, and its spirit can be summarized as "righteousness, purity, harmony and elegance". Tea and Zen are two cultures that have come into contact with each other in their long historical development and gradually infiltrated and influenced each other, and finally merged into a new cultural form, that is, Zen tea culture.

Nong Wangnian still had a knot in his heart, so he took the opportunity to ask the abbot: "How to keep the tea soup mellow?" ”

The abbot said like a poem: "The characteristics of tea are the foundation, the brewing of mountain spring water is wonderful, and the decoction of pine branches is better." ”

After the abbot nodded like this, they both had a new understanding of tea, and nodded again and again.

Seeing that it was not too early, Xu Caiyun and Nong Wangnian got up and said, "I have been taught today, so I am disturbed." ”

"Good, good, Amitabha."

Immediately, they entered the Daxiong Treasure Hall, and when they saw that there was a merit box, they put some broken silver in it, and the silver fell into the box with a dull sound. So the two left in a hurry.

After returning home from the temple, Nong Wangnian pondered the mysterious and profound tea principles that the abbot said. I thought: There are so many ways to make this tea. He also remembered what his grandfather used to say: tea is a spiritual thing, and you should treat it well.

I used to think that this was simple, but now I feel that it has some weight. He also gradually changed himself under the guidance of some awakening: one would look at the soil moisture in the tea garden, and the other would compare the subtle differences of tea; Either making tea at the table or stir-frying tea in the tea room. In a word, there is hardly time to be idle.

From the greening, finishing, forming, drying, calming down to carry out the whole process of speculation, especially pay attention to the control of the details of tea making, practice their own mind, grind their patience, faintly feel that he wants to integrate a "Zen taste" into the world of tea, and make a good tea worthy of the "God of Tea".

On this day, Nong Wangnian was making tea and asked his son to help, and the father and son were busy all morning. After making tea, Nong Jingtang brought his father a cup of steaming tea and asked:

"Father, what are the characteristics of yellow tea?"

Nong Wangnian got serious and replied to his son: "Yellow tea is a lightly fermented tea, but before and after the drying process, a dull yellow process is added to promote the oxidation of the substance. The processing method is similar to that of green tea, mainly fresh leaves are greened, rolled, dull yellow, and dried. The most important thing is that it is stuffy yellow, which is the main characteristic of yellow tea. ”

Nong Jingtang added water to the teacup, Nong Wangnian took a sip, put down the tea bowl, and said:

"The main method is to wrap the tea leaves after finishing and rolling with paper, and after accumulation, they can also be covered with a wet cloth, and the time varies from tens of minutes to several hours, so that the tea blank is automatically oxidized under the action of water heat to form yellow."

Nong Jingtang said: "The difficulty of yellow tea is that it is dull yellow. ”

Nong Wangnian nodded, and specially told his son: "When making tea for the first time, you should focus on mastering the two key processes of damp heat and dry heat, and the damp heat forms yellow leaves and yellow soup, which has a mellow taste; The effect of dry heat is to develop the aroma of yellow tea. ”

"Father, the child understands."

Nong Wangnian accentuated: "Practice makes perfect, you have to practice diligently in the future." ”

"Yes, father."