The sun is shining, sweeping away the bitter cold of winter.

Chuantao returned to Huangshi Cliff with the two masters of Huangshi Daoren and Wu Lao. This time, not only did he bring back a brand-new box cannon and bullets, but he also brought back three bags of rice so that he didn't have to go to town to buy them all winter. Of course, the three bags of rice were sent by Wu Gang, and they were not asked to carry them by themselves.

When the two mules and horses saw their master, whom they had not seen for three days, they also rattled their noses and cocked their hind hooves to welcome their master's return.

It's business as usual.

Chuantao still practiced every day, and Huang Shi and Mr. Wu were strategizing on the chessboard and competing for the best.

……

In the blink of an eye, winter turns to spring, and the rhododendrons on the edge of the forest compete to bloom, surrounding the farmland under the Huangshi Cliff, a piece of red, a piece of emerald green, beautiful.

The tea leaves sprouted.

It was a crisp morning, and Huang Shidao was standing in the middle of the Pingba with his hands behind his back. Looking up, a few faint wisps of mist on the opposite cliff gently brushed the rock wall, reluctant to leave; The golden light on the top of the cliff pierced the sky, reflecting the earth clearly and brightly.

It was another sunny day.

Chuantao's morning exercise was finishing, and Huangshi Daoist said to Chuantao: "From today on, learn to pick tea and make tea with me." ”

Chuantao didn't move, just a simple "um", which means "I know".

……

"Tea, in the high mountains, foggy and sunny places is the most. The high temperature difference of the mountain is large, the fog is heavy and the juice is more, and the light foot has a strong fragrance. Huangshi Daoist said while walking towards the tea garden with Chuantao.

"Qingming is coming, giving birth to a winter of tea tree essence, will be with the first buds of the branches, at this time the best tea quality." Huangshi Taoist pointed to the tea buds that had just been dried by the sun in front of a tea forest and said: "Picking fresh leaves with dew will make the umami have a hidden sense of astringency. After saying that, the index finger and thumb of his right hand pinched off a young shoot, and the tip of the bud sat on a green leaf that had just unfolded, trembling.

"A bud with a leaf is the best fresh leaf." Huang Shi said to Chuantao.

Chuan Tao looked at the tea leaves held up by Huang Shi's fingers: "Well, I want to have one more leaf that hasn't grown." ”

Huang Shi raised his left hand and slapped it on Chuan Tao's shoulder, and Chuan Tao naturally avoided it.

"I mean, even if you have two leaves, you can only pick one. Also, don't pull out the tea stalk, this thing into the tea, not only is it not good-looking, but it will also make a pot of tea bitter and astringent. Remember? Huang Shi said, and Chuan Tao nodded.

According to the requirements of the Huangshi Daoist, Chuan Tao pinched the buds and leaves between his fingers, never pulled the tea tree, and picked all the standard leaves and buds, and put them lightly in the bamboo basket hanging on his arm.

With half a basket, Chuantao was afraid that the pile would be too thick and crush the young leaves below, so he sent them to the stone house, spread them thinly on bamboo mats, and then picked fresh leaves in the field.

……

Wu Lao knows how to pick tea, and he once learned from Huangshi.

The three of them were in this tea garden, talking in their mouths and picking in their hands, and Chuan Tao was in charge of transporting them, and they were busy until noon. The sun baked dense beads of sweat on everyone's heads.

"It's time for lunch, let's go back to the house." Huangshi Taoist greets Chuantao. Wu Lao has been back for a long time and has gone to prepare the lunch meal.

……

Huangshi Daoist pinched a piece of bamboo stick and picked his teeth, and at the same time instructed Chuantao: "Take down the pot on the stove, replace the big pot inside and put it on the stove, polish it with oil sand and use it for roasting tea." ”

Chuantao patted his abdomen gently, feeling that he was already very comfortable, and stood up to get the iron pot that had been sitting behind and didn't know what to do. From the instructions of the Huangshi Daoist just now, Chuan Tao already knew that this idle iron pot was not useless, but specially used to fry tea. He brought an iron pot and put it on the clay stove where there was still residual heat, and brought out a clay pot filled with stone sand from the foot of the cupboard. Pour the pot of sand into the iron pot that had just been put on the table, remove a large wooden shovel from the wall that looked bulky but light in your hand, and turned the oil sand in the pot three times from left to right.

"Flip it a few times and push it forward a few more times, so that soon the bottom of the pot will shine." Huangshi Daoist told Chuantao.

Push the sand forward, and the sand will automatically fall back to the bottom of the pot again, which is not tiring.

In fact, the bottom of the pot didn't shine a few times, and the Huangshi Daoist still plated the side of the pot with his hands behind his back, until the bottom of the pot also emitted a leisurely reflection like the sand, and then asked Chuantao to pour the sand back into the clay pot.

"Burn the fire." Chuantao is no stranger to fire, and soon the firewood in the stove hall is booming.

"Use the bamboo basket to fill the basket with fresh tea leaves, pour it into the pot, and stir-fry it with a wooden spatula." The people of Huangshi Dao are going to start teaching the skills of roasting tea.

Chuantao didn't need to make a sound, just do it.

"It's called finalization. When the tea leaves are soft and fragrant, they are taken out of the pot and quickly spread on the bamboo mat to dissipate heat; "Huangshi is on the side and looks at the pot, and then looks at Chuantao." Huowang should speed up a little, and don't let the fresh leaves stay at the bottom of the pot, otherwise it will fail if it has a burnt smell. ”

Chuantao understood this and kept turning the tea leaves in his hands......

When the Huangshi Taoist sounded "start the pot", Chuan Tao threw the tea leaves in the pot to the bamboo mat twice, learned the techniques of the Huangshi Taoist people, and constantly threw the tea leaves that had just started the pot with both hands, and the fragrance of the tea rushed to the nose, and Chuan Tao felt very useful.

"It's called a cold billet. It can't be slow, otherwise the residual temperature will not be exhausted, and the brown will be red, and it will not be fragrant. ”

……

Kneading. Gently rub it with your hands to make the tea buds form strips and the juice overflows, and then it is good.

Roast slowly in an iron pot until the water evaporates and the tea aroma is particularly mellow before it can be baked.

When it is cooled to a natural temperature, the tea leaves are officially made and can be sealed and stored in wooden barrels, which is called sealing.

After a set of procedures, the Huangshi Taoist taught carefully, and naturally learned well with Chuantao's spirituality.

The foreheads of both the master and apprentice were covered with fine sweat stains.

……

After a few days in a row, Chuan Tao finally heard the comments of the Huangshi Daoist: "You can make tea alone." ”

Slowly, he became a master of tea picking and tea making, even Wu Lao was not far behind, chatting with the people of Huangshi Dao in the field, while picking new green, a family of three was drunk by the green and fragrance of this tea.

In addition to normal training, Chuantao is all about picking tea and making tea at other times; Wu Lao and Huangshi Daoren seem to have forgotten their chess addiction and spend their days in the picking and processing of this tea leaf. I don't know how many barrels of tea are collected, the most important thing is that Chuantao has made tea comparable to the master, as long as I hear the master's applause, it is happier than anything else, who cares how much it gets.

More than a month has passed, and the spring tea has come to an end.

The sprouts on the branches of the trees have spread their green wings and danced in the breeze; The loquat on the side of the road took off his green shirt and changed into a yellow robe; The fresh and tender bamboo shoots in the bamboo garden are unearthed one after another, and there is a great tendency to break the blue sky.

Chuantao was digging bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest that day, and after the bamboo shoots were screened by Chuantao, they were basically the same size as the same length, and they were piled up in a big pile. Chuantao stood up and searched for bamboo shoots again, but unexpectedly found a twisted bamboo chicken in a bamboo forest in the distance with his head down to eat, which made Chuantao happy, he hadn't seen the pheasant for a long time. When I picked it up, the chicken's head fell to the ground, and the chicken's neck was bleeding. I didn't go to hug the bamboo shoots anymore, and directly picked up the bamboo chicken and went to the grass house.

"Master, it's a good thing." The bamboo chicken was thrown on the ground, and the second elder, who was playing chess, saw the headless bamboo chicken and twitched on the ground.

"Good stuff indeed." The wrinkles on Wu Lao's face have unfolded a lot. "If there's crucian carp in a stew, it's a must."

Huangshi Dao and Chuantao both widened their eyes, it's good to have chickens, where did the crucian carp come from?

Chuantao's eyes rolled twice, and the person had already run to Pingba, and Chuantao's voice came from the wind: "I'll go to the town to change crucian carp." ”

This is a round trip to the town, not to mention there are sixty miles of mountain roads. For ordinary people, it's really not good to go back and forth for half a day. But for Chuantao, one hour is enough.

Chuan Tao tied a bundle of bamboo shoots with bamboo strips, threw them on his shoulder, and drifted straight to Guniu Town with a puff of smoke.

In this Guniu Town, Chuantao is already familiar with where to sell fish, where to sell meat, where to sell wine, where to sell rice, and he knows it very well. Chuantao stopped directly at the uncle who sold fish, and said to the uncle who was bored: "Uncle, is there crucian carp for sale?" ”

"Yes, isn't it? The crucian carp stew is very good, how many pounds does the young man want? Before he finished speaking, the uncle's hand had already reached into the small basin containing the crucian carp.

Chuantao didn't speak, looking at the fish seller and laughing.

"What are you laughing at? Aren't you going to buy crucian carp? The uncle was puzzled.

"I don't have the money to buy it, can I exchange this bamboo shoot for some?" Chuantao really didn't bring any money, and when he left, he just wanted to exchange bamboo shoots, but he didn't go into the house to take some money and put it on his body.

"How?" The uncle saw the bamboo shoots that Chuantao was carrying, and the bamboo shoots were not ordinarily good.

"Two pounds for one pound, all changed, okay?" Chuantao put the bamboo shoots in front of the fish seller, a neat bundle, full of twenty catties.

"Two and a half pounds for one pound, not for pulling." Uncle is in business, and it seems too unfashionable not to pay a price.

"......, well, count me at a loss. Who told me that I didn't have any cash? "Chuantao pushes the boat along the water, and it is already very satisfying to be able to exchange seven or eight catties of crucian carp.

After weighing the bamboo shoots and changing them for eight catties of crucian carp, Chuan Tao took it in his hand and walked into the Lin Fang Inn. Still in the yard, Chuan Tao shouted: "Is Boss Lin at home?" ”

"Yes, yes, wait a minute, I'll be there soon." The hoarse voice was Lin Fang's voice.

"Yo, I thought it was a guest, but it turned out to be Chuantao Langzhong, please take a seat." Lin Fang wiped his hand on the greasy linen cloth and invited Chuantao into the room to sit down.

"I've changed some fish, too much, I'll give you some points." The bag containing the fish shook in front of Lin Fang's eyes.

"Don't give it to me, it's much easier for me to get fish here than yours, you can take it back and eat it yourself." You came just in time, I don't even know where your master and apprentice live, and it's hard to ask. A few days ago, I got a few catties of wine and wanted to give it to your master to taste, but the wine was brought back, and I couldn't send it to you. After saying that, he turned around and went to the house to get the wine, but he didn't ask for Chuantao's fish, and he forgot to invite Chuantao in to sit down.

Soon, Lin Fang came out, with a pot of white wine in his hand, and stuffed it directly into Chuantao's hand.

Chuantao took the wine.

"If you find something, I'll give you some fish, so many will take several days to eat, and it's hard to keep it." Chuantao is afraid that there will be too many fish and it will be eaten badly. Chuantao did not forget what his father said: "Don't waste when you're full." It means eating as much as you can, not wasting it.

"I'm worried about this, okay then, I'll divide it." After speaking, he went inside and took a small basin, and returned it to Chuantao after less than two catties, and he refused to order more.

Chuantao didn't delay much, and hurriedly ran to the Yellowstone Cliff, he was worried that the fish would go bad after a long time.