Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1357
Wang Siniang greeted people and walked all the way up the mountain. Tea gardens like a cool environment, so the tea gardens of Phoenix Villa are all located in the upper half of the mountain near the top of the mountain.The bluestone path winds its way upwards, and newly planted saplings have been planted on both sides of the road. Some of these saplings were bought from nearby nurseries, and most of them were unloaded from the big boats on the pier by the river below the mountain.

Wang Siniang never knew why Mr. Zhao didn't like the local seedlings. Almost all the seedlings planted on the Phoenix Mountain Villa, especially the profitable ones, were unloaded from the ship.

It's spring now, and all kinds of flowers and trees are competing to bloom. Walking along the way, it's really like walking among the clouds.She walked through a plum grove planted last year. Although the tree was not as tall as a person, the flowers had already bloomed. The pink and white flowers floated on the foot of the mountain like clouds, and a faint fragrance wafted from time to time.There are several boxes of bees between the trees, and they are shuttling between the flowers.These plum trees were also specially transported by the master to plant them.Wang Siniang knew a little about literati, and felt that although the master was a merchant from Guangli, he was also a refined man.

Zhao Yingong didn't plant plum trees on the mountain for the sake of elegance. In fact, he didn't arrange what to plant on the mountain. It was all arranged one by one after the professionals from the Agricultural Committee visited the site in person.The general principle is to ensure the greening of the hillside and to obtain certain economic benefits. Although these tens of acres of plum forests are good for reciting poems and composing poems, the main purpose is to obtain plums for pickling sour plums.

Walking along the road to the mountain, there are all kinds of newly loaded seedlings along the way, and some fast-growing tree species have already reached a considerable scale.The bamboo transplanted the year before last has become a forest and looks lush.

The mountain road is winding, and the streams rushing in the canals with both irrigation and drainage functions on the side of the road, bringing down the fallen leaves and petals along the way.

Wang Siniang was sweating slightly, looking around, it was very different from when she came to seek refuge the year before last.The long-term forest workers are busy, either pruning branches and leaves, or loosening the soil to fertilize, and some people are collecting dead branches and leaves in the forest to remove weeds.A busy spring scene.

Wang Siniang climbed to a place close to the top of the mountain, where there was a large tea garden, most of which were newly planted last year, and the tea saplings were specially bought from the Longjing area.

Tea trees that have just been planted for a year naturally cannot pick tea.What she was going to was another tea garden, which was originally opened up on the mountain by someone, but later it was gradually abandoned because the quality of the tea was mediocre and the tea could not be sold for money.Zhao Yingong bought it together when he bought the land in Phoenix Mountain.After re-pruning and fertilizing, last year's tea trees grew very well, but no spring tea was picked that year, only summer and autumn tea were picked.This year is the first time to pick new tea in spring.

Before the autumn tea came out last year, Cai Shi approached her specifically and asked her to pick and fry six hundred catties of high-quality autumn tea, saying that the master wanted to give it to others.

In a few days it will be Qingming, and this is the best time to pick new tea "before Ming Dynasty".Although Cai Shi didn't come to take care of her this time, Wang Siniang still planned to follow the example of last autumn, carefully select the new tea before the Ming Dynasty, and after it was fried, he rushed to present it to the master around Qingming.

At the gate of the tea garden, more than a dozen women, old and young, were all dressed in the same clothes as her.Seeing her coming, they smiled and stood up to say hello.They are all refugees who were taken in during the severe drought in northern Zhejiang last year. Many of them have tea farming backgrounds, so they stayed in the villa to work in the tea gardens.

Wang Siniang is the "old man" and "leader" of the villa, and the tea-picking women workers can't help flattering her. The younger ones call her "fourth sister", while the older ones dare not call her "sister" categorically, at least they have to call her A fourth sister-in-law.

Before she could stand still, several normally clever female workers had already surrounded her like a gust of wind. Some took her tea basket, some brought tea in a hurry, and some hurriedly used their own to see that they couldn't catch up Spreading the towel on the stone, he pulled her to sit down.

Wang Siniang was used to this set for a long time. She smiled and waved her hand: "Tea, drink it later. The weather is good today, and it is a good day for mining new tea. This time, Mingqian tea, every flag is shot This tea should be prepared and presented to the master, or for your own use, or as a gift from the master, everyone must handle the errands carefully."

"Fourth sister, what are you talking about, not to mention that the master wants to use tea, even if you are an old man here, do we sisters dare not do our best?" A female tea worker inside said with a smile on her face, "You are here Take a rest, let's pick tea now."

"How can this be done." Wang Siniang is very smart, although she has not had much contact with Mr. Zhao, but she has heard and seen a few things, and knows that this master is very disgusted with the things that his servants do well, so she is very careful on weekdays.She stood up, "Let's do it, everyone. After picking the tea, we will fry it all night. Everyone, work harder."

"Okay." A group of female workers agreed together.

Tea picking should start at noon, too early or too late is inappropriate, after picking, let it stand for an hour and a half before frying, and the picked fresh tea leaves are generally not kept overnight. The technique of frying tea in the 17th century is almost the same as that of later generations. The only disadvantage is that there is no electric pot, and it is difficult to control the temperature. Therefore, frying tea is increasingly dependent on the experience of workers.Fortunately, in the disaster in northern Zhejiang last year, there were all kinds of people among the victims.The master tea-frying master is about to get two.Wang Siniang's handicraft is barely passable.Give a hand to the master in charge of frying tea.So every day Wang Siniang and the female tea workers have to work until the middle of the night before going to bed.

The fried Hangzhou new tea is provided to the general office as a special offer of Hangzhou Station.Zhao Yingong was also making a contribution to the Senate.Get some trust for yourself in the Senate.

Although it is a "special supply" of tea, with the usual stingy style of the Senate, it must be the kind of one-flag-one-shot.Wang Siniang is an expert at picking tea, with quick eyesight and quick hands.While picking, I also need to teach the newbies around me: "Use your fingers to pull, not your nails!"

The work of picking tea is very hard. Although the spring sun is warm, it makes people feel hot and hot after a long time in the sun-not to mention that they are still standing in the airtight tea bushes for an hour or two, working non-stop with their hands and eyes. After a while, he was already dripping with sweat.After working continuously for nearly an hour, several frail ones were flushed and stopped to breathe from time to time.

"Drink a few sips of water to catch your breath! Don't stop, catch up right away!" Wang Siniang kept urging the female workers who were starting to lag behind.

As a leader, Wang Siniang has the right to arrange rest time, but she will not stop it easily.Each team has a daily work quota, not only the quantity but also the quality must be guaranteed.And this workload is roughly to the extent that it can barely be completed.

Although there are experienced hands in her group, there are also many novices.If you don't rush desperately, you won't be able to complete the picking quota before dark.And the tea leaves picked every day have to be sent to the tea-frying room for processing--the tea-frying masters also have their own work quotas, and if they cannot deliver the full amount of tea in time, the whole link will be taken off.After the assessment, the whole group will have to deduct a monthly fee.As the "leader", she herself lost even more: in addition to monthly money, management allowances were also deducted.If you can't complete the consideration all the time, you will not be able to secure your leading position.

People who can work and do well are everywhere, but there are very few people who can lead people to work and do well.Wang Siniang had to desperately urge his subordinates to keep this position.

Basket after basket of fresh leaves was sent to the fried tea workshop at the foot of the mountain by a special transportation team.Wang Siniang didn't stop her hands and feet until the breath on the mountain sounded fourteen times in a row before announcing a rest.

"Hurry up and eat, drink, and wipe off your sweat. Let's start again later!" Wang Siniang was so tired that she did not forget to encourage everyone.

Everyone came to rest under the big tree, where an insulated tea barrel had been prepared, and there was well-boiled tea in it, and a small rattan box for snacks.

This kind of snack is actually a kind of Lingao military ration, which is characterized by containing more sugar and salt. For field workers who consume a lot of energy, it is a kind of "energy bar" that quickly replenishes their physical strength.

Wang Siniang held a bamboo cup, ate snacks while drinking water, and looked at the work count on the blackboard—this was the number of catties of tea they had picked so far. According to this progress, they had just completed less than [-]% of the quota.

There is still an hour and a half until the end of work in the afternoon, so there is still time to catch up.She had a little idea about today's tea-picking situation in her heart, and figured out how to adjust the tea-picking route of each tea-picking worker in the afternoon to maximize their tea-picking speed.

There are three 10-minute breaks, but rarely full breaks.After drinking water and snacks, everyone consciously got up and prepared to go back to work--of course, money will be deducted if the progress is not completed, and there will be bonuses if they can exceed the quota.Tired to tired, enthusiasm is still very high.

In the next hour and a half, tea picking began according to her readjusted personnel allocation.I kept busy with my hands and feet until the sky was getting dark, and the whistle began to sound seventeen times, and today's tea picking work came to an end.

The tea picking is over, but their work is not over yet—the work in the tea frying workshop has not yet begun.They have to help spread the leaves, kill greens, pick stems... and do auxiliary chores inside.Phoenix Mountain Villa does not work at sunrise and rest at sunset.The basic working hours here are twelve hours.Wang Siniang starts work at [-] o'clock. According to the [-]-hour work system, she can't get off work until [-] o'clock in the evening.

After packing up the tools, a group of people meandered down the mountain. The young girl was too tired to speak.A relatively flat place at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain has built many large and small houses and courtyards.This is where the general management office and various workshops of Phoenix Mountain Villa are located.

(End of this chapter)