Emerging from the winery, Cheng Xiaofan immediately dialed Liu Tingshu's number.
"Old Liu, my family's winery has produced wine. You can bring your friends tomorrow to my place to taste the Happy Wine!" Cheng Xiaofan said with a smile.
Liu Tingshu was thrilled upon hearing this and exclaimed, "Good, good, good! Thank you, Xiaofan. I'll call Xu Minghui right away!"
Just thinking about Cheng Xiaofan's Happy Wine, Liu Tingshu's mouth seemed to fill with that intoxicating, uniquely fragrant aroma.
"Alright, go ahead and call him!"
As soon as Cheng Xiaofan hung up, Liu Tingshu immediately called Xu Minghui.
"Brother Minghui, where are you? I just received a call from Cheng Xiaofan. He's inviting us to Zhuxi Village tomorrow to taste the Happy Wine he's brewed!"
Xu Minghui replied hastily, "Oh no, I was unexpectedly invited to a wine tasting event out of town and just arrived at my destination."
"Never mind, I'll cancel this wine tasting immediately and rush back to Wangjiang City tonight."
Liu Tingshu laughed heartily, "Brother Minghui, you get paid millions every time you're invited to a wine tasting. If you cancel, won't the loss be too great!"
Xu Minghui burst into laughter, "No matter how great the loss, it can't compare to missing out on tasting Happy Wine!"
Liu Tingshu chuckled, "Great. No matter when you arrive in Wangjiang City tomorrow, I'll wait for you, and we'll go to Zhuxi Village together!"
...
Cheng Xiaofan returned to the back mountain and entered his spatial dimension. He used his mind to control the golden tea trees and plucked the tender tips.
The tea leaves on the golden tea trees outside the dimension would need another week before they could be harvested. However, the tender tips on the tea trees inside could be plucked much earlier, but Cheng Xiaofan had simply not gotten around to it.
Generally, when making tea, the freshly plucked tender tips are first washed with water and then left to dry in a cool, shaded place.
Next, a large iron wok, completely free of oil, is prepared. A wok stand is set up, the fire is stoked, and the dried tea leaves are continuously stir-fried in the wok.
Once the tea leaves are softened, they are quickly removed and spread on a bamboo mat. They are then kneaded by hand, much like dough, until juice is released and a fragrant aroma wafts out.
Afterward, the kneaded tea leaves are returned to the wok and stir-fried further.
They are then spread on the bamboo mat and kneaded again. This process is repeated four or five times, until all the fresh tea juice is extracted. Then the fire is extinguished, and the tea leaves are placed in the still-warm wok to be roasted.
Tea farmers work very hard when making tea. The entire process is frequent and complex, and no steps can be skipped.
However, for Cheng Xiaofan, making tea was incredibly simple. With just his thoughts controlling the tea leaves, he could prepare them in minutes.
Before long, Cheng Xiaofan had finished processing all the plucked tea leaves. He packed them into four large sacks, yielding over a hundred jin of tea.
He had only harvested about one-fifth of the tea from his spatial dimension.
After all, the golden tea trees growing in his spatial dimension would never age, and their tender tips could be harvested year-round. There was no need for him to rush to harvest them all.
Cheng Xiaofan then used one-jin bags to pack over ten bags of tea and brought them out of the spatial dimension.
Next, he boiled a kettle of water, took a pinch of tea leaves, placed them in a glass cup, and poured in the boiling water.
The tea leaves gently unfurled in the cup, turning the water a light green. A unique aroma wafted from the cup, exceptionally fragrant and mellow.
When the water cooled slightly, Cheng Xiaofan picked up the cup and took a small sip. His eyes immediately lit up.
The initial taste was fresh and fragrant, as if his tongue was being caressed by a spiritual energy.
Upon closer tasting, the fragrance was lingering and the aftertaste was distinct. A single sip revitalized the spirit and cleared the mind.
"Truly worthy of being called the legendary Golden Tea of Zhuxi Village!" Cheng Xiaofan's face beamed with a smile. "Paired with Happy Wine, this tea is like the legendary twin beauties of Eastern Wu, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao. Both are exquisite, like spring orchids and autumn chrysanthemums, each with their own charm!"
"Woof woof!"
Tao Qibao, drawn by the scent, came trotting over, drooling and barking loudly at his owner in protest.
"It smells so good! What kind of tea is this? Master, you're being unfair. How can you drink good tea without calling Tao Qibao? Don't you know how hard 'Grandpa Dog' worked traveling north today? Now that I'm back, if you have any conscience, you should reward this canine!"
"Stop barking, I'll brew you some right away!"
Cheng Xiaofan gave Tao Qibao a stern look, found a large basin, put tea leaves in it, and filled it with water.
When the tea water had cooled down, Tao Qibao took the basin in his mouth and wagged his tail like a pinwheel as he walked away.
Cheng Xiaofan knew that Tao Qibao was taking the basin of tea to share with the geese. Ever since he had the company of the ten geese, Tao Qibao would share any good food he found with them, unlike his past habit of eating alone. This was one aspect of Tao Qibao that Cheng Xiaofan particularly liked.
"Lord Shennong, the Golden Tea of Zhuxi Village is truly extraordinary!" As soon as Tao Qibao left, the gluttonous Earth Deity suddenly appeared on the upper floor, bowing deeply to Cheng Xiaofan.
Cheng Xiaofan couldn't help but burst into laughter, "Earth Deity, your nose is really sharp! I just brewed a cup of tea, and you could smell it from here!"
Hearing this, the Earth Deity's old face flushed red. "This can't be blamed on this humble deity. It's just that the fragrance of this Golden Tea is too alluring."
"I originally didn't dare to disturb Lord Shennong, but my feet were disobedient. This humble deity couldn't control them at all; they just had to walk over!" "Alas, this humble deity is truly helpless!"
Cheng Xiaofan gave him a disdainful look and chuckled, "Just say you want to drink this Golden Tea directly. Why come up with such a lame excuse!"
"I am ashamed, ashamed!" The Earth Deity broke out in a sweat, looking flustered.
Cheng Xiaofan poured him a cup of tea and said with a smile, "Here, Earth Deity, have a good taste of this Zhuxi Village Golden Tea!"
"Lord Shennong, this humble deity won't drink your tea for free. I'll give you something in return!" The Earth Deity said, taking out two items from his person and placing them on the table in front of Cheng Xiaofan. Cheng Xiaofan glanced over and saw that they were two gold ingots, made of real gold.
Cheng Xiaofan picked them up and found four characters carved on the bottom of the gold ingots: Chīwū Èr Nián.
Chīwū was the fourth reign title of Sun Quan, the ruler of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. Clearly, these were brought to this back mountain by Eastern Wu soldiers in ancient times.
"Earth Deity, tell me quickly, where did you get these two gold ingots?" Cheng Xiaofan asked him with a look of astonishment.
The Earth Deity smiled, "I found them unexpectedly in a cave in the back mountain."
"At the time, I found these two gold ingots and thought they were very unusual, so I picked them up. I wondered if there might be more gold ingots nearby, but I searched many times and found no new ones!"
"That cave was very ordinary. I guess some wild beast found these two gold ingots somewhere and carried them into this cave!"
Cheng Xiaofan nodded and said with a smile, "Thank you, Earth Deity. I'll accept these two gold ingots!"