Chapter: 5800

Erlang Mountain had been under Zhi Cheng Group's management for many years, and Zhi Cheng Group had transformed it into a terracing model with tea plantations on each tier, strictly regulating the planting of large quantities of tea trees.

Apart from that, Zhi Cheng Group had also built a stone stairway path and a dedicated cargo railway for transporting fresh tea leaves up the mountain.

When harvest season arrived, workers would walk up the mountain to pluck the tea leaves. After plucking enough quantity on each tier, the tea leaves would be concentrated and transported down the mountain for processing.

As they walked along the mountain road, Lin Wen'er often picked a leaf from the nearby tea trees and lightly chewed it in her mouth.

Ye Cheng saw that she had been doing this throughout their journey and couldn't help asking, "How is the quality of these tea leaves?"

Lin Wen'er smiled slightly and told Ye Cheng, "The tea leaves here get better the higher you go up the mountain, but overall, they still fall short of being very high-quality. It seems that many recent teas are like this. I've drunk a lot of good Pu'er teas over the years, except for the initial batch from the mother tree, which were all over 100-year-old tea cakes. The new teas produced in recent years aren't too great either."

As she spoke, Lin Wen'er added, "I think it's also related to technological advancements. In the past, no matter how well they grew, the tea trees couldn't possibly have become as lush as they are today. To put it another way, the current tea variety and yield must be at least three times that of the past."

"Moreover, even older tea leaves didn't grow to this level of quality. The current tea leaves are very plump and have a good color, and they're also excellent at controlling pests. As a result, the yield rate is very high, with fewer losses due to decay. So, overall, the production quantity is much higher than in the past."

"In recent years, breeding techniques for tea leaves have been moving in this direction as well - focusing on increasing yields, perfecting appearance, and enhancing pest resistance. And by combining fertilizers and pesticides, the yield per unit area has naturally increased several-fold;"

"As she spoke, Lin Wen'er's tone changed, and she said, 'But cultivating new varieties with high yields and good product rates is causing tea flavors to continuously decline. If there's an opportunity, I'd like to try reversing direction and breeding some new varieties to see if we can recover the flavor of tea from back in the day. However, the premise is that we first need to find a good tree variety - not one that has been genetically modified by technology.'"

"Ye Cheng nodded and said, 'We're not going to Yunnan yet? We should be able to find some descendants of the original Pu'er mother tree there, shouldn't we?'"

"Liners Wen'er also felt hopeful and said, 'I'm thinking about this too. I used to teach local tea farmers in Yunnan how to graft Pu'er mother trees and breed new varieties. However, I don't know if anyone has continued to cultivate the offspring of the Pu'er mother tree over these many years. If we can find it when we go to Yunnan, let's bring some back here and breed them.'"

"The two continued talking as they walked closer to the mountain peak."

"As the massive tea tree drew closer, Lin Wen'er's emotions became increasingly excited."

"Although it had been three hundred years or more since she last saw this tree, she still recognized it."

"Ye Cheng noticed that her body was trembling slightly and couldn't help asking, 'Is this the place?'"

"Yes... This is where...' Lin Wen'er nodded heavily and whispered, 'I can recognize this tree, including its scars.'"

"Speaking of which, she couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia: 'A few hundred years may seem like an impossibly long time to humans, but for a tree, it's almost nothing. And even after three hundred years, it still stands here, albeit slightly more luxuriant and robust, yet its appearance hasn't changed too much.'"

"She then pointed to the large scar on the trunk of the tree and told Ye Cheng, 'As a slave, I used this scar as a landmark when burying my parents' ashes in a grave three steps away from it.'"

"After speaking, she walked out three steps along the direction formed by the scar."

"Standing there, Lin Wen'er didn't cry; instead, she simply bowed her head and gently touched the soil with her hands, whispering to herself, 'Father, Mother, I've come to visit you.'"

"After so many years, it was the first time Lin Wen'er had returned to her parents' graves. Her emotions were complex, but she didn't feel overly sentimental; instead, she continued to touch the earth and said, 'Thank you for your blessing from above, allowing me to have a safe passage through these many years.'"

"'However, I'm powerless against Wu Feiyan, so it's taken me this long to come visit. I hope you won't blame me...'"

"Ye Cheng saw Lin Wen'er's expression and thought about how he could resolve all her difficulties; thus, he said, 'Don't worry, Lin mistress. Next time, I'll arrange for the Su family to build an helipad here and add a helicopter to our fleet.'"

"'Then you can fly directly from Jinling to Purl Airport on the private plane provided by the Su family, and from there, take the helicopter to get here or back, forming a closed-loop transportation process that will keep your identity hidden. Even if the Clear Water Society stops operating, it's unlikely they'll discover you.'" JrNovels.com