Chapter 312: Chapter 0310: Spring Tea Harvesting and Frying (Third Update)


    Ssh water for cooling.


    Great plumes of smoke rose from the grayish-brown bricks as a serf, wearing gloves, removed a few and handed them to Liszt, Goltai, and Marcus.


    “Test the hardness.”


    ng, ng!


    Two hammer strikes shattered the brick.


    “The hardness is mediocre, the level of firing is not enough, let’s try another kiln.” Liszt said calmly, as this batch of bricks obviously did not meet the quality of his experiments.


    The next batch took an extra ten minutes to fire, a full half hour before leaving the kiln.


    After cooling with water, the hardness of the grayish-brown bricks met the standards, hardly inferior to the hardness of granite.


    Jomaya Bangtu felt the hardness and weight of the bricks on a stretcher, and couldn’t help but exim again, “Lord, with bricks of this uniform shape, constructing any building would be very convenient. Compared to those fragile ceramics, the hardness of the bricks is just like stone.”


    “As long as they’re useful, that’s good. As for the remaining brick kilns, I’ll leave their design andmand to you. Once the brick factory construction isplete, start working on the lighthouse immediately.”


    Without Jomaya’s early arrival, he wouldn’t have been able to produce quality bricks at this point andplete the task, encountering Jomaya only after sessful brick manufacturing. However, the Smoke Mission had changed, with Jomaya arriving ahead of time, and he had begun preparations for the lighthouse construction, significantly shortening the task’s time frame.


    Liszt turned and asked Marcus, “Teacher Marcus, have you chosen a location for the lighthouse yet?”


    “Captain Kostor and I have inspected the site in person, and we’ve decided to build it one mile west of ck Horse Port. Thend there is high, with a good viewing angle, the lighthouse will be very clear from the ships. Additionally, the surrounding Rocky Beach will not obstruct walking, making transportation of building materials very convenient.”


    “Then we’ll construct the lighthouse at that location, Consultant Goltai, continue to oversee the brick factory construction.”


    “As you wish, Lord Landlord.”


    With the construction supervision tasks assigned to Goltai, Liszt, along with Marcus, Lasse, and Griffin, mounted his steed Lightning andmenced another task of their journey on ck Horse Ind—searching for wild tea trees.


    Trees were already scarce on the ind.


    Most of them were rubber trees.


    Therefore, trees of indiscernible varieties were very rare. It took only a day for Liszt to find the reward from the previous Smoke Mission, three wild tea trees. These three wild tea trees, growing closely together on the northern slope of Ice Grass Hill, were clearly visible at a nce.


    These shrub-type tea trees weren’t very tall, at just about two meters.


    With numerous branches in a wild, disorderly fashion, these treescked the neatness of those cultivated by humans. It was March, and the buds of the wild tea trees had just started sprouting, slightly different from the tender buds of tea trees in Liszt’s memory, with less distinct serrated edges and less pronounced bud heads.


    They were not as refined as the domesticated tea trees.


    In tea picking, particrly spring tea, one could pick single buds, as well as one bud with one leaf or one bud with two leaves.


    A single bud is just the newly emerged bud, not yet formed into a young leaf; one bud with one leaf is when a bud has grown into a young leaf; one bud with two leaves is when two buds have grown into young leaves.


    Some people enjoy drinking the single buds, where typically forty thousand buds are needed to produce one pound of single buds. The undeveloped single buds have a freshness that isn’t fully expressed, a slight bitterness, and are not resistant to multiple infusions. Yet, those who like them savor the buds’ delicate fragrance and sweetness, as well as the noble ambiance they evoke.


    The first and second leaves are rathermon, well-developed with plenty of amino acids and vitamins, and the aroma of the tea is also sufficient. However, when brewed, they do not have the visually pleasing aspect of the “stand-up-like-a-needle” form seen in single buds, and the rich vor of the teacks a few threads of elegance.


    Premium Longjing tea, for instance, is made from the roasting of single buds.


    Liszt had no familiarity with this knowledge; before his transmigration, he was just an ordinary wage earner, consuming more beverages than tea. His understanding of tea came from pervasive advertisements on video websites, learning aboutrge-leaf teas, small-leaf teas, the numerous processing steps, and how aged experts personally supervised production.


    “If I’m not mistaken, these three trees should be called tea trees,” Liszt said, standing in front of the wild tea trees, speaking indifferently.


    Full of curiosity, Marcus asked, “ck tea trees? My Lord, ck tea trees don’t quite look like this. Their leaves have a slightly reddish, plump shape, and they bear fruit.”


    “This is… a green tea tree,” Liszt said. “I read in a magic book that green tea trees arepletely different from ck tea trees. Their young buds can be picked and roasted to be brewed directly into tea, which is very beneficial for health.”


    “Green tea tree?”


    Marcus chewed over the name of the tree without saying much more; he understood that he did not possess the extensive knowledge of Liszt—the youngndlord, who was well-read and knew many things. The rubber tree was the best example: without the Lord Landlord’s wisdom, they would have missed something of tremendous importance like rubber.


    Without any dy, Liszt gave a direct order to gather a group of female serfs to pick the young buds of the three green tea trees.


    Regardless if they were single buds or one bud with one or two leaves, or even with three or four leaves.


    Pick first and talkter.


    Of course, with his middle school biology knowledge, he knew that tea picking should focus on the tips of the tea tree. This is because of the apical dominance in nts—top buds grow first and suppress the growth ofteral buds. After the top buds are picked, theteral buds will grow, and the growth of the tea tree will not be affected.


    Nearly fifteen hundred serfs were now working on ck Horse Ind.


    There were also many female serfs. Griffin called for twenty of them and brought severaldders to pick the top buds of the green tea trees. Watching the serfs at work, Liszt suddenly thought of a legend about tea picking—the Lip Tea.


    The story goes that there is a kind of tea leaf picked by virgins using their mouths, imbued with the unique fragrance of virgin saliva. After being roasted, the tea is further processed by being ced near the bosom of virgins for vor infusion, resulting in newly produced tea that is fragrant and fresh, carrying the unique scent of virginity—a tea called Lip Tea.


    The legend is not credible; at least Liszt did not believe it.


    If the virgins picking the tea happened to resemble the unattractive character Feng Jie, he doubted anyone would be willing to drink such Lip Tea.


    In two hours, the serfs had picked most of the top buds, which wasn’t a lot, roughly two pounds. With the two pounds of tender leaves and buds, Liszt was ready to catch a boat back to Fresh Flower Town—the work on ck Horse Ind was under the watchful eyes of Goltai and Marcus, so there would be no problems.


    Just before departure, Goltai looked at him wistfully, “My Lord, Freya is nine months pregnant and could give birth at any time, yet I can’t be by her side.”


    “Don’t worry, once the lighthouse construction is finished, you cane back… Consultant Goltai, Fresh Flower Town is important, but so is the development of the port town on ck Horse Ind. It needs you to maintain things for a while longer; Teacher Marcus simplycks experience.”


    With things as they were, Goltai could only rally his spirit: “Rest assured, my Lord, I will diligently n the development of the port town!”


    Afterforting Goltai,


    The Fresh Flower Vessel set sail, cutting through the waves under the blue sky and over the azure sea.


    Looking at the basket containing two pounds of fresh tea leaves, he couldn’t help but wonder, “I don’t know how many pounds of dry tea these will make, or what the vor will be like when brewed?”