A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

At the foot of the back mountain, there is a tea plantation.

Anqing and others bent over picking tea leaves, sweating profusely.

Outside the tea garden fence, a group of children were chasing and playing, their joyful sounds making An Qinghe somewhat envious.

He wiped his sweat, turned his head and shouted, "Stone! Stone!"

"You told Xixi you were coming to help before you left, so why should I do the work while you have fun over there?!"

Shi Tou, Qing Er, Gou Wa, and several other children who usually play together all stopped.

Shi Tou said seriously, "Brother An, I'm just helping out. I've brought so many people here to keep you company, we're all here to encourage you."

Anqing was speechless. "Then you guys shouldn't come with me. Go play somewhere else!"

Gouwa, being kind-hearted, thought for a moment and said, "Since we don't have anything else to do, why don't we help Boss An pick leaves? I think it would be quite fun."

Everyone except Shi Tou agreed, since children are always interested in things they haven't done before.

Shi Tou insisted that it was not allowed, saying, "No, children are not allowed in Sister Xixi's tea garden."

“You don’t know how to pick tea leaves either. If you’re not careful and accidentally break something, that would be terrible.”

Upon hearing this, An Qinghe immediately sobered up and quickly laughed, "Thank you for your kindness, but I was just joking with Shi Tou. I can finish this little bit of work by myself in no time."

He knew very well how much Gu Xixi treasured these tea trees.

He couldn't even imagine what would happen to him if the tea plantation were turned into a mess...

An Qinghe, still shaken, smiled and urged again, "Go have fun, go wherever you want, you don't need to come with me."

The children looked at each other.

Gouwa said with some regret, "Alright, since Boss An doesn't need any help, how about we go to the village chief's house to see General Black?"

In the orchard of Old Qian, the village elder, there was a majestic fighting rooster named Black General. All the brave boys in the village loved to watch the rooster fight.

Dogwa's suggestion indeed resonated with many.

Qing'er had seen the Black General before, and far from being afraid, she said with great interest, "Qing'er wants to catch bugs to feed the Black General! And Little White, Little Yellow, and Little Red too!"

Xiao Bai is a big white goose, and Xiao Huang and Xiao Hong are free-range chickens raised by Lao Qian's family.

An Qinghe had been on edge the whole time, and only when he saw the bunch of kids run away did he breathe a sigh of relief and speed up his work.

From last year to this summer, Gu Xixi has cultivated more than forty tea trees here.

The workload of tea picking is not heavy, but the task assigned to An Qinghe today is a bit troublesome.

He was to pick the tea leaves according to the classification marks that Gu Xixi had made for the tea trees, and to properly classify the tea leaves.

Anqing the monk did not know why Gu Xixi wanted him to do this.

Since he recently became self-taught and started frying tea, whenever he runs out of tea leaves at home, he comes to the tea garden to pick some, fry them, and make the simplest loose tea.

Different kinds of leaves are usually mixed together, and Gu Xixi has never said anything about it. This is the first time she has specifically asked for them to be sorted and packaged like this.

Therefore, Anqinghe's basket contained pre-made paper bags, each labeled with a tea tree variety number, from one to five.

Anqing and others worked for most of the hour, picking six full bags for each number.

His basket was almost full. He picked it up, weighed it in his hand, and decided to go home and report back with satisfaction.

In the shady corner of the courtyard, a clean straw mat was spread out on the ground.

Gu Xixi placed a small stool next to her.

Anqing blinked blankly, "Xixi, are you going to sit here and cool off?"

"It's not for me, it's for you," Gu Xixi said. "Pour the tea leaves on top and do the first round of sifting."

An Qinghe always listened to Gu Xixi. Although he didn't fully understand the purpose, he still put down his basket and obediently sat down.

Gu Xixi continued, "We used to make do with loose-leaf tea that we drank at home, as long as it was clean."

"But now that we're going to try making Fu brick tea, we'll naturally have to put in more effort."

"Fu tea?!" An Qinghe exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise.

In an instant, those beautiful blue pupils seemed to transform into two gleaming...gold ingots.

"Yes, yes... is it the Fu brick tea I know?"

Gu Xixi coughed lightly, "Don't get too excited. I'm just saying I'll try it out. Whether it will work or not is still uncertain."

An Qing grinned, "It's okay, as long as you tell me how to do it, it's worth it even if I can't do it once or twice!"

So this is the business opportunity Gu Xixi was talking about!

Golden Flower Fu Brick Tea, a rare and precious type of brick tea, presents a huge business opportunity!

After all, once the deal is done, Anqing will have no shortage of ready-made sales channels, and the goods will surely be highly sought after, bringing in a flood of wealth.

Gu Xixi said, "There are fourteen steps in total, and the process is very arduous."

An Qinghe replied without hesitation, "I'm not afraid of hard work!"

Gu Xixi glanced at him, "But overall it's not that pessimistic. At least we're 80-90% confident that the first twelve production steps and the final drying step will be successful."

"The thirteenth step, fermentation, is the most difficult."

"If it can ferment and produce golden flowers, it is a true Fu brick tea; if not, it is just an ordinary black tea brick."

Anqing chuckled, "I understand. Anyway, ordinary tea bricks sell well. As long as I can learn how to make them, we'll make a profit either way."

Gu Xixi paused for a moment. The logic was sound, but wasn't An Qinghe being overly optimistic?

Without further ado, An Qinghe manually sorted the tea leaves, picking out the withered leaves and tea stems mixed in, while urging Gu Xixi to continue, "Tell me, what are the next steps?"

Gu Xixi said, "No rush. We can start the next step after we finish the previous one."

An Qinghe laughed and said, "Then tell me about the fermentation of Fu brick tea."

Gu Xixi organized her thoughts and said, "You once said that your hometown uses goat milk and cow milk to make yogurt. In fact, this process is fermentation."

"And Aunt Zhang steams buns, she always checks if the dough has risen, that's also fermentation."

An Qinghe drew inferences from this example: "Tea leaves can also be fermented?"

Gu Xixi said, "One of the differences between the loose tea you've been making recently and the black tea bricks you're familiar with is whether or not they've been fermented."

"The golden flowers that appear on Fu brick tea are produced by a more special kind of fermentation."

An Qinghe suddenly realized, "So Fu brick tea is a further step, a more special kind of dark tea brick?"

Gu Xixi nodded, "That's basically how it can be understood."

"It's not easy to get golden flowers to grow on a tea cake. It requires suitable soil and climate, which is what is commonly known as the right time and place."

An Qinghe pondered, "No wonder I've only heard that Fu brick tea is produced in the Northwest region, and the yield is not high."

So not just any place can make Fu brick tea?

Gu Xixi agreed, "Indeed."

An Qing was overjoyed, "Then we've made a huge profit!"

Gu Xixi sighed and patted him sympathetically, "Before the fermentation hurdle, you still have eleven steps to go through. Take your time."

At the Northwest Army's forward camp, Meng Chengping walked into his tent, looking travel-worn.

"Brother Mu! The batch of medicine for Huachi Ferry Village has just arrived!"