Chapter 175

These tea trees are all dwarfed varieties, each one growing lush and green with extremely abundant leaves.

Qing Mengzhu glanced over and found that these tea trees all had a "Good Grade+" quality, or even approached the "Fine Grade- " quality.

If a young person had grown tea trees of this quality, Qing Mengzhu would have been surprised, but not this much.

It's truly remarkable that the old lady could grow tea trees of this quality using ordinary fertilizer and water from nearby ditches.

Qing Mengzhu couldn't help but carefully observe her surroundings.

There's not much to say about the soil; it's just ordinary lateritic red soil. After years of planting, the soil has improved somewhat, but it's still severely lacking in organic matter.

The water source must be bad too. Look at that ditch, the water flow is thin and weak, the water is murky and yellow, and the bottom is full of silt. Qing Mengzhu knows that the water quality is very poor, and it is probably contaminated with pesticides.

As for fertilizer, the buckets of farmyard manure next to it haven't been removed yet. Ordinary farmyard manure probably won't bring much benefit to the tea trees.

Qing Mengzhu looked around and then noticed something else. "Grandma, were all these tea trees propagated from cuttings of the same tea tree?"

The old lady gave a thumbs up. "You said I was good-natured, but you're the one who's truly good-natured; you can even tell."

Qing Mengzhu: "They're quite easy to identify; the leaves all look the same. How many tea cuttings did you take? How many survived?"

The old woman said, "They all survived; they're all here."

Qing Mengzhu: "Not a single one died?"

The old woman said, "Oh, would I lie to you? My tea trees are famously good; people have even asked me to help them propagate cuttings before."

The old man following behind chimed in, "People still ask her for favors. She even helped someone propagate a batch of cuttings a couple of months ago."

Qing Mengzhu: "Did the cuttings take root?"

The old man said proudly, "They all survived. The seller even left a margin of safety, saying that if three out of five survived, that would be enough, but all five survived."

Qing Mengzhu: "That's amazing."

The old lady brought them to see the tea trees mainly because it was rare to meet someone who shared her passion, and she wanted to show off a little.

Looking at the lush green tea trees, Qing Mengzhu had a different thought.

Qing Mengzhu asked the old lady, "Grandma, do you have any apprentices?"

Old lady. "What apprentice?"

Qing Mengzhu smiled and said, "My family has a batch of tea trees, the kind that's gained some fame recently. I plan to expand the propagation this year, but I haven't been able to find a suitable technician. If you have any apprentices, could you recommend one to me?"

The old lady asked, "What is your technician supposed to do?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Let's guide the villagers in planting tea seedlings."

Qing Mengzhu recounted the events in Zhaiqian Village.

Zhaiqian Village located at a high altitude, has a good climate, and is free from pollution, making it very suitable for growing tea trees. However, relying solely on the villagers there, it may be difficult to grow good tea trees.

If he wants to cooperate with Zhaiqian Village to grow tea trees, he needs to send another reliable technician over.

The old lady was taken aback when she realized they didn't have a tea plantation, yet wanted to create many. She hesitated for a moment, then said, "How about my granddaughter? She's the only one in my family who likes to learn how to plant tea trees from me, and she's quite skilled."

Qing Mengzhu: "What is your granddaughter doing now?"

The old lady said, "After graduation, I worked in Vine City. I had to get up at 6:30 in the morning and didn't get off work until 6:30 in the evening. It was very hard work. If I were a technician here, I wouldn't have to work so hard, right?"

Qing Mengzhu: "We work an eight-hour day."

The old lady nodded. "That's good. So, what about your wages?"

Qing Mengzhu: "Technicians earn 9,000 during their probationary period, and 12,000 for regular employees, with thirteen months' salary paid annually."

The old lady stopped nodding and instead gleamed with a sharp light in her eyes. "Are you really that Zhuxi's boss? Can you pay such high wages here?"

The old man, as if on cue, stood in front of the old woman and asked, "Do you have ID cards? Could you show them to us?"

Zhao Hexi never expected things to develop in this direction, and stood by, dumbfounded.

The old woman had already started calling for help, her loud voice stopping a young man passing by. "Xiaowei, come here and help me take a look. These two people want to recruit workers here. Do you think they're reliable?"

The young man named Xiaowei, carrying a hoe, approached with a wary look. "Grandma Shi, what kind of work are you hiring?"

The old woman said, "They asked my granddaughter to work as a technician, offering her 12,000 yuan a month."

Zhou Xiaowei became even more wary. "You've not even met him, and you're already talking about such a high salary?"

Qing Mengzhu thought to herself, "I didn't see her face, but I did see the tea trees the old lady planted. The tea trees are right here; isn't that more reliable than what I've heard from others?"

Besides, even if the old lady's granddaughter isn't good enough, there's still the old lady herself. It wouldn't hurt to ask her for some advice.

Zhao Hexi was clearly very familiar with this kind of vigilance, and immediately took out his ID card. "We're really not scammers, this is my ID card."

Zhou Xiaowei looked at the ID card, then at Zhao Hexi: "Even if you're not scammers, you can't talk to an old lady like that. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to hire someone else?"

Zhao Hexi: "We just got carried away with the conversation."

Zhao Hexi recounted to Zhou Xiaowei how they came to buy persimmon trees and then talked about tea.

Zhou Xiaowei's doubts were somewhat dispelled, but he was still worried and wanted to take the old man and woman home. "I'll take you home, we can talk there. These two want to recruit Zhou Minyue, why don't you talk to Zhou Minyue about it?"

Qing Mengzhu emphasized, "We need to hire technicians who know how to grow tea trees, not necessarily that girl."

Zhou Xiaowei glanced at Qing Mengzhu: "That's Zhou Minyue. She's the best tea grower around here. I'll talk to her."

Chapter 175

Zhou Xiaowei was worried about leaving Qing Mengzhu and the others alone at the old man's house, fearing they might be swindlers, so he accompanied them.

In addition, Zhou Xiaowei told the old man's family about Qing Mengzhu and the others, and emphasized telling Zhou Minyue about it.

Zhou Minyue said she would rush back. From the girl's nervous voice, Qing Mengzhu could tell that she had a deep affection for the old man and was quite proactive.

Based on all assessments, the other party seems to be a good person.

Qing Mengzhu never expected that one careless mistake would lead to her being mistaken for a swindler.

Fortunately, their initial purpose in coming to the old man's house was to buy the persimmon tree they had planted to propagate. Now that their goal has been achieved, staying at the old man's house won't be a problem.

The two elderly people were surprised that things had turned out this way and felt somewhat apologetic.

When everyone was staying at the old lady's house and didn't know what to do, the old lady warmly invited them to prune more branches. After all, it wasn't officially summer yet, and if they cut more branches, the persimmon tree could grow back.

The plant's vitality is indeed very tenacious. Qing Mengzhu wanted the branches, so she didn't stand on ceremony with the old man and eventually cut down twenty-five branches without harming the old persimmon tree, charging the old man fifty yuan per branch.

The old man was overjoyed that the persimmon tree branches could be sold for so much money, but he was also embarrassed.

Zhao Hexi comforted them, saying it was alright.

They tied the cut branches together with rope and put them in the yard.

Qing Mengzhu touched the precious tree branch she had finally obtained and said to the old man, "You've cut down so many branches; you'll have to hurry and fertilize them afterwards."

The old lady said, "I'll go get it now; I still have some compost I made before."

The fertilizer used in the old man's house is farmyard manure made from chicken and duck droppings and kitchen waste, which has a rather strong smell.

Qing Mengzhu didn't mind. She carefully inspected the fertilizer, picked out the uncomposted parts, and then used a hoe to dig a hole under the tree to help the old man bury the fertilizer.

Qing Mengzhu was exceptionally skilled at farm work; everyone present could tell he wasn't just all talk and no action.

Everyone watched and began to believe most of what they said.

After burying the fertilizer, they washed their hands and went inside to drink tea.

The old man's tea was indeed excellent. Enjoying it with melon seeds and peanuts while slowly waiting made the wait quite pleasant.