Li Xiang and the others took many photos in the tea processing workshop. Li Xiang even got hands-on, trying out the steps of sifting and roasting the tea.

The factory used machines to roast the tea. One advantage was that the roasted leaves were visually appealing, and the quality of each batch was basically identical because the machine parameters were always the same.

As for manual tea roasting, its low efficiency and heavy reliance on the artisan’s personal skill have put it in danger of becoming a "lost art," even being classified as an intangible cultural heritage.

For example, take fresh leaves of the same grade, from the same plot of land on the same mountain. If a master roaster and his apprentices work on them, the same batch of tea might end up with several different flavors. You can’t even solve it by blending them. It’s a phenomenon that’s difficult to explain to customers.

But if you rely on just one master roaster, the quantity is too large for a single person to handle.

Furthermore, different masters use different techniques, resulting in variations in tea quality. This greatly affects sales.

Another issue is that few young people are willing to learn the craft these days. Manual tea roasting is incredibly arduous. You have to work over a wok heated to several hundred degrees, using your hands to grab, shake, pat, stretch, press, push, cup, toss, rub, and compress the leaves...

Your hands become swollen, blackened, blistered, and peeled. After this happens repeatedly, they form thick calluses. Hands covered in calluses are naturally unsightly. For young people, it can affect their dating lives.

For instance, if you’re a woman, and your boyfriend touches a hand like that, wouldn’t he be put off?

If you’re a man with calloused hands and you try to touch your girlfriend, would she like it?

Then there are some places that implement bizarre policies. For example, there have been news reports about certain areas shutting down small family workshops, forbidding farmers from roasting their own tea. This is another reason for the decline of this traditional craft.

Of course, behind every unreasonable policy, there are usually vested interests at play.

"We wanted to launch a hand-roasted tea product before. We have master roasters who are experts at it, but when we put out an ad for apprentices, no one signed up for days," Boss Chen, the owner of the tea factory, said with great regret.

Zhao Xueqing blinked. ’I’d be willing to learn,’ she thought. ’I work with intangible cultural heritage, after all.’ However, she was too busy lately and probably wouldn’t have the time. She’d have to see about it in the future.

By the time they finished touring the factory, it was nearly noon.

"Teacher Li, everyone, why don’t we drive to the county town? It’ll be my treat. We can find a nice restaurant and have a proper get-together," the factory owner offered enthusiastically.

"Thank you, thank you, but let’s not," Li Xiang politely declined. "Let’s just have a simple working lunch right here in your employee cafeteria."

The main reason was that the factory was located at the foot of a high mountain, over twenty kilometers from the county town. The round trip, plus the meal, would take up too much time.

They still had to go up the mountain in the afternoon for a field inspection and to shoot video, and they needed to head back afterward.

"How could I do that? Friends have come from afar; it would be too neglectful, wouldn’t it?" The factory owner said, looking embarrassed.

"It’s fine, the employee cafeteria will do," Li Xiang insisted.

The factory owner replied, "In that case, I’ll go make the arrangements."

As it turned out, when it was time to eat, it wasn’t a standard working lunch. The boss had privately instructed the cafeteria to prepare a special meal, stir-frying a table full of specialty dishes for them. Everyone had a simple lunch together.

This factory owner was quite a decent fellow.

Of course, if he hadn’t been, Li Xiang probably wouldn’t have come back, nor would he necessarily have been willing to partner with him. There were plenty of tea factories in this county, and they had already scheduled inspections with several others.

It was always best to shop around. Relying on a single supplier was a rather large risk.

「After a short rest, the group set off up the mountain, with the factory owner personally leading the way.」

The path was winding and twisting, and quite steep in some places.

"From the foot of the mountain to the top, an altitude of over 1,200 meters, it’s all our tea plantation. As for quality, the tea from higher up is naturally better."

Looking up from the foot of the mountain, one could see a few dozen aunties scattered about, busy at work. Those far away looked like tiny dots amidst the tea bushes.

The weather was fair and the sun was bright, with a blue sky and white clouds. The tea mountain was a lush green, with row upon row of neatly arranged tea bushes—a refreshing and uplifting sight.

"It’s still a few days before the Qingming Festival, so there aren’t many leaf buds ready for picking yet. In another two or three days, a large number of pickers will arrive. The mountain will be full of people then, and it will be much livelier!" the factory owner explained.

"An altitude of over 1,200 meters? Oh my god..." Yao Yao shrugged. She hated climbing mountains more than anything.

Sure enough, by the time they reached the halfway point at five or six hundred meters, the two girls, Yao Yao and Zhao Xueqing, were exhausted.

Lei Xiaohui was doing fine; her stamina far surpassed the other two.

In reality, five or six hundred meters wasn’t that high. The main problem was the difficult path. There was no proper trail in many places, and people not good at climbing had to use both their hands and feet to avoid falling. Anyone with a fear of heights would look back and think, ’Oh my god, it’s so high!’ and lose their nerve.

On a rainy day, it would be even more slippery and difficult to traverse.

There were absolutely no stone steps like the ones you find in scenic tourist areas.

"Bro, can you carry me?" Yao Yao felt like her back was about to break.

Zhao Xueqing shot him a burning gaze. She was too embarrassed to say it, but her eyes clearly pleaded, ’Carry me too.’

Li Xiang looked around. The air was incredibly fresh, the mountainside was covered in tea bushes, and the scenery was delightful. "Let’s stop here. This spot on the mountain is great. We’ll take a break, then start taking photos and recording video."

Yao Yao: "..."

Zhao Xueqing: "..."

However, the two of them also breathed a sigh of relief. Even though they didn’t get a piggyback ride, at least they didn’t have to keep climbing.

Everyone found a spot to rest.

Yao Yao, no longer caring about her image, found a place and sat down. Zhao Xueqing did the same.

The factory owner, who climbed these mountains year-round, was in pretty good shape. Li Xiang walked with him among the tea bushes, asking professional questions from time to time.

"Our tea, the first flush right now, is basically one bud and one leaf. Here, like this one, it’s just about ready to be picked." The factory owner plucked one, put it in his mouth, chewed it, and then swallowed it completely without spitting anything out.

Li Xiang followed his example, picking a leaf and chewing on it. Sure enough, it was refreshing with a sweet aftertaste—top-notch quality. These fresh leaves were edible.

He remembered eating a dish called "Longjing Shrimp" back when he was working, which was made by stir-frying Longjing Tea leaves with shrimp.

The shrimp were jade-white and tender, and the buds and leaves were fragrant and elegant in color. The resulting dish had shrimp infused with the aroma of tea, and tea infused with the savory flavor of shrimp. It was refreshing, appetizing, and had a lingering aftertaste.

This dish has a long history. It’s said that the Qianlong Emperor tasted it during his tour of Jiangnan, and this delicacy was created by a happy accident. Others say it was created by Weng Tonghe.

Later, during the late Qing dynasty, some chefs in Hu Province were already using teas like "Sparrow’s Tongue" and "Eagle Claw" to stir-fry river shrimp.

Li Xiang decided to take some of these high-mountain fresh leaves back with him to stir-fry with shrimp for his grandmother to taste. He wouldn’t need much; a few handfuls would be enough for several meals.

Just then, the factory owner’s phone rang.

"Teacher Li, excuse me, I need to take this call."

"Go ahead, you take care of business. I’ll just look around," Li Xiang said and continued further in. He saw an auntie deftly picking leaf buds and went over to chat with her for a bit to learn more.

Suddenly, a system prompt appeared: "Tier Three Mutated Creature detected: Jade Dragon Lizard."

Li Xiang bid the auntie farewell and searched the vicinity. Soon, he spotted a four-legged snake basking in the sun on a large clod of earth.

A four-legged snake, also known as a skink, and it goes by many other names depending on the region: stone dragon lizard, mountain loach, oily snake, dog-granny snake, pig-granny snake... the list goes on. But when you say "four-legged snake," everyone knows what you mean.

Legend has it that it’s the snake’s little brother-in-law, so many people keep their distance when they see one, afraid that if they accidentally provoke it, it will run off to get its brother-in-law to take revenge.

Li Xiang, of course, wasn’t afraid of its brother-in-law. If the brother-in-law showed up, it would just become Spicy Strips for his cats.

This particular four-legged snake was very alert. Li Xiang was still several meters away when it sensed him and immediately tried to flee.

Unfortunately for it, it had run into Li Xiang.

"SWISH~" A faint, nearly transparent strand of Cold Ice Sword Qi shot out, instantly slicing the four-legged snake in two.

He had to admit, this "Sword Qi" technique was more practical and stealthier than the White Fang Dagger. It killed without a trace, and he didn’t have to go retrieve a dagger afterward.

"Congratulations, Host, for killing the Tier Three Mutated Creature, the Jade Dragon Lizard. You have received a surprise reward: three Tier Two mutated Spiritual Osmanthus Tea, and 60 Achievement Points."

And so, another type of Spiritual Medicine was added to Li Xiang’s system inventory.

He took a look and saw they were very small fruits, like rubies. There were too many people around, so he didn’t take them out. At his current level, Tier Two Spirit Fruits no longer held much interest for him. It would take a Spiritual Medicine of Tier Five or higher to get him excited.

Thanks to the cover of the tea bushes, no one knew that Li Xiang had killed a "grandma dog snake" with a flick of his hand. Seeing that everyone was more or less rested, he started a live stream.

It also served as an advertisement for his usual tea sales.

See, Brother Xiang is the real deal, not one of those phony, all-talk middlemen. He does on-site inspections. His tea comes directly from high-mountain plantations—from pollution-free mountains at altitudes of over five hundred, or even over a thousand, meters. The quality is absolutely guaranteed.

Then, Yao Yao, Zhao Xueqing, and Lei Xiaohui put on wicker baskets and started posing as tea-picking maidens, leaving the fans in the live stream completely mesmerized.

"Whoa, Brother Xiang, if the tea you sell is all hand-picked by such beautiful girls, I’ll take ten jin!"

Before Li Xiang could reply, another fan commented: "How is that possible? Ads and promotions always show young, sweet tea-picking girls, but in reality, it’s all old ladies doing the work."

"Haha!"

Li Xiang was also blunt: "Impossible. If we used beautiful girls like these to pick all the tea, well, the price would have to be ten times higher!"

After all, what young, beautiful girl would be willing to do this kind of work? The aunties are much more cost-effective.

As for the tea leaves Li Xiang and the others picked while filming on the mountain, the factory owner naturally didn’t charge them, telling them to take it home and enjoy it fresh.

Since Li Xiang was quite satisfied with the tea factory and felt that Boss Chen was a decent person, they quickly reached a cooperation agreement. Li Xiang placed an initial order for a thousand jin of Mingqian tea and a thousand jin of Yuqian tea, with more orders to follow.