Chapter 279 The Evil Fruits Nurtured by Feudal Superstition

The oxcart driver's surname was Ji, and everyone called him Old Man Ji. The person they were looking for, the tea merchant Qin Suisui had met at the Canton Fair, also had the surname Ji and was named Ji Feng.

However, "Ji" should be a common surname in this brigade, as many people in the brigade have the surname Ji, so Qin Suisui didn't think much of it.

Upon seeing Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen, two unfamiliar young girls who had been brought over by the police, they were repeatedly instructed to ensure their safe arrival at the Chatang Brigade.

Old Ji originally wanted to wait a little longer, to let a few more people ride in the oxcart so he could squeeze in before going back, but as soon as he saw the police officer, he immediately nodded: "Police officer, please rest assured! I will definitely get the two ladies to safety!" After saying that, he cracked the whip, and the oxcart swayed and drove off.

The other people sitting on the oxcart, seeing that Qin Suisui and her companion had been brought over by the police, didn't dare to talk to them much, and even quietly moved away a bit. This actually relieved Qin Suisui, as the oxcart was too crowded and she could finally relax a bit.

It takes an hour and a half by oxcart from Chabei County to Chatang Brigade. The scenery along the way is similar to that in Hongshan Brigade. They have seen it all in the past few days, so it is no longer surprising.

Just as Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen were about to fall asleep from being rocked, they finally heard Old Man Ji's voice: "We're here!"

The two women opened their eyes and were immediately taken aback. The tea plantation before them was completely different from ordinary production teams; they felt as if they had entered a green world out of touch with the times. The air was filled with the moist scent of earth and plants. What they saw before them was not the neat and uniform tourist tea gardens they had imagined, but rather more rustic, scattered terrace tea plantations and ancient tea tree forests.

"It's so beautiful!"

"This is completely different from the tea party I imagined!"

"The environment here is so beautiful, no wonder they can cultivate such delicious tea!"

The two women excitedly paced around, whispering to each other, until the women on the oxcart quickly moved away from them and hurried home, muttering to themselves:

"Quick, quick! These two must have something wrong with their brains!"

"No wonder the police had to bring it over. Maybe he's out of his mind. We'd better keep our distance..."

After the two finished their excitement and were about to ask the aunties for directions to Ji Feng's house, they found that everyone had run away. The two were stunned. Were all these aunties so fast?

Old Ji had already turned his car around and headed towards the county. It was still early, so he could make a few more trips for passengers.

In the blink of an eye, no one was left at the intersection.

The two had no choice but to resign themselves to their fate and continue walking, planning to ask someone when they encountered them.

Although Qin Suisui came at Ji Feng's invitation, it was a private visit, so she didn't want to make a big fuss and trouble him to pick her up. She only told him the approximate time of her arrival over the phone, without giving him the exact time, so Ji Feng didn't know when she would arrive.

Fortunately, the two of them hadn't walked far when they saw an old man carrying a basket on his back.

Qin Suisui hurried forward and asked in a friendly manner, "Old comrade, may I ask how to get to Comrade Ji Feng's house?"

Upon hearing this, the old man cautiously looked up at her, his voice wary: "Who are you? What do you want with him?"

Qin Suisui smiled and said, "We are here to visit your tea plantation at your invitation. We had already contacted Comrade Ji beforehand."

Unexpectedly, upon hearing her words, the old man became even more wary: "I don't know!" He left behind those four cold, accented words in a hurry.

Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen were puzzled. Why were these people acting so strangely? The aunties on the oxcart earlier were the same. Were they some kind of demons or monsters? Or were the people from the Tea Soup Brigade xenophobic? Should they not have come at all?

Just as the two were standing there questioning their existence, they suddenly heard a clear female voice: "Who are you? What do you want with Ji Feng?"

The two turned around and saw a young woman of about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, wearing a coarse blue cloth dress, with her hair slightly disheveled, and a basket on her back full of freshly picked tea leaves.

Since she was already there, Qin Suisui, worried about any further trouble, simply took out her letter of introduction and explained to the woman with a smile, "Hello comrade, my name is Qin Suisui, I'm from Qiongtan Island. I had arranged to visit the tea plantation with Comrade Jifeng, and I even contacted him by phone about two weeks ago..."

Before Qin Suisui could finish speaking, the woman in front of her saw her letter of introduction and her eyes lit up: "You must be Comrade Qin from Qiongtan Island! The great benefactor who saved our brigade from losses at the Canton Fair!"

Qin Suisui's eyes lit up. Finally, someone wasn't rejecting them. It was so dangerous outside. She had promised Pei Jiuyan that she would wait for him to pick her up here, so she didn't dare to run away. If the people from the Tea Soup Brigade didn't welcome them, they would have to stay in a guesthouse outside, which would be so boring!

As she spoke, the woman excitedly grabbed Qin Suisui's hand: "I am Ah Feng's wife, my name is Ji Mei. I have often heard Ah Feng talk about you! Now I can finally meet you!"

Qin Suisui smiled and said, "Oh, it's you, sister-in-law! What a coincidence! We've been looking for Comrade Ji Feng all this way, and everyone's been running like the wind." She turned her head and asked cautiously, "Sister-in-law, is something wrong?"

Hearing her words, Ji Mei's smile gradually faded. She sighed and pulled Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen back home, saying, "Let's go home and talk."

When Qin Suisui arrived at Ji Feng's house, she noticed that the ordinary farmhouse was in a mess, as if it had been deliberately vandalized. Only then did she hear Ji Mei speak with concern: "Ever since our brigade's tea was successfully exported abroad at the Canton Fair, many people have come to our brigade under the guise of visiting, and we have received them all with great care."

"I never expected that just a week after a group of customers left, we would get red armbands on our tea plantation last night, reporting that someone in our plantation was practicing feudal superstition. They said our plantation was an evil fruit grown in the soil of feudal superstition and that it had to be destroyed. Last night, Ah Feng was also taken away for investigation..."

Qin Suisui was taken aback. No wonder the old man's expression changed immediately when she said they were there for a visit.

It was only then that Qin Suisui learned that Ji Feng had taken over as the captain of the tea plantation team after returning from the Canton Fair last year. Therefore, if the tea plantation was reported for engaging in feudal superstition, he would be the first to suffer the consequences.

Ji Mei's eyes were already red: "I don't understand. Under the guidance of the great leader's revolutionary line, our brigade's tea production has been increasing year by year, providing strong support for national construction. This is clearly a good thing, so why destroy it? Why take my Ah Feng away..."