Chapter 43 Life's Journey
Nan Jiu and Lin Songyao met the next morning at the restaurant on the second floor of the hotel. When Lin Songyao entered the restaurant, Nan Jiu was sitting by the window in a black U-neck tights, drinking porridge.
Lin Songyao immediately recognized the slender woman by the window as his fiancée. He grabbed a few things, a cup of coffee, and walked toward her. Pulling the chair across from Nanjiu, Lin Songyao sat down and said to her, "What happened yesterday was my fault. I won't do it again next time..."
Lin Songyao picked up the coffee and looked at Nanjiu, his voice suddenly stopping.
An ambiguous kiss traced Nanjiu's fair neck all the way to his distinct collarbone. His eyes suddenly tightened, and the coffee he was about to bring to his lips was thrown back onto the table with a crisp sound.
"Did you go see him last night?"
Nanjiu picked up the hot tea at hand, blew it casually, and looked at him disdainfully.
Lin Songyao's face darkened. He had never been so blatantly toyed with by a woman before. She'd said she'd make life difficult for him, and he'd thought it was just a tirade. The next night, she'd shown him what it meant to be miserable.
Nanjiu put down his teacup and said indifferently, "Do you see where you are?"
The vein in Lin Songyao's forehead throbbed, straining against his clenched jaw. He'd seen Nanjiu's skill before. When the flagship store first opened, she launched a full-scale crackdown on nearby competitors, recruiting all employees and trainees to Xingyao, transforming them into the foundation of the flagship store. As for those whose businesses went bankrupt, she wasn't so merciful. Like a predator in the jungle, she believed in the law of the jungle, tackling every move with caution and delivering every blow with blood.
However, when she turned her anger towards him, Lin Songyao finally realized the ruthlessness in her bones.
She is born to be untamed. The more you try to control her, the more brutal her counterattack will become.
Lin Songyao was so angry when he woke up in the morning that he checked out and got in the car without even having breakfast.
Nan Jiu felt a sense of satisfaction at seeing his aggressive temper extinguished last night. His appetite was piqued, so he went to the small window and ordered another bowl of noodles. After finishing his meal, he leisurely got into the car.
Lin Songyao sat in the driver's seat. Nanjiu opened the passenger door and folded the seat down. On the way back, Lin Songyao drove. His face was gloomy the entire time, and the car was filled with a low pressure. Nanjiu simply ignored him and slept all the way.
The car stopped at Nanjiu's residence. Just as Nanjiu was about to open the door and get out, Lin Songyao pressed the central lock and locked the door.
Nanjiu turned around and looked at him: "Do you have anything else to say?"
His hands rested on the steering wheel, his knuckles slightly raised. "Don't let it happen again. I don't care what other men you're involved with out there, but he won't do it."
"He's your uncle from your hometown, and it wouldn't be nice if this kind of thing got out. Even if you don't consider our Lin family, you're a well-known figure now, so you still have to consider your reputation when doing things outside."
Nan Jiu slowly lowered her eyelashes and picked up her bag: "Go back and drive slowly. Ask Lao Zhou to park the car at Xingyao."
He unlocked it and she turned and left.
......
Nan Jiu and Lin Songyao chose the spring season when flowers were blooming to get their marriage certificate, which was also the second month after they returned from Nancheng.
Nanjiu had a calendar on her desk, densely packed with circled dates. They were all important dates—business trips, meetings, meetings with investors, and so on. One of the numbers, circled with a heart, was the date she and Lin Songyao got their marriage certificate.
A while ago, Lin Songyao came to Xingyao. Nanjiu was in the recording studio, so he went to Nanjiu's office for a while. By the time Nanjiu finished, he had already left. That date was circled on the calendar from then on.
Half a month before that day, Nan Jiu suddenly received a call from Grandpa Nan. At that time, she was in a meeting with Ding Jun and others to discuss the operation of the store in the next city. The call from Grandpa was so sudden that Nan Jiu picked up the phone and took a look, frowning.
The elders worried about their younger generation being busy at work and rarely called them. Even if there was something, they would usually call at night. In the middle of the day, when Old Man Nan suddenly called, Nan Jiu had a bad feeling.
Nan Jiu gestured to Ding Jun and walked out of the meeting room to answer the phone.
The first thing Mr. Nan asked was, "Is Song Ting with you?"
"No." Nanjiu's expression changed slightly, "What happened to him?"
"He went to Tingzhuang to discuss business. He was supposed to be home last night, but he hasn't come back this morning. Now I can't contact him by phone. I don't know what happened." Old Master Nan's tone was full of anxiety.
Nanjiu comforted him: "Don't worry, your phone may be out of battery or lost somewhere. I'll contact you later."
"If you can contact him, tell him not to come back and go to the tea mountain quickly."
"What happened to Chashan?"
"Old Eight asked someone to call and said that something happened on the tea mountain this morning. The tea farmers were fighting each other, and now the mountain is in chaos." Old Man Nan spoke so fast that he coughed anxiously on the other end of the phone.
Nanjiu's mood tightened, and he was worried about his grandfather's health. He quickly said, "Okay, I understand. I'll find a way. Don't worry."
After hanging up the phone, Nan Jiu wandered in the corridor outside the conference room, calling Song Ting over and over again, but the phone was always turned off.
She called Li Chongguang and Liu Yin respectively, but they also had no news about Song Ting.
Ding Jun saw her out for a while, then walked out of the conference room and asked, "What happened?"
Nanjiu hung up the phone, his brows furrowed. "Something's going on at home. I might... have to go back."
Ding Jun saw her serious expression and said, "Then you should go back and settle your family down first."
Nan Jiu patted him and said, "I'll leave this to you." Without hesitation, she went back to the office to get the car keys and called Grandpa Nan.
"I'm going to the mountain now, don't worry..."
After hanging up the phone, Nanjiu drove out of Xingyao and headed straight for Nangan Mountain.
As soon as Nan Jiu's car drove onto the highway, Lin Songyao called and asked, "Are you back home?"
Nanjiu said in a dry voice, "Ding Jun is really meticulous and reports everything to you."
"What are you going back for now?"
"Something happened at the tea mountain. I'm going over there."
"Where's your uncle? Is he really needed?"
"The family can't contact him now."
After a moment of silence, Lin Songyao told her: "Be careful, call me if you have any problems."
Along the way, Nanjiu sped along without stopping, except for one gas stop. Her brows were furrowed as the road stretched out before her, seemingly endless.
Song Ting wasn't the type to disappear without a word. He knew the old man was waiting for him at home, so he'd call him anyway. If he couldn't get through to the point where he couldn't get in touch with him, something serious must have happened. A flood of terrifying thoughts washed over him, each one like a cold blade slicing through Nan Jiu's tense nerves.
However, the current situation was uncertain, and before she received any definitive news, her top priority was to rush to the tea mountain and stabilize his rear.
Nanjiu followed the navigation system and drove to Nangan Mountain. Having not been here for a few years, the area around the village had changed dramatically, but fortunately, the roads within the village were still generally familiar.
It was already dark when Nanjiu knocked on the door of Lao Ba's house. The person who opened the door was a girl with a typical appearance and a long braid hanging in front of her.
After a brief gaze, Nanjiu reached out and pinched her cheek: "Sang Ya, you're so big now."
The girl took a step back, a look of embarrassment on her face. Nanjiu made a familiar dance gesture to her, and Sang Ya immediately recognized her. An excited smile appeared on her lips, and she pulled Nanjiu into the house, calling her Aunt Qin.
Aunt Qin heard the noise and came out from the kitchen. She didn't recognize Nan Jiu at all and asked her, "Who are you looking for?"
"I, Nanjiu."
After a brief moment of shock, Aunt Qin raised her voice, "Her father-in-law, hurry up, Nanjiu is here."
Lao Ba had just walked in, his face covered in dust and dirt, and was still washing himself in the sink. Upon hearing this, he rushed into the main room in two steps.
"Uncle Eighth, long time no see." Nan Jiu didn't bother to exchange pleasantries and explained his purpose. "I got a call from my grandfather. What's going on?"
Aunt Qin went to make tea, and Sang Ya brought a bench for Nan Jiu to sit on. In the main hall, Uncle Ba briefly told Nan Jiu what had happened during the day.
Two years after Nanjiu's departure, the tea harvest on Nangan Mountain stabilized. Seeing the time was right, Song Ting took over the entire area behind the mountain. With the expansion of cultivation, the management of both the traditional and new tea gardens, as well as the preservation and maintenance of the ancient tea trees, required more manpower. He expanded the mountainside warehouse and assembled a team of qualified and professional managers, transforming the traditional tea garden management model into a modern one.
Most of the managers in this team came from outside the mountains, and some of them graduated from agriculture-related majors. When getting along with these villagers who have stayed in the mountains all their lives, it is inevitable that there will be differences in ideas and bumps in the road.
In the past, when they encountered such situations and couldn't resolve them privately, Song Ting would always step in to mediate. They had a lot of minor conflicts, but nothing major had happened.
Just this morning, at dawn, Manager Jiang from the management team came to inform the tea growers to prepare for the rush to harvest before the inclement weather. However, many tea trees had not yet reached their ideal maturity. The growers, unwilling to see the trees destroyed, argued with Manager Jiang and his team, leading to a brawl inside the tea garden. This was the largest disturbance the tea garden had seen since its establishment. Had Xiang Zhiyang and the village chief not arrived in time to calm the situation, widespread injuries would have likely occurred.
The tea farmers and the management team were completely at loggerheads, each refusing to submit to the other. They were all waiting for Song Ting to handle the situation. However, from morning till night, no one could reach him. With no other options, they asked Lao Ba to find a way to contact Old Man Nan.
After hearing what happened, Nan Jiu asked, "Where is the Manager Jiang you mentioned now?"
"On the top of the mountain. I just came back and the lights are still on there."
"Besides Song Ting, who else here can have a say?"
Lao Ba frowned deeply. “If you want to resolve the conflict, Xiang Zhiyang can come forward. But when it comes to the tea mountain, even the village chief has no say.”
"Where is the factory director?" Aunt Qin interrupted.
Lao Ba hesitated and said, "Director Liu can make the final decision on matters at the factory, but Director Liu rarely interferes in matters at Chashan."
Nanjiu picked up the teacup and drank the half-warm tea. After all this traveling, he finally quenched his thirst at this moment.
Putting down her teacup, she said to Old Eighth Uncle, "Could you please come forward and invite a few tea farmers' representatives who carry weight to gather at the top of the mountain?" Nan Jiu checked the time and, considering that the villagers tend to go to bed early, said, "If it's too late, we can do it tomorrow morning."
"No, I'll go call them now."
After Lao Ba stood up, Nan Jiu also stood up.
Aunt Qin called her: "Have you eaten?"
"I'm not hungry. I'm going to take a look at the top of the mountain."
Nanjiu turned around and opened the door, his figure quickly swallowed by the night.
......
The warehouse on the hilltop was no longer what it had been when Nanjiu had visited. The warehouse's extension now slumped against the hillside, with a few dormitories carved out of the second floor. Work clothes and faded shirts hung on clotheslines, fluttering in the wind.
A separate building had been built on the side of the warehouse for office use. At that moment, the lights were on in that room, and through the window, Nan Jiu could vaguely see figures moving around inside.
She walked over there and knocked on the door. A square-faced man opened it. Nan Jiu glanced at the cut on his forehead and asked, "Is Manager Jiang here?"
The square-faced man turned around and called out, "Lao Jiang, there's a woman looking for you."
"Looking for me? Who's looking for me at this hour?"
Jiang Qing strode over, glanced at Nan Jiu, and asked, "Who are you?"
This question stumped Nan Jiu for a moment. She needed a proper identity to explain why she was here. After a brief pause, she replied, "I'm from Song Ting's family."
Jiang Qing immediately invited Nan Jiu into the house and asked her, "Did something happen to Boss Song? I've called him so many times today, but I can't get through to him."
A flash of worry flashed across Nanjiu's eyes, then he returned to normal. His breathing was heavy, but his face betrayed no emotion. The situation in the tea mountains was uncertain, people were uneasy, and rumors were spreading. At a time like this, chaos was a must.
She looked calm and told the people in front of her, "He's out of town and can't get away for the time being. I came over to check on him first."
Nan Jiu's eyes swept across the room, where several desks sat, and then a conference room. Two men were looking out.
Nanjiu nodded at them, her eyes falling on a row of file cabinets. The folders inside were organized into categories, storing various documents related to Chashan. Nanjiu paused in front of the locked cabinet door. She lowered her head and asked Zhou Weining, a square-faced man sitting nearby, "Can I take a look at the documents in here?"
Zhou Weining turned to look at Jiang Qing. Jiang Qing hesitated for a moment and politely declined, "I'm sorry, these are all internal documents and it's not convenient to check them. There are regulations."
Nanjiu didn't insist. A short while later, Lao Ba arrived with a large group. Nanjiu saw many old acquaintances, such as Zhang Jiang, Junzi's father Sanwaizi, and four or five other familiar faces.
As soon as these people walked into the house, the atmosphere immediately became tense.
Jiang Qing immediately frowned and asked, "What are you doing here? Are you trying to cause trouble?"
"I called him." Nan Jiu said to Jiang Qing before Lao Ba could speak, "Come into the conference room and sit down and have a chat."
The burly Sanwaizi glared at Jiang Qing, looking as if he was going to beat him up. Nanjiu walked over, patted Sanwaizi on the shoulder, and said hello, "Uncle Waizi, how is Junzi now?"
Sanwaizi's anger dissipated a little, and he turned to Nanjiu and said, "I went out for two years but it wasn't going well, so now I'm back."
As he was talking, Nanjiu naturally brought Sanwaizi and his group into the conference room while chatting.
Zhenmin ran in from outside panting. Nanjiu turned around to look at her, and both of them paused.
Back then, Zhenmin was only a girl in her early twenties. Despite a troubled marriage, she still looked like a young woman. Now, she wears a headscarf and a thin jacket, and the vicissitudes of life have left their mark on her.
Nanjiu, shedding the unbridled, youthful garb of youth, now wore a sharply tailored windbreaker, her figure stern and striking. Her eyes, devoid of the previous languor, were replaced by a calm, insightful gaze. She simply stood there, and the air around her grew heavy, making Zhenmin almost afraid to approach and acknowledge her.
Nan Jiu nodded to her, and without further greeting, turned around and asked everyone to take a seat.
Seeing that Nan Jiu was familiar with the villagers, the people on Jiang Qing's side lowered their guard about her identity as a member of Song Ting's family.
The conference table was a heavy dark red, its paint surface no longer smooth. Tea cups brought by the villagers were thrown together with some sundries such as whiteboard pens, tape, etc. placed on it.
Zhenmin ran back to the office, made Nanjiu a cup of hot tea, and then stood against the wall. The conference table could easily accommodate more than a dozen people. Nanjiu raised his chin at her, indicating that there was still room. Zhenmin shook her head and insisted on leaning against the wall.
As soon as they sat down, Sanwaizi started to fire at Jiang Qing: "I can't say anything to you in front of so many people in the daytime. We have lived in this mountain for our whole lives and have eaten more salt than you have eaten rice. According to seniority, you should call Guoqiang "uncle". Is it appropriate for you to talk to him like that?"
Jiang Qing pushed his glasses and said sternly, "I was trying to solve the problem. He was so foul-mouthed that he even cursed my mother. I gave him face by not beating him up."
Sanwaizi slammed the table and pointed at Jiang Qing: "How dare you say that? You didn't do anything during the day?"
"Zhang Jiang is so eager to bring his men to beat us out of the tea garden. Are we just waiting to be beaten if we don't take action?"
"You're just looking for a beating." Zhang Jiang kicked the table, stood up, and his face was full of hostility.
Nanjiu moved the teacup beside him and dropped it onto the thick tabletop. The bottom of the cup collided with the surface with a dull thud. It wasn't loud, but it stopped the escalating conflict in its tracks.
Nanjiu raised his gaze and glanced at the tense situation on both sides. "We all make a living in the mountains. To put it bluntly, only when the tea harvest is good can we all have food to eat, make money, and live a prosperous life. Since we are all working from the same bowl, why bother destroying our own stove?
"I invited you all here so late because I want to resolve the issue. If you don't want to resolve it, you can fight or even stay up all night. Let's see when the sun rises tomorrow. Will the tea trees sprout new buds depending on who wins the argument?"
Nan Jiu's eyes slowly swept across the room, and his tone became heavy. His voice was not loud but it was so depressing that it made people hold their breath.
Sanwaizi turned his eyes away and said nothing. Zhenmin gave Zhang Jiang a look, and Zhang Jiang turned his head and sat down again. Jiang Qing pushed his glasses up on his nose, and the arrogance that had just been threatening to kill each other subsided a little.
"Or tell me what you think. Since we're all here, let's talk it out." She turned to the most senior person present, Old Eight, and asked for his opinion. "Uncle Old Eight, what do you think?"
Lao Ba nodded and said, "Stop arguing, what can you come up with? Tell us what you think."
Nanjiu waved at Zhenmin, who walked over to her and bent down. Nanjiu whispered a few words to her, and Zhenmin quickly walked out of the room. After a while, she returned and handed Nanjiu a notebook and pen.
Nan Jiu opened the notebook and looked at Jiang Qing: "Manager Jiang, would you like to talk first?"
Jiang Qing straightened up and said, "It's been raining for a while now, and there's not enough sunlight. The leaves are becoming more fibrous, which is why they're aging faster. Next week, there will be a week of heavy rain, and another batch of tea buds will fall. If we don't pick them now, we'll have nothing to harvest, and all our work this year will be in vain."
Dashun, who was sitting next to Sanwaizi, took over the conversation. "It's been raining and cloudy in the mountains. The weather forecast says it'll rain for a week, but it'll only rain for two minutes. It's not uncommon for this to happen before. You're organizing a rush to harvest the tea now, but what about the tea garden to the east? They were planning to produce premium tea this year, but they don't have enough leaf buds right now. What should we do?"
Zhou Weining replied, "You can't think about it that way. What if the weather forecast turns out to be right? We're relying on the weather for the harvest now. If God doesn't give us a way out, we won't even be able to make ends meet if we don't rush to harvest."
"It's easy for you to say, you just talk, we're the ones doing the work. In such a short time, the old tea gardens and the new tea gardens will be mixed together in a rush to harvest tea, and we won't be able to sell them at a good price even if we pick them."
The standoff lasted for over an hour, with both sides arguing back and forth. It sounded like both sides were right, and perhaps because of this, neither could convince the other.
During this time, Nanjiu kept taking notes in her notebook, occasionally looking up and frowning as she listened. The tea beside her gradually became weaker and weaker. Zhenmin simply made her a new cup.
It was late at night. Lao Ba yawned and sighed, "Guoqiang is still irritated by you guys despite all the talk. Before you came, wasn't Guoqiang and his men watching over the old tea garden?"
At this point, Lao Ba turned to Nan Jiu and said to her, "It rained heavily that year. You've been here before, and you've seen the complex and changeable weather here."
Nan Jiu nodded.
"That's why you shouldn't trust the weather forecast. These people, relying on their years of education, think they know a lot. But no matter how much they know, how can they compare to us mountain dwellers who have lived in the mountains our whole lives?" Lao Ba turned to Nan Jiu, "Don't you agree?"
Lao Ba naturally assumed that Nan Jiu would side with the villagers. This was her first time dealing with Jiang Qing, and she wasn't familiar with them. Furthermore, she had personally experienced the unpredictable weather in the mountains when she had visited a few years earlier, so she knew the weather forecast was unreliable.
Nan Jiu didn't respond. He raised his hand to glance at the time on his watch. The hands were already pointing to midnight.
She said, "It's getting late today. Everyone should go back and rest first. We can talk about it tomorrow if there is anything."
Jiang Qing said anxiously, "This matter cannot wait. Every day of delay means a day of increased risk."
Nan Jiu lowered his head, his eyes hidden in his eye sockets: "If you make the decision now, no one will cooperate, right?"
Jiang Qing pursed her lips, her anxiety turning into helplessness.
Nan Jiu tore off a page of paper, looked up at Jiang Qing and said, "Give me one night." She handed the paper to Jiang Qing and said, "Manager Jiang, please arrange for a few people to stay and work overtime with me. Bring me everything you can find written on the paper. The more complete the better."
Jiang Qing took the paper and glanced at it, his expression suddenly changed.
The paper contained tea garden management records—waterlogging tolerance of different varieties, budding period, tree age, and health. Past production, sales, and economic data—cost structure, pricing system, financial statements, and customer needs. Historical meteorological data—disaster history, weather patterns during the same period in previous years, microclimate characteristics, and forecast update frequency. Resource availability assessments—tea picking team manpower, processing capacity, and logistics support. Market reports—traffic trends, purchase price fluctuations, and more—filled the entire page with dense information.
The vast majority of this information is highly confidential, especially the production and sales data and customer structure details, which directly relate to the core secrets and lifeblood of the tea plantation. If handed over, the entire tea plantation's secrets would be exposed, causing immeasurable losses.
Jiang Qing had to be on guard. He pressed the paper on the table and looked at Nan Jiu: "Excuse me, what is your relationship with Boss Song?"
Jiang Qing had been working for Song Ting for two years, and he had yet to hear him mention any young women in his family. Without knowing the exact nature of Nan Jiu's relationship with Song Ting, or how deep it went, he wouldn't easily hand over these things.
Nan Jiu saw Jiang Qing's concerns. Anyone who could work for Song Ting was naturally not a reckless person. But it was not easy to come up with an identity that could convince him. After all, she had no real blood relationship with Song Ting, and making up a title like distant cousin would not convince Jiang Qing.
Just as he was hesitating, Zhen Min, who had been leaning against the wall in silence, suddenly spoke up: "She is Boss Song's lover."
This sentence was like dropping a huge rock into the lake, stirring up silent waves. Everyone present was stunned, including Uncle Eight and his group.
This identity had indeed flashed through Nanjiu's mind the moment before. To quickly obtain the tea mountain's core information, no identity was more effective than being Song Ting's wife. However, speaking on her own, it seemed abrupt and aroused suspicion to the manager, a stranger. But coming from Zhenmin, the words had a completely different effect. A native of the mountain, she had lived in the tea mountain for many years. Her words were more credible than Nanjiu's own.
Jiang Qing was a little surprised. Although he had not deliberately inquired about Boss Song's marital status, he had never heard him talk about his wife and children at home.
He turned to Nanjiu and confirmed, "So you are Boss Song's wife?"
Nanjiu picked up the teacup and took a sip. She didn't respond, nor did she deny it, simply curling her lips calmly. She didn't respond because she couldn't personally verify this outrageous lie; she didn't deny it because Zhenmin's earth-shattering statement helped her gain control of the situation.
She couldn't take it with her own hands, but she couldn't push it away either.
Then the smile lingered on his face, with calm confidence, easily absorbing all the surprised and doubtful gazes.
Jiang Qing looked at Lao Ba and San Waizi: "You all know?"
Zhang Jiang, who was sitting nearby, confirmed Zhen Min's words: "You came too late and haven't met Nan Jiu. Boss Song brought her to Chashan to live for a while in 2014."
Lao Ba told Jiang Qing: "She is Nan Lao's granddaughter."
Jiang Qing was well aware of Old Man Nan's identity. The thirty-seven old tea trees on the tea mountain were like the lifeblood of the tea plantation, and every year the best harvest was exclusively supplied to Mao'er Teahouse. While there had been high offers before, Boss Song had always rejected them without hesitation. Although Old Man Nan rarely appeared at the tea plantation, his importance was self-evident.
Jiang Qing's last bit of doubt about Nan Jiu turned around in his mind and was temporarily put aside.
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