Chapter 14 She should be gone.
"Help! Help!"
"Gently, gently, ouch! Li Qingshan, are you doing this on purpose?"
...
The tightly closed room reeked of medicine, accompanied by bursts of wails.
Song Xingzhi lay shirtless on the bed, his fair back covered in bruises and discoloration, a clear indication of the ruthlessness of the perpetrator.
Li Qingshan, the guard responsible for watching the main road of the village, applied the medicine to him with obvious disgust, increasing the pressure amidst his wailing cries.
"Shut up, or you'll disturb the prince's ears."
Song Xingzhi lowered his voice, but his hissing continued. He clenched his fist and pounded the bed, gritting his teeth: "That little thief, he better not let me find out who it is, or I'll kill him."
Li Qingshan chuckled: "Him? Who knows, it's probably some romantic entanglement you got into outside."
Song Xingzhi pounded the bed, certain: "Impossible! My beautiful woman outside is gentle and considerate; she wouldn't do such a thing. This person is ruthless and possesses internal strength; he's definitely not from this village. He must be one of those fugitives. No, we must find him quickly!"
Li Qingshan: "If they were really those fugitives, wouldn't it be better to just slit your throat? It's obviously to vent your anger. You should think about who you've offended."
Song Xingzhi remained unconvinced. He firmly believed that a dashing and charming man like him couldn't possibly offend anyone, especially not a beautiful woman.
He and those beauties were all deeply in love and affectionate; how could anyone be so heartless? It must be those depraved robbers.
Li Qingshan: "You should think about who it is. We can handle robbers, but if it's your romantic entanglements that implicate the Prince..."
Song Xingzhi was certain he was in for a world of trouble. Just imagine if, because of his romantic entanglements, Qi Zheng ended up lying here like he was today.
He's dead.
The kind of death that can't be any more dead
Song Xingzhi, baring his teeth, staggered to his feet and sat cross-legged on the bed. Looking at the cold, aloof Qi Zheng standing by the window, he could already foresee his own miserable end upon returning to the capital.
His father wouldn't care about any testing or its effects. Remembering his father's past actions, he gasped, frantically grabbing a piece of clothing and pulling out a section of bamboo tube.
The bamboo tube was only about the size of a thumb and looked quite unremarkable, but Song Xingzhi handled it with extreme care.
Upon opening the lid, a buzzing sound immediately came through.
He breathed a sigh of relief, his face still bruised and swollen, and gritted his teeth.
"You little thief, I'll catch you!"
**
"Ache"
In the tea garden, Song Jin squatted on the ground, sneezed loudly, and then trampled on a large flower with an overly strange fragrance.
"What kind of random flowers are these?"
Something so strikingly beautiful must be poisonous; stomp it away!
Song Jin stomped her foot a couple more times before pinching her nose and leisurely standing up, stretching as she did so, and looking at the people beside her who were now dumbfounded.
With her feet still on the flowers, she asked, "What's wrong?"
"...Miss," Wang Lao Er closed his chin, pointed to the messy, withered flowers at her feet, and said with a complicated expression.
"Those were specially planted by Steward Jiang, who said they would help the tea trees grow better, and the flowers, fruits, and dried fruit could be sold for several hundred coins per ounce."
Of course, such a profitable thing is expensive to buy and difficult to grow; just one flower can cost tens of coins.
"Ah ha," Song Jin glanced at the tattered flowers on the ground, then looked at the half-open flowers elsewhere, and said with disdain.
"This thing can make money? Besides, how come I didn't know the tea plantation had this?"
Wang Lao Er said quietly, "Madam knows; she even came to see me last time."
Song Jin's feet immediately felt heavy. She gave a dry laugh, moved her feet aside, clapped her hands, and asked casually.
"How's the tea plantation been lately? Have any strange people or wild animals come by?"
Wang Lao Er said quietly, "Speaking of this, Miss, I have to settle accounts with you. Your big tiger has stolen eight chickens and two sheep from the garden recently..."
Huanghuang doesn't usually come down the mountain, but since Shili Village is right at the foot of the mountain and it's also part of its own tea garden, it comes over to patrol every now and then and collect some reward along the way.
This is not a good thing; the appearance of a tiger can easily cause panic, so Niu Tielan strictly forbade it from coming down, and Song Jin should also be well taken care of.
However, tigers aren't always completely obedient; they'll occasionally run down.
Fortunately, there is compassion beyond the law. A mother might turn a blind eye once or twice, and Song Jin couldn't push her luck or become too arrogant. She could only secretly clean up her tiger daughter's messes.
"Here, take this as compensation," she said, touching her nose and tossing over a silver coin. "And that flower too."
Wang Lao Er immediately perked up and carefully put away the silver.
The silver was five taels, and the eight chickens and two sheep were only four taels and five mace. The rest was his "hush money."
Wang Lao Er said cheerfully, "The tea plants are growing well this year, about half a percent more than last year. The first batch of new tea has already been picked and processed, and the caravan will come to collect it in a couple of days."
Their tea garden's tea trees were divided into four batches. The first two batches were ordinary tea trees, with average taste and price. The latter two batches were from Niu Tielan tea trees, which they acquired at a high price. After years of careful cultivation, the taste is quite good, and they have become well-known in the prefecture.
Song Jin walked through the tea garden, casually picking a few tender buds and popping them into her mouth. They were a little astringent and bitter, but quickly turned sweet, revealing a wonderful aroma.
She picked another old tea leaf and put it to her lips. The bitterness was even stronger, but the aroma was also more pronounced. People who weren't used to it wouldn't like it, but those who liked it would really enjoy it.
Even Song Jin, a rough man who doesn't know much about tea, knows that this year's tea tastes better than last year's.
She clicked her tongue: "Not bad, not bad, the price should be negotiable, right?"
Wang Lao Er became anxious: "What is it?"
Their wages are tied to the price; if the harvest is good and prices are high this year, their wages will be higher. He's worried something might go wrong.
Song Jin: "Even if the village is sealed off, how can the caravan get in?"
Wang Lao Er patted his forehead: "I forgot about that. I'll go tell them to come later."
Song Jin rolled her eyes: "Caravan, caravan, you think you can just say 'later' and call it a day? Pack up the goods and deliver them to my house. There's no need for all this trouble over there."
Wang Lao Er smiled wryly: "That's true, otherwise, how could it be a town? If it were really in a remote corner of our Shili Village, how could it be so wealthy?"
For Song Jin, the terrain of Shili Village was much more suitable, so she shrugged and didn't answer the question, continuing to stroll through the tea garden.
It is the height of summer, and everything is growing perfectly. The tea tree branches and leaves are tender, and the ground is covered with green grass, interspersed with small red and yellow flowers.
Butterflies fluttered, bees swarmed.
The buzzing, clumsy big bee stood out among the other bees, like a big-headed fish swimming slowly, yet surprisingly fast.
It immediately caught Song Jin's attention.
She couldn't help but find the big-headed hornet's movements a bit comical, like it was clumsy and awkward. She kept looking, until the hornet flew up to her, looking completely bewildered, and stopped moving.
It looks really silly.
"Why"
Song Jin tilted her head, seriously suspecting that the bee wasn't very bright, and thoughtfully moved aside a little to make way for it.
Buzzing
Unexpectedly, as soon as she moved aside, the silly wasp followed suit. She moved again, and it kept going, like a tracking device fixated on her. It was quite amusing.
"Hey, where did this little gadget come from?"
It's kind of cute.
Song Jin became interested and bent down to look at the fluffy little thing. Seeing that it was staring at her, she simply reached out and picked it up, examining it with great interest.
Its head is round, its body is round, and it's twice the size of a regular bee. It also has an extra pair of wings, and it sways steadily.
Song Jin, holding a bee, called out to Wang Lao Er, who was lost in thought, "Wang Lao Er, do you recognize this thing? Is it your queen bee?"
Although it's called a tea plantation, it covers a vast area, spanning several mountains. Since planting only tea would leave the space somewhat empty, other things are also cultivated there.
Peach trees, plum trees, pear trees, chickens, ducks, geese, sheep, bees, pigeons…
It flies in the sky, runs on the ground, and it's just missing something that swims in the water.
However, Niu Tielan was the one who took care of everything, and Song Jin only knew the general outline. So when she saw these silly-looking bees, she assumed they were some new species.
This ancient world was quite different from what Song Jin had imagined; there were many things she had never heard of before, and she assumed that this was also...
Wang Lao Er was woken up by her. When he came over and saw this dull-witted honey, his mouth twitched and he said with great disgust: "My queen bee is one of the most intelligent bees. How could she be so stupid?"
Song Jin poked the silly wasp, which stared at her without moving, unafraid of being held in her hand, and didn't even extend its stinger.
Wait, we don't even know if this thing has a tail barb yet. She curiously pinched the tip of its rear end.
"Squeak!" The silly wasp made a sound like a mouse.
Song Jin's eyes lit up, and she pinched it again.
The silly wasp squeaked again, then squeezed again, squeaked again, squeezed again, and so on...
Wang Lao Er rolled his eyes at the sight.
This young lady of the main house is sometimes incredibly clever, and other times she acts like a three-year-old, wanting to do everything herself.
It's just that its call is a bit unusual. Besides, there are plenty of round-headed bees that make the same chirping sound.
Suddenly, Wang Lao Er remembered something, and he moved closer to Song Jin to examine the dumb-headed bee, even reaching out to snatch it away.
Song Jin was completely bewildered, and let go of his hand, warning him, "Be careful, don't kill me!"
The little thing is quite fun; she wants to take it home for her mother to play with.
But Wang Lao Er ignored her, and just carefully looked at the bee, flipping its wings, looking at its abdomen, and finally his expression became serious.
Song Jin: "Why that expression? Did it steal your honey?"
Wang Lao Er: "...How could that be? What could someone who just sits there steal? I suddenly remembered a type of bee, unique to the Miao region of Lingnan. It's spherical in shape, has six wings, and its call sounds like a mouse. It's called the Thousand-Mile Bee because it can track targets for miles. In the past, it was used as a scout."
Song Jin raised an eyebrow, looking at the rolling swarm of dumb bees: "You mean, these things, chase people?"
She picked the item up; it felt soft and fluffy. Its two round, dark eyes looked rather silly and didn't seem like the type to chase after someone.
Song Jin asserted: "You've misjudged."
Wang Lao Er also began to doubt whether he had made a mistake, after all, he had only heard of them before but had never seen them, and it was said that these bees had long since disappeared.
but
Looking at Song Jin's confident and flamboyant demeanor, another kind of doubt welled up in my heart.
He asked, "You haven't offended any important figures these past few days, have you?"
Of course not.
Song Jin spoke without hesitation, initially full of confidence, but then she suddenly remembered what she had done before going up the mountain, and she began to have some doubts again.
"Bar?"
She pinched the silly wasp, and no matter how she looked at it, she couldn't see any connection between this thing and the legend.
But as she turned, it turned; as she ran, it ran; as she ran again, it still ran.
After several trials
Old Wang Er spoke sadly from the side, "Our tea garden is gone."
Song Jin: ...
It's hard to say whether the tea garden is still there or not; she probably isn't.
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