Chapter 38

Song Sancheng's view on the weather was indeed correct.

The three of them had just finished sprinkling fertilizer on this tea garden when the spring rain drizzled down. The father and daughter hurriedly walked back, only Qiao Qiao jumped happily:

"It's raining hard!"

Fortunately, it was all mountain slopes and trees along the way, and the rain wasn't heavy at the beginning, so they didn't get too wet when they got home. Song Tan thought of that tea garden, the spiritual energy was all given, it wouldn't be appropriate if it didn't grow vigorously, right?

"Dad, I think the tea leaves will be picked in a few days, anyway, we have to hire people everywhere this year, it doesn't matter if we hire one or two more."

"If there's no time to pick the tea leaves, just hire someone."

"Why hire someone?" Wu Lan felt that this daughter couldn't be left unmonitored, spending money without a plan.

How much can tea leaves sell for a jin? Hiring people is so expensive! At least one hundred and fifty a day, right.

Song Tan felt that her mom hadn't changed her thinking yet!

"Mom, I can sell wild vegetables for twenty, I can also sell Chinese milk vetch for twenty, why do you think I can't sell a jin of tea leaves for two thousand?"

If it were usual, a skilled worker could only pick three or four jin of Maojian from morning to night when the tea leaves were lush.

Four jin of tea leaves produce one jin of dry tea, and one jin of dry tea only sells for one or two hundred, that's definitely not cost-effective.

But the problem is, the price is different now.

The best time for spring tea is only twenty days or so, and it's worse after Qingming, so of course, we have to seize the time.

Wu Lan pondered, although she had confidence in her daughter, she had no confidence in selling local tea leaves for two thousand yuan a jin. But she had agreed that the work in the fields would listen to her daughter...

She hesitated: "Then there's no need to hire people, your dad, grandpa, and grandma can help too. Our tea garden is just that large, it's enough."

Song Tan started counting on her fingers: "When picking tea leaves, someone has to worry about breeding and seedling raising, right? Someone has to manage the chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs at home, right? Don't we need to look at the black fungus in the chestnut forest? Chinese milk vetch has to be picked and cleaned every day, right?"

"Mom, I think we don't have enough people now, if you all go to pick tea leaves, then I have to learn how to clone myself first."

With the current concentration of spiritual energy, after practicing for a few decades, Song Tan felt she should be able to do this trick.

The premise is not to scare people.

Wu Lan:...

She was speechless.

Thinking about the money earned from selling vegetables this year, it's enough for labor!

So she hardened her heart:

"Fine, I'll find two nimble ones in the village—do we need to hire someone to stir-fry tea later? Your dad hasn't done this work for many years, don't stir-fry it badly."

Song Tan really couldn't remember who in the village knew how to stir-fry tea and who had a tea-stirring machine. However, their family's little work wouldn't be too expensive—

"Fine, Mom, you and Dad discuss the arrangements."

Just as she was saying this, a phone call came, and Song Sancheng chatted with someone for a while:

"Tan Tan, want to go see bees? In Song Shu Town."

The one selling bees is in Song Shu Town.

Song Shu Town is next to Qingxi Town, and it's not too far from their Yunqiao Village, it takes twenty minutes by car.

Because there are many mountains here, the local residents take picking tea as their main source of income, and naturally, there are many flowering trees on the mountain slopes.

Therefore, there is a very famous family raising bees in Song Shu Town.

Song Tan drove with Song Sancheng and Qiao Qiao along the mountain road, and when she saw a large cardboard on the side of the road with 【Farm Native Honey】 written in ink, she knew they had arrived.

Because this bee-raising place is on the mountain road, the house wasn't as regular as the ones on the roadside, and a simple iron shed was even built next to it.

And on the open space on the hillside in front of the door, square wooden boxes were placed regularly. Under the sunlight, the bees' fluffy bodies vibrated, and the buzzing sound was exceptionally obvious.

They kept circling at low altitude, but the temperature in the mountains was slightly lower, and not many flowers of the fruit trees had opened yet, so they finally could only lie in front of a shallow water tray.

"Old Song, you're here!"

A man with messy hair and a black sweater walked out, and seeing Song Tan's family of three, he was extremely enthusiastic:

"These are your son and daughter, right? They grew so well—come, want bees, right? What kind do you want, I'll show you!"

"But I don't have Italian bees here, they are all Chinese bees, that is, our native bees, small in size. This box of mine has five combs, each comb is about three thousand... it's not easy to raise them in this winter!"

Bee raisers call the place where bees live a comb, which is the bees' nest, a six-sided hole in a grid.

Generally, the number of bees living in a nest comb of the same specification is about the same. They are like this, it won't work if the house is too big, and it won't work if the house is too small.

The other party was actually honest, before anything was said, he had already introduced it first.

Song Tan nodded: "It's okay, Uncle, I want our native bees—how much honey can this box produce?"

Speaking of this, the middle-aged man's face was full of pride and smiles: "Don't look at our native bees as small, but they are diligent, more capable than Italian bees, and not picky, this box can produce eighty jin without a problem if there are many flowers."

"It won't work if there are few flowers, they probably won't be full if there are few flowers."

Speaking of this, the bee raiser also sighed:

"I used to drive to the south in winter in previous years, where there are many flowers and it's warm. The market hasn't been good for the past two years, and I'm not allowed to run around, I've been worrying all winter—look, aren't I feeding them sugar water? Otherwise, they wouldn't survive."

"Old Song, we are all fellow villagers, I won't hide it from you. The price of bees in early spring is naturally more expensive, this box is six hundred yuan, if you sincerely want it, 560, I'm feeding them sugar water and won't hide it from you, it's just enough for them to live, no honey."

"But when there are flowers, they can adjust immediately—it's definitely not a loss to buy."

Song Tan had checked online before, this price should be considered fair, so she looked at Song Sancheng.

Song Sancheng didn't understand bees either!

Thinking for a moment, he was also honest: "My family has fourteen acres of flower fields, you see how many are suitable to buy? Besides, how to see if the bees are good or bad?"

The bee raiser thought for a moment: "Reasonably speaking, one box of bees for three acres, one acre produces, three boxes are also fine."

As for whether the bees are good or bad...

Under the stunned gaze of the family of three, the other party didn't even wear gloves, and with a pair of ruthless iron hands, without any fear, opened the bee box and directly pulled out a comb:

"You see, these worker bees are very diligent."

As he said this, he grabbed another handful from the other side, more than a dozen fluffy bees crawling on his palm, vibrating their wings and flying low, among which one large one was exceptionally obvious:

"Look, this is the queen bee, does it look good?"

Qiao Qiao squatted on the side, greedy, and reached out his hand eagerly:

"Qiao Qiao also wants to touch it..."

The bee raiser was startled, and then quickly put the bees back:

"This can't be touched! It's very painful to be stung, you have to wear head nets and gloves usually!"