Chapter 8: Drying and Roasting Tobacco (Seeking Collection)

  "Ah, is this... Zhang's kid?"

  As soon as he stepped into the Xu family's camp, a coffin shop at the entrance had already opened its door. Seeing Zhang Lei walking over, Li Mujiang, a man in his forties or fifties who was planing wood, straightened up and, after confirming that he hadn't mistaken the person, enthusiastically pointed to the half-finished coffin and said: "Little Lei, come on in and take a seat."

  Zhang Lei couldn't help but shiver, and hastily declined: "No, no, I still have to hurry back home, maybe next time, come to my place for tea when you're free."

  "Definitely, definitely, hurry back now. If your old man sees you return, who knows how happy he'll be." Li Mujiang said.

  After passing through several alleys, I came to the front of a small courtyard. The yard wasn't big, and it was surrounded by reeds, with some seasonal vegetables planted inside, which were also well-maintained. A young man about his age was stirring turnips on a stove made of several bricks, moving very quickly. Unintentionally turning his head, he saw Zhang Lei, and suddenly startled, shouting: "Brother!"

  Zhang Lei patted his own head and whispered: "Fortunately, I don't remember much else. This time the road home didn't have any major mishaps."

  "Little brother." Having been in this world for some time now, Zhang Lei was also able to quickly get into character. "Where's Father?"

  Suddenly seeing his brother who had been missing for a long time, Zhang Chen was extremely delighted. When Zhang Lei asked him, he happily said: "He's working at the dock, and will be back soon." He couldn't wait to finish cooking, and with hands covered in wood ash, he quickly washed them in the nearby bucket and rushed over to examine Zhang Lei up and down: "Brother, look at you, even more handsome after not seeing you for a while!"

  Zhang Lei took out a package and said, "You just know how to tease me. I've been like this since I was born. What's good-looking about that? Here, I bought you some food."

  Zhang Chen opened the package and immediately exclaimed loudly: "Wow, this is Cui Yugong's pastry, oh, it smells so good! This osmanthus cake has been tempting me for several years, but I couldn't afford to buy it because it was too expensive. Brother, how did you have the money?"

  Zhang Lei gave him a burst of laughter and scolded: "You still have so much nonsense to eat."

  Zhang Chen smiled foolishly, grabbed a piece of osmanthus cake and stuffed it into his mouth, choking until he rolled his eyes back, hastily chewing for a few times before feeling slightly better. Looking at his disheveled appearance, Zhang Lei suddenly felt a little warmth in his heart, this was his family, even in another world, he wasn't alone.

  "Little brother, the radish you're stewing is about to burn dry." Zhang Lei suddenly smelled a strange smell and immediately reminded him.

  "Ah……my lunch……” Zhang Chen let out a miserable cry, and didn't even bother to talk to Zhang Lei. He turned around, flipped over the half-person-high railing, rushed to the stove, directly picked up a basin of clear water next to it, and poured it into the stove to extinguish the fire.

  After a flurry of activity, Zhang Chen finally managed to get the dishes on the table and invited Zhang Lei in. After exchanging some pleasantries, Zhang Chen suddenly said: "Brother, I didn't expect that the first time following Jiang Lang out to sea would end up like this. From what they told me when they came back, it was because a big fish shook the sailboat, and you just happened to be at the edge of the boat, so you fell in. The sailors wanted to pull you back on board, but they were afraid of that big fish, so...

  "Hey, it's all over now, don't mention it again. Look at me, I'm back safe and sound, let bygones be bygones."

  "Yes, yes, yes. Now that you're back, brother, we don't need to mention what happened before. If Father knew you were back, he'd be overjoyed. You've always been so clever since you were a kid, and these years of helping him with work at the dock have been a huge help. These days, his mood has been terrible, but today he can finally enjoy a meal. Unfortunately, I burned the dishes." At first, he was ecstatic, but as he spoke, he couldn't help but feel a little downhearted.

  Just as Zhang Lei was about to speak, a noisy voice came from outside, getting closer and closer. Zhang Chen frowned and said, "Here we go again."

  "What?"

  "Didn't I just say that? It was the last time you followed Qin Mangzi out to sea, who knows where he got the tobacco seeds from, saying it's a great thing that can be used as medicine and also for leisure activities of high-end people. If we plant and sell them, we'll definitely make a lot of money. Qin Mangzi put up his family's fortune for half his life, but unexpectedly, although the things were grown out, they couldn't be made into usable stuff, and everyone was clamoring for him to pay compensation."

  Upon hearing Zhang Chen's words, Zhang Lei's eyes lit up, tobacco? This is good stuff!

  "What's going on? Tell me about it." Zhang Lei thought for a moment, and suddenly became very interested, leaning eagerly on the broken eight immortal table, asking with great interest.

  "Who knows what's going on in that guy's mind, he's been sailing the seas for half his life, got a leg broken and an eye blinded, still can't live a peaceful life. The villagers all advised him to just stay home and farm, but after two years of idleness, he's already gone out to sea again. Now look, he's brought back some so-called good tobacco seeds, probably lost all his capital. I think it serves him right."

  "How come this tobacco can't be used?"

  "Brother, you can't dry tobacco without big sunshine, and it's already winter, where can you still dry tobacco? If you can't dry it out, can you still use it after putting it away for a winter? In my opinion, I think that Qin is greedy, wanting to grow two seasons of tobacco in one year, no wonder he failed!"

  Cigarette? Sunburn?

  After listening to Zhang Chen, Zhang Lei couldn't help but feel a little dizzy. In his impression, tobacco leaves should be roasted in the roasting house. When he was young, there were several small houses like this in the village, and he had never heard of tobacco leaves being dried directly under the sun.

  It wasn't until he had unintentionally inquired that he finally understood, tobacco was introduced in the mid-16th century, but at that time, tobacco was still sun-dried, matured in summer, and relied on sufficient sunlight for drying. However, Qin Luo Feng's tobacco was harvested at the end of summer, when the sunlight was no longer sufficient. As time went by, with the arrival of autumn frost, it became even more impossible. The villagers' hard-earned products couldn't be sold, so they naturally vented their frustrations on Qin Luo Feng, and every day they would make a ruckus in front of his house, which is why there was such a commotion outside.

  Zhang Lei said that as long as a smokehouse was built, everything would be fine. However, the words reached his lips but were swallowed back down - wasn't this a great opportunity given by heaven itself?

  "Little brother, you say, is Qin Mangzi very anxious?" Having made up his mind, Zhang Lei's mood improved and he couldn't help but exchange riddles with Zhang Chen.

  "That's right, every day a group of people block his door, can't he be anxious? Every day, he hopes that someone can help him solve this problem, and I'm sure he'd even be willing to call them his grandfather."

  Just as they were talking, the tightly closed door was pushed open and a bright light shone in, illuminating the entire hall. A middle-aged man of short stature walked in, wearing grass shoes that were already very worn out, with his pant legs rolled up and filled with wood shavings. His clothes were tattered and torn, revealing a bronze-colored chest through the open collar. His large hands had cracks all over them. Although he didn't look very impressive, his eyes were extremely sharp. As soon as he glanced over at Zhang Lei, Zhang Lei felt a sudden chill run down his spine.

  "Dad, you're back." Zhang Chen welcomed him and said: "Look, brother is back, he's still alive."

  The newcomer nodded and said, "I know."

  He washed and changed his clothes, sat down to eat together, but didn't say a word. Zhang Chen seemed to be somewhat intimidated by him and didn't dare speak like before, just focusing on eating with his head down.

  Zhang Lei said: "Our family must have also planted tobacco, I smelled it when I came in just now."

  "What's the point of asking these questions?"

  "My younger brother and I just talked about it, and I also smelled the smell of tobacco." Zhang Lei replied honestly.

  At this time, Zhang Baosheng finally raised his head and looked at his son who was dressed in finery, saying: "Then what?"

  Zhang Lei said: "During this period of time, I saw some foreigners outside who have the technology to process this tobacco into finished products."

  He didn't dare say he could, so he casually found an excuse and dragged it to foreigners. Since Qin Luo Feng's tobacco seeds came from overseas, naturally there were people abroad who would process them.

  Zhang Baosheng then formally took a good look at Zhang Lei and said: "You've grown up a lot during this time, you're completely different from before."

  Zhang Lei was startled, almost thinking that Zhang Bao had seen through his identity as a transmigrant. He comforted himself for a while before calming down and saying: "Indeed, I've encountered many things during this period of time. The outside world is very colorful. However, now isn't the time to discuss this. Since the tobacco has been harvested, it should be processed and sold quickly."

  Speaking of this, Zhang Baosheng furrowed his brow and said, "Alright." He stood up and turned to leave. Zhang Chen asked, "Dad, where are you going? Let's eat first."

  Zhang Baosheng said: "Go find Qin Luofeng."

  Zhang Lei couldn't help but feel a bit depressed. This guy was too taciturn. He patted his forehead and asked Zhang Chen, "Younger brother, how much tobacco do we have at home?"

  "Planted over ten mu, not bad, the harvest looks pretty good, but, it's just the processing... Hey, brother, you can actually do this? I really didn't expect it, is this for real?" Zhang Chen asked a string of questions in one breath.

  Zhang Lei said: "I also heard others say, whether it works or not, try it out and then talk about it. Alas, I really made a mistake, I should have tried it myself first. If this gets out and I can't do it again, won't that be a huge loss of face?"

  Zhang Chen smiled and comforted him, "Brother, you've always been so clever since childhood, your words are always well-founded, this time won't be an exception either, I have faith in you."

  "Ah..." The big gate, which had been closed again, was reopened. Zhang Baosheng led a group of villagers standing outside, and it was Zhang Lei who was startled this time. Zhang Baosheng said, "You tell me, what to do."