Chapter 109 Chapter 21 Embroidered Tea

It was getting dark quickly, and the sun had just moved westward, and it fell below the horizon in a blink of an eye.There is a circle of foehn walls around the ancient city of Yuequan, so the temperature at night is higher than that of the desert outside, and it will not be as biting as severe winter.Even so, there was still some chilly wind in the ancient city, and we were wearing thin clothes, so we decided to go back and find some thick clothes to put on.It's been too long now, Uncle An must be very anxious, but they haven't found any water, and if they return empty-handed, they will lose their confidence in living.For this point, Uncle Chen fully agreed, and his thoughts of killing wolves also restrained.

The howling of wolves came from the wind, the ammunition we brought was not enough to fight, and the Bagua needles were probably not enough.We have to return to the Pagoda Hall within at least ten minutes. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. If the wolves want to attack, we only need to light a fire at the gate of the hall.At night, the wind was weak and the wind was loud, which made me feel flustered and uneasy, as if the ghosts in the whole ancient city were crying loudly.Mu Qingxiang was walking next to me, and the fresh fragrance of her body wafted out of her nostrils, but at some point there was an attractive fragrance in the wind.

My sense of smell is getting more and more sensitive, thanks to these years of practice, if not like Uncle Chen, I can't smell anything.We turned on the flashlight, and the dark air was covered with floating dust, reflecting the yellow beam of the flashlight like a stick.After walking a hundred meters against the wind, we were a little bit lost in the north. Fortunately, the stone pagoda was so high that we could find our way by looking up a little.Just when we were about to return to the stone tower, the strong fragrance became more obvious, and its source was undoubtedly near the stone tower.

Mu Qingxiang also smelled it, and when she got here, she turned around and walked straight to a tall sand pile.I quickly told Mu Qingxiang not to worry, it would be a big trouble if he got lost, so scared that Uncle Chen also ran after her, thinking there was another emergency.This place is already in the center of the ancient city of Yuequan, and the buildings are more magnificent than the surrounding ones, and almost all of them are pure stone buildings, standing for thousands of years without falling down. I followed Mu Qingxiang's footsteps, and found that the smell came from the front, and when I got to the front, I realized that it was a magnificent temple.There are two statues of wolf-headed men in front of the temple, which effectively block the yellow sand, which also piled up into a hill in front of the stone statues.The wolf-headed figure is nearly three meters high, and under the moonlight at night, it looks as if it is alive.The night wind blew in an orderly manner, and the surface of the temple was covered with a layer of sand. Now it has been blown by the wind for a day, and we met with our group of invaders again.

"Oh my god, how can there be such a thing in the desert, it's so spectacular!" I murmured. Uncle Chen snorted: "This kind of thing is built only by oppressing the common people. Isn't it just worshiping the gods, so why make it so grand." "The belief at that time supported all the people in the ancient city, which is understandable." Mu Qingxiang had a unique point of view. "Scholar's prejudice!" Uncle Chen murmured. The distance between the temple and the stone pagoda is very close, and the momentum is not inferior to the towering stone pagoda.In ancient times, the functions of the temples of the Guishuang Empire were linked to the political power, which would indeed bring courage to the people of the ancient city.I pin my hope of the ninth spring in the ancient temple. Although it is unlikely, it is the only possibility.Even if the spring where the water is coming out is not here, there will be a lot of information about the Guishuang Empire left in the temple, and you can even know how the tea ancestor and this group of remnants were involved.

The temple was pitch black, and we didn't rush in. If there were wolves inside, wouldn't it be delivered to our door?I touched a larger stone on the sand and threw it in, only to hear a crisp clang and nothing else.After confirming the safety, we bravely walked in, wanting to see what else the temple could do in addition to offering sacrifices and praying for blessings. "Wow, this is..." After walking in, I stuttered, the sight in front of me has never been seen before, only read in the book. "What is it, did someone eat here just now? It smells so good!" Uncle Chen asked with wide-eyed eyes.

Mu Qingxiang moved lightly, walked over and turned her back to us and said, "This is embroidered tea." In the temple, there are eighteen thick pillars, carved with clouds and painted fog, just like heaven.In the depths of the temple is a hexagonal stone table, as big as a truck, covered with gold, which is still shining brightly despite the passage of time.It is even more surprising that five large gold-plated porcelain pots are placed on the golden table, which are as big as rice vats. The body of the pots is decorated with five-colored fruits, forming a pattern of flying dragons and phoenixes.The fragrant smell is overflowing from the five big gold pots, making people salivate and itching.

This kind of thing was called embroidered tea in ancient times, and it was a secret play in the palace, and it was rare for ordinary people to see it.To put it simply, embroidered tea is to work hard on the tea leaves and their packaging. Not only are the tea leaves high-quality goods in tribute tea, but even the packaging is affixed with precious things such as gold.Ouyang Xiu also wrote about this, "It is worth two taels of gold, but gold is available, but tea is not available", which means that embroidered tea cannot be bought with money.This is not an exaggeration, it is indeed only for the royal family to reward the ministers, and for fun and appreciation.

When offering sacrifices to heaven, the royal family took out colorful embroidered tea and put them in various shapes of dragons and phoenixes. The level of luxury is unmatched by folks.Just a small portion of embroidered tea can be brewed for several cups. It is probably too precious, and the ministers who are bestowed are not willing to drink it.I remember that there is a saying in the Canon: "Forbidden in the Daqing Festival, a large gold-plated object, with dragons and phoenixes clustered with five-color rhyme fruits, is called embroidered tea, but it is pleasing to the eye. There are also special workers, which are rare for outsiders."

The gold and silver used in the embroidered tea, and the five-color rhyme fruit are all mixed with the essence of tea fragrance, and the big golden pot is full of tea fragrance from inside to outside.If two thousand years ago, the fragrance of tea could travel thousands of miles, the royal family would usually keep it sealed.Now that the sea is changing, the taste of the golden pot of embroidered tea is no longer as good as before, but it can also be smelled in Bailaimi. These five embroidered tea pots are so amazing that we watched them for a long time, wishing we could swallow them all in one gulp.I looked at it carefully, and there were Qianlong characters on the body of the jar, as well as the honorific titles of other emperors of the Qing Dynasty. I thought that this batch of embroidered tea was brought into the desert via Yangchi Mountain.When the Forbidden City was in crisis, many people absconded with rare treasures from the palace. The five pots of embroidered tea were definitely not the only precious teas taken away by Yangchi Mountain.

The jar has been sealed, and we don't know what kind of tea is inside. Opening it now will only destroy it, so I immediately killed the idea of ​​opening the jar.Before the embroidered tea is placed on the golden table, there must be something else, and it may be lying in the dark of the temple at this time.I was thinking of looking elsewhere in the temple, maybe I could still see the things on the golden table, but when I turned around, I felt something was wrong.Mu Qingxiang hadn't turned around yet, she was still staring at Xiucha, and Uncle Chen was also crying.The five pots of embroidered tea were too clean, there was not even a speck of dust on their bodies, and the golden table was also spotless, as if no one had set foot there for a long time. When Uncle Chen heard my question, he said, "Could it be that there were people living in the ancient city all the time, or it wouldn't make any sense." Mu Qingxiang affirmed: "That's right, the embroidered tea has a long-lasting fragrance, but it can't clean itself. When I walked in just now, I felt that this place was too clean, and..." After waiting for a long time, Mu Qingxiang didn't continue to speak, and I asked in a hurry: "And what, you said it!" As the saying goes: close to ink is black.Mu Qingxiang has been with me for a long time, and she has learned to whet her appetite.I kept asking, but Mu Qingxiang changed the topic, not knowing what trick she was playing again.I hate people who don't say anything. At the foot of Qingwu Mountain in Chongqing, Mu Qingxiang has promised not to hide things, and now she's back to her old ways. It's really pissing me off.In fact, Mu Qingxiang had already told everything she knew, except for the worldwide disaster.I suppressed the fire and pondered for a while, maybe Mu Qingxiang was in trouble, so don't bother with her. Finding that there were other people, we shook the flashlight and looked in every corner, but we didn't see any living people or living things.There is nothing to eat in this ancient city, and the environment is harsh, so where can people live.It occurred to me that the remnants of the Guishuang Empire not only worshiped the Tea Patriarch, but also worshiped the moon god Jiafu. Maybe that damned moon god lived here. Nan Gongxiong claimed that he saw someone flying down, kidnapped his girlfriend, and attacked the exploration team, and said that person was Luna.In the past, we mistook the glowing lizard for a flying saucer in Mingling, so I asked Nan Gongxiong if he was wrong.But Nan Gongxiong insisted that he was not mistaken, and he swore on the reputation of the exploration team. Uncle Chen was surprised and worried. He said, "If there are others, I'll go back and see if Juan and the others are in danger." "Alright, I still want to take a look. If there is something going on over there, remember to ask my little cousin to blow the whistle!" I thought for a while, and then said, "Well... you tell them that Mu Qingxiang and I are still looking for water, Don't tell them the ninth spring was not found." Mu Qingxiang stayed with me, in fact, I really wanted to go back, Zhao Shuai was dying, and no matter what, I wanted to see him for the last time.But if we all go back and return empty-handed, our morale will inevitably be frustrated, which will bring us a devastating blow in a desperate situation.For this reason, I chose to stay in the temple for a while, maybe there will be an unexpected life-saving method in this temple. After Uncle Chen left with his shotgun in his arms, Mu Qingxiang and I walked to other places in the temple. Unfortunately, all the original things in the temple were either destroyed or taken away.The floor of this temple is all stone bricks, the same as in the stone pagoda, unlike other ancient city buildings, which are mostly crunchy adobe bricks.There is no dust in the temple, which is cleaner than the stone pagoda, unlike the thick dust in the pagoda hall. At this time, I thought of everyone's situation and felt guilty, so I asked, "Mu Qingxiang, if we can't get out and are trapped to death in the ancient city, will you blame me?" "You gave up too early, we must go out." Mu Qingxiang said calmly. "Can you? Not necessarily, you have comforted me again." I sighed. "I said 'certainly', there is no 'not necessarily', and I can definitely go out." Mu Qingxiang said firmly, "Now let's take a look at what is in the ancient temple." I frowned, looked at Mu Qingxiang, and suddenly became calm, and that familiar sense of security enveloped my whole body again.It's useless to struggle now, I took a deep breath, and followed Mu Qingxiang to the wall of the temple, because there were some vaguely hanging things on the wall.When I got closer, I was really shocked, for the first time in my life. It turned out that gold sheets several centimeters thick were hung on the four walls of the temple. Each gold sheet was two meters long and half a meter wide. The most important thing was that the original scriptures were inscribed on the gold sheets!The gold plate has been corroded, and it can be seen that it is very old, and the fonts on it are all ancient Han Dynasty characters.It was difficult for me to understand, but not impossible.I looked at the gold piece excitedly, and asked Mu Qingxiang to help me light it back and forth with the flashlight, and finally found the opening content of the Canon. The original scriptures in the ancient temple are not quite the same as the ones I have read. They are extremely jerky and take a long time to understand. There are many tea events after the Han and Jin Dynasties missing.My incomplete book has become a blank sheet of paper, but when the handwriting was still preserved, the content covered the tea affairs after the Tang Dynasty. Judging from this, the tea kings of all dynasties continued to add content.I studied it carefully, worried that the gold pieces would be incomplete, just like the slate paintings in the blue brick cave in Mingling. However, this time, I was finally lucky enough to read the complete Canon, and the gold piece actually included the torn-out content.After I read it, it was recorded that Sichuan tea masters used the method of destroying Foehn. Sure enough, they cracked it with rhythm, and finally the stone was also smashed into powder.My heart is about to jump out. This is the last content of my grandfather's thoughts day and night. After I arrived at Sichuan Tea People, there are still many records of tea events.When I finished reading all the golden scriptures, the whole person's soul was shelled out, and the consciousness had dissociated from the body. It turns out that there is actually a secret in the last part of the Canon! Mu Qingxiang was also reading the scriptures, and after I finished reading, I murmured to her: "How is this possible? Could it be that grandfather already knew what was recorded in the last part, so he gave me the scriptures?"