Chapter 872: The astronomical price of the tea leaves!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Overnight, almost everyone knew of the name Da Hong Pao!
However, there were naturally controversies as some netizens did not acknowledge it.
"Is it that nice?"
"They must have exaggerated it!"
"That's right, why is the news all about Da Hong Pao?"
"No matter how good it is, would it be better than Longjing?"[1.]
"I think those people are all shills hired by Zhang Ye! What tribute? Bullshit!"
"I heard that the most expensive Xihu Longjing from last year's harvest cost around 60 to 70,000 yuan per kilogram. No matter how expensive Da Hong Pao is, how can it be more expensive than Longjing? That is the best among all the famous teas!"
"Right, they really know how to boast!"
"Comparing oolong Tea with green tea, it's still worse by a ton!"
"Yes, green tea is the king among all the teas!"
In the end, it didn't take long before someone came forward to smack faces!
On Weibo, a very famous tea merchant from the Zhejiang area posted: "I am willing to offer 100,000 yuan for 50 grams of Da Hong Pao tea leaves!"
With that, the netizens were all stunned!
"What?"
"100,000 yuan?"
"To buy 50 grams?"
"Fuck, how can that be?"
"How can it be so expensive? It's impossible!"
But soon after, a CEO of a different tea enterprise made an offer and attached a contact number along with it. "This is my office number. Whoever has Da Hong Pao tea leaves can contact my secretary. I can offer 100,000 yuan for 30 grams. And there's still room for negotiation. That's all."
"What the hell!"
"Someone made an offer again?"
"It's even more expensive this time!"
"100,000 yuan for 30 grams? That's crazy!"
Following that, requests to purchase the tea leaves came one after another!
A Beijing real estate CEO: "I don't have any hobbies other than drinking tea. I would also like to ask if anyone has Da Hong Pao tea leaves. I can give a good offer and don't need much, just 10 to 20 grams will be sufficient. If you have it or if you know someone who has Da Hong Pao tea leaves, please contact me or make the introduction so that I can contact the other party directly."
A toy merchant: "I offer 60,000 yuan for 10 grams!"
A famous affluent second generation posted online: "I will offer 500,000 yuan for 100 grams!"
"600,000 yuan!"
"650,000 yuan!"
A bidding war broke out and kept going.
Finally, that affluent second generation got annoyed and flatly made an offer. "I will also offer 650,000 yuan, but I only need 20 grams! Who has it? Contact me immediately!"
This was the highest offer so far today!
The netizens were dumbfounded by what they saw!
"Is this what it's like in the world of the rich?"
"Fuck! Spending over 600,000 yuan just to buy some tea leaves? And it's only for 20 grams?"
"Impressive!"
"Fuck that, who was just saying that Da Hong Pao wouldn't be worth that much? Who was saying that no matter how expensive it was, it wouldn't compare to the best Xihu Longjing? No matter how expensive Longjing is, it is still sold by the catty. But what about Da Hong Pao? It is fucking sold by the gram! This is a totally different level of pricing altogether! The price difference is too great!"
"Whoever has a catty or two of Da Hong Pao would totally strike it rich, right?"
"But no one has come forward yet, so it doesn't seem like anyone has it."
"Yeah, it's so precious that you can't buy them even if you do have the money!"
"Where is all the Da Hong Pao?"
"If anyone has those tea leaves, it would be Zhang Ye!"
"Teacher Zhang Ye doesn't need money, so I guess he wouldn't consider selling them."
"That's why the price has been speculated to such an extreme!"
"Zhang Ye is really sharp and has good vision! I'm still wondering how he was able to discover this long-lost tribute from so many years ago."
"I'm still unsure if this is fake news or not!"
...
The next day.
At Zhang Ye's parents' house.
Early in the morning, there was someone knocking at the door. Some people had come to visit.
His mother went to open the door and saw eight or nine people standing outside. "Uh? Who are you?"
One of them said, "Hello, Big Sis. Is Professor Zhang at home?"
"Little Ye is still sleeping at the moment." His mother sized them up curiously. "Why are you looking for him?"
That person, a middle-aged man, smiled and said, "I have something to discuss. I'm the Head of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Tea Research Institute. My surname is He." Then he introduced the person next to him, "This is the Vice President of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences." As for the other staff who had come along with them, he did not introduce them.
People from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences?
His mother was slightly taken aback as she had definitely heard of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences before. "Please come in quickly. Our house is a bit messy and has not been tidied up yet, so please don't mind."
Someone else from the group said, "Big Sis, we're from the Fujian Provincial Government Administration Department."
Following, yet another person said, "Hello, we are from the Wuyi Mountains scenic area management committee, excuse us for dropping by uninvited."
Provincial government?
Wuyi Mountains scenic area management committee?
So they were three groups of people and not just one.
His mother exclaimed, "Uh, please come in! I will go and wake Little Ye up."
Ten minutes later.
Zhang Ye came out from the bedroom. Actually, Zhang Ye had already expected them to visit because the dean of Peking University's Modern Agriculture Department had called yesterday evening to inform Zhang Ye that the Academy of Agricultural Sciences had contacted him and were hoping to get in touch with Zhang Ye to discuss some matters regarding the Da Hong Pao parent trees. He did not reject them, but neither did he expect that they would come over so quickly the next morning. As for the other two groups of people, they were probably just tagging along.
Everyone sat down as his mother boiled some water to make tea.
Zhang Ye blinked and said, "Mom, brew some Da Hong Pao for the guests."
"…OK." His mother could feel the pinch as she knew that the Da Hong Pao had already been speculated to an astronomical price on the Internet!
When those people heard that, they were unable to conceal their excitement any longer, eager to try out the tea.
After steeping and brewing, the tea was served.
The vice president of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Tea Research Institute couldn't wait any longer and stood up to say, "Big Sis, I'll do it instead."
His mother said, "Don't trouble yourself. Please take a seat, everyone."
The several of them immediately turned serious as they formally took a deep breath and raised their teacups to taste the tea.
"Great tea!"
"This is indeed a top-of-the-line tea!"
This…taste spreads out the moment it enters the mouth!"
"Good! Good! Very good!"
In the house, sounds of surprised praise immediately rang out!
The vice president of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences asked, "Professor Zhang, how did you discover the existence of Da Hong Pao?" To those from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhang Ye was a mathematician and was thus regarded as a person of science. They saw him as their peer, so when they addressed him, they naturally used Zhang Ye's title obtained from Peking University's Math Department.
With the Qing dynasty document that the Fujian University professor found, Zhang Ye had better support as he smiled and said, "I read a lot and have seen more things than most people."
The Head of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Tea Research Institute nodded vigorously. "Teacher Zhang is no doubt someone who researches Chinese literature. You're really experienced and knowledgeable."
Zhang Ye said, "You're flattering me. It's just a coincidence."
The vice president took another sip before looking at Zhang Ye and saying, "Professor Zhang, do you know why we're here today?"
"Surely you are not here to drink tea only." Zhang Ye shook his head, not really knowing why.
The vice president laughed and stated, "Then I'll get straight to the point. The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences paid a visit to the Wuyi Mountains scenic area to investigate. We've already done the relevant research and that data has been sent back as well. The team that went there was also led by another vice president, so you can say that the academy is taking this very seriously."
Zhang Ye just listened to him quietly.
The vice president said, "After we conducted the fieldwork and surveyed the area, as well as doing a sample analysis on the few parent trees there, we were able to determine that those were indeed the Da Hong Pao trees described in historical documents that had disappeared for over a hundred years. Therefore, the Academy of Agricultural Sciences held an emergency meeting and established a research project. We would like to conduct an in-depth study on the parent trees on the premise that we would not affect its growth and development. On top of that, we would also try grafting and cultivating the tea tree so that we may propagate the planting of it. Da Hong Pao is too precious. It's not only a testimony of history, it's also the entire country and nation's cultural heritage. So of course we hope for it continue into the future. Because the ownership of these parent trees lies with you, we definitely want to seek your approval first. Besides, we want to assure you that we won't cause any damage to the parent trees in the conduct of this research. In fact, we will use our experience of agricultural science to ensure that the Da Hong Pao parent trees will flourish and grow even healthier, preventing pest damage, natural disasters, as well as other uncontrollable factors from affecting it."
The head of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Tea Research Institute added, "The Academy of Agricultural Sciences values those parent trees more than you, so you can definitely rest assured if you leave them to us to protect."
Zhang Ye asked, "Then what do I need to do?"
The vice president said, "You don't have to do anything, just giving us the authorization will be enough."
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "OK, no problem."
The people from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences were stunned as they did not expect Zhang Ye to agree so readily.
"I've never refused to do my bit for the country and our citizens when it matters, such as passing down our cultural heritage. "Zhang Ye smiled and said, "You guys are right. The Da Hong Pao parent trees are the nation's assets and culture, they do not belong only to me." After he said that, he quickly added, "Uh, though the trees belong to the nation, the tea leaves are mine."
Everyone was amused.
The vice president smiled and said, "The annual harvests of those parent trees are definitely yours, but for our research work, I would like to bring some tea leaves back later. 50, no, 20 grams should be enough."
Zhang Ye agreed, "Sure."
When the discussion with the Academy of Agricultural Sciences was done, it was time to speak with those from the Fujian Provincial Government Administration Department.
That person from the Administration Department said, "Teacher Zhang, it's like this. We have also held an emergency meeting and decided to set up a new scenic spot at the Wuyi Mountains scenic area which will be called the Da Hong Pao scenic area. It will be opened to tourists to help spread our tea culture."
Zhang Ye heartily consented, "Sure, just do as you all deem fit."
With the discussions completed in the smoothest of ways, everyone was happy with the outcome.
Actually, all of the issues that they'd discussed today were already in place back in Zhang Ye's previous world. For example, in his previous world, there was also a Da Hong Pao scenic area in the Wuyi Mountains. Then, there was also the mass cultivation of Da Hong Pao seeds and cuttings that took place back there, though the quality of such mass cultivated Da Hong Pao tea trees were less uniform and would never be as good as the harvests from the parent trees.
...
On the same day.
The country's decision to do research on and cultivate Da Hong Pao was even reported on News Simulcast!
This was also another way that Da Hong Pao had its status confirmed, even more so as it was an official affirmation from the country!
"So it wasn't fake news at all!"
"Da Hong Pao is real and it exists!"
"Even the country has involved itself in the research? They have placed such a great importance on the tea?"
"Holy shit, it's really a famous tea from the ancient days!"
"A gram costs over 10,000 yuan? Well isn't that really expensive!"
At this point, no one had any more doubt about the authenticity of Da Hong Pao!
TL Note:
[1. Longjing tea - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longjing_tea]
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Legge