PCJ – Chapter 338 Quality Has Declined

Zijiang City Tea Factory.

A Dongfeng truck delivered a load of tea to the Zijiang City Tea Factory, coming from the neighboring Shiqi County in Wuxi City. Fei Zhenglu took it very seriously and personally welcomed the tea farmers who brought the tea.

“Uncle, it’s been a long journey. How’s this year’s tea?” Fei Zhenglu asked with concern.

“It’s nothing, nothing. This year’s tea is a bumper harvest, and thankfully, you’ve put in a lot of effort for the village. Otherwise, the market for this tea would be a huge headache,” Fei Xingyou expressed his deep gratitude to his cousin.

“Uncle, family doesn’t talk about family matters; this is what I can do. Besides, the village has solved a big problem for our factory. As long as the tea quality is good, the tea factory will be eager for it,” Fei Zhenglu said.

“Rest assured, I’ve told the villagers to be strict during tea picking. Any tea that doesn’t meet the requirements won’t be accepted. When each family brought their tea, I inspected it carefully. There’s no way I’ll hold you back. You’ve solved the tea market for the village, which is like saving everyone in the village, old and young. The villagers wouldn’t do something ungrateful like that,” Fei Xingyou replied.

After some casual conversation, Fei Zhenglu arranged for Fei Xingyou to stay at the tea factory’s guesthouse.

It was currently tea-picking season, and the tea factory needed to produce quickly to process the incoming tea.

Zijiang City Tea Factory is a formal large factory with its own quality inspection and dedicated tea tasters. Every batch of tea must be tasted by a tea master before leaving the factory.

Tea master Shen Jinmao had just received the first batch of new tea for the year. This batch is commonly known as pre-Ming tea, which is harvested before the Qingming Festival. It is less affected by pests, has tender buds and leaves, a vibrant color, a subtle fragrance, a rich taste, and an elegant appearance, making it a superior tea. Moreover, since the temperature is generally lower before Qingming, the yield is limited and the growth rate is slow, so the amount that meets the picking standards is very small. Hence, there’s a saying, “Pre-Ming tea is as precious as gold.” This batch of tea is extremely important, especially as it is soon to be evaluated at the International Agricultural Expo.

A highly skilled tea master is not easy to find; not only is he an expert in tea, but his taste, smell, and vision are also incredibly sensitive, allowing him to discern subtle differences in tea color, fragrance, and taste. Shen Jinmao has been doing this for decades, and his understanding of tea has reached a master craftsman level.

However, after just tasting a sip of tea today, Shen Jinmao frowned, “Hmm? Something’s wrong! The taste is very different from last year’s! This is still pre-Ming tea, and it’s not even as good as last year’s autumn tea!”

Shen Jinmao also felt puzzled; there seemed to be no issue with this year’s tea processing. The color of the tea didn’t appear to have any significant flaws either.

“Quick! Call Master Zhou over,” Shen Jinmao said, his brow furrowed, suddenly addressing his apprentice Wang Musheng nearby.

Wang Musheng quickly ran out, and not long after, he returned with a middle-aged man. This person was Zhou Xinghai, the tea-making master and production workshop director at Zijiang City Tea Factory.

“Master Shen, is there a problem with the tea?” Zhou Xinghai asked, looking somewhat anxious.

“Come, taste this,” Shen Jinmao said as he prepared a cup of tea.

Zhou Xinghai took a sip and also frowned. He looked at the color of the tea water, “It’s significantly worse than last year’s tea. But it’s about the same as our previous teas.”

“Could it be a machine issue?” Shen Jinmao asked.

“This is only the first batch of tea. All the machines used are the same as last year’s, operated by our experienced staff. With such good tea, who would dare to test new machines? The process is exactly the same as last year. Logically, there shouldn’t be such a significant difference,” Zhou Xinghai shook his head, equally puzzled.

“How’s the quality of this year’s tea?” Shen Jinmao asked.

“It seems to be okay. Before the tea came in, we checked it carefully, and the quality is even slightly better than last year’s. I heard this year’s tea is supposed to be a bit cheaper,” Zhou Xinghai replied.

“A little cheaper? Right, I heard that last year, Lao Zhao purchased a large quantity of tea at a high price from Xintian County. This year, it was returned by someone with the surname Fei,” Shen Jinmao closed his eyes as if muttering to himself, then suddenly opened them wide, “Lao Zhou, why do you think Lao Zhao bought the tea at a high price from Xintian County? The factory staff said he received kickbacks. I don’t believe that. By the way, the bamboo tube black tea also comes from Xintian County, right?”

Zhou Xinghai nodded, “Yes, I heard Lao Zhao was willing to pay a high price for tea from Xintian County just to have the bamboo tube black tea branded with our factory’s label. But now that our tea has won a national gold medal, paying such a high price doesn’t seem worth it.”

“Do you think Lao Zhao would do something so disadvantageous?” Shen Jinmao took out last year’s and the year before’s tea, brewed them separately, and beckoned Zhou Xinghai over to take a look.

“It’s not that this year’s tea was made poorly; this year’s tea is comparable to the year before. The quality is decent. But compared to last year’s tea, it falls short by a lot. I remember last year our tea suddenly tasted much better. Wasn’t that when Director Zhao brought back tea from Xintian County?” Shen Jinmao asked.

Zhou Xinghai glanced at the dates on last year’s products and nodded, “Yes, Director Zhao went to the province for evaluation and coincidentally met people from Xintian County. They brought bamboo tube black tea for evaluation. That was when Director Zhao started buying tea from Xintian County at high prices.”

“Oh no! As soon as the Fei arrived, he tore up the agreement with Xintian County and declared he wouldn’t buy tea from there anymore,” Shen Jinmao slumped into a chair.

“I heard Xintian County built a tea factory this year and even invited a few retired masters from our factory to guide their production. Now, even if we are willing to pay a high price, others might not want to sell to us,” Zhou Xinghai said.

“Forget it; this isn’t something we can handle. Let’s report to the factory,” Shen Jinmao said.

In the office of the Zijiang City Tea Factory manager, Fei Zhenglu, who received the news, exploded with anger: “The tea quality has declined? Investigate! No matter who is involved, we must get to the bottom of it! Whether it’s a tea issue or a processing problem, we need to find out what went wrong! Notify everyone; the party committee will hold an immediate meeting!”

Soon, in the conference room of the Zijiang City Tea Factory, all the factory leaders gathered, except for a few who were on business trips. Each one looked serious; it was clear that something major had happened!

“Master Shen, please explain the situation in detail,” Fei Zhenglu said.

“This year’s tea quality has dropped a level compared to last year. It might be more than just one level,” Shen Jinmao stated.

“Do you know what caused this?” Fei Zhenglu pressed down his anger.

Shen Jinmao glanced at Fei Zhenglu and sighed, “I discussed this with Master Zhou. The preliminary conclusion is that the problem is not with the processing workshop but rather with the tea itself.”

“With the tea?” Fei Zhenglu looked at Shen Jinmao, sensing something strange in his expression when he sighed earlier.

“It’s indeed a tea problem,” Zhou Xinghai confirmed.

“Master Zhou, how can you be so sure it’s an issue with the tea?” Fei Zhenglu began to suspect that Zhou Xinghai was shirking responsibility.

“Master Shen and I just compared this year’s tea with last year’s and the year before. We found that while this year’s tea quality is lower than last year’s, it is basically on par with the year before, or even slightly better. But compared to last year’s tea, the quality is at least one level lower. In fact, this year’s pre-Ming tea isn’t even as good as last year’s autumn tea,” Zhou Xinghai explained.

“How can that be?” Fei Zhenglu was no novice. How could pre-Ming tea be inferior to autumn tea?

“It’s true,” Shen Jinmao nodded, “We analyzed the reasons and found that when our tea was submitted for provincial evaluation last year, we weren’t very confident. However, in the second half of the year, we successfully won the National Agricultural Expo Gold Medal. The quality of last year’s tea saw a significant improvement in the second half.”

“What caused this?” Fei Zhenglu sensed that things were not looking good; it seemed he had made a mistake. These two old fellows were deliberately withholding information and leading him step by step into a pitfall.

“It’s the tea. Last year, another tea variety from our city won the National Agricultural Expo Gold Medal. It’s somewhat related to us, the bamboo tube black tea, which once bore our label. I heard Director Zhao agreed to pay a high price to purchase tea from Xintian County just so the bamboo tube black tea could carry our label. Now there are indications that the reason our factory’s tea quality improved by one level is because of that batch of tea. The reason Director Zhao was willing to buy tea from Xintian County at such high prices was precisely because of the quality of the tea from Xintian County,” Shen Jinmao suddenly revealed the mystery.

Fei Zhenglu felt as if his face had been slapped hard. The first thing he did upon taking office was tear up the agreement with Xintian County. What he had once been proud of now appeared to be his biggest mistake in life. If this directly led to massive losses for the tea factory, his authority in the factory would plummet to the lowest point.

In fact, the reason Zhao Jinyuan was mysteriously transferred from the tea factory was that someone reported him for using his power for personal gain, purchasing tea from a certain county at prices exceeding the market rate, which caused losses to the tea factory. Additionally, regarding the issue of bamboo tube black tea bearing the factory’s label, some believed Zhao Jinyuan received benefits. They felt that having bamboo tube black tea carry the factory’s label severely harmed the factory’s interests. The factory not only failed to benefit from the bamboo tube black tea but also had to bear inexplicable costs. If it weren’t for Zhao Jinyuan’s outstanding performance last year, he would have likely been dealt with instead of quietly transferred.

The conference room fell silent; Fei Zhenglu’s face turned ashen as he stared at Shen Jinmao. Shen Jinmao had not informed him about this beforehand, choosing instead to lead him step by step to the cliff during the meeting, ultimately cornering him. Yet, he had no way to retaliate against Shen Jinmao.

“Meeting adjourned!” Fei Zhenglu finished speaking and stood up angrily, storming out of the conference room.