The legend of Longjing tea

The extraordinary quality of Longjing tea has always been praised by tea people. Gao Lian of the Ming Dynasty said: "The spring of the West Lake is the most tiger-run, the most of the two mountains, and the tea of the two mountains, and the dragon well is the best." "Longjing Tea Tiger Running Spring is famous in Hangzhou." It's never been a good tea." Su Dongpo, a tea man in the Song Dynasty, also left a famous sentence for Longjing tea. When Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River, he drank Longjing in the Hugong Temple under Shifeng Mountain, and was full of praise after drinking, so the eighteen tea trees in front of the temple were sealed as "imperial tea", which is still full of vitality. Longjing is the name of the spring, called Longhong in ancient times, located on the left side of the old Longjing Temple more than 1,700 years ago. Legend has it that when digging a well during the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, a big stone was dug out from the bottom of the well, which was shaped like a swimming dragon, so it was called Longjing.
For thousands of years, there have been many legends and stories about Longjing tea, which makes Longjing tea more mysterious.
Once upon a time, Longjing was a small and desolate village. In the mountain col, there are more than a dozen families scattered around. There is a dilapidated thatched hut at the edge of the village, and an old lady lives in it. The old aunt has no children or daughters, she is lonely, she is old, she can't go up the mountain or the ground, so she can only take care of the eighteen old tea trees at the back of the house.
The old aunt is a good person, although she has a hard life, she always leaves some tea leaves every year, boils a pot of tea every day, and puts two benches under the pergola at the door to quench the thirst of passers-by who go up and down the mountain when they rest.
One year on Chinese New Year's Eve, it snowed heavily, and the neighbors more or less made some New Year goods to prepare for the New Year. The old aunt's family is really poor, and the rice jar is almost empty, except for a few handfuls of old tea women left in the urn, there is nothing else. But she still followed the old rules, got up early in the morning, grabbed the tea leaves and put them in the pot, made a fire, and sat in front of the stove to boil tea. Suddenly, there was a "squeak", and the door of the hut was pushed open, and an old man entered, covered with snowflakes. The old aunt hurriedly stood up and greeted: "Uncle, there is a lot of snow on this mountain, come into the house and sit." ”
The old man dusted off the snowflakes on his body, walked into the house, and talked to the old aunt while baking the fire in the stove hole: "Auntie, what are you burning in the pot?" ”
"Tea in the pot!"
"Today's Chinese New Year's Eve, tomorrow is the New Year, everyone is busy with the three animal blessings, how do you cook tea at home?"
The old aunt sighed and said, "Alas, my lonely old woman is poor, and she can't afford to offer three animal blessings to the gods, so I have to make a pot of tea every day for passers-by." “
The old man laughed and said, "Not poor, not poor, you still have a treasure at the door." ”
The old aunt was very strange when she heard this, and stretched out her head to look outside, except for the two old benches under the grille, there was a broken stone mortar in the corner, and a pile of old garbage in the broken stone, everything was still the same, where did the baby come from?
"Yo, how can I take your treasure for nothing, if you are willing to do it, sell it to me, and I will call someone to carry it." After the old man finished speaking, he braved the heavy snow and left. The old aunt looked at the broken stone mortar and thought, the stone mortar is so dirty, how can people move it! He put the old garbage in it in a dustpan and buried it at the root of the eighteen flower tea trees behind the house. I went to Longjing again to bring a bucket of clean water, brushed the broken stone mortar clean, and the washed sewage was also splashed on the roots of the old tea tree. She had just cleared the mortar, when the old man came with someone. When he reached the door, he cried out, "Oh, baby? Oops, what about baby? ”
The old lady became more and more confused, pointed to the broken stone mortar and said, "This—isn't this a good place?" ”
"Well, where did you get the contents in?"
"I poured it on the roots of the camellia tree in the back of the house."
The old man walked around to the back of the house, and when he saw that this was the case, he couldn't help but pause and said: "It's a pity, it's a pity, the treasure of this broken stone mortar is on that pile of old garbage, since you buried it under the roots of the tea tree, let's complete these eighteen old tea trees." When he had finished speaking, he led the men away.
After Chinese New Year's Eve, the New Year passed, and soon spring arrived. This year, the eighteen old tea trees behind my mother's house actually gave birth to patches of green buds densely, and the tea leaves picked were fine, tender and fragrant.
When the neighbors saw that the old aunt's tea trees were growing so well, they cut down the bamboo trees, harvested the grains, and used the seeds of the eighteen tea trees to plant tea trees on the hills near and far. Year by year, more and more, more and more prosperous. Later, tea trees were planted all over the mountains and fields in Longjing.
Because the tea leaves produced in this area are fine, tender and fragrant, and the taste is particularly beautiful when brewed in tea, "Longjing tea" is famous in various places.
Until now, tea farmers say that the eighteen dwarf tea trees behind the old aunt's house are the ancestors of "Longjing tea".