Chapter 193: 192 – Tea Tree

On arrival to the south regional airport, Li Yun detoured to Xiang Zhu Village. Hun Lun drove the rental car for three hours, looping up the winding road and into a small village. With the window down, Li Yun sensed the surrounding mountainous region, terraced by tea tree farmers. The car pulled near the entrance of the village, and the two gentlemen hiked toward the center of the village.

Walking into the village, Li Yun could see a few tourists heading in the same direction. The tea tree sat on top of a hill, reinforced with stone walls.

Li Yun climbed up the short stone stairs, and saw an elderly Miao man picking some leaves from the tree. The tree was highly prized by the villagers, and they often made tea to serve the tourists.

According to his study, the Tea Tree was approximately over 2,000 years old, and maybe more than 3,000. He wasn’t interested in the actual tree, but the branches of the tree itself. If he used the correct grafting method, he would be able to reproduce it.

Li Yun requested to try one leaf and the elder nodded and gave Li Yun a sample. He bit into the small leaf. There were many chemical components that Li Yun had already come across, but the combination was really interesting.

Another difference was that the beneficial components were more pronounced. Using Qivi, he could see a strong glow emitting from the leaf. 

“Elder, may I cut off two branches?” Li Yun asked.

The elder was from a local ethnic group, and although he didn’t completely understand the question, he was aware tha Li Yun wanted to take a bigger part of the tree. He was hesitant until Li Yun took a thick packet of red envelope 5k. 

With the elder's permission, Li Yun cut off a branch. Although he did not know the exact amount of qi, one of the slots in his mission was fulfilled. He then cut off the second branch, however, the mission count remained the same.

“Of course, it’s not that simple,” Li Yun thought. It looked like he needed to focus on collecting different varieties or species of trees. 

Li Yun bought some local trinkets and specialties before they took off to the excursion starting location. With the mission objective confirmed, he headed to his next destination, the Yunan Rainforest.

“Hunlun, send these branches back to the lab,” Li Yun instructed as he gave Hunlun a list of trees and a set of instructions. “Also, send out people to the forest and have them collect two branches from these trees.”

Hunlun looked at the list Li Yun gave him and wondered if these were for the greenhouse. There were a bunch of different trees around the Country famous for being older than 1,000 years old. 

“Boss, are you sure you don’t need me to go with you to the rainforest?” asked Hunlun.

Li Yun shook his head. “There are a lot of people going, so you don’t need to worry.”

The team of scientists exploring the depths of the rainforest included the world renown botanist and environmental engineer, Professor Taoren. There were nine scientists, two doctors, two cameramen, two local tour guides, and three strong laborers who were in charge of moving equipment. In total, there were nineteen people.

Hunlun dropped Li Yun off at the outhouse located near the edge of the forest where everyone was preparing to trek the remaining area by foot. Li Yun and Dr. Dong were the two doctors in charge of monitoring the health of the scientists during the excursion. It was originally only Dr. Dong, but Li Yun managed to squeeze in an extra spot with his connection with Academician Tan.

It really made Dr. Dong curious about the last minute changes in the personnel list. Dr. Dong was a pathologist, and he was often hired to handle cases dealing with handling poisonous plants or toxic insects.

“Academician Tan thought that it would be dangerous for Professor Taoren to be taking a five day trek into the forest, so I suggested that I come along,” Li Yun explained to Dr. Dong, sensing his curiosity, and also making small chats. “I work as a trauma surgeon.”

“Ah! You’re a trauma surgeon, that makes sense,” replied Dr. Dong. “You are probably better equipped to handle an emergency situation.”

Dr. Dong wasn’t sure of Li Yun’s age, but a trauma surgeon recommended by Academician Tan must be in his late thirties.

“Since we’re out here, you can just call me Brother Sun,” Dong Sun suggested.

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Li Yun nodded. Dong Sun looked like he had a youthful spirit. Not many doctors were willing to travel out in the middle of nowhere to aid a group of scientists. They must have a sense of adventure.

As doctors, Li Yun and Dong Sun checked everyone's health status. Even before the start of the excursions, everyone had taken vaccinations against Hepatitis A, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever.

Once everyone was checked in, the team all met up together as a group to discuss safety protocols. Most everyone was familiar with each other as it wasn’t their first excursion. Only Li Yun was new.

Professor Taoren narrated their journey into the rainforest in front of the camera. It was partially scripted, but he was also exchanging ideas with the other scientists. They were not expecting to see much until further into the rainforest.

Li Yun stood behind the cameraman and the other scientists, and filmed the side of the forest where no one was standing. To the live broadcasting audience, all they heard was the sound of the rainforest and the muffled sound of Professor Taoren. 

The rainforest wasn’t quiet, but a beautiful calming sound of the cicadas playing background music, the flapping of the birds, and the chirping of their younglings. The 500 viewers watched with awe by the beautiful rainforest scenery.

Dr.SS: Wow! Dr. Li do go outside!

Huasu: This is so gorgeous, I will definitely need to add this on my bucket list.

Xihi: Better visit soon old man, you don’t have much life to complete everything in that bucket.

Huasu: Shut up! I’m still 84 years young!

Miu: Did the doc say why he’s out there?

Ansha: To find herbs and plants to grow back in his greenhouse.

Dr.YY: That reminds me, he never showed us his personal greenhouse! How unfair, I bet he has lots of medicinal herbs.

Ms.Song: Doc, show us your face once in a while.

Li Yun's eyebrow raised at Rouxi's message across the screen. He was sure she wasn’t supposed to be watching as it was her morning history class. He should call her up later to scold her, separately.

He did not expect the team to bring along a portable antenna for connecting to the satellite internet. It allowed them access even in the most remote location. As the expedition was funded by the government, a lot of expenses were going to ordering equipment. 

The camera view revealed many fern varieties that covered the dense rainforest floor, slowly the view was getting darker and foggier as the day progressed. Li Yun turned off the camera as the route was getting trickier to navigate with just one hand.

“Dr. Li, were you just filming a live broadcast!?” Cried out Professor Taoren. He had stopped filming due to the thick fog.

Li Yun nodded.

Professor Taoren began to show off his account. Not only was he talkative, he was quite enthusiastic about many things, including livestreaming. He was a bit disappointed when Li Yun told him he only had 500 viewers. He liked nothing more than publicity, but considering his own account had 100 viewers, it was actually impressive.

“Professor, we are here!” Cried out one of the scientists.

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