The young man dared not retort, repeatedly agreeing.
Lin Jize? I remembered. No wonder he looked so familiar. He was the leader of Jiangnan Province, equivalent to Liu Yuxi’s governorship. Jinling fell under the jurisdiction of Jiangnan Province. I’d always seen him on TV before. I think I even saw him in person at a project groundbreaking ceremony, but I was just one of the onlookers then, and quite far away. I only remembered his build, which was different from other leaders. Others were portly, but he stood tall and straight, lean but not weak, possessing an air of heroism.
I hadn’t expected the Lin sisters to have such a powerful background.
"Grandpa," I said, helping Elder Lin sit down. I then took three steps back and bowed, "I have come to pay my respects, having heard much of you. This is my first time meeting you, and I wish you boundless fortune and longevity like the cypress."
Longevity like the cypress, not longevity like a hundred years. He was already over eighty, so wishing him a hundred years might sound like a curse. Longevity like the cypress meant being as long-lived as a cypress tree, which can live for five hundred to eight hundred years. While thousand-year-old cypresses were rare, they weren’t unheard of. Since he was human, this wish was more than sufficient.
Elder Lin was quite pleased with my words. He smiled and nodded, "Young Wu, please sit. Chi, go pour Young Wu some tea."
"I wouldn't dare trouble you, Director Lin. Water will suffice," I said, directly picking up a bottle of mineral water from the table. It was a green glass bottle with English writing on it. Was it imported contraband?
After opening it and taking a sip, I wasn't sure if it was psychological, but it tasted slightly better than Nongfu Spring.
There was no smell of smoke in the room. I guessed their family members didn't smoke, so I had to suppress my craving. Unexpectedly, the elder took out a pack of cigarettes with a plain white wrapper and no pattern from his desk drawer and handed it to Lin Jize. Lin Jize tore open the packaging, took out a cigarette, and offered it to me.
"This... perhaps not. The room is filled with the scent of sandalwood. Lighting this would pollute the air," I said.
"Try it. It's also a good thing, but this old man doesn't have the fortune to enjoy it," the elder said with a smile.
Could it be better than Huazi? I refused to believe it. I pulled out my lighter, lit it myself, and took a deep drag.
Wow, it was indeed different. While it contained tobacco leaves that provided nicotine for addiction relief, there were other things in it. This cigarette was shorter and lacked a filter, but it wasn't "scratchy" to smoke. I looked at the mouthpiece and found that besides tobacco leaves, there were also "red threads and green leaves." I could guess the green was mint leaves, as the flavor was obvious. I wasn't sure what the red was. Could it be dried chili peppers?
Lin Jize, noticing my confusion, politely explained, "It's saffron. These cigarettes are produced in Nu Jiang, Yunnan. The local Tibetans combine Yunnan tobacco, Xishuangbanna mint leaves, and Tibetan saffron. They then soak them in essence of Cordyceps sinensis and snow ginseng before drying them to create this unique flavor. Due to the high cost, the price of a pack exceeds three hundred yuan, so they cannot be sold externally and are only for internal use."
I knew about this. Years ago, policies were introduced to combat exorbitant cigarette prices, stipulating that a pack of twenty cigarettes could not be sold for more than 100 yuan.
I took another puff. This time, I could taste all the raw ingredients Lin Jize had mentioned. It was indeed refreshing. I felt that the medicinal power of those precious herbs completely counteracted the impact of tar from the tobacco, and I even had the illusion of my lungs being soothed. It was truly a good product.
"What do you think, Young Wu?" Elder Lin asked.
"Not bad," I said, then immediately corrected myself, "Very good."
The elder smiled slightly and then looked at Lin Jize. Lin Jize immediately opened a cabinet beside him and took out a white cardboard box, placing it on the table.
"This was a gift from the Yunnan governor to our elder," Lin Jize said. "He probably doesn't know that the elder quit smoking years ago, and no one else in our family smokes, so he's giving it to Young Wu."
I roughly calculated, a box contained fifty cartons, and each carton cost three thousand yuan, totaling 150,000 yuan. It was indeed a generous gift.