SLH | Chapter 41

Starting to Brew Wine

“Sister Xiulian, is your family still collecting grain?”

Early this morning, another woman came to the door. Although she wasn’t very close to the Liu family, she had heard they were collecting grain. Even those who usually didn’t speak much were now coming with smiles.

“Yes, we’re still collecting.”

Ruan Xiulian was in the kitchen making pancakes. Hearing this, she casually wiped her hands on her apron, glanced at the grain in the woman’s bag, and felt it. It was fresh grain, so she went to the storage room to get the scale.

“Thirty-six jin and nine liang, let’s round it to thirty-seven jin. Please wait a moment while I go inside to get the money.”

“Alright.”

As Ruan Xiulian went inside, the woman’s eyes began to wander around.

What exactly does the Liu family want to do with all this grain? They’ve even brought several large vats from town, storing water and grain. Are they preparing for a drought?

But the weather doesn’t seem unusual at all.

Looking at the courtyard filled with things, the woman couldn’t help but wonder.

A moment later, Ruan Xiulian came back with the money, and the woman’s smile became even brighter as she took it.

“How much more grain does your family need? My family’s fields did well this year, and after paying the autumn tax, there’s still quite a bit left. Do you want it?”

“As long as it’s fresh grain, we’ll take it.”

“My family is honest, you can rest assured.”

The woman left the courtyard happily with the copper coins, just as Ruan Xiulian finished moving the grain inside. She saw her second son’s husband entering the gate.

“You’re back just in time. The pancakes just came out of the pan, still hot.”

Ruan Xiulian invited the two to wash their hands and eat. She then went to the east room to wake up the still-sleeping Xia Ge’er.

Tang Chunxing went back to her family today, and Xia Ge’er was still asleep when she left.

“Grandma, where’s Mom?” The little guy raised his arms, sleepily asking.

While helping her obedient grandson get dressed, Ruan Xiulian replied, “Your grandma had a headache, so your mom went to visit her before dawn.”

The little guy frowned, worried, “Is Grandma okay?”

“She’s fine, she’s already much better. Your mom just went to check on her because she was worried.” Ruan Xiulian picked him up from the bed, patting his head, “Go find your little uncle to help you with your hair.”

“Okay.”

“Little Uncle!”

Song Tingzhu came out of the kitchen with bowls and chopsticks, just in time to see Xia Ge’er running towards him with a hair tie in hand.

“Little Uncle, Little Uncle, I want bunny ears today~”

Song Tingzhu was slightly taken aback, “Bunny ears?”

Xia Ge’er waved his little hands on both sides of his head.

“Like this, like bunny ears.”

The little guy was so cute that Song Tingzhu couldn’t help but laugh, patting Xia Ge’er’s head, “Alright, let me get the comb and I’ll help you.”

“Mm-hmm, I’ll go wash my face first~”

By the well, Liu Hu had already fetched water for the little guy. Seeing him almost trip, he quickly caught him in his arms.

“Run slower, be careful not to fall,” he advised.

Xia Ge’er patted his chest, speaking in a cute voice, “That scared me, thank you, Little Uncle.”

“Mom, did you make pancakes?” Liu Xiaomei came out from inside, smelling the aroma and couldn’t help swallowing.

Ruan Xiulian said, “We still have some old grain left. If we don’t eat it soon, it’ll get infested.”

After breakfast, Liu Dasheng took a hatchet to the back mountain, while Ruan Xiulian and Liu Hu pushed a cart to the neighboring village to collect grain. Liu Xiaomei stayed home to help Song Tingzhu.

The family had gathered quite a bit of grain, so Song Tingzhu thought about starting a batch of wine. The courtyard wasn’t big enough to store everything, and they planned to collect at least another thousand or so jin. By the time the next batch of grain arrived, this batch would be ready for distillation.

Song Tingzhu asked Xiaomei to help pour the grain into the large vats.

The first step in brewing is to soak the grain. The grain is submerged in water for twelve hours to absorb enough moisture, which helps remove husks and impurities and prepares it for steaming.

The ten or so bags of grain filled two large vats, and after all the work, both of them were sweating.

Wiping her sweat, Liu Xiaomei asked with anticipation, “With all this grain, we should be able to make a lot of wine, right?”

Song Tingzhu, using a skimmer to remove husks, smiled and said, “There’s an old saying in winemaking, ‘Three jin of grain for one jin of wine.’ This grain won’t exceed thirteen hundred jin.”

Liu Xiaomei did some quick math, her expression shocked, “All that grain will only make about four hundred jin of wine? It won’t even fill half a vat!”

“And that’s if everything goes smoothly. If something goes wrong, even four hundred jin is hard to achieve.”

Liu Xiaomei clicked her tongue, “No wonder there are so few winemakers in town. Brewing is really not easy work.”

Seeing the girl a bit discouraged, Song Tingzhu encouraged her, “The beginning is always the hardest. We’ve already figured out the recipe for the yeast, so the rest shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“That’s true, without yeast, you can’t make wine.”

Liu Xiaomei regained her confidence, smiling.

Near noon, Ruan Xiulian and her son pushed a cart full of grain into the courtyard.

Seeing the empty courtyard and the two vats soaking grain under the shed, Liu Hu furrowed his thick brows.

As he unloaded the grain, he said, “Mom, let me do it. You go inside and rest.”

Ruan Xiulian straightened up, “Alright, I am a bit tired after the trip.”

After unloading the grain, Liu Hu went to the west room and saw his wife lying on the bed, her face slightly pale.

“You’re back.” Song Tingzhu propped himself up, leaning against the headboard. Seeing his husband’s furrowed brows, he knew the reason without asking.

“Why didn’t you wait for me to come back and help?” Liu Hu approached, gently squeezing his wife’s arm with concern, “Are your arms sore?”

Song Tingzhu wanted to say no, but seeing how much his husband cared, he couldn’t help but want to be a bit more greedy.

So he softened his voice and said, “Growing up, the heaviest thing I’ve ever lifted is a book. I don’t know how heavy a bundle of firewood is, or how heavy a bag of grain is. I don’t even know how hard the lives of ordinary people are.”

The man held his hand, full of heartache, but Song Tingzhu’s eyes were filled with a smile.

“But I find it interesting. If I hadn’t agreed to the arranged marriage and had chosen to run away, I probably wouldn’t have survived until now.”

He held his husband’s warm, broad hand, “I like this kind of life, working at sunrise and resting at sunset. Even if it’s tiring, as long as I can be with the one I love, it’s worth it.”

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Author’s Note: I’ll update this much for now, and organize the outline. Tomorrow, I’ll start fresh!

Thank you all for your support. I will definitely finish writing this. I’ve been preparing for this story for a long time, and I really like it, so I can’t help but be a bit meticulous~