SLH | Chapter 37

Testing the Wine Yeast Recipe

The next day, at the Ruan family’s house in Xiahe Village.

Old Lady Ruan was all smiles when she heard that her two grandsons didn’t have to go to the mountain to collect stones. Her thin face was filled with joy.

“Since the silver has been given out, there’s no reason to take it back. Isn’t Zhu Ge’er planning to start a business? Consider it as the family investing some capital, just keep it.”

Wu Erniu also chimed in with a smile, “Yes, elder sister, Erniu and I are also thinking of investing some silver.”

“But Zhu Ge’er, when are you planning to start this business? So I can let your little uncle go and help.”

Song Tingzhu replied, “No rush, Auntie. We won’t need help until winter. When the time comes, Uncle and Little Uncle can come over to help.”

Wu Erniu readily agreed, “Alright, winter is a good time since it’s hard to find work.”

The mother and daughter had lunch at the Ruan family house and returned to Yunxi Village before sunset.

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After Xiaoshu, the three hottest periods of summer arrived. The weather was stiflingly hot and humid, and the sun was so intense it seemed like it could melt people. The villagers stayed indoors during the day and only came out at night. At noon, Yunxi Village was so deserted that not a soul could be seen on the roads.

Turning past the big banyan tree, voices could be heard from the small Liu courtyard not far away.

“The vervain on the mountain is about ready. I’ll go with Xiaoman and Shuang’er to dig it up tomorrow,” Liu Xiaomei said, hiding in the shade of the courtyard wall and rubbing clothes.

Song Tingzhu, who was sorting herbs under the grass shed, turned his head and reminded her, “The roots and stems of vervain have thorns. Be careful not to prick your hands when harvesting.”

“Got it, brother-in-law.”

As they chatted, Xia Ge’er came out of the east room, rubbing his eyes.

“Uncle, Aunt.”

The little guy was still sleepy. Song Tingzhu led him to the well to wash his face. Seeing him more awake, he said, “There are pastries inside. Go and have some.”

Xia Ge’er’s eyes lit up. He gave Song Tingzhu a hug and then happily ran into the main room.

A moment later, the little guy was sitting on a small stool, happily eating pastries with both hands.

“Did Uncle buy these for Xia Ge’er?” Xia Ge’er asked, swinging his feet.

Song Tingzhu was combing the little guy’s hair and said, “Your Aunt Zhao brought them. Your Uncle Tian is getting married. These are celebration pastries.”

The little guy was thrilled, “Yay, Xia Ge’er is going to have a little auntie~”

Liu Xiaomei said, “When I bought tofu this morning, Aunt Cai said that the sister-in-law Big Brother Tian is matchmaking is very pretty, one of the top beauties in Changshou Village. Her parents have always treasured her, and were reluctant to marry her off early, which is why they waited until now.”

Song Tingzhu was puzzled, “If they treasure their daughter, why would they marry her into Yunxi Village?”

Changshou Village is wealthier than Yunxi Village. If the girl’s parents truly valued her, why would they lower their standards to marry her into Yunxi Village? Traditionally, people marry up, not down. It’s not that Big Brother Tian isn’t a good match, but there are many better matches than him. Why did the Cui family choose him specifically?

Perhaps it was his dislike for the surname “Cui,” but Song Tingzhu felt the Cui family was hiding something.

Liu Xiaomei, not one for such convoluted thinking, replied, “Because Big Brother Tian is good to his wife. The Cui family aunt said they don’t care if the family has money, as long as they treat their daughter well. They’re afraid that if she marries into a wealthy family, her in-laws might look down on her and bully her.”

Song Tingzhu nodded. That reason made sense. Perhaps he was overthinking it.

Three days later, when his mother-in-law brought it up again, the families had already set the wedding date for the eve of the Qixi Festival.

Song Tingzhu was surprised, “So soon?”

“The date was chosen by a master. It’s a once-in-a-century lucky day. If they miss it, they’ll have to wait until next year,” Ruan Xiulian said as she did her embroidery. “Your Aunt Zhao has been worried about Big Brother Tian’s marriage for a long time. How could she wait another year to bring a daughter-in-law into the house?”

“Big Brother Tian has no objections?”

“None. The silly boy is happy.”

With the engagement settled and the wedding date set, barring any accidents, the marriage was as good as done.

Seeing the wedding proceeding smoothly, Song Tingzhu put his mind at ease and focused on experimenting with the wine yeast recipe.

A moment later, Liu Xiaomei wiped the sweat from her forehead and straightened up.

Stretching and moving her muscles, she turned to her brother-in-law and said, “Brother-in-law, the pepperweed and vervain are ground.”

“Thank you.”

Song Tingzhu was using a small scale to measure out glutinous rice flour. The first wine yeast recipe he copied down called for five liang of glutinous rice flour, eight qian of pepperweed, and two he of well water, mixed and kneaded into small balls to naturally ferment and dry.

But when measuring the ingredients, he found something wrong. If mixed according to this ratio, it would result in a muddy mess, impossible to form into balls.

Liu Xiaomei, seeing this, pouted and said dejectedly, “It’s so far off. How many times do we have to try and fail before we find the right ratio?”

Song Tingzhu had anticipated this result. Fortunately, there was enough time to experiment.

“No rush. We’ll find the right one eventually,” he reassured her with a smile.

However, this was just the simplest of the dozens of recipes he had copied. Testing them all would be a huge task, not to mention the cost. Fortunately, it was the season when pepperweed and vervain grew abundantly, saving a lot of money.

Song Tingzhu picked up the small scale and redistributed the ingredients. Liu Xiaomei helped, and by noon, Tian Le, Xu Xiaoman, and Qian Shuang’er came over with their scales. As the saying goes, three heads are better than one, and now they had four people. With their clever brother-in-law, there was no problem they couldn’t solve.

It’s worth mentioning that after Meng Yinhua had a big fight with Qian Youliang, she took their ten-year-old son Qian Yang back to her mother’s house. Qian Youliang was most fond of his son, but his son was closer to his mother. Afraid his son wouldn’t take care of him in the future, he had to swallow his pride and reconcile with his mother-in-law. The couple had been too busy to look after their daughter for some time.

Qian Shuang’er enjoyed the freedom, often running to the Liu family to help out and have fun.

Two days later, the first batch of wine yeast was dried and ready for inspection.

“What are they doing at the Liu house, with all those mud balls in the yard?”

“Who knows? The other day I saw Zhu Ge’er with a bunch of kids making mud balls. You’d think he’d be embarrassed playing with mud at his age with the courtyard door wide open.”

“Right? I asked Qian Shuang’er yesterday, and she said Zhu Ge’er was teaching them to make mud figures!”

A few women gossiped in front of the Liu courtyard. When they saw Song Tingzhu leading a group of kids out of the main room, they quickly scurried away.

“Those grannies sure have loud voices. We could hear them inside,” Xu Xiaoman pouted.

“Let them be. We just need to focus on what we’re doing.”

Liu Xiaomei was used to it and mimicked Song Tingzhu’s calm demeanor. Her two friends were momentarily stunned.

Tian Le rolled up his sleeves, “Alright, it’s time to see the results. Hopefully, some of them worked.”

Hearing this, Liu Xiaomei and the others clasped their hands and prayed to the west.

Song Tingzhu chuckled, “Praying to the Buddha won’t help as much as doing it ourselves.”

Liu Xiaomei tilted her head playfully, “A little comfort is nice, too.”

Song Tingzhu shook his head with a smile. As he began the inspection, he glanced westward and silently wished for good luck and success.

This was what his grandfather would say when opening a new brew. But since his mother passed away when he was five, he hadn’t heard it again. Now, it was his turn to say it.

“Do you remember how to inspect them?” he asked the group.

Xu Xiaoman eagerly replied, “Yes, it should smell fragrant without any off odors!”

Qian Shuang’er quickly raised her hand, “And it should taste a bit sour and astringent, with a good texture and no abnormalities!”

Liu Xiaomei, who had been hearing this from Song Tingzhu every day, remembered clearly. She knew her brother-in-law knew she remembered, so she didn’t rush to answer. Seeing her friends answer correctly, she mimicked the old scholars at the academy, stroking an imaginary beard and nodding slowly.

“Not bad, you are teachable~”

Song Tingzhu and Tian Le laughed, and Xia Ge’er also giggled, holding his belly.

“Hahaha, Auntie looks like an old grandpa~”

Lin Ge’er squinted his eyes, “That’s how great-grandpa usually is.”

The Liu courtyard was filled with laughter, and villagers passing by stopped to look in. Seeing a group of people happily playing with mud, they were left bewildered.

By noon, Song Tingzhu was still leading the youngsters in “playing with mud.”

Tian Le stuck out his tongue, “Brother-in-law, method six didn’t work. It’s too sour!”

Liu Xiaomei pinched her nose, “Number four didn’t work either. It smells sour and stinky.”

“Number seven didn’t work!”

“Brother-in-law, come look!” Xu Xiaoman squatted on the ground, excitement in her eyes, “I think we made it.”

Song Tingzhu stepped forward, checked, and under the group’s anxious gaze, nodded with a smile, “We did it.”

Number nine was the simplest method for making wine yeast, commonly used for home brewing. He knew it would succeed from the start. He hadn’t told them earlier because he wanted to give everyone a bit of hope.

“Great, we did it!”

Liu Xiaomei was ecstatic, hugging her friends and jumping around. After celebrating, she eagerly asked her brother-in-law, “Brother-in-law, can we start brewing now?”

Song Tingzhu replied, “We can, but this method produces low-quality wine that won’t sell for much.”

Tian Le frowned, “Brewing requires grain. We don’t have enough money to buy grain. Even if we pool our resources, we can barely gather seven or eight liang.”

Seeing his brother-in-law’s smile, Tian Le knew he must have a solution, so he asked eagerly, “Brother-in-law, what do you have in mind? Everyone’s anxious to know.”

Song Tingzhu stopped keeping them in suspense and said with a smile, “If we can’t ensure quantity, let’s ensure quality.”

Liu Xiaomei and her friends blinked, not fully understanding.

Tian Le understood but asked, “But brother-in-law, how do we ensure quality?”

“By brewing distilled spirits. The number nine yeast can only produce the lowest quality turbid wine. To make good wine that sells for a high price, we need to figure out how to make Hu wine yeast,” Song Tingzhu paused, then continued, “Among the wine yeast we made earlier, none of the methods were correct.”

“Don’t be discouraged, brother-in-law. We’ve already figured out one method, and we have experience now.”

“Yeah, we’ll definitely figure it out!”

Tian Le was confident, and the younger ones were full of hope. Xia Ge’er and Lin Ge’er also raised their heads and echoed, “We can do it~”

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Author’s Note: Ahhhh, my cat has a urinary blockage, taking it to the hospital right away [crying][crying][crying]