SLH | Chapter 39

The Wine Yeast is Ready

Liu Xiaomei’s eyes sparkled with excitement. High medicinal value means it’s worth money!

“There’s more over there, let’s hurry and dig it up, husband!”

After a stick of incense’s time, the two of them returned with bamboo baskets full to the brim. As they reached the foot of the mountain, they encountered a few women digging wild vegetables.

One of them, envious, said in a strange tone, “So you’re collecting herbs from the mountain again, huh? The back mountain isn’t that big, and now it’s almost like your Liu family’s private mountain. Only your family can make money from it.”

Song Tingzhu didn’t want to get into an argument, so he greeted the familiar aunties and was about to leave when Xiaomei retorted, “Granny, you’re joking. How could my family afford to buy a mountain? Anyone who can identify the herbs can collect them. I remember Granny’s grandson, Haozi, studies at the academy in town. He should be able to recognize herbs too, right?”

The old lady’s face first showed pride when her grandson was mentioned, but then she frowned, ready to scold them. However, Liu Xiaomei didn’t give her the chance and tugged on her husband’s sleeve, and the two of them made a quick escape.

“Why was Granny Chen angry just now?” Song Tingzhu was puzzled.

If it were Liu Cuie, she’d be boasting about her grandson Liu Yushu to the whole village by now.

Liu Xiaomei explained, “Granny Chen’s grandson studying in town is true, but he’s ungrateful. Granny Chen worked hard to support his studies, even taking money from her daughters-in-law, but in the end, he doesn’t even acknowledge her as his grandmother.”

“Mom says Granny Chen is reaping the consequences of being too harsh when she was younger. Now, her family doesn’t want to be close to her, and during holidays, her home is very lonely.”

Song Tingzhu nodded, not giving it much thought. Once home, he and Xiaomei processed the herbs and checked on the new batch of wine yeast balls.

Tang Chunxing was in the yard washing clothes. Since autumn, the river water had become cold, and many women in the village stopped going to the river to do laundry.

Seeing her brother-in-law handling those mud balls, she casually asked, “Zhu Ge’er, when will the wine yeast be ready?”

Song Tingzhu replied, “Soon, in the next couple of days.”

Some of the yeast they made a few days ago was already usable, but it wasn’t perfect. Since his grandfather started brewing, he always insisted on perfection because even small differences can affect the taste of the wine.

The people of Xunyang have always felt that the wine from Liu Ji Tavern tastes different from other shops, and this is one of the reasons.

At night, the couple talked about brewing wine. Now that the yeast recipe was ready and the weather was getting colder, it was time to stock up on grain for brewing.

Liu Hu wrapped his long arms around his wife and said, “In a few days, I won’t go to work in town anymore. I’ll stay home and help you with things.”

Song Tingzhu looked at his husband’s profile, “Aren’t you worried that something might go wrong during the brewing process, and a whole batch of wine could be ruined, costing us money?”

“I’m not worried. I trust my wife.” Liu Hu didn’t hesitate, “You’ve been preparing for over half a year, so you must have a plan.”

That was true. They had tested the yeast recipe over a hundred times, and he had heard his mother and grandfather discuss the brewing steps. Although he was young and didn’t remember much, he had compiled a small booklet over the days. Brewing cloudy wine was simple, clear wine wasn’t difficult either, but distilled wine was a bit more challenging.

“I’m planning not to brew cloudy wine because it doesn’t sell well, and many taverns in town have it. Clear wine has more profit, even though there are merchants selling it. As long as our wine is better than others, it will sell.”

Song Tingzhu pondered, “We’ll only brew clear wine and distilled wine. Clear wine can sell for fifty to a hundred wen, with a cost of twenty to fifty wen. After taxes, the profit is about thirty to forty percent. Distilled wine requires more upfront investment, but it’s the most profitable. If we can brew it, the profit could be double that of clear wine, maybe even more.”

Liu Hu added, “I haven’t seen many places selling distilled wine.”

“Exactly, I’ve only seen three places selling it in Lianxi Town in the past half year: Sifang Zhai on East Street, Four Seasons Tavern on North Street, and Mo Lian Ju, where scholars gather, on South Street.”

“Distilled wine is hard to brew, and merchants focus on immediate profits, rarely spending time on developing new wines unless they’re from a family with a brewing tradition, like my grandfather’s family. The Liu family had a residence in Kyoto three generations ago, but later fell on hard times. Liu Ji gradually declined until my grandfather’s generation started seeing some improvement.”

Song Tingzhu paused, pursing his lips, “My grandfather’s shops are controlled by the Song family. The two families have different philosophies. I don’t even know if Manager Liu and the others are still working at the distillery. And Granny Liu, I wonder if they received the letter I sent.”

“Zheng Song, who works with me, has a sister working as a cook in a family in the prefectural city. She’s visiting soon. You can write a letter, and I’ll ask him to deliver it.”

“Then I’ll trouble your friend.” Song Tingzhu said happily.

The next day, Tian Le and Xu Xiaoman arrived at the Liu family early. Qian Shuang’er’s mother and brother had been brought home, so she was being watched closely and couldn’t sneak out for now.

Liu Xiaomei glanced outside the yard, feeling a bit disappointed not to see her friend, but quickly perked up. Today was the big day for making wine yeast balls, so she couldn’t lose focus.

Each of them held a small scale, all looking ready for action.

Song Tingzhu laid out the recipe he had tested and adjusted over the past days on the table.

“Eight liang of rice flour, thirty qian of spicy knotweed, fifteen qian each of mulberry leaves and perilla leaves, and fifteen qian of sweet potato leaves.”

It’s wise to be cautious. He didn’t disclose the exact amounts of certain herbs like polygonum multiflorum and verbena, not because he didn’t trust Tian Le and the others, but because human nature is unpredictable. If the business really took off, their elders might try to take over the recipe.

The Liu family’s ancestors were a lesson from the past.

Song Tingzhu led them in working for half a day. He initially planned to keep them for lunch, but they all ran off quickly, disappearing in no time.

After washing her hands, Liu Xiaomei looked at the dwindling herbs in the basket and said, “We’re running low on verbena at home. Let’s go to the mountain and dig some more today.”

Song Tingzhu nodded in agreement.

In half a month, it would be the start of winter. They needed to stock up before the herbs withered.

After lunch and a short rest, the two of them took Xia Ge’er to the back mountain.

“I don’t know who did it, but they’ve ruined the wild vegetables. How can anyone dig them up now?”

“Exactly, I was planning to make wild vegetable buns tonight.”

“I saw Granny Chen coming down from the back mountain this morning. Do you think she did this?”

“It must be her. In the village, who else has the time and can’t stand seeing others doing well but her?”

Two women with empty baskets came down from the mountain. Seeing the three of them, they kindly said, “Zhu Ge’er, Xiaomei, don’t bother going up. The back mountain has been ruined. You won’t find any wild vegetables or even a single weed.”

Song Tingzhu stopped and thanked the aunties. After they left, he heard Xiaomei blame herself, “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t argued with Granny Chen yesterday, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“How can you blame yourself for someone else’s wrongdoing?” Song Tingzhu looked at the trail of footprints on the mountain path, frowning slightly. “The back mountain is big. How could Granny Chen ruin it all in one night by herself?”

Liu Xiaomei also looked over, “So it wasn’t Granny Chen who did it?”

Xia Ge’er, seeing the situation, also peeked over.

Seeing no one on the path, he widened his eyes, full of curiosity, “Uncle, Aunt, what are you looking at?”

Song Tingzhu took the little guy’s hand and said gently, “Nothing much. We’re not collecting herbs today. Let’s go home.”

Xia Ge’er nodded obediently.

In the Liu family’s yard, Ruan Xiulian and her daughter-in-law were doing embroidery under the wall. Seeing the three of them return so soon, they asked why. Learning that the back mountain had been ruined, they couldn’t help but be angry.

Song Tingzhu comforted his mother-in-law and the others, “The weather is getting colder day by day, and we won’t be able to eat wild vegetables for much longer. As for the herbs, what we have at home should be enough. If we need more, we can buy some in town.”

Ruan Xiulian, cutting the thread, frowned and said, “That’s all we can do.”

That night, Song Tingzhu took out a small wooden box with money from the cabinet.

“The pottery jars we ordered in town should be ready. We only paid a deposit before. Tomorrow, I’ll go with you to check them and pay the rest.”

Liu Hu agreed, “Alright.”

He had quit his job today and wouldn’t be working in town from tomorrow on.

Song Tingzhu counted the coins, “We also need to make a batch of wine containers. Ordinary pottery jars won’t do; they need to be more refined and have our unique mark. That will attract people.”

He frowned slightly, “Master Sun’s craftsmanship is good, but he charges too much. A palm-sized pottery jar costs five wen. We need at least a hundred of them, and even after bargaining, he only reduced it by half a wen. The cost is way over budget. We need to find someone else to make them.”

He looked up at his husband, “Do you know any other potters in town?”

“I know a few, but they charge even more than Master Sun. Prices in town are high, and even if they’re cheaper, it won’t be like in the village where you can buy a big-bellied pottery jar for two or three wen.”

The clay for pottery isn’t worth much, and you can find it in the village. But finding someone skilled in pottery isn’t easy.

“I remember there’s a family in Shanghe Village that makes pottery. I’ll ask them on the way back tomorrow.”

Song Tingzhu’s eyes suddenly brightened.

His husband’s reminder made him remember something.

“Is that family you’re talking about the Hua family?”

Liu Hu shook his head, “I don’t know their surname. I just heard about them from a guy I worked with.”

But Song Tingzhu was excited, “It should be the Hua family. In late March, Hua Aunt invited me to officiate at a ceremony at their home. I saw many pottery jars in their yard. Villagers attending the ceremony said Hua Aunt’s husband had pottery skills, and a few years ago, they even had a kiln. But it was abandoned later.”

Seeing his wife so happy, Liu Hu grinned widely.

“Then let’s go ask them tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

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Author’s Note: The wine yeast and brewing recipes are found on Baidu, with some personal settings. Just enjoy reading and don’t worry about accuracy, haha~

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