Chapter 83: Hunger Marketing

At this time, both the Capital and Yangzhou were searching for who made this wine, and even the Prince of Nanyang was somewhat curious.

It was just that they did not expect that no matter how they investigated, they could not find out.

Everyone only knew it was wine brewed over in Lingnan.

The owner of the Yangzhou restaurant even cursed loudly: "Fruit wine worth a few hundred taels, how can that one-tael-of-silver-per-bottle stuff compare to our Green Plum Wine?"

The people below dared not speak.

Xiao Shi and the others had also gone to buy the fruit wine that cost one tael of silver per jar; several of them shared it and all felt that this wine was no different from the Green Plum Wine at their Drunken Immortal Tower.

If one had to say there was a difference, the Drunken Immortal Tower's Green Plum Wine had a tiny bit of astringency, while that one-tael fruit wine had no sour astringency at all, and the wine aroma was mellow and rich.

It was no wonder their owner was having a breakdown.

The people below did not know what to say; several of them were like quails, not daring to speak.

The owner finally said: "Investigate, investigate for me! Who exactly stole my recipe to brew wine!"

The Capital.

Prince Duan and the Princess were somewhat displeased.

The Princess had drunk the fruit wine once, and after that, she had never been able to snatch any more.

Prince Duan also had a taste for this.

Yet, for some reason, no one knew where it came from, and they simply could not find the person who made the plum wine.

Prince Duan flicked his sleeve and said to the guards beside him: "Investigate, investigate thoroughly for me; if you find them, bring them directly to the Wangfu."

It infuriated him.

To think they wouldn't make more, with only that much supply every day—it was simply enough to anger a person to death.

Come to think of it, this strategy was all thought up by Bai Yu.

In order to compete for production volume with Gu Feichen, Bai Yu priced every jar of wine at two taels of silver, then hauled a boatload of goods first to Yangzhou, and then went to the Capital via the canal.

They hauled quite a lot of goods, and every time they reached a city with a Bai Family shop, they would move the wine jars to sell.

It was just that they could only sell one hundred jars of wine a day.

Even the Capital was like this.

The Bai Family had a restaurant in the Capital, and Bai Yu cleared out some space specifically to display the Green Plum Wine.

In front of the Green Plum Wine, a sign was hung: Only one hundred jars sold per day, irregular restocking, buy early if you want to buy.

This Green Plum Wine was not priced expensively at two taels of silver; having been transported all the way from Minnan to the Capital, the price was set at five taels of silver per jar.

For the people of the Capital, five taels of silver was not considered much.

Seeing the words written on the wooden sign, many people bought a jar, as missing out meant waiting a long time.

Quite a few people thought about going up to buy a jar to try.

Who knew that after this try, they became somewhat addicted, but when they wanted to go buy more, it was already sold out!

Only after asking the Manager did they learn that only one hundred jars were sold every day; if it was gone today, come back to buy tomorrow.

For several days in a row, many people could not snatch any, and before leaving, they would still grumble, saying they must buy some.

By the fourth day, before dawn, a long queue had formed at the entrance of the restaurant, just waiting for the restaurant to open.

Among these people, many had brought servants, as servants could also buy a jar of wine; there were also those who hadn't tasted it, and seeing everyone queuing, they also came over to join the fun.

Among them was a middle-aged man wearing brocade clothes who had brought ten house servants at once to buy wine.

The person behind him grumbled: "Bringing people is one thing, but you actually brought so many; do you have no shame?"

"Boss, the manservants and maidservants cannot occupy the quota; look at this shameless person, bringing ten at once!"

"I brought so many because I want to; does your family not have house servants?"

The two groups started arguing.

At this moment, the Manager opened the door and was somewhat surprised to see the long line of people at the entrance.

Then he saw two people about to come to blows.

The Manager hurriedly said: "Don't fight, don't fight; let's change the rules: one person can bring at most two servants, any more and I won't sell."

Only then did they quiet down.

The Manager said while selling the wine: "This is the last batch of wine, 126 jars in total."

Someone behind asked: "Then when will there be more next time?"

The Manager wiped the cold sweat from his forehead; this person was a Prince, whom the Manager saw often.

"We don't know when the next batch will arrive either; we can only look to our Young Master's arrangements."

Many people behind were somewhat dissatisfied.

The Manager hurriedly explained: "It is not that we are intentionally not selling, but that the production of this wine is low, and there is really no other way."

"You are doing this on purpose, aren't you, wanting to use this to raise the price?"

The Manager hurriedly said: "No, no, we have no intention of raising the price. If you don't believe me, look at that Green Plum Wine from Drunken Immortal Tower, over one hundred taels of silver per jar, and the taste and flavor are exactly the same as what we sell. If we wanted to sell it for more, we would have set the price at fifty taels directly; there are plenty of people in Yangzhou who would want it."

The crowd suddenly became boisterous.

"It's actually the Green Plum Wine from Yangzhou Drunken Immortal Tower; I did say this taste was somewhat familiar."

"You all shouldn't make things difficult for the Manager; these five taels of silver are well spent. If you really want to buy, you can completely send people to Yangzhou to buy the ones for one hundred taels of silver per jar."

Those who didn't buy the wine felt somewhat regretful.

Hearing that they didn't know when it would be sold next time, they felt very disappointed in their hearts.

If only they could sell more; that Green Plum Wine in Yangzhou for over one hundred taels a jar was simply too expensive.

If not for this five-tael wine as a comparison, they really would have wanted to go buy the wine from Yangzhou.

Not long after, Bai Yu came over again.

"I discovered that someone is investigating you; some are from the Capital, and there is another group we don't know where they are from."

Yan Ning was stunned: "Why investigate us?"

It couldn't be the Second Prince or the Third Prince again, could it? Weren't those two already thrown into Tianlao?

Bai Yu continued: "It's probably because the wine from your family is made too well, and it's high quality at a low price."

"A guard came to my Bai Family, claiming to be from Prince Duan, and demanded that we hand over the person who brews the wine."

Yan Ning:???

Prince Duan—she had to call him Great-Uncle.

Why would he send someone over out of the blue?

Bai Yu said: "I told him to take some wine back; that should resolve it."

Yan Ning nodded: "Mm, let's do that. Prince Duan has a good temper; he won't make things difficult for us."

As for the other group, if they insist on coming to find her, then she will just kill them.

Yan Ning and Bai Yu left together; she had to go find the County Magistrate. It had been so many days, and she didn't know if he had reached an agreement with Lu Prefect.

However, when Yan Ning went this time, she missed him; the County Magistrate had gone to Lu Prefect's side.

Two days ago.

The County Magistrate brought a large sack of Sweet Potato, Potato, and Corn to find Lu Prefect.

Lu Wanshun looked at this pile of dirty lumps, and the things wrapped layer by layer in leaves...

Lu Wanshun was puzzled: "What are all these, and why are you bringing them here?"

The County Magistrate had arrived by carriage, and the carriage was loaded with quite a lot of Corn and other crops.

He was just waiting for Lu Prefect to nod in agreement.

The County Magistrate said: "These are the Seed that the First Prince exchanged with the Hu people. They are simple to plant, especially easy to grow, and have an exceptionally high yield. They can satisfy hunger, and the taste is also very good."

"I came here this time because I want to bring all these Seed over so that the villages near Haicheng can also plant them."

Lu Wanshun looked somewhat disdainful: "How could there be such a good thing, high yield and also delicious?"