Chapter 90: Brewing Wine I

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu arrive, Li Quan hurriedly ran to Zhu Gaoxu's side to greet him.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded, ignoring Li Quan, and instead looked up at his newly renovated shop, nodding to himself.

The renovation style followed Zhu Gaoxu's requirements in every detail.

According to Zhu Gaoxu's thinking, if you want to sell things at a high price, you must first make them look high-end.

This applies not only to the packaging of the goods but also to the shop itself.

In later generations, countless products saw their value multiply many times over just by being put in an iron box, and Zhu Gaoxu planned to do the same.

At this moment, the small storefront had been decorated by Zhu Gaoxu to be extremely luxurious.

The most eye-catching feature among them was the plaque in the very center.

This was something Zhu Gaoxu had begged Lao Zhu to write for him, though it lacked a signature.

Lao Zhu had been worn down by Zhu Gaoxu's pestering and finally agreed, but his only requirement was that it could not be publicized.

To this, Zhu Gaoxu nodded to indicate it didn't matter; he would get it written first, and as for "not publicizing," in his mind, that just meant not saying it in public. He would find an opportunity later to spread some rumors, and then everyone would know.

Zhu Yuanzhang had written three large characters on the plaque for Zhu Gaoxu—Xianniangfang!

Zhu Gaoxu had even spent a heavy sum to have it framed with red wood covered in gold leaf, though at this moment the plaque was wrapped in red cloth, so no one could see it.

Besides this, he had also hired famous sculptors from Jingcheng to carve some auspicious beasts at the entrance.

In any case, of the entire street, Zhu Gaoxu's little shop was now the most eye-catching.

The interior was also extremely luxurious.

The previous shelves were all discarded and replaced with shelves made of sinkwood.

There was only one row of red wood shelves, ten meters long in total, with three tiers.

Li Quan had thought it wouldn't be enough, but in Zhu Gaoxu's words, it was perfectly sufficient.

What he was doing was creating a situation where demand exceeded supply; only hunger marketing could drive up prices. Li Quan didn't understand these things, but he would teach him later.

Besides the shelves, Zhu Gaoxu had also brought over some calligraphy and paintings by famous people from the Wangfu, along with some antique porcelain whose value he didn't even understand.

He only knew that when he moved them away, his old man's face had turned livid, and Wang Guanjia had been shouting and yelling, telling the servants moving the items to watch their step...

As time passed and it neared noon, Zhu Gaoxu's little shop was finally completely tidied up.

At this point, Li Quan had done what a qualified shopkeeper should do.

He had prepared meals early on.

With the work completely finished, he announced that it was time to eat and instructed the servants to go have their meal.

Naturally, he had also prepared good wine and food for Zhu Gaoxu and the few people including Ada behind him.

Zhu Gaoxu had given him one hundred taels of silver, which was meant for his use over these two days, and this certainly included the money for the staff's meals.

The servants' food was, of course, nothing fancy—just flatbread and white porridge.

Zhu Gaoxu was invited by Li Quan to the backyard, where he opened the food boxes and laid out the good wine and dishes inside.

"You've been thoughtful. Sit down and eat with us."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded; Li Quan had done well with the details. The nearly ten thousand mouths at the Military Camp were enough to worry him, and he truly had no energy left to manage the few mouths of these servants.

Li Quan happened to be able to make up for this, at least managing this small shop in an orderly fashion for the time being.

Whether it was the renovation, the aftermath, or finding people to decorate, Zhu Gaoxu always just stated his ideas and turned to leave; Li Quan was the one worrying about all the specific details.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu invite him to sit, Li Quan did not refuse; he nodded and sat down with Ada and the others. At the table, Li Quan was humble, repeatedly offering toasts to Ada and the others.

As for Zhu Gaoxu, because of his young age, he only took a light sip and then stopped drinking.

Once full and satisfied, Zhu Gaoxu didn't want to drag things out. Seeing that the shop was completely finished, he waved his hand and ordered everyone to start working.

It was already August, the perfect time for brewing wine.

The servants followed Zhu Gaoxu's instructions and swarmed into the backyard.

Then, they began taking out basins of sorghum, rice, and other grains from the West Wing Room.

Zhu Gaoxu had already begun preparations three days ago.

Three days ago, Zhu Gaoxu had bought sorghum, rice, and other grains, then began washing them with clear water countless times, picking out impurities, broken grains, insect-damaged grains, and all sorts of imperfect grains.

Then, he began the soaking process.

During this soaking period, Zhu Gaoxu had specifically instructed Li Quan to change the water every day.

Today, it was finally ready.

The first step was complete, and the next was the second step.

By now, these grains like sorghum were already prepared, and the next step was to use Zhu Gaoxu's equipment for repeated distillation.

After all, it was his first time doing this; although Zhu Gaoxu understood the principles very clearly, he still intended to experiment with a portion of the fermented grains first.

Thus, the servants began to operate according to Zhu Gaoxu's instructions.

At this time, the East Wing Room had been completely transformed by Zhu Gaoxu into a workshop for brewing wine.

With the high stove and Zhu Gaoxu's distillation facilities, the second step of brewing began.

First, they added enough clear water to the pot on the stove, then placed a grate inside the pot.

Then, they placed a layer of cotton cloth on the grate for filtering.

After spreading the grains flat on top and sealing everything tightly, they finally began to steam it over a high fire.