Chapter 622: The Imperial Examination Family-Raising System (31)

Xie Yang stayed at her maiden home until evening, waiting for her family's carriage.

Song Zhisheng and the farm manager sat side-by-side on the carriage shaft, the carriage cabin filled with jars of wine brought from the County distillery.

Xie Rong and his wife had already heard from their daughter about her parents-in-law's plan to sell wine in the village to earn the price difference, and they felt their in-laws were responsible and calculating.

If they were lazy, they wouldn't bother traveling so far just to bring back a few jars of wine to sell in the village.

A jar of wine might make fifty wen of profit at most, but in a small village, how many times would one have to shout to sell it all? Regardless, your daughter has already entered my family's door, and we've moved into the new house; if we can pay back the debt, we will, and if we can't, we'll just owe it—debt won't run away.

Besides, there is a scholar son; if a budding scholar can rank first, the chances of passing the provincial examination are high, and if he passes, he will be a provincial graduate master. Even if he stops at being a provincial graduate, if he secures an official post, wouldn't the in-laws become the parents of an official? At that time, wouldn't paying back a few dozen taels of debt be simple?

Therefore, when Xie Rong and his wife saw Song Zhisheng sitting on the carriage shaft against the cold wind just to fit two extra jars of wine in the cabin, they truly admired him.

They hurriedly welcomed him into the house to let him warm up and have a simple meal before returning to the village.

"No, no, I've brought back a carriage full of wine, and it's not easy to travel once it gets dark."

Song Zhisheng jumped off the carriage, stomped his frozen feet, lifted the cabin curtain, moved down a ten-jin large jar of wine, and said to Xie Rong:

"In-law, I have always received your care, yet I have no decent gift to offer. This time, thanks to Yanqing's wife, I transported some wine back from the County. Take this jar to drink. Don't look at the price; it's not expensive, but the taste is truly good. If you are satisfied, just tell me whenever you finish it."

Xie Rong could not refuse, so he smiled and accepted it: "Since you won't eat a simple meal, then take some side dishes for the wine back with you."

Song Zhisheng waved his hand and said no. Every time they sent something over, the Xie Family's return gifts were more than what they had sent, which was terribly embarrassing.

Fang Shi, however, had already efficiently packed them: an oil-paper-wrapped braised duck, a large piece of braised pork liver, two marrow bones with meat still on them, and a strip of fresh pork belly with distinct layers.

The fresh marrow bones and pork belly were things Fang Shi had set aside that morning; her son-in-law had already given two portions of soy-sauce meat and two pig trotters, so how could she let her own daughter go home empty-handed?

The braised duck and braised pork liver were the return gift for the jar of wine.

As Fang Shi handed the basket to her daughter, she said to Song Zhisheng: "It's nothing special, just leftovers from the stall; take them back to have with your wine."

In truth, they were not leftovers; the braised food stall never had enough to sell, let alone leftovers. These were specifically set aside, thinking that since the in-laws were passing by the town entrance on their way back from the County, she would keep him for a simple meal. This way, her youngest daughter could also stay at her maiden home a little longer.

Song Zhisheng could not refuse either, thanked them repeatedly, and then let Xie Yang sit in the carriage cabin.

Since one jar of wine had been moved away, the cleared space was just right for his daughter-in-law to sit.

Xie Yang: "..."

Was she seamlessly connected to the wine jars?

Looking around, she counted: sixteen large ten-jin wine jars and five small five-jin wine jars, totaling one hundred and eighty-five jin of wine.

The five-jin jars bought last time were three hundred wen each, which was sixty wen per jin. She had given her father-in-law ten taels of Silver this morning; if he hadn't spent extra money, that meant ten taels of Silver bought one hundred and eighty-five jin of wine, which averaged about fifty-four wen per jin.

She remembered that the cheapest Yellow Wine sold in the town was seventy wen per jin.

This meant there was a price difference of about sixteen wen per jin!

The wine distribution business was indeed highly profitable!

Her parents-in-law had stumbled upon a path to wealth by accident.

Just as she expected—

Song Zhisheng didn't even need to go door-to-door to promote the wine he brought back. Just as he entered the village, he shouted, "Whoever needs to buy wine can come to my house! I sent Yanqing to the city and brought back some good wine from the Qingfeng City distillery. We can't drink this much ourselves, so we can spare some for the fellow villagers," and a large crowd swarmed to their door.

The first to arrive was the village chief: "Lao San, did you really transport wine from Qingfeng City?"

Song Zhisheng had just finished unloading the wine jars into his warehouse with the farm manager and was inviting the farm manager to sit down for a simple meal when the village chief arrived.

Song Zhisheng simply invited the village chief to sit and eat together.

The village chief waved his hand: "I've already eaten, you all go ahead."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the dishes on the Song family's table, his eyes nearly popping out: braised duck? Braised liver? Scrambled eggs? Fried Peanuts?

Good heavens! The food at Song Laosan's house was comparable to the New Year!

At this moment, Lin Shi brought the warmed wine to the table.

Song Zhisheng invited the village chief to sit again: "Since you've eaten, then have a drink? This is the good wine I bought from the County distillery, would you like to taste it?"

This time, the village chief did not refuse, and with a thick-skinned smile, he took his seat: "Then I'll have a taste? If it's good, I'll have my little grandson bring a wine pot over tomorrow to buy two liang."

The three grown men sat in the main room eating and drinking.

Xie Yang and her mother-in-law ate at a small table in the kitchen, keeping an eye on the marrow bone and radish soup simmering on the stove.

She estimated that by the time her father-in-law and the others finished drinking, the soup would be ready, perfect to go with their rice.

There was no time to make the pork belly today, so after blanching it, they hung it on the crossbeam to stew into red-braised pork for tomorrow's lunch.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law's small table was not inferior: half a braised duck with a leg chopped into pieces, half a piece of sliced pork liver, a small dish of stir-fried eggs with yellow chives, and the Crab Roe Paste made last night—it was so fragrant mixed with rice!

They didn't drink wine, so the fried crispy Peanuts left over from making the bamboo shoot and peanut dish were all given to the men drinking outside.

"Mother, the stir-fried eggs with yellow chives are delicious."

"If you like them, eat more!" Lin Shi moved the scrambled eggs closer to her daughter-in-law, "The yellow chives are at their most tender right now and won't get stuck in your teeth. I was in such a rush this morning, I forgot to cut a bunch for your parents."

After the carriage left, Lin Shi felt a bit sentimental looking at the quiet house, so she forced herself to get busy, only then discovering that the yellow chives next to the onion pot could be harvested. If she had thought of it earlier, she could have sent some for her in-laws to taste.

Xie Yang smiled and said: "No rush, I also planted some at the Farm. When those are ready to eat, I'll send some to my father, mother, grandmother, and uncles."

This one sentence made Lin Shi feel incredibly comforted.

"Your father spent all ten taels of Silver you gave him on wine; I don't know if he'll be able to sell it all."

"Don't worry, Mother, it will definitely sell. Besides, wine is something that won't go bad even if left unopened for a few years. If the worst comes to the worst, there's still me. When we catch the big Fish in the lake before the New Year and make them into Drunken Fish Jerky, they can also be sold for money. In short, there are many uses for it, it won't go to waste."

In fact, Lin Shi only worried for that one night.

The next morning, before she could even find women she was close with to promote the wine brought from the County, several women came to her door with wine pots:

"Lao San's wife, my daughter just gave birth to a big, chubby boy. Her in-laws sent someone to announce the good news, and they traveled a long way, so I have to keep them for a simple meal. I heard you have wine from the County distillery? Quickly pour me two liang, so I don't have to run to town to buy it."

"Yanqing's mother, is the price of the wine brought from the County really the same as in town? Seven wen per liang? Then I'll take two liang too!"

"Lao San's wife..."

"Yanqing's mother..."

The wine scoop provided by the distillery held exactly two liang. As Lin Shi poured the wine for them, she chatted about daily life, her upturned mouth unable to be suppressed...

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