Chapter 155: The Wine Comes Out (First Update)

He Weiyuan nodded, pondered for a moment, then said, "Follow the old rules. Go down to the mule and horse market later and give them a heads-up — tell them I'll be renting the big draft animals the day after tomorrow and to hold them for me."

Zhou Xuezhi quickly agreed, glanced around, and lowered his voice. "Master, someone sent word from Shandong. They want us in Xuzhou to resume tribute payments starting in the ninth month, and they also want us to stockpile coal and iron..."

He Weiyuan's expression immediately darkened. He said coldly, "When Mu Wusheng was alive, he didn't have to pay. On what grounds should I? Just tell them the sect's affairs are in chaos and powerful local bullies are pressuring us — we can't hand it over for the time being."

"Master, the various Chuantou below have already been paying us for nearly four months. What if one of them lets something slip?" Zhou Xuezhi reminded him.

He Weiyuan poured himself a full cup of yellow wine, threw his head back and drained it, then sneered. "Let's see who dares. Mu the Second's blade is fast, but our He family is no pushover either. Have people keep a close watch for me!"

Zhou Xuezhi agreed once more. The smile on He Weiyuan's face turned to mockery as he said derisively, "They worship the Eternal Venerable Mother and Maitreya Buddha, prattling on about blissful rebirth — yet in the end, it's all about money. I joined the sect for convenience, not to ruin myself financially!"

He was the Xuzhou Assembly Master of the Smelling Incense Sect, yet his words held not a shred of respect for it. Zhou Xuezhi, listening to this, seemed entirely accustomed to it and showed not the slightest surprise. When He Weiyuan finished, Zhou Xuezhi merely asked, "Master, then are we just going to let that Zhao family brat run wild in the city? Those Chuantou are still useful to you, after all..."

"Why bother with him? Aren't those monks from Cloud Mountain Temple gnashing their teeth in hatred? We won't interfere — someone else will. The piddling income inside the city is only something those local thug Chuantou care about. We'll mind our own business." He Weiyuan spoke crisply and decisively.

Zhou Xuezhi nodded with a smile. He Weiyuan rose from his chair and said easily, "Come with me to the wine workshop. The goods are about to be ready."

The eighth month was approaching, and Xuzhou's hottest days were nearly here. The land around Xuzhou was quite calm, and the Yellow River outside the city was stable. The only unsettling thing was the famine in Shandong. A small number of refugees had already appeared in Xuzhou and Huai'an Prefecture, but it was no great matter — the famine-stricken areas of northern and eastern Shandong were too far away, and most of the starving could not make it here.

Inside Xuzhou city, everyone was focused on one thing: Zhao Jin's wine workshop was about to produce wine. They were all waiting cautiously to watch Zhao Jin make a fool of himself.

Winemaking is a craft. For a young martial thug known only for throwing his weight around to think he could break into this trade was sheer fantasy. By all rights, he should have taken his silver and bought good farmland outside the city, or purchased a shopfront in Yutou Town over in Pizhou to collect rent, or even bought into a silent partnership in the city — all ways to sit back and make money. Instead, he opened this wine workshop. No one could see how it could possibly turn a profit; it could only be seen as foolishness.

Ever since Zhao Jin's name had become prominent in Xuzhou, all anyone heard were tales of this young man's awe-inspiring exploits: killing so-and-so today, beating so-and-so tomorrow, possibly burning someone to death the night after, sweeping away certain people, and so on and so forth. It seemed Zhao Jin had always had smooth sailing and never suffered any real setback. But when it came to this wine workshop, people truly had no confidence in him.

He Cuihua had also brought it up during meals at home, saying that if that silver were placed with his maternal grandfather and uncles, it would earn at least three percent interest a year. Why go and ruin the family fortunes with some damned wine workshop? He Cuihua would also take the chance to grumble at Zhao Zhentang a bit, saying it was because her husband drank every night that Zhao Jin had gotten it into his head to go into the wine business.

Zhao Zhentang would grow impatient every time. In the end, he simply said, "This money was always just windfall wealth anyway. If Xiaojin wants to mess around with it, let him. If it's gone, it's gone. It's not like the family will go hungry without this bit of silver."

It wasn't just Zhao Jin's parents who thought this way. Wang Zhaojing had privately discussed it with Chen Sheng and Sun Dalei, saying that if the wine workshop failed and cash flow became a problem, they should each chip in a little to keep things afloat for now. After all, the operation was already established and running quite normally.

All of this was done behind Zhao Jin's back. The rest of the time, they trained normally, practiced martial arts, and studied. During this period, Liu Yong had found five trustworthy young men. He didn't present them to the group; Zhao Jin merely met them briefly along the road, then stationed them outside as scouts to gather information.

Although no one was optimistic about Zhao Jin's wine workshop business, on the day the wine was to come out, all his companions still came to show their support.

The weather was sweltering. The fermented grain mash in the workshop had fully matured, and a faint aroma of wine hung in the air. Lu Xiangjiu and Su Da both looked much better than when they had first met Zhao Jin. Beaming, they followed behind him, explaining every detail of the workshop's operations.

Lu Xiangjiu and Su Da were very familiar with the wine business. They didn't think this Fragrant Wine Workshop would last long, but they heard tales of Zhao Jin's exploits every day too. They figured that with Zhao Jin's fearsome reputation, even if it were just water, he could sell it for a good price in Xuzhou city. So they also felt the Fragrant Wine Workshop might manage a few years.

"Boss, the starter is good, the cellar is good, the sorghum is good — so the mash fermented beautifully. The way it is now, we could press it directly and sell it as wine," Lu Xiangjiu said with a smile.

Beside him, Su Da laughed and chimed in, "In those storytellers' tales, they say those heroes drink a whole jar or a dozen bowls at a time. What they're drinking is the kind of wine Old Lu just mentioned. If it were today's distilled liquor, anyone who could drink a full jin would count as a hero."

Wang Zhaojing, Chen Sheng, and the others all listened very attentively. These bits of lore were completely new to them.

The workshop apprentices used wooden shovels to scoop the fermented mash into wooden buckets and carried them deeper into the workshop. Lu Xiangjiu bowed slightly and said, "Boss, up ahead is the distilling workshop. It's hot out here, but it's even hotter inside. You'll be drenched in sweat from head to toe within moments of entering. Shall the gentlemen wait outside?"

Zhao Jin waved his hand dismissively. "We're all men here. If it's hot, we'll strip down. I want to see exactly how you produce the wine."

Hearing Zhao Jin say this, no one had anything more to say; they simply followed him in. They had barely reached the doorway when sweat beaded on Zhao Jin's forehead. Heat and steam blasted them in the face.

"How many times have I told you? Working the bellows isn't like pulling a saw. Keep it steady and slow." The moment they entered, Su Da started shouting. The apprentice working the bellows beside the large distilling stove hurriedly slowed his pace.

When Zhao Jin had arrived, he had instructed them that since he didn't understand many things in the workshop, they should explain everything in detail. Seeing this scene, Lu Xiangjiu, standing nearby, said, "Boss, distilling wine requires a slow fire and gentle steaming to draw out all the alcohol vapors. If the fire is too strong, it evaporates too quickly, and no wine comes out at all."

A large wok, seven chi in diameter, sat on the stove, but only its rim was visible from outside. This was because a large wooden barrel, just over five chi wide, was fitted over the wok, completely encasing it. The barrel was perfectly tight-fitting; the seams where the planks joined were smoothed over with some material, and the outside was wrapped in several layers of thick cloth.

In the upper half of this large barrel, several small openings had been cut, from which a few copper pipes extended. Directly above the large barrel sat a shallow, wide wok, and a wooden ladder frame stood beside it.

"The big wok on the bottom is called the earth wok. The barrel in the middle is the steaming barrel. The one on top is the heaven wok. In a moment, we'll spread the fermented mash and starter evenly over the earth wok, then steam it slowly over a low fire. The alcohol vapor rises. The heaven wok is filled with cold water. The vapor condenses into liquid on the heaven wok, drips down onto the collection tray suspended beneath it, and then flows out through the copper pipes. That's how the wine is made," Lu Xiangjiu explained in great detail.

Zhao Jin listened with intense concentration. Behind him, his companions wore expressions of having their eyes opened to a whole new world. Though Lu Xiangjiu's face remained respectful, inwardly he felt quite awkward. Isn't this just a bunch of kids playing around? What kind of price can you get for wine made from sorghum? This is pure foolishness. Still, Lu Xiangjiu had long since figured things out: whoever pays the bills is the boss. Just serve them honestly and be done with it.

Over by the stove, Su Da placed his hand on the steaming barrel, glanced down at the fire in the stove, and looked up. "Boss, we can start distilling now."

Lu Xiangjiu saw Zhao Jin nod and immediately shouted, "Lift the steaming barrel! Load the mash! Watch the incense stick outside — when it burns out, go draw water from the well outside!"

The steaming barrel had wooden poles attached. Several apprentices moved over, shouted a work chant, and heaved together, lifting the barrel. People were already prepared beside the earth wok, and they poured bucket after bucket of the fermented mash and starter into the large steaming tray inside the earth wok. Once it was mostly full, they used a wooden rake to spread the mash level.

Someone also noticed an incense burner placed in a dry, sheltered spot. The incense stick inside was not the usual kind; it was about a third shorter than the standard incense sticks used in household burners.

Chanting work songs, they lowered the steaming barrel back down and carefully wrapped the pre-prepared damp cloths around the joint between the barrel and the earth wok to prevent steam from escaping. The incense stick soon burned out, and the apprentices hurriedly grabbed their shoulder poles to fetch water.

"Boss, with the weather this hot, if the water arrives too early, it just gets warm and no wine will come out. We have to wait until the heat is just right before adding water to the heaven wok. That's the only way it works," Lu Xiangjiu explained.

After saying this, he noticed Zhao Jin was staring intently at the heaven wok. Lu Xiangjiu thought to himself, wondering how long it would be before this novelty wore off.

Someone had been watching the steaming barrel the whole time. By the time the fifth person came in carrying water, steam was beginning to seep from the upper part of the barrel. Su Da shouted, "Add water!"

Immediately, an apprentice scrambled up the wooden ladder. Passing buckets hand over hand, they poured bucket after bucket of ice-cold well water into the heaven wok.

"It's full!" came the shout. The passing of buckets stopped below, but someone handed a wooden stick up to the apprentice on the ladder.

"The heat from below warms the cold water quickly. You have to keep stirring it to make it last longer," Lu Xiangjiu explained again. Outside, more people were carrying in firewood. Su Da stood by the stove, watching the fire, occasionally ordering more fuel or adjusting the bellows' pace.

Four copper pipes extended from the upper half of the steaming barrel. Beneath each pipe, a wine jar had already been placed.

Although the workshop's ventilation was decent, the heat was still oppressive. Everyone inside was working stripped to the waist. Zhao Jin and his group, except for Wang Zhaojing, had also taken off their shirts.

"The wine's coming out!" someone shouted. Everyone in the workshop, from top to bottom, showed excited expressions. How long the workshop could last was uncertain, and whether the wine they brewed would taste any good was hard to say. But after all, they had rebuilt it from ruins, working from nothing to something for so long. Seeing the wine liquid flow from the copper pipes, they all felt a sense of accomplishment.