The sky was not yet dawn, foggy, and the early morning style was cool.

Du Zhongxiao and Han Lian picked up a pair of burdens and walked on the streets of the county seat. The mist wet the hair, mixed with beads of sweat on the face, and it was wet. Their steps hurried, and the sound of footsteps shattered the silence of the early morning.

"Yaojiazhengdian" is in the north of the city, and like "Qixiangju", it is one of the two large restaurants that can make wine. Unlike "Qixiangju", which is the ancestral industry of the Wu family, "Yaojiazhengdian" has been open for less than ten years, and the owner is from other places.

Seeing that there was no one in front of the "Yao Family Store", Han Lian breathed a sigh of relief and said to Du Zhongxiao beside him: "It's okay, it's okay, we came early enough, and there are no people who drink on credit yet." ”

When a foot shop that sells liquor comes to buy sake lees, it will inevitably arouse suspicion from others. Although it is impossible to hide the production of sake from sake lees, the less people know about it, the better, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

In front of the restaurant, Han Lian put down his burden and said to Du Zhongxiao: "Take a break and wait for the restaurant to open." I recognize Director Tang inside, he gets up early every day, and it is time to open the door after a while. ”

Du Zhongxiao agreed, and was about to put down his burden and sit down, but he heard a "squeak", and the small corner door behind him opened.

A middle-aged man came out of it, saw Han Lian sitting there, and hurriedly said, "Shopkeeper Han, why are you sitting here?" I have already told you yesterday that the proprietor has instructed that he will not give you liquor on credit. How dare I disobey the owner's commands? It's useless for you to come early. ”

Han Lian hurriedly got up and saluted, "The supervisor misunderstood, I didn't come to drink on credit today." ”

"So what do you do early in the morning? I see you carrying your burden. ”

Han Lian said, "Director, we want to buy the sake lees in your store." ”

Director Tang was taken aback: "What are you buying sake lees for?" Let me tell you that there has long been a rule in Linying County that wine farmers are not allowed to make vinegar, and wine lees are useless. If you have the idea of buying sake lees and going back to make vinegar, I advise you to put out this thought as soon as possible, and the county is not a trick to investigate it. ”

The monopoly of vinegar is chaotic everywhere, and in some places it is allowed to buy sake lees to make vinegar, and there are even states and counties that serve sake lees. Linying is different, because the official wine warehouse is well operated, and its distiller's lees vinegar is a lot of income. In order to maintain the price of vinegar and ensure the minister's money of the county officials, no households are allowed to make vinegar. As a result, the lees of the two folk restaurants became useless and could only be thrown away in vain.

Du Lian forked his hand: "Don't worry, supervisor, I am a good citizen, how could I do that forbidden thing?" I have other uses for buying sake lees. ”

Director Tang nodded, and said after a while: "As long as you don't break the ban, I can naturally sell it to you." It's just that the lees of the restaurant in this county haven't been sold for many years, and I don't know how much price is appropriate. How much are you going to buy? ”

Hearing that there was a door, Du Zhongxiao hurriedly said: "Director, we also inquired yesterday, there is a restaurant in the state city that sells sake lees, which is less than a penny and a catty." We are a small county in Linying, and naturally we can't compare with the state city. Besides, the county can't make vinegar, and the price should be lower. You see, it's just two catties per penny, how about we buy two loads? ”

Director Tang nodded. Those who open restaurants are naturally familiar with the industry in the state. There are restaurants in Xuzhou City that sell sake lees and make vinegar for vinegar households, which is indeed less than a penny a catty. Du Zhongxiao and they bought it at a penny and two catties, and the price was reasonable.

After thinking about it, Director Tang called out two small servants and ordered Han Lian and Du Zhongxiao to load two loads of wine lees.

Han Lian calculated the money, and when he was leaving, Director Tang ordered again that he must not make vinegar and violate the ban.

The two of them carried the burden and walked away, and Han Liancai said: "Director Tang is also a good person, knowing that 'Qixiangju' is difficult for my foot shop, for fear that he can't help but violate the ban for a while, and he has repeatedly told him." But he didn't know that we were not making vinegar, but we were making wine! ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "This method is not easy to come by, where can others think of it." ”

Talking all the way, I arrived at Du Zhongxiao's house unconsciously.

At this time, it was not yet dawn, my mother was making breakfast, and my father Du Xun was standing alone in front of the door, looking at the sky and being distracted.

When he arrived at the door, Han Lian greeted Du Xun: "Is my brother in good health?" ”

Du Xun hurriedly returned the salute, knowing that it was the owner of the Han family's foot shop, and said: "My condition is almost cured in the state city, and when I returned to the county, I was mostly unwell because I was cold and hungry." After a day of rest at home, there is no big deal today. ”

"That's fine, that's fine." Han Lian said as he put down the burden on his shoulders.

Du Xun helped remove the wine lees, and Han Lian said goodbye and left, refusing to keep it again and again.

Looking at the back of Han Lian leaving, Du Xun said: "This old man is an informed and interesting person, knowing that it is not appropriate for him to watch our steamed wine, as soon as he unloads the lees, he leaves." He knows in his heart that he can have deep friendships. ”

My mother heard it and said with a smile: "In the first two months, our family made a living on braised sheep's trotters, and I don't know how much we sold in his shop, and we never made a mistake, no better than other people." The Han family is excellent, so why not believe it? ”

Du Xun nodded and did not speak. He was stimulated by this, and his personality changed a lot. Du Jiageng read heirlooms, before entering Beijing, Du Xun was familiar with poetry and books since he was a child, which was quite pretentious. After the blow of falling off the list, another serious illness, and wandering in front of life and death several times, what I think in my heart is very different from before.

Anyone who reads books is pretentious, especially after passing the liberation test, he doesn't want to enter the title of the Beijing Gold List and change his fate from then on. It wasn't until I really entered the capital, saw countless people who were like myself, and read the articles written by others, that I realized that I was a frog at the bottom of the well. In addition to the gathering of talents in the world, the broad-mindedness of the scholars there is also an important reason. People in a small place like Du Xun are naturally more than one step behind in terms of knowledge, and the idea of the article is not as good as others.

After this great difficulty, Du Xun understood that he would take the test several times and the result would be the same. Unless you leave your hometown, you can study for a few years in a place like Liangjing, where talents are concentrated, and make up for the lack of what you have learned before. Otherwise, the road of the imperial examination will be hopeless in this life.

Studying, taking exams, and traveling, all of them need money, and you can't be a beggar wandering around. Where does the money come from? Du Xun turned his head to look at the pile of wine lees next to him, and then looked at his son who was preparing in the shed, and sighed secretly. Now that he is sick, he can only rely on his son.

Du Zhongxiao went to the shed, lit the fire at the bottom of the stove, and began to boil water.

The most important thing in the distillation of liquor is the distiller's lees, and all flavors and aromas come from the distiller's lees, not from the liquor. Replacing the water in the pot with ordinary water wine can also steam out liquor, which is the incense method used by low-grade wine in his previous life. Steamed with cheap liquor and the lees eliminated from high-grade liquor, it is a slightly inferior wine. The lees of really good sake can be used several times, and the grade of the sake is lowered in turn.

But now there is not so much attention, as long as the wine is strong enough, what flavor, aroma is secondary. Baijiu is a new thing, as long as someone likes that hot feeling, they will not worry about selling it.

When the water boiled, my father and mother came to help, and piled two or three hundred pounds of sake lees on the retort.

After a breath of burning, the wine dripped out of the mouth.

Du Xun stepped forward to take a bite, and nodded after tasting it, before he was relieved. The wine didn't taste good, but the hot feeling in the mouth was not bad at all, and it was the spirit I drank yesterday.

Du Zhongxiao also tasted it, frowned and said, "This wine is too spicy and lacks softness." The wine tastes bad when it is first steamed, so after skimming the two catties, taste it again. ”

Lees liquor has the character of some rice wine, and the taste is relatively soft, so it shouldn't be so spicy. Du Zhongxiao also had a vague impression that the first thing that came out when steaming wine was not good wine, and it was difficult to taste. Relatively speaking, the first wine is too high, so it should be aged for a while before mixing it with other wines. In the end, the alcohol content is too low, the same quality is unstable, and the best ones are the ones in the middle.

After waiting for a while, I went to pick up the wine again, and it tasted much better.

It wasn't until the afternoon that all the sake from the lees bought in the morning was steamed, and there was about half a vat. Du Zhongxiao estimated that he was about forty or fifty pounds. More than 200 catties of sake lees produced so much wine, about five catties of sake lees produced one pound of wine.

Seal the vat, and see that the sun in the west has reached the top of the mountain.

At this time, the habit is two meals a day, and small families have not yet had the habit of eating lunch, and Du Zhongxiao has already adapted to it.

I didn't eat at noon, but I ate dinner very early, and my mother had already prepared dinner.

Du Xun also wanted to nourish his body, stewed a chicken, and Du Zhongxiao drank a bowl of chicken soup.

After eating, Du Zhongxiao said to his parents: "With wine to sell, these days I won't bother with sheep's feet." Early tomorrow morning, I will send the wine to the Hanjiajiao shop, and watch in the store to see how the wine sells. Look at the situation of the sale, and then determine the future livelihood. ”

Du Xun said: "Although you go to be busy with wine, the two of us will clean up at home." ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded. Although my father is not in good health, the work at home is still much better than his own. As long as you can run the liquor business with peace of mind, it will be the greatest help to the family.