Shopkeeper Zhou and Zhou Daqing had no idea that it was really Miss Xu. They were both a little excited. Ever since Zhou Daqing had sent Miss Xu and her family to Yuanbao Town, even though they knew that Miss Xu lived in Yuanbao Town, the father and son had no nerve to bother her. They felt that their intentions were too obvious if they came to her house like this.
"Miss Xu, why are you here?" Shopkeeper Zhou greeted her with a smile.
Xu Qinyu turned around when she heard the sound and saw that it was Shopkeeper Zhou. She also stood up. "Shopkeeper Zhou, Chef Zhou, I hope you are doing well these days. I came here today because I have something I want to discuss with you."
She also directly stated her purpose, saying that she had brewed a lot of wine recently, but it was not easy to sell in the town, so she came to Raozhou City to see if she could open up sales channels in the city. She also said that she specifically wanted to ask the shopkeeper next week whether he thought the wine was easy to sell and how it should be sold.
After that, she opened a bottle of wine.
These small wine bottles still use wooden corks at the bottle mouth, and these corks also cost some silver.
The cork is then wrapped in wine paper and tied with silk. Pull open the silk ribbon, and there is a circle of hemp rope. Cut the hemp rope, tear open the wine paper, pull out the cork, and the sweet, light aroma of fruit wine will overflow.
Tie Niu was very considerate and went to wash a few wine cups.
The washed wine cups were wiped clean and handed over. The cups were small, also made of white porcelain, and a bottle of fruit wine could be poured into four or five cups. Xu Qinyu poured the wine into the cups. The wine she brewed herself only contained fruit pigments, so the wine was a pink, not too dark. It was a beautiful pink, and when poured into the white porcelain cups, it was very pleasing to the eye.
Xu Qinyu asked Manager Zhou and others to try it, and even Tie Niu got one.
He took a sip cautiously, and the first sip was fruity and sweet and sour. After this taste, there was a faint taste of wine. Even the wine tasted not astringent, only the aroma of wine. There were three distinct levels, fruity, sweet and sour, and the aroma of wine. However, Tie Niu did not understand the levels of wine, and only praised, "It tastes so good!" Then he could not help but drank the wine in the wine cup.
After tasting it, Shopkeeper Zhou couldn't help but praise it, "It tastes good."
In fact, there are fruit wines here, plum wine and osmanthus wine, one is fruit wine and the other is flower wine. The prices of the two wines are not low. The taste of the wine is stronger and has a kind of astringent taste, which is the taste of the wine itself. But the wine brewed by Manager Zhou and Miss Xu does not have this astringent feeling, and the taste of the wine is not strong. Only at the end of the drink can there be a hint of wine in the mouth. He doesn't know how to describe it, he just thinks it tastes good, but unlike plum wine and osmanthus wine, this kind of fruit wine is actually more suitable for the elderly, women, children, or people who don't like spirits.
Shopkeeper Zhou prefers spirits, but this wine feels more like a drink to him. Anyway, he likes to drink it, and no one should dislike the taste. However, those who like spirits only drink it as a drink.
Chef Zhou doesn't drink alcohol, but he thinks this wine tastes just right, not astringent at all, and is especially delicious.
Xu Qinyu also knew that plum wine and osmanthus wine existed in this era, but wine had not yet appeared in the Great Prosperity. It was also because grapes were introduced here and were expensive that no one thought of using them to make wine. No one had used wild grapes to make wine before.
She said, "I plan to sell this wine for one or two taels of silver per bottle."
One bottle weighs about one kilogram.
Shopkeeper Zhou nodded. "The price is not low, but it's not too expensive either."
The price is similar to those plum wines and osmanthus wines, but the taste is better than those plum wines. He thinks it should be easy to sell if he finds the right market channel. These fruit wines are not originally sold to ordinary people.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "I just don't know how to open up this sales channel, so I thought I could sell it on consignment with Shopkeeper Zhou first. For every bottle I sell, I'll give Shopkeeper Zhou fifty coins as commission. What do you think, Shopkeeper Zhou?"
Shopkeeper Zhou waved his hand hurriedly, "Young lady, you don't have to pay me. This wine tastes good, and I'm sure someone will buy it. It will also bring customers to my inn. Naturally, there's no need to pay me commission for your wine."
Xu Qinyu still insisted, she said: "This is a business, brothers have to settle accounts clearly, and commissions must be paid."
After some negotiation, Manager Zhou finally accepted it, but he was only willing to take a commission of forty cents per bottle.
After discussing this, Xu Qinyu discovered that the guests of the inn were still out for breakfast, because it was just time for breakfast. She, Cheng Ge'er and Feng Ge'er got up early in the morning and left the town early, so it was almost breakfast time when they arrived in Raozhou City.
She used to sell breakfast and dinner at the inn, and happened to teach Chef Zhou. A year has passed, but Chef Zhou hasn't improved the inn's food business yet, okay?
It's impossible that a year has passed and Chef Zhou still hasn't mastered the dishes she made?
Xu Qinyu couldn't help but ask, "Manager Zhou, didn't I teach Brother Zhou a few dishes before? Why is the breakfast business at the inn still..."
Chef Zhou, standing behind Shopkeeper Zhou, scratched his head and said, "Mrs. Xu is my master in my heart. Without her approval, I naturally cannot use the dishes she taught me to make a profit for my own family. Therefore, I have never cooked those dishes in the inn..."
The dishes they made were all the ones they knew how to make before. The taste was average and it was not something new. Naturally, diners did not want to stay in the inn to eat.
Xu Qinyu was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect that the father and son of the Zhou family were so honest.
She couldn't help but say, "Actually, when I taught Brother Zhou those dishes, I did so so he could make them for the diners. Shopkeeper Zhou, don't worry, Brother Zhou, since you know how to make these dishes, you can start making them at the inn as well. That way, more diners will come, and perhaps more people will buy wine too."
Shopkeeper Zhou and Zhou Daqing thanked him repeatedly.
Xu Qinyu and Cheng Ge'er had not had breakfast yet, so Zhou Daqing went to the kitchen to cook some fish porridge. Although he had never sold these foods in the inn, he often made them for his family.
When the porridge with raw fish fillets was served, Xu Qinyu found it quite good, with good color and aroma. She tasted it and found the fish fillets fresh and tender without any fishy smell, and the rice porridge was thick, but the cooking time and seasoning were still a little lacking.
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Not bad. It would be even better if you paid more attention to the heat and seasoning."
Zhou Daqing said that he would work harder, but he actually had a feeling that this was the limit of what he could do. He followed the cooking temperature and seasoning ratios exactly as Miss Xu did, but the taste could not compare to what Xu Xiaoliang made. It was really that Miss Xu's culinary talent was too terrifying.
After breakfast, Xu Qinyu took the remaining thirty bottles of wine from the carriage and asked Manager Zhou to put them in the inn first. Before she came, she didn't know whether the cooperation could be concluded, so she didn't bring much wine. She planned to ask Cheng Ge'er to send the first batch of wine over after the deal was concluded.
After putting down the wine, Xu Qinyu said a few words to Manager Zhou and Chef Zhou, and planned to return to Yuanbao Town.
Shopkeeper Zhou suddenly thought of something and said to Xu Qinyu, "Miss Xu, please wait a little longer. I remember that Madam Lu's family will have a family banquet in about half a month. They will invite the ladies of Raozhou City to their house to enjoy the flowers and drink wine. I will send all these wines to Madam Lu's house later. If they catch Madam Lu's eye, these wines will sell well."
In fact, he thought that Mrs. Lu would definitely like to drink such delicious wine.
Mrs. Lu?
Xu Qinyu naturally didn't know her, so she couldn't help but ask, "Who is this Madam Lu?"
Shopkeeper Zhou explained Madam Lu's origins. Madam Lu was a widow, but she was actually a royal relative, a descendant of the brothers of the wife of the founding emperor Taizu.
It's been almost three hundred years since Emperor Taizu conquered the world. He was a brother of Taizu's wife's family, so naturally several generations have passed. However, he was already a duke at that time. Even if the Lu family was in the limelight three hundred years ago, after three hundred years, that lineage should be just an ordinary duke.
The father of this Mrs. Lu was the hereditary Duke of Lu, and he also had a fiefdom. The fiefdom was not in the southwest, but was quite far away.
This Madam Lu was the eldest daughter of the Duke of Lu. She fell in love with Shi Ling, the son of the leader of a caravan that was going to her fiefdom for business. Shi Ling was just twenty years old and had a handsome appearance. Madam Lu fell in love with Shi Ling at first sight.
The Duke of Lu did not want his eldest daughter to marry down at first, but his eldest daughter made a big fuss, so the Duke of Lu had no choice but to agree.
Unexpectedly, Shi Ling was really ungrateful. Originally, his family only had a small caravan, but since he relied on the name and connections of the Lu family, the caravan became bigger and bigger and made a lot of money, so he began to think about taking a concubine.
Mrs. Lu was reluctant at first, but was later coaxed by Shi Ling to agree to let the concubine into the house. However, she never expected that the concubine was cruel and made some mischief during Mrs. Lu's pregnancy and delivery. Mrs. Lu almost lost both her life and her child. The child died at birth, and she was also injured and unable to give birth again.
Mrs. Lu later found out that her difficult labor was not an accident, but was caused by the concubine in her family. She also found out that her husband Shi Ling and the concubine had not known each other for the past two years, but had been planning to get married long before her.
Mrs. Lu did not use her status to force Shi Ling at the beginning. She asked Shi Ling if he had any wives or concubines at home, or if he had anyone to marry. She said that she liked him, and if he had no wives or concubines or fiancée, she would be willing to marry him.
It was Shi Ling himself who coveted the Lu family's status and position, but after he married Mrs. Lu and the Shi family became prosperous, he found ways to bring the person he had loved into his home as a concubine.
The woman thought that Madam Lu had taken advantage of the Lu family's status to force Shi Ling to marry a girl from the Lu family. She hated Madam Lu and took action when Madam Lu was pregnant and giving birth.
After finding out this, Mrs. Lu reported the matter to the authorities, and the woman was arrested. This crime was punishable by exile, and the woman died on the way to exile.
Shi Ling excused himself completely, and Mrs. Lu didn't say anything later and continued to live with Shi Ling.
Shi Ling had no children, but he didn't dare mention the matter of taking a concubine to Madam Lu.
Less than half a year later, Shi Ling encountered robbers while doing business and died in an accident outside.
Originally, Shi Ling had a father and other brothers. Even if Shi Ling was gone, the Shi family's caravan should belong to the Shi family.
But Madam Lu also had good tactics. After Shi Ling died, she made everyone in the Shi family caravan listen to her and follow her.
I heard that the Shi family was in turmoil for a while, but later they probably couldn't stay in Raozhou anymore, so they moved away and their whereabouts are unknown.
Later, Mrs. Lu didn't want to go back to her parents' home. She probably had come to terms with it and didn't want to get married again, so she used her connections and spent money to set up her own business. She had no children, but she had a caravan and could earn a lot every year. She lived a comfortable and leisurely life.
The feud between Mrs. Lu and the Shi family happened more than ten years ago.
Mrs. Lu is about thirty-eight or thirty-nine years old now.
Xu Qinyu was a little stunned after listening to this. This was even more exciting than the books written outside. This Madam Lu must have some tricks, otherwise she wouldn't have made everyone in the caravan listen to her and follow her in the end.
Since Manager Zhou said he would help her deliver the wine to Madam Lu's house for a trial, Xu Qinyu decided to wait a while. Manager Zhou asked his son to clean up two top-grade guest rooms. Xu Qinyu would stay in one room alone for a while, while Cheng Ge'er and Feng Ge'er would go to the other room to rest first.
Manager Zhou drove the carriage to Lu Mansion with wine.
The Lu Mansion was a five-courtyard house where Mrs. Lu and some servants lived.
When Manager Zhou arrived, he stopped his carriage and knocked on the door. An old maid opened the door and asked him what he wanted.
Shopkeeper Zhou introduced himself and said that he had received some wine. He knew that Madam Lu would be entertaining the ladies in the city for a banquet to enjoy flowers and wine in a few days, so he came to offer to deliver the wine. Then he turned around and took down ten bottles of fruit wine from the carriage and gave them to the old nanny.
The old nanny held the wine and said she understood, and asked Manager Zhou to go back and wait for news.
The people who served Madam Lu were all her confidants, and they would never hide anything. Even if they got the ten bottles of wine, they would not keep them for themselves, because Manager Zhou was just a small manager of an inn. Without the notification of the servants, there was no way he could get to Madam Lu. Even if the servants kept the ten bottles of fruit wine for themselves, neither Manager Zhou nor Madam Lu would know.
But the nanny didn't dare to do that. Although Madam Lu seemed lazy and easy to talk to on weekdays, she was very powerful when it came to selling out her servants who were secretly disobeying her.
So the old nanny didn't dare to delay after receiving the ten bottles of fruit wine and immediately sent them to Mrs. Lu's yard.
Madam Lu was not short of money. She had a father who was the Duke of the State above her. She had no husband or in-laws, and there were people to help take care of her at the caravan. She ate, drank, admired the flowers and plants, and had some wine every day. Her life was so leisurely. She looked to be in her early thirties, with fair skin and still charming. She had just finished breakfast. She was rich, and the chefs in the mansion were specially hired to serve her. At this moment, Madam Lu was lying on a rattan chair in the yard taking a nap. A maid was fanning her gently, and there was also a little maid massaging her legs.
Although autumn has just begun, it is still a bit stuffy from morning to noon due to the strong autumn heat these days.
Madam Lu was taking a nap. After a while, the nanny guarding the courtyard gate came in and whispered to the two maids, "The gatekeeper said someone outside sent some wine as a tribute to our madam. Is the madam asleep? Should I bring the wine in first?"
Mrs. Lu was not asleep. She heard what Mammy said, opened her eyes and said, "Ask the concierge to bring in the fruit wine."
The fruit wines she usually drank were plum wine and osmanthus wine, and these were mostly the ones she used to entertain the ladies who came to the house. This was the first time she had heard of wine.
The nanny guarding the gatehouse quickly came in with some fruit wine.
Without Mrs. Lu's instructions, one of the maids went to get the wine cups.
Even the wine cups that Mrs. Lu used were made of white jade. They were icy cool to the touch and were perfect for drinking in hot weather.
Madam Lu took the fruit wine from Madam's hand and looked at the bottle. It was just ordinary white porcelain with a few words engraved on it. "Xu Ji?" This must be the wine brewed by Xu Ji. The bottle looked ordinary, so I wondered what it tasted like. Madam Lu didn't have to do it herself. The little maid had already opened the bottle, and a faint fruity aroma and wine aroma immediately wafted out.
Mrs. Lu couldn't help but straighten her back. She thought the fragrance was good and it spread quickly.
When the little maid poured the fruit wine into the white jade wine cup, the color of the fruit wine was pink, and the pink and white jade colors intertwined together, which looked very beautiful.
Picking up the white jade wine cup, Mrs. Lu took a sip and couldn't help but raised her eyebrows.
She was accustomed to delicacies from land and sea, and had tasted many fine wines. She could tell from the first sip that this wine was special. The first was the fruity aroma, then the sweet and sour taste. Finally, after swallowing it, the last trace of the wine aroma remained in her mouth, without any astringency. She immediately asked, "Who sent this wine?"
The maid at the gate said, "He's the owner of the Bafang Inn. He said his last name is Zhou, and he said he didn't have much wine. He knew you'd be entertaining guests soon, so he offered himself."
Mrs. Lu immediately said, "Go and ask the owner of the Bafang Inn to come over."
…
It was almost noon when Xu Qinyu heard a knock on the door. It was Manager Zhou asking her to go to Madam Lu's house.
It turned out that not long after Manager Zhou came back, a servant from Madam Lu's house came over and said that Madam Lu wanted to see him.
Manager Zhou said that the person who brewed these grapes was also in the inn, and asked if they could go to the mansion together.
The servant naturally said yes.
Xu Qinyu knew that if Mrs. Lu took a fancy to this, it would be a big deal.
She has a lot of wine. In the past two months, Gongger took a few children to the mountains to pick wild grapes when they had time. She has been brewing for two months, and the wild grapes on the mountain have not been picked yet. Although she has limited manpower, she has brewed a lot. In total, she has brewed almost 300 jars of wine. One jar of wine can be divided into seven or eight bottles, so there are more than 2,000 bottles in total. She kept some for herself to drink and put some in the restaurant, so there are almost 2,000 bottles left.
Three hundred jars of wine were not enough to hold them all in the backyard of her restaurant. Some of them were placed in Guihua Lane, and some were even placed in Cheng Ge'er's home.
Cheng Ge'er and Xu Feng also had to go, probably because they were afraid that she would be bullied.
Finally, the four of them drove the carriage behind Mrs. Lu's servant's carriage and soon arrived at Lu's house.
As the old nanny entered the house, Xu Qinyu saw the exquisite carvings on the screen wall inside the house, as well as the beautiful winding corridors. The yard under the corridors was full of flowers and plants. At this time of year, the flowers and plants were in full bloom, colorful and beautiful.
Xu Qinyu looked a little envious, she also wanted a big house like this.
After walking for a while, they finally arrived at the main courtyard where Madam Lu lived. When Xu Qinyu saw Madam Lu, she knew that she was a lady who knew how to enjoy life and didn't care much about what outsiders thought.
If it were in modern times, Mrs. Lu would be envied by countless people. She is rich, has free time, and has no man. In fact, it is not that she has no man. After listening to Mrs. Lu's story, Xu Qinyu felt that there must be a lover of Mrs. Lu in the caravan, and he must be a very capable one. Otherwise, she was just a woman in the harem at the beginning, and it would be impossible for everyone in the caravan to listen to her and be willing to follow her.
But for Xu Qinyu, these have nothing to do with her. Madam Lu has not remarried in all these years, which shows that she is very clear-headed.
The people here have different ideas from most women in later generations. People of this era would think that no matter how rich Mrs. Lu is, she doesn't even have a husband and children, and she will have no one to rely on in the future.
Mrs. Lu was born with a good appearance and has taken good care of herself over the years. She looks fair-skinned, beautiful and charming.
When she saw Xu Qinyu and Cheng Ge'er, Madam Lu was a little curious. Why did Shopkeeper Zhou come with his family? She thought Xu Qinyu and Cheng Ge'er were Shopkeeper Zhou's children.
Shopkeeper Zhou then hurriedly said, "Greetings, Madam. The wine just delivered was brewed by this Miss Xu. She is considered my son's master. He learned a few cooking techniques from her."
Such a young cook?
Mrs. Lu was stunned for a moment, but she didn't care too much about Xu Qinyu's cooking skills.
She simply asked Xu Qinyu how many bottles of wine she had and how much they cost.
Xu Qinyu answered truthfully, saying that there were still about 2,000 bottles at home, and each bottle was sold for one tael of silver.
Madam Lu didn't even think about it and said to Xu Qinyu, "I want both of these 2,000 bottles of wine. Just have someone deliver them to my house in the next few days."
Xu Qinyu said, "The second fermentation of the last batch of wine has not yet been completed. The last batch of about 500 bottles will need to wait about ten days. The rest can be sent to Madam's residence first."
Mrs. Lu naturally agreed.
The two chatted casually. Mrs. Lu was quite curious about how these wines were brewed and wanted to buy the wine recipe from Xu Qinyu. Xu Qinyu told Mrs. Lu the truth, "To be honest, madam, this recipe is actually very simple, but the taste of the wine produced in the end is definitely not as good as mine."
Even though Cheng Ge'er and his team did all the chores like washing grapes, she only had to mix the ratio of grapes to rock sugar. Cheng Ge'er and his team also did the jar filling. However, after the first fermentation, when is the best time to open the jar and transfer it to the bottle for the second fermentation? If others were told the time, they would only get an approximate time. But she fermented the second time based on the taste.
It’s because the fermentation time was not optimal the first time, so it tastes astringent.
Mrs. Lu was a little surprised, and in the end, she didn't know whether she believed Xu Qinyu's words. She discussed with Xu Qinyu that she could make more wine, and she would let her caravan transport the wine to other wealthy provincial capitals, where it could be sold at a higher price.
Mrs. Lu had no intention of having the caravan send these two thousand bottles of wine to other places to sell them at a high price to make money. She planned to keep them for herself to drink and to use to entertain guests.
This wine tastes much better than plum wine and osmanthus wine. If it can be produced in large quantities, it will be very profitable.
But Xu Qinyu knew very well that it was a bit difficult to brew a large amount.
She talked about her current situation, saying that they were short of space and manpower, and that even if they tried their best this year, they could only produce these two thousand bottles. She also said that the wild grapes on the mountain were basically gone, and after selling these two thousand bottles, she would not be able to make wine this year.
Madam Lu smiled and said, "You don't have enough manpower and space, but I can. Even if I can't brew it this year, I can come back next year. How about we start this business together again next year? I'll provide the manpower and space, and Madam Xu can just provide the recipe."
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