Chapter 322 Net Profit of One Hundred and Eighty Taels
The setting sun filtered through the window lattice, drawing diamond-shaped patterns on the blue brick floor. Mrs. Li brought a basket of freshly roasted pumpkin seeds, while Xi Lanfang carried a clay pot to refill everyone's tea. Tu Subo listened to his uncle's excited talk about expanding the wine cellar and tucked a stray strand of hair from Gu Yuexuan's temples behind her ear.
As dusk deepened, Gu Yuexuan, feeling for the deed in her purse, walked toward the west wing. Moonlight streamed over the corn stacks drying in the sun, casting tiny shadows on her skirt. Tu Subo followed behind, lantern in hand, and suddenly chuckled, "Save the three copper coins. I'll buy you some Li's sesame cakes tomorrow morning."
Gu Yuexuan turned around and glared at him, but there was a smile in her eyes: "Five copper coins can buy two packs!" The night wind brought the faint aroma of wine from the winery, mixed with the moist soil smell of the rice fields, making people walk more lightly.
Tu Subo flicked the contract with his fingers, and the ink smudged slightly on the three words "pig farm". "Five hundred?"
Gu Yuexuan chuckled and tilted her head to look at his furrowed brows. "Do you know what a scene it would be if five hundred pigs charged at you?" She stretched out her five fingers and waved them in front of her eyes. "If they all came at you at once, their hooves would crush you into a pulp."
"Why would I fight a herd of pigs?" Tu Subo reluctantly grasped her rebellious hand, only to see the young woman collapse into his lap, laughing. Her black hair lay spread over her indigo trousers, and the wooden hairpin in her hair was half loose.
Gu Yuexuan looked up at the curve of his jaw, her fingertips tracing the indenture. "The winery currently produces three stone of wine dregs every day, raising a total of fifty piglets and ten oxen." She turned over, her temples matted with grass debris. "When spring comes, we'll reclaim the land on the south slope, and the cow and pig manure will be perfect for composting."
From outside the window came the sound of Tu Suminfei urging the horses and carriages, and the newly forged iron plowshares clanked against the carts. Tu Subo picked up the grass scraps from her hair and said, "If you keep going like this, you'll be too tired and thin next year."
"You can't lose weight!" Gu Yuexuan jumped up and pulled out a yellowed blueprint from the kang cabinet. "Look at this barn. Uncle San built a ground heating system with blue bricks. Burning firewood in winter can keep the livestock warm." The composting pond outlined in cinnabar on the blueprint was half an acre in size. "When spring comes, spread some fungus in the pond. The manure will be ready in March."
Tu Subo suddenly stuffed the purse back into her hand. The silver ingots pierced through the coarse cloth and said, "Keep it for new clothes."
"But you're investigating my father-in-law..." Gu Yuexuan clutched her purse and tried to resist, but he pressed her against the window. In the twilight, the granary's silhouette resembled a crouching beast.
"Food is more useful than money." Tu Subo's fingertips brushed the worn patch on her cuff. "The soldiers in Fangling Camp's eyes turn green when they see the new wheat." The aroma of steamed cakes wafted from the kitchen, mixed with the sweetness of newly brewed rice wine.
Gu Yuexuan suddenly remembered something and pulled a candy from her purse, stuffing it into his mouth. "Aunt Yu gave it to me yesterday. She said it was freshly brewed malt sugar from the winery." As the sweetness melted on her tongue, she counted on her fingers, "Fifty piglets were sent to the pen this spring, just in time for the second rice planting. I'm mixing the wine dregs with rice bran..."
Moonlight streamed through the window lattice, casting their shadows on the wall covered with Korean paper. From the backyard came the calls of Tu Suting as he tested a new plow; the muffled thud of iron breaking through the earth startled night owls. Gu Yuexuan hunched over her desk, writing and drawing, while Tu Subo sharpened his sickle by the oil lamp; the ink stain on the tip of her nose caught the eye on the blade.
When the clock struck midnight, Gu Yuexuan suddenly put down her pen. "What do you think we should call the farm if we raise five hundred pigs?" She drew circles on the table with her tea. "We can't call it the Tusu Pig Farm."
Tu Subo blew out the candles, and the moonlight flooded in like water. "How about calling it Fengnian Manor?" He took the drowsy man in his arms. "May the crops be abundant and the livestock be thriving."
When the cockcrowed three times, smoke from the burning fields rose from the southern slopes. Gu Yuexuan stood on the edge of a field, watching Tu Su Minyang lead the men with hoes. The freshly turned earth shone with oil, and the dregs from the winery bubbled in the composting pond. Fifty piglets rooted for food in the pen, their grunts startling sparrows from the branches.
Yu came over with a bamboo basket, delivering the meal. She lifted the cloth from the steamer to reveal freshly-cooked multi-grain buns. "Try it! They're steamed with some wine dregs." Gu Yuexuan took a bite and unexpectedly detected a hint of wine. Tu Subo pulled maltose wrapped in yellow talisman paper from his bosom and slipped it into her sleeve when no one was paying attention. It was time to make a red cloak for this girl after the first snow of winter fell.
Xi Lanfang laughed so hard that she fell backwards, and tapped Gu Yuexuan's nose with her fingertips: "Your second aunt is as loose as a sieve, but you got a bargain!" She pulled at the cuffs of Gu Yuexuan's orchid-embroidered sleeves, "Look at this material, it must be the best product from Jinxiufang, right?"
Li pulled Gu Yuexuan to sit on the elm bench, turned around and shouted towards the kitchen: "Her third uncle, why don't you take out your precious baby?" The firewood in the stove crackled, and Tu Suting strode over the threshold with a coarse pottery bowl in his hand, with wine dregs still stained on his clothes.
"What's the hurry?" He tilted his head back and drank the cold water in the bowl, then pulled out an oil-paper bag from his pocket. Unfolding the bag revealed a yellowed contract, with bright red fingerprints on the fresh ink. "Look here, little girl Xuan, has your Third Uncle ever treated you unfairly?"
Gu Yuexuan took the deed and paused as her fingertips traced the words "30% profit." On the day the distillery opened, she had merely described a distillation method she'd seen in a short video in her previous life. Who could have imagined Third Uncle could actually pull it off like this?
"This..." Her hands trembled as she held the deed. "Didn't you agree that I wouldn't get involved?"
Li stuffed a handful of pumpkin seeds into her hand and said with a smile, "Your grandfather has said that from now on, the public will only take 30% of the profits from the business managed by each family." She nodded at the bacon hanging under the eaves, "Just like this bacon, whoever smokes it owns it. It can't be in vain."
Tu Suting squatted on the doorstep and counted on his fingers: "The net profit of the first month is one hundred and eighty taels!" His rough knuckles were stained with yeast powder, "After the batch of sorghum wine in the cellar has passed the winter, the price will be doubled!" He waved his palm in front of Gu Yuexuan's eyes, startling the sparrows under the eaves and flying away.
Gu Yuexuan was about to speak when she felt a sudden warmth against her back. Tu Subo had appeared behind her, his palm firmly supporting her swaying body. "Did you pick up some gold ingots?"
"It's more valuable than gold ingots." The old grandfather walked out of the inner room holding his pipe, knocking the pipe against the sole of his shoe. "Xuan girl is now the owner of the winery. If you want to buy wine in the future, you have to look at her mood."
Tu Subo sat down at the other end of the bench, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees: "Mr. Gu, could you please be so kind as to give me some money for the wine?" His sleeves were stained with rice husks, and he still smelled of the sun in the threshing ground.
Gu Yuexuan blushed and raised three fingers: "Three copper coins at most."
"Three?" Tu Subo sighed in mock sorrow, "I'm afraid I can't even touch the wine jar."
Xi Lanfang grabbed a handful of melon seed shells and threw them over. "Don't push your luck, kid!" She turned and winked at Li. "I think we should let Xuan take care of the money box, so that some people won't have to go to the blacksmith shop all day and buy useless iron pieces."
Wind chimes tinkled beneath the eaves, and Tu Suting suddenly clapped his hands and laughed. "Wait, Xuan girl! Next month, Uncle San will make you a pair of silver bracelets!" He wiped his wine-stained hands on his collar, "They have to be inlaid with red agate, just like the most fashionable patterns in your second aunt's embroidery shop!"
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