Chapter 958: Bought (Thanks to the book friend "Becky" for the reward)
Koko told her a number. Manbao turned it over and read it. After a while, he fell silent. "Just this one sentence?"
Koko said: "It's two sentences."
Manbao: ...
"Are these the only two sentences in this book about wine?"
"Host, you can read other books."
Manbao looked at the book and said, "As early as ancient times, humans have recorded the existence of various alcoholic beverages. In a book called "Wandering Talks, Continued Talks", it is recorded that 'today, all places have liquor, and the most authentic ones are made from sorghum. The Peijiu, Lujiu, and Fenjiu in the north are all made from sorghum.'..."
Manbao was stunned to see only these two sentences. She turned to the front of the book to look at the title - Research on Scenery in Ancient Times.
Manbao flipped the book over, sighed loudly, and started to read other books.
All three books have a small section involving alcohol. The most detailed section discusses whether a dynasty had distilled liquor, because the method of making shochu recorded in history is "fill the jar with wine, put mud on it, and burn it with fire until it is cooked, otherwise it is not drinkable"; but in fact, since ancient times, shochu has been generally considered to be distilled liquor.
Manbao touched his chin and asked, "What is distilled liquor?"
Koko said, "This is a definition. You don't need to buy the book. I can help you search it."
After that, he retrieved the distilled liquor and showed it to her.
Manbao saw the two long pages of entries and said happily, "Oh my! Isn't it explained very clearly above? This entry is even more detailed than what's written in the book."
Manbao flipped to the end and even saw the specific recipes of two wines listed.
Manbao was so happy that she wrote it down confidently. As she wrote, she felt something was wrong. First of all, what was this instrument, this distiller?
Also, what is corn?
She knew about sorghum and wheat, but why did so much sorghum, wheat and corn only make such a small amount of wine?
Manbao became conflicted, stopped writing, and looked at the three books again.
Manbao stayed up late to read the book, and brought it to the pharmacy the next day. She took it out to read when there were no patients. After reading the book that described the most about alcohol, she finally understood something.
So after returning home that afternoon, Manbao sat across from Mr. Zhuang and asked, "Sir, you love drinking, and many people in the world love drinking, so why don't restaurants and wine shops sell more wine?"
Mr. Zhuang said, "Wine is expensive. Who can afford to drink it every day?"
"They're all made from grain. Wouldn't it be cheaper if we brew more?"
Mr. Zhuang laughed and said, "There are still many people in the world who don't have enough to eat, and the borders are unstable. How can we make more wine?"
Manbao asked, "Poor people object to brewing wine?"
Mr. Zhuang nodded slightly. "Not only the poor, but also many ministers in the court and His Majesty will not encourage private brewing. If too much brewing is done, grain prices will also rise. However, the court has also relaxed its requirements on this and will not prevent private brewing."
Manbao thought for a moment and asked, "Sir, what do you think of my brewing?"
Mr. Zhuang looked at her and asked, "Can you make wine?"
"I don't know now, I'll learn."
Mr. Zhuang waved his hand and said, "If you want to learn, then go ahead. There are many people making wine in this world, and one less or one more won't make a difference."
"What if I figure out a really powerful brewing method that makes a really strong brew, but uses a lot of grain?"
Mr. Zhuang: "Then you must hide the recipe well. If you spread it out, the poor people in the world will hate you to death."
Manbao was disappointed. "Forget it, I'll try to find a way to brew wine that doesn't require grain."
Mr. Zhuang laughed heartily and asked, "Is there such a wine in the world?"
"Yes, it's wine, isn't it? Shopkeeper Zheng was showing off to us today that he just got a bottle of wine." Manbao's eyes lit up, "Yes, I can make wine."
Mr. Zhuang: ...
He felt that this disciple was acting on impulse, so he waved his hand and said, "First, find out how to make wine, and then think about where to find grapes."
Manbao muttered, "The land price in Chang'an must be high, so if I want to grow grapes, I have to go back home. But if I grow grapes at home, I can only make wine at home. After the wine is brewed, I have to transport it to the capital. It's too far..."
Manbao was in a dilemma.
Mr. Zhuang shook his head, picked up the book and read it, saying lightly: "The class is not in session yet. If you don't take a nap, you will feel sleepy soon."
Manbao ran to his room.
Manbao was conflicted, but Zhou Wulang was not. Since he had already decided to buy this big shop, he set his sights on it and went all out.
He invited the owner to negotiate for two consecutive days. With the efforts of him and the broker, he finally reduced the price to two thousand eight hundred taels. They found a middleman to go to the yamen to sign the contract and make the handover. Zhou Wulang also bought all the furniture, kitchen utensils, etc. in the shop for twenty taels of silver.
The former owner kept shaking his head, saying that he had suffered a huge loss.
Zhou Wulang then said with a smile, "Master Yuan, the tables and chairs in the restaurant are all old and not very good. You won't be able to sell them. But it's not difficult for us to buy new tables and chairs for ourselves. A set of them won't cost much. Calculate how much it will cost including the counter?"
The original owner said, "Master Zhou Wu, my table and stools are all made of good wood. If you buy some inferior wood, you will naturally not spend much money."
"We didn't intend to make expensive meals, so the tables and chairs don't need to be very good. I paid for all of this because I thought it would be inconvenient for Mr. Yuan to move these things up and down. If you feel you're at a disadvantage, you can always move away."
Zhou Wulang had always been somewhat unhappy because he had inflated the price he charged them, but it was just that they were attracted by the shop, otherwise he would not have done business with him.
How can you do business like this? You took advantage of them because they were from outside the area and charged them 400 taels more than others. This is too much.
Four hundred taels was enough for him to buy four shops in his own county town.
The original owner fell silent. Of course, it was impossible for him to move the things away. He really lost money. The wood he had was really good wood. But as Zhou Wulang said, he didn't necessarily take advantage of him, because he could buy brand new tables, chairs and counters with twenty taels, although the wood might not be good.
But if the people who come to the restaurant to eat are not particularly rich, they will not care about this.
The former owner sighed and handed over the work to Zhou Wulang. In front of everyone, Zhou Wulang nodded to Zhou Lijun who was following him. Zhou Lijun went out and waved his hand. Zhou Liulang then brought Zhou Lizhong and carried a rattan box in. Then he went out and carried another one in.
Then I opened it, and there was white silver on it. I opened another one, and there was some gold on it, and the rest was white silver.
Not only the former owner, but also the officials in the county government were stunned. Did they want to settle the transaction on the spot?
(End of this chapter)
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