Shopkeeper Zhou and Zhou Daqing had never imagined that it was really Miss Xu. Both of them were a little excited. Ever since Zhou Daqing had sent Miss Xu's family to Yuanbao Town, even though they knew that Miss Xu lived in Yuanbao Town, the father and son had the nerve to come and disturb her. They felt that their intentions were too obvious by coming to her house.

"Miss Xu, why are you here?" Shopkeeper Zhou greeted her with a smile.

Xu Qinyu turned around when she heard the voice and saw that it was Shopkeeper Zhou. She also stood up and said, "Shopkeeper Zhou, Chef Zhou, how have you been these days? I came here today because I have something I want to discuss with you."

She also directly stated her purpose of coming, 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 in the city. She also said that she specifically wanted to ask the shopkeeper next week whether he thought this wine was easy to sell and how to sell it.

After that, she opened a bottle of wine.

These small wine bottles still use wooden corks, which also cost some money.

The cork is then wrapped in wine paper and tied with satin. Pull open the 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 had already washed a few wine glasses and brought them over with great tact.

The washed wine cup was wiped clean and passed over. The wine cup was not big and was also made of white porcelain. A bottle of fruit wine could be poured into about four or five cups. Xu Qinyu poured the wine into the cup. The wine she brewed herself only had fruit pigments, so the wine was pink in color, not dark, a very beautiful pink color, poured into the white porcelain wine cup, it was very pleasing to the eye.

Xu Qinyu asked Manager Zhou and the others to taste it, and even Tie Niu got a cup.

He took a sip cautiously, and it tasted fruity and sweet and sour at first, followed by a faint smell of wine, without even a pungent taste of wine, only the aroma of wine. There were three distinct levels, fruity, sweet and sour, and the aroma of wine. However, Tieniu did not understand the levels of wine, and only praised it with one sentence, "It tastes so good!" Then he could not help but drank the wine in the glass.

After tasting it, the 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 both wines are not low, the taste of the wine is stronger, and there is a kind of astringent taste, which is the taste of the wine itself, but the wine brewed by Manager Zhou with Miss Xu does not have this astringent feeling, and the taste of the wine is not strong. Only when you drink it to the end will there be a hint of wine in your 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 strong liquor.

Shopkeeper Zhou prefers strong liquor, but he feels that drinking this wine is more like a drink. Anyway, he likes to drink it, so there should be no one who dislikes the taste. But those who like strong liquor only drink it as a drink.

Chef Zhou doesn't drink, but he thinks this wine tastes just right, not astringent at all and extremely delicious.

Xu Qinyu also knew that in this era, there were plum wine and osmanthus wine, and wine had not yet appeared in the Great Prosperity. It was because grapes were introduced here that they were expensive, and no one thought of using them to make wine. In the past, no one used wild grapes to make wine.

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. These fruit wines were 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 first consign it to Shopkeeper Zhou and give Shopkeeper Zhou a commission of fifty coins for each bottle sold. What do you think?"

Shopkeeper Zhou waved his hands hastily, "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, so you don't have 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 discussion, Manager Zhou finally accepted the offer, but he was only willing to take a commission of forty cents per bottle.

After discussing this, Xu Qinyu found that the guests of the inn were still going 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 as well. After a year, Chef Zhou hasn’t improved the food business at the Inn, has he?

It's impossible that a year has passed and Chef Zhou hasn't mastered the dishes she makes?

Xu Qinyu couldn't help but ask, "Manager Zhou, didn't I teach Brother Zhou how to cook a few dishes before? Why is the breakfast business at the inn still..."

Chef Zhou, who was standing behind Shopkeeper Zhou, scratched his head and said, "Ms. Xu is my master in my heart. Without my master's approval, I naturally cannot use the dishes my master taught me to make a profit for my family. Therefore, I have never cooked those dishes in the inn..."

What they cooked were all the same dishes they had made before. The taste was so-so and it wasn’t anything new. Naturally, diners didn’t 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, "In fact, I taught Brother Zhou those dishes so that he could cook them for the diners. Don't worry, Mr. Zhou and Brother Zhou, since you can cook these dishes, you can also cook them in the inn in the future. This way, more diners will come, and perhaps more people will buy wine."

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 and cooked 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 rolled fish slices was served, Xu Qinyu found it quite good, with good color and aroma. She tasted it and found the fish slices 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 better if you paid more attention to the heat and seasoning."

Zhou Daqing said that he would work harder, but he actually felt that this was the limit of what he could do. He followed Miss Xu's instructions on things like the heat and seasoning ratios, but the taste was no match for Xu Xiaoliang's. 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 guest inn. Before she came, she didn't know whether she could reach this cooperation agreement, so she didn't bring much wine. She planned to ask Cheng Ge'er to send the first batch of wine over after the agreement was reached.

After putting down the wine, Xu Qinyu said a few words to Manager Zhou and Chef Zhou, and planned to return to Yuanbao Town.

Manager Zhou suddenly thought of something and said to Xu Qinyu, "Miss Xu, you can wait a little longer. I remember that Madam Lu will have a family banquet in half a month. She will invite the ladies of Raozhou City to her house to enjoy flowers and wine. I will send all these wines to Madam Lu's house later. If Madam Lu likes them, these wines will be easy to sell."

In fact, he thought that Mrs. Lu would definitely love 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 then explained the origins of Madam Lu. Madam Lu was a widow, but actually she was also a royal relative, a descendant of the brothers of the wife of the founding emperor Taizu.

It has been nearly three hundred years since Emperor Taizu, who conquered the world, lived here. They were brothers from Taizu's wife's family, so naturally several generations had passed. However, they were already granted the title of Duke at that time. Even if the Lu family had been in the limelight three hundred years ago, after a lapse of three hundred years, that lineage should have been just an ordinary Duke.

The father of this Madam Lu was the Duke of Lu who inherited the title from hereditary succession and had a fiefdom. However, the fiefdom was not in the southwest but was quite far away.

This Lady Lu was the eldest daughter of the current 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 exactly twenty years old and had a handsome appearance. Lady Lu fell in love with Shi Ling at first sight.

The Duke of Lu did not want his eldest daughter to marry at first, but his eldest daughter made such a fuss that 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 they relied on the name and connections of the Lu family, the caravan became bigger and bigger, and they made a lot of money, so they began to think about taking a concubine.

Mrs. Lu was reluctant at first, but was persuaded by Shi Ling to allow the concubine to enter the house. However, she never expected that the concubine was cruel and took action when Mrs. Lu was pregnant and giving birth. Mrs. Lu almost lost both her life and the child died shortly after it was born. She was also seriously injured and could not continue to give birth.

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 just 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 whether he had any wives or concubines at home, or anyone who was about to get married. She said that she liked him, and if he had no wives or concubines or a fiancée, she was willing to marry him.

Shi Ling himself coveted the status and position of the Lu family, but after he married Mrs. Lu and the Shi family became prosperous, he found ways to bring the person he once liked into his home as a concubine.

The woman thought that Madam Lu had taken advantage of the Lu family's background 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 government, and the woman was arrested. This crime warranted exile, and the woman died on the way to exile.

Shi Ling made his excuse cleanly, and Mrs. Lu didn't say anything later and continued to live with Shi Ling.

Shi Ling had no children, but he did not dare to 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 was also a good strategist. After Shi Ling died, she made everyone in the Shi family caravan listen to her and follow her.

I heard that the Shi family caused some trouble 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 let it go and didn't want to marry again, so she used her connections and money to set up her own household. She had no children, but she had a caravan and earned 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 was about thirty-eight or thirty-nine years old at this time.

Xu Qinyu was a little stunned after listening to this. This was even more exciting than any book 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 send the wine to Madam Lu's house for testing, Xu Qinyu decided to wait a while. Manager Zhou asked his son to clean up two top-level guest rooms. Xu Qinyu stayed in one room alone to rest for a while, while Cheng Ge'er and Feng Ge'er went to rest in the other room.

Shopkeeper Zhou drove the carriage to Lu's house carrying some wine.

The Lu Mansion was a five-story house where Madam Lu and some servants lived.

When Manager Zhou arrived, he stopped his carriage, got out and knocked on the door. An old maid opened the door and asked him what he wanted.

Shopkeeper Zhou introduced himself, and then said that he had got some wine. He knew that Madam Lu would be hosting a banquet for the ladies in the city to appreciate flowers and drink wine in a few days, so he came here specially to recommend the delivery of wine. As he said that, he turned around and took ten bottles of fruit wine from the carriage and gave them to the old nanny.

The old lady held the wine and said "I understand", 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 keep anything secret. 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, and there was no way he could get to Madam Lu without the servants notifying him. Even if the servants kept the ten bottles of wine for themselves, Manager Zhou and Madam Lu would not 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 obeying her.

So the old nanny did not dare to delay after receiving the ten bottles of fruit wine and immediately sent them to Mrs. Lu's yard.

Madam Lu had no shortage of money. She had a father who was a duke above her. She had no husband or in-laws, and there were people to help take care of the caravan. She ate and drank, admired the flowers and plants, and had a little 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 had breakfast. She had money, so the chefs in the mansion were hired to serve her alone. Madam Lu was taking a nap on a rattan chair in the yard. A maid was fanning her gently, and there was also a little maid massaging her legs.

Although we have just entered autumn, it is still a bit stuffy from morning to noon due to the severe autumn heat.

Madam Lu was taking a nap. After a while, the maid guarding the gate came in and whispered to the two maids, "The gatekeeper said that someone outside sent some wine to honor our madam. Is the madam asleep? Should I bring the wine in first?"

Mrs. Lu was not asleep, and she heard what the nanny said. She 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 two kinds of wine she used to entertain the ladies who came to her house. This was the first time she heard of wine.

The nanny guarding the gate soon came in with some fruit wine.

There was no need for Mrs. Lu to tell them to do anything, as one of the maids had already gone to get the wine cup.

Mrs. Lu even used white jade wine cups, which were cool to the touch and perfect for drinking in hot weather.

Mrs. Lu took the fruit wine from the nanny and looked at the bottle. It was just ordinary white porcelain with a few words engraved on it. Xu Ji? It should be the wine brewed by Xu Ji. The bottle looked ordinary. I wonder how it tasted. Mrs. Lu didn't need to do it herself. A little maid had already opened the bottle cork, and a faint fruity aroma and wine smell came out immediately.

Mrs. Lu couldn't help but straighten her back. She thought the fragrance was good and it dissipated quickly.

When the little maid poured the fruit wine into the white jade wine cup, the color of the fruit wine was peach red, and the peach red 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 used to eating delicacies from land and sea, and had tasted many fine wines. She could tell from the first sip that this wine was special. It had a fruity aroma at first, then a sweet and sour taste. Finally, after swallowing it, the last trace of wine aroma remained in her mouth. It was not bitter at all. She immediately asked, "Who sent this wine?"

The maid at the gate said, "It's the shopkeeper of Bafang Inn. He said his last name is Zhou. He also said that there is not much wine, and he knew that you would be entertaining guests in the near future, so he wanted to recommend it to me."

Mrs. Lu immediately said, "Go and ask the manager of the Bafang Inn to come over."

…

It was almost noon when Xu Qinyu heard a knock on the gatehouse. 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.

Shopkeeper Zhou said that the person who brewed the grapes was also in the guest inn, and asked if they could go to the mansion together.

The servant naturally said yes.

Xu Qinyu knew that if this was favored by Mrs. Lu, it would be a big deal.

She has a lot of wine. In the past two months, Gongger took a few children to the mountain to pick wild grapes whenever 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 in the end, 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.

There were so many bottles of wine that even the backyard of her restaurant could not hold them all. Some of it was kept in Guihua Lane, and even in Chengge'er's house.

Cheng Ge'er and Xu Feng also insisted on going, 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 exquisitely carved patterns on the screen wall inside the house, as well as the beautiful corridors. The yard under the corridors was full of flowers and plants. At this time of the year, the flowers and plants were in full bloom, colorful and beautiful.

Xu Qinyu was a little envious, she also wanted such a big house.

After walking for a while, they finally arrived at the main courtyard where Mrs. Lu lived. When she saw Mrs. Lu, Xu Qinyu knew that she was a lady who knew how to enjoy life and didn't care much about what others said.

If it were in modern times, Mrs. Lu would be envied by countless people, as she had money, free time, and no man. Actually, it was not that she had no man. After listening to Mrs. Lu's story, Xu Qinyu thought that there must be a lover of Mrs. Lu in the caravan, and he must be a very capable man. Otherwise, she was just a woman in the backyard at the beginning, and it was impossible for everyone in the caravan to listen to her and be willing to follow her.

But to Xu Qinyu, these had nothing to do with her. Madam Lu had not remarried for so many years, which showed that she was very clear-headed.

The people here think differently 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 man and children, and she will have no one to rely on in the future.

Mrs. Lu was born with a good appearance and she has taken good care of herself over the years. She looks fair, beautiful and charming.

When she saw Xu Qinyu and Cheng Ge'er, Mrs. Lu was a little curious. Why did Manager Zhou come with his family? She thought Xu Qinyu and Cheng Ge'er were Manager Zhou's children.

Shopkeeper Zhou then hurriedly said, "Hello, Madam. The wine just delivered was brewed by this Miss Xu. She is my son's master. He learned several kinds of cooking 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 or two taels of silver.

Mrs. Lu didn't even think about it and said to Xu Qinyu, "I want all 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 take about ten days to prepare. The rest can be sent to Madam's residence first."

Mrs. Lu naturally agreed.

The two chatted casually. Mrs. Lu was 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 friends did all the chores like washing grapes, she only took care of mixing the ratio of grapes to rock sugar. They also did the jar filling. But after the first fermentation, when is the best time to open the jar and transfer the grapes to the bottle for the second fermentation? If you tell others, they can only get an approximate time to open the jar and transfer the grapes to the bottle for the second fermentation. But she did the second fermentation 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, but in the end, she didn't know whether she believed Xu Qinyu's words. She discussed with Xu Qinyu that she could brew more of this wine, and she would let her caravan transport the wine to other wealthy provincial capitals, where she could sell it at a higher price.

Mrs. Lu had no intention of having the caravan send these 2,000 bottles of wine to other places to sell them at high prices to make money. She planned to keep them for herself to drink and to use for entertaining guests.

This wine tastes much better than plum wine and osmanthus wine. If it could be brewed in large quantities, it would be really profitable.

But Xu Qinyu knew very well in her heart that it was a bit difficult to brew a large amount.

She talked about her current situation, saying that there was a shortage of space and manpower, and that even if they put all their efforts into making wine this year, they could only make these 2,000 bottles. She also said that the wild grapes on the mountain were basically gone, and after selling these 2,000 bottles, she would not be able to make wine this year.

Mrs. Lu smiled and said, "You don't have enough manpower and space, but I can. Even if I can't brew this year, I can come next year. How about we start this business together next year? I will provide the manpower and space, and you can provide the recipe, Miss Xu."