Mrs. Lu is right. The method of making wine is very simple in itself. It cannot be prevented that others follow suit. It cannot even be considered stealing. However, the method of making wine is simple. If the fermentation is not good, the whole tank of wine will be ruined.

Mrs. Lu saw that there were still a few people with shining eyes, and it was obvious that she had something in mind. She took note of these people, and would not continue to employ them next year. For those who could be employed next year, she would sign a long-term contract. As long as the winery was there, they could come to work in the winery every summer after signing the long-term contract. Although they could only work for two or three months each year, they could be guaranteed a salary of at least two taels of silver per month.

When Xu Qinyu came the next day to adjust the ratio of grapes to sugar, Mrs. Lu told her about the matter.

Xu Qinyu has a similar attitude to Mrs. Lu.

It doesn't matter if those two women can really make wine, just let them do what they want.

In the winery, the wine continued to be brewed, and Xu Qinyu was also running back and forth.

However, with Dongqian as an assistant chef in the restaurant, she has a lot more free time. At breakfast, Dongqian can help with everything except mixing the fillings and seasonings. At dinner, Dongqian can also help with the side dishes and occasionally even help with the cooking. With her looking after them, the taste is almost the same, so she has a lot more free time and doesn't feel so tired every day.

At the winery, batches of wine have been fermented and are now being bottled and sealed.

Mrs. Lu planned to divide the wine into four batches and ship them to four places, all of which were wealthy provincial capitals. She also planned to ship a batch to the capital. The richest place must be the capital. There were many dignitaries in the capital, and there was no shortage of money. What she lacked was fine wine and delicious food.

Knowing that Madam Lu's caravan would go to the capital again, Xu Qinyu wanted Madam Lu to help her send 100 bottles of wine to her parents and her uncle's family to try.

In fact, knowing that Madam Lu wanted to transport the wine to the capital, Xu Qinyu also agreed, and was not afraid of letting the new emperor and the empress dowager in the capital know.

The fact that she opened a restaurant could not be kept secret in the capital.

She is not really stupid, she is just a cook running a small business. In the eyes of outsiders, she is the one who supports the whole family. If the King of Shu has fallen to this point, I am afraid that the new emperor and the queen mother will be more relieved.

After all, in the eyes of the world, businessmen are not much better than the common people.

Mrs. Lu had already sent people to inquire about Xu Qinyu's identity and found out that she was the wife of the exiled King Shu.

But Madam Lu did not think it was a big deal. Although the exile of the former queen was shocking, the descendants of Prince Shu were now ordinary commoners and should be treated as ordinary people. Moreover, the Pei family was just doing business now, and business was the lowest class in the eyes of the dignitaries.

Madam Lu also knew that Xu Qinyu was only marrying off for her cousin and was a poor little girl sent into exile by the Marquis's Mansion.

As soon as Xu Qinyu mentioned this matter, Madam Lu immediately agreed and told her not to worry, saying that she would definitely help her deliver the wine to the second house in the Marquis's Mansion.

Another half month passed, and Mrs. Lu was ready to ship the first batch of wine to the capital.

The border town is thousands of miles away from the capital, so goods are naturally transported by water.

There were bandits on the waterway, so Zhen Wu personally escorted the caravan this time and brought along a dozen of the most skilled martial artists in the caravan. He attached great importance to this delivery. Fortunately, the bandits did not appear along the way. He had been to Raozhou a lot and knew that there were two groups of bandits on the cliffs on both sides of the Raozhou City Canal. One of the groups was not bad and did not hurt anyone. Most of the goods they robbed were ill-gotten gains.

Another wave of pirates was very brutal. They not only robbed goods but also killed people.

Previously, a government ship was robbed, and the imperial court sent officers and soldiers to suppress the bandits. The better-off bandits disappeared from then on, and everyone thought that this wave of bandits had been wiped out by the imperial court.

But Zhen Wu felt that the bandits had not been wiped out and might have gone to other places.

In addition, the Boshui bandits suffered heavy losses during the imperial court's anti-bandit campaign and have rarely appeared in the past year or so.

The canal is safer now than before.

Zhen Wu's trip was also safe and sound. The cargo ship traveled slowly by water and arrived in Suizhou seven days later.

Suizhou is the last stop of the canal and a major thoroughfare that leads in all directions.

After arriving in Suizhou, he walked on the official road for another three days before reaching the capital. The soldiers guarding the city gate showed him his pass and he was allowed to pass.

Zhen Wu first delivered the two hundred bottles of wine and a letter that Xu Qinyu had entrusted the caravan to the second house of Marquis Dechang's mansion.

When Xue learned that it was a caravan from Raozhou City, she immediately met Zhen Wu and looked at the 200 bottles of wine that Zhen Wu had brought in. The wine bottles were very delicate, with beautiful patterns and the words "Xu Ji Wine" engraved on them. Xue asked, "Brother, is this the wine brewed by Yu Niang?"

"Yes." Zhen Wu was a man of few words, so he just nodded. However, he also explained to the gentle-looking woman in front of him, "Ms. Xu's wine is delicious, and she has been thinking about you. My wife is currently working with Ms. Xu on the wine business. The first batch of goods is about to be delivered to the capital, so Ms. Xu asked me to bring you some wine to taste, along with a letter."

After handing the letter to Xue, Zhen Wu did not stay long and left Dechang Marquis Mansion.

Xue knew that Zhen Wu was busy, so she didn't try to keep him. She sent him out with the letter in her hand, and then returned to the inner courtyard to read the letter that Yu Niang had given her.

Yu Niang said a lot in the letter, she wrote several pages of chattering, saying that she was living a good life in the border area and was busy every day. She told Xue about the business of the restaurant and the winery in the letter, and also told Xue that her mother-in-law and sister-in-law treated her very, very well, and that she and the fourth brother were not husband and wife, but brother and sister.

He also told Xue that her mother-in-law said that if she found someone she liked in the future, she should divorce her fourth brother and let her get married.

But she didn't want to get married. She was only interested in running restaurants and wine shops and just wanted to make more money.

After reading it, Xue couldn't help but feel caring and moved.

The good news is that Yu Niang has grown up. After going through this, her personality has changed. Although Yu Niang used to be a little gentle, she was actually a little stubborn.

Yu Niang had once liked a boy from a poor family and they were almost at the stage of discussing marriage.

Xue didn't look down on the poor boy, but after meeting him a few times, she felt that he had evil intentions.

He coaxed Yu Niang, hoping to come to Dechang Marquis's Mansion to propose marriage to her.

Xue didn't say it to her husband, but she actually had no intention of letting Yu Niang marry the poor man. However, before the poor man's family came to propose marriage, the eldest prince got into trouble, the empress's line was exiled, and Yu Niang was pushed out to marry off and exiled to the border. This was an edict issued by the new emperor in the palace. Even if Xue tried to stop her, the old lady of Dechang Hou still had Yu Niang sent to Prince Shu's mansion in the name of a little girl.

Yu Niang followed the Fourth Prince to the border town, and the poor man never came to visit her again, as if he had never known Yu Niang.

Otherwise, if that poor boy really liked Yu Niang, he should at least write her a letter or help her prepare for exile.

Seeing that Yu Niang never mentioned the poor boy in her letter, it can be seen that Yu Niang should have let go of the poor boy as well.

Because that poor man got married some time ago, and his wife was a concubine's daughter who was quite favored in other marquis' families.

Besides, Xue was truly relieved that the Empress was so generous and treated Yu Niang well.

As for Yu Niang's marriage, she couldn't help much in the capital, and could only hope that the Empress could help with it in the future.

In fact, even Xue had never thought that Yu Niang would return to the capital one day. She just hoped that she could live a good life in the border area. If she really had no feelings for the Fourth Prince, it would be nice for her to find a man who loved her and marry him.

After reading the letter, Xue gave some wine to her elder brother Xue Liang.

After Xue Liang tasted the wine, he knew that Yu Niang's craftsmanship was impeccable. He had never tasted the plum wine and osmanthus wine in the capital, as they were too expensive. However, the wine brewed by his niece was mellow and had a long-lasting taste. It had the sweet and sour taste of grapes at the beginning and a faint aroma of wine at the end. Even he, who didn't drink much, thought it was good stuff.

Besides, fruit wine is not very intoxicating, so the women can drink it too.

The wine must be expensive, and Xue Liang had no intention of selling it at the stall. He wanted to keep a few bottles for his family to open and drink during festivals.

Xue didn't even give the remaining wine to the third wife, Marquis Dechang, and the old lady to taste, but only gave some to the first wife.

When Yu Niang was sent to Prince Shu's Palace, it was the old lady who spoke to Marquis Dechang. The old lady even said something harsh, saying that if Yu Niang wanted to compete with Hui Niang, she should just marry into the palace obediently.

Half of the wine was sent to the first wife's house. When Yu Niang was in trouble, only the eldest sister-in-law Jiang came to comfort her. The eldest sister-in-law was a kind person. Even the eldest daughter of the first wife, Jin Niang, went back to her parents' home and questioned the old lady and Hui Niang. Hui Niang put everything on the old lady. The old lady also blamed Jin Niang for helping Yu Niang and said that Yu Niang was now a member of the criminal king's family and no longer a child of the marquis' mansion, so she cut off all ties with Yu Niang.

Even though the third wife and the old lady had come to Xue to try to reconcile the relationship, Xue still refused to forgive them.

The eldest wife has nothing to do with this matter. She gets along well with the eldest sister-in-law, and they still get along like sisters-in-law as usual.

Once the wine was sent out, it could not be concealed because it was no longer in the third room or the main courtyard.

The old lady of Marquis Dechang was furious. "This second son's wife, didn't she marry Yu Niang because she was forced by the situation? Now Yu Niang is living well in the border area and making a lot of money. Isn't this Yu Niang's good fortune? But she still holds on to this matter. She is really rebelling against Tiandu. I invited her to a banquet a few days ago, but she refused to come."

In fact, it was her third son and granddaughter who asked her to have a good relationship with the second wife. The old lady didn't know why, and her son refused to tell her, so she had to agree. However, she took the initiative to talk to Xue, but Xue still looked lifeless. It was really infuriating!

After Xu Qinhui found out, she was also a little angry. She, her father, and her grandmother had already taken the initiative to reconcile with the second wife, but her second aunt was still like this, with a neither salty nor indifferent attitude. Even her second uncle was almost the same.

It was learned that the caravan that delivered wine to the second wife was from a border town.

Xu Qinhui asked someone to pass a message to Zhen Wu, wanting to meet him and ask him to help deliver the letter she wrote to King Shu to the border.

As a result, Zhen Wu directly refused and refused to see her.

Xu Qinhui had no choice but to hand the letter to her father and ask him to find a reliable person to deliver the letter to King Shu in the border town.

Xu Shuping found his confidant and sent the letter to Yuanbao Town.

It would only take two or three days to reach the border by galloping.

Three days later, the letter was delivered to the Pei family in Yuanbao Town. Pei Weixuan was still outside and had not returned. During the day, no one was in the house in Laixi Lane. Pei Jianing was also busy recently. Her Linglong Pavilion was about to open, and she was still busy looking for an embroiderer. Yan Jie'er and Feng Ge'er were sent to the courtyard where Old Lady Zhu lived in Guihua Lane, and asked Zhu to help look after the two children.

So in the end the letter was sent to Xu's Restaurant.

It was a letter received by Wen. The sender was a man in his thirties. He insisted on handing the letter to Pei Weixuan. Wen found it strange and asked who sent the letter to his son. The man paused and said that it was a letter delivered by the Dechang Marquis' Mansion.

Xue initially thought it was someone from the second house of the Marquis of Dechang Mansion, and that it was Yu Niang's family who sent the letter. However, Zhen Wu had gone to the capital, and Xue's reply should have been sent by Zhen Wu. But now it was a stranger. Wen also became alert. There was not even a signature on the envelope. Wen said directly, "If you don't want to say who sent the letter, take it back the same way you came. We won't accept it."

The man could only tell Wen that the letter was sent by the third branch of the Dechang Marquis's Mansion.

Wen's face turned cold and she just said that her son was doing business outside and was not in Yuanbao Town.

The man was helpless, and after some hesitation, he gave the letter to Wen.

Mrs. Wen had no idea who from the third branch of the Marquis Dechang's mansion had delivered the letter to her son.

But no matter who it was, she didn't want to show the letter to her son, but her upbringing also didn't allow her to tear up the letter to her son. She just took the letter back home and put it away, and then gave it to her son when the time came, letting him decide whether to read it or not.

Wen did not hide this matter from Xu Qinyu. In her opinion, they were all family and there was nothing that should be hidden. They should discuss it together.

After hearing this, Xu Qinyu just raised her eyebrows. She couldn't understand why the third room would send a letter to the fourth brother.

When the original body was sent to Prince Shu's Palace, Marquis Dechang, the old lady and the people from the third room clearly planned to have nothing to do with Prince Shu's Palace in the future. So why are they sending a letter now?

Xu Qinyu said, "Wait for Fourth Brother to come back and let him read the letter himself."

Wen nodded, "That's what I plan to do."

By the end of the month, Zhen Wu also returned from the capital with his caravan.

It was almost the beginning of the month when he arrived in the capital, and now it was already the end of the month. The round trip took more than a month. This was because his caravan often went to the capital. He had merchants he knew in the capital who helped introduce his wine to several dignitaries. After tasting the wine, these dignitaries immediately ordered a lot of wine. As a result, all 7,000 bottles of wine were sold out within half a month.

After selling everything, Xue Wu stayed in the capital for a few days and then returned.

When he left, some merchants he was friendly with asked him when he could send the second batch of wine to the capital.

In fact, the merchants that Zhen Wu was on good terms with did not charge any fees, but being able to connect with high-ranking officials was already the biggest benefit, and naturally they also hoped that Zhen Wu would bring more wine to the capital.

Zhen Wu had no plan to transport the remaining three batches of wine to the capital.

No matter how well the wine sells, it has to attract the attention of these dignitaries, after all, scarcity makes things valuable.

Zhen Wu had no choice but to say, "Although there is still some left, we have already placed an order with another prefecture and city and need to send it there. There is not much wine this year, so we will send more to the capital next year."

After Zhen Wu came back, he did not delay and immediately took the second batch of goods to another state capital.

The first batch of wine was 7,000 bottles, and the price was set at three taels of silver per bottle. After deducting all costs, as well as the expenses for handling the goods on the way and in the capital, and also taking into account Miss Xu's share of the money, the pure profit was probably about one tael of silver.

Three taels of silver is certainly expensive in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the eyes of the dignitaries in the capital, it is nothing.

There are three batches of wine left, totaling about 25,000 bottles.

That is to say, all this wine can earn more than 20,000 taels of silver, which is actually not much. The caravan can easily earn tens of thousands of taels of silver every year. But Mrs. Lu attaches great importance to wine. If she can make it big, she can specialize in this business in the future.

So Zhen Wu also tried his best to promote the reputation of the wine.

After Zhen Wu left, it was already autumn and the winery could almost stop working.

A few days ago, not long after Zhen Wu went to the capital, two women who had secretly learned how to make wine came to the winery to make trouble. It turned out that the wine they brewed had already fermented and there was a lot of white foam in it. The two women didn't know why this happened, so they calculated the time and found that the wine had been fermented for the second time in the wine jars. After the second fermentation, they tasted the wine and found it sour and astringent, with a strange sweetness. The taste was not right at all, so they went to the winery to make trouble.

Madam Lu sneered, "You guys secretly learned the wine-making skills, and I didn't stop you. I didn't even report you to the government. You didn't brew well, but you came to the winery to make trouble. It's really funny. Come on, tie them up! Send them to the government office for me."

The two women were not expecting that Mrs. Lu would tie them up as she said. They were so frightened that they knelt down and apologized.

In the end, Mrs. Lu did not make things difficult for them and let them be released.

Other people in the winery then realized that although making wine seems simple, it is not the case at all.

If the wine is ruined, the grapes are of no use, but the sugar is very expensive. The consequence of greed is that he lost such a good job and lost two taels of silver.

Although some trouble occurred during the first year of winemaking, it was a good thing because it would spread in the future that winemaking looked simple but was actually not. This would prevent the winery’s craftsmen from imitating the two women and brewing wine secretly when the business became popular.

When Zhen Wu returned with the first batch of money from selling fruit wine, Madam Lu came to Xu Qinyu in person and gave her a banknote of seven thousand taels.

Xu Qinyu only needed to make wine, and she earned one or two taels of silver for each bottle of wine.

Before, she bought land and houses, gave two thousand taels of silver to Mrs. Xue, and five hundred taels to Sister Ning. In addition, there were miscellaneous expenses in the past few months. However, she had been receiving money in the account all the time, so she had three thousand taels on hand. With these seven thousand taels, she had ten thousand taels of silver on hand.

The other three thousand taels were kept in the bank. No large sums of money or banknotes were kept at home for fear of theft.

Although Xu Qinyu was not afraid of thieves coming to her house, after all, Mo Yu and Bai Yu took turns guarding the house, so if a thief came, he would be courting death.

Holding the thick stack of banknotes in her hand, Xu Qinyu smiled with her eyebrows crooked, her teeth showing but her eyes not visible.

She has 12,000 taels of silver!

From now on, you will be a 'ten thousand yuan household'!

But this "ten thousand yuan household" is different. Even some officials' families cannot save so much money as ten thousand taels of silver.

And this ten thousand taels is just the beginning!

She hopes that Xu Kee can open stores all over the country in the future!

In fact, she had some other ideas. She wanted Xu Ji to not only serve food, but also provide food, drink and entertainment, a bit like the farmhouses of later generations. However, this matter had to be taken care of slowly. Her current energy was only enough to manage a small restaurant in Laoyuanbao Town.

Finally, Xu Qinyu saved up 12,000 taels of silver. She couldn't help but smile these days.

She did not keep the seven thousand taels of silver for long, and deposited it in the bank the next day.

…

Here at the border, Xu Qinyu and the Pei family live their lives as usual.

But in the capital, many people were shocked by the wine brewed by Xu Qinyu.

The dignitaries divided up the 7,000 bottles of wine and drank some during their meals on weekdays. It tasted sour and sweet with a light aroma of wine, and the aftertaste was lingering, and was suitable for entertaining both male guests and female relatives.

Therefore, it was also used to entertain distinguished guests on weekdays, and some people even used this wine to entertain the new emperor.

It turns out that although the new emperor has ascended the throne, he is still the second prince who only loves to eat, drink and have fun.

Most of his original friends were from aristocratic families.

The new emperor seldom left the palace on weekdays. When he did, he would put on brocade clothes and pretend to be an ordinary young man from a noble family, so that these princes would take him out to have fun and spend money.

It just so happened that the new emperor knew the Prince of England.

The title of Duke is almost always inherited. Generally, one can be conferred the title of Duke only if one has made outstanding contributions, or if one's ancestors have made outstanding contributions.

If one's ancestors were granted the title of Duke and the title was passed down from generation to generation, even if the Duke's descendants did not have any great abilities, as long as they did not commit serious mistakes and be stripped of the title, they would still be looked up to in the capital.

The Duke of England was given the title because of his outstanding contributions to Emperor Gaozu more than a hundred years ago.

But more than a hundred years have passed, and the descendants of the British Duke's house are now mediocre, without any great abilities, and they just inherit the title honestly.

The British prince followed the new emperor out to have a good time and even brought a few bottles of wine bought by the palace.

The new emperor tasted the wine and was amazed. He asked where the wine was bought and learned that it was shipped from the border.

The new emperor also praised: "It is amazing that someone in such a place can brew such amazing fruit wine."

Because the wine tasted good, the new emperor wanted to let the empress dowager in the palace taste it, so he brought some back to Empress Dowager Fu. After returning, he gave it to Empress Dowager Fu like a treasure, "Mother, please taste this fine wine. It tastes good."

After tasting it, Empress Dowager Fu also praised it, "Not bad, where is it from? It seems to be the first time I have seen wine in the capital."

The new emperor told Empress Dowager Fu that it was bought from the Prince of England and transported from the border.

When she heard that it was a border area, Empress Dowager Fu frowned slightly and glanced at the "Xu Ji Wine" on the bottle.

Xu Ji?

How come she remembered that after the Shu Wang lineage went to the border, the second daughter of the Dechang Marquis's Mansion opened a restaurant called Xu's Restaurant? Could it be that this fruit wine was also made by the second daughter of the Xu family? The whole family was useless, and they actually let a girl be a cook to support the family.

Empress Dowager Fu's eyes were full of disdain.

Since she had the guts to banish the Empress and the Fourth Prince to the borderland despite opposition from all the civil and military officials, she was naturally not afraid that Prince Shu's lineage would do anything big again.

She was conceited because she knew that there were only three women and children left in the Shu Wang's lineage, a frail little mute, and the Shu Wang who had been poisoned by her since childhood and looked frail and would not live long. Naturally, she was not afraid of anything.

She didn't send anyone to kill the Shu Wang's lineage, but she did send people to inquire about the Shu Wang's lineage.

After knowing that the Shu Wang family had gone to the border, they relied on the second daughter of the Dechang Marquis's mansion to set up a food stall to support the family, the young cook had some skills and saved some money to open Xu's Restaurant.

But what if I could make some money?

The Shu Wang family is nothing but trash being supported by a girl.

Even if these wines were sold at a high price and could make a lot of money, in the eyes of Empress Dowager Fu, it was just a drop in the bucket. The whole world belonged to her, and there were countless gold and silver treasures in the national treasury. How could she care about the little money earned by a little cook?

Empress Dowager Fu was in a good mood when she thought of this. "The wine is not bad."

I have to say that the second young lady of Marquis Dechang’s mansion is quite good at brewing wine, but I don’t know how the food she makes is.