After several more busy days, things gradually stabilized at the tavern.
Although the foot traffic wasn't too high, the daily income was quite good, amounting to about 10 taels of silver per day.
This daily income is even higher than that of the mountain produce shop, and this is only the combined income from the limited daily supply of canned fruit and fruit wine. Once the sweet potato wine is produced in large quantities, the daily income will at least double.
At that time, the normal operation of these two shops alone will be enough to cover the daily expenses of the whole family.
With the Lunar New Year approaching, there was a lot to do. After a few busy days at the temporary workshop, all the sweet potatoes were processed, and Xu Han sent everyone back to the mountains.
Only the workers in the shops and the servants in the houses remained in the county town. The Taoist priest and Grandpa Zhao, who had spent six or seven days playing in the county town, also went back with the others.
Xu Han was worried about all this, so she and Lu Chuan stayed behind.
Fortunately, he wasn't too busy. Apart from going to the shop every day, he spent the rest of his time at home, getting some rest.
That morning, the couple went to the temporary workshop as usual. Xu Han glanced at the date written on the wine jar and found that the sweet potato wine that had been fermenting some time ago was now ready to be distilled.
"Lu Chuan, come and check. It's almost time. The sweet potato wine has fermented and we can send someone back to start distilling it."
Upon hearing this, Lu Chuan put down the broom he was holding, walked over, and sniffed the smell. "There is a smell of alcohol. I don't know anything about sweet potato wine, you decide what to do."
"If we can start distilling sweet potato wine now, when Han Qi comes to deliver firewood later, I'll have him bring the people over, and we can begin tomorrow."
Because distilling sweet potato wine requires a lot of firewood, Xu Han has been having firewood delivered to her every day for some time now.
Firewood in the mountains is free, and the family has plenty of manpower, so they simply delivered all the firewood from the mountains.
“Sure, Han Qi already brought over all the equipment for distilling sweet potato wine a few days ago. Let’s clean it up in a bit, and it’ll be ready to use tomorrow.”
After Xu Han finished speaking, she really prepared to go wash the utensils. Seeing this, Lu Chuan quickly pulled her back, "Don't bother, the water's cold. They'll be here this afternoon anyway, just have them do it then."
Xu Han thought about it and agreed; she no longer needed to do these small things herself.
"Alright then, Han Qi should be here soon. Don't forget to tell him later."
Distilling sweet potato wine is a slow process, and having too many people won't help.
"Just find a few quick and efficient people to come over; the rest of you can stay home and continue clearing the land."
That's right. After winter set in, Xu Han had people start clearing land. Although she wasn't at home, it didn't stop her from directing others to work.
The location for the new reclamation was already discussed with the Taoist priest and the others. Reclaiming the land wasn't difficult; we just had to keep working on it.
Therefore, even when neither husband nor wife is home, they can still do a good job.
"Yes, yes, the eldest and second sons of the Zhu family and their spouses can come. They are efficient and don't cause much trouble, so let them come."
"For the rest, see who else you need."
Xu Han thought for a moment, but couldn't think of any particularly good candidates. "Just bring a few young and strong people. Wives or mothers-in-law are fine. The work isn't too strenuous anyway. Aren't there two strong laborers from the Zhu family?"
"Okay, I understand. I'll let Han Qi know in a bit."
As the two were talking, the back door was opened from the outside, and the people who came in were Han Qi and Liu Erzhu.
Xu Han smiled and said, "Speak of the devil, and here you are. We were just talking about you two when you arrived."
Liu Erzhu scratched his head sheepishly, unsure how to respond.
As soon as Lu Chuan explained the situation, the two immediately agreed, "We'll unload the firewood and head over. If we go back now, we should be able to get there by the afternoon."
Xu Han looked up at the sky and, seeing that it was still early, agreed.
"Okay, you can make it back in time for lunch. Have lunch and then come back. You'll have plenty of time."
Now that we have oxcarts and horse-drawn carriages, the travel speed is much faster than before, and at least two round trips a day are no problem at all.
Sure enough, everyone arrived by mid-afternoon.
Xu Han assigned tasks, and everyone began to get to work.
Since there weren't many things to scrub, Xu Han started teaching them how to do it that afternoon.
Distilling sweet potato wine is incredibly simple; you just need to pay attention to the heat and the time.
Moreover, the firewood burned in the stove is made of large pieces of wood, so it doesn't require constant monitoring.
As long as you keep the firewood burning and keep an eye on it, you can do other things at the same time.
Since none of them had done it before, Xu Han demonstrated and explained it to them at the same time.
Everyone listened attentively, and after one demonstration, no one wanted to go back to rest; they were ready to start working right away.
"Alright, alright, this pot is just for demonstration purposes. You can finish the rest tomorrow! Just rest well today, you'll have a lot of work to do in the next few days."
Sister-in-law Li said cheerfully, "Madam, the sun hasn't set yet, there's plenty of time. Whether you cook one pot or several pots together, the cooking time is about the same."
Besides, we have nothing to do when we go back. It's too cold inside without burning charcoal, so we might as well work here.
It's actually warmer here with the fire burning. We've all rested for a few days and aren't tired at all, so please let us do the work."
Xu Han thought about it and agreed, so she stopped objecting. She looked at Lu Chuan and saw that he nodded, so she agreed as well.
"Alright then, have Wei Yan bring the food here in a bit, just like before. We'll have dinner here."
Going back is definitely out of the question. They've just started, and Xu Han is worried they're not familiar with it, so she'll definitely be keeping an eye on things and working alongside them.
"Then you can do it yourselves. I'll watch from the side. If you don't understand anything, just ask me."
"Alright, madam, please sit by the stove and warm yourself by the fire."
"Okay, okay, I need to find a warm place for myself in this freezing weather."
The group chatted and laughed as they worked.
After the sweet potato wine was made, Lu Chuan took some in his wine glass to taste it.
Xu Han let Liu Erzhu, Han Qi, and the other men try it as well, and sure enough, the sweet potato wine received unanimous praise from everyone.
Although everyone had already tasted Xu Han's sweet potato wine before, they were still excited to drink the sweet potato wine they made themselves.
"This sweet potato wine tastes really good, it's delicious."
"Yes, who would have thought there could be such strong liquor in the world? One sip on a cold day and you feel warm all over. It warms you up and makes you feel good."
"Yes, yes, it warms you up and is perfect to drink now."
The group started praising him, one after another.
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