The Gallant and the Governor Ximen Qing

  Liu Neng? Ximen Qing almost laughed out loud, this guy really knows how to give his son a name.

  "This little rabbit was originally going to take over his father's business, inherit the old man's legacy and continue running this hotel." He poured a few handfuls of beans into bamboo tubes while saying: "Who would have thought that this little rabbit would want to change the formula that the old man spent decades perfecting on his first attempt at brewing wine by himself? Isn't this a sin? Think back to when a wealthy merchant from a big mansion offered a high price to buy this formula, but the old man refused."

  "As soon as he thought that this little rabbit would ruin the recipe, the old man didn't dare to let him take over the hotel again."

  "Who would have thought that the little rabbit secretly sold the old man's recipe to a wine merchant, and then opened an inn on the opposite side of Jingyang Ridge without saying a word? And to make matters worse, he also secretly dug up the dozens of jars of fine wine that the old man had hidden away for years, all of which were over 20 years old."

  He couldn't help but scold his son, almost pulling out his own beard in anger: "That little rascal knows nothing about brewing wine. He must have mixed the old wine with new wine to make it strong enough to drink."

  "So that's how it is!" Ximen Qing and Jiang Zheng exchanged a glance, if not for listening to Liu Ji's account of his grievances, they would have never thought that this matter involved a father-son grudge.

  "The old man is now regretful, shouldn't have let him learn to brew wine." Liu Neng's face was full of regret: "Shouldn't have given him this name in the first place, Liu Neng Liu Neng, can't he just die!"

  "Old Liu, please get up and speak." Ximen Qing smiled and said, "I'll take care of this matter."

  Although the Yanggu County across the Jingyang Gang can't take care of itself, since it's a matter of father-son grudges, one can still take care of it. Although this man has extraordinary skills in brewing wine, from what he said earlier, Ximen Qing is actually very interested in Liu Neng as a person.

  The craftsmanship of brewing has been passed down for many generations, and most master brewers are conservative, with few daring to innovate. Since Liu Neng dared to innovate and came up with the method of mixing old wine with new wine, in an era when high-proof baijiu had not yet appeared, it was already a quite astonishing innovation.

  In fact, this method of blending white wine was already quite common in his time, and all the wineries were doing it, and even proudly labeling it as "original liquid".

  To get back on track, Ximen Qing made up his mind to invent high-proof baijiu in this era. In fact, it was an article he accidentally saw on the school forum that got him started.

  The title of the article is: After traveling back in time to ancient times, how can I obtain medicinal alcohol?

  This unknown senior fellow is obviously a crosser enthusiast, combining his professional knowledge to describe in detail how to obtain 75% medical alcohol through repeated distillation of high-proof white wine, which can be used for wound disinfection.

  Of course this post was sprayed by countless people as boring. In real life, discussing such things after crossing over is often a very boring thing in most cases.

  However, for Ximen Qing himself, the crossing has already occurred, so this article becomes very meaningful. That unknown senior brother doesn't know if his family is running a winery at home. When someone asked what to do in an era without high-proof baijiu, that senior brother directly posted a long post full of distilled liquor manufacturing techniques.

  Although medicinal liquor is of no use at present, once high-proof baijiu is invented, as long as it is properly commercially promoted, I don't know how many people will flock to it, and Ximen Qing can naturally make a fortune.

  Wine is a good seller in any era or place.

  Of course, the first step is to find a few winemakers, and Liu Neng and his son happen to be suitable.

  So this matter was settled by Ximen Qing.

  He kowtowed a few more times and got up with a thousand thanks: "Lord Ximen, can we bring that scoundrel back now?"

  Ximen Qing laughed and said: "Old Liu, this kind of thing is just a family dispute, no need to arrest Liu Neng so seriously."

  Ximen's eyes narrowed as he heard this and his gaze became suspicious: "Sir Ximen, could it be that..."

  "How dare you suspect?" Divine Calculator Jiang Jing snorted: "Haven't you heard about the incident where Lord Ximen captured the great thief a few days ago? Looking at your age, you should have heard of the Killer Bees thirty years ago."

  "What!" The eyes of the few remaining hands suddenly became worshipful: "Master Ximen can actually subdue the killer bee, and this small matter is naturally not worth mentioning!"

  "You lock up the shop and come with us." Ximen Qing said: "Originally we entered to go to Boss Liu's hotel, and asked him to be a brewmaster."

  "What's so special about this kid?" Liu Jiu shouted excitedly: "If the master is short of hands, I'll serve the master as a cow or horse, no complaints!"

  Ximen Qing was overjoyed, and without spending a single penny, he first set his sights on Old Liu: "Old Liu, if I can get Liu Neng to come back from Yanggu County, I'll invite both of you to be the master brewers. As the saying goes, 'Father and son soldiers in the same army.' You, Old Liu, have rich experience and can take charge, while Young Liu can assist as your deputy. What do you think?"

  The old man directly knelt down: "Your Honor is like a reborn father and mother to me..."

  "I don't dare, I'm not that old yet." Ximen Qing stretched out his hand to help up Lü Qiuniang, and casually made a joke.

  Jiang Jing smiled as he watched the scene, his heart filled with even more admiration: "With just a few words, he's made them feel so grateful and indebted that they'd be willing to give up their lives. All of this is under Xi Meng's control."

  Anyway, a broken shop, leave a few hands to casually close the wooden door, no lock on the chain, and follow.

  The small hotel's business was good, but it wasn't what Liu Neng wanted. Having lived under the shadow of his father, Lui Ji, he carefully brewed wine according to Fang Zi's methods without any deviation. No matter when he wanted to innovate, he would be loudly scolded by Lui Ji.

  Liu Neng attaches great importance to himself, and after deliberating for decades, he sometimes feels that he is not as important as a recipe. One day, Liu Neng made up his mind, stole the recipe out, and directly exchanged it with a wine merchant from the Dai Mansion for 50 taels of silver. At the same time, he also took away the old man's treasured wine that had been stored for 20 years in a roll-up meeting.

  "This time the old man should take himself seriously, right?" Liu Neng took 50 yuan and opened a small hotel on the other side of Jingyang Gang, facing the old man from afar, expecting that one day the old man would come to his senses, recognize his innovation, and come find him.

  The sign of three bowls is actually also for old men to see.

  But day after day, several months have passed, and the few remaining hands are guarding that old small wine shop, even if there is a net at the door, it has never appeared in front of its own door.

  "Shopkeeper, this wine is good, it's got a lot of kick!"

  "What good wine! Even the mansion of a great nobleman doesn't have such good wine!"

  "Brother, let's go for a drink! We won't stop until we're drunk!"

  "Right! Anyway, the tiger is gone, let's drink!"

  In the midst of all the noise, Liu Neng covered his head with his hands, just like his father, and shrank behind the counter, listening to the customer's praise, but there was not a hint of joy on his face.

  "Little rabbit, get out of here!" A somewhat aged voice shouted at the door, and Liu Neng's face suddenly had a smile.

  This old man is finally willing to come over?

  Under the astonished gaze of the wine guests, Little Liu rushed out of the door from behind the counter with a roll and a crawl.

  "Is this store crazy? Can't stand praise, but instead listen to scolding and be happy about it? Look at that attitude... like a dog."

  "Who cares? As long as the wine tastes good! After finishing it in a while, scolding a few words, maybe you don't even need to count the wine money."

  At the gate stood a man with white hair, wearing black clothes and pants, with a pair of bright red eyes that couldn't express any emotion: "You bastard, don't you hurry up to pay respects to County Magistrate!"

  "What? County Lieutenant?" Originally overjoyed, Liu Neng was stunned for a moment, and only then did he see Ximen Qing and the other three standing beside him.

  Actually, I was originally planning to have a chat with the old man, but unexpectedly, the old man brought over a county official. Could it be that he's suing me?

  Just as Liu Neng was thinking, Ximen Qing coughed and asked directly: "Are you Liu Neng?"

  Seeing Ximen Qing's two stern gazes coming over, Liu Neng involuntarily knelt down: "This humble subject is indeed Liu Neng."

  "What's your relationship with Lü Qi?" Ximen Qing asked slowly in a drawn-out tone.

  "Hmm, father-son relationship." Liu Neng's heart skipped a beat. Sure enough, this old man had gone to report him to the authorities. If the old man accused him of being unfilial, he would at least get twenty slaps on the buttocks. And if they added the dozens of jars of old wine he had secretly taken and sold to the wine merchant, his buttocks would be beaten to a pulp!

  Liu Neng knelt on the ground, secretly looking at Ximen Qing's face, and suddenly felt a chill in his buttocks. He was extremely regretful that he had only worn one pair of pants today. If he had known this would happen, he should have added another pair.

  "Liu Neng, is it true that you secretly sold the remaining secret recipe and also stole several dozen jars of fine wine?" Ximen Qing asked with a serious expression, his eyes fixed intently on him.

  "I know I'm in the wrong." Liu Neng gritted his teeth, anyway these were facts, he couldn't sue the old man.

  "Good." Ximen Qing narrowed his eyes and looked at Liu Neng, from his reaction, this person was not bad in nature, he could completely ask him to be the brewmaster. If it were some other sly guy, they would have already started complaining, maybe even counter-accusing, saying that the recipe was written by themselves, and those wines were also brewed by themselves.

  In their time, fathers and sons would often become sworn enemies over a single old house, and it was common for them to fight until they were covered in blood.

  "Liu Neng, you'd better get ready to leave with me for the Qinghe County government office to receive your punishment." Ximen Qing intentionally looked stern: "In addition to paying compensation and leaving a few tricks aside, there are still one hundred slaps waiting for you. I hope your buttocks are solid enough."

  "Sir! Don't..." The bystander next to him immediately knelt down with a "thud", shielding his own son behind him.