The First Volume of Qinghe County

  Ximen Qing saw Liu Ji's reaction and a faint smile crept onto the corner of his mouth. As it turned out, these two father and son originally had no grudges against each other, but instead were at odds because of the innovation in brewing wine, which led to all this trouble.

  But immediately, Ximen's expression changed to a fierce and sinister one: "You'd better watch yourself. Earlier, you accused your son Liu Neng of being unfilial, stealing the secret recipe, and stealing fine wine. Now, you're obstructing me, what are you trying to do?"

  "I won't tell...". A few hands grasped his head and rushed to the ground, with tears streaming down: "Sir, I won't tell..."

  "Hmm? Then you, old man, aren't trying to deceive this official?" Ximen Qing continued to play the bad guy: "For false accusations, you'll be beaten with thirty large boards. Will it be you who follows this official back or your son who follows this official back? You weigh the options yourself."

  "No!" Liu Neng suddenly came to his senses and knelt down: "Your Honor, punish me instead!"

  "No, hit me instead, Father!" Liu Ji directly blocked his son.

  Jiang Jing calculated that Ximen Qing did not intend to punish Liu Neng and his son, but rather wanted to take this opportunity to eliminate the grudge between them and evoke their gratitude.

  Xiao Tianqing watched from the side, feeling puzzled and unsure what her grandfather was thinking. Weren't they here to invite a winemaking master? Why were they suddenly starting some kind of melodrama?

  "No! You two are stubborn people! Both of you will be beaten!" Ximen Qing was a cruel man to the end, shouting loudly while giving a signal with his eyes to Jiang Jing.

  Liu Qian and Liu Neng have already hugged each other, crying together. If only we had known earlier, why bother with all this!

  Jiang Jing, also known as the God of Calculation, is an old hand in this play. He knows he has to play the role of the red face, so he clears his throat and speaks loudly on behalf of Liu Neng and his son: "Ximen Xian, you see that Liu Neng and his son have a good relationship with Lu Qian, there's no deep-seated grudge between them. It must be because they disagreed on wine brewing, and today's incident. As the county magistrate, it's only right for you to mediate."

  Ximen Qing burst out laughing and stepped forward to help up Liu Neng and his son, who were crying with their heads in their hands: "Both of you get up. I was just about to invite a few wine-making masters, and I think the two of you are just right. If you're willing, follow me."

  "What!" Liu Neng couldn't believe his ears, wiped away tears and asked: "Sir, are you asking both my father and me to go together?"

  "This is natural." Ximen Qing's face broke into a smile, just blocking the father and son duo in front of him. The sunlight shone over, making Ximen Qing's figure seem extremely tall and majestic, as if the sunlight had cast a layer of gold on his edges, making it impossible for Liu Neng and his son to look directly at him. They exchanged a glance and spoke in unison: "We humble subjects are ashamed, willing to be oxen and horses for Your Excellency, without any hesitation!"

  "Very good." Ximen Qing smiled and said, "Especially Liu Neng, the official is very pleased that you have innovative ideas, hoping that you can perform well and show your true strength."

  "Your Honor!" Liu Neng's body shook, his eyes brimming with hot tears. He kowtowed again: "You are like a second father and mother to me! Please accept my three bows!"

  Ximen Qing's promise directly touched Liu Neng's deepest desire. If he could be given the opportunity to show off his abilities, Liu Neng would die contentedly.

  Ximen Qing remained still, calmly accepting the three bows. He then reached out to help Liu Neng up: "The two Master Lius will be rewarded handsomely! I have some property in my name and will soon allocate a farm for your use!"

  "What more reward do we need!" Liu Jiuxiao sighed: "The master can give this villain a chance, it's already like rebirth, my father and son will never take a single copper coin from the master for life! As long as there is food to eat, that's enough!"

  Great, this free labor force is what I like best!

  "Haha, congratulations to Xi Men Xian Di for getting two such good winemaking masters." Jiang Jing, the God of Calculation, nodded and said: "When the fine wine comes out, our family will have to comment on it!"

  "Why wait? The fine wine is already in the house!" Liu Neng finally recognized that Jiang Jing had been to his hotel before: "Both are honored guests, please come inside!"

  "Dad, come and try some of the wine that your son has brewed." Liu Neng respectfully supported his father with both hands.

  "Good!" Liu smiled and said: "Today, let's taste the wine you've made. How much energy does it have?"

  The guests in the store were clinking their cups and chatting, when they saw Liu Neng, who had just been kicked out, walking in with a big smile on his face, accompanied by a group of people. The tears on his face hadn't even dried yet, and he was supporting an unremarkable old man, calling out "Dad" this way and that.

  At this moment of astonishment, Liu Neng first arranged Ximen Qing and others to the middle large table, then coughed twice, and loudly announced: "Ladies and gentlemen! Today our store has a series of happy events, wine money... all exempt!"

  The guests raised their bowls and gestured to Liu Ji: "This old man scolded out a 'little rabbit' and directly waived today's wine money, it was really refreshing!"

  Liu Neng called out to the waiter to bring up various dishes to go with their drinks, such as fatty beef that looked like flower cakes, roasted mutton, roasted chicken and goose, making Ximen Qing drool all over the place.

  Finally living the good life of a hero from Liangshan, eating meat with big mouthfuls...

  Jiang Jing was drunk and dizzy, but Ximen Qing didn't drink too much wine, he just focused on eating meat, watching a group of drunkards drinking to death.

  Next, Ximen Qing vigorously and rapidly expands his thriving wine business!

  Money makes things easier!

  Some people are just good at handling things!

  The location? Ximen Qing waved his hand and directly allocated a farmhouse near Jingyang Gang, the scenery is beautiful, even the few who stayed behind couldn't help but praise it.

  The people? Everyone in the farm helps Liu Neng and his son, if there are not enough people, they will be transferred from other farms. We just have a lot of people!

  Raw materials? The best suppliers on the market deliver to our doorstep at a low price, who made our boss the county magistrate? Such a good opportunity can't be missed.

  Wine? Zhu Zhi County waved his big pen and opened the supply, and it was also a priority supply. Who let Zhu Zhi County himself look forward to drinking good wine every day?

  Jiang Jing, the busiest of them all, almost ran to the farm every day, anxiously waiting for the wine to be ready. This guy claimed that he couldn't sleep well at night if he didn't smell the aroma of brewing wine.

  Fortunately, within two days Ximen Qing gave him a mysterious task, to find the best blacksmith.

  What does a winemaker have to do with an ironworker? Jiang Jing was quite perplexed, but looking at Ximen Qing's urgent eyes, Jiang Jing still readily agreed.

  There are two experienced winemakers, Liu Ji and Liu Neng. In terms of production, there is no problem at all. The only thing missing is the distiller. Blacksmiths are the key to making distillers.

  So since everything was settled, Ximen Qing prepared to go somewhere to get his hands on the prototype of the distiller.

  That place is the Yu Huang Temple in Chengxi, and this distiller should be said to be one of the earliest inventors of a certain alchemy furnace, which was a Taoist priest. Mainly using the easy volatility of mercury, mercury was extracted from cinnabar.

  This principle can also be applied to the production of liquor. Ethanol in liquor is more volatile than water, so this distiller can be used to process low-degree liquor and obtain higher-degree Baijiu, even up to 75 degrees for medicinal use.

  Historically, until the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, similar distillation apparatus were used in winemaking, resulting in earth-shattering changes.

  "I'm going to go, how are there so many people?! Won't all the people from Qinghe County have come?!" Ximen Qing had originally wanted to ride a horse, and in the early morning, he would settle it on the mountain and then return. He didn't expect that as soon as he arrived at the foot of the mountain, the horse couldn't move forward anymore.

  Crowds of people thronged from the foot to the top of the mountain.

  "Master, you don't know that today is the ninth day of the month and it's a big fair." Little Tianqing pushed through the crowd in front, leading the horse forward: "Not to mention Qinghe County, even nearby Yanggu County has many people getting up early to rush to the fair."

  Ximen Qing dismounted his horse and called for Xiaotianqing to lead the horse and wait at the foot of the mountain, then he went up the mountain alone.

  "Master is really something, directly whipping a few times, wouldn't that open up a path?" Little Tianqing thought to herself as she watched her master exerting himself to move forward.

  This kind of fair still exists in many towns and villages today, so Ximen Qing feels a sense of familiarity as he recalls his own childhood experiences following the adults to the fair. All sorts of delicious food and fun things could be bought at the fair.

  The hill where the Jade Emperor Temple is located is not high, and the road is also a gentle slope all the way. Temporary stalls are set up on both sides, and two fat men can still walk side by side in the middle, so once Ximen Qing squeezes up the mountain, he finds that the crowd is still flowing in an orderly manner, and it's barely possible to move.

  But before I took two steps, I saw the crowd in front of me quickening their pace and gathering towards a certain direction.

  "Brother, I heard there's a beautiful girl at the teahouse up ahead, let's go take a look."

  "Brother, you don't know, I just went to take a look and there were too many people, I was squeezed out directly."

  "Is it that exaggerated? The two of us shoulder to shoulder, must squeeze back!"

  Next to them were two goods, a pair of losers who heard that the goddess had arrived and insisted on squeezing forward to take a look, making Ximen Qing's face full of black lines.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, after walking two steps, a crowd of people gathered in the distance, and all that could be seen was a large banner on top of the shop swaying back and forth in the wind, looking somewhat familiar.

  Isn't this the same banner that Pan Jinlian used at the gate last time? How did it end up here? It seems that Wang Pozi is a very lazy person and can't even be bothered to make a new one.

  Isn't Pan Jinlian also here?!

  Ximen Qing's heart suddenly churned, and he found a high place to look inside. Indeed, the two busy figures in there were none other than Wang Po and Pan Jinlian.

  "King's Wife Tea House, isn't that beauty called King's Wife? What kind of name is this?" The two losers from just now also arrived at the side, stretching their necks to look, one of them muttering to himself.

  "You're an idiot! The older one is the Queen!" Another loser hit him: "That beauty's name is Jinlian, look at the back of that banner!"

  "Ximen Dafu, Jinlian pays her respects?" The previous loser rubbed his head and said: "What does this mean? Which Ximen Dafu is it again?"

  "Ximen is the newly appointed county lieutenant." His companion apparently knew more: "Just after taking office, he subdued the murderer bee, a red man in front of County Magistrate. It's said that Pan Jinlian and Ximen have taken a liking to each other... poor us commoners can only watch from afar."

  "There must be an illicit affair!"

  Ximen Qing could no longer bear it and directly bellowed: "The government is arresting people, anyone who dares to move will be enough!!!"