The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 968 - 947: Purchase (Extra for "Becky", the rewarding reader)

Chapter 968: Chapter 947: Purchase (Extra for "Becky", the rewarding reader)

Keke gave her a number, and Manbao flipped through to look. After a moment, silence fell, "Just this one sentence?"

Keke said, "There are two."

Manbao: ...

"Only these two sentences in this entire book are about liquor?"

"The host may look at other books."

As Manbao scanned the page, she read, "Long ago in ancient times, humanity had recorded the existence of various alcoholic beverages. In ’The Continuation of Wanderer’s Chronicles,’ it is noted, ’Nowadays, spirits are made everywhere, and those brewed with sorghum are considered the most authentic. The Pei liquor, Lu liquor, and Fen liquor of the north are all made from sorghum.’"

With just these two sentences recorded, Manbao was astonished. She flipped to the beginning to see the book’s title — Studies of Ancient Times Scenery.

Russling the pages of the book noisily, Manbao sighed deeply and began to search through other books.

She found a short segment about liquor in three different books. The most detailed section discussed whether a particular dynasty had distilled spirits, as the historical records described the method of burning wine as "filling a pot with real wine, sealing it with clay, and then heating it until done, otherwise it won’t be suitable for drinking." In reality, from ancient times, it was commonly believed that the so-called burnt wine was distilled spirits.

Manbao stroked her chin and asked, "What is distilled spirits?"

Keke said, "This is a definition; I can help you retrieve it without buying any books."

With that said, Keke extracted the information on distilled spirits for her to see.

Seeing the long two-page entry, Manbao gleefully exclaimed, "My, my, isn’t this quite clear right here? This entry is much more detailed than what’s written in the books."

Flipping to the end, Manbao even found two specific recipes for liquor listed.

Ecstatic, Manbao confidently started writing them down. As she did, she felt something was off. First off, this equipment—what was this distilling apparatus?

And what were corn and sorghum? She knew what sorghum and wheat were, but why did it take so much sorghum, wheat, and whatever corn was, just to make such a small amount of liquor?

Struggling with these thoughts, Manbao stopped writing and looked back at the three books.

Manbao stayed up late reading the books and even brought them to the pharmacy the next day. When there were no patients, she would take them out to read. After finishing the book that described the most about liquor, she finally understood something.

So in the afternoon, upon returning home, Manbao sat across from Mr. Zhuang and asked, "Mr. Zhuang, you love to drink, and many people in the world love to drink. So why don’t taverns and bars brew more liquor to sell?"

Mr. Zhuang said, "The price of liquor is high, who can afford to drink every day?"

"Isn’t it all brewed from grains? If they brew more, wouldn’t the price become cheaper?"

Mr. Zhuang laughed and said, "There are still so many in the world who don’t have enough to eat, and the border areas are unstable. How could they brew more liquor?"

Manbao asked, "Do the poor oppose brewing?"

Mr. Zhuang nodded slightly, "Not only the poor, many ministers in the court, and even His Majesty, do not encourage the brewing of liquor among the people. If too much liquor is brewed, the price of grains will also rise. However, the court is lenient in this regard and does not prevent the people from brewing."

After thinking for a moment, Manbao asked, "Mr. Zhuang, what do you think of me brewing liquor?"

Mr. Zhuang looked at her, "You know how to brew liquor?"

"I can’t now, but I can learn."

Mr. Zhuang waved his hand and said, "If you want to learn, then learn. There are plenty of people in this world who brew wine. The world won’t have one less without you, and it won’t have one more with you."

"What if I figure out a special brewing method that makes really strong wine, but it uses a lot of grain?" Manbao asked.

Mr. Zhuang replied, "Then you’d better keep that recipe a secret. If it gets out, all the poor people in the world will hate you to death."

Disappointed, Manbao said, "Then forget it, I’ll try to find a way to brew wine that doesn’t use grain."

Mr. Zhuang burst into laughter and asked, "Is there such a wine in this world?"

"Yes, there is. Isn’t grape wine one of them? Shopkeeper Zheng was just boasting to us today that he got himself a bottle of grape wine," Manbao’s eyes lit up, "Right, I can brew grape wine."

Mr. Zhuang: ...

He felt this disciple came up with one idea after another and simply waved his hand, "First, you should look into how to brew this grape wine, then think about where to get the grapes from."

Manbao muttered, "Land in Chang’an must be expensive, so to cultivate ordinary fields, I’d have to go back home. But if I grow grapes at home, naturally I can only brew wine at home, and then transport it to the capital, which is so far away..."

Manbao fell into a dilemma.

Mr. Zhuang shook his head, held his book, and said indifferently, "Class starts at 1 p.m. If you don’t go to take a nap now, you’re going to be sleepy later."

Manbao ran off to her own room.

While Manbao was in a quandary, Zhou Wulang was not. Since he had decided to buy the large shop, he set his sights on it and went in for the kill.

After negotiating with the owner for two consecutive days and with the effort of him and his intermediary, they finally brought the price down to 2,800 silver taels. They found a broker to sign the contract at the County Governmental Office and to complete the handover. Zhou Wulang also bought all the furniture and kitchenware in the shop for twenty silver taels.

The original owner kept shaking his head, indicating he had made a huge loss.

Zhou Wulang then laughed and said, "Old Master Yuan, the tables and chairs in the restaurant are old and not worth much. You wouldn’t be able to sell them, but it wouldn’t be difficult for us to buy tables and chairs ourselves. Brand new, a set of tables and chairs wouldn’t cost much. Have you figured out how much the counter would cost?"

Old Master Yuan said, "Zhou Wu, my tables and chairs are made from good wood. If you buy cheaper wood, of course, it won’t cost much."

"We never planned to serve very expensive dishes anyway, so naturally, we don’t need top-quality tables and chairs. I was just thinking it’d be inconvenient for you to move this stuff around, so I decided to take it all off your hands. If you feel like you’re at a loss, you can always take them away."

Because he felt that Old Master Yuan had initially quoted them too high a price, Zhou Wulang had been somewhat displeased. They just had their hearts set on that shop; otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered doing business with him.

Who does business like this? Preying on the fact that they were from out of town, he had asked them for four hundred more taels than others, which was excessively more.

Four hundred taels would be enough to buy four shops in his own county town.

Old Master Yuan fell silent. Of course, it was impossible for him to move the things away. He really did incur a loss. His wood was indeed of high quality, but as Zhou Wulang said, it wasn’t necessarily the case that he took advantage of them. Because with twenty taels, he could definitely buy brand new tables, chairs, and a counter, even if the wood might not be of the best quality.

But if the customers who come to the restaurant aren’t particularly wealthy, they wouldn’t be picky about such things.

Old Master Yuan let out a sigh, completed the handover with Zhou Wulang, and right before everyone at the County Governmental Office, Zhou Wulang nodded at Zhou Lijun who was following him. Zhou Lijun went out and waved his hand, then Zhou Liulang came in with Zhou Lichong, carrying a rattan chest, and after going out, they brought in another.

Then they opened them, revealing silver coins shining brightly on top, and upon opening the other, there was some gold, and the rest was filled with gleaming silver.

Not only was Old Master Yuan stunned, but also the officials in the County Governmental Office gaped in amazement. Were they about to settle the transaction with silver and goods on the spot?