Top Scholar

Chapter 38 Making the Best Use of Everything
"You tell me first whether you agree or not?" Su Lu asked He Chengshi.

“I agree. As long as you can conjure up money, I’ll agree to anything.” Madam He nodded without hesitation.

"Okay." Su Lu then said, "These past few days, my brother and I have been wandering around your family's winery and found a lot of tangerines in the storeroom, as well as two thousand bamboo tubes."

“My family’s main business is making fruit wine. The sour oranges in the warehouse are for making citrus wine, which we plan to sell during the New Year,” the young widow explained. “Those bamboo tubes are for storing the wine.”

She sighed sadly, "Now that the head of the household and my brother-in-law are gone, and no one knows how to make orange wine anymore, we can only watch those oranges rot in the warehouse."

The young widow looked up at Su Lu again and asked, "Could it be that you can also make orange wine?"

"To be honest, I didn't know oranges could be used to make wine," Su Lu said truthfully. "I always thought oranges were only for making juice."

"So what do you want to do? You don't mean to sell orange juice, do you?" the young widow asked disappointedly.

“Yes, we sell orange juice.” Su Lu nodded.

"Do we even need to buy orange juice? You can squeeze the juice out of your hands," Su Youcai couldn't help but complain.

"Son, is this the plan you came up with?"

"Hmm." Su Lu said honestly, "I have too little experience, it's already quite difficult for me to come up with this one method."

"Sigh, it seems that those who are good at studying are often clueless about worldly affairs." Su Youcai said with a wry smile, "Oranges are easy to juice, but do you know why no one sells orange juice?"

"Is it because eating oranges directly is more cost-effective?" Su Lu asked.

“Few people eat oranges because they are too sour,” Su Youcai explained. “Just a few segments are so sour they make your teeth ache, and the juice is even more unpalatable.”

"Sour oranges are even more so; their names contain the word 'sour,' so you should know better than anyone else..." The young widow glanced resentfully at the father and his two sons. Even such sour oranges couldn't stop the three of them from eating them every day.

Especially that big guy, he was working so hard, it made everyone's teeth ache with envy.

"Yes, it is indeed too sour. Of course, if it weren't sour, it would have been taken away by creditors long ago." Su Youcai said with deep feeling, "Of course, there are also varieties that are very sweet and not sour, but they are either tributes or very expensive, and only high-ranking officials and nobles can afford them."

"I've heard that wealthy people in Luzhou and Chengdu add honey or sugar to orange juice to make it taste better, but that's too expensive for ordinary people to afford." After saying that, He Cheng sighed softly, realizing that she had really been grasping at straws in her desperation, how could she have believed the boasts of a half-grown boy?

"My second brother has a way to sweeten orange juice at the lowest cost," Su Lushi exclaimed in a startling voice.

"Moreover, you have the ingredients readily available, so we don't need to invest any capital to make sweet and sour orange juice. There's a big temple fair in Taiping Town during the Lunar New Year, and as long as the price is right, I don't think we'll have to worry about sales."

"Can you really make orange juice sweet?" The young widow looked at Xia Ge'er, who had always seemed rather simple-minded.

Su Tai nodded, giving her a definite answer: "Yes."

"Actually, it doesn't need to be too sweet, the key is not to be too sour." Su Youcai added, "When people go to the temple fair, they eat and drink. If a glass of orange juice is so sour that it makes their teeth ache, they can't eat anything, and they'll probably start cursing on the spot. Then they can forget about selling that bowl."

“As long as it’s sweet enough, it won’t be sour,” Su Lu said confidently.

Although he couldn't explain the underlying principles, his accumulated experience in taste was probably unmatched by anyone in this era.

Experience told him that a glass of pure lemon juice would be so sour it would make your teeth ache, but after adding two spoonfuls of sugar, the sourness would still be there, but the lemon juice would become 'sweet and sour and refreshing'—the sourness would transform from a stimulant into a flavor that complements the sweetness.

“That’s true, but the key is how to sweeten it cheaply.” Madam He seemed to have experience in this area as well. She looked at Su Tai and said, “Xia-ge’er, do you really have a way?”

“Add sweet fermented mash.” Su Tai scratched his head and said, “When we’re brewing wine at the distillery, we’ll secretly take some sweet fermented mash out to drink. It’s so sweet that we have to dilute it with water, and it doesn’t taste like alcohol. But this stuff ferments and goes bad very quickly, so outsiders rarely get to taste it.”

"That seems like a good idea; the flavor might actually mask the sourness of the oranges," Su Youcai's eyes lit up. Su Tai, of course, often secretly brought back sweet fermented rice wine for his family.

"It should be fine. Besides, sourness isn't a terrible thing, as long as it's not too sour," Su Lu said. "My second brother said that sweet fermented rice can be made in a day or two, so there's plenty of time."

“Then let’s give it a try!” Madam He was a decisive person and said resolutely, “Anyway, those tangerines will all rot by spring, so we might as well make use of them and at least recoup some of our costs.”

~~
Without further ado, everyone got to work, forgetting what day it was. They immediately sprang into action, while others were preparing their New Year's Eve dinner, they were making sweet rice wine…

Su Tai naturally became the 'chief supervisor'. Under his command, everyone washed pots and chopped firewood. Even He Chengshi's nine-year-old daughter, Tian Tian, ​​very sensibly helped carry the chopped firewood.

Actually, none of them had ever worked in a distillery before, so they could only assist. Su Tai was the one who actually did the work. He poured the broken sorghum from the storeroom into a large pot to soak for two hours, and then started steaming it at noon.

I kept adding firewood all afternoon, steaming it until it was soft and tender, before finally taking the steamer off the stove.

After cooling, Su Tai poured the steamed sorghum into a jar and mixed in a small amount of yeast.

"Alright." He clapped his hands and said, "Let it sit for a day, and we can collect the mash by this time tomorrow."

"So fast?" The crowd gathered around the jar, asking in surprise, "Weren't you said it would take two days?"

"Hehe, I added the yeast while the sorghum was still warm, even before it cooled completely. That'll be enough for one day." Su Tai patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I'm an apprentice who'll be graduating next year. I've learned how to steam the ingredients, mix the yeast, and ferment!"

"Okay, we believe you." Su Youcai patted his eldest son on the shoulder, and Su Tai smiled so broadly his eyes disappeared.

"What are you all doing?" Uncle's voice rang out at the entrance of the distillery. He couldn't really just abandon them, so he came by every day these past few days to see what these three rascals were up to this time.

"Big brother, we're doing something important," Su Youcai said happily. After all, now there was hope again, wasn't there?

"No matter what important business it is, you have to go home for the New Year," the uncle said helplessly. "If the three of you don't go back soon, the old man will tear the house down." "We'll go back, we'll go back," Su Youcai finally told the truth. "How dare we not go back on New Year's Eve? Wouldn't that be extremely unfilial?"

"..." Madam He glanced at him with a faint look in her eyes, not knowing whether she was angry that he had lied to her about spending the New Year here, or that he had broken his promise.

"Then we'll head back first, sister-in-law," Su Youcai said to He Chengshi.

"I apologize for not seeing you off further." Madam He gave a slight curtsy, appearing rather distant.

"See you next year." Su Youcai waved, then stopped halfway. He sighed deeply. "Sigh, it's the New Year, I can't let people go hungry."

He reached into his pocket and touched the purse containing a tael or two of silver, but he was reluctant to part with this hard-earned gain, so he skillfully opened his palm to his elder brother.

"Pew..." The uncle rolled his eyes, but still slapped five copper coins into his hand.

Su Youcai took out his five coins, made up ten coins, and stuffed them into He Tiantian's hand, saying, "Go to Gao Tuozi's place and buy some good food for your mother to celebrate the New Year."

He Tiantian glanced at her mother, He Chengshi, who pursed her lips and nodded gently, saying, "Aren't you going to thank Uncle Su?"

"Thank you, Uncle Su." He Tiantian then clutched the ten coins tightly and bowed deeply to Su Youcai.

"Hey, good boy, let's go." After saying that, Su Youcai walked ahead with his older brother.

As they passed the main room, Su Youcai instructed his son, "Pack your bedding and go home."

"Okay." The two brothers replied, then rolled up the kang mat, carried it, and followed behind their father, trembling as they left the He family home.

Now the He family courtyard was completely quiet, and Madam He Cheng finally got the peaceful night she had been hoping for.

But listening to the deafening sound of firecrackers outside, and looking at her empty main room, she felt a sense of loss...

~~
In the stilted house of the Su family, the eldest aunt looked on expectantly from the courtyard.

Seeing that her three living fathers had finally returned, she patted her thighs with both hands, relieved, and said, "Ancestors, if you hadn't come back, the old man would have kicked me out of the house."

"Guoguo is back!" Little Jinbao jumped into Su Lu's arms and hugged his neck tightly. As Su Lu carried her into the house, Jinbao stuck her tongue out at her aunt behind his back.

"You naughty mother!"

"Fine, fine, I'm the bad guy, but everyone in your Su family is a good guy." The eldest aunt had completely lost her temper, for some reason.

After entering the house, the old lady also held her grandson's hand and cried, "You are not allowed to run away from home again. The house is so empty, and Grandma is so sad that she can't eat."

"Grandma, we didn't run away from home, we went to collect debts," Su Lu hurriedly explained.

"What? Stealing vegetables?" the old lady exclaimed in surprise. "Child, no matter how poor we are, we can't do such a thing!"

The old man sighed to Su Youcai, "Second son, don't be troubled. I've already talked to your uncles, and we'll raise the money when the time comes."

"Yes, Father." Su Youcai nodded hurriedly. Su Lu's plans were still far from being finalized, and he dared not block that path.

"Alright, hurry up and wash yourself clean and change into your New Year's clothes." The old man waved his hand and said, "Let's go to worship our ancestors."

"Yes." The three of them quickly went out to fetch water to wash up. The eldest aunt was busy boiling water and finding clothes for them, her attentiveness making them feel quite uncomfortable.

After the three of them had washed up and dressed, the whole family set off for the Su Clan Ancestral Hall.

They arrived relatively late; the ancestral hall was already filled with men, women, and children of the Su clan, numbering over two hundred.

Once everyone had arrived, the members of the eighteen branches of the clan automatically stood in their respective positions according to seniority, gender, and social order, listening to the clan leader's instructions: "Today we welcome the genealogy; we should be respectful, quiet, and proper."

Everyone agreed, and then the old clan chief, holding the clan flag, led the procession to welcome the genealogy. Children carrying lanterns led the way, symbolizing a prosperous family.

A genealogy is the most important document of a clan—it tells the lineage, the order of seniority, and the distinction between close and distant relatives, letting you know where your roots are and your place in the clan.

Moreover, it records the name of each clan member in detail, and the outstanding ones also have their deeds included, providing a final assessment for each person for future generations to judge.

Therefore, family genealogies are extremely important within the clan. To prevent damage or alteration, they are always made in duplicate. One copy is kept by the clan head in the ancestral hall, while the other copy is offered to each branch of the family in turn.

This year, the family genealogy is enshrined in the fourth branch of the family, and the family members will first bring the genealogy back to the ancestral hall together.

This was Su Lu's first time participating in such an event. Watching his clansmen march in formation through the Wumeng Mountains of Southwest China, following the blue flag bearing the name "Fengyang Su Clan" in gold lettering, he finally grasped a bit of the meaning of the clan's existence.

Su Daqiang, the old genealogist in charge of writing the genealogy, had arrived at the fourth branch of the family in advance to check whether the genealogy pages were complete. He then tied a red ribbon to the outside of the genealogy box and placed it on the altar in the main hall.

Oil lamps are lit around the offering table, symbolizing 'illuminating the ancestral path'.

The clan chief bowed to the custodian to express his gratitude for the proper safekeeping of the genealogy over the past year. Then, the student acting as the master of ceremonies shouted, "The auspicious time has arrived, open the genealogy!"

The person carrying the music score then stepped forward and lifted the music score box. The music score maker scattered grains around the music score box and chanted: "May the grains be plentiful, may our ancestors protect us, and may our descendants continue to thrive."

Then the procession set off in the following order: clan flag at the front, followed by musicians, then the genealogy box in the middle, and finally the clan members. Along the way, firecrackers were set off to ward off evil spirits, and the musicians played the "Welcoming the Gods Tune." The clan genealogy was solemnly brought back to the ancestral hall.

(End of this chapter)