The happy life of a prodigal

Bai Xiaochun immediately said yes respectfully.

Fang Xiu opened his eyes, glanced at him, and asked, "Are you ready for the things I asked you to prepare a few days ago?"

Bai Xiaochun said: "Put it in another courtyard."

"Ah."

Fang Xiu nodded, got up from the recliner, and walked to the other courtyard.

Bai Xiaochun hurriedly followed.

When Fang Xiu walked to the other courtyard, he saw several large jars of wine in the courtyard.

He stepped forward, opened the wine jar, and a strong aroma of wine came to his nostrils.

On the side, Bai Xiaochun showed a flattering smile on his face, and introduced: "Master, this is Yangjiangchun, a specialty of Yuezhou, and it is already the strongest wine we can find in the capital."

Fang Xiu nodded and said, "Buy a few jars of this kind of wine and store them in the mansion."

Hearing this, Bai Xiaochun felt a little embarrassed, and said in a low voice, "Young Master, all Yangjiangchun in the capital is already here, and I'm afraid we'll have to wait until the beginning of spring to bring wine from Yuezhou."

Fang Xiu thought for a while and said: "As long as it is this kind of spirit, you can buy as much as you can, and then go to the cashier to get another 1000 taels of silver."

After a pause, he asked again, "How about asking you to find a pot made by a blacksmith?"

Distilled wine, of course, is not simply heated in a pot.

If the temperature is too high, the alcohol and water evaporate together, and what is obtained after condensation is still low-concentration alcohol, which cannot achieve the effect of purification.

So he asked Bai Xiaochun to find a blacksmith to build a special iron pot in advance as a simple distillation device.

"It's in the house, the little one, go get it here."

Bai Xiaochun rushed into the room in a hurry, and after a while, he brought back a big iron pot.

Looking at the circle of fat on his body that trembled from running, Fang Xiu couldn't help reminding: "It's time for you to lose weight too."

Chapter 27 Distilled spirits

Hearing this, Bai Xiaochun smiled awkwardly, and said, "I've lost a lot of weight, young master."

Fang Xiu shook his head and took the iron pot.

The iron pot is so heavy that you have to use two hands to lift it. There is also a strangely shaped pot lid next to it, conical, with a groove around the side, and an opening for a pipe to be inserted.

This is a simple distillation device, Fang Xiu has only seen it before, the real structure is more complicated than this.

If you are in a hurry, you can only make do with it.

The distillation process is not difficult, but Fang Xiu is a liberal arts student, and his memory of distillation only exists in his high school chemistry textbooks.

The general process can barely be recalled, and the specific operation needs to be summarized after many experiments.

He thought for a while, then ordered Bai Xiaochun to pour several jars of wine into the pot, then put the lid on, and put a bamboo tube on top.

When heated in this way, the boiling point of the alcohol is lower than that of water. After the alcohol evaporates, it condenses into a liquid when it meets the cold pot cover, flows into the groove along the slope of the pot cover, and then flows into the container along the bamboo tube.

Looking at the iron pan being heated, Fang Xiu was a little nervous.

Soon, the wine starts to boil, the steam rises and condenses when it condenses.

A little transparent liquid dripped from the bamboo tube into the wine glass that had been prepared earlier, and it didn't have any special fragrance.

Not long after, the distillation was completed, Fang Xiu picked up the wine glass and smelled it.

The taste of the wine is still too light, so it needs to be distilled several times.

Pour the once-distilled Yangjiangchun into the iron pot, repeat the previous steps, and heat again.

After repeated distillation three times, an increasingly rich aroma of wine wafted in the air.

Fang Xiu smelled the aroma of the wine, picked up the wine glass, and took a sip.

The mellow liquid slides down the throat, which is a familiar taste in memory.

Half a catty of Yangjiangchun is distilled to about a cup.

It seems that a lot of alcohol was wasted in the intermediate distillation process. On the one hand, the distillation equipment is too simple, and on the other hand, the concentration of the wine in Chu State is not high.

"Gudu..."

Fang Xiu was thinking about how to make the distillation more efficient, when he heard the sound of swallowing saliva behind him, and looked back.

That guy Wu Yi came to him at some point.

He stared at the wine glass on the ground, swallowing uncontrollably.

Noticing Fang Xiu's eyes, he immediately wiped the corners of his mouth, looked away from the wine glass under the bamboo tube, pretended to be nonchalant, and said, "What kind of wine is this..."

Fang Xiu thought for a while and said, "The new brew, which has not been named yet, a cup of ten taels of silver, let me give you a taste?"

"make a deal!"

When Wu Yi heard this, his eyes lit up, he picked up the wine glass, and couldn't wait to drink it down.

The distilled wine was not as strong as the wine from Chu State. After drinking a cup, Wu Yi's fair face turned red instantly, and he let out a comfortable moan, and said loudly: "Good wine!"

thump!

As soon as he finished these two words, he fell to the ground and fell unconscious.

Fang Xiu didn't expect Wu Yi's drinking capacity to be so poor, and he died of drunkenness after just one drink.

However, his reaction also gave Fang Xiu the confidence to sell high-quality wine in Chu State.

Because until he was carried away by the servants in the house, he kept muttering the word 'good wine'.

The prevalence of wine in Chu State is no less than that of the earth.

Crudely brewed grain wine like Yangjiangchun can already be called strong wine. It is sought after by those who don't like wine in the capital, and can sell for ten taels of silver per catty.

Once the high-quality distilled wine is launched, I am afraid that it will attract countless wine lovers to loot it, and worry about not making money?

But before it is officially put on sale, it needs to be given a famous name.

It's called a distilled bar...seems a little too tacky.

As a cultural person, this idea was immediately rejected by Fang Xiu.

Or...just call it 'Moutai'?

"Gudong..."

Fang Xiu was thinking about the name of the new wine, when he heard the sound of swallowing saliva again, turned his head to look, this time it was Bai Xiaochun.

Noticing that the young master was looking at him, Bai Xiaochun had a flattering smile on his face: "Master, can I have a taste too?"

Fang Xiu glanced at him and said: "You think of a good name for this wine, and let you drink as much as you want."

Bai Xiaochun pondered for a moment, seemed to think of something, his eyes lit up, and said, "Young Master, what do you think of 'Get drunk'?"

"Drunk to rest..."

The alcohol content of the distilled wine is extremely high, even a drinker like Wu Yi would fall to the ground after only one cup.

Call it 'drunk and rest', is no better.

but......

Fang Xiu raised his head to look at Bai Xiaochun, and after a second thought, the look in his eyes suddenly became strange.

When you are drunk, you will rest, and you will rest.

This guy really doesn't want to flatter himself all the time.

The matter of the name of the distilled liquor was happily finalized.

He handed over the subsequent production to Bai Xiaochun, while he stared at the iron pot in front of him, thinking seriously about how to improve the efficiency of distillation.

This distillation device is still too crude. If you want to improve the efficiency, the first thing is to improve the distillation device.

But how to improve, he didn't have a clue yet.

Just when he was devastated by this, a crisp voice came from behind.

"What are you doing?"

Fang Xiu looked back, Zhao Yan's girl was condescendingly looking at the iron pot in front of her, with a puzzled expression on her face.

He stood up, looked at the girl, and said, "I told you, but you don't understand either."

Zhao Yan curled her lips and said, "There is nothing in this world that this girl can't understand."

Fang Xiu took a deep breath and said, "Then do you know what distillation is, what is high alcohol, and what is the second law of thermodynamics?"

Zhao Yan said stubbornly: "Then do you understand?"

Fang Xiu sighed: "Tell me, what are you doing here?"

Seeing that he changed the subject, Zhao Yan twitched her mouth, handed him a lantern, and said, "Help me make a picture that is exactly the same as Xiu'er."

Fang Xiu was startled when he heard the words, and soon realized that Xiu'er must have gone out with her lantern to show off.

He glanced at Zhao Yan, and said calmly: "Young old man is not deceiving, a painting is ten taels of silver."

"you!"

Zhao Yan's face was full of evil, and a pair of almond eyes stared at Fang Xiu.

"What to look at, and then 15 taels!"

Fang Xiu's eyes were wider than hers.

This little girl has become more and more arrogant recently, if she doesn't teach her a lesson, she will still treat this Fangfu as her home.

Zhao Yan yelled angrily: "Bullshit!"

"That's right..."

Fang Xiu smiled and said: "Since you have already said that I am a profiteer, how can 15 taels of silver reflect my nature as a profiteer, and 20 taels of silver is absolutely worthless."

"Too deceiving!"

The girl yelled, threw herself on Fang Xiu, grabbed his arm and was about to bite him off.

Fang Xiu's eyelids twitched, he pushed the girl away, and shouted: "Men and women don't know each other, don't be so irritable."

Zhao Yan opened her almond eyes wide, staring at Fang Xiu, with a look of swearing to die.

Seeing her like this, Fang Xiu said with a serious face: "I was joking with you before, we are all a family, talking about money hurts feelings..."

Chapter 28 Shangyuan Festival

Fang Mansion has been preparing for many days, and the Shangyuan Festival finally arrived.

At night, as soon as Fang Xiu walked out, he could see fiery red lanterns hanging all over the courtyard, creating a very festive atmosphere.

There are fried melons and fruits and some delicate snacks on the table.

Zhao Yan sat by the table, propped his pretty face with one hand, looked at the bright moon in the sky, his expression was in a trance, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

The lantern that she couldn't put it down before was placed on her lap, but it didn't arouse her interest at the moment.

It's the Shangyuan Festival, but there is no relative in my eyes.

Even an old man who has experienced vicissitudes of life will inevitably feel a little sad in his heart, let alone a fifteen or sixteen year old girl.

But she chose the path herself, and she would naturally have to bear the consequences.

Some things have to be decided by one person after all, and no one can help her.

Fang Xiu sighed, walked up and patted her on the shoulder, and said, "Chengnan is holding a lantern festival, do you want to go and see it?"

Zhao Yan looked up at him, then shook her head and said desolately, "I don't want to go."

"Row."

Fang Xiu nodded and said, "Then I'm going to find Xiu'er."

"Wait..."

Zhao Yan blushed slightly, and said, "I want to go again."

Fang Xiu raised his brows: "I didn't say it just now..."