Sui and Tang Dynasties: Awakening the Supreme Skills at the Beginning

After the banquet, Li Zhen said goodbye to Pan Meichen and left Baoyue Tower.

Li Zhen went to the carriage and horse shop and hired an ox cart for twenty cents, and then started his big purchase.

He first went to the liquor store to buy about 100 kilograms of locally produced liquor. During the Tang Dynasty, there were no strong liquors like those of later generations. Liquor was made from grains or fruits through simple fermentation. It was turbid in color and had a generally low alcohol content, usually not exceeding five degrees, which was similar to beer in later generations.

As early as when he was drinking at a banquet in the daytime, he saw that the Western Region's fine wine Sanlejiang was just so-so, so he came up with the plan of making strong liquor.

He went to the blacksmith shop to order iron pipes for distilling liquor. The craftsman in the blacksmith shop listened for a long time before he understood what Li Zhen wanted. When Li Zhen saw the blacksmith's reaction, he finally realized that there was no distillation equipment in the world, and he was naturally delighted.

After some bargaining, the price of a set of distillation equipment was set at three strings of copper coins. At that time, ironware from the Tang Dynasty was quite valuable, and the things Li Zhen customized were quite special, so this price was considered relatively fair.

After paying the deposit, he found a carpenter shop and customized a steamer for distilling liquor. When everything was ready, he went to the grain shop and bought ten bags of flour and ten bags of rice.

On the way back, he passed by a restaurant and spent another two taels of silver to order a full meal.

"Master Li, the car is already full. I am afraid of the bumpy ride when we are on the road. Food is precious. Why don't we..."

The driver, Lao Feng, looked at the packed carriage and said worriedly.

Li Zhen looked at the packed carriage and said, "Well, it's almost done. Let's go!"

"Okay, Master Li, sit down, drive!"

Old Feng raised the whip, and the old cow made a "moo" sound and slowly walked away.

Walking slowly along the way, facing the afterglow of the setting sun, half an hour later, Shenxing Town gradually appeared in sight.

At dusk, in Shenxing Town, beside the small river on the edge of the town.

Li Jianing, wearing a veil, rubbed her sore waist and looked expectantly at the small bridge leading to the town.

Seven or eight women from the same village saw this and couldn't help but ridicule him.

"Stop looking at it. You'd better hurry up and wash some more clothes, otherwise your starving brother will come to my house to steal food when he can't make any money. It's really embarrassing!"

Upon hearing this, Granny Li at the side immediately spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"How can a fool like that, who can't read or write and has no special skills, go to the city and make money?"

"You are so stupid. How can you count on such a fool?"

"That's right, that's right! Your brother is stupid, are you stupid too?"

As Granny Li spoke, her eyes were fixed on Li Jianing.

"Jianing, do you still remember Mr. Liu that grandma told you about last time? As long as you agree to be his concubine, you won't have to eat wild vegetables every day!"

"Does your family eat wild vegetables for every meal now?"

"Is it so miserable? Back then, your family had thousands of acres of fertile land. How did you end up like this?"

A group of women looked at Li Jianing with sympathy.

"Grandma Li, don't mention Mr. Liu's matter again. Jianing won't marry!"

"How stupid! You have a good life but you insist on eating wild vegetables and living a hard life..."

Granny Li grumbled in dissatisfaction.

At this moment.

"Look, there's an oxcart coming over there!"

Following the direction of the finger, Li Jianing looked and saw an ox cart coming from the direction of Chang'an City in the distance. The other women looked up.

"That's... the stupid boy Li Zhen!"

A villager asked in confusion.

"It seems so. What are those large and small bags in the car?"

"It seems to be...food?"

"Where did he get the money? Could he really make money on his own? The sun has risen from the west! What a joke! How is that possible?"

"It's Zhen'er! Zhen'er is back!"

Li Jianing quickly put down the clothes in her hands, wiped her hands on the hem of her skirt, and walked out to greet Li Zhen.

"Whoa..." Old Feng reined in the ox's head and the ox cart stopped.

Li Zhen saw his sister running towards him from a distance and hurried to meet her.

"Sister, I'm back!"

"Okay, Zhen'er, did you buy all this? Did you really make money?"

"Yes! I bought all this. This is rice and flour, enough for our family to eat for several months..."

At this time, everyone gathered around Li Zhen and started talking at once.

"Oh! Is this white flour? We haven't eaten white flour in a long time..."

"Brother Zhen has become capable now? He can make money now!"

"Zhen'er, I'll go tell my second uncle."

Li Jianing said excitedly, "Let him be happy too."

"Okay, go ahead, sister!"

Li Jianing walked quickly towards his second uncle's house, and Li Zhen followed closely behind in a ox cart.

At Li Mantun's house, a family of four stood in the yard with sad faces.

"Dad, Mom, I'm hungry!"

The little kid sucked his fingers and looked at Li Mantun eagerly.

His family had run out of food. He hadn't eaten a single grain of rice for the entire day. As dusk approached, he was so hungry that his stomach was sticking to his stomach.

"Boss, why don't you sell two acres of land first? You can't just watch your kids starve, right?"

Li Ru said to Li Mantun with a sad face.

"No! Zhen'er said that he still has great use for the land, so we can't sell it!"

Li Mantun shook his head.

"Although he has some strength, he is lucky to have enough food in the city. How can he take care of our family? I think we should get through the current difficulties first."

"Well, but just in case...it's not dark yet, let's wait a little longer!"

Li Mantun sighed.

"Uncle, Zhen'er has come back with his money and bought a cart of food!"

This short sentence was as loud as a thunderclap, shocking my second uncle's family.

"The big pot is back, and it brought delicious food!"

The little kid let out a cry and jumped up happily.

As he was speaking, Li Zhen drove a ox cart to the door of his house, followed by a group of people.

Li Mantun's family of four came to greet them with joy on their faces.

"Zhen'er, you're back and bought so many things. Did you meet a noble person?"

Li Mantun asked with a smile while looking at the things.

"Oh my god, candied fruits, meat pies, and my favorite snow cake, brother, you are so nice!"

As she spoke, Li Xia opened the basket, picked up a piece of snow cake and quickly put it into her mouth.

"Well, come and help move the things! After that, I'll treat everyone to some white flour buns!"

As soon as they heard that there were white flour buns to eat, everyone's eyes immediately lit up.

Li Zhen directed everyone, and in a short while, everyone had moved all the things on the ox cart clean.

Li Zhen took out five cents to send Old Feng away. After all, in addition to driving the cart, Old Feng also helped to move things, so the five cents was given as a reward for his hard work.

"Brother Zhen'er also bought some wine, he really made a fortune!"

Liang Xiaoer looked at Li Zhen in surprise, his eyes fixed on the wine jar, his mouth wide open enough for an egg to fit in.

"Small idea!"

"These things cost at least several dozen strings of silver. Where did you get so much money?"

Granny Li's eyes turned red with jealousy as she questioned.

"Of course I earned it..."

Li Zhen waved his hand disapprovingly.

"You are so talented that you can earn dozens of coins a day. I think you must have sold your sister to some nobleman!"

"Yes, that must be the case!"

"My nephew is considered a young man who can make a lot of money in Shenxing Town, but he only makes about 300 coins a day. How can a fool like you make more money than my nephew? I won't believe it even if you kill me!"

"Humph!"

"Your nephew is just a butcher who kills pigs. Is that considered a skill?"

Li Jianing looked disdainful, raised his head and said proudly.

"Zhen'er and his sister depend on each other for survival, so he won't betray his sister! You guys are just jealous of Zhen'er's money, and you're just saying the grapes are sour because you can't eat them!"

"Yeah, yeah! That's it!"

Several women who were on good terms with Li Jianing started to speak up.

"you……"

Granny Li was speechless.

"Everyone, I, Li Zhen, keep my word. Come, each family will get a small bag of flour."

Li Zhen took out small bags of flour that he had bought specially and distributed them to everyone.

At that time, flour cost about four cents per pound, and rice cost three cents per pound. Each small bag contained about two pounds, enough for a family of four to eat for a day.

However, most of the lower-class people eat coarse grains, and now they don’t even have coarse grains to eat. For them, rice and white flour are only affordable for wealthy people.

"You can eat white flour buns now!"

Wang Erxiao shouted happily.

"How ignorant! We are all from the same village. How can you ask for things from others just for helping them? The child is too young. I hope Xiao Zhener doesn't mind."

Aunt Wang slapped Wang Erxiao on the head, snatched the bag of flour from his hand and said apologetically.

"Xiao Zhen'er, what's the big deal about carrying some things? We farmers have plenty of strength, how can we ask for help? We can't accept this!"

Uncle Wang refused.

"Take it. I, Li Zhen, will need it in the future. Otherwise, I can't open my mouth to ask for it."

After hearing this, several people looked at each other, and Aunt Wang spoke.

"What...what should I do?"

"Take it, this is Xiao Zhen'er's gift, right?"

Granny Li stepped forward, grabbed a bag of flour, and said with a chuckle.

Seeing this, Wang Erxiao also stepped forward and grabbed a bag of flour, holding it tightly in his arms, refusing to let go. Uncle Wang saw this and could only smile bitterly.

Li Zhen glanced at Granny Li and frowned. They were all from the same village. Everyone was having a hard time right now, so he should help as much as he could.

Li Mantun also stepped forward to help persuade everyone to take the bags.

When the few people heard Li Zhen say this, they didn't know how to refuse. After taking the bag of noodles, they were about to leave.

"It's him, Li Zhen, don't let him get away!"

Just then, a loud shout was heard and everyone was stunned. What was going on?