Traveling through 70's wine

Wen Qing carefully checked the walls all around and finally found a gap in the opposite wall close to the ground. She reached out and dug it hard and heard a "click". She then saw that one of the bricks was protruding two inches outward.

Wen Qing held the brick and pushed hard, but it still didn't move. She turned the brick left and right, and pushed again, and it opened a small door half a person's height.

I shone the flashlight inside and saw a small room with what seemed to be something inside.

Wen Qing did not go in immediately. She went up to the ground level first and checked the gate of the yard. Seeing that no one had come in, she went to the basement again and entered through the small door.

There were three boxes in this secret room. All the boxes were wrapped in thick oilcloth and painted on the outside to prevent moisture. The style of the boxes could not be seen. The boxes felt very heavy when they were moved, so they were put into the space.

After leaving the basement, Wen Qing restored the floor, took out the original bookcase and arranged it to cover the basement entrance.

Forget it, I won’t renovate this yard first.

On the way home, she took a detour to the Housing Management Office and found Section Chief Li, asking him to help find a small apartment for Zhu Hongying.

After returning to Erxia Village, she told Mr. Liu about the renovation of the second courtyard. She asked him to bring a few workers, bring bricks, tiles, wood, cement and lime, and it took three days to repair the courtyard wall, gate, windows and roof, spending less than 3 yuan.

At night, Wen Qing entered the space and counted the things she brought back.

There were six boxes in the room outside the basement, padded with oilcloth, and in good condition. Two of the boxes were filled with books, some in foreign languages ​​and some ancient books, on mechanical manufacturing, architecture, and literature. There was a manuscript wrapped in brown paper.

One box contained calligraphy and paintings, including more than thirty ancient books and a dozen scrolls of calligraphy and paintings, all well wrapped. She opened a scroll, which was a painting of black orchids, and the signature below was Bai Shiweng.

The two boxes contained porcelain, including plum bottles, vases, brush washers, porcelain bowls, porcelain plates, and porcelain jars, all wrapped in cotton cloth and treated to be shockproof.

One box contained clothes, and the other box contained gold, silver and jade.

She went to check the three large boxes in the secret room at the back. Wen Qing used a knife to pick up the paint on the oilcloth bit by bit, and then uncovered the oilcloth. It could be seen that these wooden boxes were much more exquisite than the six wooden boxes in the room outside.

The wood gives off a faint sour aroma, with no smell of decay at all. Upon closer inspection, one can see that the wooden boxes are all made of bright red rosewood, the lids are inlaid with mother-of-pearl, the padlocks are of a very ancient style, and there are copper handles on both sides of the box, with lifelike copper lions sitting on the handles.

Wen Qing carefully used a wire to poke open the lock and opened the lid. She found that one box contained silver ingots, one box contained gold bars and ingots, and one box contained four small boxes. When she took them out, she found that they were lacquer dressing boxes filled with jewels and gems.

After Wen Qing checked these boxes, it seemed that the two batches of boxes were not from the same era. The boxes in the secret room were full of gold, silver and jewelry. The inscriptions and marks on the gold and silver were from the previous dynasty. The things in the boxes in the basement should be from the last twenty or thirty years.

Wen Qing locked all the boxes and put them in the study in the small bamboo building.

There is still a month before school starts, and Wen Qing plans to take a walk around the area to see how people make wine.

She thought about it and realized that when it comes to winemaking, the most famous provinces are Sichuan, Guizhou, Shanxi and Anhui. Sichuan liquor is mainly strong-aroma liquor, Guizhou's is mainly sauce-aroma liquor, Shanxi's is mainly light-aroma liquor, and Anhui's is also mainly strong-aroma liquor, but it is not as famous as Sichuan's.

Wen Qing didn't want to go far. Her winery brews both light-fragrance and strong-fragrance liquors. This time she wanted to go to Anhui Province to visit and learn about Gutan Liquor or Anpin Liquor. These two types of liquors are also famous liquors with a long history. Gutan Liquor is a strong-fragrance liquor, and Anpin Liquor is a mixed-fragrance liquor. Both are in northern Anhui, so she planned to go to Bo County first to visit Gutan Liquor. After telling Liu Quan and Wang Jianguo about her arrangements, she set off.

It took a total of twelve hours to get to Bo County by train. She got on the train in the evening and arrived the next morning. After getting off the train, she went for a walk on the street first.

Bo County is not big, but it is full of the historical charm of an ancient city, and the buildings in the city are very much in the Hui style.

Wen Qing was carrying a big bag as she walked along the old bluestone street, looking at the magnificent and exquisite Huaxi Tower. This building had multiple hip roofs and was hundreds of years old, but the wood carvings and paintings on the eaves and beams were still very intact and looked magnificent.

Along the way, Wen Qing saw many wineries in Bozhou. She walked into a winery called Gaojia Wine. There were many wine jars piled up in the store and the aroma of wine filled the air. Wen Qing started chatting with the master of the winery.

The master chef came with the car delivering wine. Usually, this store only has the manager and the waiter who sells wine. The master chef introduced that their wine has a history of more than 2,000 years, and can be traced back to Laozi.

Wen Qing joked: "Most people know that I rode a donkey out of Hangu Pass, but no one has heard that I brewed wine."

The master chef said anxiously: "Gao's wine was originally called Laozi's wine, how come it has nothing to do with Laozi? Everyone here knows it."

Wen Qing followed his words and said, "What are the characteristics of your wine?"

Seeing that she was a girl, the master chef did not argue with her, so he took out a small wine cup, poured a glass of wine, and said, "Look at this purity, this fragrance, this hanging cup, isn't it a good wine?"

Wen Qing took it and observed it carefully. Seeing that the wine was clear and fragrant, she praised: "It is indeed a good wine."

The master chef proudly said: "It is said that during the Three Kingdoms period, when Cao Cao led his army to war, he would bring our Gaojia wine as military supplies."

Wen Qing asked: "Master, can I visit your winery?"

The master chef said, "That's no problem." When he returned, he took Wen Qing to a winery near the county town.

Walking into the wine shop, the smell of wine became stronger. A young man saw Wen Qing behind the master chef and said to him, "Old You, who did you bring to the wine shop?"

The master chef said, "It's Xiao Wen from Pingjing. I brought her here to see what she has to offer."

Under the guidance of Lao You, Wen Qing learned about every process from moistening the ingredients to steaming them, and from cooling them down to adding koji and storing them in the cellar. Wen Qing listened and took notes carefully.

When visiting the brewing cellar, a man who looked like an official came over and said to Lao You with a stern look on his face: "Lao You, stop nagging. You always delay our work."

Old You said embarrassedly: "Big sister, I'm going to pick the wine."

Wen Qing followed Old You to the steamer. The lees had already been put into the steamer. She watched him check the liquor flowing out of the bamboo tube. When the liquor dripped into the container and splashed dense foam, Master You changed the container and said, "The head of the liquor has a strong taste and contains many impurities. It must be kept separately."

The two of them kept watching the wine dripping. After a long while, Old You spoke again, "Look, the wine foam is small and even. This is the middle wine. It tastes rich, sweet and refreshing."

Wen Qing asked: "Can these wines be bottled and sold?"

Master You said: "This is a semi-finished product. It still needs to be graded and stored in the cellar. Our Gaojia Liquor raw liquor needs to be stored for at least three years, and then blended and bottled after aging."

Wen Qing watched Master You pick the wine, and then went to the koji room to watch other masters making koji. The koji for Gao's wine is made from wheat, barley and peas. The materials are first moistened, crushed, added with water and mother koji and stirred evenly, then cut into small pieces and placed on a wooden board to ferment. This is called lying koji. After about thirty days of fermentation, it is stored in a warehouse for three months before it can be used.

After bidding farewell to Master You, Wen Qing returned to Bo County, found a guesthouse to stay in, and wrote down the wine-making and koji-making methods he had seen today.