pampering wife

Chapter 21

The old drinker's name is Wu Boren. He once held the position of Jing Zhaoyin. He resigned from office when he was 50 years old, because he has always loved drinking.And the fate between Qingmei and him is because of his travels——

At that time, Qingmei was only in her early ten years old, and she had a lot of experience in wine making. She just opened a Meizi Tavern in Wancheng with Mrs. Xu, and her business was very mediocre.One day, an old man in his 50s came to visit. His face looked red and he was in high spirits. He seemed to have drunk a lot of wine.He tasted all the shochu made from green plums, shook his head and sighed: "The wine is good wine, and it was brewed with care, but it still lacks heat."

Qingmei was at the time when she was diligent in learning and asking questions, so she asked him for advice.The old man was also in high spirits, so he started talking endlessly.He has tasted countless wines in his life, and he is also a well-read literati, and his speech is funny and methodical.At that time, Meizi Tavern only sold four or five kinds of shochu, and Wu Boren explained the advantages and disadvantages of each liquor in detail, which made Qingmei very admired.

Next door to Plum Tavern is Tung Blossom Inn, and Wu Boren happened to stay there to rest after tasting the wine.

Wu Boren came to the tavern again the next day, and Qingmei clung to him, asking for advice on how to make better wine.Wu Boren was also a wanderer, seeing that the little girl was so interested in wine, he was happy to give some advice, so he quoted scriptures, starting with the origin of wine, and explained the water, grain, and utensils used for wine making.

After hearing this, Qingmei wrote it down carefully, and heard Wu Boren say that the mountain spring water outside Wancheng is good for brewing wine, so she followed him into the mountains to find the mountain spring with great interest the next day.Of course, Xu was worried that Qingmei would go alone, so she asked Xu Huaiyuan to accompany her.

On that trip to the mountains to find springs, Wu Boren not only helped her find a hidden and excellent clear spring, but also gave Qingmei new inspiration.

The spring is hidden in the deep mountains, and there are many monkeys in the surrounding dense forests. After they tasted the spring water, they could smell the sweet and light wine fragrance when they were resting under the century-old trees.

The smell of wine in the deep mountains and dense forests, could it be brought by the woodcutter who collected firewood?But the aroma of this wine is obviously different from the usual shochu... An old urchin and two children followed the faint aroma of wine to find it, and finally found a pile of rotten fruits.

Those fruits had already rotted and fermented after being soaked in water, but there was a faint smell of wine wafting out of the water. Wu Boren picked it up and tasted it.

Qingmei also took a sip, although the taste was not very good, but the fruity fragrance in it gave her an idea - the wine made from fruit has such a unique flavor, but it is a pity that it is not easy to store and it is easy to change the taste. Is there any way to solve this problem? Woolen cloth?

Wu Boren stayed in the tavern for more than half a month before leaving, and gave some advice on how Qingmei's family brewed wine, and the taste of the brewed wine was indeed much better.After he left, Qingmei thought hard about the aroma of that day's fruit wine, and then made various attempts, and finally came up with a method of soaking the fruit in rice wine, which made the Meizi Tavern famous for its fruit wine.

Speaking of which, Wu Boren can be regarded as Qingmei's teacher in wine making, and even the benefactor of Meizi Tavern.

At this moment when they met again suddenly, Qingmei couldn't hide her surprise, Wu Boren also asked with a smile: "Why did Xiao Qingmei come to the capital?" Without waiting for her to answer, he patted Xu Huaiyuan again, "This kid has grown so big La!"

"Grandpa, who are these two?" The woman next to him asked, looking at Qingmei curiously.

"This is Qu Qingmei from Wancheng, remember?" Wu Boren pulled the girl beside her to introduce Qingmei, "This is my granddaughter, Wu Yujian."

"I remember everything grandpa said." Wu Yujian greeted Qingmei: "So this is Miss Qu. Grandpa said that you are very smart, know how to make wine and are eager to learn. I'm afraid you will achieve a lot in the future."

Hearing this praise, Qingmei felt a little shy: "That's Grandpa Wu's praise, and my little wine making skills were taught by his old man."

Wu Boren laughed, and said: "It happens that the tea bean wine here tastes very good, come here, let's talk while drinking." He is a frequent visitor to various taverns in the capital, and the clerks in the shop naturally recognize him and often greet him The clerk came over and filled two jugs of wine, and said, "The old man is still sitting by the window?"

Wu Yujian gave a "hmm" and added, "Let's have another jug ​​of wine."

The four of them sat down by the window, Wu Boren was not in a hurry to drink, instead he looked at the pedestrian-traveled street outside the window for a while, with a satisfied smile on his face, and then picked up the glass.Qingmei didn't know his identity before, but now seeing Wu Yu's simplicity, gentleness, and generous behavior, she guessed that he should be an official.According to his nature of good wine, he should be familiar with the market of wine sales in this capital, right?

Because Wu Boren asked her why she went to Beijing, Qingmei took the opportunity to reply: "I want to open a restaurant in the capital, so I brought my nanny and younger brother along. Grandpa Wu, how is the market for liquor sales in the capital?"

"Little Qingmei is quite ambitious!" Wu Boren praised somewhat, "There are 970 liquor stores in the capital, and the quality of them varies, and the better ones are only fifty or sixty."

To become what he called a "better" tavern, the wine they sell should be very good, Qingmei said: "What are they?"

"The best one on Wuhe Street is of course this one. There is Xie Jiahong from Tingzhou in the alley behind Guozijian, and they sell good wine..." He gave the names of more than 20 pubs in one breath before stopping, "Wait for you After browsing through these, I will tell you something else."

Those more than 20 taverns are like a treasure to him, but they are completely unfamiliar to Qingmei. She was a little dizzy, and asked: "Where are the fruit wine sellers?"

Wu Boren shook his head regretfully and said: "There are seven or eight stores selling them, but the taste is good and bad." Qing Mei asked which ones, Wu Boren told them one by one, and Qing Mei remembered them all.

(End of this chapter)