mtlumby2d Chapter 1483 Niu Zi Returns with His Wife Gan Ze
Chapter 1483 Niu Zi Returns with His Wife Gan Ze
After sorting and sealing the wines, Chu Chen took Pang Hu out.
We arrived at the same mud-washing workshop again.
"Young master, what brings you here this time?"
The shopkeeper was unusually enthusiastic towards Chu Chen, not for any other reason than that he was generous and easy to talk to.
"Shopkeeper, this time, let's make bottles."
"bottle?"
"That's right, the bottle for holding the wine."
After saying that, Chu Chen took out the sketch he had drawn overnight.
The shopkeeper took it and looked at it: "It's not difficult to fire, it's relatively simple. However, you asked for such a fine firing and even engraved words on it, so the price is a bit expensive."
"It's alright, just tell me, shopkeeper."
"Your first bottle, of this quality, should be worth at least three hundred coins. The second one, two hundred coins each, and the third one one hundred coins. I won't lie to you, I'm sure I'll make a profit."
Chu Chen nodded; the price was acceptable.
A bottle costs 300 coins, and a box costs several tens of coins to make. As for the wine, the yield of the distilled wine is about 30%.
That is, three catties of rice wine yield one catty.
Rice wine isn't expensive. Fatty Tiger buys a lot, so it only costs about ten coins per pound. Because the alcohol content is low and the grains used aren't of high quality, the distillery still makes a profit.
So, the cost of one jin of wine is about four hundred wen.
The cost is 400 coins, so selling it for 5 taels of silver a bottle seems reasonable.
There are also high-end options. We can launch a limited edition specifically for high-ranking officials and super-rich people to use as gifts. Selling it for hundreds of taels a bottle wouldn't be a problem.
After making up his mind, Chu Chen immediately ordered the shopkeeper to fire 10,000 bottles.
Moreover, they also produced a fine piece, but only a thousand of them.
After reaching an agreement, Chu Chen paid the deposit and turned to head towards the carpenter.
Upon hearing that Chu Chen wanted to make such exquisite boxes, in four different colors, and in such large quantities, the shopkeeper immediately invited him into the inner hall.
In the end, I got it for thirty coins a box.
Those one thousand fine pieces, however, would cost forty coins.
Chu Chen didn't say anything about this; it was entirely within his budget.
After returning, the two began to wait.
Finally, after half a month, everything was finished.
Chu Chen didn't hire anyone; he and Fatty Tiger started bottling. Since there was no plastic in this world, all the seals were made of wood and wax, which slowed down their progress considerably.
It took the two of them a full two weeks to bottle all the wine.
"Fat Tiger, this is the moment of truth. I wonder how Niu Zi is doing in the south."
Fat Tiger doesn't have much of a business sense; he only knows that this thing is a good product and that he can make a lot of money by selling it.
"Don't worry, Brother Chen, Niu Zi is slippery as an eel, there won't be any problems."
Just as Fat Tiger finished speaking, the courtyard gate was suddenly banged on.
Chu Chen gestured for Pang Hu to be quiet, puzzled. He had no friends in Seoul, so who could it be?
So he held a long knife in his hand and slowly walked to the door: "Brother Chen, I'm back."
Hearing Niu Zi's voice, Chu Chen put down his knife and opened the door.
"Haha, I called Niu Zi, and Niu Zi is here! Fat Tiger, come here quickly."
At this moment, Niu Zi was tanned dark and had lost a lot of weight. Behind him was a petite woman and a carriage filled with green sugarcane.
Chu Chen quickly and enthusiastically pulled Niu Zi and the woman inside, and instructed Pang Hu to bring in the carriage as well.
"You've had a hard day, Niu Zi. And who is this gentleman?"
Chu Chen spoke warmly at the stone table in the courtyard.
Niu Zi, weary from his journey, took a sip of water and said, "What's the trouble? This is my wife, whom I brought back from the south. Her name is Wei Shanliu."
After saying that, Niu Zi pulled the woman in front of him: "This is Brother Chen, and this is Fatty Tiger."
"Shanliu greets Brother Chen and Fatty Tiger."
"We're all family, no need to be so polite. I see sugarcane on the carriage."
Seeing Chu Chen looking at the items on the carriage, Niu Zi immediately began to introduce them.
"Brother Chen, this stuff exists locally, but it's not grown because, besides being sweet, it's also unusually hard, like bamboo."
Chu Chen nodded after listening, thinking to himself that this was exactly what he wanted.
In modern society, sugar cane is the hard material used for sugar extraction.
"Brother Chen, as you instructed, I gave my father-in-law twenty taels of silver so he could try planting a few acres first."
"Okay, you did a great job. Fat Tiger, go cook."
“We’ve produced a batch of wine. Once this batch is sold out, I’ll go with you.”
Looking at the truckload of sugarcane, Chu Chen didn't start immediately. He would wait until he had arranged for the three of them to go to the distillery before trying to extract sugar from it himself.
After all, there was a woman behind Niu Zi.
He doesn't understand, so how could he do these things in front of strangers?
Moreover, Niu Zi had to help him find another small courtyard to live in, and the excuse was quite good: he and Pang Hu were both rough men, and it would be inconvenient for them to live together.
Fat Tiger deftly cut the meat and cooked the dish. Before long, a pot of stewed meat was placed in front of them.
Chu Chen returned to the house and scooped out a ladle of strong liquor: "Niu Zi, to thank you for your hard work all this time, come and try our homemade liquor."
After saying that, Chu Chen poured a cup for each of the three people.
Niu Zi casually raised his glass and downed it in one gulp, making the fat on Pang Hu's face twitch.
He had seen this stuff before; with his alcohol tolerance, one glass was enough to get him drunk.
Sure enough, the next moment, Niu Zi's face turned as red as a monkey's bottom: "Cough cough cough... Young master, this wine is so strong."
"Haha, this is no ordinary wine. Just one cup of yours would be worth at least one tael of silver."
Niu Zi snapped out of his daze and looked at the wine in the ladle in disbelief: "What? One tael of silver per cup? Is this made of gold?"
"Hehe, you'll see when we start selling tomorrow."
After a hearty meal and drinks, the four of them went to sleep.
The next morning, two oxcarts, each carrying a rectangular box, headed straight for the shop that Chu Chen had previously rented.
Upon entering the shop, Chu Chen instructed Niu Zi and Pang Hu to hang up the sign, officially opening the wine shop.
The three large characters "神仙醉" (Shenxian Zui, meaning "Intoxicated by Immortals") on the sign are particularly eye-catching.
Passersby, seeing a new store opening and having no other entertainment options, immediately gathered around.
Seeing that the time was right, Chu Chen gave Pang Hu a wink.
Fat Tiger immediately picked up a bottle of medium-grade Divine Wine and came to the front of the crowd.
Chu Chen then addressed the crowd, saying, "Dear fellow villagers, today is the opening day of Shenxianzui. We are having a free tasting event. Everyone gets a small cup, first come, first served."
"Shopkeeper, what is this 'Immortal's Intoxication'? Is it some kind of wine?"