Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 109 - 58 Brewing Wine_1

Chapter 109: Chapter 58 Brewing Wine_1
Fat Zhang, seeking pink, subscriptions, recommendations, and all kinds of tickets.
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With Zhang Qingnian and others’ help, there were plenty of hands for wine-making. Lian Shouxin, Zhang Qingnian, Lady Wang, Wu Lang, Lian Zhizhi, and Caiyun all rode into the mountains to pick grapes. Both Zhang Qingnian and Wu Lang also had to drive back to deliver the grapes. Picking grapes did not involve any special skills, and Manman only reminded them that after picking the grapes, a rinse in the stream water was sufficient, and under no circumstances should they wipe off the white bloom on the grapes.
Lian Shouxin, Zhang Qingnian, and others set off by cart, with Manman taking her little attendant, Xiao Qi, both wearing straw hats, toward the neighboring Zhao Family Village.
Zhao Family Village was not far from Thirty Mile Camp, and their lands were adjacent. Most of the crops had already been harvested, and from the edge of Thirty Mile Camp, one could see the village of Zhao Family Village at a glance. Manman wanted to take a shortcut, so she walked directly through the little path in the fields, reaching Zhao Family Village in about fifteen minutes.
Zhao Liansheng’s house was at the entrance of the village, outside his yard a large open space was enclosed by a low wall, where many pots, jars, and crocks of various sizes were placed. His family was the only one in a hundred miles radius with this craft. The water jars used by nearby households, the pots for pickling vegetables, and the wine jars were almost all made by his family.
When Manman was planning to make wine with grapes, she had inquired where to buy pots. Later, when she went out to dig for wild vegetables, she had specifically visited this place. At that time, she took a liking to the wide-mouthed twenty-liter pots made by Zhao Liansheng’s family, which were also equipped with lids and could be sealed with clay – suitable for pickling vegetables or storing wine. Coincidentally, these pots were ordered by a distillery workshop but were subsequently canceled. The Zhao family was worried about how to sell so many pots, but when Manman came to say she would buy them, they agreed to sell them to her for ten Wen Money each.
"I want fifty pots for starters, and I need them today. Here’s the deposit," Manman took out her purse and from it, she retrieved two strings of money, totaling two hundred Wen Money, as the deposit.
At the time, Zhao Liansheng did not take much notice since Manman was just a child, but today, seeing that she immediately wanted fifty pots and promptly gave the deposit, he naturally was overjoyed.
"Alright, I’ll hitch up the cart now and deliver them to you," he said.
Zhao Liansheng was willing to deliver, which naturally pleased Manman. She watched as Zhao Liansheng, with his two sons, first loaded twenty-five pots onto the cart, secured them tightly, and then Manman and Xiao Qi followed the cart back.
Manman had already chosen a spot for the wine pots in the western half of the courtyard that now belonged to her family, right under the south window of their West Wing Room. There were originally a few frames of green beans that had just been trellised. By the time Manman returned following the cart, Zhang Qingshan had already leveled the ground again. Zhao Liansheng, along with his sons, unloaded the pots and went back for the second cart.
The pots were new, but Manman felt she still needed to wash them before she could feel at ease.
Manman and Xiao Qi filled a bucket with water, scrubbing the inside and outside of the pots clean. Because she bought in bulk, Zhao Liansheng gave her a Xiao Tanzhi of sorghum liquor. She cut a piece of the white fine cotton cloth she had bought from the town last time, dipped it in the sorghum liquor, and wiped the inside of the pots and their lids.
The most important thing in brewing wine is clean equipment, and using high-alcohol liquor for disinfection is best.
All fifty pots were delivered in two trips by Zhao Liansheng’s family, and Manman settled the remaining three hundred Wen Money with him. By that time, Lian Shouxin and Zhang Qingnian had also brought back the first cart of wild grapes.
The wild grapes were carried back in bamboo baskets, and upon arrival, they were placed on a rack constructed from sorghum stalks. After inspecting the grapes, Manman found that they were well chosen, with the white bloom still intact, and she was satisfied. She waited for the grapes to air dry before plucking them one by one, crushing them, and putting them into the clean and disinfected wine pots. Each pot was not filled to the brim to leave enough space for the grapes to ferment.
Manman then reassigned the labor, telling Wu Lang and Zhizhi to come back to help while only Lian Shouxin, Zhang Qingnian, Lady Wang, and Caiyun were responsible for picking and transporting the grapes home.
Since this process also required absolute cleanliness, Manman repeatedly washed her hands and disinfected them with the sorghum liquor before allowing anyone to touch the grapes.