Chapter 17: The fragrance of wine summons heroes

  Zhao Xing is a good person in all other aspects, but he has one bad habit - he likes to be an absentee boss! Now that the Drunken Immortal Building has been open for only a few days and business is booming day by day, Zheng Bo and Li Jinwu are busy as can be, with one acting as the shopkeeper and the other as the accountant, while Zhao Xing has gone off on another leisurely "research" trip!

  Actually, everyone misunderstood Zhao Xing. He was not as carefree as he seemed on the surface. In his heart, he kept repeating a phrase from Taizu: "Ten thousand years is too long, only strive for every morning!" The Yellow Turban Rebellion had been going on for less than two years, and the time left for him to develop peacefully was getting shorter and shorter. How to accumulate a thick foundation in the shortest time possible became the focus of all Zhao Xing's actions! Recently, he has been inspecting around Shangdang, hoping to find some open-pit coal mines that can be excavated, as a preparation for future small blast furnaces to smelt steel.

  On this day, Zhao Xinggang had been wandering around for nearly half a month before returning to Changzi County. As soon as he entered the city gate, he saw Li Erdou's young son, Li Tie Niu, looking flustered and searching around everywhere. When he saw Zhao Xing, he immediately ran over.

  "Master, something's wrong! Someone is going to remove the signboard of Drunken Immortal Pavilion! Jin Wu has already been captured!"

  Zhao Xing heard Li Tie Niu call himself "master" and couldn't help but feel frustrated. Ever since Zhou Cang and Pei Yuan Shao entered Wu Hu Zhuang, Li Tie Niu had been sticking to them, insisting on learning martial arts with them, and even calling the two housekeepers "master". He had been scolded by Zhao Xing several times, but he couldn't change his ways, and would say things like "My life was saved by Master, my parents gave birth to me, but Master raised me!" What nonsense is this? Zhao Xing thought to himself, I not only saved you back then, but also cleared your name!

  But joking aside, Zhao Xing actually liked Li Jia's little boy from the bottom of his heart. Although Li Tieniu was only eight years old, he had a loyal and honest character without being stupid. If you gave him a task as small as a sesame seed, he would complete it with great seriousness, like a watermelon. The two words "serious" are what this world fears the most.

  This was not the case, Zhao Xing really couldn't bear Li Tieniu's entanglement, so he had to let him follow Li Jinwu into the county town. Usually, he acted as a welcoming child, and was quite polite and courteous, with a honeyed mouth, flattering the guests and making them happy, occasionally even getting some reward money.

  "Don't be flustered, Iron Bull. Tell me the details of what happened." Zhao Xing said calmly as he patted Li Tie's sweaty forehead.

  "Yes, it was a few days ago... Two strange men came to the wine shop one after another. One was a burly man half a head taller than you, with thick eyebrows and a face like a ripe date, his lips as if painted with lipstick. The other was a middle-aged man dressed as a scholar, calm and composed. Both were here seeking fame, and after drinking for three days in a row, the red-faced giant suddenly slammed his fist on the table and shouted that the wine sold here did not match its reputation, it wasn't strong enough to get anyone drunk, let alone make one an immortal drunkard! The middle-aged scholar also chimed in saying we were selling dog meat under the sign of lamb..." Li Tie Niu nodded without daring to continue.

  When Li Tieniu said that a tall and handsome man with a flat eyebrow and a face like a heavy date had arrived, Zhao Xing's heart couldn't help but get excited, thinking: "Finally, you've been brought here!" But why?

  Careful fans of the Three Kingdoms may have discovered that Zhao Xing's Changzi County is close to the birthplace of a certain later figure who was revered as a god, Xie County (now Yuncheng, Shanxi), which also belongs to Shangdang Commandery.

  Since Zhao Xing started brewing wine, he has been waiting for this fierce man to come and be calculated by himself. Another fierce man from Mayi is still in Yanmen County, a bit far from himself, but also within Zhao Xing's calculations.

  Who are these two people? That's right, they're Guan Yu and Zhang Liao! When Guan Yu was in Cao's camp, he and Zhang Liao, one of Cao's generals, really hit it off. It turned out that their old hometown relationship played a big role.

  Zhao Xing guessed that one of the two people who came to make trouble might be Guan Yu, but he was not sure about the other. However, this did not stop him from excitedly rushing towards the Drunken Immortal Building in the city. Ha! In the future, I'll still have to rely on Second Brother Guan for food and drink, so since they've come, I might as well take them down and let Liu Xuande become sworn brothers with someone else!

  Entering the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, I found that the large hall on the first floor was already empty of guests. From the third floor above, faint sounds of scolding and Zheng Bo's apologetic voice could be heard.

  Zhao Xing didn't say a word, went straight to the top floor, and looked around. The room was in disarray, with a robust man in his twenties holding Li Jinwu's hands behind his back with one hand, while raising a wine cup with the other hand to toast with a middle-aged scholar at another table. As he drank, he said: "Actually, the wine sold by this Drunken Immortal Pavilion is quite good, but somehow it always feels like it's not intoxicating enough, as if you're drunk but not really drunk, and you can't get any more drunk no matter how hard you try. It's really annoying!"

  The middle-aged scholar nodded and said, "You, a sturdy fellow, also know how to drink wine. You've described the flavor of this Long River Daqu just right! These past few days, drinking this wine has been like being drunk but not quite drunk. Every time I want to bid farewell and leave, my heart can't bear to part with it, truly annoying!"

  Upon seeing this, everyone can't help but ask: wasn't Zhao Xing originally brewing high-proof baijiu? How come it's not intoxicating? In fact, it was all part of Zhao Xing's plan. At the time when the original Changhe Daqu liquor came out, Zhao Xing stored some away in a cellar, calling it top-grade Changhe. Afterwards, he blended the baijiu according to different flavor profiles and added aromas, creating a series of wines. For example, there was the strong-aroma Changhe with an alcohol content of around 45%, the light-aroma Changhe with an alcohol content of around 35%, and the elegant-aroma Changhe with an alcohol content of around 25% that had floral and grassy notes added to it. In Zhao Xing's words, this was called "dividing consumer groups".

  Currently, the 45-degree strong fragrant Changhe Zhaoxing has not started selling, everything has to wait until the Drunken Immortal Pavilion in Jinyang opens for business, planning to make a big splash. Guan Er Ye and the middle-aged man had no choice but to drink the mixed 35-degree clear fragrant Changhe instead. The 35-degree liquor can actually get people drunk, but for Guan Er Ye, that's not enough. Think about it, this is a fierce man who dares to scrape his bones to cure poison without anesthesia! That willpower and endurance must be incredibly strong, in other words, those nerves are absolutely thick! So the Changhe Daqu that can knock down ordinary people can't knock down Guan Yu. As for the middle-aged man next to him who seemed to have drunk a lot, Zhaoxing still hasn't figured out what's going on.

  Watching Zheng Bo continuously apologizing, Li Jinwu struggled with a look of discontent but to no avail. Zhao Xing, on the other hand, was not anxious at all. He said to himself: "They say that Guan Erge is a fierce man, today I'll make you fall into my hands." The top-grade Langhe liquor he had stored away was something he had personally experienced its power, which absolutely exceeded 70 degrees. At the time, Zhao Xing had only drunk one bowl, and that night he couldn't get out of Xu Wanting's bed.

  "Zheng Bo, follow me to get some good wine for the heroes!" Zhao Xing gave a signal with his eyes and took Zheng Bo downstairs, directly ignoring Li Jinwu's pitiful gaze.