Marrying no one but you

  The principle of distillation is actually very simple, Liu Yuan demonstrated the process of distillation twice in front of Qian Zhanggui, and the clever Qian Zhanggui quickly grasped it. Liu Yuan then let him taste the freshly distilled liquor and the one that had been distilled a few days ago to compare the difference.

  Qian Zhanggui nodded repeatedly, stroking the simple distiller made by Liu Yuan, and finally followed his advice. He left with a smile on his face, accompanied by several trusted men, but not before leaving behind the jar filled with silver.

  At least he thought it was still worth it.

  What moved Xiaoniang the most was that before leaving, Qian Zhanggui lit an incense stick for his late father in the name of a fellow businessman. Xiaoniang's eyes turned red as she repeatedly expressed her gratitude.

  For her, the fact that her late father could get the respect of Qian Zhanggui, the boss of Tianfu Wine House, was a very proud thing. Although this respect had nothing to do with his achievements in business, it was probably just because he respected him for taking in a good apprentice.

  "Little girl, what are you standing here for so long? Are you okay?" Liu Yuan couldn't help but walk over and ask when he saw the little girl standing still for half a day, and even reached out to touch her forehead to see if she had a fever.

  "Big brother, I"

  "I'm fine." The young woman's body trembled, as if she wanted to shrink away, but after a moment of hesitation, she remained still, allowing Liu Yuan's hand to rest on her forehead.

  Unconsciously, a flush has crept onto her face.

  "It's all right, haha." Liu Yuan smiled and moved his hand away.

  Although the Tang Dynasty was open-minded, putting his hand on an unmarried woman's head at will seemed a bit too much. Seeing Xiao Niang embarrassed, Liu Yuan also didn't want to be excessive, and quickly withdrew his hand.

  "Sorry, brother." The young woman suddenly bowed her head and burst into tears, with big drops of tears falling to the ground "plop" "plop".

  Liu Yuan was most afraid of women crying, as soon as he saw it, his heart was panicked, wanting to hold her and comfort her but fearing she would misunderstand, so he could only anxiously say by her side: "Little wife, little wife, don't cry, what's wrong? Who bullied you, brother will beat him until even his mother can't recognize him"

  "No, no one is bullying me~~"

  "Why did you suddenly start crying?"

  The little girl sobbed twice and said with a sad face: "It's all because of my family, even Master Brother had to sell the ancestral secret recipe at home, what can we do now?"

  Liu Yuan's performance today, Xiaoniang has always been watching and remembering. Even Qian Zhanggui couldn't help but praise the wine that would definitely make a lot of money. However, in order to repay the huge debt owed to the Jin Yushi family, Liu Yuan didn't hesitate and sold it off immediately.

  Witnessing those people's indifference, Liu Yuan's true feelings were even more evident. The young woman was suddenly deeply moved and finally burst out emotionally.

  Liu Yuan smiled and gently wiped away her tears with his sleeve, saying: "Who made you my little wife? That's what I'm willing to do, really, but..."

  "But what?" The little girl opened her big tearful eyes and asked curiously.

  Liu Yuan said with a sly smile: "That was my plan to make money and marry a wife, now that the secret recipe is sold, I have no money to marry a wife. Little girl, you can't marry someone else, if you want to get married, you must marry me, got it?"

  The little girl's face suddenly turned bright red, her hands placed in front of her body constantly tugging at the hem of her clothes. She looked up to see Liu Yuan staring at her with a tender gaze, and immediately lowered her head again.

  "Master... older brother, little girl, little girl's heart has been with you since early on"

  "Wherever you are, I, Yuan Ke Xin, swear that in this lifetime, I will not marry anyone but Liu Yuan Shixiong." The young lady's face was still a bit shy at first, but as she spoke on, her expression became more determined.

  Just like a man, he speaks with a loud and clear voice.

  Liu Yuan didn't expect that his joke would cause such a big reaction from Xiao Niang, but it's also good this way. The current Xiao Niang already has the sign of surpassing all beauties, and taking down this Yangzhou beauty early is a wonderful thing.

  Other things can be let go, but beautiful women cannot be let go. In terms of beautiful women, Liu Yuan is not a generous person.

  "It's alright, it's alright, nothing's wrong, I'll take care of everything from now on." Liu Yu walked over and gently hugged Xiaoniang, saying softly.

  "Big brother, that... we haven't even had a proper wedding ceremony yet. Although I'm not the eldest son or legitimate heir, I still need to observe mourning for a full year before I can..."

  According to custom, when an elderly family member passes away, the eldest son and grandson must observe a three-year mourning period. Even if they hold official positions, they must return home to fulfill their filial duties. During this time, they are not allowed to get married. This is the most basic etiquette. However, girls have a slightly different situation, as they fear missing their marriageable age and becoming old maidens. Therefore, the requirement for them is somewhat more relaxed, and according to local customs, only one year is needed.

  Liu Yuan hastily let go of Xiaoniang and said with some embarrassment, "No, no, it's not what you think. I was just comforting you, that's all. You're still young, you're still young."

  Now the young girl is still a developing little loli, she would not do such a thing even if Liu Yuan wanted to. Only beasts can do that. Even if they waited for a year of mourning, at that time the young girl would be only 14 years old. In ancient times, girls became adults at 15 and were called "plus笈". It's best to get married at 16, but this rule is rarely followed, like many cases of child brides.

  In the old days, it was said that "a young woman at the age of 28 is waiting for marriage in her boudoir". The number 28 actually represents 16 years old, which means that a girl can get married at the age of 16. Of course, the word "character" here does not refer to letters, but rather to the eight characters of one's birth date. Before a man and woman get married, they need to ask a fortune teller to calculate their eight characters to see if they are compatible, which is considered a good match made in heaven.

  Liu Yuan is now only fifteen years old by Chinese age reckoning, and even in the precocious ancient times, he was still a minor. Although this young maiden had not yet married, her mind had already run ahead of time.

  "Gurgle... gur..."

  After the explanation, both of them didn't know what to say, and just as they were in an awkward silence, a strange sound suddenly rang out.

  "What's that noise?"

  Liu Yuan said somewhat dejectedly: "It's just my stomach growling. I haven't eaten all day and I'm starving."

  Originally wanted to go to Tianfu Wine House for a big meal, didn't expect that before eating, was pulled by Qian Zhuanggui to the account room to discuss business, after discussing well, returned to Jinyu Liuyuan without stopping, teaching and guiding, even personally did it once to show him, now the sun is about to set, in other words, the two have not eaten all day.

  No wonder I'm starving.

  The little girl let out a "heh" and laughed, this laugh was like pear blossoms in the rain, it made Liu Yuan dazed.

  "Then I'll go prepare some dishes, Brother Shifu you wait a moment." Little Niang once again made Liu Yuan's face turn red with embarrassment, and she glared at him angrily before lightly moving her lotus steps to the kitchen to prepare food.

  Compared to the heavy footsteps this morning, Xiaoniang's footsteps have become much lighter. At least two big things were solved today, one was about the Jin Yu family and the other was about herself...

  After seeing Xiao Niang leave, Liu Yuan wiped his nose and couldn't help but smack his lips.

  In ancient times, people attached great importance to etiquette and morality. After the death of a loved one, on the "seventh day" they could only eat vegetarian food, on the "14th day" they could eat fruit, but if they wanted to eat meat, it would be impolite, so they had to wait until the "21st day". For a young man who couldn't be happy without eating meat, this was a difficult thing. Now that he hadn't eaten meat for several days, Liu Yuan felt that his eyes were green and dim, and he estimated that he could devour an entire roasted pig.

  Heaven, earth, emperor, parents, and teachers - these were the ancient maxims for being human. Although "parents" ranks fourth, with heaven and earth so distant and the emperor high above, the closest one has is still family. A teacher for a day is a father for life. Liu Yuan was considered a close relative. As a merchant, his social status was already low to begin with; if people were also saying he was disloyal and unfilial, then this society wouldn't be able to accommodate him at all.

  Liu Yuan gritted his teeth, thinking that it was all for the sake of a beauty, and it was only twenty-one days, he could endure it.

  The young girl was clever and skilled, and since she only made vegetarian dishes, it didn't take much effort. Liu Yuan waited for a while, and the young girl had already prepared the meal, took it out, and they ate together.

  "Big Brother~~"

  "Hmm~" Liu Yuan replied while quickly eating his rice, he was starving.

  Half-sized child, eating out the old man, now is the time for growth spurt, if you don't eat a meal, you'll be starving.

  "What about the silver? There are only two of us here. What if someone comes to rob us? Otherwise, let's call someone over and settle this debt tonight."

  In the morning, I worried about where to find money, now Xiao Niang is worried about that pot of silver.

  Eight hundred taels! In her whole life, this young woman had never seen so much silver.

  Liu Yuan said with a relaxed face: "Everyone knows that when our family of gold and jade holds a funeral, we have to pawn things, owing a large debt. Who would still come here? Besides, those few people who are monitoring us, following us for twelve hours a day, don't worry, there are free bodyguards, nothing will happen."

  There were also two "vampires" who handled the printing money, Zhou Yuanwai and Sun Lao Yuan. They were afraid that if these two left, their subordinates would be left hanging around them all day, taking turns watching them even in the middle of the night.

  They really are two free bodyguards.

  "But can't Boss Qian speak?"

  "We've agreed to say that the wine is his, no one will mention it again. As for today's events, he'll just say I tried to sell him a fake antique and no one will know." Liu Yuan had already come up with a plan early on.

  "Oh, so you want to bury it underground?"

  Liu Yuan's head had two black lines, isn't this the three hundred taels of silver that can't be found locally? Others originally didn't care about it, but after hearing this strange sound, they probably made a big deal out of nothing.

  "You mind your own business, finish your meal and go to bed." Liu Yuan said with a serious face, exuding the dignity of his senior brother.

  "Oh..."

  The little girl responded with a sound, seeing Liu Yuan being serious, and didn't dare to speak, busily lowering her head to quickly eat her rice. In fact, not only Liu Yuan, but also the little girl was almost starving.