Chapter Thirty-Three: A Good Wine at Two Dollars

  Upon hearing this, Wen Fei's heart skipped a beat - what a perfect opportunity for promotion! How did Maotai wine enter the international market back then? Wasn't it by pretending to be drunk? Although our blended liquor is slightly inferior and can't compare with Maotai, these country bumpkin foreigners in front of us are much easier to fool than those cosmopolitan foreigners who came later.

  Suddenly, he scooped up a bowl of wine and poured it back into the bucket. The wine foam splashed out, like scattered jade, its color as clear as the purest spring water, without any other impurities. What is called "Jade Dew"? This is it.

  As mentioned earlier, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the brewing technology was still very poor. Even if there were some techniques available, they would have been kept secret within certain families and not spread widely. Moreover, the early distillation technology probably didn't have good sealing properties, making it impossible to brew high-quality liquor.

  There was no wine shop near Wen Fei's place, and the village wine he had seen before was not much better. However, there were only a few good ones, all of which were fermented from grains or wild fruits. Moreover, the filtration technology at that time was not very good, as described in Tang poetry, "green ants new wine" and "red mud small fire stove".

  Sounds romantic, but actually it's just poor filtration technology. The fruit pulp and impurities in the wine are not removed cleanly, leaving tiny green particles suspended in the liquid like little ants.

  Look at Water Margin, why did ancient people call drinking wine "sieving wine"? It's because there were too many impurities inside, so when drinking, they would simply filter it a bit and sieve out the liquid, so it wouldn't be too thick...

  What is referred to as fermented wine is actually huangjiu or laojiu. If there are still elderly people who brew huangjiu, you can see that there are many rice grains inside, which need to be filtered out.

  So with this era's pathetic brewing techniques and technology, seeing such a colorless transparent liquor is like seeing some kind of rare treasure.

  "Want to try some?" The old man had spoken up just now.

  Wen Fei hesitated for a moment: "That one?" He looked around, now the crowd was packed in three layers inside and out. If everyone had some, this wine would be gone.

  "It's the old, wild dream!" The old man suddenly realized, took out a piece of gold from his sleeve, thin and not big, seemingly an elliptical shape. Wen Fei took it over, his heart moved: Could this be the legendary golden leaf?

  When I was young and watching martial arts, Wen Fei envied those rich and wealthy Jianghu guests who threw away thousands of dollars. They often went out without bringing any silver coins, but instead brought silver bills, with each one worth at least 10,000 yuan. Even if they did bring some loose change, it was all gold leaves.

  Now, Wen Fei saw the object and really wanted to put it between his teeth and bite it to see if it was real gold... But now in front of so many people, Wen Fei couldn't bear to do such an embarrassing thing. So he generously scooped up a bowl of wine and handed it over.

  The old man didn't accept it, but someone naturally handed him a silver bowl and said with some embarrassment: "Please don't mind, Master Taoist, I'm just not used to using other people's tableware!"

  Wen shrugged, indicating that he didn't care. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder are more common in modern society, and it's not a big deal. Moreover, this old man looks like a wealthy businessman, a person of high social status. How could he possibly share a wine cup with others?

  He scooped up a bowl of wine and poured it into the silver bowl, just as the old man was about to taste it. Wen Fei kindly reminded him, "Old sir, this wine is quite strong. Be careful when you drink it!"

  The old man smiled and said: "I understand!" Then he slowly took a sip.

  The people around were getting impatient, many of whom had a craving for wine. The aroma of the wine had already tempted them. Seeing the old man's slow movements, one by one they couldn't help but want to grab the bowl and pour it directly into their own throats!

  As soon as the wine entered his throat, he felt a warm current flowing down his abdomen like a fire. The old man couldn't help but let out a mouthful of wine gas and exclaimed: "Good wine... it's just a pity that it's too violent!"

  He hadn't finished speaking when a flustered foreigner tossed over a sheepskin bag, this time much larger than the last one, which landed with a thud on Wen Fei's carriage. In his haste, he grabbed the wine bowl and scooped up a full bowl, making a gurgling sound as he poured it down his throat.

  Who knew that as soon as the wine entered his throat, this guy's face suddenly changed greatly, and with one mouthful, he spat out the wine, snot and tears following, and he knelt on the ground coughing for half a day. If it weren't for Wen Fei's quick eyes and hands covering the bucket lid, this whole bucket of wine would have been completely ruined!

  The onlookers beside them all looked at each other in confusion. What had happened? Was the wine really that bad to drink? It smelled so good!

  "Good... fragrance." The man coughed for half a day before recovering: "Good intensity... good wine!"

  The crowd was shocked and amazed, seeing that the foreigner's face had originally been a purplish-red color, and now it had become even redder. Everyone who was watching was moved to emotion, especially those who had come with this foreigner, all of whom were from the same tribe and knew his capacity for liquor. They were even more shocked than anyone else - just how strong was this wine? Could it really make someone like He Dong, who could drink three large bags of horse milk wine without changing color, become so flustered?

  Wen Fei had expected this, he thought to sell the wine to the Fan Department. He couldn't be too conservative, those nomadic tribes were famous for their good drinking capacity, so Wen Fei brought more than 50 degrees of strong liquor this time...

  "Good wine! We'll buy it all from Iwabe!" The man from Naniwa was overjoyed and exclaimed loudly, "We'll take all of this wine from Iwabe!"

  The onlookers cheered, but someone in the crowd whispered: "It's from Kawabe after all. No wonder they're so arrogant... They've been monopolizing a river that produces gold sand..."

  Some people who were with Iwakura wanted to buy all the good sake, which made others jealous. Then someone shouted: "Why should you and Iwakura buy up all the best sake? We, the Ishibei faction, won't stand for it!"

  This Han language is spoken more fluently than those with the Rock Department. As the sound fell, another group of barbarians rushed over with a fierce momentum, led by a large man with a black and red face, who was even wearing not the animal skin robes of the Barbarian Department, but luxurious silk clothes. It looks like it's really out of place.

  Wen Fei's eyes saw that things were not good, he grabbed the sheepskin bag and didn't care about the cart, first slipping to one side. Sure enough, these two tribes' people hadn't exchanged a few words before they started fighting. They directly drew their knives, chopping with blood and flesh flying everywhere.

  The market was suddenly in chaos, with chickens flying and dogs jumping, and pedestrians scrambling to get out of the way. However, no one retreated far, but instead made way for the two parties to fight it out.

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