Chapter Thirteen: Establishing a Family Business

  Cheng Huailiang and others got drunk, returned to their rooms to rest. Qin Yu waited in a separate courtyard watching two little maidservants busy themselves. Before long, a servant came to summon Qin Yu. It was Cui Wen from Yongnian County, bringing 1,000 guan to apologize.

  Cui Wen was obese, weighing at least 180 pounds, but less than 1.6 meters tall, like a meatball. The two scouts he sent out eventually returned, and as soon as they heard it was Cheng Huailiang, Cui Wen didn't say another word, took the money and hurriedly rushed over, afraid that Cheng Huailiang would come to his door looking for trouble.

  Unfortunately, Cheng Huailiang had been drunk for a long time and didn't see him. In the end, it was Qin Yu who entertained him.

  To be honest, Cui Wen originally meant to hand the money over to Cheng Huailiang. In his eyes, a maternal uncle is just a maternal uncle, and no one is more important than Cheng Huailiang. Of course, this maternal uncle's status is much higher than his, so he was very respectful in attitude.

  Qin Yu naturally accepted the one thousand guan, not accepting it would mean that this matter had not passed, and accepting it meant that the matter was over. The two families should interact with each other as they normally would, Cui Wen felt a bit painful but finally breathed a sigh of relief.

  After a simple conversation, Cui Wen formally signed a contract with Qin Yu and became his agent, leaving some deposit, and then returned to Yongnian County.

  Time passed day by day, since the distilled liquor was born, people like Murata were still okay, but Cheng Huailiang came once a day, every time he took away a five-jin bottle of wine. Qin Yu guessed that this guy might be going to drink with Murata and others, after all, drinking alone is not fun, it's more lively with many people.

  Chui Wenbao's silver, Qin Yu didn't hide it privately, no need to, didn't go through the process of concealing it brightly, just took away 900 taels, saying what, this was originally Qin Yu's anyway. Angry, Qin Yu hated to kick him a few times and scold him severely, unfortunately, could only think about it, couldn't win in a fight.

  It's been three and a half days of busy work. Little Peach and Little Red are tired but seemingly enjoying themselves.

  Qin Yu and Muramasa are coming with his steward Wangcai, who is also Xiao Hong's father. The wine-selling business naturally becomes Wangcai's responsibility.

  Qin Yu changed his original decision also because Xiao Hong had privately approached Qin Yu, wanting his father to come under Qin Yu's command as well. Coincidentally, Qin Yu still had some concerns, and the two little girls selling wine in person was indeed not very suitable, so he went along with Xiao Hong's intentions.

  Want to sell wine for money, the best way is still to sell it to merchants, let them take charge of selling it in various places in the Tang Dynasty. No way, Qin Yu was new and didn't have his own merchant team, so he could only do it this way. Xiao Hong's father was responsible for this matter.

  However, for now, Qin Yu estimated that Yongnian County would be able to digest this batch of wine, and there was no need to find those merchants. This could also be considered as a way to whet their appetite, and later when discussing money, it would naturally become much easier.

  Qin Yu had thought of relying on the power of Cheng Fu, but Cheng Fu had shops in Chang'an and no trade caravans. The money earned from the shops plus Li Shimin's rewards was enough for them to use, and controlling another trade caravan would be too much, making it easy to fall into rumors.

  The Gong family has scruples about this, but the aristocratic families don't have such taboos. There are people below who help them handle various affairs, even if they investigate, it's hard to find any evidence on them, so they don't need to worry at all.

  The wine is already out, Qin Yu still wants to open a wine house. The food in the Tang Dynasty is still a bit monotonous. Opening a wine house can also make a lot of money, but the timing is not right. The dishes are not complete, and what kind of wine house can be opened? Can't just have those few dishes every day.

  Buying wine and distilling it isn't a common thing, and it's easy to be discovered secretly. However, there's no other way for now. Qin Yu thought of getting the silver quickly so he could go to Chang'an to get married. After all, when he arrived in Chang'an, if the servants at the Cheng residence called him "young master" without giving them some money, that would be too stingy.

  Moreover, Qin Yu also wants to buy a house, buy land, and buy servants. How can the dream of being a small landlord be realized without it? This is also something that requires money.

  After some thought, a large number of things were waiting for Qin Yu to do, and they all had one thing in common: they required silver.

  The distillation of wine is over, and the goods are being transported to Yongnian County. When we came, there were ten large carts, but when we left, there were only four large carts. However, there were only three carts of wine, and the other cart was loaded with books and white paper. The time was too short, and there were not enough people, so they couldn't produce many books and white paper.

  Of course, this car and horse were bought by Qin Yu on purpose, it's a wine cart, otherwise how would they deliver the goods.

  Picking up at the door is also possible, but it has to wait until the brick wall outside the workshop is erected.

  It was those few businessmen who paid the bill. As soon as they heard that Qin Yu was willing to deliver the goods, they rushed to pay, fearing that if they paid less, they would get fewer goods in return. Qin Yu was stunned for a moment before figuring out the reason - it's because good things are hard to come by.

  Qin Yu secretly rejoiced for a long time. This mentality is really strange. In his previous life, he was afraid of being called poor, but here it's the opposite.

  The distilled liquor still left a vat, weighing thousands of catties, otherwise Cheng Huailiang would come to bother Qin Yu every day.

  Originally, Qin Yu estimated that it would take two or three days to sell out, mainly because there was wine involved. After all, Qin Yu had not planned to sell this wine to merchants, for fear that they would offer a low price. As it turned out, it was indeed better to negotiate at the right time.

  But who would have thought that in the afternoon of the same day, the team returned to Zhangjiacun. Qin Yu only asked to know that after arriving at the county town, Zhang Dashan sent books and white paper to the businessman, while Guan Jia Wangcai ordered someone to open the wine jar. Before long, people swarmed in, and the scene was extremely fiery.

  Fortunately, Qin Yu asked Cheng Huai Liang to bring some family members to help out, and the situation was brought under control. After all, no one knew Guan Jia Wang Cai, and without someone with status in charge, what if some local ruffians came to cause trouble?

  The Tang Dynasty used hu, dou, sheng and he to measure wine. Naturally, it was not the several catties and taels that Qin Yu was accustomed to. One he is 60 milliliters, one sheng is 600 milliliters, roughly over a kilogram.

  By analogy, the price of wine was set by Qin Yu at one liter for 500 coins, which is equivalent to half a tael of silver, or about over 100 RMB. Others sell it for tens of coins, good ones for one or two hundred coins, so Qin Yu's pricing isn't unreasonable.

  Firstly, it's for the money. The distilled liquor that has been introduced to the world now was a first-class product in the Tang Dynasty, and compared to the previous generation, it is on the same level as Moutai Wuliangye, so it should be sold at a higher price naturally. Secondly, Qin Yu originally positioned these wines in the high-end market, how can they not be sold at a high price?

  Of course, Qin Yu only prepared this high price once. After all, it's not a rare item. Selling at such a high price all the time is not good for his reputation and may lead to resentment from those who can't afford it. Who would they blame if they couldn't buy wine?

  Setting such a high price, he was always a bit uneasy in his heart, but when the team returned to the village, Qin Yu finally put his mind at ease. The purchase price was less than 1,000 yuan, but this sale directly earned more than 6,000 yuan. Adding the silver from selling books and paper, the total was over 7,000 yuan.

  With the money, things became much more convenient. Qin Yu arrived in Yongnian County the next day and bought over all the land within a three-mile radius of the twenty mu of Yongye Field on the west side, all the way to the foot of the Taihang Mountains.

  Qin Yu buying land is not without reason, the house in Chang'an and the fields are all bought by the Cheng family, for Qin Yu it's still not proper to not have his own business, so he starts to set up his own business, so as not to be too embarrassed when going to Chang'an.

  Because it was a wasteland and the Tang Dynasty's land buying and selling regulations were not strict, plus the county magistrate already knew that Qin Yu would soon become the uncle of the Cheng family, so he readily agreed, at an extremely cheap price, totaling only 500 yuan, which is much cheaper than buying a house.

  It's mainly because the land on that side is troublesome to irrigate, otherwise it would have been bought by someone else and become their property long ago. The land has to be taxed, but the output over there is sometimes frustrating, so it has been idle all along.

  It's not without reason that Qin Yu can easily buy land. During the excessive wars of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the population was drastically reduced, and the Great Tang had plenty of wasteland waiting to be cultivated. How could there be any restrictions? Li Shimin would be delighted if all the land were planted with grain, so that the people would be at peace and his throne would be stable.

  Qin Yu saw that the land on the other side was so cheap, so he simply bought the part of Taihang Mountain that belonged to Yongnian County, a full ten miles around, and the price was only 2,000 guan.

  In the eyes of the county magistrate, this mountain forest is useless except for wood and wild beasts, and selling it would not make a difference. Besides, even if Taihang Mountain was an important place for soldiers, the Tang Dynasty did not have any regulations regarding this matter, so it's not worth offending Qin Yu who will soon become the son-in-law of the Cheng family.

  The county magistrate did not know that the mountain was rich in minerals, but Qin Yu knew. There were large amounts of coal, iron ore, kaolin, marble, millstone, limestone, and even gold and copper deposits. If he could buy them, he would really get rich. Qin Yu had not expected it to be so easy and thought he had taken advantage of the situation.

  If the county magistrate knew that there were gold and copper mines here, he would absolutely not dare to sell this place to Qin Yu, unfortunately, he didn't know.

  Now this mountain forest has become Qin Yu's private property, according to the law, every grass and tree in this mountain forest, even animals have become Qin Yu's possession, if someone enters and is caught by Qin Yu, they can be killed without having to take any responsibility.

  The Tang Dynasty was not without people buying mountains and forests, but they were all large families with real power. Even if they bought them, it was only for hunting and the like. Not many people dared to make a fuss about this. Even if they discovered iron mines, gold, silver, copper mines, etc., they still belonged to Li Shimin. Who dares to privately exploit them will be killed.

  Of course, the real purpose of some large families buying mountains and forests is probably to privately mine minerals. Qin Yu didn't care about this, at least in Yongnian County, these minerals had not been discovered yet, so no one would buy the mountains and forests here.

  The land and mountain were in hand, Qin Yu spent money to buy a large house with three entrances and exits in Yongnian County, spending 300 yuan, and also bought more than 30 official slaves with the help of the county magistrate, all of whom were beautiful girls.

  It's not that Qin Yu has a grandiose idea of being the king of horses, but rather that the beautiful girls are pleasant to look at. Moreover, Qin Yu is also helping these girls escape their suffering, and following him will not lead to hardship; otherwise, their lives would be miserable.

  As for the servants, Qin Yu also bought some. The back house was taken care of by the maids, and the heavy work in the front yard was naturally taken care of by the servants. Qin Yu also purchased some simple furniture and simply decorated the newly bought mansion.

  This busy work is just one day, although Qin Yu doesn't need to lift a hand, he also needs to run around, it's quite tiring, but Qin Yu has his own business in the Tang Dynasty, even if he goes to Chang'an to get married, he has some confidence in his heart, of course, this is all Qin Yu's small thoughts, basically useless.

  The new house, Qin Yu really wanted to decorate it lavishly, but finally gave up. The wedding is still unknown how much money will be spent, and now another big expense, it's better to save some.

  The betrothal gifts were sweet potatoes and potatoes, but it would take time for people to realize their importance. Qin Yu had no choice at the moment, as he didn't have any silver, so he naturally had to make some preparations, at least on the surface.

  The next day, Cheng Huailiang drove a horse-drawn carriage with the only remaining jar of wine and rushed to Qin Yu's new mansion in high spirits. Accompanying him were Xiaotao, Xiaohong, and Xiaohong's father, as well as Cun Zheng and Zhang Dashan, who came together to congratulate Qin Yu on his new home.

  What surprised Qin Yu was that Xiaotao and Xiaohong secretly wrapped the distillation equipment in cloth and brought it back, Qin Yu praised the two little maids for a few words, and they were instantly excited.

  The vegetables and meat seasonings in Yongnian County are much richer than those of Murata's family. Qin Yu specially went to the kitchen to prepare a fairly sumptuous meal.

  The gentleman is far from the kitchen, but Qin Yu went down to the kitchen and scared everyone. One by one wanted to stop him, even Cheng Huai Liang, a martial artist with a bad temper, disagreed. However, Qin Yu insisted that going down to the kitchen was also part of the six arts of etiquette. Surprisingly, no one could argue against Qin Yu, so in the end, Qin Yu went down to the kitchen himself.

  Although the ingredients and seasonings were not enough, everyone was still attracted to Qin Yu's cooking. They ate so much that they bit their tongues multiple times, and a table full of dishes was eaten clean. The one who ate the most was Cheng Huailiang, this guy could not only drink but also eat a lot.

  In fact, Qin Yu also made a braised pork dish in between. Who knew that after the braised pork was done, Qin Yu took one bite and spat it out, there was a strange taste. After some thought, he suddenly remembered that castration of pigs wasn't mentioned during the Tang Dynasty, so naturally, this pork had a strange taste.

  It's no wonder that pork was not favored by the Tang Dynasty nobles. Not to mention always rolling in the mud, the meat also had a strong odor. Even ordinary people didn't like to eat it, otherwise, how could Zhangjiacun village not have any pigs?

  The reason why Yongnian County has pork for sale is that the common people need meat, and cattle cannot be slaughtered at will. Beef is hard to come by, and even if it is available, ordinary people can't afford it. Mutton is expensive, and chicken, duck, fish, and goose are not cheap either. If you really want to eat meat, with limited money, you can only buy pork to satisfy your craving.

  A meal, everyone ate with relish, but Qin Yu, who cooked the dishes, didn't get to eat much. However, Qin Yu wouldn't mind, he could just make another serving later.

  When I was in Zhangjiacun, there were not many materials and not enough time. Every day was busy to the point of exhaustion, and at night, I had to rush to correct homework. The idea of cooking by myself naturally faded away.

  Now that there were more materials and time, Qin Yu naturally took care of his hunger first.