Chapter Thirteen: Making Money

  It just so happened that when Gao Yuan arrived at the gate of Lu's mansion, he coincidentally ran into Lu Hong returning from a government office under the escort of several family guards. Gao Yuan hastened his pace and went forward to greet him.

  "Uncle, it's time to go down!"

  "It's finally over!" Lu Hong nodded, "This period of time has been busy to the point of exhaustion, but it's finally come to an end. The grain and fodder have been stored away, and we can finally take a good rest for a while."

  "I know you've been tired lately, Uncle, so I brought two jars of wine to help you relax!" Gaoyuan said with a smile, holding up the wine jug.

  "Come on over, what wine are you buying? Can't you find any good wine on the street? You know our house's wine is all courtesy of Magistrate Wu, it's much better than what they sell on the street. If you're craving a drink just come on over, no need to make excuses. Your big brother has left and I'm feeling bored, it's nice to have someone to chat with." Lu Hong rapped gently on Gao Yuan's head.

  "Uncle, this wine of mine is different from what's sold on the streets!" Gao Yuan leaned in close to Lu Hong and said with a smile.

  "Oh, it's different?" He stared at Gao Yuan with interest, "What's different? There's only one wine seller in our county, no branches, are you going to conjure up some wine?"

  The two of them laughed and saw the door. Gaoyuan lowered his voice, "Nephew can't transform, but nephew can brew wine."

  Lu Hong suddenly stopped in his tracks, "Could it be that you're even better than Wu Jia's wine?"

  "Uncle will know at once." Gaoyuan said with a smile.

  "Alright, I'll give it a try!" Lu Hong said: "If it's not good, I'm going to spank your butt."

  "It's up to Uncle to decide."

  As soon as the mud seal was opened, a strong aroma of wine wafted out of the house, and Lu Hong, who was taking off his official robe, suddenly stopped and turned around, "So fragrant!" he exclaimed.

  With a proud smile, he picked up the jar and poured the wine into the bowl with a gurgling sound. As he saw the clear liquid, like a clear spring, flowing out of the jar, Lu Hong's eyes grew wider and wider. Compared to the somewhat turbid wine of the Wu family, Gao Yuan's wine was much more attractive.

  "Uncle, have a taste!" Gaoyuan lifted the wine bowl with both hands and handed it to Lu Hong. He didn't worry that Lu Hong would learn from Ye Jing'er's way of drinking like a cow, for every old drinker has his own set of experiences when it comes to drinking.

  As expected, Lu Hong took the wine bowl and first brought it to his nose, taking a deep breath before lightly drinking a small mouthful, closing his eyes as the wine swirled around in his mouth several times before slowly flowing down with the movement of his throat, accompanied by a warm current rising from his lower abdomen, instantly warming up his entire body.

  Take another sip, this time swallowing at a noticeably faster speed, throughout the process, Lu Hong's eyes never opened. Gao Yuan sat quietly on one side, not making a sound, just staring at Lu Hong.

  After a while, Lu Hong finally let out a long sigh. "Good wine, good wine! Drinking this bowl of wine is truly like being an immortal." His eyes suddenly opened wide, "Gao Yuan, this wine was indeed brewed by you yourself."

  "Yes, Uncle, last time I had a drink here at your place, it was too bland and tasteless, so when I got back home, I started thinking about brewing some real good wine for you to try. It took me a whole month of experimenting in my house, but finally, I came up with these." Gaoyuan said with a smile.

  "Good wine, good wine, you've got skills!" Lu Hong burst out laughing, "What a pity, if it weren't for the fact that this Fufeng County's wine is being monopolized by Old Wu, with these skills, you could have made a fortune."

  "It doesn't matter whether we make a fortune or not. Originally, I just brewed this wine for us to drink together."

  "What a pity! What a pity!" Lu Hong shook his head repeatedly. "A bright pearl is hidden, what a waste." His eyes rolled around for a few moments before he suddenly slammed the table and exclaimed loudly: "I've got it! Gaoyuan, you can't sell wine, but you can sell this brewing formula to Old Wu. Let's make him pay a handsome price, I bet he'll bleed heavily!"

  Gao Yuan looked at Lu Hong and said, "Uncle, is Wu County Magistrate willing to buy?"

  "Of course he'd buy it!" Lu Hong laughed: "His family is in this business, seeing that there's such good wine, he wouldn't spare any effort to get his hands on it, he's worried you'll sell the recipe to someone else! Fufeng County doesn't have anyone who dares to buy it, what about other counties? What about the prefecture? With this kind of good wine, who would still drink the rotten soup that Wu's family used to brew?" With Gao Yuan's wine, the Wu family's good wine that Lu Hong had previously praised to no end immediately became rotten soup.

  "It's all up to Uncle!" Gaoyuan's eyes rolled a few times, and suddenly he had an idea. "Uncle, since County Magistrate Wu is willing to spend a lot of money to buy it, we can't sell it."

  "This is why?" Lu Hong was puzzled, "I can say with certainty that even if Old Wu were to take 1,000 yuan, he would still buy."

  "Uncle, now that you mention it, my brewing technique is indeed a unique skill. If I sell it for 1,000 guan, wouldn't that be a one-time deal? Then we'd just have to watch the Wu family get rich, and we'd be left staring blankly?"

  "We can't brew wine, Gaoyuan, don't be greedy, if you really want to brew wine, then you won't be able to stay in Fufeng County, and I won't be able to protect you either. This is cutting off people's financial path, it's strange that others wouldn't fight with you to the death."

  "I don't brew wine, but Uncle, we can merge with him! We'll just give him this recipe and merge, then sit back and divide the profits, won't that bring in money year after year, and a surplus every year?"

  "I'm afraid Old Wu won't agree."

  "My nephew has his own way of making him agree." Gaoyuan said confidently.

  He looked at Gao Yuan with a mixture of suspicion and doubt, "Alright, I'll have someone invite Wu County Magistrate over. Housekeeper, housekeeper!" Lu Hong shouted loudly.

  Lu Bin ran over and said, "Sir, what are your orders?"

  "Go to Wu County Magistrate's mansion immediately and tell him that I have important matters to discuss with him. Please ask him to come over to the mansion."

  "Yes, sir!"

  Lu Hongduan picked up the wine bowl and drank all the wine in one gulp. "This is really good wine! The wine I've been drinking for half my life has been a waste!" He smacked his lips and shook his head, still savoring the taste.

  Gaoyuan smiled and walked over to serve Lu Hong in taking off his official robes, saying: "In the future, uncle wants to drink, nephew will get it for you. This is not something good anyway. Right, uncle, there's also one more thing that nephew wants to report to you."

  "What's up?"

  "Mr. Ye has agreed to let me marry Ye Jing'er, saying that when Jing'er turns 16 next year, he will let us get married."

  Lu Hong was taken aback for a moment, "The thing I told you before, didn't you consider it?"

  Gao Yuan hesitated for a moment before saying, "I've thought about it, and Ye Shi also told me about this matter."

  Lu Hong was shocked, "He is indeed related to that matter nine years ago." Gaoyuan, I think it's better to forget about it. There are beautiful flowers everywhere in the world, why must you have this woman? If not handled properly, it will be a lot of trouble.

  "But uncle, I just like Jing'er, besides, that thing happened so many years ago, and not many people still remember it. Even if there's some trouble, isn't there still you, uncle? And behind you, there's the governor, right? Even if they don't give face to you, they should give some face to the governor, shouldn't they?"

  Lu Hong sighed, "That's what they say, but you also know that I'm just a loyal bodyguard, if something big happens, the governor won't necessarily take risks for me."

  "Uncle doesn't have to worry too much. If they've been hiding for nine years, why can't they hide for ninety more? In our county of Fufeng, the sky is high and the emperor is far away, there's nothing to be afraid of."

  "This matter, you handle it yourself, best to keep it under wraps." Lu Hong shook his head. "Forget it, I won't bother you about this either. As you said, since we've been fine for nine years, hiding for another ninety years isn't a problem. By the way, when are you planning to take office?"

  "I'm leaving in a few days, I came over today to let uncle know."

  "Hmm, when you go, I'll send a trusted guard to escort you to your post and give those arrogant soldiers a wake-up call, so they won't bully you because of your youth."

  "With Uncle in charge, who dares to bully me?" Gao Yuan said lightly.

  "That's hard to say, openly they don't dare, but secretly they'll trip you up, make you suffer in silence, work for a while and then run away with their tails between their legs. This kind of thing, your uncle me, when I was young, wasn't inexperienced either?" Lu Hong laughed loudly.

  "Uncle, don't worry, no matter what I won't run away with my tail between my legs, wouldn't that be a loss of face for you?"

  "Alright, I'd like to see how you deal with those soldiers!" Lu Hong smiled and said: "Young people are indeed vigorous, but you've suffered a loss. Don't come crying to your uncle here, sometimes even I don't dare to intervene in military matters."

  "Got it, nephew!"

  "Let's go, it's about time anyway. We're going to welcome Magistrate Wu. Today we're going to pull out the tiger's teeth, so we have to be polite first. This is called 'courtesy before battle', isn't it?" Lu Hong said with a smile. "If you really can get a large sum of money, Haoyuan, you'll have to lend me some first. The New Year is coming soon and I still need to prepare gifts for the governor."

  "What's mine is uncle's, no need to mention borrowing or not, uncle can just take it and use it."

  "You little scamp, your mouth is indeed very sweet. It's strange to say, but after you got hurt this time, your temperament has changed a lot compared to before. I'm starting to not recognize you."

  "After making a round in the Yama Temple, one will naturally become more mature!" Gaoyuan smiled and covered it up.