Chapter 42: A Pot of Wine

  Although Dongling himself was just a Hu merchant, he ran such a high-end hotel that even the truly wealthy and noble didn't know how many times they had seen him. Mrs. Yao, this kind of nouveau riche, wasn't really in his heart, but he just smiled and waved his hand lightly, and a red-clad Hu woman walked onto the stage with a gentle swaying motion.

  She was a tall and slender woman with golden hair and green eyes, full of exotic charm. Her beautiful eyes sparkled with a gentle and alluring light. With her plump breasts and narrow waist, she wore a fiery red pomegranate skirt that accentuated her curvaceous figure, making her round buttocks sway seductively.

  In her hand, she held a pale green-glazed fine-mouthed wine jug, with a stopper wrapped in red silk on the mouth of the jug. The lady raised the wine jug high and slowly walked around the round platform, the curve of the jug was similar to the beautiful woman's slender figure by about 70 or 80%.

  "Gentlemen, I say this wine is rare and precious, not just because of its rarity, but also due to its unique brewing method. The brewing process of this wine is vastly different from other grape wines, with an alcohol content that exceeds ordinary grape wine by at least two times. As a result, the flavor is extremely rich and mellow. Such a fine wine can be said to have a price but no market. Gentlemen guests, you are indeed fortunate today. Now, please make your offers!"

  Dongling sells wine, and he himself is a famous connoisseur of wine. He says that this wine tastes better than all the fine wines in his store, so it's absolutely genuine. No one would question his judgment, nor would they dare to ask for a taste first. Originally, there was only one cup of wine left, and with each customer taking a sip, how much is left?

  Now everyone is concerned about what this wine is made of.

  In fact, this wine is indeed different from the common wines on the market. At this time, ordinary wines are usually heated and sterilized before adding yeast to ferment into wine, while this bottle of wine was made using a rare distillation method to produce a distilled grape wine.

  Regarding the brewing of grain distilled spirits, there have been three different theories about its origins in later generations: Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties. In fact, with the excavation of ancient artifacts, there is already physical evidence to prove that at least by the Song Dynasty, distilled spirits had already existed. If one were to be a bit bolder, it could even be inferred that as early as the late Tang Dynasty, it may have already appeared.

  It would have been absolutely impossible if it were earlier, otherwise the Tang people left so many poems reciting beautiful wine, how could there be no records of high-quality white wine? However, distilled white wine did not exist at that time, but grape distillation technology had already appeared, only this technology currently exists in the Western Regions and is held by a small number of Hu people.

  These distillers knew that this distillation technique was better than the traditional method of making wine, but once they expanded their operations, this exclusive technology would inevitably spread, so they kept it secret. As a result, small workshops could only produce very limited quantities of distilled grape wine.

  The transportation of wine is extremely troublesome, and the output is very small, so this beautiful wine appears in Luoyang, it's even more precious. Those several loose-robed scholars discussed in a low voice for a while, and then several people jointly contributed some money, and one of them shouted loudly: "We offer 10,000 yuan."

  In this era, ordinary official rice wine can be bought for 300 coins per dou, and a million coin wine is already the highest-end wine on the market. Later, the poet Li Bai drank a good wine worth one million coins per dou, while the down-and-out Du Fu often only had inferior wine worth 300 coins per dou. The prices these people paid were still reasonable.

  Mrs. Yao sat at the back of the seat, slightly pursing her lips and smiling coldly.

  Liu Junwen covered her mouth and smiled, "These people actually dare to compete with the madam in wealth, it's truly a case of overestimating oneself. Let's just watch and see how much others can add to the price, then I'll go get the wine and present it to the madam to taste, so as not to disturb the madam's interest by repeatedly adding to the price."

  Madam Yao nodded her head and smiled, with an extremely arrogant expression.

  At this time, the two Hu merchants who were discussing business also joined in with great enthusiasm, one of whom shouted: "15,000 yuan!"

  The price was already extremely high, and the two merchants added up to five thousand dollars. Others also didn't want to add three or five hundred more just for a pot of wine. It was too much, and the atmosphere suddenly cooled down.

  Mrs. Yao saw that no one was bidding anymore, and she felt a bit disappointed. She slightly raised her chin, and Liu Junwen understood, so he loudly said: "200,000 yuan!"

  Suddenly, a sigh of despair echoed through the four directions. The merchant who was bidding slightly furrowed his brow and hesitated for a moment, but he had just made a big deal and wanted to buy this good wine to share with his business partner, so he naturally couldn't show weakness at this time. He said: "Two hundred fifty thousand dollars."

  "This price is a bit outrageous, no matter how good the wine is, it's not worth this price." Liu Junwan hesitated for a moment, turned his head to look at Mrs. Yao, and Mrs. Yao angrily said: "Good-for-nothing, can't I afford the price?"

  Liu Junfan immediately stretched out three fingers and shouted triumphantly: "Thirty thousand dollars!"

  That merchant secretly cursed his fate. Although he was extremely wealthy, taking out 35,000 dollars just to buy a bottle of wine still felt too extravagant. However, with the noble guest in front of him, it wasn't good to back down now, so he gritted his teeth and shouted: "35,000 dollars!"

  In the elegant room facing south, Yang Fan frowned slightly and whispered to Tian Ai Nu: "This is not good. Halfway through, a Persian appeared out of nowhere. If those two can't agree on what to do, and Madame Yao withdraws from the competition, it will be difficult for us to proceed with our next plan."

  Tian Ai Nu glanced outside quickly and said in a low voice, "It shouldn't be, this Mrs. Yao is a spoiled mistress, although the price is a bit high, she will still buy it to save face."

  Tian Ai Nu smiled and said softly: "Men love face, but in fact women love face more than men."

  Tian Ai Nu's voice had just fallen when Liu Junwen on the other side shouted fiercely: "Forty-five thousand dollars!"

  It seems that Mrs. Yao is also worried about the blunt knife cutting meat, adding 5,000 and 5,000 to it, both sides are deadlocked, if they let go, they will lose face, if they don't let go, this money is spent painfully, so she suddenly raised the price by 10,000 yuan, hoping that the other party will retreat.

  That barbarian was also in a situation where he had to ride the tiger, and yet he still wanted to shout out prices. At this time, the merchant next to him pulled him back and whispered a few words of advice in his ear. The Persian barbarian then took advantage of the opportunity to slip away, pretending to be displeased, and stopped bidding.

  Dong Ling stood on the stage with a smile, and the person who sold the fine wine insisted on shouting loudly in public. At first, he didn't think much of it, but after receiving 500 yuan as "commission", he simply helped to shout twice, and it didn't matter. Unexpectedly, this bottle of wine was actually sold at a high price of 45,000 yuan.

  Although the initial discussion was about pricing, no matter how high the price went, he couldn't take a cut from it. However, once this news spread, it would undoubtedly be equivalent to putting up the sign for his "Golden Hairpin Drunkenness", and this profit would truly belong to him. Dongling Spring Wind said with a smile: "45,000 taels of silver, Mrs. Yao bid 45,000 taels of silver, is there anyone else who wants to raise the price?"

  The courtyard was silent, with no sound of birds chirping. Dongling shouted twice more, but seeing no one respond, he said: "If there is no noble person willing to increase the price, then this bottle of fine wine will have to belong to Madame Yao."

  Yao Yun slightly raised her chin, with an air of unparalleled arrogance. Liu Junwen hastily stood up and quickly walked towards the stage, glancing around smugly along the way. Just as Liu Junwen was about to take the wine bottle from Hu Ji's hands, a clear and pleasant voice suddenly came from a nearby room: "Sixty thousand dollars!"

  Liu Junwen's hands had just touched the wine bottle when his smile froze on his face, and he slowly turned his head to look at Mrs. Yao.

  The guests in the hall all looked towards the source of the sound.

  Madam Yao's eyebrows shot up, and a surge of anger suddenly rose. Her angular eyes glared fiercely around the room, suppressing the rising murmurs, and she said loudly: "Seven hundred thousand!"

  "Eighty thousand!"

  "Boom!"

  The noise that had just been suppressed by Mrs. Yao's gaze could no longer be contained, and the sounds of astonishment, gasps, and inquiring voices about the identity of the buyer rose and fell. Mrs. Yao was so angry that her whole body trembled, and she glared fiercely at the elegant room. Yang Fan sat sideways, in a lower position, so Mrs. Yao didn't even glance at him; her gaze was fixed tightly on Tian Ai Nu.

  This was a clever and charming young woman, younger than her, more beautiful than her, and even richer than her. The competition had already made her angry, and the fact that the other party was also a woman made her even more hostile. This same-sex rival had conditions in all aspects that were far superior to hers, and Mrs. Yao's jealousy could no longer be suppressed.

  "Nine hundred thousand dollars!"

  "One hundred thousand dollars!"

  The boss of "Jin Chai Zui" Dong Ling was like he had just drunk a pot of fine wine, his head was dizzy, his hands were shaking, and his body was floating.

  One hundred thousand dollars for a pot of wine!

  Women of Great Tang Dynasty, truly magnificent!

  Vote for me with all your votes! Da Tang girl, throw away ten thousand gold coins! Jiangshan book friends, throw away all the recommended votes, and try to compete with Tang girl's generosity ^_^