The Prodigal Son’s Happy Life - Chapter 27

[Chapter 27 Distilled Liquor]

When Bai Xiaochun heard this, he smiled awkwardly and said, “I have lost a lot of weight, Master.”

Fang Xiu shook his head and took the iron pot.

The iron pot is very heavy and requires two hands to lift it. There is also a strange-shaped pot lid next to it. It is conical in shape and has a groove on the edge. There is an opening where a pipe can be inserted.

This is a simple distillation device that Fang Xiu has only seen before. The real structure is more complicated than this.

When things are urgent, you can only make do with what you have.

The process of distillation is not difficult, but as a liberal arts student, Fang Xiu’s memory of distillation only exists in high school chemistry textbooks.

I can barely recall the general process, but the specific operations require many experiments to summarize.

He thought for a while and ordered Bai Xiaochun to pour several jars of wine into the pot, then cover the lid and insert a bamboo tube on top.

When heated in this way, the boiling point of alcohol is lower than that of water. After the alcohol evaporates, it condenses into liquid when it encounters the cold pot lid, flows into the groove along the slope of the pot lid, and then flows into the container along the bamboo tube.

Looking at the iron pot being heated, Fang Xiu was a little nervous.

Soon, the wine begins to boil, steam rises, and condenses when it encounters cold.

A little transparent liquid dripped from the bamboo tube into the wine glass that had been prepared. It had no special fragrance.

Not long after, the distillation was completed, Fang Xiu picked up the wine glass and smelled it.

The wine taste is still too weak and needs to be distilled several times.

Pour the Yangjiangchun that has been distilled once into the iron pot again, repeat the previous steps, and heat it again.

After repeated distillation three times, an increasingly rich aroma of wine floats in the air.

Fang Xiu smelled the aroma of the wine, picked up the glass and took a sip.

The fragrant liquid slid smoothly down your throat, a familiar taste in your memory.

Half a kilogram of Yangjiangchun distilled only makes about one cup.

It seems that a lot of alcohol was wasted in the intermediate distillation process. On the one hand, the distillation device is too simple, and on the other hand, the concentration of Chu State’s wine itself is not high.

“Gudu”

Fang Xiu was thinking about how to make distillation more efficient when he heard the sound of swallowing from behind and looked back.

That guy Wu Yi came to him at some point.

He stared at the wine glass on the ground, swallowing hard.

Noticing Fang Xiu’s eyes, he immediately wiped the corners of his mouth, looked away from the wine glass under the bamboo tube, pretended to be nonchalant, and said, “What kind of wine is this…”

Fang Xiu thought for a while and said: “Newly brewed, I haven’t given a name yet. One cup costs ten taels of silver. Can you try it?”

“Deal!”

Upon hearing this, Wu Yi’s eyes shone brightly. He picked up the wine glass and drank it down impatiently.

The distilled wine was no better than the wine from Chu State. It had a very high alcohol content. After one glass, Wu Yi’s fair face instantly turned red. He let out a comfortable groan and said loudly: “Good wine!”

Plop!

As soon as he finished saying these two words, he fell to the ground and fell unconscious.

Fang Xiu didn’t expect that Wu Yi’s drinking capacity was so bad. After just one drink, he was drunk to death.

However, his reaction also gave Fang Xiu the confidence to sell high-alcohol wine in Chu State.

Because until he was carried away by the servants in the house, he kept mumbling the word “good wine”.

The wine culture of Chu State is no less popular than that of the earth.

Coarsely brewed grain wine like Yangjiangchun can be regarded as a strong wine. It is sought after by those who are not good at wine in the capital. One pound can be sold for ten taels of silver.

Once the distilled high-strength wine is released, I am afraid that it will attract countless people who are good at it and worry about not making any money?

But before it can be officially sold, it needs to be given a resounding name.

Calling it a distillery bar seems a little too vulgar.

As a cultural person, Fang Xiu rejected this idea at the first opportunity.

Or just call it ‘Maotai’?

“Gudong”

Fang Xiu was thinking about the name of the new wine when he heard another sound of swallowing in his ears. He turned around and saw that this time it was Bai Xiaochun.

Noticing that the young master was looking at him, Bai Xiaochun showed a flattering smile on his face: “Master, can you let me try it too?”

Fang Xiu glanced at him and said, “You can think of a good name for this wine, and how much do you want to drink? I’ll let you drink as much as you want.”

Bai Xiaochun thought for a moment, seemed to have thought of something, and said, “Master, what do you think of ‘getting drunk and you’ll get off’?” The alcohol content of

“getting drunk and you’ll get off”

is extremely high. Even a good drinker like Wu Yi would collapse after just one glass.

There is no better way to call it ‘get drunk and then rest’.

However,

Fang Xiu raised his head and looked at Bai Xiaochun. After a second thought, his eyes suddenly became strange.

Once you get drunk, you can rest.

This guy really thinks about flattering himself all the time.

The matter about the name of the distilled liquor was decided happily.

He handed over the subsequent production to Bai Xiaochun, while he stared at the iron pot in front of him, thinking seriously about how to improve the efficiency of distillation.

This distillation device is still too crude. If you want to improve efficiency, the first thing you need to do is improve the distillation device.

But how to improve it, he didn’t have a clue yet.

Just when he was worried about this, a crisp voice came from behind.

“What are you doing?”

Fang Xiu looked back. Zhao Yan looked down at the iron pot in front of her with a confused look on her face.

He stood up, looked at the girl, and said, “I told you, you don’t understand either.”

Zhao Yan curled her lips and said, “There is nothing in this world that this girl cannot understand.”

Fang Xiu took a deep breath. In a tone of voice, he said: “Then do you understand what distillation is, what high alcohol is, and what the second law of thermodynamics is?”

Zhao Yan said stubbornly: “Then do you understand?”

Fang Xiu sighed: “Tell me, you come What are you doing here?”

Seeing him change the subject, Zhao Yan curled her lips, handed him a lantern, and said, “Make me a painting that looks exactly like Xiu’er’s.”

Fang Xiu was startled when he heard this, and quickly became aware of it. I understand that this girl Xiu’er must have taken her own lantern out to show off.

He glanced at Zhao Yan and said calmly: “Young and old people are innocent, a painting costs ten taels of silver.”

“You!”

Zhao Yan stared at Fang Xiu with a sinister look on her face.

“What are you looking at? Look at another fifteen taels!”

Fang Xiu’s eyes were even bigger than hers.

This little girl has become more and more arrogant recently. If I don’t teach her a lesson, she will still regard this Fang Mansion as her home.

Zhao Yan said angrily: “Profiteer!”

“That’s right”

Fang Xiu smiled and said: “Since you have said that I am a profiteer, how can fifteen taels of silver reflect my nature as a profiteer? Twenty taels of silver, No two prices.”

“That’s too much!”

The girl yelled, threw herself at Fang Xiu, grabbed his arm and tried to bite him.

Fang Xiu’s eyelids twitched, he pushed the girl away and shouted: “Men and women are not allowed to be intimate, little girls, don’t be so irritable.”

Zhao Yan’s eyes widened and she glared at Fang Xiu, as if she was determined to die.

Seeing her like this, Fang Xiu said with a serious face: “I was joking with you before. We are all a family. Talking about money hurts our feelings.”

(End of Chapter)