After two days of recuperation, Li Wanming's health improved, and she resumed her busy work on the wine - brewing business.
Moreover, she was more enthusiastic than before!
First, she told Zhao Yanke that she wanted to abandon all the previous formulas and create a brand - new wine for him. However, since this kind of wine had high requirements for raw materials, the cost might be quite high...
Hearing this, Zhao Yanke didn't say a word. He readily gave her another box of gold ingots!
He also said that if it wasn't enough, she could come to him at any time.
He didn't ask about other things, as long as the wine was good.
With this promise, Li Wanming felt at ease.
She decided to go all out and make great achievements!
She rented the two empty shops on the right side of the wine shop and connected the backyards, getting an extremely spacious courtyard. She also dug out an entire room to make fermentation pools.
Three thousand jars of wine was not a small amount, so sufficient production capacity was necessary.
Then, she asked Lu Ping to take Chuntao to major commercial firms in the capital to search for the best rice, wheat, and other grains, as well as the best peaches, honeydews, roses, osmanthus, astragalus, angelica dahurica...
At the same time, she asked Wu Yao to hire more than a dozen porters. They used ox - carts to transport ten jars of spring water from Banshi Mountain back. Since the formula hadn't been determined yet, they didn't need that much water for the time being.
Even Xiao Jingnan was forced by her to cancel his daily fortune - telling activities in the past few days and act as a supervisor for the project in the yard.
Needless to say, Qinglan and Caiwei had also changed greatly.
Now, they wrapped blue scarves around their heads and tied coarse hemp aprons around their waists. They worked briskly and nimbly, walking with speed. Anyone who saw them would praise them as "working women"!
Only Zifu still felt a bit awkward.
Since Li Wanming had exposed her feelings last time, she had completely fallen into a strange cycle of "wanting to act but lacking the courage, and being reluctant to give up".
Occasionally, she would sneak furtively and hesitantly to Xiao Jingnan's side, bringing him soup or small things like fan covers.
However, often before she could say a word, as soon as she saw someone coming in, she would scurry away like a frightened rabbit and quickly say, "I don't mean that! I just saw that cousin was working hard, so I stewed some chicken soup for him to nourish his body..."
Once, Li Wanming happened to see this.
Zifu was still anxiously explaining that she didn't want to be Xiao Jingnan's concubine, while Li Wanming on the other side had already gulped down the chicken soup in a few mouthfuls.
After drinking, Li Wanming wiped her mouth and said, "It tastes good. I've been working hard recently and need some nourishment. You should also stew a bowl for me every day from now on!"
Zifu was stunned.
Li Wanming asked, "What's wrong? Can't I drink it?"
"No, no!" Zifu waved her hands in a hurry and finally tearfully agreed, "I'll come to bring soup for cousin - in - law every day..."
Zifu's grievance was not entirely affectation. In fact, she was really tired!
Since the wine shop opened, Lu Ping, Wu Yao, Caiwei, and Qinglan had stayed here to help. All the household chores had suddenly fallen on her...
There was no other way. In the Pingkangfang residence now, there were only the prince, the princess, Uncle Zhong, Nanny Yu, Sister - in - law Liu, and Aunt Song left.
Among these people, the prince and the princess naturally didn't do any work. Since Li Wanming was not at home, they were even too lazy to pretend.
Uncle Zhong and Nanny Yu were middle - level management talents. They were only good at managing others' work, not at doing it themselves.
Sister - in - law Liu and Aunt Song could do the work, but Zifu didn't dare to order them around.
Moreover, she couldn't entrust the princess's personal affairs to them...
So, Zifu now got up before dawn and went to bed late at night, almost too busy to touch the ground.
Even the bowl of chicken soup she brought for Xiao Jingnan was made by squeezing time out with gritted teeth.
Unfortunately, Li Wanming took the chicken soup away.
Poor Zifu, who used to get up an extra hour occasionally, now had to get up an extra hour every day...
For quite a long time afterwards, as soon as the sky was just getting light, Zifu had to get up. While simmering the chicken soup in the kitchen, she would scold herself in her heart: Why? Why did she have to bring chicken soup?
Couldn't she just bring a bowl of water!
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After all the raw materials were upgraded, Li Wanming exhausted her mind and finally developed a brand - new wine.
This wine was brewed with more than a dozen kinds of grains such as sorghum, glutinous rice, corn, and millet, along with a series of fruits like lychees, green plums, mulberries, and peaches, as well as flowers, herbs, and medicinal materials like osmanthus and astragalus. In total, nearly a hundred kinds of materials were used in the extremely complicated process.
As soon as the wine entered his mouth, Zhao Yanke's eyes lit up.
"It's sweet and mellow, clean and refreshing when going down the throat. It has a sweet aftertaste but is not overly sweet. It has layers but doesn't overshadow the main flavor. And after swallowing, one can still taste a faint aroma of flowers and fruits."
"All the flavors are well - balanced. It's just right!"
He gave his final conclusion.
Seeing that Zhao Yanke was satisfied, Li Wanming was overjoyed!
She had been busy for almost a month and finally brewed a unique wine!
Moreover, the color of the wine was also very beautiful. It was a magnificent red, purer than red wine and lighter than mulberry wine.
Zhao Yanke said, "It should look very nice in a glass cup or a green jade cup."
He closed the folding fan in his hand and nodded slightly. "Madam Cheng, I'll leave the welcoming banquet for my elders to you."
Li Wanming said happily, "No problem! Since this wine was developed for you, Mr. Zhao, why don't you give it a name?"
Zhao Yanke pondered for a while and said, "The process of this wine is so complicated that it's not suitable for elegant names. How about calling it Jinyutang? It means having a house full of gold and jade, which is also an auspicious name."
Li Wanming didn't understand these things. She just thought the name was nice and the meaning was good, so she nodded in agreement.
After Zhao Yanke finished speaking, his gaze at Li Wanming became meaningful.
"Madam Cheng, as long as you can finish this welcoming banquet, your wine will surely become famous in the capital and have a bright future."
Li Wanming said with a smile, "Okay, then I'll take your good word!"
She didn't believe Zhao Yanke's words at all.
At the flower - viewing banquet of Princess Chengping last time, everyone told her that from then on, the wine from the Li family's wine shop would gain a firm foothold in the capital and sell well!
What was the result?
Those young ladies at the banquet didn't care about her wine at all.
She finally understood that the focus of these noble people's banquets was on socializing, not on the quality of the food and wine.
Although this Mr. Zhao had made several special trips for the banquet wine, which made her feel a bit of kindred spirit, noble people were noble people. The banquets they held were probably all the same and not that good!
Forget it.
One has no control over one's own actions in the world.
Think about it. They were also not easy. At a banquet, they could only be busy socializing nervously and couldn't even tell the taste of the wine. It was really pitiful.
She was just a wine - seller and couldn't care about so many things.
— As long as they paid!
After Zhao Yanke decided on the wine, he didn't leave. Instead, he said that three thousand jars of wine was not a small amount, and he wanted to visit Li Wanming's wine - brewing workshop to ensure that she had sufficient production capacity.
Li Wanming of course agreed and asked Xiao Jingnan to accompany him around.
After turning around two rows of wine jars and seeing that there was no one around, Zhao Yanke lowered his voice and said, "The Princess Chang has already known your identity. How long do you still want to hide it from your wife?"
Xiao Jingnan smiled bitterly and said, "I also want to tell her... But if I say that I'm the heir of the Prince of Ning at this time, I'm afraid my wife will pack up her things and run away overnight."
Since the Princess Danyang of Chang failed to kill Li Wanming, of course she would come back to investigate her.
After this investigation, she would naturally find out that not only the heir himself, but also the prince, the princess, the steward, and the nanny, the whole Prince of Ning's Mansion was hiding in Pingkangfang, acting with the heir's wife...
Zhao Yanke said, "It's good that the Princess Chang knows your wife's identity. She won't rashly come to kill her again. However, since she already knows, it may be hard to hide it from the Empress Dowager... What are you going to do?"
If the Empress Dowager knew that they were making such a ruckus, she would surely be extremely angry.
Then, the whole court would know about it.
Xiao Jingnan sighed and said, "I'll visit the Princess Chang tomorrow and ask her to be lenient."
Zhao Yanke was stunned. "Will she agree?"
Xiao Jingnan smiled. "Man can achieve anything. I'll go and talk to her about a fool - proof deal tomorrow. The Princess Chang is so smart that she will know how to make a choice."