In the art of brewing, apart from the raw materials, time is also of utmost importance.
The fermentation of the yeast starter takes about seven days. If there are changes in temperature and humidity, adjustments need to be made according to the actual situation.
Then comes the process of mashing, steaming, soaking in the yeast starter, cooling, filtering various grains...
The most labor - intensive part is mashing and steaming, while the most energy - consuming is soaking in the yeast starter.
All the grains are not added at once but in nine installments.
One dan of rice is added for the first time, and then one dan more every two days. There are a total of nine times, which is extremely time - consuming and laborious.
As a result, it takes at least nearly a month to brew a jar of wine from start to finish.
When Li Wanming was debugging the new wine formula, she used the previous yeast starter, which saved a lot of time.
Even so, it was already the end of July when she made the first jar of wine.
The time was extremely tight.
Later, when the wine shop went into full - scale operation, the whole family pitched in, and they also hired seven or eight employees. They worked day and night and finally managed to prepare 3,000 jars of Jinyutang wine by early September.
Li Wanming had a little plan in mind and brewed an extra 200 jars.
The wine was stored in pottery jars, and the openings were tightly sealed with thick cloth and yellow mud before being placed in the newly - built wine cellar.
Since ancient times, wine has always been more valuable when aged.
The older the wine, the more expensive it is.
Currently, the most expensive wine in the capital is the Hantan Chenbi aged for twenty years. It costs one tael of gold for one tael of wine.
It is a special supply for the palace, and ordinary people can't buy it even if they have money.
Li Wanming was very curious to know if her Jinyutang wine, after being stored for ten or twenty years, could compete with Hantan Chenbi.
In the wine cellar, several layers of wooden racks were lined up, filled with neatly arranged wine jars.
There were 3,200 jars in total, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Standing in the wine cellar, Li Wanming felt a surge of pride, as if she were a general commanding thousands of troops.
This was her kingdom.
Outside the door, Chuntao rushed over and knocked on the door, saying, "Miss, two constables from Ting County are here. They said there's something in the yamen that requires you to go there..."
Ting County is on the outskirts of the capital. It's not too far away and is one of the seven counties under the jurisdiction of the capital.
The Li family's ancestors lived in Ting County, and Mrs. Li's natal families, the He and Sun families, were also in Ting County... But all these had little to do with Li Wanming.
The Li family had moved to the capital as early as the grandfather's generation. They rarely went back unless it was a major event like a wedding or a funeral.
For Li Wanming and her two sisters, they were born and grew up in Min. They had almost no connection with Ting County.
They had been back in the capital for two years and never once went to Ting County.
So Li Wanming was very puzzled. "Ting County? What does the yamen in Ting County want with me?"
Chuntao shook her head, saying she didn't know.
Li Wanming thought as she closed the big door of the wine cellar and walked forward with Chuntao.
After walking a few steps, she suddenly stopped. "Was Sun Miaoqing's father a county magistrate in Ting County before?"
Chuntao thought for a moment and said happily, "Yes, Miss, your memory is really good!"
Li Wanming looked at the naive Chuntao and sighed.
What good was her good memory?
Could good memory prevent Sun Miaoqing from causing trouble?
However, normally, Sun Miaoqing had been riding high recently. She shouldn't be looking for trouble with her.
The Guo family finally came to propose marriage.
This incident dates back to the flower - viewing banquet hosted by Princess Chengping.
After the flower - viewing banquet, the princess specially sent the palace steward to Pingkangfang to reward Li Wanming with two strings of red musk beads, a white jade vase, a pair of emerald green - smoke earrings, and a pair of agarwood - carved Ruyi s with the pattern of the Eight Immortals... The princess said it was to express her gratitude for the hard work of Miss Cheng in providing the wine.
Li Wanming stared blankly at the trays of jewels for a long time.
She had scolded Princess Chengping before leaving, but in the end, the princess rewarded her? And said she had worked hard?
Prince Ning saw this and didn't say anything. Instead, he asked if anything special had happened at the banquet.
Li Wanming told him the general situation.
Of course, she omitted the gambling and stripping - off - clothes incidents at the end.
After listening, Prince Ning said, "My daughter - in - law has really worked hard. The princess should give these rewards."
Li Wanming had been worried that her father - in - law would think her behavior at the flower - viewing banquet was inappropriate and would disgrace the Cheng family.
Who would have thought that instead of criticizing her, her father - in - law even subtly showed his dissatisfaction with Princess Chengping in his words. Sure enough, they were on the same side and shared a common hatred.
Li Wanming immediately felt relieved and happily accepted the rewards.
—Although her words and deeds had been a bit out of line in the end, she had really worked hard. As her father - in - law said, it was only right to receive some rewards!
But others didn't think so.
After this incident spread, it caused quite a stir in the officialdom of the capital.
It was nothing special that Princess Chengping bought wine from the Li family's wine shop.
After all, wine was always needed at the flower - viewing banquet. If it wasn't bought from this shop, it would be from another. Occasionally changing the supplier wasn't a big deal.
However, after paying for the wine, the princess specifically came to bestow rewards...
This was very unusual!
Did the Cheng family really have some connection with the family of Princess Ning?
Or was His Majesty going to reuse Li Rusong?
There were all kinds of speculations.
However, there were always some smart people who could seize the opportunity before the dust settled.
For example, the Guo family, whose head was an official in the Ministry of Personnel.
After confirming that Princess Chengping really thought highly of the Li family, Mrs. Guo personally came to propose marriage for Sun Miaoqing.
It was said that the two families had exchanged name cards and were just waiting for the betrothal gifts to be presented before the wedding.
For this reason, Guo Wei, the official in the Ministry of Personnel, specially promoted Sun's father one rank, from the seventh - rank county magistrate in Ting County to the sixth - rank clerk in the Ministry of Personnel.
Sun Miaoqing was overjoyed.
She came to the Li family's wine shop a few days ago to show off. "My wedding with Young Master Guo is set for October. If your family's wine is really good, I can talk to my husband and have your wine served at the wedding banquet..."
She looked extremely proud.
But Li Wanming looked at her as if she were looking at a stupid sheep that had washed itself clean and walked straight into the wolf's mouth.
"This shop doesn't take orders for less than 3,000 jars," she said calmly.
Sun Miaoqing was stunned for a moment and then angrily said, "Li Wanming, do you think you're some big restaurant? You always talk about 3,000 jars. You're really daydreaming!"
She covered her nose with a handkerchief, frowned, and scanned the surroundings. "Don't say I didn't think of you. I came here to take care of your business out of our sisterhood. Don't be ungrateful!"
She squinted and held out a finger. "Can you handle 100 jars?"
Li Wanming really doubted Sun Miaoqing's intelligence.
The wine shop had expanded more than three times, and the employees were coming and going, busy as bees... Was Sun Miaoqing blind? Couldn't she see?
How could she say "100 jars" as if it were some great reward!
However, Li Wanming didn't want to argue with her.
The Guo family's willingness to marry Sun Miaoqing might not be just because of the Li family.
Although the affair between Young Master Guo and Princess Danyang was a palace secret... Just because no one talked about it didn't mean no one knew.
With the princess's high - profile style, this matter was probably well - known among the powerful in the capital.
No one wanted to marry their daughter to the princess's lover. It was quite difficult for Young Master Guo to get married. After so many years, the chance finally fell on Sun Miaoqing.
On the one hand, the Guo family could solve their son's marriage problem. On the other hand, they could indirectly form a kinship with Li Rusong, a fourth - rank general. Now they could even be indirectly connected to Princess Chengping and Prince Ning's mansion... It was a win - win - win situation.
Only the Sun family, knowing nothing about the powerful in the capital, was still happily trying to get involved...
Li Wanming frowned and stared at Sun Miaoqing silently for a while, then said, "Get out."