Chapter 6: Drinking

Lin Feng found a small, shabby wooden table in the corner of the courtyard and brought it inside, placing the pens, ink, paper, and inkstone he had bought upon it.

It wasn’t that he intended to study diligently; rather, this was preparation for his next step in business to earn money.

Sixi and Xiaodie busied themselves with preparing the meal. Lin Feng wanted to rest a while longer; after working hard most of the day, he was indeed quite tired, and his body had not yet fully recovered.

He had barely closed his eyes when he heard a woman’s voice outside say, "Oh! Are you getting ready to cook?"

“Tian Auntie, you’re here,” Xiaodie said. “You’ve come at just the right time—we were about to give you the rent!”

Tian smiled broadly. “I knew Brother Lin was trustworthy. As someone who’s been through it, I can tell just by your manners that you come from a wealthy family…”

Lin Feng opened the door and stepped out, saying to Xiaodie, “Give Auntie Tian two months’ rent, a total of 220 copper coins.”

Xiaodie was briefly taken aback. “Young master, are we staying another month?”

This place was blessed with clear mountains and pure waters, and Lin Feng felt it was quite good. Besides, he had new ideas, so naturally, he wanted to stay longer.

“Yes, another month.”

Perhaps even longer after that.

“Alright, I’ll get it right away.”

Xiaodie handed the spatula to Sixi. “You stir-fry the dishes; I’ll go get the money.” Saying this, she went back inside and firmly closed the door.

This little maid was certainly cautious.

Lin Feng smiled at Auntie Tian. “How was your family’s harvest last year?”

“Last year’s harvest was quite good. After paying taxes, we still had some surplus grain,” Auntie Tian said with a smile.

“Do you have any peanuts?”

Tian looked somewhat proud. “In this mountain village, only our family plants peanuts, of course we have some!”

“Would you sell your peanuts to me?”

“Little brother, peanuts are quite precious—one jin costs twenty copper coins.”

“What about shelled peanuts?”

“That would be forty coins per jin.”

Lin Feng thought that was much cheaper than the grain shop. “I’ll buy them. How many peanuts do you have?”

Tian’s eyes lit up. Some merchants came by to buy from her, paying only seventeen coins per jin for shelled peanuts and thirty coins for unshelled, so this was quite profitable.

“I have over forty jin at home.”

“I want thirty jin of shelled peanuts, but they must all be large and full.”

“No problem.” Tian thought to herself that selling thirty jin would earn her three hundred coins. She could keep the lesser ones for herself. Even when the merchants came, they had to pick carefully—the smaller, less full peanuts were not accepted.

By then, Xiaodie had counted the money carefully and cautiously stepped out holding the copper coins. “Auntie, here are 220 coins. Please keep them safe.”

Tian immediately pulled out her money pouch and had Xiaodie pour the coins inside.

With a joyful tone, Tian said, “Little brother, when will you want the peanuts?”

“As soon as possible.”

“I’ll bring them to you tomorrow!”

Tomorrow? That was impressively efficient.

After Auntie Tian hurried away, Lin Feng returned to his room, ground ink, took out a sheet of copy paper, and began writing.

Xiaodie and Sixi, having finished cooking, came in and saw Lin Feng writing. Xiaodie happily said, “Young master, you’re so diligent. It seems you really want to pass the imperial exams.”

Lin Feng was speechless. “Does writing mean I want to take the exams? I’m just listing the things I need to buy in town tomorrow.”

“What things?” Sixi leaned over to look. He and Xiaodie could read a few characters with Lin Feng, and read aloud: “Two jin of star anise, four jin of Sichuan pepper, two jin of cinnamon, four jin of fennel seeds, two jin of dried tangerine peel, two jin of dried red chili peppers, five jin of garlic, ten jin of salt… Young master, some of these are rare spices. The town might not have them all.”

“Then we’ll check other towns. We must buy every single spice.”

“Young master, why do you want to buy so many spices?” Xiaodie asked.

“I’ve thought of a way to make money.”

“Why didn’t I know young master used to do business before?” Xiaodie was puzzled. Since the time of the donkey raffle, she had noticed Lin Feng was different. He had such creative ideas for making money—ideas others might spend a lifetime trying to come up with.

“Have you forgotten that our Lin family is in business? Though I’m a concubine’s son, I never worried about food or clothing and had spare money to play with, so I didn’t involve myself in the family trade. Now that we’re in such straits, how can I not think about making money? This is what circumstances force upon us.” Lin Feng smiled and stood up. “Come, let’s drink and eat.”

Xiaodie baked five meat pancakes and stir-fried two dishes of greens, plus a jar of wine. This was probably the most sumptuous meal the three had had since arriving in the mountain village.

Lin Feng sat down and poured wine. Seeing the two standing by, he said, “Sit and eat.”

Both shook their heads. Xiaodie said, “How can we servants sit with the young master?”

“What servants?! I was once the young master, now I’m just an ordinary commoner. You don’t have to call me young master anymore—just call me big brother. We’ll treat each other as siblings from now on.”

“No way!” they said in unison.

“When you came with me, I never made you sign any contracts selling yourselves. You were never really servants.”

“You don’t treat us as servants, we know that,” Xiaodie said. “But we’re willing to serve you.”

“Even if you’re willing, don’t call me young master. Which young master looks as down-and-out as I? People would think I’m a poor pretender. Trust me! We share our fate. From now on, we’ll be brother and sisters. If one day I get rich, you can call me young master if you want, or not—it doesn’t matter.”

“All right then.”

They exchanged a glance and finally sat down.

Lin Feng laughed. “That’s better. Pour the wine—let’s drink together, the three siblings!”

Sixi quickly picked up the wine and poured for Lin Feng.

“I won’t drink,” Xiaodie said.

“Don’t think I don’t know—you can handle your wine. Last year, on New Year’s Eve, I secretly held a feast in the courtyard, and you drank without getting drunk.”

Xiaodie smiled. “I was happy that day.”

“Not happy today?”

“Big brother… you’re recovering, we’re making money. Today is the happiest day since leaving the Lin family.”

“Then pour the wine!”

“Okay.”

“Cheers!” Lin Feng drank it all in one go.

He thought to himself, history books don’t lie: the alcohol in ancient times truly had a low proof, probably just over ten degrees, slightly sweet and sour, much like yellow wine, likely brewed from glutinous and japonica rice. This kind of wine tasted better warm and felt stronger on the palate, no wonder the ancients liked warm wine.

Li Bai wrote hundreds of poems with his drinking bouts; Wu Song at Jingyang Ridge probably drank eighteen bowls of this kind of wine.

With such a strength, Lin Feng could also drink plenty and revel with a jar of wine.

Fermented wines were indeed not bad—low in alcohol, suitable for all ages. Just like the champagne of later France, which was made from fermented wine and then blended, it had been loved ever since it appeared.