Chapter 5 Forcing the Debt to the Little Maid's Wife
Four days passed.
The wooden barrels in the cowshed already gave off a faint aroma of wine.
"Brother Mu, I'll just take a sip."
"Wait a little longer."
If there was plenty of time, Xu Mu would have liked to wait a few more days until it was completely fermented.
At that time, the Baogu wine was the most delicious after distillation.
But under the current situation, it is obviously unwise to waste too much time.
"Si Hu, start the earthen stove!"
After fermentation into wine, the next step is distillation, which is the real highlight.
Although Si Hu looked confused, he did not hesitate. He hurriedly followed Xu Mu's words and quickly built an earthen stove and brought a lot of firewood over.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Mu considered the distillation method in his mind, quickly arranged the wooden barrels and clay pots, and inserted the reed rods he had folded earlier into the small holes.
"Si Hu, there's a fire."
The fire in the earthen stove quickly ignited.
Soon, the mellow smell of alcohol spread throughout the yard, causing Si Hu to lick his mouth continuously.
"Brother Mu, the smell of alcohol here smells so good."
Not only is it fragrant, it is also refreshing.
Unfortunately, due to the scarcity of grain in this era, it was rarely used in wine making. Most of the grains were used, and the rate of wine production was not necessarily high.
Twenty kilograms of corn, fermented and distilled, is only two or three kilograms of good wine.
"Brother Mu, let me have a taste."
Xu Mu smiled, scooped up a spoonful of wine and handed it to Si Hu. Si Hu couldn't wait to bulge his eyes and drank it all in one breath. Then, his face turned red and he felt so comfortable that he started dancing.
"Brother Mu, this wine is too strong!"
Xu Mu lowered his head and tasted it slightly. Compared with the distilled alcoholic beverages of later generations, the taste was worse, but in this era, it was considered a big breakthrough.
"Si Hu, go get some wine jars to put wine in."
Xu Mu took a long breath. No matter what, the first step of bootlegging was finally successful.
"Xu Lang, it's time to eat." At this moment, Jiang Caiwei suddenly walked out and shouted crisply.
Xu Mu was startled, and found that before he knew it, the sky had slowly turned dark. He had originally thought about taking private wine to the market, but it seemed he could only wait until tomorrow.
The night wind suddenly became colder, and Xu Mu put his robe on his body. Just as he was about to walk into the house, he suddenly stopped because of the cold.
He turned around and looked at the door of the ruined courtyard.
At some point, there were already five or six figures standing there.
The leader was an old woman with a gorgeous body, cracking melon seeds and showing a faint smile.
Behind the old woman, stood five men in full attire. At first glance, they could tell they were guards.
"I've heard all about it. Brother Mu has been a little out of character lately, and he doesn't even bother to tie up girls."
According to the memory of the original owner, this person was the biggest second-rate pimp in Wangzhou City, Killing the Mother-in-law.
Previously, he had cooperated with Ma Guaizi, and asked the gangsters to kidnap the refugee girls outside the city, and then sell them to Qing Dynasty houses as prostitutes, and then sell them to rich families as concubines.
Jiang Caiwei, who had originally walked out of the house, immediately turned pale when she saw the murderer arriving, shivering and shrank behind the door.
"Killing my mother-in-law is a big deal." Xu Mu smiled, "Everyone in Wangzhou knows that my brother Mu is a courageous master. If he has a full meal every day, he can survive."
"Brother Mu still doesn't understand what I mean."
The killer clapped her hands, held up her bright silk skirt, and sat down on the wooden chair next to her.
"I'm very surprised. It's been a few days and Brother Mu hasn't sold his wife yet."
Xu Mu frowned slightly, "Why sell your wife?"
"Are you really stupid, or are you pretending to be stupid? Take a look. Take a good look. In the whole Wangzhou City, which bad guy doesn't sell his wife? Divorce him first, and then sell his maid and wife. Once the hard work is free,
In a few days, there will naturally be more business for a few taels of silver."
"Besides, your little maid wife still owes fifteen taels of silver. If she doesn't sell it, will you be responsible for the debt?"
Xu Mu was startled, then turned his head and found that Jiang Caiwei had lowered her head, and her thin and frail body was shaking more and more in the cold wind.
"Don't look at it, I won't lie to you. Before her father died of illness, he was a tuberculosis ghost. Just the money for helping to get the medicine cost three or four taels." The murderer retracted his hands into his sleeves and said funny.
Xu Mu stood silently. He could guess that what Jiang Caiwei owed was only a few taels of silver at most. In the age of farming and cannibalism, compounding profits was the most common method.
Behind the door, Jiang Caiwei's eyes were already red and she was at a loss.
"Xu, Xu Lang, I, I -"
"Stop talking and go back to the house."
Hundreds of thousands of refugees are enough for the top-notch businesses in Wangzhou City to open up a new path.
"Brother Mu, we are half acquaintances. You write the divorce letter and step aside. I will take this bitch away. It's none of your business."
Xu Mu still didn't want to get out of the way. Si Hu, who was behind him, saw something was wrong and hurriedly walked to Xu Mu's side.
"I understand, I understand, this can't be——, our Brother Mu knows how to cherish the beauty and cherish the jade? Can't bear to let him go?"
Behind the killer, five big men in powerful attire were holding whistle sticks and laughing wildly.
The laughter was so loud that it spread into the room, stinging people's ears like hot embroidery needles.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jiang Caiwei was trembling with despair on her face.
She raised her head and looked at the figure blocking the house through the wooden window, feeling increasingly guilty in her heart.
She reached into her arms and counted the nineteen copper coins she had not given out before carefully placing them on the table.
After packing up the only two old skirts she had, she stood up and pinched her arms to make her steps steady.
She has read books and knows that the world is unkind and everything is like a rotten dog. Destiny is like a poisonous snake, always spitting out its words and never leaving.
With a sad smile, she hugged her bundle and walked out of the door shivering. The night breeze was very cold, cooling every inch of her body.
"My brother Mu will help pay the debt to my family. In three days, Sha Po will come and collect it."
Jiang Caiwei paused on the spot, then squatted on the doorpost again, hugging her face like a child, and started to cry.