Chapter 52: Distinguished Guests from the Capital

"A noble from the capital?" The old man seemed rather doubtful.

"I am talking about Boss Cheng of the Renren Medical Hall. You know him, right? Behind him stands a very powerful and influential master from the capital."

The old man nodded. The Renren Medical Hall enjoyed an excellent reputation in the town, and he was aware that Boss Cheng indeed had a major backer from the imperial city. However, he suspected that the young girl before him was merely boasting, wondering what kind of business she could possibly have with such an establishment.

Knowing that he would not be easily convinced, and since the Fragrant Wine Workshop happened to be on the same street as the medical hall, Tong Chuxue walked toward the entrance and gazed at the spot where the carriage had pulled over. "By the way, Grandfather, how much is the remaining balance? I will pay for it now."

With that, she made a motion as if to reach for her silver.

The old man knew the quality of that batch of wine better than anyone. Hearing that she intended to present the liquor to a noble from the capital, he still clung to a sliver of wishful thinking. He eagerly hurried to the door and followed the direction of her gaze. Sure enough, the carriage was parked right in front of the Renren Medical Hall, and Boss Cheng was conversing with the carriage driver at the entrance.

The old man chuckled awkwardly at Tong Chuxue. "Ah, little girl, since you are on such friendly terms with Boss Cheng, why didn't you say so earlier?"

Before his voice had even faded, the old man abandoned his shop and briskly walked toward the medical hall, with Tong Chuxue following closely behind.

At the entrance of the Renren Medical Hall, Boss Cheng was somewhat bewildered to receive a carriage full of wine out of nowhere. Why on earth would anyone send him wine unbidden?

Just as he was about to ask, he was interrupted by the old man's voice.

"Ah, Boss Cheng, it has been a long time."

Cheng Qian looked at the old man, feeling quite puzzled, and a look of confusion appeared on his face.

Seeing this, the old man hurriedly introduced himself. "Boss Cheng, I am the proprietor of the Fragrant Wine Workshop."

After exchanging a few polite pleasantries with the old man, Cheng Qian caught sight of Tong Chuxue, who was trailing right behind, and the smile on his face instantly grew a fraction more genuine. "Miss Tong is here as well."

"Boss Cheng, I bought a jar of fine wine at the Fragrant Wine Workshop yesterday, and I thought of sending some to you and Boss Liao as well," Tong Chuxue said, her tone sounding utterly familiar and at ease with Cheng Qian.

"Wine?" Cheng Qian had not expected that the liquor in the carriage had actually been purchased by Tong Chuxue.

The old man standing nearby finally understood the situation. Tong Chuxue had not lied to him; she truly knew Boss Cheng, and they were evidently very close. Remembering what Tong Chuxue had said earlier, the old man grew tense on the spot and stepped in front of the carriage. "So it is meant for Boss Cheng! In that case, I, as the elder here, will make the decision to exchange this for a much better batch of wine for you!"

Tong Chuxue immediately objected. "There is no need, Grandfather. I believe this very jar of wine is more than enough."

She bypassed the old man, directly lifted a jar down from the carriage, and prepared to pull out the stopper. "Boss Cheng, you only need to take a single sip, and you will know that I speak the truth."

"Then I must have a proper taste," Cheng Qian laughed heartily. He was never someone particularly fond of alcohol, but Tong Chuxue's enthusiastic praise had indeed piqued his interest.

Just as Tong Chuxue's hand touched the stopper, the old man snatched the wine jar right out of her grasp. "This old man didn't realize that this young lady bought these with the intention of giving them as gifts. Let me do this: I will swap these for a much more exquisite set of wine jars so that it will look far more presentable when presented to a noble."

"Grandfather is certainly being very thoughtful on my behalf," Tong Chuxue said with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.

The old man offered an awkward laugh.

"However, time is pressing. The jars are merely external; as long as the wine inside is good enough, I am certain Boss Liao will feel my sincerity," Tong Chuxue said leisurely. At the end, she glanced up at the sky. "It is getting late as well. I think we should be on our way now."

With a sudden burst of agility, the old man leapt forward to block the path of the carriage. If he had not witnessed it with his own eyes, it would have been hard to believe that an elderly man could move with such speed.

"Grandfather, what is the matter?" Tong Chuxue asked.

"I was just..." The old man stammered, searching for words. "...wanting to give you a few more jars of wine."

"To give?"

"That's right! Look, you bought twenty jars of my wine all at once and have been such a generous patron of my business, so this old man thought of gifting you a few extra jars. Since time is short, why don't we have this driver follow me back to pick them up?" the old man suggested.

Tong Chuxue looked deeply troubled. "Will there be enough time?"

"Plenty of time, plenty of time! Rest assured, I will have the shop assistants help out."

With that, the old man urged the carriage driver to turn the vehicle around and head back.

This time, Tong Chuxue made no attempt to stop him and watched with a smile as the old man left.

Having observed the entire exchange, Cheng Qian let out a soft chuckle and praised, "Miss Tong played that card of leveraging influence quite brilliantly."

"How could I possibly remain resigned after being tricked for no reason?" Tong Chuxue teased lightly.

With the assistance of his shop hands, the old man replaced every single jar of wine on the carriage and even threw in three additional jars for good measure.

There had originally been a remaining balance of nine taels of silver left unpaid, but amidst his anxiety, the old man completely forgot to ask Tong Chuxue for the money. Since he did not ask, Tong Chuxue simply acted as though the matter never existed, and she drove away a carriage laden with a dozen jars of wine back home.

By the time the old man belatedly remembered the unsettled balance, Tong Chuxue was long gone. If he went looking for her, she still held a jar of inferior wine in her possession, which remained a potential liability. Thinking it over and over, he could only swallow this bitter pill and pretend that nothing had happened at all.

After acquiring the dozen jars of wine, Liu芬 and Xu Jinniang subjected the liquor to a secondary distillation process to increase the alcohol content.

As for the raw materials needed for the ganoderma mushroom substrate, Tong Chuxue had previously asked everyone to divide the tasks and search for them. Most of the items were easy to procure, but a problem arose with one specific ingredient: cottonseed hulls.

Cottonseed hulls, as the name implied, came from the seeds of cotton plants. However, very few households in the village grew cotton. Strangely enough, all the waste materials like cottonseed hulls from the families who did cultivate cotton had already been sold off.

"To whom did they sell them?" Tong Chuxue asked, puzzled. Who would bother collecting such things for no reason?

Liu Fen glanced at Tong Chuxue and replied somewhat apologetically, "Word has it that they were all sold to the Yao family."

There was only one Yao family in Qingshan Village, and that was the family of Yao Tianyuan.

Everyone was taken aback. Why on earth would the Yao family suddenly decide to collect cottonseed hulls?

Scanning the group, Tong Chuxue asked, "What did you say when you went around collecting these items?"

"We just went from door to door asking if they had any at home, and if so, to save them for us," Liu Fen explained.

"There was a time gap between when we informed people that we wanted to collect them and when we actually went to pick them up, which is why someone was able to exploit the opening," Luo Hui'an analyzed.

"Then why on earth are they collecting so many of them?" Liu Fen could not make sense of it.

"If I guessed correctly, it is probably to sell them back to us at a high price," Luo Hui'an said.

"This... we are all from the same village! How could the Yao family do such a thing?" Liu Fen said indignantly.

"Didn't the Yao family just hold a wedding celebration? They are probably short on money," Lin Chunyan remarked. As the one managing her own household's finances, she understood better than anyone that the expenses for a large family were substantial. The Yao family was not wealthy, and since their wedding ceremony had been such a lavish affair, it must have cost them a considerable sum.

"Since they are trying to make money off of me, let's just see how that plays out," Tong Chuxue narrowed her eyes.