MTL - The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor

Chapter 1098 Returning to Hometown and Making Mooncakes

Even if someone washes and crushes a million kilograms of fruit into wine, Mo Yan only needs to add sugar according to a certain proportion. She can't do it by herself in just a few days. In the future, the output of fruits will increase, and she will be even busier by herself. It is necessary to tell Zhao Mu and others about the added sugar and the proportion.

As long as the proportion of added sugar is mastered, it is not difficult to make fruit wine, but Mo Yan is not afraid of Zhao Mu and others leaking it. Before she decided to tell them how to brew each fruit wine, Xue Tuanzi gave them another dream spell.

On weekdays, Zhao Mu and others can clearly remember every brewing process, but once they have the idea of ​​divulging the brewing method, they will intermittently lose this memory, and they can't remember how to do it anyway. .

This kind of dreaming technique is much more convenient than erasing memories directly. It has no adverse effects on the body of the recipient, and the effect is very good. However, it is much more difficult to apply. Xue Tuanzi directly exhausted his spiritual power, and the entire weapon spirit was destroyed. Exhausted.

It's not that Mo Yan doesn't believe in these soldiers who are strong-willed and take good care of their own orchards as if they were their own children. What she did was just to prevent the danger before it happened, and to nip all the buds that might leak at the source.

In this way, she can safely use these people and give them maximum trust. They can also not worry about leaking secrets if they make a mistake, which is good for each other.

This time, the grapes alone weighed 200,000 kilograms. Apart from eating and sleeping, Mo Yan, Zhao Mu and others worked non-stop for two days before crushing all the grapes into the vat.

In the process of putting the grapes into the vat, for every ten kilograms of grapes, put three or two kilograms of sugar on top. When the vat is two-thirds full, the lid is put on, then tightly wrapped with airtight oil paper, and finally sealed with yellow mud, just waiting for the grapes to ferment.

 The reason why only two-thirds of the vat is filled is because the remaining one-third is used to contain the gas produced after fermentation. Otherwise, the generated gas will have no "place to stay" and the pressure in the cylinder will become greater and greater. When the pressure reaches a critical point, either the large tank will burst and break, or the sealed lid will be blown off. No matter which one it is, it means that the winemaking has failed, and the vat of grapes is considered useless.

 The weather is neither cold nor hot at the moment, and fermentation can usually be completed in about forty days. During this period, the lid must be opened and stirred for a certain period of time to allow it to fully ferment. When it is finally completely unsealed, it is necessary to clean the impurities in the vat, filter out the grape skins or impurities produced during the fermentation process, and then seal and store it for a period of time before drinking.

  If you want the wine to taste more mellow and rich, the storage time can be extended appropriately. Some wines are well preserved and can be stored for decades without any problem. Just like in modern times, many people like to collect wine. The older the wine, the more fragrant and mellow the wine is, and the higher the value.

“Huh—it’s done! Boss, the amount of sugar consumed this time must be tens of thousands of kilograms, right?”

 The last jar of grapes was sealed, and Zhao Mu and others breathed a sigh of relief. But when I saw that only a few buckets of sugar were left in the mountain-like pile of sugar, I felt a burst of pain on my face. When I thought about how almost all the sugar was used by their hands, my hands started to hurt.

Mo Yan waved his hand and said nonchalantly: "Not much, just fifty thousand catties." This is just after the grapes are brewed. When all the remaining fruits are put into the vat, the sugar consumed will probably be hundreds of thousands of catties. In comparison, these fifty thousand kilograms are nothing.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　——

The sound of gasping came one after another, and Zhao Mu and others stared at the densely packed large vats lined up in rows, as if they were trying to pull out the white sugar that had been integrated with the grape juice.

In Dachu, white sugar is more precious than salt. Most farmers have salt in every household, but white sugar is only seen during New Years and holidays. The price of salt within the capital city is 40 cents per pound, and sugar is three times the price of salt, costing 120 cents. The imperial court had very strict controls on sugar, and a large part of the tax revenue came from sugar.

Mo Yan was able to obtain hundreds of thousands of kilograms of sugar at once, all thanks to Yan Junyu's contribution. If he hadn't had connections and had not communicated with the government, he would never have been able to get so much sugar.

At this time, some people are already silently calculating in their hearts how much a pound of wine must be sold to avoid losing money: grapes have a price but no market, a pound can be sold for 600 Wen, and a pound of sugar can be sold for 120 Wen. , the cost of this vat of grapes is one hundred and twenty-seven taels of silver, and the wine produced is about one hundred and sixty kilograms, which means that one kilogram of wine must be sold for at least eight hundred pence to avoid losing money. ...Ss—Who would really buy such expensive wine?

There was more than one person who calculated this amount. Zhao Mu looked at Mo Yan who picked up the sweet apple and gnawed it, and felt that her throat was extremely dry. "Master, how much silver do you plan to sell for a pound of this wine?"

Mo Yan swallowed the apple in his mouth, thought for a while and said: "The cost is so high, and so much manpower is required. It costs at least three taels of silver per catty, right? This is unvintage wine. If it is vintage, less It can’t be sold for less than ten taels of silver.”

 As for pricing, she hasn’t thought about it carefully. It depends on the quality of the wine produced. If the quality is good and it can be an instant success, no matter how high the price is, people will be able to afford it; of course, even if the wine is not good, she will make it better. In short, the price cannot be set too low, otherwise it will be difficult to raise the price again if good wine is produced in the future.

What's more, she plans to mix the thousands of jars of high-vintage wine in the space with this batch of wine and sell them as treasures. If the price is less than fifty taels per catty, she will not sell them either. Just because the wine produced in this space does have the effect of improving physical fitness and prolonging life, it would be a shame to sell this wine so cheaply.

Zhao Mu and others looked at Mo Yan with a serious face and were finally convinced that she was not joking. They really didn't know what to say when they thought that ordinary people could only afford three to five kilograms of the cheapest wine after working so hard for a whole year.

Mo Yan saw the entanglement in their hearts and said with a smile: "Don't think this wine is expensive. The cost of this wine is too high. It is made just to make money from the rich. When the business of this fruit wine becomes big, the cost of this wine will increase." The business taxes paid will definitely be indispensable, this is probably a disguised form of 'killing the rich and giving to the poor'."

With Mo Qingze in the Mo family, there is no need to pay taxes on the family's land, but if you do business, you will not be able to avoid it. Take Xiangmi Shop, for example, the Yamen pays 20 taels of silver at the beginning of each year. These 20 taels of silver are tax dollars, and this is not collected based on the store's income, but is measured based on the attributes of the shop and the specific value of the shop.

Generally, businesses involving rice, salt, iron, and cloth charge higher taxes; restaurants and teahouses charge lower taxes, sixteen taels of silver per year. Qinlou and Chuguan are purely entertainment and profit-making industries. The business tax collected is even higher, up to fifty taels per year.

As for alcohol, the commercial tax is between that of rice grain and brothel and Chuguan, which costs about thirty taels of silver a year. The Mo family's fruit wine will be operated by a special fruit wine shop. In order to promote these wines to all parts of the country, it is necessary to open shops all over the country first.

 The promotion of fruit wine is the responsibility of Yan Junyu, who has both hands and eyes. Although his business does not cover the entire Dachu, he has at least fifty stores under his name. It is only a matter of time for him to promote Mo's fruit wine.

If things go well, within a few years, fruit wine shops will be popping up everywhere, and the business tax to be paid will naturally be more. Of course, compared with the profits obtained, these taxes are a bit insufficient.

 The imperial court collected various taxes, usually 10% was used to pay officials' salaries, 50% was used for military affairs, and 20% was used for disaster relief and water conservancy projects. Da Chu has a vast territory, and disasters occur almost every year. In serious places, the court's support is indispensable. To a certain extent, it can be regarded as taking from the people and using it for the people.

As for the remaining 20%, part of it is used for the palace expenses, and the extra part is reserved, usually used for emergencies when wars or natural disasters continue. Under normal circumstances, the national treasury is in balance, but deficits are not uncommon.

Zhao Mu and others have such thoughts, not because they hate the rich. The reason why they think that way is just because they lament that the gap between people is too big. Seeing Mo Yan explain it to them, the sour feeling disappeared without a trace.

Really poor people, not to mention such expensive fruit wine, even ordinary white wine, they are only willing to buy and drink it during the holidays. This kind of unsatisfying thing was originally bought by rich people. Now the price of fruit wine is just higher, so what difference does it make? On the other hand, paying more business taxes on the money earned by the rich can bring some invisible benefits to poor families who are in danger of losing their livelihood.

Zhao Mu said with some embarrassment: "My boss, it's us who are in trouble."

Mo Yan waved his hand and said he didn't mind. Most of these people were from poor backgrounds. It would be heartbreaking if they were indifferent to such things!

"By the way, now that we've talked about this, I'll explain it to you." Mo Yan suddenly thought of something, and said to Zhao Mu and others with a smile: "Originally, the brewing matter was not within your scope of responsibilities, but now we don't have enough manpower. , I can only trouble you. When this batch of fruit wine is sold, I will give you 12,000 taels of the net income gained. This is what I decided after discussing with Young Master Yan."

Zhao Mu and the others were stunned for a moment, and then they all refused in unison: "Master, we eat your food, wear your clothes, and live in your house. We agreed at the beginning that we didn't want money, so what do we want to do now?"

“That’s right, our boss has helped us enough. Soon, our boss will hire another group of our brothers. We can’t repay such a great favor, let alone ask for money.”

“We are not short of food and clothing, and the money our employer gave us is of no use. Why don’t we just take it to the coffin?”

　　　…”

Mo Yan did not interrupt, and after listening to them quietly, he said one sentence that made these three hundred tough-minded men blush instantly: "You don't need it, don't your family members need it either?"

 You could hear a pin drop in the room, and occasionally heard a few unsuppressed sobs. These people have been away from home for so long that they miss them so much that they reunite with their relatives far away in their dreams every day. Just because they did not choose to go home after becoming disabled does not mean that they have no feelings for their families. It is precisely because of my deep feelings for my family that I cannot bear to go back and drag them down. I live like weeds at the border, day after day, year after year, without goals and hope, until the end of my life.

Young people like Zhao Mu are lucky. Most of them can imagine the situation at home. Like the more than 100 elderly people who are over 50 years old, the longest they have been away from home is thirty years. They were all around 20 years old when they entered the military service, which was the stage when they were older and younger. Now, twenty or thirty years later, they don't know whether their elderly parents are still alive or not, and they don't know whether their wives, who were still young at the time, "died" after them. "After", should he remarry someone else, or should he serve his parents at home and work hard to raise his youngest son? As for the young children, have they grown up safely and are they already married?

How are they doing?

The atmosphere was heavy and depressing, and Mo Yan's mood was not much better. Comparatively, if it were her, and she couldn't see her relatives for decades and didn't know their life and death, I'm afraid she would have gone crazy. Even if those relatives are gone or missing, she doesn't want to live alone in a muddle. She has to see them with her own eyes.

Now that these people are no longer a burden to the family, there is no burden in their hearts. She will help them again and realize their dream of meeting their relatives. In the future, if they are willing to come back, the door here will still be open for them; if they are not willing, it means that they have finally found their true destination, and it is always a joy to be able to return to their roots.

 In the end, except for those who were carefree like Zhao Mu, everyone else expressed their desire to return home and take a look. Mo Yan agreed without saying a word, planning to make some arrangements in advance and find out the general situation of their hometown through the hometown address they provided so that they could be mentally prepared.

As for the date of return home, it is tentatively scheduled for the beginning of next spring. At that time, another group of retired soldiers had already settled in Liuyang Village, and the work in the orchard would not be delayed because of the departure of this group of people.

The matter of returning home to visit relatives was settled, and everyone's mood gradually calmed down. Mo Yan pointed to the workshop opposite through the window and said: "The day after tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival. I don't have time to come over that day, so I have to rely on you to bring the rest of the fruit. There are one hundred and fifty pestles and mortars in that room, which are specially used for Those who crush large fruits such as peaches and pears will have to crush them and put them into the vat at the same time. You can discuss among yourselves how to divide the work."

Pears and pears are too big to be crushed one by one like grapes. These pestles and mortars were specially made by her in advance. They are exactly the same in shape as those used for pounding rice and medicine, but the volume is enlarged more than ten times. It operates using the lever principle, which is very convenient to use and saves time and effort. One pestle and mortar can crush at least 800 kilograms of fruit a day.

Zhao Mu nodded and said, "My boss, I will arrange these. You can go and celebrate the festival with peace of mind."

Mo Yan said with a smile: "As my boss celebrates the festival, you also have to take a holiday, don't you? We will make moon cakes at home tomorrow, and you can come and get them then. You will also have a rest the day after tomorrow. It's okay to delay for a day."

Zhao Mu glanced at the others and thought about going to work as usual, but he thanked Mo Yan.

Mo Yan didn't know what Zhao Mu and others were thinking, so when he saw that it was getting late, he asked them to go back and rest. After she locked the door of the workshop, told the dogs guarding every corner, added water and food to their bowls, and placed piles of minced meat in hidden places, she felt at ease. Go home.

Mo Yan did not arrange for anyone to be on duty at night. Firstly, the workshop was too big, and if someone were to come in, the person would not play a big role. Secondly, she needed someone who could fully manage the winery, and this person had to sign a death certificate.

Now, she temporarily handed over the security of the orchard to the children of the local dogs who guarded the orchard and medicine garden. There are more than thirty of these dogs in total. They have been drinking spiritual spring water since they were young. Their size and intelligence are better than their parents. It is perfect for them to guard the orchard.

In addition to dogs, there are several birds of prey lurking in the treetops, and there are many big snakes entangled in the grass. With their presence, they can't benefit from the cruel bad guys, and there is no need to worry about anyone sneaking in to steal fruit and wine.

 The next day, the Mo family got up early and started making mooncakes after breakfast. Da Chu's mooncakes have relatively simple fillings. Among them, Mo Yan's least favorite five-nut mooncake "dominates" almost 90% of the market. Mooncakes with rose fillings and lotus seed paste and egg yolk mooncakes are extremely rare.

It’s not that no one likes mooncakes with rose fillings and mooncakes with lotus paste and egg yolk, but they are very expensive. They are the aristocrats among mooncakes. Only people with spare money at home will buy and eat them. If a wealthy family knows how to make these two kinds of mooncakes, they can make them themselves; if not, they can go to a pastry shop to buy them.

Mooncakes are not difficult to make. Mo Yan made all the mooncakes she ate in her previous life. The texture and taste of the mooncakes she made were definitely better than those produced by pastry shops.

Since coming to this era, Mo Yan has rarely made mooncakes. The demand for mooncakes is huge this year, and it is a celebration with friends and family, so she decided to show off her skills and let everyone eat more delicious mooncakes.

“Sister, look, these eggs are all oily.” Xiner peeled off the cooked and cooled pickled eggs, looked at the oily yolks, and shouted happily.

Looking at the yellow pickled eggs that were leaking oil, Mo Yan swallowed unconsciously. She reached for the cooked eggs in the basin and found that her hands were covered with flour, so she urged Xin'er: "This kind of Eggs are the most delicious, peel another one for me to try."

Xiner nodded, swallowed the egg in her hand in a few seconds, and peeled one for her sister.

Mo Yan took a bite towards the thin part of the egg white where she could see the yolk, and she swallowed most of the yolk. She tasted it carefully, nodded and said, "This is the taste. It's not too salty. It's just right for making stuffing."

As she spoke, she took another bite and ate the remaining egg yolk. The salty egg yolk is delicious, not greasy at all, and doesn't taste fishy at all.

 (End of this chapter)