CH 79

When it was almost noon, Xie Ying instructed the kitchen to prepare some vegetable and meat dishes, as well as fetch the sorghum wine he had brewed at home.

He said to Cui Xie, “My worthy little junior, this was made using the wine brewing recipe that you gave me back in Tongzhou. I asked people in the farmstead to experiment and ferment the wine for more than half a year. I also had some of the wine buried in the dirt to ferment for more than a year. Drinking it, it is  much more mellow and rich than the one that was sent to you previously. Unexpectedly, it is hard to bear the taste when it is used during cooking, but for drinking, it is better than the liquor from the South and the capital. It is both sweet and rich. I don’t know who came up with such a brewing method.”

This was a recipe from the late Qing Dynasty, of course it would be superior to those in the early Ming Dynasty.

Cui Xie gave a forced, hollow laugh and responded, “Anyways, it is not a recipe from our Great Ming, it is from somewhere else. Isn’t there the saying that there are immortals in the sea[1]? Naturally, compared to the ordinary wine brewed by wine shops, it is much better.”

Nodding his head, Xie Ying took a small jar of wine, peeled away the mud seal from the jar and poured the wine into a small goblet. He then pushed it in front of Cui Xie, “Today, inviting worthy little junior Cui to drink the immortals’ wine and eat the immortals’ meat.”

A young manservant brought out a bamboo platter divided into eight different dishes to accompany the wine. It housed fresh plums, tender cherries, caramelized eggplants, sprouted melon, Tianmu bamboo shoots, fish in a ginger, vinegary jelly, stuffed chicken and dried waterfowl jerky. 

After a while, the main dishes were gradually served, one by one. The first was a pig’s head that was braised to the point the flesh and bones had melted and the seasonings used inside had been neatly scraped off. One could only see a strip of glistening skin floating in a thick red sauce and the fatty meat had been steamed to a transparent strip of meat. Then, there was pork knuckle steamed with wine and soy sauce manufactured during the autumn harvest, a Sichuan style sautéed chicken dish with chestnuts and bamboo shoots, homemade Crucian carp that had been pan fried on both sides, an eight-treasure tofu dish simmered with fragments of fowl and ham as well as a turtle that had been cooked alive…. [2]

Besides a small white gourd simmered in jasper’s bird nest, which was a bit more precious, the rest were all home-cooked dishes, nothing too extravagant or rare.

Xie Ying personally used his chopsticks and placed a meat cutlet onto Cui Xie’s plate, “Try this Sichuan pig head, the tingling fragrance is very strong. When my late father had been in office in Sichuan, the cooks learned a few things from there. They use more Sichuan cardamom pods and it has a one of a kind flavor distinct from the braised pork made in the capital.”

Suddenly learning that the other’s father had passed away, Cui Xie’s heart soured and he felt that Colonel Xie and him were fellow sufferers that empathized with each other. But, with his current identity, he could not pat Xie Ying on the arm and say ‘Actually, I am also an orphan’ like in modern times. He could only raise his cup and say, “I did not know honorable da-ren had already passed away. To have opened old wounds and worries for Xie-xiong, this is my fault….”

He was about to punish himself with a cup, but Xie Ying stopped him, “I brought up this matter myself, what are you guilty of? As warriors, how can we smoothly live to a ripe old age? Besides, my late father was a hero who sacrificed his life to pacify the Miao rebellions[3]. It is an honorable thing to be remembered by later generations, no need to be broken-hearted….”

Xie Ying’s voice slowly dropped and he poured himself another cup of wine to drink, sighing, “Good wine. This liquor brewed with glutinous rice indeed has a stronger and denser fragrance than typical liquor brewed using moromi[4].”

Cui Xie silently accompanied him for another cup and following the other’s line of conversation, he talked about brewing wine: “Actually, that kind of steaming process that uses already fermented wine to brew liquor is also quite useful. Pour the brewed liquor in it and distill it several times. The distilled liquor will be too strong to drink, but it can be used to disinfect wounds, so that the wound will not fester in pus and heal quickly.”

Xie Ying replied, “Actually, this liquor is already very strong. I have seen people use it to clean wounds and they do indeed heal quicker. Why distill it more intensely and then not be able to drink it? Have you tried distilling it before?”

Cui Xie vaguely answered, “When I drink this liquor after a sip, my throat burns hot and I feel faint with blurred vision. To drink that kind of wine that has been steamed and distilled repeatedly, which means it is even stronger, would it not burn my tongue and turn it mushy? Thinking about it, I know that I cannot drink it. But, since brewed liquor is good for healing wounds, it must be that the stronger the alcohol content, the stronger its medicinal properties. To be able to impede pain, it must be good for the body.”

Xie Ying laughed slightly and said, “So that is the logic. I will ask someone to get a distiller to try it out later.” As he spoke, he reached out, enveloping the wine cup in one hand as he brought it directly to the edge of the table. He then instructed the servants, “Bring some freshly brewed Taoyuan wine for Young Master Cui to taste.”

The newly brewed wine had yet to have the second round of wheat germination, so the purified liquid seemed to resemble sweet rice wine. One did not need to be afraid of being intoxicated even after drinking a lot of it.

Cui Xie suddenly went from sorghum wine to alcoholic beverages, so he was a bit bolder as he drank. He readily took sips from the goblet and one could drink a small half jar without needing food. Xie Ying picked out a ripe plum for Cui Xie, cutting it open with a small silver knife and scraping out the pit. Placing it on Cui Xie’s plate, he told him to try it.

Cui Xie fiddled with the plum and nipped at it. Seeing the table full of dishes, he easily returned the gesture with some congealed fish jelly and placed it onto Xie Ying’s plates using his chopsticks.

He was wearing new robes and was constantly afraid of staining it with grease. Cui Xie would pull up his sleeves for a little bit or hold the hem of his clothes. Xie Ying could not help but chuckle and said, “These garments are old. If it wasn’t for the fact that I only wore it for a brief period of time at home, I would be embarrassed to give it to you. If these clothes get dirty, then just let it get dirty, why are you pulling at them? Just eat with peace of mind.”

Such good robes, which were still brand new, how could it be thrown away? Cui Xie felt the drooping sleeves and said, ‘It is just that the material hanging here is not very nimble. I will make you robes with tightly fitting sleeves, with the outside binded by leather arm protectors. It will be especially easy to move around in and make one feel vigorous. If it becomes stained with grease, do not just discard it. Use very well-distilled liquor and rub it on the grease stain. It will be easy to wash off after a little rubbing.”

Alcohol was really a useful thing, he would have to distill a few bottles and keep them on hand at home for later use.

The Xie Clan’s title of Colonel was a hereditary title inherited by later generations and there was some considerable family property. It was just that after Xie Ying’s father’s death, there was a time when income had been a bit less, but it was not to the degree of learning life wisdom from poverty or experiencing the sharp vicissitudes of fortune. Hearing such small life know-hows from Cui Xie, he only felt that the other had led a poor life before. He warmly stated, “Once our residence has distilled some wine, I will ask someone to send you a few jars. You do not have any wine at home or distillation equipment, so it will be inconvenient for you to make it yourself.”

At this time, Cui Xie was thinking of how to make the clothes and did not pay attention to his expression, replying with a grin, “How can I do that? I also have some wine at home and originally wanted to use the distillation equipment to distill flower dew. To change it to distilled wine, it only requires a few different accessories to modify the equipment, nothing more. “

Distilled flower dew?”

Surprised, Xie Ying inquired, “You can distill flower dew? On the itemized gift list you gave me, you distilled those bottles of flower dew yourself?”

Cui Xie replied, “That is not true. It is just that I read in a book that some people would distill flower dew in the Southern Song Dynasty. Yesterday, after hearing from one of our residence’s shopkeepers that a vase of Japanese rose water from the Western Regions actually cost a dozen taels of silver, I was frightened! Actually, that bottle is full of distilled Japanese rose dew. One can collect dew drops from roses, jasmine or osmanthus and other such fragrant flowers to produce flower dew. If we made our own, it would not be too expensive and a few taels of silver would be enough to make a large pitcher.”

Hearing that a bottle cost more than ten taels of silver was too frightening. Why did he bring over so many vases as gifts?

Xie Ying did not know what to say to him for a while, so he just shook his head, “Then don’t ask someone to fetch the equipment. I will ask my people to find the person who made the wine distiller for me and make a set of copper distillers for you.”

Cui Xie was about to stand up from his seat, “How is that right, how can I let you spend money!”

Lips curving upward, Xie Ying said, “Why can I not spend money? Don’t you call me Xie-xiong? As the older one, it is not much to make a steamer for his younger junior. Besides, once you make the flower dew, won’t you give me a few bottles to use?”

That’s right. This was not a one-sided deal. In the future, there would be many more exchanges and such thin streams would flow forever. [5]

Cui Xie set his bottom back on the seat, rubbing the tip of his slightly red nose, “Then I will slowly experiment, Xie-xiong must not feel anxious. If it can truly be made, I will bring some for you to use to wash your face and bathe in.”

Naturally, it was improbable that Xie Ying would actually wipe flower dew on his body, but he simply encouraged and supported the youngster’s venture.

He also called for someone to add a few dishes for Cui Xie and he himself slowly enjoyed cherries with wine. While eating, he asked Cui Xie how he was doing after returning to the capital and whether he needed to manage business at home or not. Speaking of business, he suddenly recalled seeing Cui Qi and Ji Du whom he had met in the Flower Hall earlier. As such, he asked, “Those two also accompanied you in your return to the capital? Will you open a bookstore in the capital in the future?”

Cui Xie had yet to think everything through and propped up his chin with one hand, “The family has three shops, none of which make much profit. I want to convert one of them to become a bookstore. The two of them probably visited me regarding the accounts of the study back in my hometown. I wanted to visit Xie-xiong, so I brought them together.”

Xie Ying said, “It is better to be in the capital. Qian’an is too remote and it takes a few days before a printed book can be shipped to Beijing. You also are slow to release new books while there are those who are eager to read them. Now that you have family and assets in the capital, and have more hands now, it will be easy to open up a new shop. Besides, you are a person whom the Emperor has seen before and was specially enrolled into the Imperial College. No one dares to bully you even if you have no official title.”

How could the Emperor Chenghua know of the son of a five-rank official living in the countryside. Colonel Xie must have been behind this!

Fervent ideas welled up in Cui Xie’s heart. He poured himself a glass of liquor and stood up to make a toast, “To have made it this far, it is all thanks to Xie xiong’s assistance. I can only present this cup of wine to express my heart.”

Slowly downing the wine, he turned the bottom of the cup upside down, his eyes burning brightly and gleaming, sincerity spilling out from his eyes. Xie Ying also picked up his cup and drank it, nodding slightly: “Enough. If you drink anymore, you will be drunk.”

Cui Xie nodded along with him and sat back in his chair. He honestly confessed, “Actually, I am already a little drunk. I always forget that I am sixteen now and cannot drink like men in their twenties.”

Xie Ying could not help but laugh and softly ordered a young manservant: “Remove Young Master Cui’s wine and replace it with granulated ginger soup to dissipate the effects of alcohol.”

The Xie Residence’s hangover soup did not work very well. Upon his departure, Cui Xie was still somewhat dazed and even forgot to change his clothes, so he brought back several sets of Xie Ying’s old clothes.

The Assistant Shopkeeper was sitting in the carriage and looking at Cui Xie’s unclear and disorderly gaze, he worriedly inquired, “Just how much did Young Master drink? Can he still manage the accounts? This subordinate has brought all of the accounts from home and Tongzhou for this month. If the Young Master cannot read it, he can take it back. This subordinate and Cui Qi can stay at the inn for two days and wait until you’ve read the account before going back.”

Cui Xie felt that he was still clear of things in his heart and after focusing looking at the inner wall of the carriage for a while, he replied, “No need. Bring the money, I will sober up after counting.”

Ji Du took out the silver taels hidden away underneath a wooden panel in the carriage and let Cui Xie count a couple of times through. Occasionally, rays of light penetrated through the curtains, shining on the silver so it was shining white in front of Cui Xie’s eyes. His mind gradually swirled and he suddenly pushed away the silver and grabbed Cui Qi to say, “You must not leave. I painted a new portrait and Little Shopkeeper Ji can take it back to Qian’an for me. You can tell Shopkeeper Ji and Cui Yuan to come to the capital to see me; Pengyan can….now that Laoye is gone, I am in charge of the Cui Residence now. How about you stay and learn to paint with me and learn how to do business in one of the family’s shops?”

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