boyutpedia Chapter 244 Lychee Wine
Chapter 244 Lychee Wine
"The Wu family is just a merchant family. They only gained this status by following the previous emperor in conquering the world. There are almost no people with poor foundations. The two young men of the Wu family have never been heard to have any talents or knowledge."
Well, that's a hopeless future.
"I heard that the Wu family brothers and sisters have a bad relationship, and there seems to be a quarrel between them. It is still unknown who spread this rumor in Chang'an." Cui Bianxu began to talk about conspiracy theories. To do something, you have to see who can benefit.
Wu Meiniang was just a fifth-rank talent who had been in the palace for only a year. There were many people in the palace who were more favored than her. Who in the harem would go to so much trouble to harm a childless concubine like her?
Then the only one left is the Wu family, with whom she has a deep grudge.
I drove away my stepmother and my own sister, and now this sister has entered the palace to be a concubine. It would be fine if she is not favored in her life, but if she is favored, how can I not take revenge?
Jiang Shangxian hadn't anticipated this direction. "But if something really happened, wouldn't His Majesty, in his rage, implicate the Wu family?" Wouldn't that be a complete loss? If he brought someone down, he'd be in trouble too.
This matter concerns the throne.
Cui Bianxu was surprised and asked, "How could that be? Even if we truly believed that the prophecy referred to the Wu family, how could the entire clan be implicated if the incident hadn't even happened yet?"
At most, he would just kill Wu Meiniang.
That’s right, Jiang Shangxian nodded. In history, there were very few people who were really executed along with their entire clan. It could almost be said that they were rare. Only in film and television dramas would one see the execution of a clan along with its entire clan.
"As for the Yang family..." He sneered, "The Yang family has their own women in the palace. How could they wholeheartedly support a daughter born to a married woman? My Cui family doesn't have any women serving as concubines in the harem."
It is not easy to win over all the five surnames and seven families. Jiang Shangxian just happened to have such a good opportunity in front of her, so it is normal for her to win over one or two of them.
Jiang Shangxian also took this into consideration. In short, he wanted to take advantage of the Cui family's power.
But will the Cui family agree?
"My eldest uncle has two legitimate sons, and my third brother is only five years old this year. If my eldest brother has no offspring..." Cui Bianxu paused, his voice lowered, a mysterious expression on his face. "It's no secret that my eldest brother is weak. She probably thinks that if he can't, I can take the position of clan leader."
In a noble family, even if the patriarch does not hold any official position, he still has an transcendent status. Once he gives an order, the whole family will obey. But she never thought about whether she wants to be the patriarch?
If he wanted to become the clan leader, would the Cui family agree to his marriage to Jiang Shangxian? Even if he became the clan leader, would he still be able to hold a position in the court?
Thinking of this, he paused: "I heard that Madam Yang has three daughters?"
Jiang Shangxian was still wondering what she would do if Cui Bianxu became the clan leader, when she heard this and subconsciously answered, "Yes, Wu Cairen has a younger sister."
"No, no." Cui Bianxu shook his head. Sanlang was only five years old, and Wu Cairen's sister must be a few years older than Sanlang. In any case, they were not a match. So what was she trying to do?
Jiang Shangxian also thought that Wu Meiniang's sister seemed to have died early in history and there was not much record of her. On the contrary, her coquettish and charming elder sister left behind romantic stories in history books.
"No need to worry."
Cui Bianxu would usually choose to think about things he couldn't understand: "Do you want to be a clan wife?"
"No, I don't want to!" Jiang Shangxian spoke faster than her brain. She wasn't crazy. What good was it to be a clan wife? Being the mistress of a clan wasn't easy, let alone a clan wife. She could even exhaust herself to death.
"You don't want to be a clan wife, and I don't want to be the clan leader either. What does her plan have to do with us?"
The wind had blown a few strands of hair onto her fair cheeks. Cui Bianxu felt a little itchy and hesitated for a long time before finally taking the opportunity to speak and pretending to accidentally brush them off quickly.
"What you said... makes perfect sense!!!" Oh my god, did he just touch his face? Aa ...
Jiang Shangxian’s chest was buzzing with excitement: He flirted with me... He flirted with me!
Cui Bianxu, feeling even more embarrassed by her glaring eyes, rubbed his nose and changed the subject: "There's a banquet in the palace tonight. If there's any news then, I'll send someone to tell you."
This diversion was quite successful, and Jiang Shangxian was immediately drawn to it. "There's no festival today. Why is there a banquet out of the blue?"
She was very sure that there were no holidays recently. After all, it had just been a short time since the lunar calendar turned over. If there were, Jiang Wangri would definitely be excited, and Jiang's mother would definitely arrange for them to go out and earn money during the holidays.
"It's just that during the New Year, Your Majesty was in Luoyang, and the civil and military officials at court hadn't feasted with Your Majesty for a long time. Your Majesty was just giving him a special favor."
The threshold for attending a palace banquet is the fourth rank, and Cui Bianxu just happened to be there, and would only be there to accompany the guests. This kind of banquet was something he had to attend, but he had no interest in it.
It's a grand occasion. Even if there's a threshold, there will definitely be a lot of people coming. Plus, there will be dancers and musicians in the palace to liven up the atmosphere. Just thinking about it makes me drool. "If you eat any delicious dishes, you have to tell me about it."
Jiang Shangxian was extremely interested in the palace dishes she had never tasted before, but she was a little skeptical of Cui Bianxu's culinary skills. "Wu Niang should be there tonight too, right?"
There was a banquet in the palace. After all, the Prince of Jiangxia was a member of the royal family, so it should be no problem for him to bring Li Xueyan. Unfortunately, Cui Bianxu was not sure whether Li Xueyan would go. After all, Zhao Shan was a sixth-rank official. If he couldn't go, it was possible that Li Xueyan didn't want to go.
Jiang Shangxian immediately changed his mind. "I'd better ask Xueyan some other day. She told me that the wine used at every palace banquet is different. One time, they served lychee wine. I heard that lychee wine has a subtle fragrance, a sweet aftertaste, and a refreshing taste. It's a rare and excellent fruit wine."
In modern times, she also made lychee wine by herself. It was a very crude method. She just used white wine, lychees, and sugar to seal the lid. The first time she made it was particularly successful. With her confidence increased, she quickly made three more large glass jars during the last lychee season. But this time she was unlucky.
For some unknown reason, one of the cans exploded in the middle of the night. Oh my God, the three of them were almost scared to death in their bed. They thought there was a war going on somewhere!
It turned out that her lychee wine had exploded, and the whole kitchen was in a mess. She didn't sleep that whole night, just cleaning up.
But Li Xueyan said that the lychee wine here is not soaked. Instead, fresh March red lychees are peeled and pitted, then mixed evenly with white koji, placed in a large ceramic jar and sealed for three days. Then, boiled and cooled mountain spring water is poured into the jar, sealed and fermented in a cool place for a month. The jar is then distilled using nine leaks, nine troughs, wooden barrels and iron pots.
After distillation, the lychee wine will change from a yellowish milky white to a transparent color. It can be drunk after being sealed in a jar for half a year.
The lychee wine brewed in this way, which can also be called lychee wine, does not require modern 100% disinfection and will not have mold, because brewing yeast or other wine-making bacteria become the dominant species, and other bacteria have no room to grow.
Unfortunately, the lychees in Chang'an were not something she could easily buy because of her wealth. Each one was extremely precious, even the sour lychees like the March Red lychees needed for making wine.