Shopkeeper Zhuo opened a secret wooden door under the counter and took out the only jar of twenty-year-old Qianrichun hidden there.
Qianrichun has been famous for less than 30 years. The 20-year-old wine can be regarded as the best of Qianrichun, and is almost a contemporary product of the time when the imperial wine was named. There is very little of this wine stored in the large wine cellar of the entire garden shop, and there is only a small jar like this one in the store.
Wang Zizhong had only tasted it twice. The first time was when the daughter of the prefect of Chunhui Prefecture married into the palace and was named Zhaorong. During the banquet, the garden shop unprecedentedly dug up twenty jars of tea from the cellar. The second time was when Wang Zizhong went to Zhouzhuang and shamelessly asked the shopkeeper for it, spending fifty taels of silver to buy a jar.
Scarcity makes things valuable. Qianrichun wine is brewed every year, but the older the wine is, the less it becomes.
Now, seeing that Shopkeeper Zhuo was actually selling such top-quality wine to an outsider, he could no longer sit still. He put down his wine glass and walked to the counter to argue with the shopkeeper.
"Shopkeeper Zhuo, I have asked you for this wine countless times. If you want to sell it, you should sell it to me first, right?"
In Ji Yuan's eyes, Wang Zizhong was considered to be of sturdy build. Of course, if they were to compare them, he was still inferior to Li Daniu who was on the boat before. From what he said, he knew that the wine must be very precious.
It would be fine if it was something else, but this was twenty-year-old Qian Richun, and Ji Yuan was a little greedy for it, so there was no way he would miss it, so he hurried into the shop.
"This is the wine, shopkeeper, how much is it per catty, or two taels?"
Shopkeeper Zhuo looked at Wang Zizhong who was standing next to him, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke with a shameless face.
"Yes, it's still two taels of silver per catty. If you don't have enough money, you can buy it on credit!"
Wang Zizhong, a first-class master who became famous in the martial arts world in his forties, stared at Shopkeeper Zhuo with his eyes wide open. The latter felt embarrassed but pushed the wine away.
But now Wang Zizhong also saw something. He was just excited and angry just now. Now he thought that since Shopkeeper Zhuo could not even lose face in front of him, the identity of the wine buyer must be worth pondering, so he did not really interrupt the transaction.
Ji Yuan wanted to try the twenty-year-old Qianrichun, but he was not a heavy drinker, so he naturally took out the ceramic wine bottle from his bag.
"Bring your own wine bottle, how much is one pound?"
Shopkeeper Zhuo was slightly stunned, then immediately responded:
"Since you brought your own wine flask, it's natural that it's cheaper. I'll charge 800 coins per catty. Would you like to buy one catty?"
"Huh..."
The prince made a slight and strange inhalation sound from his throat and turned his head away so as not to look at the wine jar. Although the shopkeeper could not hear it, Ji Yuan heard it clearly.
Ji Yuan laughed as he watched the shopkeeper pretending to be calm and the rather interesting expressions of the others. The last time he found it so interesting was when he listened to the conversation between Taoist Qingsong and his disciple Qi Wen in Huike Tower.
"Okay, please ask the shopkeeper to buy some wine. I'll buy one pound."
Putting the wine jug on the counter, Ji Yuan then took out a certain amount of silver and some broken silver from his pocket and placed them on the table. The shopkeeper did not weigh the silver first, but directly took out the ladle and started to pour the wine.
This type of ladle has a name, called "Siliang Ladle". As the name suggests, a full ladle is about four liang of wine, and four times is one jin. But this time, after the shopkeeper lifted it four times, he lifted another half ladle and directly filled the wine to near the mouth of the pot before stopping.
Then he took out the silver and weighed it, and then started to calculate on the abacus.
"The silver weighs one ounce and twenty-one zhu, which equals eight hundred and seventy-five coins. Sir, here is your change, fifteen coin for five Tongbao coins."
Ji Yuan took the change and picked up the wine to pay for it.
"Okay, thank you, Manager Zhuo. I'll take my leave now."
Ji Yuan bowed to express his thanks and saw the shopkeeper hurriedly bowing back behind the counter, so he smiled again, thinking he was a wonderful person.
Without saying anything more, he walked out of the garden shop with the wine jug in his hand and left towards the downtown area. Although it was a fight on both sides, Ji Yuan did remember the owner of this shop.
"Well, sir, please take care. Please take care! Please come back next time~~!"
Shopkeeper Zhuo was still shouting at the top of his lungs. When he could no longer see Ji Yuan's back, he could no longer hold back a smile and bowed repeatedly to Wang Zizhong who was standing beside him to apologize.
"My Third Master, I apologize to you. It was an emergency just now. I only have four pounds of this aged Qianrichun left, so I will sell it to you!"
Although Wang Zizhong was still doubting Ji Yuan's identity, he was overjoyed when he heard what Shopkeeper Zhuo said.
"How much do I pay per kilo?"
"It's also two taels, it's also two taels!"
Shopkeeper Zhuo was in a very good mood at the moment. Even if it was given away for free, he would agree as long as Wang Zizhong really asked for it.
"Hahahaha, that's more like it! But Shopkeeper Zhuo, could you please tell us who the person who just came is?"
"Hehehe, I can't say it. It's not that I don't want to say it, but it's inconvenient to say it. After selling this pound of wine, I feel refreshed and my mind is clear. If the Third Master runs into that... guest in the future, it's always right to show more courtesy to him."
In some cases, when the parties involved suddenly realize that something is wrong, the more they think about it, the more they feel it is wrong. However, in some cases, it is the opposite, like Shopkeeper Zhuo now, the more he thinks about it, the more he feels it is worth it.
. . .
It was past noon. Ji Yuan was eating a vegetable bun that cost one penny each, and walked out of the east gate and headed south.
The Chunmu River is long and winding, so there cannot be only one River God Temple. However, if we talk about the largest and most orthodox one, it must be the River God Temple outside the city of Chunhui Prefecture.
After all, I have come to Chunhui Mansion, and I have to appreciate the scenery of the first poem of Chunmu River. The closer I get to the Jiangshen Temple, the more people there are around.
The scent of sandalwood can be smelled from a long distance away, and the noisy sounds from the temple can also be heard. Before reaching the temple, there are vendors shouting along the river and the roadside.
There were people selling sandalwood, candles, candied haws, preserved fruits, and even beauty fans, rouge and powder, which really opened Ji Yuan's eyes.
"All the faithful men and women, come and have a look at this amulet that was consecrated by the temple..."
"The incense and candles are cheap. Don't forget to burn incense when you go to the temple to worship the gods~~!"
"Purse, a beautiful purse~~"
…
"Hey, sir, you seem to be a well-educated person. Would you like to buy some incense? Lord Jiangshen may bless you to pass the imperial examination!"
When we arrived at the temple gate, there were more and more vendors selling blessing products, and some of them shouted to Ji Yuan.
Ji Yuan stopped and asked the vendor in a somewhat curious manner:
"Does this Jiang Shen care about fame?"
"Hey, look at what you said, sir. You are asking for fame, fortune, safety, and marriage. As long as you ask for it, Lord Jiang Shen will bless you. Buy two incense sticks?"
Even marriage matters
Ji Yuan was happy, but it seemed like it was the same in his previous life, where he could ask for anything in many temples.
"Light a stick of incense."
"Okay, two cents a stick, take it!"
Ji Yuan paid the money, took the incense, and entered the temple area. It felt like he had entered a special park, with wall galleries with eaves inside and outside the garden, walls inscribed by literati and poets, a river port for releasing animals, pavilions for people to sit, incense burners of all sizes and merit boxes, and people burning incense...
The real Temple of the God of River is just a large house with exaggerated overhanging eaves. There are no clay sculptures of any officials inside or outside the temple. In the nearly 200-square-meter space, there is only an incense burner, a prayer mat, an offering table, and a wooden fence, as well as a 15-foot-tall statue of the God of River.
The statue has a serious face and its beard is carved by the craftsmen to look like waves. A long hairpin is inserted on the hat and the long robe he wears looks like flowing water. Overall, the sculpture is very lifelike.
Ji Yuan followed the pilgrims to the oil lamp at the temple to borrow fire and light incense. He followed suit and went to the statue of Jiang Shen. He could hear all kinds of prayers from the pilgrims, some normal, some absurd, some interesting and some heavy to hear.
However, it is right to come here to pray for smooth sailing on the river, and it is also okay to pray for good weather along the river. But if you want to pray for wealth, longevity, fame, and good marriage, it is better to worship the City God.
The gods of mountains and rivers are different from the city gods and some land gods. Except for extremely special cases of enthronement, most of them are actually practitioners. They either cultivate through years of difficult practice to connect with mountains, rivers or water veins, or they can obtain the orthodox position of the god of mountains and rivers through the legendary enthronement talisman.
Folk incense is just auxiliary to them, and being able to take care of the affairs of rivers is already considered diligent.
However, those who occupy certain mountains, rivers, and bodies of water and gain a little mountain and water veins and presumptuously want to rely on the power of incense to help become orthodox may, on the contrary, respond to some prayers.
As for the river god of Chunmu River, it is an ancient scaleless white dragon. The legend of the heretics happened to record that it failed to transform into a dragon twice and all its scales fell off.
Despite this, Bai Jiao is also an extremely rare river god who can truly rule the Chunmu River.
Ji Yuan did not ask for anything. He just bowed twice respectfully and then inserted the incense into the large incense burner.
When the incense fell, Ji Yuan could vaguely see a mysterious yellow air rising up, which was much more spectacular compared to the occasional trace of aura in the entire temple.
At this moment, Ji Yuan himself also felt dizzy.