"Ooooooh..."
The sound of cock crowing broke the tranquility of the small village.
The days in September are still very long, the sun has not yet risen, and the sky is already bright. This newly awakened small village is just south of Baicheng, named Taipingzhuang. The villagers have been farming for generations. Like most villages in the north, they are neither barren nor rich.
Gao Mingde is a native of the village. He is in his fifties this year. There is a son under his knees, who settled in Shengtian, so he is considered filial.
As people get older, sleep becomes very light. He got up early, first mixed the pig food with his hands and feet, then fed the chickens after feeding the pigs, and started sweeping the yard after feeding the chickens.
It was around seven o'clock before he went back to the house and cooked a pot of noodles for breakfast.
The old man has a big appetite, and with his own cucumber and miso, he ate a pot of noodles. He wiped his mouth, dressed neatly, and rode out on a broken bicycle.
Pressing the potholed dirt road, I left the village with seven turns and eight turns, and then went north, onto another asphalt road. The old man was pedaling the bike, looking ahead, seemingly concentrating, but his mind was inexplicably distracted.
He lived in his fifties, and he didn't have any great skills. If he had to pick one thing out, it would be twenty years of winemaking.
When I was young, I started as an apprentice in a winery in another province, and then slowly became a full-time worker, and then slowly became a master craftsman. The money is not bad, but unfortunately the body is also tired and sick, so I have to retire early.
After returning to his hometown, he stayed away from that craft. I thought I would never mention it again, but two days ago, a young man surnamed Zeng came to visit and said that he had opened a small winery and asked him to go over and give guidance.
Voila, guide! This is what will talk.
Of course, this alone was not enough, Gao Mingde was completely moved when someone slapped a pile of monthly salary on the table.
The old man is not stupid. No winery in the country has this price, but he is not afraid. What is the benefit of being old? What's more, the son is going to get married, and the money to buy a house has not been settled yet.
"Hey, old man!"
He was riding when he suddenly heard someone shouting behind him, and when he turned around, he saw an old guy from the same village, surnamed Li. This is an ancestral carpenter's craft, and he is carrying a toolbox with a red face.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Go to the north side of the mountain and take over a big job. How much do you guess?" Old man Li said frightened.
"I don't care how much you care!"
"Hey, this number!"
Old man Li made gestures, and seeing the other party's calm face, he was rather self-defeating, and asked, "Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm going there too."
Gao Mingde didn't want to disclose it, so he said, "Hey, let me tell you, is there a development zone going to be built there? This section has never stopped."
"Whatever it is doing, we are making money and making money."
The two of them walked together, passed the Phoenix Collection soon, and walked thirty miles north, a small construction site appeared in front of them. There is no dust and roar of machinery, but it seems very quiet.
There are also a lot of workers, but at first glance they are old-fashioned. If they are masters elsewhere, they are purely small workers.
Old man Li greeted and went to find the organization. Gao Mingde was a bit confused, he only made an appointment about the approximate location, but where exactly are he going
"Hello, are you Master Gao?"
At this moment, a young man ran over to ask.
"Uh, right."
"Waiting for you for a while, your place of work is not here, I will take you there."
He was very enthusiastic, Gao Mingde didn't know why, so he could only follow him. As a result, after walking for a few minutes, I always felt that something was wrong. This is going up the mountain!
"Well, I'm here to see the winery." He carefully reminded.
"Yeah, it's right up there, not too high, and it'll be there in twenty minutes." The young man laughed.
There was no way, the old man had no choice but to move on.
Sure enough, it didn't take long to see a fork in the road ahead, extending to the left. The two turned left, turned through a small forest, and arrived at their destination.
It was a small courtyard surrounded by trees on three sides, and a stream formed by mountain springs flowed in front of the door, gurgling clear. The terrain is not high, about seventy or eighty meters above sea level.
"Is this a winery?" The old man was taken aback.
"We are not big, we should call it a wine shop."
The two of them entered the courtyard, and saw big houses on all sides, with a spacious space. A man in his thirties heard the noise and ran out to greet him.
"This is Guo Fei, and he will be your apprentice from now on."
"Master, I have worked in a winery for several years. I know a little about everything, but I am not very proficient. Please teach me more."
Gao Mingde was very satisfied with his attitude, nodded and said: "It's easy to say, let's take a look at the equipment first."
"Okay, this way please."
With that said, the three of them entered the brewing room.
The old man looked up and was startled immediately. This is the most traditional brewing equipment with low output and time-consuming, so he asked: "Your cost is too high, can you make money?"
"Ah… "
The young man didn't respond, and said with a smile: "I heard that Master Gao is proficient in solid-state brewing?"
"Well, I have several years of experience."
"That's great. We mainly make baijiu, and the raw material is rice bran. Please worry about it in the future."
"Only rice bran? The taste is average." The old man frowned.
"For the time being, there will be other raw materials in the future."
"You are the boss, you have the final say."
Immediately afterwards, the three of them walked around the various houses, including warehouses, wine cellars, bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, etc., all of which were readily available. Especially the rice bran and rice in the warehouse, the old man took out a little bit and rubbed it, feeling more and more surprised.
This rice is so weird, what kind of winery is it? Why did Mao want to build it in such a place
Not mentioning his psychological activities, the three of them walked around, and the young man still had a smiling face and said: "Master Gao, if you are satisfied, we will sign the contract. If you are not satisfied, the previous A little money counts as hard work, and I will send you back."
"..."
Gao Mingde pursed his lips, unable to bear the pressure of reality after all, he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I signed it!"
"I'll sign too!" Guo Fei said.
"Well, our contract is simple."
The young man took out a piece of paper and said: "Three years, two days off every month, all guarantees and benefits... Our requirements are two points, one is to make good wine, and the other is that you must keep it secret. Don't tell anyone."
When it came to the last point, his expression suddenly became a little weird, with a hint of nervousness.
The old man was not well-educated, so Guo Fei read the contract several times, and wondered: "As for the liability for breach of contract, why didn't you write it?"
"Liability for breach of contract? Hey, you better not try..."
The young man grinned, asked them to sign and seal, and said before leaving the house: "Remember, keep it secret."
…
After the guy left, Gao Mingde chatted with Guo Fei.
Guo Fei is from Caohekou, moved to Baicheng, opened a winery before, and later became addicted to gambling, and lost all his savings and resettlement fees. Now that his wife and children are gone, he has repented and started a new life.
He didn't know what the situation was, he only knew that the treatment was good and the salary was high, so he came to try his luck.
Gao Mingde became more worried when he heard this, and smoked a bag of local cigarettes. Finally figured it out, worrying is useless, anyway, the contract is signed, so let's do it.
The old man is a man of action, so he will come when he says it.
According to the general procedure, the koji should be prepared before brewing. Distiller's koji is divided into Daqu and Xiaoqu, Daqu uses wheat, and Xiaoqu uses rice. Since the raw material is rice bran, it is natural to make ditty.
The process is very cumbersome. First, the rice is crushed, sieved, mixed with water, and then pressed into a mold to form a blank. Then spread rice husks in the qu room, and transport the qu blanks into the room and arrange them.
First put some reed stalks on it, then build a layer of curved blocks, and then put some reeds, so that a total of three layers can be stacked.
At this point, the first day's work is complete. The next step is to close the music room, and the temperature will gradually rise. After 36-37 hours, the mold will be moldy.
Then there is mold drying, tidal fire, and koji cultivation. It takes about a week before the koji can be officially released from the house.
Gao Mingde took care of the patients and was mainly responsible for guiding them. Guo Fei also had experience and he did it very neatly. Before you know it, it's dusk, the sun is shining, and the forest is dyed.
The old man moved a rattan chair, sat by the stream, looked at the surrounding scenery, and suddenly felt a little comfortable.
Alas, brewing is still the most refreshing! I don't like feeding pigs and chickens at all. Today's job is good, and I am confident that I can make a batch of good koji and then a few pots of good wine.
Gao Mingde sat for a while, checked the time, and asked Guo Fei to go home together.
As soon as he stood up, he heard a soft question in his ear, as if suddenly appearing in the void:
"Hey, you are the master brewer, right?"
"who?"
The old man shivered, looked around, but saw no one, "Who are you?"
"Ha, I'm here to deliver herbs for you." The voice changed suddenly, as if two people were talking.
Hiss!
Gao Mingde raised his head suddenly, and saw two little girls sitting on the tree more than ten meters high in front of the house. They are not very young, but they are all beautiful and refined, like two mountain spirits who absorb the essence of heaven and earth.
"..."
The old man's gums were shaking and he couldn't speak a word.
"This is for you!"
The older girl took out a clay pot and threw it casually. The pot landed on the ground smoothly without splashing any dust.
"There are some herbs in it, which can be added to the koji, and you brew it separately."
Seeing her friendly attitude, the old man dared to ask, "You, are you human or demon?"
"Nonsense, of course we are human... Oh, don't be soft-hearted, we still have something to do when we go back!"
The younger girl was quite impatient, and kept shaking her companion's arm. The companion couldn't help it, so he had to sigh, and then flicked his fingers.
Gao Mingde opened his eyes wide, and saw two weird mosquito-like insects suddenly appearing in front of him, one of them swished into the meat, and the other flew around twice, catching Guo Fly, also chi slip drilled in.
The old man twitched, only to feel that there was an inexplicable feeling in his mind, as if he was being controlled by the other party.
"Ah! Ghost, ghost..."
Guo Fei was even more frightened and fell to the ground, scratching his face indiscriminately, as if trying to dig out the bugs.
"Howl!"
The little girl hated it so much, she broke off a branch and threw it away. The neither sharp nor blunt branch stuck to Guo Fei's body, and he shook in pain, and really stopped crying.
"Remember, you'll be fine if you obey!"
She gave a warning, and then dragged the eldest girl to teach her a lesson: "Let's go, mother-in-law..."
After the words fell, the figures of the two flashed, followed by a few ups and downs, and disappeared in the forest in a blink of an eye.
Gao Mingde was stunned. He was quiet for a while, and then he heard the sound of sobbing and sobbing. Guo Fei actually cried: "Woo... what did I do wrong? My wife and children are gone, and the family property is gone. It's so easy. Find a job, but also bump into a ghost... woo woo... "
This buddy is big and rough, but his mind is very weak. He howled for a long time, and the old man got annoyed, and shouted: "Okay, what the hell? Have you ever seen a ghost with a shadow?"
Um
After being yelled at by him, Guo Fei slowly came to his senses, wiped his tears and said, "Master, they, who are they? Will we die if we eat bugs?"
"I don't know where to go!"
Gao Mingde was also very upset, but after a pause, his expression became very vague again. The elderly believe in this the most, and at the same time they have a kind of anticipation when they are afraid:
"Could it be, could it be that there really are gods?"
…
"Let me tell you, those people don't need some tricks to do it! It's a wine shop. You must taste it first when they brew it? As long as you taste it, a fool will know that you have a problem. Our wine is spiritual wine. A golden gun will not fall, and the couple will not suffer from all kinds of diseases. No matter how you guard against it, they have to drink secretly. It’s fine to drink secretly. You know who is a spy and who is ungrateful for profit. If you get the news today, you will give it to me tomorrow. You sold it! So, we have to control it. It’s not harming others, as long as they don’t kill themselves, can we treat them badly?”
On the way back to the valley, the two sisters, Xiao Jin kept indoctrinating Long Qiu in Balabala's. Long Qiu scratched his head and said, "I understand everything you said, but..."
"Don't be so stupid! Ouch, why do I look like I'm raising a child?"
Xiao Jin's patience was at its limit, she didn't bother to open her mouth any more, and dragged the young lady along the way.
Soon, the two of them passed the half-mountain pavilion, and then went up, the scenery had changed drastically. Those useless trees were brought down to clear a large area of open space. From the perspective of the inner mountain alone, it is divided into three areas: the front mountain, the valley, and the back mountain.
Fruit trees are planted on the front mountain, and tea trees and Lingmi are planted on the back mountain.
The valley is bounded by a radius of 20 kilometers. It cannot be reclaimed, otherwise the atmosphere will be spoiled. In the future, we will mainly build some buildings.
Gu Yu was discussing with Xiao Zhai with the blueprints in hand, when he saw them coming back, he asked, "How is it?"
"The herbs are given to them, and they look pretty good." Long Qiu said.
"Ah That's good."
Xiao Jin leaned over, snatched the blueprints for a look, and said in surprise, "Wow, you two are so generous, are you going to start a school?"
Long Qiu was also curious, Baba took a look and saw that it was densely packed with architectural plans, and wondered: "Brother, if we do this, won't the government have any objections?"
"Of course there is, but they won't say anything, we are following the rhythm."
Gu Yu took the blueprint and said with a smile: "When Phoenix Mountain was first obtained, we didn't move it because they didn't want to move it. Now that they want to move it, we move it accordingly."
"I don't understand." Long Qiu grimaced.
"Oh, just read more news!" Xiao Zhai rubbed her head.