Brewing Spirits

Li Qingxian secretly gave Luo Jing a thumbs-up, then said, "Uncle Zhou, let bygones be bygones. Let's discuss serious business—the Spirits Distillation Method is real."

Zhou Chunfeng shot Li Qingxian a glare and slowly said, "If the Spirits Distillation Method succeeds, it will bring a considerable sum into both the Night Guard and the national treasury. Explain it to me in detail."

Li Qingxian had already thought up a strategy on the way over, so he said, "My father liked to drink yellow wine in his spare time. Uncle Zhou, you should know that."

Zhou Chunfeng froze for a moment, his thoughts drifting far away. Only after quite a while did he come back to himself. "Yes. Gang Feng liked yellow wine—the loose kind, the cheap kind."

A weight lifted from Li Qingxian's heart. "Father said strong spirits were difficult to brew. Back when I was short on money, I came up with the idea of making strong spirits. I had studied Fate Arts, so before I began, I performed a calculation and found that it could work. I secretly experimented with it, and unexpectedly, it really succeeded. Next, as long as we find skilled brewers and Ministry of Works officials who understand the techniques, a little experimentation will let us brew genuine strong spirits and sell them across the country."

"I'm asking about the Spirits Distillation Method!" Zhou Chunfeng said.

Li Qingxian looked around the study, wearing an awkward expression. "Since we're all on the same side, I won't hide it. While testing strong spirits, I discovered something interesting. Take one jar of wine and one jar of water, equal in amount, pour them into separate pots and bring them to a boil. With the same heat and for the same amount of time, the wine boils first and dries up faster, while the water dries up slowly. Wine is made of pure water and pure alcohol. Since wine is the essence of grain, could I call that pure alcohol 'alcohol'? Then I thought: since wine dries out first, does that mean alcohol turns into vapor more easily than water? If I could capture that vapor again, wouldn't I have strong spirits?"

The three frowned, as though they understood—and as though they did not.

"But once the alcohol has turned into vapor, how do we catch it? I thought and thought, thought and thought, then suddenly remembered that when cooking, steam churns and rushes against people's faces, condensing into droplets. And those ice carts in summer are always covered in drops of water. So I thought, since water vapor turns into water droplets when it meets cold, would alcohol vapor also turn into alcohol droplets when it met cold? I tried it a little, and it worked!"

"Thus, I came up with a method for distilling strong spirits. It's very simple. First, we boil the wine in a pot and maintain the heat, turning the alcohol inside into vapor. We place pipes over the wine pot and let the alcohol vapor flow through them. Then we cool the pipes, turning the alcohol vapor into alcohol droplets. When those alcohol droplets gather together, they become strong spirits. We can adjust them to various suitable concentrations according to the strength we want. Divide them into low-proof, medium-proof, and high-proof, and we'll have three types of liquor. Then add all sorts of things, like floral dew or fruit juice, and we can create countless different flavors, eventually conquering wine shops across the nation!"

Li Qingxian excitedly envisioned the future, while the other three stared blankly.

Li Qingxian took one look. They did not understand? Good. They were not supposed to understand! He himself had only played with distillation once in middle school, and that had only been with water.

"It's that simple? It sounds like you just boil it, then cool it down, and that's enough?" Luo Jing asked, half believing and half doubting.

Li Qingxian gave a soft snort. "Tell me, how many years did the Human Race take to go from block printing to movable-type printing?"

"About four or five hundred years."

"And how many years did the Human Race take to go from carving characters on stone tablets to block printing?"

"Thousands upon thousands of years," Luo Jing said.

"Put simply, movable-type printing means carving words into stone, applying ink, and making an imprint. How did humanity need thousands upon thousands of years to go from carving words to movable-type printing?"

"This..." Luo Jing had no immediate way to refute Li Qingxian's crooked logic and heretical nonsense.

Li Qingxian pointed at his own head. "Success is ninety-nine percent sweat, plus one percent inspiration. Very often, that one percent inspiration is more important than the ninety-nine percent sweat."

"You must not seek shortcuts," Zhou Chunfeng said sternly. His soft Jiangnan accent carried a faint rasp, yet his words struck the ground like iron.

"Yes, Uncle Zhou. That was an exaggerated way of putting it. Modern movable-type printing requires materials, craftsmanship, and years of accumulation in every aspect. Ideas alone cannot make it happen. My method for brewing distilled spirits was not something I thought of out of thin air either. It was only after putting in ninety-nine percent sweat that I gained that one percent inspiration. Without all that sweat, without my constant thinking, without those efforts, the idea could never have been realized." Li Qingxian's attitude was sincere.

Zhou Chunfeng smiled and nodded, but suddenly lowered his head, raised a hand to his mouth, and coughed twice softly. A flush rose on his cheeks before quickly fading.

Luo Jing found this increasingly strange. He knew the two were not especially close, yet Zhou Chunfeng treated Li Qingxian like a junior of his own family—offering both encouragement and admonition, while also clearly holding him in high regard.

"Your health isn't good?" Li Qingxian asked.

"An illness left over from earlier years. I'm used to it." Zhou Chunfeng gently stroked the Bull Bone Fan on the table. After a long while, he said, "This alcohol distillation method appears ordinary, but it may very well change the entire liquor trade. We must not act with undue haste. For now, we should not publicize it. We'll join forces with the Ministry of Revenue, the Inner Transport Treasury, the Night Guard, and the Ministry of Works. We'll find a secret location within the Night Guard and test it slowly. Only once we are completely certain will we begin formal production."

Li Qingxian and Luo Jing nodded lightly.

"Lord Luo, what arrangements do you have on the Ministry of Revenue's side?" Zhou Chunfeng asked casually.

Luo Jing's expression changed. He sat up straight, thought for a moment, and said, "My father was promoted to Fifth Rank not long ago, and our Luo family is also considered a prominent clan within the Southern Star Sect. I'll report this matter to Minister Lu. At the very least, nothing will go wrong with it in the Ministry of Revenue. After all, these are offerings for the gods."

Zhou Chunfeng nodded. "Then sorry for the trouble, Lord Luo—please handle contacting the Inner Transport Treasury. As for the Ministry of Works and the Night Guard, I will make the arrangements. Qingxian, are there any other requirements for the brewing workshop?"

Li Qingxian thought for a moment. "When I tinker with it myself, I don't need much. But if we're going to make it large-scale, we'll probably need a larger building. It also needs to be hidden and secure, so only you can decide that."

Zhou Chunfeng glanced out the window. "Then we'll choose the Imperial Prison Bureau. It has been emptier there over the past half year, and its guards are strict. Even if someone has designs on the Spirits Distillation Method, they would never dare cause trouble in the Imperial Prison Bureau."

"I think that's a good choice," Li Qingxian said.

"If you are to participate in this matter, your identity as merely someone from the Street Patrol Office will not be convenient. I'll give you an additional identity as a clerk of the Imperial Prison Bureau, allowing you to enter and leave the Imperial Prison freely."

With a broad grin, Li Qingxian said, "Uncle Zhou, the brewing method is a matter of great importance. I'm afraid someone may come looking for trouble again with a Gold-Character Command Token. I see you have quite a few of those on your desk—give one to me."

All three looked together at the three Gold-Character Command Tokens in the lot tube on the desk.

"What do you think a Gold-Character Command Token is?" Zhou Chunfeng's face darkened.

Li Qingxian smiled. "I want a Gold-Character Command Token not for myself, but for His Majesty, for the imperial court, and for the Night Guard Yamen. If something happens to me and this gets ruined, the national treasury will effectively lose one million taels of silver every year. Can't one million taels of silver a year buy a single Gold-Character Command Token?"

"Outrageous!"