Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Banquet

  Actually, Lin Zhubu had already guessed that the one kneeling with Wang Kuang was Wang Dalang as soon as he heard Wang Kuang say he was Wang Erlang. He asked this question just to cover up his own embarrassment.

  "So, all three of you brothers are from Wang Village?" Wang Kuang thought to himself, isn't this a pointless remark? We all have the surname Wang, and now that the imperial edict has been issued, we're here for the memorial service. Where else in Jian'an can you find another Wang Village that's been designated as a rebel village? He muttered to himself, but still had to say something like "Sir, you truly are wise and discerning". Everyone loves to hear flattering words, and Lin Zhonglu was no exception. After hearing Wang Kuang's flattery, he felt somewhat relieved, his thumb tapping on the leather belt, one hand stroking his chubby chin, smiling as he looked up and down at Wang Ling.

  King Ling's several colleagues were also standing on one side, not daring to make a sound. In their hearts, they secretly gave Wang Kuang a thumbs up: "Awesome, you're awesome, even the chief clerk dared to confront."

  After watching the play, Lin Zhubu didn't say a word, waved his hand and left with his entourage. However, not long after, he sent a clerk to deliver a message, asking the three brothers to go to the county government office tomorrow. As for what it was about, the clerk also didn't know. Wang Ling had never dealt with Lin Zhubu before, so he felt a bit worried when he heard this. But thinking again, since the imperial edict had already been issued and he hadn't committed any crime, what did he have to be afraid of? Wang Kuang knew that Lin Zhubu was doing this because he had just lost face, so he deliberately kept them in suspense. He wasn't worried at all, but rather looked forward to it. The bandit's hat on Wang Cun's head had been removed, and the land should have been returned to the people of Wang Village. Could it be that going to the county government office tomorrow was about this matter?

  As soon as Shangguan left, Wang Ling's comrades immediately became active and surrounded him again, starting to bully Wang Kuang and his brother. However, after their initial excitement passed, they stopped and began to ask Wang Ling to treat them to food and drinks.

  Sun Mingqian hastily pulled over Sun Er, whispered a few words to him, and then cupped his hands to the soldiers, saying: "Gentlemen, if you don't mind, let me be your host and have some wine at my place?"

  These people almost didn't recognize Sun Mingqian, from the military front they were just ordinary villagers, where did they have the opportunity to enter Fuli Inn to drink wine? Even if they entered the city, they all bought some snacks at random roadside stalls. However, Fuli Inn was a place that the postal soldiers had mentioned many times on their way, knowing it was one of the best places to drink in Jian'an. As soon as Sun Mingqian spoke, his eyes lit up and stared at Wang Ling.

  Wang Ling was hesitant, Wang Kuang was indeed called Xiao Dongjia, but if he was the only one eating and drinking at the inn, it wouldn't be a big deal. However, with over a dozen people, the expenses would naturally not be small, and it would be somewhat embarrassing to let Sun Mingqian, whom he had just met today, foot the bill.

  Wang Kuang naturally understood Wang Ling's idea and smiled at him, saying: "Big brother, let the brothers have a drink in the guest room, it doesn't matter."

  Thinking of the previous two Sun's also listening to Wang Kuang, and adding that Sun Ming had been affectionate towards Wang Kuang brothers before, Wang Ling nodded in agreement. However, he set rules for these dozen soldiers: drinking was allowed, but not getting drunk, and definitely no trouble after drinking.

  Fortunately, the kitchen had prepared some food in advance, and for the inn, all the ingredients were readily available. So preparing food for a dozen people was simple. In order to make everyone happy, Sun Ming simply ordered it, and the inn directly pretended to be busy. Afraid that there wouldn't be enough wine, he even specially sent someone back to his own home to move all the hidden wine from the cellar. As a result, several guests who had already made reservations to come and drink were very unhappy. After much persuasion, until they offered a 50% discount for the next day, these people finally left satisfied.

  As a result, the matter of going to Sun Ming's former residence had to be postponed. However, Sun Ming was also delighted. Although Wang Kuang looked no different from before, at least from today on, Wang Xiao's smile never faded, which was impossible in the past.

  One night, the tavern was filled with laughter and chatter. At first, people were still sitting in two separate groups: one group consisted of the tavern staff, while the other group included Wang Ling and his soldiers. Initially, they kept a distance from each other, but as the night wore on, they became more and more familiar with each other. Sun Er was now hugging the youngest soldier, slurring his words: "I'm telling you, little brother, what are your plans for the future? Why don't you come work at the tavern too? Look at me, two years ago I was just a lowly servant, but now I'm in charge. Who knows, maybe one day our tavern will even open a branch in Chang'an, right under the emperor's feet! At that time, I guarantee you'll be able to marry a beautiful wife and buy ten or more acres of land. You'll have no worries about food or clothing for the rest of your life!"

  That little soldier's capacity for liquor seems to be much stronger than Sun Er's, although he can't sit still, his words are still clearer than Sun Er's: "This depends on the head's intention, my life was saved by the head, where the head tells me to go, I will go."

  At the banquet, only Wang Kuang was the most sober, not because he had a large capacity for wine, but because he hardly drank at all. In later life, Wang Kuang also became a connoisseur of good wine, but during his university days, there was once an occasion when he got drunk and developed stomach problems, so from then on, he treated wine with caution and respect, only taking small sips, never overindulging, and now that he was still in his teens, no one came to urge him to drink more, leaving him free to sip slowly by himself.

  It turns out that the rice wine of the Tang Dynasty was what Wang Kuang liked. As for distilled liquor, Wang Kuang could also make it. In the past, Wang Kuang's father had used the leftover lees from home-brewed wine to steam a bowl of liquor. He would place a cloth pad in the middle of a pot, put a bowl in the center, and then cover it with another pot that was upside down. The edges were sealed with cloth or wet paper, and after steaming for an hour, a bowl of strong liquor could be produced, with a relatively high alcohol content. As for industrialized production of distilled liquor, once you understand the principle, making the equipment is not complicated.

  In Wang Kuang's opinion, distilled liquor is simply spirits mixed with water. During the distillation process, many of the ingredients in rice wine cannot be distilled into white liquor, so it doesn't have the rich flavor of rice wine. Even his father lost interest after distilling a few times and still preferred to drink rice wine. Of course, their own distilled liquor couldn't compare to famous wines. Moreover, the alcohol content of rice wine is not low. In Wang Kuang's later years, he drank at most half a catty (about 250 grams) of 42-degree white liquor, but when drinking rice wine, he could only drink two bowls, which was roughly equivalent to one catty (about 500 grams). By comparison, the alcohol content of rice wine is around 20 degrees.

  The wine they drank now was brewed in the guest house, which was far inferior to the old mother's brew of King Kuang. It was a bit turbid and had a rough mouthfeel, apparently due to the problem with the yeast. King Kuang remembered that his mother's rice wine was the kind that had a faint green color, clear and transparent, very nice to look at. One time while watching TV, he saw a program saying that some kind of green ant wine or something had been lost, and modern people couldn't brew green wine anymore. King Kuang wanted to scold those so-called experts who never went to the countryside to take a look, but just spoke nonsense. In fact, in Fujian province, there were many people who could brew good rice wine, and many families brewed this kind of good wine: in summer, using white yeast to brew white wine that was faintly green; in winter, using red yeast to brew red wine that was rose-red, bright and beautiful, much more so than the dark red grape wine.

  So Wang Kuang did not intend to brew white wine, but rather planned that when the opportunity arose, he would slowly search among the people for skilled craftsmen who made wine yeast. Only with good yeast could good wine be produced. Making wine yeast has always been a specialized skill, and in later generations, those who knew how to make it kept it hidden and never taught others lightly.

  "What is Erlang thinking about?" Sun Mingqian hadn't drunk much, he was always worried about Wang Kuang. In his heart, Wang Kuang's weight was extremely heavy, and his love for Wang Ruo was nothing more than loving the house and its crow, incomparable to Wang Kuang. Today, Wang Kuang's performance was all in his eyes, and there was still a deep melancholy hidden in his eyes. Wang Ling and those rough men couldn't see it, but Sun Mingqian did. "Is he thinking of his parents?"

  Wang Kuang woke up with a start, rubbed his forehead and smiled awkwardly: "Let's not make fun of Uncle today, it's a happy day, but I always think of Father and Mother."

  "A person can't come back to life, but now that you three brothers are reunited, your parents in the afterlife must be very comforted. As people, we should look more towards the future. Erlang, you can be said to be the most intelligent of the three brothers, what plans do you have for the future?"

  "Let's see what big brother has in mind, but since we just met today and I don't remember much about the past, it's not good to ask big brother. Let me ask him tomorrow instead. Moreover, Lin Zhubu sent a message saying that my brothers and I need to go to the yamen tomorrow, and I suspect it might be related to the land in Wang Village. If big brother wants to return home to farm, that would be fine too. However, uncle, I think you should have a good drink with my big brother's comrades." He said with a sly smile.

  Sun Ming was taken aback for a moment, thought for a while, suddenly enlightened, secretly gave Wang Kuang a thumbs up, picked up a bowl of wine and rushed to fight with those soldiers.

  Wang Kuang smiled and also took up a jug of wine, running to toast the soldiers. Some people saw that Wang Kuang was using a small wine jug instead of a bowl and became unhappy: "How come Second Brother Wang is still using such a small wine jug to drink? It's really not satisfying! Change to a big bowl, change to a big bowl!"

  "All of you brothers are my elder brother's sworn brothers, all of whom crawled out of the pile of dead bodies together. It should be a big bowl that is used, but Brother, you also saw that everyone is drunk now. As for me, I'm young and secondly... someone has to take care of things here, right? So I used a small cup instead. Please forgive me, Brother."

  "Huh, you little rascal, how come you need me to take care of you now? Come on and drink."

  Wang Kuang, who was leaning against the wall in the corner of the third floor, also became unhappy upon hearing this. As Wang Kuang was also a young master of the inn, and his current status was thanks to the young master's blessing, he stumbled over, grabbed the person speaking, snatched the large bowl from their hand, and gulped down several mouthfuls into his own mouth. After finishing, he glared at the other person with slanted eyes: "You, you believe, don't you? Among so many people in the inn, who can help Young Master drink? Come on, come on!..." After speaking, he fell to the ground with a thud and soon began snoring loudly.

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