Chapter 81: Return to the World of Rivers and Lakes

After the initial surprise, Su Daji grew puzzled again. “That’s odd. If she truly had a secret recipe, why didn’t she reveal it earlier? She wouldn’t even need to give it to outsiders—her family’s distillery could have helped her through those difficulties.”

“This actually shows how cautious my godmother is. She’s afraid to trust the wrong person!” Su Lu had anticipated this question and replied smoothly, “We can all see it now—paying off the debt wasn’t hard. She simply sold sweet water, and in about half a year, she’d settled her accounts. Why would she risk exposing her treasure, letting others take advantage of her desperation?”

Su Daji stroked his beard, nodding in agreement. It made sense. Such was the power of history and time—barely half a year had passed, and Sweet Water Ji’s success had nearly erased everyone’s memory of the shopkeeper’s initial predicament.

“Besides, cooperation depends on character. If her family had stepped forward to help her, she’d surely have shared the secret. But they didn’t…” Su Lu paused, then continued, “We’ve spent these past six months together and only then earned her trust. That’s why she confided in us.”

“Why did your godmother tell you? Is she looking to work with us?” Su Daji’s heart leaped with excitement.

“That I don’t know.” Su Lu shrugged, pushing the idea away. “Maybe she’s letting the word out, choosing among possible partners… Sweet Water Ji isn’t what it used to be. Now there are plenty of business associates; she can pick the best.”

He picked up his slab of cured pork, saying his farewells to the head brewer. “That’s all I have to say. If you want to talk to my godmother, I’ll let her know when I return to the academy. If not, that’s fine too.”

“Of course I want to!” the old man sized him up. “But Autumn, what role do you play in all this?”

“I’m so busy with my studies, what part could I have? I’m just concerned for the family, so I spoke up… My brother was hoping to earn his wages this year, but it looks like he’s worked half a year for nothing.” Su Lu gave a wry smile.

Su Daji, caught off guard, felt embarrassed. “I never said we wouldn’t pay, just that we have to delay. Once we have the money, it’ll be paid.”

“Mm-hmm.” Su Lu nodded perfunctorily, his disbelief evident in every pore.

“Then I’ll trouble you, Autumn.” Su Daji finally made up his mind.

“All right, I’ll tell my godmother.” This time, Su Lu truly meant to leave.

“Wait.” Su Daji called him back, swinging the meat cleaver and chopping off the pig’s snout, along with a large chunk of tongue, wrapping it in oil paper. “Can’t have you running errands for nothing. Take this home for Sixth Brother to enjoy with his wine.”

“Thank you, Seventh Uncle.” Su Lu accepted it cheerfully, slipping it into his sleeve.

In truth, Su Daji was always generous… The distillery belonged to the clan. No matter how stingy, he couldn’t treat it as his own. Better to be open-handed, win good will, and secure his place as head brewer.

Su Lu understood this mentality well—it was the attitude of a collective enterprise leader. Seeing the fat pig turned into just a cured pig’s head, he knew the distillery was truly at the end of its rope.

The time to negotiate cooperation had finally arrived.

~~~

That evening, Su Lu left home early to join his second brother in celebrating the festival with their godmother.

Seeing both brothers together brought her immense joy. The only regret was that their father hadn’t stayed to spend the holiday.

“It’s not raining tonight; I have no excuse not to go home,” Su Youcai explained quietly. “The old man knows we’re here with you. If I don’t return, he’ll definitely grow suspicious.”

“You haven’t told him yet… about what you do here?” his godmother asked softly.

“No.” Su Youcai nodded, sighing. “There’s no way around it—the feud between our fathers runs too deep. If I tell, I might not be able to work with you at all…”

“Go on then.” She nodded understandingly, packing half of the festival foods she’d just bought into his bamboo basket, so he could pay respects to the elders at home.

~~~

Though she worked until dusk closing the shop, their godmother quickly arranged a sumptuous feast.

Most dishes were simple—pig ear salad with cucumber and similar fare—but they were prepared with heartfelt care.

The festival wouldn’t be complete without meat dumplings and eggs wrapped in sticky rice. Never mind that they’d been bought on the street…

“Mother never cooked since she was a young girl. Sons, make do and eat.” She looked apologetically at her two fine boys.

“No trouble at all, godmother. I especially love food from the street,” Su Tai said with a grin.

He wasn’t wrong. In these times, street food—aside from hygiene—often surpassed most home cooking in every way. And most home cooking wasn’t particularly clean…

“As long as you enjoy it. Summer, you don’t visit often, so today you must eat your fill.” Tonight, her focus shifted to Su Tai, careful not to show favoritism.

“Autumn is still young and must study. Summer is grown now—will you share a cup of realgar wine with me tonight?” She lifted a small tin wine pot in invitation.

“I can drink a little,” replied Summer, famed for holding his liquor.

“Wonderful, let me fill your cup.” She happily raised the wine bowl, about to pour.

But Su Lu produced a black porcelain bottle from his sleeve, setting it on the table. “Why not drink this instead?”

She recognized the bottle immediately, nodding. “Let’s do as Autumn suggests.”

“I’ll pour.” Though Su Lu couldn’t drink, he was eager to serve. He poured her a bowl and smiled, “Try it, godmother. Is it the right taste?”

She now understood the wine’s origin. Without betraying emotion, she lifted the bowl, sniffed, tasted, and closed her eyes to describe, “At first sip, it’s rough and fierce, like gravel scraping the tongue. The bite of new liquor shoots up the nose, wild and untamed—this is unblended first-run wine.”

She savored it briefly, then added, “It goes down smoothly enough, but lacks aftertaste; the root of the tongue feels raw…”

“It’s not Phoenix Distillery wine.” Her voice faltered as she bowed her head, choking with emotion. “It’s definitely Erlang wine…”

But she quickly freed herself from the whirlpool of memories, beaming at her two godsons.

“You really managed to recreate it? You are truly heaven’s gift to me.”

“Please don’t say that, godmother. We save each other.” Su Lu smiled.

Su Tai nodded, glancing at Su Lu; he wondered when Su Lu had dropped the ‘god’ from Godmother, and whether he should do the same.

“If we can truly revive Erlang wine, then let’s make it big!” Her spirits soared. “My son, tell me what to do!”

“We’ll follow godmother’s lead,” Su Lu replied obediently.

“Don’t start that.” She lightly tapped Su Lu’s forehead with a finger, laughing. “You think I don’t know you? Always full of ideas, but you love using others as pawns.”

“You wrong me, godmother. I must prioritize my studies. I know the principle of not meddling in affairs beyond my position,” Su Lu protested, acting innocent.

“I don’t care. You must set a direction first, or I’ll be anxious.” She waved him off, refusing to let him argue.

~~~

“Very well.” Su Lu nodded, speaking slowly. “In my view, we absolutely cannot do this alone. White liquor is a big business—we don’t have the resources.”

“Exactly. Not just brewing; transport and sales are full of complications.” She wholeheartedly agreed. “Why did I never consider making this wine? Aside from not knowing how, I was also afraid…”

She sighed deeply. “Now that we’re talking about brewing, I won’t hide anything—back then, Tian Tian’s father brought some wine to the county to let innkeepers and other distillers taste it.”

“The results were excellent, but it angered some people. That night, someone threw a dead chicken at his lodgings. Later, someone knocked on his window, warning him not to sell Erlang wine in the county, or he’d die without a grave.”

Her eyes reddened. “In the end, he did die at sea, his body never recovered.”

“What? There was such a thing?” Su Tai shuddered, quickly asking, “So it wasn’t an accident?”

“I don’t know.” She drank a mouthful of strong liquor to suppress her grief. “The He family is gone. Where could a widow investigate?”

“Report to the authorities.”

“Report whom?” she smiled bitterly. “Tian Tian’s father never met them face to face. Am I supposed to accuse every wine seller in He County? I was nearly mad from debt collectors at the time; how could I deal with that?”

“Yes.” Su Lu nodded softly. “The truth will be hard to uncover, but we must prepare against repeating history.”

He paused. “So we need to partner with a big distillery. They’re already involved and know how to handle any situation.”

“Yes.” She agreed. “Which one should we work with?”

“There are two options: Cheng Distillery and Su Distillery.” Su Lu explained. “The first is strong and reputable, virtually no risk of failure. Of course, Cheng’s business is already thriving; Erlang wine would merely be icing on the cake. Even if we cooperate, we’d have little influence and a small share of profits.”

“And Su Distillery?” she asked.

“Su’s advantage is they’re struggling. We’d be a lifeline, so we could negotiate terms—how much we get depends on our deal.” Su Lu didn’t only mention the benefits, but cautioned, “However, Su Distillery’s situation is dire: unsold products, mounting debts, no wages since the new year. Certainly not as stable as Cheng… Godmother, pick whichever suits you. Business is business; don’t let feelings interfere.”

She couldn’t resist teasing him, “Is there really a choice? You call me ‘mother’ now, so of course I follow my son. How could a son ever deceive his mother?”

“Of course not. Filial piety comes first.” Even Su Lu’s thick skin blushed slightly.

It’s said you must risk your child to catch the wolf; he’d made up his mind before changing how he addressed her.

Though he was that child himself, he could also bring his father along…

“But if we do this… how will Liang explain it to the Cheng family?” Su Tai wanted to follow Su Lu’s lead and call her ‘mother’, but his principles were too high, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

He resorted to mumbling—after all, he was somewhat tongue-tied already. Who could tell if he said ‘mother’ or ‘liang’?

“Forget the Cheng family; I’m no longer one of them!” she said calmly.

To love bravely is always to hate bravely as well…