"Wow......"

The sound of roosters crowing breaks the silence of the small village.

The days of September are still very long, the sun has not yet risen, but the sky is already bright. This small village that has just woken up, just south of Baicheng, is called Taipingzhuang. The villagers have been farming for generations, and like most villages in the north, they are not barren or rich, and they just live a breather.

Gao Mingde is a native of the village, in his fifties this year, and he also wandered when he was young, and later returned to his roots. has a son under his knees, who settled in Shengtian, and is quite filial.

As soon as a person reaches age, sleep becomes very light. He got up early, first mixed pig food with his hands and feet, fed the pigs and then the chickens, and then began to sweep the yard after feeding the chickens.

At about seven o'clock, he went back to the house and cooked a pot of noodles, which was considered breakfast.

The old man had a lot of rice, so he ate his home-grown cucumbers and sauce, and he snorted as soon as he snorted in a pot of noodles. He wiped his mouth, dressed neatly, and rode out on a broken bicycle.

Pressing the potholed dirt road, I turned around and left the village, and then to the north, I got on another asphalt road. The old man pedaled the car, staring ahead, seemingly focused, but in fact his mind was inexplicably wandering.

He lived for more than 50 years, and he didn't have much ability, and if I had to pick one thing, it would be twenty years of winemaking.

When I was young, I started as an apprentice in a provincial distillery, and slowly became a regular worker, and then slowly became a master. The money is okay, but unfortunately I am tired and sick and have to retire early.

When he returned to his hometown, he moved away from the craft. I thought I wouldn't mention it again, but who would have thought that two days ago, a young man surnamed Zeng came to visit, saying that he had set up a small winery, and asked him to go over for guidance.

Look, guide! That's what talking.

Of course, this alone is not enough, and when people slapped a stack of monthly salaries on the table, Gao Mingde was completely moved.

The old man is not stupid, there is no such price in the wineries in the country, but he is not afraid, what is there to make at his age? Not to mention that his son is about to get married, and the money to buy a house has not yet been settled.

"Hey, old man!"

He was riding, and suddenly heard someone shouting behind him, and when he looked back, it was an old guy from the same village, surnamed Li. This is the ancestral carpenter's craft, the carrying handle of ten miles and eight towns, carrying a toolbox, and his face is full of red light.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I went to Shanbei and took a big job, how much do you guess?" said Old Man Li.

"I don't care how much you want!"

"Hey, hey, this number!"

Old man Li gestured, saw that the other party looked calm, quite bored, and asked, "Hey, where are you going?"

"I'll go over there too. ”

Gao Mingde didn't want to reveal it, so he said: "Hey, I said, is there going to be a development zone over there? ”

"It doesn't matter what it does, it's only right that we have money to make. ”

The two walked together, and soon passed the Phoenix Collection, and then walked thirty miles north, and a small construction site suddenly appeared in front of them. Instead of dust and roaring machinery, it was quiet.

There are also a lot of workers, but at first glance they are all old-fashioned, and they are masters elsewhere, and they are purely used as small workers.

Old man Li greeted and went to find the organization. Gao Mingde was a little confused, and only made an appointment with the approximate location, but where are you going?

"Hello, you're Master Gao, right?"

Just then, a young man ran over and asked.

"Uh, yes, yes. ”

"Wait for you to be better for a while, your place of work is not here, I'll take you there. ”

People are very enthusiastic, Gao Mingde doesn't know why, but he can only follow each other. As a result, after walking for a few minutes, it didn't feel right, this was going up the mountain!

"Well, I'm here to see the winery. He cautioned.

"yes, it's up there, it's not too high, it's there in twenty minutes. The young man laughed.

There was no way, the old man had to move on.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for a fork in the road to appear in front of me, extending to the left. The two turned left, turned a small wood, and finally reached their destination.

It was a small courtyard, surrounded by trees on three sides, and a stream of mountain spring water passed in front of the door, and it was clear and murmuring. The terrain is not high, about seventy or eighty meters above sea level.

"Is this a winery?" the old man was stunned.

"We're not big, so we should call it a brewery. ”

When the two entered the courtyard, they saw a large house on all sides, with a spacious space, and a man in his thirties heard the noise and ran out to greet him.

"This is Guo Fei, and he will be your apprentice in the future. ”

"Hello master, I have worked in the winery for a few years, and I know a little bit of everything, but I am not very proficient, please teach me more. ”

His attitude was very satisfying to Gao Mingde, and he nodded: "Okay, let's take a look at the equipment first." ”

"Okay, this way, please. ”

With that, the three of them entered the brewing room.

The old man raised his eyes and was immediately shocked, this is the top wine-making equipment in China, and the general big wineries are willing to introduce it. He couldn't help but ask, "Your costs are too high, can you make money?"

"Heh......"

The young man didn't respond, and said with a smile: "I heard that Master Gao is proficient in solid-state brewing?"

"Well, a few years of experience. ”

"That's great. We mainly make liquor, the raw material is rice bran, you will have to worry about it in the future. ”

"Just rice bran? It tastes average. The old man frowned.

"For the time being, there will be other raw materials in the future. ”

"You're the owner, you call it your way. ”

Immediately after, the three of them went around the various houses, warehouses, wine cellars, bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms, etc., all available. Especially the rice bran and rice in the storehouse, the old man took out a little and rubbed it, and his heart became more and more surprised.

This rice is so weird, what kind of winery is it? Why did Mao want to build it in this kind of place?

At the end of the walk, 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 money is considered a hardship fee, and I will send you back. ”

“……”

Gao Mingde pursed his lips, but after all, he couldn't withstand the pressure of reality, gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I've signed it!"

"I'll sign it 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 per month, and all the guarantees and benefits...... Our requirements are twofold, one is to make good wine, and the other is that you must keep it secret and do not disclose it to the public. ”

Speaking of the last point, his expression was suddenly very weird, and there was a bit of nervousness.

The old man's education is not high, so Guo Fei read the contract a few times, and said strangely: "In terms of liability for breach of contract, why didn't you write it?"

"Liability for breach of contract? hehe, you'd better not breach the ......"

The young man grinned, asked them to sign and stamp, and before leaving the house, he told again: "Remember, you must keep it secret." ”

…………

After the guy left, Gao Mingde chatted with Guo Fei.

Guo Fei was from Caohekou, moved to Baicheng, used to open a winery, and later became addicted to gambling and lost all his savings and resettlement fees. Now that his wife and children have run away, he can be regarded as repentant and re-existent.

He didn't know what the situation was, he just knew that the treatment was good and the salary was high, so he came to try his luck.

When Gao Mingde heard this, he became more and more worried, and smoked a bag of local cigarettes. In the end, I figured it out, but I didn't worry, anyway, the contract was signed, so let's do it.

The old man is a man of action, and he will come as he says.

As a general rule, koji should be prepared before sake brewing. Koji is divided into large koji and small koji, with wheat for large koji and rice for small koji. Since the raw material is rice bran, it is naturally made of koji.

The process is very cumbersome, first crush the rice, sift it, add water and mix well, and step on it into a koji blank in the mold. Then spread the rice husk in the koji room, and transport the koji blank into the room and arrange it.

Put some reed stalks on top first, then build a layer of curved blocks, and then put some reeds, a total of three layers can be stacked.

At this point, the first day's work is complete. Next, the koji chamber is closed, the temperature will gradually rise, and after 36-37 hours, the koji billet can be molded.

Then it is to dry the mold, start the tide fire, and raise the koji, which takes about a week before the koji blank can be officially out of the room.

Gao Mingde is a patient and is mainly responsible for guidance, and Guo Fei is also experienced and does it very neatly. Before you know it, it's dusk, the sunset is still 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, it's still the most refreshing to make wine! Feed pigs and chickens, and I don't like it at all. Today's work is good, and I am confident that I can make a batch of good koji, and then make a few pots of good wine.

Gao Mingde sat for a while, looked at 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 appeared in the void:

"Hey, you're the brewer, aren't you?"

"Who?"

The old man was excited, and glanced left and right, but there was no half of a figure, "Who are you?"

"Ha, I'm here to bring you herbs. The voice flickered, like two people talking.

Sizzle!

Gao Mingde looked up suddenly, and saw two little girls sitting on the tree more than ten meters high in front of the house. They are not very old, they are all beautiful and refined, like two mountain spirits who absorb the essence of heaven and earth.

“……”

The old man was trembling and couldn't even say a word.

"Here's for you!"

I saw that the older girl took out a clay pot and threw it away, and the clay pot fell to the ground smoothly, without even a little dust splashing.

"There's some herbs in it that you can add to the koji, and you can brew them separately. ”

Seeing her amiable attitude, the old man pretended to be bold and asked, "You, are you human or demon?"

"Nonsense, of course I'm human...... Ouch, don't be soft-hearted, let's go back and have something to do!"

The younger girl was impatient, and kept shaking her companion's arm, but the companion could not resist it, so she had to sigh and flick her fingers.

Gao Mingde's eyes widened, and two strange mosquito-like insects suddenly appeared in front of him. One of them swooped into the flesh, and the other flew around twice, catching Guo Fei, who rushed to hear the sound, and also sneaked in.

The old man's body twitched, and he felt a little more indescribable in his mind, as if he was being controlled by the other party.

"Ahh......h

Guo Fei was even more frightened and fell to the ground, scratching his face indiscriminately, as if he wanted to dig out the insects.

"What a fart!"

The little girl hated it so much that she broke off a branch and threw it over. The branch that was not sharp or dull was stuck on Guo Fei's body, and he shook in pain, and he really stopped crying.

"Remember, it's okay to be obedient!"

She warned, and then dragged the eldest girl to teach: "Let's go, let's go, mother-in-law's ......"

As the words fell, the figures of the two of them flashed, followed by a few ups and downs, and disappeared into the forest in a blink of an eye.

Gao Mingde was dumbfounded, and was eerily quiet for a while, and then heard the sound of whimpering, Guo Fei actually cried: "Woo...... My wife and children are gone, and my family property is gone, so it's easy to find a job, and I can still bump into ghosts...... Woohoo......"

This guy is five big and three coarse, and his mind is very weak. He howled for a long time, and the old man was also annoyed, and shouted, "Okay, what the hell is it? Have you ever seen a ghost with a shadow?"

Well?

Guo Fei was yelled at by him, and slowly came to his senses, wiping his tears and saying, "Master, they, who are they?

"I don't know where to go!"

Gao Mingde was also very upset, but after a pause, his demeanor became very blurred again. The elderly believe in this the most, and at the same time they are afraid and have a kind of expectant thought:

"Is it possible, is it possible that there are really immortals?"

…………

"Let me tell you, those people can't do it without some means! That's a winery, people must taste it themselves? As long as you taste it, a fool will know that you have a problem.

Our family's wine is spiritual wine, one sip of the golden gun does not pour, and two mouthfuls of all kinds of diseases do not get sick. No matter how you prevent it, they have to drink it secretly. Just drink it secretly, you know who is a spy, who is forgetful of profit, get the news today, and sell it to you tomorrow!

So, we've got to get it under control. It's not harmful, as long as they don't die, can they still be treated badly?"

On the way back to the valley between the two sisters, Xiao Jin has been instilling thoughts in Long Qiu in Balabala. Long Qiu scratched his head and said, "I understand everything you say, but ......"

"Oh, why am I like a child?"

Xiao Jin's patience reached the limit, she was too lazy to open her mouth again, and dragged the young lady to hurry.

Soon, the two of them passed the halfway pavilion, and further up, the scenery had changed greatly. The useless trees were knocked down, and large areas of open space were cleared, and from the inner mountains alone, they were divided into three areas: the front mountain, the valley, and the back mountain.

Fruit trees are planted in the front mountain, and tea trees and lingmi are planted in the back mountain.

The valley is bounded by a radius of 20 kilometers, and it can no longer be cultivated, otherwise the atmosphere will be ruined, and some buildings will be mainly repaired in the future.

Gu Yu was holding the drawings to discuss with Xiao Zhai, and when he saw them coming back, he asked, "How is it?"

"The herbs were given to them, and they looked pretty good. Long Qiu said.

"Well, that's good. ”

Xiao Jin leaned over, grabbed the drawings and looked at them, and exclaimed, "Wow, you two are generous, are you going to start a sect?"

Long Qiu was also curious, Baba followed a look, and saw that it was densely packed with architectural plans, and said strangely: "Brother, if we do this, won't the government have any opinions?"

"Of course, but they won't say anything, we're just following the pace. ”

Gu Yu took the drawings and said with a smile: "When Phoenix Mountain first arrived, we didn't move because they didn't want to move. Now that they want to move, we'll move with it. ”

"I don't understand. Long Qiu grimaced.

"Oh, just watch more news!" Xiao Zhai rubbed her head.

(There is also a ...... at night ）