Chapter 798: A Jar of Old Wine
Yang Zheng followed the sound and saw a middle-aged man in an official uniform and an official hat standing in a hidden place in the bamboo forest in front of him, constantly waving at him.
Due to the distance, Yang Zheng didn't see the person's face clearly, but the other party's height and demeanor looked quite familiar, and he couldn't help but walk over curiously.
After taking a few steps closer, I saw clearly that the person was none other than Liao Qing.
"What is this guy waiting for me doing here, and he is still so mysterious?" Yang Zheng muttered, but said with an unmoved expression on his face: "Hey, isn't this Lord Liao, why is he here, could it be that he is waiting here for loneliness?"
Liao Qing glanced left and right, and saw that there was no one around, so he bowed and bowed, and said in a low voice: "Your Highness is right, the lower officials are indeed waiting for Your Highness here?"
"What are you waiting for me to do?" Yang Zheng muttered curiously, glanced at him without moving, and asked without being salty, I don't know if Lord Liao has something important to wait for?" "This Liao Qing is an important member of the party, although he has the status of a prince, he is not too rude."
Liao Qing did not wear an official robe today, but changed into a cyan robe, with a square scarf on his head, with his long body, but he was dashing, at this time after listening to Yang Zheng's words, I don't know why a white and chubby round face, slightly red, and said in a low voice: "Your Highness forgot, Xiaguan said before in the canal horse head that he wanted to give His Highness a few gifts at hand?"
Yang Zheng was stunned for a moment and said, "Gift?" was just stunned, he immediately sighed, glanced at Liao Qing with a smile, and said, "Yes!"
Liao Qing smiled mysteriously, and suddenly stretched out his hands and put them on his right shoulder and lightly hit them twice, hearing "Bang! Bang!" twice, a man came out of the dense forest, the man was covered in meat, although it was a May day at this time, but the weather in Jiangnan was still a little cool, this man just wore a short shirt, exposing all the muscles of his body, the brown skin, and the bulging muscles, which made people envious.
Yang Zheng didn't look at the man's appearance, and even his muscles were rare to see, such muscles he had already had this kind of Cheng dù since he practiced the reverse water knife method, and there was nothing unusual, so the man's horizontal practice did not attract his attention, but the wine jar in the man's hand made him squint his eyes slightly.
The wine jar is half a person high, antique brown, and the seal is sealed on top of a sheet, Yang Zheng has seen this kind of wine jar from the film and television dramas of his previous life, and knows that most of the wine jars of the ancients will seal the mouth of the wine jar with a piece of paper with good toughness, and tie the cloth or paper around the mouth of the wine jar with a rope. Then cover a layer with mud on the mouth of the sealed wine jar, and when the mud is dry, it is basically not breathable. It mainly relies on mud to seal the effect. This is why the ancient books describe that drinking wine must have a "pat open the mud seal", which is quite similar to the styrofoam wine jar seal lid in the previous life.
The man walked out of the dense forest, respectfully moved the wine jar to Yang Zheng, neither put it down nor spoke, just stood beside him stupidly.
Yang Zheng glanced at the wine jar, although the lid was not opened, a faint fragrance still floated out, and he couldn't help but secretly take a few sips, and said in his heart: "Look at this appearance, I'm afraid this jar of wine is some years old?"
Liao Qing stepped forward with a smile and arched his hand: "Don't hide it from the prince, this man is the shopkeeper of Hangzhou Tusu Restaurant, and he has made a lot of good wine on weekdays, and he is very famous in Hangzhou."
This Tusu wine was created by Hua Tuo, a famous doctor in the late Han Dynasty, and its formula is soaked in traditional Chinese medicine such as rhubarb, atractylodes, cinnamon branches, parsnip, pepper, aconite, and aconite. This medicine has the effect of benefiting temperature and yang, dispelling wind and cold, and avoiding the evil of epidemic boils. It is the name of a thatched hermitage. It is said that in ancient times, a famous doctor who lived in this hermitage distributed a packet of herbs to every family in the neighborhood on Chinese New Year's Eve, instructed them to sew them in a cloth bag, throw them in the well, and draw water from the well on New Year's Day, and drink a glass of wine from each of them so that there would be no plague during the year. People got this prescription, but they didn't know the name of this miracle doctor, so they had to use the name of Tu Su, the hermitage, to name this medicinal wine. In fact, Tu Su is not the proper name of a certain thatched house, according to the Han Dynasty people's pious "Popular Text", all thatched huts are called patent Su. As for what kind of medicine is put in Tusu wine, according to the "Jing Chu Years Chronicles" written by Zong Yi of the Liang Dynasty, Dong Xun, a speaker of the Northern Wei Dynasty, said that the medicinal wine drunk on New Year's Day in ancient folk customs was filled with the medicinal powder roasted from peppercorns. The so-called Tusu wine is actually a kind of pepper wine. Dong Xun also talked about the habit of drinking Tusu wine, the youngest in the family drank it first, and the older the later, the later it came. The reason is that the child has increased his age by one year during the New Year, so everyone should congratulate him, while the elderly have one year less life and drink it after a little time, which contains the meaning of wishing them a long life. This custom of drinking Tusu wine has been passed down to future generations. This kind of wine is very popular in the Jiangnan generation because of its longevity effect, and there are more such wineries in Hangzhou.
Liao Qing squinted at Yang Zheng, seeing that Yang Zheng did not show a displeased look, his heart was secretly happy, his move today was not intentional, in the land of the West Lake with heaven and Suzhou and Hangzhou as a high-ranking official, he was also very satisfied, if it wasn't for the prince to come, he was afraid that he wouldn't have moved this thought, who in the officialdom doesn't want his career to go further, although Hangzhou is good, he has seen a lot, and he has seen a lot is actually the same, but it is the capital, the majestic imperial city, at the feet of the Son of Heaven, that is the pursuit of being an official, and he is only nearly forty years old, I heard that the prince came to Hangzhou, and my heart couldn't help but start pondering, but this prince has a good reputation, in addition to liking to fight crickets, liking poetry and songs, pen and ink Danqing, but there is no other hobby, to say that this cricket he also thought about it, but Jiangnan is not a good place to produce crickets, and this is in April in Jiangnan, crickets are not easy to feed, a day or two is just it, if you go to raise a cricket all year round, the mind consumed is inevitably bigger, he is a lazy person, after thinking about it, he gave up this road, so he remembered the pen and ink Danqing, but he didn't want these literati and ink to play things, not his strength, reluctantly made a few poems, graffiti a few picture scrolls, but I have never dared to see people, in this way, this Mo Danqing's way has been abandoned, and for a while I can't find a suitable gift that can make the prince happy to impress the prince, until yesterday at the wine table, I undoubtedly heard the prince talk about the spring palace map, and secretly left a mind in my heart, and today when Yang Zheng and others participated in the banquet, I let people start to prepare some gifts.
He is a high-ranking official, and Jiangnan is a rich place, and it is easy to find this kind of gift, but he is a scholar, and it is somewhat unsightly to give this gift, and he will end up in ruin if he is not careful, so he did not dare to give it to Yang Zheng in the small building, but inquired, and learned that the prince went to the boudoir of the eldest lady of the Li family, and secretly paid attention to it, and after the banquet, he secretly stayed in this small bamboo forest with the gift in his arms.
"Shopkeeper Qiu—?" Liao Qing shouted.
The shopkeeper Qiu is also a person with strong eyes, and he walked forward with the wine jar in his arms and said, "Your Highness-?" It's just that he is an inferior pariahs after all, and he trembles when he sees the county prince on weekdays.
Yang Zheng was dressed in a white Confucian robe, with one hand behind his back, playing with a paper fan in the other, squinting his eyes at the shopkeeper Qiu, and slowly swept his gaze to Liao Qing and said with a smile: "Lord Liao, this is?"
Liao Qing hurriedly stepped forward and hugged his fists and said: "Dissatisfied with His Royal Highness, the lower officials see that His Royal Highness is worried about state affairs, working day and night, and damaging the Holy Body.
Yang Zheng is not good at wine, and he doesn't know much about wine, but he has seen a lot of various medicinal wines in his previous life, and he also knows that there are a lot of medicinal wines, which do have this effect, such as chrysanthemum wine, this wine is made of chrysanthemums, glutinous rice, and koji, which is known as longevity wine in ancient times, and its taste is cool and sweet, and has the effects of nourishing the liver, brightening the eyes, strengthening the brain, and delaying aging. There are wolfberry chrysanthemum wine, flower cake chrysanthemum wine, and white chrysanthemum wine. During the Double Ninth Festival, the Han folk have the traditional custom of drinking chrysanthemum wine. Chrysanthemum wine, in ancient times, was regarded as a "good luck wine" that must be drunk in Chongyang, and prayed for blessings, not only in the south of the Yangtze River, but also in the north, many people like to drink this kind of wine, but he didn't expect this Liao Qing, not to send gold and silver, not to send calligraphy and painting, but to give himself the current prince a jar of ancient wine, but also make it so mysterious, I can't help but feel a little funny.
Seeing that he didn't look displeased, Liao Qing was a little bolder, stepped forward, and said to the man, "Why don't you explain the benefits of this ancient wine to Your Highness?"
The man stood aside and lowered his head and didn't dare to speak, and when he heard this, he trembled and said: "Back to Your Highness, the ancestors of the grass people are the masters of winemaking, and it has been passed down to my generation for five generations.
Yang Zheng heard his tone move, his brows furrowed slightly, and said, "How?"
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