Chapter 32: All Caught

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Chen Fan felt that Xia Kai was definitely suspicious.

For one thing, he could not understand how all the young women in Xia Family Village had been captured so quickly. How could Liu Jia and the others possibly have managed it on their own?

To capture everyone at once, they would have needed a large number of men. How had so many people entered Xia Family Village—and then so smoothly drugged everyone unconscious?

There had to be someone working with them from within. Otherwise, with only Liu Jia and the others, it would have been extremely difficult to learn the details of the village. There was almost certainly a traitor among the villagers, and Xia Kai was highly suspect.

Back when Chen Fan had lived on Earth, he had heard that casinos were extremely ruthless places.

First of all, one needed sufficient capital to enter a casino. It seemed that the casino in the county required at least one tael of silver as starting capital.

Yet even if someone won money, they would never be allowed to leave the casino with it. Fifteen taels of silver was no small sum. It was enough to open a small shop in the county and bid farewell to rural life altogether.

And yet Xia Kai had remained in Xia Family Village. Was that not the very thing they wanted most—to rise above their circumstances? With that money, going to the county to start a business would already mean they had succeeded halfway.

“Could it be that he is reluctant to leave Xia Family Village?

“Or has he already become a lackey for the slave traders, staying behind to observe our movements?”

Chen Fan’s conjecture was perfectly reasonable, but he still would not lightly believe anything without solid evidence. To condemn a man as a traitor based solely on hearsay would be extremely irrational.

He needed to gather more evidence, but without alerting the enemy.

Chen Fan believed that the true purpose of their visit was already perfectly clear to the person behind the scenes.

“We are at a disadvantage now. The enemy is hidden while we are exposed!”

However, that person probably still did not know the purpose of their plans for after the New Year. Therefore, Chen Fan decided to continue playing along. Otherwise, they would only become even more passive.

From the moment the authorities posted the notices, the purpose of the county office might already have been exposed.

Thus, the person behind the scenes had very likely deliberately sabotaged Magistrate Cao’s plans. And the reason he had done so was undoubtedly that Magistrate Cao had harmed his interests.

In that case, he was probably a merchant.

Chen Fan decided that they first needed to confirm whether Xia Kai was friend or foe. Then they could proceed gradually, following the clues until the truth was revealed.

Otherwise, his suspicions would remain nothing more than wild speculation.

“What should we do now? Let Li Xing handle it. It will be a good chance to train him!”

After finishing the rice wine in his cup, Chen Fan continued discussing wine with the village chief.

Once the grain had been harvested, he intended to use the brewing method he knew to produce some wine. The wine served at Prosperity Wine House was still supplied by middlemen, who pocketed the difference in price.

If they wanted to expand and become truly successful, they had to achieve self-sufficiency.

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Moreover, the ancient method of brewing wine was primitive and backward, so the wine was not very strong.

Once Chen Fan and the others brewed their own fine wine, it would certainly sell extremely well. Even better, wine had been a luxury good since ancient times, and the profits were enormous.

“Village Chief, how do you brew this wine?”

“What do you think, my lord? It is delicious, is it not? This is the most fragrant and potent wine for miles around!”

Chen Fan found that hilarious. By modern standards, this wine could not even be considered clear rice wine.

Still, he understood that the backward productivity and crude production methods of ancient times naturally resulted in inferior wine.

“Village Chief, you are right. This wine is indeed not bad.”

“Of course it is! I am not merely boasting because I am old. Never mind the surrounding villages—even throughout Chu Commandery, the wine we brew is the finest!”

The village chief’s proud, booming voice drew everyone’s attention.

It was not entirely because his excitement had made him speak louder. Everyone had already finished eating and had nothing else to do, so they were looking around idly. Since the village chief’s voice was the loudest, they all turned toward him.

“Then why do you not brew wine for sale? That would surely be a profitable business!”

“Ah, my lord, the village chief has wanted to take us into the wine business for a long time! But we do not have enough grain.

“We only brew a little each year for the villagers to drink. That is quite satisfying in itself!”

“Everyone, there is no need to worry. After the autumn harvest, I will certainly ask the magistrate to provide you with more grain, so that you can brew more wine and drink your fill.

“Would you tell me how you brew it?”

The villagers looked at one another. They seemed reluctant to answer. After all, this was a trade secret.

The village chief spoke up.

“You bunch of fools! Can you not see that Lord Chen and the others intend to help us? What is there to keep secret? Just tell him!”

“Village Chief, this craft has always been passed from father to son, never to daughters. It is highly confidential. We—”

At that moment, the village chief’s nephew stepped forward and said, “The other villages brew their wine in much the same way. We merely add some wild grapes during fermentation.”

“I know. Before the Great Zhou Dynasty, and throughout earlier history, people used wild fruits to ferment wine naturally, did they not?”

“That is right, my lord! Once we had rice, the flavor became better, so we gradually stopped using wild fruit.

“That kind of wine was sour and astringent, and not everyone could accept the taste. But the elders in our village preserved some of the old traditions and continued adding a little wild fruit.

“We usually brew wine after the autumn harvest, once we have grain. At that time, wild grapes can be found everywhere in the mountains and fields, so we became accustomed to adding a few.

“Of course, we never add too many, for fear that they might overpower the sweetness of the rice!”

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With the knowledge he had learned from advanced biology in high school, Chen Fan immediately understood what was happening.

Whether wild grapes or cultivated grapes, their skins were covered with a fine white coating. That coating consisted of wild yeast, which could ferment wine.

It converted starch into alcohol, and the alcohol gave the wine its enticing aroma.

That was why the wine here was so fragrant. It carried the aroma of rice along with a faint tartness from the grapes.

“Indeed! I think you are absolutely right. This wine has a perfect balance of sourness and sweetness, a rich flavor, and an intoxicating fragrance. It truly is a rare vintage!”

One of the villagers rolled his eyes at the village chief’s nephew, evidently feeling that he had revealed too much.

“However, you need not worry. I believe you have your own way of controlling the ingredients. Others will not be able to imitate your method so easily.”

The villagers all breathed a sigh of relief. Even their expressions toward the village chief’s nephew softened.

“However, I know an even better brewing method. The wine it produces will be more fragrant and mellow than yours.”

One by one, the villagers began to laugh.

“My lord, you must have had too much to drink! Before the true method of brewing our wine was lost, it was even presented as tribute. Although we never learned the complete secret, our wine is still far superior to anything ordinary!”

The villagers all began talking at once, arguing with Chen Fan.

Chen Fan felt no embarrassment. He merely said calmly, “Why do we not make a wager? After the autumn harvest, I will brew wine myself and compete with you.

“If my wine is more fragrant and mellow, then from now on you will cooperate fully with the county office’s arrangements. The authorities will not treat you unfairly.

“If you win, your village’s grain tax for the autumn harvest will be reduced by half!”

The villagers were stunned.

Who could have imagined that anyone would make such a boast?

Yet they also realized that this was an extremely profitable bargain, and they immediately began accepting the wager.

“It is a deal! My lord, you are an official—you cannot go back on your word!”

Chen Fan waved his hand.

“A government founded on virtue must not break faith with the people.”

Li Xing took out a small notebook and wrote it down.

“A government founded on virtue!”

After the village chief and the villagers had signed and sealed the wager, he went to give his nephew an instruction.

“Have the old winemaker take charge of brewing the wine this time.”

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