#59 - Chapter 59 Setting Sail
The Mei Family Tavern also had a courtyard inside.
It was generally used by people from Meizhou who couldn't make it home and the kitchen staff to rest in the backyard.
According to Mei Zhou, once he recovered, he would definitely reside in the backyard and run the Mei Family Tavern.
Cheng Feng had a suggestion: turn the backyard into a wine cellar so he could store the large quantities of wine he would be producing in the future.
As always, build a wine cellar.
Underground is the safest.
Cheng Feng didn't trust many people yet.
He had to handle the wine production himself.
But even ordinary wine required money.
He really couldn't touch his thirty taels of savings.
He could only take out the wine he had made before to sell.
Six catties of "Spring Dawn" and eight catties of "Summer Sorrow."
That's the wine Cheng Feng was going to sell.
He would keep the remaining two types as a last resort.
Just in case.
Cheng Feng still sold three taels worth of the six catties of "Spring Dawn" at Hu's Tavern.
He used two of those three taels to buy forty catties of ordinary wine.
Two large jars and four small jars.
He continued distilling.
This time, he followed the records step by step.
The steaming time, number of times, ingredient ratios, heat control, etc., were all done according to the "Spring Dawn" recipe.
But looking at the remaining amounts of "Autumn Grief" and "Winter Sleep," Cheng Feng felt something was off.
So he topped up the remaining 8 catties of "Summer Sorrow," 5 catties of "Autumn Grief," and 3 catties of "Winter Sleep" to ten catties each.
He stored them in large wine jars.
That left him with 32 catties of ordinary wine plus the original 6 catties of "Spring Dawn."
Two large jars. If priced at two catties per tael, the 32 catties of "Spring Dawn" could sell for 16 taels of silver.
This was indeed a quick way to make money.
But it required the tavern to gradually sell it.
Cheng Feng's skills were becoming more and more refined.
The Mei Family Tavern had shed its previous desolate atmosphere.
Shopkeeper Mei had renovated it.
It certainly wasn't as new as a newly opened place, but a person's spirits were high when good things happened. Since Shopkeeper Mei had let go of his worries,
he seemed to have become younger.
For the tavern's reopening, Cheng Feng specifically asked Wang Tieshan for a calligraphy piece.
On the opening day, Cheng Feng wore his inner disciple uniform to show support.
The iron-like strokes faintly revealed an extraordinary saber intent.
Letting people know that Shopkeeper Mei had some backing now.
Those who knew some information, like Hall Master Zhu of the Green Bamboo Gang, naturally came to offer congratulations.
He also tried the new wine, "Spring Dawn."
The rich taste made these old drunks' eyes light up.
It was even better than some taverns' premium wines.
And the price was indeed half that of those premium wines, with an even better taste.
Word spread around, and the twenty-five catties of "Spring Dawn" prepared for the day sold out.
The selling price was one tael of silver per catty, sold by the jug.
It was a discount for the new store opening.
After the three-day opening period, the price would be one tael and five qian.
The wine sales that day brought in 19 taels.
Some were given to old customers as a gift, like Hall Master Zhu. Naturally, he had to give him face and offer him wine when he came to the store.
He would be charged in the future.
Before, Cheng Feng didn't have money and was too embarrassed to ask his future father-in-law for wine.
Now, at the Mei Family Tavern, there was naturally ordinary grain wine available, so he didn't have to run to Hu's Tavern to buy it anymore.
Cheng Feng insisted on accounting for the wine sales.
Everything was clear and transparent.
In the end, it was also an explanation to the martial arts school.
In the first three days of the opening, Cheng Feng's net profit from wine sales alone was 74 taels.
Divided three-three-four.
This month, Shopkeeper Mei and Cheng Feng would each get 22.2 taels, and the martial arts school would receive 55.6 taels.
Cheng Feng was speechless. Was it that profitable?
Moreover, this was just the beginning. Accounts would be settled once a month.
Assuming there were problems in the future, it wouldn't cause too much loss.
Currently, Cheng Feng could only think of this much.
In case something happened,
the martial arts school probably wouldn't be willing to give up such a large piece of the pie.
After these few days of hard work, Cheng Feng's Fortuity Points increased a little slower.
It was already late February, and the Basic Saber Technique (Entry 63/100) Fortuity Points were still being used as they came, not leaving a single point.
Cheng Feng didn't add many Fortuity Points this month, but he added some to his wallet.
This made Cheng Feng even more expectant.
During this time, he also ran to the brokerage a couple of times to see if there were any he liked to buy.
He also asked the broker to see if there were any larger houses.
He had to get a big courtyard like the Mei family, with two entrances and two courtyards.
The Mei family's large two-courtyard house was difficult to start, with bitterness in the middle, and finally achieved a positive result.
Cheng Feng relied on technology that was many steps ahead.
Overtaking on a curve was promising.
Seeing that he had money, he naturally didn't need to hide it.
Looking at people, looking at houses.
The person should be beautiful and tall, with a curvy figure, gentle and graceful temperament, a gentle and virtuous type of virgin.
The house should be a large two-entrance and two-courtyard house.
It would be best if there was also a courtyard for sale next door, and when he had money, he would buy it and connect it.
Then it would become a four-entrance and four-courtyard house.
That would be truly wonderful.
Cheng Feng's ideal world
had taken a small step forward.
Who would say that silver was not good?
Cheng Feng's comings and goings
didn't attract the attention of the people around him.
The resurrected Mei Family Tavern and the new wine
made some surrounding forces jealous.
But Wang Tieshan's personally inscribed plaque was still there,
making the surrounding forces not dare to act rashly.
Inside a gloomy dark room, a middle-aged man with a jade ring on his finger said in a low voice: "Don't worry, someone must be more anxious than me. Let's test that old guy Wang Tieshan first."
In the backyard of Hu's Tavern, a gorgeously dressed woman sat in the main seat, looking at the shopkeeper: "Are you saying that the Mei family's wine is not their own recipe, but a recipe bought or wine produced in cooperation with others? You've even seen that young man?"
Shopkeeper Hu nodded in agreement.
"I didn't expect that this 'Spring Dawn' was actually brewed by a young kid," she said, drinking "Spring Dawn" and slowly savoring it.
Turning to the shopkeeper, she asked: "Can this wine be copied?"
The shopkeeper lowered his head and said: "I asked the old master, and it won't work for a while, but if we blend the wine, it can make our wine even better."
The shopkeeper who had communicated with Cheng Feng in the South District, tasted it, and wanted Cheng Feng's wine recipe was endlessly regretful.
But Cheng Feng had already put them on the blacklist.
Now want to buy wine?
Buy it at Mei Family Tavern!
Cheng Feng adhered to the principle of keeping a low profile
and invited Wang Tieshan to the Mei Family Tavern for a drink at the end of the month.
Wang Tieshan naturally wanted to see Cheng Feng's martial arts progress. Cheng Feng looked at the Basic Saber Technique (Entry 72/100) on the panel.
He felt that he should be able to satisfy Master Wang Tieshan.
He took a wooden saber and sparred at the martial arts school for two rounds.
Wang Tieshan asked curiously: "Have you fought with anyone in actual combat? This momentum is much greater than when practicing sparring."
Cheng Feng admired his teacher's vision and naturally told him about what happened with Hall Master Zhu that night.
Wang Tieshan narrowed his eyes: "There's such a thing?"
The old master smelled something wrong.
It had been several years since there had been any movement.
Just as they were about to sneak away, someone came to make trouble.
When they were idle, someone was still keeping an eye on them!
He didn't tell Cheng Feng, but turned to another inner disciple, the third disciple Qian Feng, to investigate what was going on.
The third disciple still had some connections in the South District.
Just ask.
Cheng Feng, after drinking wine and eating meat with his master, took out the account book and showed it to the two partners.
The monthly sales, after deducting costs, had a net profit of 180 taels.
Wang Tieshan was stunned when he saw that the 72 taels of silver on the account belonged to the martial arts school's net profit.
72 taels could buy a very good house in the city.
Cheng Feng's kind of house only cost 38 taels, plus a woman, a total of 50 taels.
This month, he made 54 taels.
Cheng Feng felt like he was going crazy.
He was also a little panicked.
Was it that profitable??
Over time, it would depend on whether the teacher could withstand the pressure.
Shopkeeper Mei didn't have anything to see.
When his family was rich when he was a child, he had been exposed to even more money than this.
Wang Tieshan was purely looking at Cheng Feng's monthly dividend and it was this much.
Cheng Feng's trick worked.
How long has it been?
54 taels in a month.
What a lucky kid!
