Chapter 207: Brewing Beer
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Bao Linjiang’s blue eyes darkened. He said indignantly, “Those two girls aren’t good people, but now that you’ve become their martial aunt, you can have plenty of chances to punish them.”
Chu Qingyue wanted to give them a taste of their own medicine. Now, she was not a pushover.
“I’m their martial aunt. If I make things difficult for them openly, everyone will definitely say that I’m bullying them. I don’t think I can do it openly. I have to make them suffer secretly.”
Chu Qingzhi praised her second sister for having improved quite a lot. When she first met her, she was shy, introverted, and didn’t dare to speak loudly to anyone. Now, she was confident, cheerful, and took the initiative to learn.
In the kitchen.
“Auntie Chu, let me help you cut the vegetables.”
Li Zhangjie was brought by Chu Xuhua to familiarize himself with the environment at home. He told him what they were going to do. Then, he thought that Li Zhangjie must be travel-worn, so he let him rest.
However, when Li Zhangjie heard the sound coming out of the kitchen. He came over to help.
Li Qingyu liked hardworking children. In addition, knowing that this young man had come all the way from Xu City to the Chu Village to repay her daughter’s kindness, she had a very good impression of the young man.
“No need. Go and rest. I can handle the work here.”
When Li Qingyu thought about how the young man had begged for food all the way here, she felt sad and touched. Her heart ached for him, so she did not want him to do anything.
Li Zhangjie had suffered so much, but his clear eyes remained innocent. “Auntie Chu, it’s okay. I’m not tired. I don’t need to rest.”
Seeing that the young man was determined to help, Li Qingyu said, “Then sit on the stool and help me start the fire.”
Li Zhangjie replied readily, “Got it.”
Chu Qingyue entered the kitchen and saw an unfamiliar person. “Mother, this is…”
When Li Zhangjie heard Chu Qingyue’s voice, he immediately stood up and shouted sweetly, “Sister, I’m Li Zhangjie.”
Chu Qingyue smiled at him kindly. “Little Jie, sit.”
“Okay.” Li Zhangjie obediently sat on the stool and added firewood to the stove.
Chu Qingyue asked Li Qingyu, “What happened?”
Li Qingyu gave Chu Qingyue a look. Chu Qingyue did not ask further and walked to the side to clean vegetables.
A moment later, Li Qingyu said casually, “Qingyue, I want to tell you something.”
Chu Qingyue was washing the vegetables. “Mother, what is it?”
“Matchmaker Chu came to look for me today and said that she wants to match you with a good man. Do you want to give it a try?”
Li Qingyu was a very open-minded mother. When she married Chu Rong back then, she met him many times and they only got married because they liked each other. This was also the reason why she was willing to go through thick and thin with Chu Rong.
Therefore, she hoped that her daughter would be like her and marry the man she liked.
Chu Qingyue’s slender hands paused. “Mother, can I refuse?”
Li Qingyu thought of her daughter’s previous relationship and felt bad for her. It was all Li Shengfeng’s fault for delaying her daughter. Otherwise, Qingyue would probably have a child by now.
“Qingyue, you’re already 18 years old. Girls your age in the village are either married or engaged. If you refuse, I won’t force you. But we have to think about the future…”
Chu Qingyue listened to her mother’s teachings patiently. After a moment of silence, she said, “Mother, I’ll be 19 in half a year. If I still haven’t met someone I like, I’ll listen to your arrangement.”
Li Qingyu looked at her daughter. She actually understood what Chu Qingyue was thinking. However, Ning Yuting was the young master of the capital. How could he like a girl from the village?
However, her daughter was not bad either. She was beautiful and had a shop. She was very capable. Let’s wait. What if a miracle happened?
“Deal.”
An hour later, the next step began.
Chu Qingzhi prepared four large pots and filtered the malt syrup into the large pots. Then, she refiltered the malt extract in hot water twice and added the water to the pots.
Then, she boiled the syrup.
It was summer, and the weather was hot, so the syrup was quickly boiling.
After boiling for 35 minutes, she added a portion of hops and continued boiling.
Everyone ran over to take a look, but they were soon caught by Shen Ruyue and brought back for the exam. After preparing for so long, the test paper was finally made by Shen Ruyue. Tonight was the day of the examination.
The four elders had never seen the exam before, so they sat at the side and watched curiously.
Not long after the hops were added, a refreshing fragrance wafted out of the pots.
Yuan Hongjun asked happily, “Master, is this the smell of beer?”
“It’s not pure, but it’s close.” Chu Qingzhi smelled the fragrance and thought to herself. There were no impurities and this brewing was considered quite successful.
Bao Linjiang looked at the rolling syrup. “Master, this beer looks about the same color as medicine.”
Now, it did look like bitter medicine. Chu Qingzhi said, “The syrup still has to be fermented and filtered. Eventually, the color of the beer will be pure brown.”
Bao Linjiang blinked and said, “I’m looking forward to it.”
After boiling for an hour, she added the remaining hops and then boiled for another ten minutes.
There was a long sink in the house. The sink was filled with water. There was an S-shaped pipe in the water. One end was close to the pot, and the other end was placed at the other end of the sink. The other end was connected to the fermentation barrel.
The fermentation barrel was ceramic. It was round and had a small mouth the size of a bowl. Chu Qingzhi prepared two.
When the syrup was boiled for long enough, she placed the funnel on the pipe near the big pot and poured the syrup into the pipe. When the syrup flowed through the pipe in the sink, it cooled quickly and then flowed into the fermentation barrel.
The last step was to add the yeast. This was bought in the wine shop. She stirred the barrel before sealing it to ferment.
Yuan Hongjun felt like he had accomplished something big. “Master, is that all?”
Chu Qingzhi patted the barrel. “Yes, we’ll be able to see fresh beer in ten days.”
Everyone looked at each other and became even more expectant..
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