After a hearty lunch, Chen Ke spurred his horse out of the manor and galloped towards the northern outskirts of Great Capital City.
He's no longer just an engineering student at the Great Xia Academy; he's also an officially appointed "Tuntian Commander" and "Liquor Envoy" by the imperial court.
These two official positions are not very important, but they are closely related to the Fu family, which consists of a group of drunkards and a group of foodies.
The production of high-proof liquor and chili peppers will be Chen Ke's greatest weapon in "conquering" the orcs, so we can't be too careless.
First, we went to the winery. The Chen family had acquired a farm in the northern suburbs, which they then modified and put into production. Officials and apprentices from the Imperial Household Department also worked and studied there.
A long queue had already formed in front of the distillery gate, with each person holding a number tag, just like customers queuing in front of a popular restaurant.
Chen Ke was astonished. One should not underestimate the nose of a drunkard. The winery is still in the trial operation stage, and it has come knocking on the door so quickly.
"Whose child is this? So inconsiderate! Get to the back of the line!"
"Yes, yes, you can't cut in line. Have some manners!"
"Hey, I'm talking to you! Keep walking, are you looking for a fight?!"
Chen Ke, leading his horse, had no choice but to stop. He was genuinely afraid that if they went any further, a fight would break out.
"Hey, isn't this Young Master Chen?"
Finally, an old butler recognized Chen Ke and, disregarding the queue, rushed forward excitedly, saying, "Young Master Chen, you must help me bring more wine. My master and your grandfather were inseparable friends back in the day!"
"Chen University slacker?"
"Chen the Scourge?"
"A divine pig?!"
The people in line shouted and rushed forward to surround Chen Ke, as if they hadn't seen that Chen Ke's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Damn it, I admit I'm a college slacker, I admit I'm a troublemaker, but what's with this idiot?
Just because I stole a beautiful cabbage that was radiating divine energy?
But I haven't even reached it yet!
Chen Ke remained silent with a dark expression. Fortunately, Chen Xiaofu ran over and forcibly pulled him out of the crowd.
Chen Xiaofu said with a look of relief, "Thank goodness, young master. You have no idea, these people are all stewards from the General's Mansion. They are very domineering and have already injured several groups of our people!"
General's Mansion?
"Yes, those old generals are all veterans who fought alongside the retired emperor back then," Chen Xiaofu said, both happy and troubled. "I don't know who spread the news about the strong liquor, but these old generals have been clamoring for liquor every day. They couldn't find the master when he hid, so they simply sent people here to pick up the liquor."
Chen Ke suddenly realized that the entrance to the Moutai distillery must have been a similar scene.
Although he had only ever drunk fake Moutai in his previous life, that didn't limit his imagination.
Upon entering the distillery, a strong aroma of wine wafts towards you.
In the open space ahead, there were seven or eight elderly people lying down. Some were smacking their lips with a bottle of liquor, one was vomiting and burping, and two were foaming at the mouth.
Chen Ke was immediately alarmed; this was going to cause someone's death.
Chen Xiaofu, on the other hand, acted as if he had seen it all before. Pointing at the two old men foaming at the mouth, he said nonchalantly, "Young master, it's alright. They've been coming over every day since the day before yesterday. They don't drink anything else but purified alcohol. They'll recover in a while."
Chen Ke was speechless. Well, it seems that Zabai's spring has arrived.
Looking around, there were many burly men guarding the side; they must be the guards and servants of these old generals.
Why should he worry when everyone else is not?
Upon entering the factory, Chen Ke inspected the premises and even made a point of showing his face to two officials.
Everything is normal, but the factory is still too small and the output is not high, so it's no wonder that the supply is limited.
"Record."
Chen Ke stopped in his tracks, and the two apprentices behind him hurriedly took out their notebooks and stared intently at Chen Ke.
"The separation of water and alcohol can be done more precisely. The sealing of the distillation equipment also needs to be improved, the scale needs to be accurate, and all measurements should be standardized. We can try different blending methods to satisfy various tastes..." Chen Ke didn't care whether his apprentices could understand or not, and went on and on.
After saying this, he ignored the bewildered apprentice and strode away.
Yes, that's exactly what we need to say—in a more professional and mysterious way, otherwise how can we show how profound and mysterious this technology is?
The more profound and mysterious something is, the higher the price it can fetch.
Leaving through the back gate of the winery, Chen Ke spurred his horse and galloped away, arriving in a short while in front of the chili pepper plantation.
On a high ground, many people were looking at the chili fields behind the manor, discussing and pointing.
Someone spotted Chen Ke and deliberately shouted, "Hahaha, what a ridiculous joke! Turning the magical into the rotten, only the second-generation rich kid of the Chen family could do such a thing!"
"Indeed, treating such elegant and beautiful potted plants as vegetable seeds, no wonder he comes from a business background, his taste is...tsk tsk..."
Chen Ke ignored their sarcastic remarks and went straight into the manor.
From the day he started planting chili peppers, he became the laughing stock of the whole city, and he heard far too many sarcastic remarks.
They used all sorts of derogatory terms, such as "wasting a precious resource," "burning the zither to cook the crane," and "being foolish and rich," but there wasn't a single good word to say about them.
Chen Ke was too lazy to care about such things. He didn't have such high taste, nor did he put on such high-sounding pronouncements. If you wanted to grow chili peppers like potted plants, that was your business. To him, chili peppers were just for eating.
Well, I'm just an ordinary person.
When chili peppers become famous throughout the land and grace the tables of countless households, naturally someone will come and prove those people wrong.
It's impossible to inspect all 100 acres of chili fields, so Chen Ke focused on inspecting a few acres of experimental fields and listened to the progress report.
As dusk fell, Chen Ke returned to the manor's courtyard and personally cooked a dish of stir-fried pork with chili peppers. He ate it with gusto, his mouth greasy and his forehead covered in sweat.
This is the true taste of life.
After washing up, Chen Ke entered the room, sat cross-legged on the bed, and began to regulate his breathing.
Wood-attribute spiritual energy flowed throughout his body, constantly nourishing his tissues and cells. The penetrating wound on his shoulder was reduced to a shallow, reddish scar.
Chen Ke stopped the self-healing technique, glanced at his shoulder, and nodded in satisfaction.
In a few more days, the scar will disappear completely, leaving a smooth surface.
Even if someone wanted to find fault with him, there was nothing they could do about it.
"Young Master, Steward Liu has sent someone." A servant's voice suddenly came from outside the room.
Chen Ke was overjoyed and went out of the room to take a small box from a warrior.
After the warrior left, Chen Ke returned to his room, opened the box, and a green, shimmering light instantly illuminated the entire room.
Forty low-grade wood-attribute spirit stones were neatly stacked in the box, making Chen Ke's mouth water.
With these forty low-grade spirit stones, he could activate all six remaining modules of the One Reed Divine Boat and upgrade it to the "pig trough" level.
More importantly, he cannot allow the spirit value of the death attribute to exceed the spirit value of the wood attribute.
Although doing so may not be dangerous and may even bring unexpected benefits, it is best not to do so before he has fully mastered the properties of death.
Tomorrow he will go to the Divine Dragon Pavilion to study the classics. Chen Ke put away the spirit stones, sat cross-legged on the bed, and soon entered the profound realm of the "Great Return to Emptiness True Scripture".