Li Qingxian secretly gave Luo Jing a thumbs-up, then said, "Uncle Zhou, let’s let bygones be bygones. Let’s talk business. The spirit distillation method is real."
Zhou Chunfeng shot Li Qingxian a glare and said slowly, "If the spirit distillation method can be perfected, it will be a huge source of income for the Night Guard and the National Treasury. Tell me the details."
Li Qingxian had already figured out his strategy on the way here. "My father enjoyed drinking yellow wine in his leisure time. You should know that, Uncle Zhou."
Zhou Chunfeng froze for a moment, his thoughts drifting. It took him a while to come back to his senses. "Yes, that’s right. Gangfeng liked his yellow wine—the loose, cheap kind."
Li Qingxian’s heart settled. "Father used to say strong spirits were hard to brew. I was short on cash at the time, so the idea of making them came to me. I’ve studied Fate Skills, and before I started, I did a divination and found it could succeed. I tried it in secret, and to my surprise, it actually worked. Now, all we need is a good brewmaster and an official from the Ministry of Works who understands the technology. With a little experimentation, we can produce true strong spirits and sell them across the country."
"I’m asking about the spirit distillation method!" Zhou Chunfeng said.
Li Qingxian looked around the study with a troubled expression. "Since we’re all on the same side, I won’t hide it. While I was experimenting with the spirits, I discovered something interesting. If you take a jar of wine and a jar of water, same amount, and pour them into pots to boil over the same fire for the same amount of time, the wine boils first. It also evaporates faster, while the water evaporates slower. Wine is made of pure water and what I’ll call ’pure alcohol.’ Since wine is the essence of the grain, why not call its purest part ’alcohol’? So, I started thinking, if the wine boils off first, doesn’t that mean the alcohol turns to vapor more easily than water? If I could just capture that vapor, wouldn’t I have strong spirits?"
The three of them frowned, looking as if they’d understood, yet also as if they hadn’t.
"’But if the alcohol has all turned to vapor, how do you catch it?’ I wondered and wondered. Then it hit me. When you’re cooking, steam billows up and condenses into droplets on your face. And those ice carts in the summer are always covered in condensation. So I thought, if steam turns into water droplets when it gets cold, wouldn’t alcohol vapor turn into alcohol droplets when it gets cold? I gave it a small try, and it worked!"
"So, I came up with a method for distilling strong spirits. It’s very simple. First, we boil the wine, maintaining the heat to let the alcohol inside turn to vapor. We attach a tube to the wine pot to let the alcohol vapor flow through. Then, we cool the tube, which makes the alcohol vapor condense into alcohol droplets. When these alcohol droplets gather, they become strong spirits. We can adjust the concentration to create various suitable strengths. We can divide them into low, medium, and high proof, giving us three types of spirits. By adding other random things, like floral waters or fruit juices, we can create all sorts of different flavors and eventually corner the entire nation’s liquor market!"
Li Qingxian excitedly envisioned the future, while the three men just looked blank.
Li Qingxian took one look at them. ’They don’t get it? Good, they’re not supposed to!’ He himself had only ever performed distillation once in middle school, and that was just with water.
"It’s that simple? It just sounds like you boil it and then cool it down. That’s all it takes?" Luo Jing asked, half-convinced and half-doubting.
Li Qingxian snorted lightly. "Let me ask you, how many years did it take the Human Race to go from woodblock printing to movable type?"
"About four or five hundred years."
"And how many years did it take the Human Race to go from carving on stone tablets to woodblock printing?"
"Thousands, tens of thousands of years," Luo Jing said.
"Movable type, to put it simply, is just carving characters on stones, inking them, and printing. So why did it take humanity thousands and thousands of years to get from carving characters to movable type?"
"Well..." Luo Jing was momentarily at a loss for how to refute Li Qingxian’s specious reasoning.
Li Qingxian pointed to his own head and said, "Success is ninety-nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration. A lot of the time, that one percent of inspiration is more important than the ninety-nine percent of perspiration."
"You mustn’t resort to clever tricks," Zhou Chunfeng said sternly. His soft Jiangnan accent, mixed with a raspy quality, was surprisingly forceful.
"Yes, Uncle Zhou. I was exaggerating. Modern movable type requires an accumulation of materials, craftsmanship, and all sorts of other factors over many years; you can’t do it with just an idea. My distillation method didn’t just come from a sudden idea either. It was only after I put in ninety-nine percent of the sweat that I got that one percent of inspiration. Without all my sweat, without my constant thinking, without all that effort, the idea could never have been realized," Li Qingxian said with a sincere attitude.
Zhou Chunfeng smiled and nodded, but then he suddenly lowered his head, touched his hand to his mouth, and gave two light coughs. A flush of red appeared on his cheeks before quickly fading.
Luo Jing grew even more astonished. He knew the two weren’t particularly close, yet Zhou Chunfeng treated Li Qingxian like a nephew—admonishing and lecturing him on one hand, while showing great appreciation on the other.
"Are you unwell?" Li Qingxian asked.
"An old ailment from years ago. I’m used to it." Zhou Chunfeng gently stroked the Cow Bone Fan on the desk. After a long moment, he said, "This alcohol distillation method may seem ordinary, but it could very well change the entire liquor industry. We must not be hasty. Let’s keep this quiet for now. We will coordinate with the Ministry of Revenue, the Inner Transport Bureau, the Night Guard, and the Ministry of Works. We’ll find a secret location within the Night Guard to slowly test it until we are completely confident. Only then will we begin official production."
Li Qingxian and Luo Jing nodded lightly.
"Lord Luo, what are your arrangements on the Ministry of Revenue’s side?" Zhou Chunfeng asked casually.
Luo Jing’s expression changed. He sat up straight, thought for a moment, and said, "My father was recently promoted to the Fifth Grade, and our Luo Family is considered a prominent clan in the South Star Sect. I will report this matter to our Vice Minister Lu. At the very least, there will be no problems on the Ministry of Revenue’s end. After all, this is an offering for the gods."
Zhou Chunfeng nodded. "Then I’ll have to trouble Lord Luo to contact the Inner Transport Bureau as well. I will handle the Ministry of Works and the Night Guard. Qingxian, are there any other requirements for the distillery?"
Li Qingxian thought for a moment. "I don’t need much to tinker with it myself, but to scale it up, we’ll probably need a larger building. It must also be secret and secure. That’s a decision only you can make."
Zhou Chunfeng glanced out the window. "Then we’ll set it up in the Imperial Prison Department. It’s been a bit empty there these past six months. The guards are tight, so even if someone gets wind of the spirit distillation method, they wouldn’t dare cause trouble in the Imperial Prison Department."
"Sounds good to me," Li Qingxian said.
"For you to be involved in this, your status with the Street Patrol Room isn’t convenient. I’ll give you the additional identity of a clerk in the Imperial Prison Department, which will allow you to enter and exit the Imperial Prison freely."
A grin spread across Li Qingxian’s face. "Uncle Zhou, this distillation method is a matter of great importance. I’m afraid someone might use a Golden Token to cause trouble for me again. I see you have quite a few of those things on your desk, how about you spare one for me?"
The three of them all turned to look at the three Golden Tokens in the Divination Tube on the desk.
"What do you think these Golden Tokens are?" Zhou Chunfeng’s expression darkened.
Li Qingxian laughed. "I don’t want a Golden Token for myself! I want it for the Emperor, for the Imperial Court, for the Night Guard Office! What if something happens to me and this all gets messed up? The National Treasury would lose one million taels of silver a year. Isn’t one million taels of silver a year worth a single Golden Token?"
"Nonsense!"