Shushan: Extinction

Chapter 120 Goodbye Ah Hua
Next, Gong Tianwu found an inn run by a clan and stayed there. Of course, there was a feather on the signboard.

It's an old shop with a history of ten years, so it must be more comfortable to live in.

The name of this old inn is "Zhaocai Inn". From the front door, you can see that the inner hall is quite spacious. The floor is also very clean, with a long row of clean armchairs for guests to sit on.

There are two large vases next to the counter of the inn, with osmanthus-like branches in them, emitting bursts of fragrance.

Unlike a small inn, the living room had tables and also served food, so it was quite noisy and crowded.

Judging from its appearance, it should be a five-star hotel in Mujiang City.

Then Gong Tianwu discovered that there were still quite a few monsters living here, but they all had transformed into human bodies with animal heads.

There was another man who looked no different from a human, but he had a big fluffy yellow tail behind his butt. This was because he had not yet completed his transformation stage.

When checking into the inn here, Gong Tianwu asked about the price first and found that it was really not expensive, even less than half of the price in Fengcheng.

But after paying the money, the shopkeeper asked one more question:
"Where is your hometown, dear guest? What are you doing in Mujiang City?"

Gong Tianwu said:

"I'm from Yong country, and I came here to sell some goods."

He thought that was enough, but the shopkeeper said:
"May I ask what kind of goods you are selling? Could you please tell me more about it?"

Seeing Gong Tianwu's puzzled look, the shopkeeper immediately smiled and explained:

"My dear guest, this is a mechanism set up by the City Lord's Mansion to protect merchants."

"Because there are still relatively few merchants coming to Mujiang City every year, and it is indeed not easy for them to travel thousands of miles to come here."

"So in order to prevent you from losing all your money, the City Lord's Mansion will require us to register the goods of foreign merchants to facilitate contact with possible buyers."

"Not only that, if your goods are unsalable, the City Lord's Mansion will buy them at a suitable price to prevent you from losing all your money."

After hearing what the shopkeeper said, Gong Tianwu's eyes suddenly lit up. The city lord here is very economically savvy and even knows how to introduce such policies to protect merchants?
After thinking about it, he said:

"I'm here to sell drinks."

The shopkeeper immediately gave a thumbs up:

"Brother, you really have a good vision. This is what we need here."

Gong Tianwu thought to himself, what does this have to do with vision?
Damn, Fengcheng is a human city, and the prices of alcohol are already sky-high, let alone here?
Of course, there are still many people in the world who can see this. After all, there are definitely more smart people than just Gong Tianwu.

However, there are not many companies that can see this and have the ability to transport large quantities of alcohol over such long distances. After all, the loss of alcohol in long-distance transportation is extremely high.

The shopkeeper continued:
"The demon tribe has many celebrations and ceremonies, and drinking is required during every celebration."

"So this stuff is always in short supply. I wonder if the customer is selling mare's milk wine or jar wine from the Central Plains this time?"

Gong Tianwu said:

“Is there any difference between the two?”

The shopkeeper said:
"Of course there is. Mare's milk wine is packed in bags, which makes it easier to transport. And the taste is definitely not as good as grain wine, so the price is only half of jar wine."

Gong Tianwu smiled and said:

"I see. This time I will go find an old friend first. If he can't deliver the goods, I will come to trouble you, the shopkeeper."

The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly:
"Okay, okay."

***
After taking a short rest in the inn, Gong Tianwu walked out of the door and headed towards the Dongya District.

As mentioned before, the entire Mujiang City was built among more than twenty Xuantong trees.

Every Xuantong tree is majestic and tall, reaching into the sky!

Outsiders' consumption, entertainment, shopping, etc. are all concentrated on the ground under the Xuantong tree.

The indigenous people and leaders of Mujiang City live together on the treetops of the Xuantong tree.

The East Tooth District is a divided area located in the tree canopy area in the east. According to the information obtained by Gong Tianwu, most members of the dog demon clan live here.

After spending more than an hour on the road, Gong Tianwu arrived at the Dongya District and found that the buildings here obviously had a very unique style:

For example, the gates are usually made into caves, and are decorated with bone-shaped ornaments.
For example, little demons playing on the streets like to hold plates in their mouths and swing them around.

At the same time, there were wooden stakes erected at regular intervals on both sides of the street. At first, Gong Tianwu thought they were horse stakes, but later he found out that they were teething sticks.

After arriving here, Gong Tianwu was stopped by a burly dog ​​demon. This guy had big ears and many wrinkles on his face. He stared at Gong Tianwu and said in a muffled voice:
"Human, this is not the place you should be. Go back down quickly."

Gong Tianwu said:

"Oh, I'm not here for fun or business, I'm here to look for an old friend."

The dog demon looked Gong Tianwu up and down:

"Who are you looking for?"

Gong Tianwu said:

"Does Hua Man Lou live here?"

The dog demon immediately bared its sharp white teeth and growled threateningly:

"How dare you call the master by his name!!"

As he turned hostile, several dog demons immediately jumped out from the side and glared at Gong Tianwu.

Gong Tianwu shrugged and said:
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm here to bring him a letter. I'm not familiar with this place. The letter calls this gentleman Hua Manlou, or Ah Hua. What can you ask me to do?"

After hearing what Gong Tianwu said, the dog demon became even more irritable:
"How dare you talk nonsense!!"

Gong Tianwu sighed upon seeing this:

"Forget it, forget it. I'm leaving now! Anyway, it's your master's loss that he can't receive the letter, not mine."

After hearing what he said, an old dog demon next to him walked over slowly:

"Dahao, step back, why are you so irritable?"

As he said this, he slapped the guy on the neck.

The dog demon immediately became obedient and walked to the side with its tail between its legs.

Then the old dog demon came to Gong Tianwu:
"My name is Ao Qiang. May I ask if this guest is bringing a letter to our master?"

Gong Tianwu said:

"Yes, if your master is the man I'm talking about."

The old man said:
"Yes, our master Hua Manlou lives here. You can give me the letter and I will help you deliver it now."

Gong Tianwu said:

"I have a message for you to remember."

"The man's original words were, Ah Hua, do you still remember the person who rescued you and Master Rong?"

The old man nodded and said:
"Okay, my master is expected to be back tomorrow, I will tell him."

Gong Tianwu said:

"I live at the Fortune Inn. If you need to see me, please do so as soon as possible. Otherwise, I will leave once I have sold all my goods."

The old dog demon said:

"I would also like to ask for the honorable guest's name."

Gong Tianwu said:

"Snow Mountain Old Five."

***
Then Gong Tianwu turned around and left, strolling around this unique city, collecting some information and finding business opportunities. Before he knew it, two or three hours had passed.

When Gong Tianwu returned to Zhaocai Inn, it was almost midnight, but he found two people sitting in the lobby of the inn.

As soon as he saw himself coming back, Gong Tianwu noticed that the innkeeper came over with a smile and said:
"Sir, these two are the owners of the restaurant in Mujiang City. They heard that you brought some wine and drinks, so they wanted to take a look at the goods first."

"I did not do this right, so your room and three meals a day in our hotel will be free of charge as my apology."

"As for whether you want to sell it or not, or even whether you are willing to let them see the goods, I have no right to interfere."

Gong Tianwu was still a little angry at first, but the boss's honesty and compensation were quite authentic.

And from a businessman's perspective, the more customers who come to buy goods, the better, so he still thanked the boss very sincerely.
Then he took out three pots of wine from the storage bag.

The names of these three pots of wine are: Huangfen, Bama, and Qinghua.

There are three corresponding price levels: mid-range, high-end, and collection level.

As for why there are no low-end products, it is of course because Gong Tianwu feels that it is not cost-effective. He has always believed that it is okay to sell high-quality products at a high price.

But charging a high price for low-quality goods is a rip-off, and the buyer may not feel comfortable doing such a deal. When the two shopkeepers saw the sample wine that Gong Tianwu brought out, they looked at each other with joy in their eyes.

Gong Tianwu was very considerate and asked the innkeeper to bring out a dozen cups. He poured four cups of wine directly, then he took the first cup and raised it, saying:
"I will drink first as a sign of respect. Please also taste the flavor of my wine."

What Gong Tianwu took out as a sample at this time was of course the most expensive blue and white porcelain. The aroma of wine was very strong and it immediately spread.

After the innkeeper and the two shopkeepers drank, they all nodded and praised:
"Good wine!"

At this time, Gong Tianwu saw two monsters sitting on chairs in the distance. They both kept looking over here, their noses twitching constantly, and their faces were full of greed.

So Gong Tianwu directly poured two more glasses of wine and walked over:

"It is said that meeting is destiny. I am sorry to offend you, but I would like to ask you two to taste the Qinghua Fen that I brought from thousands of miles away. What do you think?"

One of the monsters with a leopard head and a human body immediately had his eyes lit up and he directly snatched a glass of wine.

But he was very careful when drinking, sipping it bit by bit, for fear of spilling any of it.

But the other demon with an elephant head and a human body did not respond. He looked at Gong Tianwu and said calmly:
"Human, aren't you afraid that we are monsters?"

Gong Tianwu laughed loudly and said:

"There are no humans or monsters today, we are all just a bunch of drinking buddies!"

"You don't know me, I don't know you, we just get together for a glass of wine that we both like, that's all."

"Come, I'm Xueshan Laowu, please!"

After hearing what Gong Tianwu said, the monster with an elephant head and a human body also laughed:
"Interesting, really interesting. I must drink this glass of wine."

After saying this, he and the leopard-headed monster went to the table next to them and asked the boss to bring some snacks.

The two shopkeepers seemed to know them and were about to stand up and greet them, but the elephant-headed man waved his hand and said:

"Didn't you hear that we are all drinking buddies? Don't come here to annoy us."

The group of people started drinking, and after three rounds of drinking, everyone was a little drunk, so they started chatting about some interesting things from all over the world, commonly known as bragging.

After chatting for a while, Leopard Head seemed to be a great drinker as well, so he said to Gong Tianwu:
"Xueshan Laowu, to be honest, I have also tasted this Fenqinghua, but for some reason, the quality is obviously a level lower than what you brought."

"To be precise, it is the lack of a very unique aroma, which is cleverly integrated with the aroma of the wine itself. It is simply a match made in heaven."

Gong Tianwu laughed, took out a jar of wine, pointed at the seal and said:

"See here? The Fenqinghua you drank before didn't have it."

Where Gong Tianwu pointed, there were three small green bell prints, like plum blossoms.

Leopard Head squinted his eyes and looked for a while:

“I really didn’t notice that.”

Gong Tianwu said:

"There are actually several varieties of Qinghua Fen. If I'm not mistaken, the ones you drank before were the most common ones."

"Strictly speaking, what we are drinking today should be called Zhuhuafen."

"It has one more process than ordinary Qinghua Fen. After brewing, bamboo flowers, a local specialty, are added to the wine to get the unique taste it has now."

Leopard Head was surprised and said:

"Ah, will bamboo still bloom?"

After hearing this, the elephant-head said:
"Have you forgotten? Twelve years ago, there was a large area of ​​bamboo blooming on Tieya's mountain, and they specially asked us to go and enjoy it."

Gong Tianwu said:

"Yes, it is very rare for bamboo to bloom, and it will die quickly after blooming."

"The bamboo flowers added to the wine must be picked after the purple bamboo blooms."

"The key is that purple bamboo must grow for ten years before it can bloom, just like a woman must have her period before she can get pregnant. Bamboo will die after it blooms."

"Therefore, although the output of Qinghua Fen is good now, the output of this kind of bamboo flower Fen has never been able to increase. After all, the annual output of bamboo flowers is limited."

After hearing this, Leopard Head and Elephant Head were quite surprised, and they looked at the jar of wine in front of them with cherishment in their eyes.

A restaurant owner also said:
"I have also heard about what the Fifth Young Master said."

"It is said that one year the climate in the neighboring mountain where purple bamboo is grown was abnormal, and it snowed in June, causing a large number of purple bamboos to wither and die."

"The Qin and Fang families, who were producing wine at the time, were severely damaged, and it took them several years to recover."

Gong Tianwu continued:
"The wine with bamboo flowers needs to be stored for at least one year before it can be released from the cellar. At this time, a green plum blossom bell mark will be added to the mouth of the jar."

"After three years of storage, it is considered to be mature, and three green plum blossom bells will be added to the mouth of the jar."

"After being stored for five years, it becomes a mature wine, which is also known as the best Fenjiu. There are five green plum blossoms and bells on the mouth of the jar. It is priceless and is said to have not appeared on the market for several years."

"After five years, the quality of this bamboo flower wine reaches its peak. The best drinking time is no more than one year, and then it slowly starts to decline. At most, it will be undrinkable in two years."

After hearing this, Leopard Head was surprised:

"Ah? There is such a thing. Isn't it true that old wine gets better with age?"

Another restaurant owner also said under the influence of alcohol:
"That's not the case, Mr. Bao. If our restaurant occasionally receives wine that is more than 20 years old, we need to invite experts to blend and adjust it."

"Specifically, it means mixing old wine with new wine in a certain proportion to enhance the aroma, otherwise the taste may not be good."

Gong Tianwu also added at this time:

"By the way, the bamboo flower wine also has a loss rate during the process of sealing the jar and preserving it."

"Usually, after a year of storage, only half of the Fenjiu with bamboo flowers is usable, and the rest will go bad."

"If it is stored for three years, only three jars of mature wine can be produced out of ten jars."

"If it is stored for five years, it would take fifteen jars to produce a fully mature jar of wine, but the peak period of this wine is less than a year."

"So I tried everything, but still couldn't get even a jar of Daxiuzhi wine. It's not that the other party was unwilling to give it, but they really didn't have it."

When these anecdotes were told one by one, the two monsters, Leopard Head and Elephant Head, were stunned. For wine lovers, these news were undoubtedly the best accompaniment to their wine.

Even the way they drank had changed. They used to drink a glass of wine in two or three sips, but now they just sip it lightly and taste it bit by bit.

It would be a waste of such good wine to drink it in big gulps.

Xiangtou poured himself another glass of bamboo flower wine and sniffed it intoxicatedly:

"Good, good, that's really good."

***
At this time, Gong Tianwu was about to speak, but suddenly he saw a flying chariot slowly landing in front of the inn.

Then, a middle-aged man with a full beard strode down. He was wearing a brocade robe and was accompanied by two or three followers.

Then he glanced at the inn's signboard, stepped in hastily, and said loudly:

"Who is Snow Mountain Old Five?"

Seeing the middle-aged man come in, the leopard-headed monster immediately stood up and called out "Uncle Hua" timidly, while the elephant-headed monster continued to sit there and drink.

Gong Tianwu stood up and said:
"Who am I? Who is your Excellency?"

The middle-aged man said:

"You were the one who went to Dongya District to bring a message this afternoon? I am Hua Manlou."

Gong Tianwu frowned and looked at him for a few times, then shook his head decisively and said:
"No, stop pretending!"

The middle-aged man was surprised and said:

"Me?? Impersonating?"

Then he laughed and pointed at the people around him:
"Who among the old people in Mujiang City doesn't know me? I'll be discovered in just a few minutes if I stand here."

Gong Tianwu frowned and said:

"No, no, it seems I found the wrong person."

"When that person called me here, he gave me a portrait. The Ah Hua in the portrait doesn't look like you at all, either in terms of body shape or features."

When the others heard the word "Ahua", they all looked like they wanted to laugh but didn't dare to.

The middle-aged man looked quite embarrassed and said angrily to Gong Tianwu:

"After our demon race is fully transformed, we have the effect of being reborn. In addition, I have practiced the Heavenly Demon Marrow Cutting Technique, so it is not surprising that I am stronger than when I was a little demon."

"Tell me more, what other features are different?"

(End of this chapter)