Chapter 218 Rebellion against Tiangang
Anyone who has experience knows that this kind of thing is quite physically demanding.

The two girls were just mortal beings, and even with the support of Master Zhan’s secret medicine, they still slept until the evening of the next day before getting up from bed.

Mr. Zhan had already ordered food from the restaurant and had it delivered. When he saw that the two girls were awake, he affectionately called them out for dinner.

Everyone had been busy for half the night thinking about what happened last night. The two girls were already hungry, so when they saw the food, they hurriedly washed up and went to the living room to eat.

Yan Poxi was tortured badly by Master Zhan in the first half of the night and was not aware of what happened in the second half. However, after Yan’s fever subsided, she regained consciousness and understood everything that had happened.

Now that she had seen her own daughter, Yan felt quite embarrassed. She sat down at the table and just lowered her head to eat, too embarrassed to say a word.

Master Zhan was much more generous. He hugged Yan Poxi in his arms, placed her on his lap, and personally held the chopsticks to feed the young lady and persuade her to drink.

“No, sir, mother is still here…” Yan Poxi muttered softly and pushed Master Zhan’s hand away.

“It’s better to be here, so that your mother can see how close our relationship is. She will feel more at ease knowing that I, the master, dote on you!”

Mr. Zhan smiled and completely ignored Yan Poxi’s embarrassment, and just kept putting the wine into her mouth.

Seeing that she couldn’t push Master Zhan’s hand away, Yan Poxi had no choice but to give up. She opened her mouth, swallowed the wine, and also held the pot to persuade Master Zhan to drink more.

The two of them just kept drinking, one glass after another, and the drinking was full of tenderness and sweetness, with dog food splashed everywhere.

The next day, Mr. Zhan paid some money to hire someone who specialized in funeral arrangements to come and take care of Mr. Yan’s funeral arrangements.

The neighbors also came to help and watched Mr. Yan rest in peace. It was still Mr. Zhan who paid the money and hosted a banquet for the relevant people. In the eyes of everyone who thought it was the right thing to do, he helped the two sisters get on the carriage and left Songjia Village.

Now that the matter here is settled, the next thing to do is to go to Yanggu County to see if there is any trace of “Jin Ping Mei”.

Although Yanggu County and Yuncheng County are not far apart, Shandong has been mountainous since ancient times, with mountainous and hilly landforms accounting for 1/3 of the province. Mr. Zhan brought a carriage and female relatives with him, and walked very slowly. It took him several days to reach the outskirts of Yanggu County.

After going around a mountain pass, we saw a hotel in the distance. There was a banner in front of the door with five words written on it: “Three bowls of wine, and you won’t get over the hill.”

Good place!
This was the key to Wu Erlang’s fame, so Mr. Zhan drove straight to the restaurant to check in here.

When they arrived at the door of the tavern, Mr. Zhan jumped out of the carriage, lifted the curtain, and helped Yan Poxi and her sister down from the carriage.

The innkeeper had seen the carriage and horses long ago, and hurried over to greet them with a smile on his face, “Dear guests, please come in. Do you want to stay overnight or stay the night?”

Master Zhan used the usual money to clear the way and walked in. “If you have any food, just bring it up. I have to hurry after I finish eating.”

After receiving the money, the innkeeper became even more enthusiastic. He quickly took off the towel from his shoulders, wiped the table and chairs clean, then brought over three large bowls, placed them on the table, filled them with wine, and then slowly brought up a few hot dishes.

Mr. Zhan had long heard of the fame of the wine here, and now that he saw it, he was not in a hurry to eat the meat. He just picked up the bowl and took a sip carefully.

The wine tastes sweet at first, and after it goes down the throat, it’s like a line of fire rising from the stomach and burning all the way to the throat. It’s obvious that the alcohol content is not low, but it’s very refreshing and not irritating to the throat at all. Although it’s not as good as the spiritual wine brewed by Master Zhan himself, it has a lot of herbs added to it, so it tastes different.

“Tsk… this wine is good!”

Mr. Zhan became very excited and drank all three bowls of wine in one gulp.

He knew that there was a rule that three bowls were enough to get you through the meal, so he didn’t waste any more words. He just called the innkeeper over, pointed at the two women, and shouted:
“I have women here, why don’t you pour some wine over here? Three bowls for each person, come up quickly, and don’t make any noise!”

This hotel has always been famous for “Three bowls and you’re out of luck”, just like the brand advertisement. The restaurant owner has long been accustomed to explaining the hotel rules to every passing customer. Now, after drinking, Mr. Zhan did not ask, but asked everyone to have three bowls. He was a little uncomfortable with such adherence to the hotel rules.

However, this hotel did not have a rule that women could not drink, and there was a carriage outside his door, so he was not afraid of getting drunk. The innkeeper hesitated for a moment, and as expected, did not say anything. He just brought six more bowls, filled them one by one, then stepped aside and watched this place, waiting for Master Zhan to break the rules so that he could stop him.

Master Zhan saw his expression and knew what he was thinking. He just smiled, picked up the bowl and started drinking.

When the innkeeper saw this, he hurried over to persuade them.

“Sir, you may not know that this wine of mine is called ‘Fragrant through the Bottle’, or ‘Pouring Out of the Door’. When you first take a sip, it is rich and delicious. Although it is a village wine, it tastes better than old wine.”

“Whenever a guest comes to my restaurant and eats three bowls of wine, he will get drunk and cannot cross the hill in front of him. That’s why it is called ‘Three bowls and you can’t cross the hill’.”

Mr. Zhan laughed loudly and drank all six bowls of wine before saying to the innkeeper with a smile:
“Master, I already know your name. I came here this time just for your ‘Ping Ping Xiang’.”

“I won’t waste my words with you. I like your wine. Please name a price. I want to buy your winemaking recipe.”

After hearing this, the innkeeper shook his head and refused:

“The Han family’s livelihood has been passed down from generation to generation. The hotel business has relied on this unique wine. If you get it, I’m afraid you will starve to death in the future.”

“If you want to drink, please come to our store often. However, I will never sell you the recipe for brewing wine.” Mr. Zhan said with a smile:
“You are thinking wrongly!”

“Master, I just like wine. I bought this recipe and I will only brew it for myself. I won’t sell it.”

“Besides, I am from another place. Even if I open another restaurant, it is thousands of miles away. I will not compete with you for food here. How can it affect your business?”

However, the innkeeper did not believe what Mr. Zhan said and just shook his head. Mr. Zhan stopped talking to him and directly threw silver at him.

He waved his sleeves and arranged the fist-sized silver ingots in a row on the table. He waved his sleeves again and another row of gold beans followed.

“How can selling wine compare to farming?”

“If you sell the recipe to me, you can buy a hundred acres of land, hire thirty or twenty tenants, and become a landlord. In the future, your descendants can study and take the imperial examinations. Isn’t that better than selling wine like you do, which is a lowly business?”

This gold and silver magic really works. Under the sunlight outside the door, the light of gold and silver immediately illuminated the entire restaurant. Both eyes were firmly attracted and could not move at all.

Seeing the man’s forehead sweating and his face full of struggle and hesitation, Master Zhan smiled and took back a golden bean, saying:
“I am only willing to pay this much. For every moment you hesitate, I will take back a gold bean. If you still refuse to agree until I have taken back all the gold and silver, then forget it. I will not buy your recipe.”

As he spoke, Master Zhan stretched out his hand again and touched the second golden bean.

“Don’t!” The innkeeper couldn’t hold back any longer when he saw that Mr. Zhan was about to take it back. He screamed, rushed over, grabbed the gold and silver and stuffed it into his arms, and said, “I’ll sell it to you. This is the gold and silver. I can’t reduce it any more!”

“Haha… You should have been so happy a long time ago. Here, I’ll give you this one as well. Hurry and bring the recipe here.”

Master Zhan threw the golden bean in his hand back to the man. Seeing that the golden bean was found again, the innkeeper was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly:

“You are indeed generous, sir. I will tell you the recipe for making wine.”

It turned out that the ancestors of this family were illiterate, so the recipe was passed down orally and not written down.

Mr. Zhan then took out a pen and paper and wrote down the recipe in detail. He then repeatedly asked a few detailed questions about the details of winemaking, and only after confirming that the “fragrance that penetrates the bottle” could be replicated did he put the recipe away with satisfaction.

“How many jars of wine do you have in your store? Take them all out so that I can drink to my heart’s content. If I get drunk, I can stay here.”

The innkeeper was just afraid that the drunk man would die in the tiger’s mouth and bring trouble to themselves, but when they heard that Mr. Zhan would stay here after getting drunk, they were no longer worried and immediately brought a large jar of wine over and let Mr. Zhan drink it slowly.

Master Zhan now has the body of an immortal. He can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. But Master Zhan drinks this stuff just for the taste, to satisfy his appetite. He has no intention of drinking indiscriminately. After the two women finished their meal, he stopped drinking and prepared to cross Jingyang Ridge to enter the city.

When the innkeeper saw this, he hurried over to persuade them again.

“Sir, there are huge beasts on Jingyang Ridge. You have drunk so much wine. If you fall asleep while drunk on the way and encounter a beast, what should you do?”

“In my opinion, you may as well stay in the inn for a day, and when you have gathered many people, we can cross the mountain together.”

As the saying goes, one should eat a full meal before listening to others’ advice. Mr. Zhan tilted his head to think about it and then agreed.

He was not afraid of encountering protected animals, but he was afraid of accidentally killing the protected animals. If Wu Song came back in the future, wouldn’t he lose his famous work?
Wu Song’s destined event was definitely “Wu Song fighting the tiger”, and if he had lost his official position as a captain, he might not have met his brother, and many subsequent events would probably have been affected.

Now Wu Song is still hiding on Chai Jin’s farm, so it is necessary for the tiger to continue to stand guard here until he comes back.

After thinking it through, Mr. Zhan agreed to let him stay the night, and the innkeeper hurriedly had the room ready and invited this wealthy nobleman to stay.

Mr. Zhan was not picky and stayed there with his two daughters, waiting to gather more people before crossing the hill together.

Unexpectedly, when he got up the next day and was about to go out for breakfast, he saw the store was busy. It was obvious that the store owner was packing up things, and there were several people who looked like businessmen coming in and out, discussing something with the store owner.

Mr. Zhan listened briefly and it seemed that the two parties were bargaining for a deal. He was curious, so after the merchant left, he went over and asked:
“What are you waiting for?”

The shopkeeper smiled and replied:

“I followed the advice of the senior official and planned to sell this tavern, buy a hundred hectares of land, hire thirty or twenty tenants, and go home to be a landlord!”

“…”Mr. Zhan was suddenly speechless.

Damn, if you run away, where will you go to drink when Wu Song comes?

If you don’t drink, how can you encounter a big beast while walking on the road at night?
How can we complete the story of “Wu Song fighting the tiger” without encountering a big beast?
Damn you!
This is me, the master, shooting myself in the foot!

(End of this chapter)