Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 1075: One of Brother Qin’s Gifts

Gu Jinli listened and sneered, "If they can learn their lesson, let them; if not, next time we’ll report to the officials directly and won’t let the clan leaders of both families handle it."

They’ve been given a chance. If they dare to act up again, she wouldn’t be lenient.

"Jingzi, has the liquor been filtered?" Gu Jinli asked Ye Jingzi while preparing the equipment for distilling alcohol.

That’s right, she intended to make antiseptic alcohol as one of the gifts for Brother Qin’s nineteenth birthday.

Brother Qin was a soldier, and he might eventually go to the battlefield, suffering from weapon wounds, where disinfection is crucial. However, there are no anti-inflammatory medicines here, and given the current materials and conditions, it was tough to make effective ones. Making antiseptic alcohol was the alternative.

Alcohol is one of the easiest disinfectants for wounds to make. If successful, it could save many lives. Therefore, she had long wanted to make it and had drawn the distillation apparatus several times, then went to the county to find a ceramics workshop, spent a lot of money to have a distillation tube made, and now the equipment was finally ready to make alcohol.

But before making alcohol, they needed to filter the liquor at least twice.

The ancient liquor was different from modern liquor. It was turbid alcohol. The liquor was cloudy, so to distill alcohol, it must be filtered several times until clear, and then distilled again. With a relatively high purity of liquor, alcohol can be distilled out. Otherwise, the low purity alcohol wouldn’t have the disinfecting ability.

She bought three mule carts of liquor, which gave Third Grandma quite a scare, mistakenly thinking she was eager to marry, as her engagement day with San Lang was approaching, and she was buying liquor to host guests.

But when she learned Gu Jinli wanted to use the liquor to distill alcohol, she was puzzled and asked, "What kind of thing is that? Xiao Yu, you’re up to strange things again, you mustn’t waste. The liquor is all grain brewed; it takes three catties of grain to make one cattie of liquor. If you waste three cartloads of liquor, that’s wasting thirty cartloads of grain. That’s a sin punishable by lightning strikes."

Gu Jinli: "..."

Honestly, it’s the fifth month of the lunar calendar, with sudden lightning storms, and her words did scare me a bit.

She explained to Third Grandma twice, but she still wouldn’t listen and advised not to waste.

Gu Jinli knew Third Grandma had been poor all her life and survived famine, so she couldn’t bear to see food wasted. Seeing that she couldn’t persuade her, she had to fetch Doctor Wu to explain to her personally.

Doctor Wu mentioned the life-saving benefits of making alcohol, which finally made Third Grandma agree.

Yet Third Grandma instructed Gu Jinli, "Start with just one cart. If it doesn’t work out, leave the remaining liquor for hosting guests; that way, it won’t go to waste."

Gu Jinli nodded repeatedly, "Uh-huh, don’t worry. If a cart of liquor can’t be turned into antiseptic alcohol, then I lack the skills and won’t attempt it again."

Content with that, Third Grandma finally relented, and before leaving, she advised her, "Stop staying cooped up in the pharmaceutical workshop, find time to make some clothes for San Lang. See how your eldest sister made a lot of clothes and shoes for Brother Wu, while you only embroidered a pouch. Aren’t you ashamed to be so lazy?"

Doctor Wu agreed heartily, "Hmm, Little Xiao Yu is indeed too lazy. If she hadn’t been lazy, alcohol would have been made already, and we wouldn’t have waited until now."

Gu Jinli felt wronged. She thought she was quite diligent, but they still deemed her lazy. So what if she liked to sleep in and listen to gossip? When it was time to work, she worked diligently.

But dealing with grandparents, Gu Jinli didn’t have much choice but to slip back into her pharmacy to prepare for the alcohol-making process, ready as she was; today is finally the day.

Ye Jingzi replied, "I followed Young Master’s instructions, using cotton cloth to filter the liquor more than twice. Dayu on the other side of the courtyard is also filtering liquor with people, rest assured."

Saying this, he brought over two bowls of liquor and asked, "The ceramic bowl contains liquor filtered from our side of the courtyard, and the wooden bowl is from Dayu’s side. Young Master, see if they are usable?"

There was too much liquor, and filtering took up space, so they had to use two separate courtyards.

Gu Jinli took the two bowls, saw that the cloudy liquor had become clear, nodded with satisfaction, then took a sip from each bowl and frowned slightly. This alcohol content was not quite enough and needed purification before distillation.

Xiao Ji quickly said, "Young Master, how can you drink, if Madam sees, we’ll get scolded."

Dong Family’s Madam said that since Young Master was engaged and would get married in over a year, she should start nourishing her body. Otherwise, it might be hard to have children later, so she wasn’t allowed to drink alcohol or eat spicy food.

Gu Jinli chuckled, "You don’t say, and I won’t say, how would my mother know? I just took a couple of sips to taste, to estimate the purification time. It’s no big deal."

After settling in Da Feng Village, she began prescribing herbs for her family’s health. Over the years, her family’s health improved significantly. Her health was especially excellent, never late for her period, never suffered from cramps, and surely capable of bearing children, as many as she wanted. Mrs. Cui’s concerns were unnecessary.

"Young Master, this servant can drink on your behalf," Erqing said, having been specially instructed before serving the Young Master that it’s okay for her to have a couple of sips of alcohol or medicine, but if she drinks too much, Erqing must step in, preventing her from harming her health.

Gu Jinli nodded, "Hmm, have a taste, remember the spiciness. After purification, both of us will taste again. If the spiciness increases, it indicates the alcohol purity has increased." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Understood," Erqing replied, recording everything Gu Jinli said meticulously, growing increasingly impressed with her vast knowledge and skills.

"Let’s get started," Gu Jinli said, and with Ye Jingzi, Xiao Ji, and Erqing, got busy pouring the filtered liquor into the pot. Then, they placed a large ceramic basin, resembling a bathtub, upside down on the pot, sealing the junction with a mixture of glutinous rice and sticky rice flour paste.

Then the fire was lit to purify the alcohol content of the liquor.

The pharmaceutical workshop Gu Jinli used for preparing convenient medicines was large and well-equipped, even fitted with a stove, so they could light a fire directly inside.

"Xiao Ji, don’t let the fire get too big, or the liquor will dry out before the purity increases," Gu Jinli instructed as she and Erqing pieced together the custom ceramic distillation tubes, sealing the joints with rice paste. By the time they finished assembling the ceramic distillation tubes, the room was filled with fragrant wine notes.

Smelling the aroma of wine, Gu Jinli instructed Xiao Ji, "Maintain this level of heat, not too high; it’s ruined if too high."

"Yes, this maid understands," Xiao Ji replied, her eyes fixated on the fire in the stove, fearing it might blaze too fiercely.

"Here, soak these in clean water and wear them," Gu Jinli handed cotton masks to Erqing, Xiao Ji, and Ye Jingzi, showing them how to use them.

She explained, "We’ll spend the whole day here, absorbing plenty of alcohol vapor. If you don’t cover your mouth and nose, you’ll get drunk."