Sarhan's fingers hovered over the glazed wolf sculpture, only half an inch away, but he didn't dare to put them down.
He managed to tear his gaze away from the wolf sculpture with difficulty, looked at the transparent wine bottle next to it, and swallowed a dry mouthful of saliva.
"May I ask, my lord, what is... inside this bottle?"
Xu Qinghuan leaned back against the chair, his hands folded, not even lifting an eyelid.
"Wine."
Sarhan shook his head repeatedly, took half a step back, his face turning dark.
Wine?
The prairie had never lacked alcohol; mare's milk wine and sheep's milk wine could be seen everywhere in the tribal yurts, and highland barley wine was also very common.
Not to mention the royal court banquets, the grape wine transported from the Western Regions, mixed with the yellow wine smuggled from Great Qian, stuffed the Great Khan's wine cellar full.
Take wine to celebrate the Great Khan's birthday?
"No way, no way." The barbarian merchant muttered, "My lord may not know, we prairie people drink strong stuff, the wine from Great Qian..."
Sarhan paused, as if weighing his words.
"Although some wines from Great Qian are a bit stronger than my Helian ones, taking this stuff to celebrate a birthday is just asking for death."
Seeing this, Xu Qinghuan's expression remained cold.
The eyes of Qian Fugui on the side began to roll around.
This fat extraction officer originally shrank behind the side of the long table, not even daring to breathe loudly, but when the word "wine" popped out, his small eyes became lively.
After more than ten years of doing business in the border market, furs and medicinal materials, although Qian Fugui was somewhat proficient in them, when it came to what wine tasted good and what wine went straight to the head, probably few people within a hundred miles knew better than him.
The fat extraction officer coughed dryly, and poked half his body out from behind the long table: "My lord."
Qian Fugui bent his waist down three points, piling up a flattering smile on his face.
"This little one has managed the tally in this border market for over ten years, and the goods coming from the south and going to the north that have passed through my hands are no less than ten thousand. For this bulk trade, whether the goods are genuine or fake, someone has to test them for the guests, right?"
Qian Fugui rubbed his hands, licked his dry lips, and lowered his voice.
"This little one is untalented, but knows a thing or two about this wine. How about... this little one tastes the quality for Master Sarhan first?"
Xu Qinghuan glanced at him coldly.
Qian Fugui shrank his neck in fright, and swallowed the second half of his words abruptly.
Three breaths later.
"Li Sheng, open the bottle, pour two cups."
Li Sheng stepped forward in response, grasped the slender neck of the wine bottle with one hand, pressed his thumb against the cork at the mouth of the bottle, gently twisted and pulled.
Pop!
The moment the cork was pulled out, a heavy smell of alcohol instantly rushed out from the mouth of the bottle!
The smell was so pungent and strong that it directly scraped people's nasal passages until they hurt.
Qian Fugui bore the brunt of it; the fat extraction officer was stretching his neck forward, and this smell rushed straight to his face, choking him so much that he suddenly leaned back, his nasal cavity souring, and tears bursting from his eyes on the spot.
"Whoa—"
Sarhan also gasped; the barbarian merchant's reaction was vastly different from Qian Fugui's. This spicy smell of alcohol poured into his nasal cavity, Sarhan's brows suddenly tightened, and then his eyes widened round.
Originally, the window of the main hall was half open, and the stench of the livestock pen outside had been pouring in all the time, but once this wine bottle was opened, the strong aroma of wine instantly covered the fishy stench of the whole room.
Li Sheng looked deep, and poured the liquor into two coarse pottery tea bowls. The liquid fell to the bottom of the bowl, and it was surprisingly clear, even revealing the fine cracks at the bottom of the bowl!
Qian Fugui picked up the bowl, brought it to the tip of his nose to smell, and his expression suddenly changed again and again.
Qian Fugui had drunk Fenzhou old cellar liquor in the border market, and had also tasted the burning knife liquor from beyond the Great Wall. The strong grape wine brought by the barbarian merchants from the Western Regions had also entered his stomach, but those wines in the past would never sting the nasal cavity hot just by smell.
The fat extraction officer gritted his teeth, threw his head back, and took a fierce gulp.
The moment the liquor entered his throat, Qian Fugui's face turned from pale to purplish-red. His facial features suddenly wrinkled into a ball, and he hurriedly held onto the edge of the long table, stamping his feet from the spiciness.
"My—good—heavens—ah!"
Qian Fugui fanned his mouth vigorously with one hand, his throat burning with pain. That heat burned all the way from the base of his tongue through his esophagus, straight down to the bottom of his stomach, and the whole person immediately sweated from the heat.
Sarhan had no time to pay attention to Qian Fugui's ugly state. He held up the coarse pottery bowl with both hands, stared at the clear liquid, took a deep breath, threw his head back, and drank it all in one gulp!
The liquor rushed down his throat.
Boom!
A strong burning sensation spread in his chest.
Sarhan's entire face also instantly flushed purplish-red. He forcibly held in this breath, endured it for seven or eight breaths, and only then squeezed out a word from between his teeth:
"Strong!"
The barbarian merchant suddenly exhaled a long breath, his chest heaving violently, his stomach burning astonishingly, but after that burning sensation, a mellow sweetness actually slowly surged up.
From the base of his tongue to the bottom of his throat, the aftertaste was long.
Sarhan had drunk mare's milk wine on the prairie for thirty years. That stuff entered the mouth softly, and the aftereffect was sour. The burning knife liquor of Great Qian was indeed strong enough, but entering the throat only had a bland spicy taste, with no aftertaste at all.
But this wine was different.
Strong first and then mellow, after the burning sensation was a thick aftertaste, truly rare!
Smack!
Sarhan slapped the coarse pottery bowl heavily on the long table.
"Satisfying!"
The barbarian merchant panted heavily, randomly wiped the hot sweat from his forehead with his cuff, and when he looked up at Xu Qinghuan again, his eyes were astonishingly bright.
"My lord, please give me another... bowl..."
Sarhan's fingers tightly gripped the edge of the bowl, his thoughts surging in his mind, and he immediately stopped.
This transparent, boiling-hot strong liquor entering the throat, he had never heard of it in his thirty years of life!
The bottle holding the wine was pure glaze, and the liquor itself was crystal clear. These two things together were truly rare.
Next month was the Great Khan's birthday ceremony, and the leaders of various tribes were competing to pay tribute. Those thousand-li horses and beauties from the Western Regions sent over, plus boxes of gold, silver, and jewelry, the Great Khan had long been tired of seeing.
But this wine—the Great Khan had definitely never drunk it in his life!
A jar of fine wine that others couldn't take out or buy, and only he could present it. As long as the Great Khan was happy, his uncle's position as the steward of the inner treasury would be kept! What would the people of the Right Luli King use to compete?
Sarhan's breathing became heavier and heavier, his chest burning in waves.
But Sarhan was, after all, an old hand who had mingled in the border market for many years. After evening out his breathing, he forcibly suppressed the greed in the depths of his eyes, and put on a look of difficulty commonly used by businessmen.
"Good wine, indeed good wine." Sarhan pushed the empty bowl forward, glancing at that wine bottle from the corner of his eye, deliberately curling his lips, "But just this one bottle?"
He reached out and gestured at the bottle body, shaking his head repeatedly.
"The Great Khan's birthday ceremony, just the noblemen attending the banquet at the royal court number in the hundreds. Who is this one bottle enough for? Not even enough to wet their lips."
He spread his hands, putting on a bitter look.
"My lord, of course I want to do this business, but the quantity is too small to hold up the stage. If you could spare a hundred or eighty jars, the price is negotiable, but if there's only this one bottle..."
He deliberately dragged out the end of his sentence: "Then this business, I'm afraid it can't be done big."
Xu Qinghuan's fingers, which were originally tapping lightly on the table, stopped.
Xu Qinghuan slowly raised his eyes, staring straight at Sarhan.
"Can't be done big?"
Xu Qinghuan's voice had no ups and downs, but as soon as these few words landed, the bitter look on Sarhan's face froze.
"Sarhan, how many years has your uncle managed the royal court's inner treasury?"
Sarhan's eyelids twitched violently.
The Right Luli King's people just impeached two deputy managers of the inner treasury last month. They were both promoted single-handedly by your uncle, weren't they? Xu Qinghuan spoke at an unhurried pace. How many keys to the inner treasury are there now, two or three? How many does your uncle have left?
The color drained from Sarhan's face.
The foreign merchant's lips trembled, but he could not utter a single word. These royal court secrets were deadly matters that Sarhan and Agula only dared to discuss in low voices behind closed doors in their yurt.
How could a female imperial envoy of Daqian have such a thorough grasp of the power transitions in the Helian royal court?!
While you are wasting time bargaining with me here, Xu Qinghuan tapped her fingers on the table again. The rhythmic thumping made Sarhan tremble slightly. You might as well think about what will happen if this batch of goods is bought up first by other major buyers in Helian.
Xu Qinghuan stopped her movements, her gaze sharp.
What will you take back to save your uncle?
Whatever merchant's shrewdness and disguise Sarhan had maintained completely vanished under the interrogation of these few sentences.
Once his uncle fell from power, his privileges in the border market would not be preserved, his life and fortune would be in grave danger, and the livelihoods of the dozens of people under him would all be cut off!
My Lady!
Sarhan's knees gave way, and he knelt heavily on the bluestone slabs. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead into the cracks of the bricks, and even his voice cracked with panic.
Sarhan was blind and offended you just now! Whatever goods Your Excellency has, Sarhan will take them all! Whether it is cattle, sheep, horses, or winter grain, Your Excellency can name any price!
Xu Qinghuan did not answer immediately.
Her gaze passed over Sarhan's prostrate, trembling body and landed on the long table. The glazed wolf sculpture refracted colorful spots of light under the slanting rays of the sun.
The spots of light moved slowly across the black lacquered table, and the room was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
In truth, Xu Qinghuan was perfectly capable of finding other merchants, but the only difference was that Sarhan, due to his status and precarious circumstances, was much better suited to keep a secret.
Stand up and we will talk.
Xu Qinghuan stretched out two fingers and pushed the wine bottle to the front of the table.
The amount I want is not small. For the details of the cattle, sheep, and grain, have your steward bring the account books to the yamen tomorrow to check the records with Superintendent Qian.
Take this glazed sculpture back and think it over carefully.
Sarhan scrambled up from the ground, agreeing repeatedly. When he backed out the door, the foreign merchant's waist was bent almost to his knees. His steps were quick and urgent, and the wind he stirred up lifted the door curtain high.
Agula was waiting outside in the corridor. Seeing his master come out, he hurried up to meet him. The two of them, one after the other, walked briskly and disappeared into the afternoon yellow sand in the blink of an eye.
The room fell quiet again.
Qian Fugui was still wiping his tears with his sleeve. The tears choked out of him by that gulp of strong liquor had not stopped even now. Sniffling, he leaned close to the long table and probed with a hoarse voice.
M-My Lady... this immortal wine, it must be sixty years old, right?
Xu Qinghuan ignored the drunkard.
Sixty years? The original owner of this body had not even lived that long.
This wine was simply brewed using modern technology.
...
The sun leaned to the west, casting long shadows across the saline-alkali land. Crowds of people moved about, and the bustling noise remained.
Squatting there was a porter in short coarse clothes, looking down and adjusting the knots on his carrying pole. His movements were slow, but his eyes kept darting toward the superintendent's yamen.
A moment later, the porter looked around and pulled a fist-sized bamboo cage from his chest.
Through the gaps in the bamboo cage, a ball of grayish-white feathers fluttered a couple of times.
The porter quickly pulled open the latch.
A gray pigeon flapped its wings and rose, circling half a turn above the earthen wall before abruptly soaring higher, plunging headlong into the sky full of yellow sand toward the northeast.
