Chapter 1: Fruit Wine

1. Fruit Wine

The tenth year of the Republic was a period of turbulent political changes! Various factions fought incessantly, and major warlords frequently launched wars to seize power and territory!

While the political centers were in constant storm, Hui'an, a mountain city located in the northwest of Xiang Province, was not heavily affected!

Hui'an County was surrounded by mountains on two sides and a river on the third, with the two mountains and one river enclosing the county in a triangle. Because of this unique geographical environment, Hui'an was rarely affected by the flames of war, but as a result, it was somewhat isolated from news. When earth-shattering changes occurred in the outside world, the people of Hui'an would sometimes be three to five months late even in learning about major events like the changing of dynasties!

In the past, the county was managed by the County Magistrate. Then, one day, a group of men wearing strange clothes and holding firelocks (which were actually guns) arrived in the county! These men all had short hair and surrounded a middle-aged man wearing glasses as they entered the county yamen. They tossed a letter stamped with the official seal of the New Government onto the table, declaring that the New Government had taken over the administration of Hui'an County. That middle-aged man was the newly appointed County Head! The former Magistrate said nothing and slunk away, taking his people and crossing the river to leave Hui'an County!

The new County Head ordered gongs and drums to be beaten to notify every township and village of the establishment of the New Government and that the County Government had replaced the old county yamen! After the people of Hui'an were dazed for a while, they returned to their daily lives.

Because aside from the people managing the county, nothing else had changed! Later, when the commoners saw the young people in the county town starting to cut their hair into neat, short styles that looked quite brisk, the young men in the various villages were gradually influenced and began to stop growing their hair long as well.

Shi Family Village was located at the foot of the mountains on the western side of Hui'an County. There were twenty-three households living in the village, sixteen of which were surnamed Shi!

The Shi clan had some reputation in Hui'an County because they had produced a Juren scholar seventeen years ago! These sixteen Shi households in Shi Family Village were several branch lineages of the clan, and they had to rely on renting land from the main family to make a living.

By the beginning of the ninth lunar month, the weather had become somewhat cool. The grain harvest in the fields was quite good, and the fruit trees in the mountains were heavy with fruit; it was a busy season for the villagers!

Carrying a basket full of red berries on her back, Shi Ermei pushed open the wood gate of her courtyard and called out to the two large dogs still playing on the dirt path nearby to come home.

"Xiong Da, Xiong Er, come home!" Shi Ermei's voice was crisp and her articulation clear, showing no trace of the local Hui'an accent.

Two yellow dogs with thick limbs and short, upright ears came running joyfully, sticking out their large tongues and grinning as they circled around their mistress.

Shi Ermei entered the courtyard with a smile. After closing the courtyard gate, she first placed the basket in a shaded spot under the eaves, then walked to the well, pushed open the wooden lid, and dropped the iron bucket on the windlass into the well to draw up a bucket of water!

Once the water was drawn up, Shi Ermei used a ladle to pour it into a large stone basin with a chipped edge, and the two yellow dogs immediately rushed over to lap up the water in large gulps.

After patting the two drinking dogs, Shi Ermei carried the bucket into the house.

The layout of this house was such that one entered directly into the kitchen, with living quarters on both the east and west sides.

Shi Ermei poured the icy well water from the bucket into the large iron pot that had already been rinsed clean on the stove, gathered some firewood, and began boiling the water.

In the interval while the water was boiling, Shi Ermei drew more water to wash the freshly picked mock strawberries, placed them in a colander to drain, and then poured them into a waist-high small vat kept in the shaded area behind the house.

She only had to wait for the water in the pot to boil, let it cool, pour it into the small vat, sprinkle in an appropriate amount of white sugar, and stir gently. After being sealed for over a month, she would be able to drink the mock strawberry fruit wine!