The whole family travels through time: escape from famine! No cheat codes yet!

Chapter 178 Man’s calculation is not as good as God’s calculation

During this period of time, the second in command did not find Shen Zhiqiu and his family in his own village, so he let go of his fear of them a lot. Moreover, this group of people are capable and their words will touch other people's hearts.

In just a few days, Shen Zhiqiu had acquired the style of the fourth in command.

While they were getting along well with the bandits, they also learned about the situations of the surrounding mountain strongholds.

This area is now a no-man's land and is located on the border, so there are more than a dozen bandit dens of varying sizes around it.

Because of this, the second in command speculated that the families of Shen Zhiqiu and his group were most likely kidnapped by people from other mountain villages.

Many villages often go out to rob refugees. In order to ensure that those who stay are loyal, their village will not rob people or force others to join, but other villages will use any means.

This is also the reason why he felt relieved about Shen Zhiqiu and the others. If it was really as he guessed, it meant that if Shen Zhiqiu and the others wanted to find their family, they really had to be used by them.

However, we are not completely unprepared. We also have to prevent them from being forced to rebel by other villages using their family members.

There are many people in the mountain village, and the kudzu roots can be dug quite quickly. Shen Zhiqiu and others have already started brewing wine.

In fact, the brewing of Pueraria wine is very similar to that of sweet potato pulp. Glutinous rice can be added or not.

The three bandit leaders arranged a lot of people to dig kudzu roots in the mountains, and also arranged a lot of people to help Shen Zhiqiu and others make wine.

However, just as Shen Zhiqiu guessed, most of the bandits only helped to clean and peel the kudzu roots and do other miscellaneous tasks.

The women in the village were responsible for steaming the Pueraria root, while the rest of the mashing was done by some of the bandits' trusted followers.

There were more than a dozen people who followed Shen Zhiqiu and others to add the crushed Pueraria root into the yeast and stir it.

This is just as Shen Zhiqiu wished. First, he can more clearly identify the trusted followers of the three bosses, and then he will not let any of them go.

Second, he certainly didn't want Pueraria wine to become known to everyone.

However, there is a key point in adding the yeast, that is, after the kudzu root is cooked and mashed, the yeast should be added when the temperature of the kudzu root paste is around 30 degrees.

Then stir the koji evenly.

This is also a strenuous job, but there are many bandit minions and they move quite quickly. The next step is to put the kudzu root mud mixed with the wine yeast into the jar and seal it.

The best fermentation temperature for Pueraria wine is 30°C to 35°C. The fermentation is semi-sealed for the first three days and stirred once a day to allow the fermented mash to fully absorb oxygen. After three days, the fermentation is fully sealed.

After all the first batch of Pueraria wine is sealed, the fermentation time depends on the temperature and aroma of the wine, usually about half a month to twenty-five days.

During this time, Shen Zhiqiu was not idle either. He directly brewed the second batch. He was thinking that when the time came, he would deal with these bandits and take the second batch away when they left. Maybe he could even sell it for some money.

The main reason is that it is very convenient to brew wine in the village, and there are so many people available for him to use for free.

But man proposes, God disposes. Originally, Shen Zhiqiu and his friends were living a comfortable life in the mountain village, but things changed because of the incident where people from Shenjia Village at the foot of the mountain started digging kudzu roots.

Almost no one chooses to go up the mountain, or gives up their daughters and wives and chooses to go to the north.

For a day or two, the people in the mountain village didn't have any ideas. After all, they fled in groups. Sometimes a large group came all at once, and sometimes no one came for several days, which was normal.

But no one went up the mountain for nearly ten days, and the bandits realized something was wrong.

At this time, in the lobby of the mountain stronghold, the three heads of the family were sitting high up, and the people standing below were all their confidants, of course Shen Zhiqiu and his group were also included.

It can also be seen that they have become the three bandit leaders' own people.

The boss was relatively calm: "Don't you have any spies down the mountain? Why haven't you been active lately?"

The second in command usually doesn't talk much and he is a patient person.

The third boss was in a bad mood. Seeing that his younger brothers were silent, he shouted angrily: "What a bunch of good-for-nothings. They only eat and do nothing."

And the bandits below were trembling with fear, because if the third in command got angry, he would really chop people into pieces.

He would never show mercy even to his own brothers, so no one present dared to say a word, for fear that his anger would be directed at them.

Shen Zhiqiu and his group didn't need to think too much. They knew that the problem must have happened to the people they left behind at the foot of the mountain, so it was time for them to step forward.

"Don't be angry, bosses. How about I take some people down the mountain to see what's going on?"

Although the Third In Command was very angry, he did not scold Shen Zhiqiu directly. After all, the wine had not been brewed yet. Besides, he felt that the words of Shen Zhiqiu and his group were very pleasant to the ears and they touched his heart.

However, as the third in command of the village, the decisions are still made by his eldest brother. If he didn’t know this, he probably wouldn’t be alive today.

Although the second in command had already let go of most of his guard towards Shen Zhiqiu and the others, he was a suspicious person by nature, and it was impossible for him to trust them completely.

The eldest boss had a great liking for Shen Zhiqiu, but he was hindered by the fact that the people around him were very skilled and knew a lot. It was said that they had taken the imperial examination before and were scholars.

So he did not act rashly. He was thinking about truly conquering the other person and making him fall in love with him.

Indeed, among this group of rough men, some are dark-skinned, some are haggard, some have yellow faces and thin bodies, and some have untidy beards and unkempt hair.

With someone like Shen Zhiqiu, who was a little tanned but still had a handsome face and gentlemanly demeanor in front of the scholar, he was too conspicuous.

You should know that during the time that Shen Zhiqiu went up the mountain, the boss did a lot of courtesy to him. For example, he asked the women in the village to make two new clothes for Shen Zhiqiu and his group.

He also told the bandits in public that the day the wine was successfully brewed would be the day Shen Zhiqiu would become the fourth in command.

Many of the bandit lackeys have already directly called Shen Zhiqiu the "fourth boss".

Therefore, Shen Zhiqiu, who was dressed neatly and had his hair combed neatly, was too eye-catching in the eyes of the boss.

"Okay, then you can take some people down to take a look. Bring more people and be careful."

Shen Zhiqiu immediately nodded in agreement and deliberately called a few of the boss's trusted aides to go together.

As soon as he left the lobby, he said to Li Quan, "Uncle Li, you and these brothers gather some people. I have a stomachache and need to go to the bathroom."

Then, while those people were not paying attention, he gave Shen Mazi a look.

Shen Mazi immediately understood and said, "Wait for me. I may have had better food in our village recently, and I eat more oily food, and I always go to the toilet."

Shen Zhiqiu even laughed and scolded in a serious tone: "I didn't see you control yourself at all."

Shen Mazi chuckled: "I still need to train more, so that I can follow our boss and enjoy the good life. Our good days are still to come!"

Then there was the sound of the two people talking and laughing and walking away.