Tianzhu: The Record of Foreign Stories in the Republic of China

Chapter 37: Wine War (3)
Xun San walked into the Sanjin and a half wine store, said haha ​​to Grandpa Jiu and said, "Yue Jiuye, long time no see, are you all right?"Xun San suddenly changed the subject and said: "Yue Jiuye is known as the Immortal of Wine in Xiulin City. I heard that you once drank eighteen catties of Xiulin Yuye without getting drunk. Is there such a thing?" Grandpa laughed and said, "That's true. Why are you unconvinced and want to compare your drinking capacity with Master Jiu?"

Xun San said: "The director is really not convinced, so I want to gamble with you." Grandpa Jiu asked: "How is the bet?" Xun San said: "The Xiulinchun wine brewed by our Xiulinchun winery is known as Jiangnan. The first fine wine, pour the wine into the cup, the aroma of the wine in the empty cup after drinking can make people drunk. If Jiu Ye can drink eighteen catties of Xiulin Chun without getting drunk, the director is willing to lose three hundred oceans." Grandpa Jiu asked: "What if I get drunk?" Xun San said: "If you are too strong to drink, Master Jiu, please sign your name on the plaque of 'Jiangnan No. [-] Fine Wine' in our winery. Show this plaque signed by your Xiulin Jiuxian, and in this Xiulin City, no one will worry about buying my wine."

The more he talked, the more complacent he became, the scar on his face jumped up, he took out a bag of silver dollars, and threw it on the counter with a bang: "This is a hundred yuan of hard work. It belongs to Master Jiu." Grandpa Jiu raised his eyebrows and said, "What if my old man doesn't agree?" Xun San's face darkened, he took out the box cannon in his waist, and slapped it on the counter with a bang: "That old man I have no choice but to treat you to a gun." Ninth Grandpa glanced at him, took out a rag, wiped the silver coins on the counter and the pistol to the ground, and said a word coldly: "Get out!" Angry, he picked up the silver coins and the pistol, and said resentfully, "Old guy, don't toast or eat fine wine."

That night, chickens and dogs jumped up and down on Wenhua Street all night.The next morning, Grandpa Jiu found out that last night, Xun San led a team of policemen to Wenhua Street, and took all the owners of eighteen small shops on Wenhua Street, including Mr. was taken away.At noon that day, a notice was posted, saying that 18 people including Yi Zhiyu from Wenhua Street had fornicated "communist bandits" and would be executed by shooting at the execution ground at Beimenkou this afternoon.When Grandpa Jiu saw that all the small shopkeepers on the street had been seized and only himself was left, he knew that Xun San was after him.

Looking again, it was almost noon, and Grandpa Ninth rushed to the north gate out of breath.There is a sandy beach under the Yangtze River embankment at the north gate, which is the Xiulin Execution Ground, where the executions of criminals have always been carried out.

Grandpa Jiu ran down the embankment and saw eighteen neighbors with their hands tied behind their backs, kneeling facing the river, and behind them stood a row of policemen with long guns. One command to fire.Grandpa Ninth yelled, "Keep people under the gun".Xun San jumped off a rock, and said with a smirk: "Oh, is this Yue Jiuye? Why did you come here? Go home quickly, don't get bad luck."

Grandpa Jiu's nose was almost crooked, he looked at him and said, "God Xun, don't go around in circles, just tell me what you want." Xun San gave him a thumbs up: "Master Jiu is more straightforward. You see Did the eighteen criminals drink alcohol in front of them?"

Grandpa Jiu turned his head to look, and saw a sea bowl in front of the eighteen innocent neighbors, filled with white wine, each bowl was at least a catty of wine.Xun San said: "It's not difficult for Lord Jiu to save them. Eighteen bowls of dead wine, each weighing a catty, are all the best Xiulin spring wine in Xiulin City, adding up to exactly eighteen catties. You If you drink one bowl, I will let one person go. If you drink eighteen bowls, I will not only let them all go, but also reward you with 300 yuan in silver dollars. If you get drunk here, you have to leave it on the gold plaque of my best wine in the south of the Yangtze River. Put your name on it, and if you're too drunk to pass out, you can also get your fingerprints. Haha!"

Grandpa Ninth's grief-stricken eyes looked over Yi Zhiyu and the others' faces one by one. The eighteen neighbors, everyone's face was stained with blood, and it seemed that they had suffered a lot.It is really unbearable to see these people being burdened by themselves and suffering such bad luck for no reason.He gritted his teeth, nodded at Xun San, and said, "Okay, I promise you."

Xun Sansan was overjoyed and said, "Master Jiu is indeed a cheerful person, so please!"

Eighteen people lined up in a row, and the one who was tied behind his back and knelt at the front was Shen Yiming, the owner of Shenji Rice Shop.Boss Shen was always timid. When he saw Grandpa Jiu, he knocked his head to the ground and shouted, "Master Jiu, save me!" The wine bowl in front of Ming, with a raised head, drank it without leaking a single drop.Xun San applauded and shouted: "Good!" With a wave of his hand, a policeman immediately stepped forward and untied Shen Yiming.Shen Yiming looked at Xun San and Grandpa Jiu, but she didn't dare to move.Grandpa Ninth patted him on the shoulder and said, "Boss Shen, I've surprised you, go home quickly." Shen Yiming just woke up like a dream, thanked him with her hands, and ran away, fearing that she would run slowly Xun San will catch him back again.Seeing that Xun San meant what he said, Grandpa Jiu was relieved, and then drank the second and third bowls of wine...

Grandpa Ninth was so generous that he drank seventeen bowls of wine in one go, without changing his expression, his appearance was normal. Although Xun San's face was ugly, under the eyes of everyone, he had to let him go as promised.

At the bottom of the list is Mr. Yi Zhiyu Yi from Yidezhai Studio.Grandpa Jiu walked up to Mr. Yi and said, "Mr. has suffered." He picked up the last bowl of wine and was about to drink it down when Yi Zhiyu suddenly called out "Mr. Jiu".Grandpa Jiu put down the wine bowl and asked, "What are your orders, sir?" Yi Zhiyu's eyes became moist, and he said, "Master Jiu, take care!" Suddenly he jumped up, lowered his head and slammed into a big rock next to him.The sharp edges and corners of the stone just hit his temple.As soon as Yi Zhiyu's body went limp, he lay in a pool of blood.

Grandpa Ninth was startled, and rushed forward to hug him.Yi Zhiyu's head was cracked, blood gushed out, and he lost much breath.Grandpa Jiu asked sadly, "Sir, why is this?" Yi Zhiyu said dying, "Master Jiu, the bowl of wine in front of me is slightly different in color from other wines. This wine is poisonous and should not be drunk." Looking at the wine, it turned out to be slightly darker in color. It must have been tampered with by Xun San. Xun San wanted him to die here today.Mr. Yi has already seen through Xun San's conspiracy, in order to prevent him from drinking the poisoned wine, he had no choice but to renounce himself.Looking down at Yi Zhiyu again, he had already turned his head and closed his eyes.Grandpa Jiu's tears flowed down, his heart hurt like a knife, he sat on the sand for a while, and suddenly choked up and said: "Mr. Yi, the old man will take you home!" Picking up Yi Zhiyu's body, he was about to go to the embankment. go up.

Xun San's expression changed, he stopped him and said, "Jiu Ye, we have an agreement, although the Yizhi fool is dead, but if you want to collect his body, you still have to drink this last bowl of wine."

Grandpa Ninth gently put down Yi Zhiyu's body, looked up to the sky and cried mournfully: "God, please open your eyes and watch how my old man will deal with these beasts today." His eyes were red, looking at Xun San said: "Okay , I'll drink this last bowl of wine! But there's too little wine today, Master Jiu, I'm not enjoying myself, do you have any more wine? Bring me another jar."

Xun San was stunned by him, not knowing what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd, so he waved his hand and asked one of his men to hurry to the winery to bring a jar of wine.

After a while, the man moved an altar of embroidery and Lin Chun ran over panting.Grandpa Jiu reached out to take it, and slapped the mud seal open with one palm. Xun San stretched out his hand to hold down the wine jar and said, "Master Jiu is huge, you'd better drink the bowl on the ground first, and then it's not too late to drink the wine in the jar." Grandpa Jiu shouted : "Okay!" Picking up the No.18 bowl of wine on the ground, he raised his head and drank it all.Then he hugged the wine jar, pointed his mouth at the mouth of the jar, and gurgled for a while.The crowd of onlookers were already stunned.

At the end of the drink, when the wine jar was about to be cleared, Grandpa Ninth suddenly stopped, frowned and said, "Hey, Director Xun, this wine has uneven fragrance and seems to have mixed flavors, but why?"

Xun Sandao: "Impossible, this is the best Xiulinchun wine brewed by our Xiulinchun winery. How can there be any smell?"

Grandpa Jiu said: "There is still a little left in the jar, try it yourself if you don't believe me." He poured out all the wine left in the jar, no more, no less, just enough to fill a bowl.

Xun San got up to drink it, smacked his lips, and frowned. The taste of this wine was indeed not strong, and it was quite strange, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong with it for a while.

Grandpa Jiu didn't want to stay for long, so he cupped his hands at him and said, "Director Xun, Yuemou is leaving." He drank eighteen catties of white wine and a jar of Xiu Linchun in one breath, and hugged Yi Zhiyu like a normal person The dead body, without looking back, strode away.

Xun San looked at his back and was stunned.

When he came to his senses, Grandpa Jiu had already walked up the river embankment, far away.Unwilling, Xun San suddenly became murderous, and shouted angrily: "You can't let him go, catch him quickly and kill him..." Before he could finish his sentence, the man fell headfirst on the sand, his eyes turned white , spit out a few mouthfuls of black blood, and died.

Afterwards, the forensic doctor found out that Xun San died of poisoning.The police suspected that this incident was related to my ninth grandfather, but when they found the Sanjinban Liquor Store on Wenhua Street, it was already empty.Since then, people in Xiulin City have never seen my Ninth Grandfather again.

【postscript】

As for the cause of Xun San's death, Yue Yong checked several versions of Xiulin county annals, but none of them had a definite statement.

Some people say that my Ninth Grandpa had actually prepared for it long ago. When he drank the wine in the jar to the last bit, he quietly put the poison he was carrying into it, intending to die with Xun San.After Xun San's death, Grandpa Jiu died in a remote place because he drank Xun San's poisoned wine and held Yi Zhiyu's body, so the police could not find him afterwards.

Some local literature and history experts also testified that Xun San did not die from poisoning because of a forensic examination error, but from an opium addiction, which caused a sudden illness.

There is also a folk storyteller who said that Yue Jiuye has great supernatural powers. The bowl of poisoned wine he drank first did not actually swallow it, but used his internal strength to gather it in his chest. Spit out the poisoned wine, and cast a clever trick to let Xun San commit suicide.

What is the cause of Xun San's death, and what is the ending of my ninth grandfather's life? Yue Yong is still investigating in the pile of old papers. He dare not jump to conclusions. Please forgive me.

(End of this chapter)